Advanced Gamblers

 

Liam and I went to an agility trial yesterday. I always say any trial where we have a Q is a good trial. They are especially good when Liam gets a Q (qualifying score). That boy tries so hard and I do think he enjoys agility.  Yesterday's trial was at a location where I know he does not like the teeter at all! Our first run was a Gamblers where you get to plan your own opening run and the Main Gamble was the A-frame and two jumps so I decided we would not even try to do the teeter or the dog walk.  The dog walk has the same angle as the teeter so dogs often think it might be the teeter. 

I planned our opening going up the right hand side of the ring. We did the 4 point jump, the tunnel to the left, back again through the tunnel to the 4 point jump. I had intended to push Liam to the backside of the jump so he would be jumping towards the A-frame but he was too fast for me and took it on a slice which worked out just fine. After the A-frame, it was off to try the back mini gamble (labelled a,b,c). Liam did the tunnel, came in towards me and when I sent him back out he took the jump on the side labelled B, then he back jumped the side labelled b. You can only do an obstacle twice for points in the opening so now we couldn't get the mini gamble. In any case, I had him do the tunnel under the dog walk twice and then the buzzer for the end of the opening time went. I got him back and over the A-frame, I really didn't expect him to stay out to the first jump but he did and he also stayed out for the second jump which really surprised me. I wasn't sure we had made time as he stuttered stepped to both jumps and I wasn't even sure if I'd had stepped over the gamble line or not. The Gamble line ended at the dog walk, sometimes judges will tell you that the line goes to infinity but for this course the judge said the line ended at the dog walk so you had to treat it like a handler's box. With a handler's box, you can't cross any of the lines until the dog is past the point of faulting so for a jump, when their 4 feet are past the jump bar. I was so excited that he did the gamble that I thought I might have crossed the line while he was still jumping.

Luckily, I hadn't. Liam got a qualifying score with 25 points in the opening; he needs 16 as a Veteran dog. And he was well under the Gamble time, in fact even was he still in Specials, it still would have been a Q

Our next two runs were Standard agility runs. In the first run, the dog walk was the second obstacle. Liam didn't want to do it at all thinking it might be the teeter. The dogs can wear a flat collar now so I just put my finger in the collar and talked him over it. Our time ended before we got to the teeter so we didn't get to try that. In the second run, the teeter was the 6th obstacle. Liam again did not want to do it, so again I put my finger in his collar and coaxed him up and over. We got a round of applause when he finally did the teeter. For both Standards, the parts of the runs he did do, he did very well and he only had one jump down in all three runs. 

I'm not exactly sure how to work with him about this teeter, he does other teeters pretty well. I am going to try and weight mine so it drops faster and put a piece of plywood under the end so it bangs a bit on the drop.

But all in all, it was a good trial. We didn't have to get up too early, we were home before dinner time, the weather was good and Liam got a qualifying score. One more Advanced Gambler Q and he'll be in Masters Gamblers. 

Just Jump

So in this crazy time, I have lots of time at home so I decided to paint my outdoor agility jumps.  I bought most of them off eBay many years ago and have always taped them which had to be done every other year.  I'm hoping the paint will last longer.

I did an online order at Home Depot for paint and coloured electrical tape. I had to wait nearly three days for the order so luckily this wasn't urgent work.  I ordered this spray paint in red and black as it said it adhered to plastic so we'll see.

It was hard to get the the old tape off. In some cases I just gave up and painted over the remnants of the tape. The jumps look fine from a distance but up close they're a bit messy.  I also retaped my tire too but didn't have enough tape to do a really good job of it. I also learned that it is hard to mask off the jump bars to get nice lines, the paint bleeds under the tape.  On the last jump bars I did, I masked them first with electrical tape then paper and painters tape which worked a little better. 

I worked out of the garage, making a little spray booth with a garbage bag and my saw horses. It worked pretty well, there's spray paint on the garage floor but does it really matter.  Once I had spray painted the first of the uprights, I realized I couldn't lay them down on the floor so I have to come up with a drying rack. I used beer bottles for that.

First Jump

First two jumps

All three jumps

I had a little blood shed doing these jumps when I pinched my finger trying to get the jump cup off of the upright.  The PVC is sharp where the joint has been cut. It's not as bad as it looks, at first, I didn't even think that it had broken the skin but then it started to bleed.

Ouch

Jump Cups

We set up the back yard with the newly painted jumps. As I was painting the jumps, I realized that red, black and white had been Beckett's colours so I re-dedicated the backyard as Beckett's Field.

No one has yet to run in Beckett's Field, the Agility Association of Canada (AAC) has started a virtual Jumpers League. Keltic and I ran two events last weekend before I had painted the jumps.  The link below is to our run on the second event we did. The AAC hasn't put out anything yet on the next event.  Last week was free, the next time you have to pay to see the courses and, if you want to have your run judged.  Pretty neat what we can do with today's technology.

AAC Level III Jumpers 2

I ordered a new rubber skin for my teeter just before the lock down happened. I haven't received it yet but they said delivery was six to eight weeks, hopefully by then my brother-in-law will be able to help me re-board the teeter.

Eighteen Months

I be 18 months old today, dunno what's the big deal, I didn't get no birfday pressies or nuffin. Mums is all exscited about it though, she says now I can go to real gility trials like Beckett. Once, my weavers are a little better Mums said she's gonna puts an entry in for me.

My teeters is pretty good now.  We hasn't put our teeter all the way up but it's getting there. I donts waits in the red part no more as Mums stopped giving me treats jus for gettin on. Now I has ta go all da way to the yellow bit afore I gets any treats. I likes the teeter now.

Teeter Work

I just be figuring out dem weavers poles. I only does dem from one side but Mums says we can works on dem over da winter. We has a fun match dis weekend and the last K9 Kup in October, Mums says if I do good, she might enter me in a real competition in November.  

Baby Pole Dancer

I be going to a gility seminar in November too just like a growed up dog. I sure hopes I gets to go to da real trial too, cause den Beckett can't say I be a baby no more.

Wordless Wednesday

A Little Canada Day Fun and Stuff

We took a very relaxing Canada Day. Except for cleaning out the garage, I did nothing but walk the dogs and play a little at agility and Frisbee in the backyard.

You'll see Beckett doing the teeter in the video. I'm about 5 feet behind the teeter and sending him straight forward. One of the mini gambles at the Ontario Regionals was similar to this; a teeter about 10 feet from the gamble line with the jump back towards the handler and just inside the line. We've been practicing with Beckett as I have seen a teeter going straight away from the handler before so it will be a good skill to have once he gets into Masters level Gambles. It was quite hot so we didn't do a lot and once he headed for the shade rather than play Frisbee, I knew it was time to give him a break. Tucker, during all of this, was laying in the shade under the cedar bushes near the deck.

Canada Day Fun

I've seen lovely pictures of other people's gardens. I'm not much of a gardener but my Clematis do very well. This year, I put up new trellis so they had more room to grow. It still looks like I could put up an even larger trellis!!

I had shrimp and vegetables done on the BBQ with rice for supper. Later in the evening, Beckett and I went down to Krazy Kanines agility field to practice weaves and then I watched the Canada Day fireworks from Parliament Hill on TV.  There wasn't many fireworks going off in my neighbourhood, so Tucker wasn't too stressed out. All in all a very nice day.