Here's a link to some photos from the weekend. This one of Strum is my favorite, well, except for the blurry part with me in the background. I don't mind if I'm in the photo if I happen to look fabulous but, uh, yeah, I'm not likely to be looking fabulous, especially when I'm about to employ the Run Like Hell method of running contact handling. But Strum has such a sweet, happy look on his face, I may have to buy it. The one of him going over the jump is nice too. I also love the one of Lola coming out of the chute. Good to see she can do it properly, ie not rearing up on her hind legs and getting tangled before she exits. If it wasn't blurry I'd buy it for sure.
Here's the Starters Standard course map and thanks to Greg and Katrina we have video! And way nicer video than I normally shoot. My camera is old and bottom of the line and on the outs but I'm in a mindframe of let's not spend any money on anything that isn't food or mortgage or maybe the occasional dog agility trial. But it's starting to malfunction and if it croaks I may have to splurge because I do so much training on my own these days.
Anyway, while it would have been nice to have video of Strum's nice smooth standard run from Sat. if I had to pick I'm glad I have video of the one with the mistakes because I spotted at least 11 things we need to work on from that video. I'm also glad for video of that Jumpers run. Poor Strum, I cued that turn right while he was going over the bar, no wonder it came down. Also it looks like I'm doing a weird RFP right before the rear cross but what happened was I was planning on a front and after I raised my hand to cue it I realized it would be ugly so I changed horses and went for the rear. Worked out o.k. but caused some hesitation and a wide turn. I could have led out to the tunnel but I wanted to try running with him to see if he would send to the tunnel since that's been an issue and we've been working it and he did it no problem so I was pleased with that. The Standard run had a million things go wrong but Strum looked happy and was so focused on me so I can't feel too bad about it. He didn't collect for his recall to heel at the start which is a sign that his brain has left the building so all the chaos was no surprise in retrospect. Lots of things contributed to this-being crated next to the ring, I had him out walking around too much I think, 2 days in a row of trialing-that sort of thing but he needs to get used to it. His next trials are DOCNA at the end of May and I only signed up for 1 day but 2 weekends in a row, only 3 runs per day for both him and Lola. Lots of time to work on our training, hopefully we'll be much improved by then.
I added some slow mo footage of the A-frame at the end so the music would end at the right place and also to point out how ugly it looks. While I was running I thought he'd gotten 2 strides in on the downside but it was only 1 which is not what I want.
Hi E
ReplyDeleteStrummer looked good. Great jumpers run. He is fast. His and Rift's photo looked so much alike it was hard to tell them apart:-) Are you doing Linda M training? If so I follow some of her stuff too. Will I see you in May?
Julie
I love goofy chute pictures, but that one is too blurry. I think if "I" had to pick one, it would be the serious Strummer coming over the jump, but the Strummer dogwalk is a close second.
ReplyDeleteGlad to help with the video, and it worked out that Katrina only had 1 run on Sunday so she could do a bunch of taping.
Greg
Julie, thanks for pointing out the photo display to me, I would have missed it otherwise and yeah those 2 photos looked so much alike. Would be funny to run them in pairs if we end up in Champ.
ReplyDeleteI am following Linda M.'s stuff though I can't say as I have a strong grasp of the nuances of her handling system. I'm way behind reading her Clean Run articles and there's so much info. to digest. But we worked our way through most of her jumping book and so far I like how it works for the most part.
I'll be at the Brighton May USDAA trial but only with Lola and only 2 runs per day for her. Strum's not ready for an outdoor, unfenced, 2-ring trial yet. Maybe by the July trial, we'll see. I'm looking forward to it, it will be nice to be back outside. We'll see you there.
Give Katrina a big thanks for me, video is always so helpful and it's hard to find people to shoot it at a busy 2 ring trial.
He looks very happy, especially when he is jumping. Love the video, with slow-mo. Need to figure out how to do that myself (and how to add music).
ReplyDeleteI use Windows Movie Maker and it's really easy though it drives me crazy sometimes. If you have a Mac I'll bet it's even easier.
ReplyDeleteLinda M has a forum that is really good that I belong to. I hope Strummer gets into the 22in class as it was fun to be in pairs together. Are you not running Cody any more?
ReplyDeleteI will see you in Brighton!
Linda and her fan club weren't so terribly nice to me on her forum when it was for free so I'm not in any hurry to pay her money for it. I was taking lessons w/ Joy who's trained w/ Linda and that was the easiest way for me to learn but Joy is recovering from knee surgery so I'm on my own for now.
ReplyDeleteCody is retired from USDAA. I thought I might run him in some DOCNA this May but I'm cutting down on the money I spend on entry fees and there are 3 trials in May so I decided not to spend the money on him. Maybe I'll let him play at DOCNA in August if he's still looking good but I doubt it. He'll be 11 in July. It's hard for me to admit it to myself but I think his trialing days are over. I really missed him at this last trial, he likes the venue usually did well there.
Oh sorry to hear that they were not nice. I just paid the $75 bucks and so far it has been worth it as I train on my own too. Are you going to any of Stacy's camps? Glad Cody is still doing well. It is so hard to retire our old dogs. Shandy will be 13 years in August and although I don't want to she is retired except for maybe a DOCNA run at 12ins but even then I think we are done.
ReplyDeleteI've never been to any of Stacy's camps and probably won't go this year either. They're so expensive and I have to take all that time off of work. Have you ever gone? Maybe one of these years I'll save up my pennies. None of my other dogs would have been happy with so much agility at one time either and I think Strum's brain might explode if I tried to do that much with him but maybe in a year or two. I find I get the most bang for my buck with 1/2 hour private lessons from Joy but it's a bit of a problem if she's not doing lessons. Sometimes I'll do a 1/2 day of one of Stacy's workshops. She's a great teacher, I love taking lessons from her but it's more of a rare treat than a regular thing because of the expense.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea Shandy was that age, you'd never guess. Cody can also jump 12" in DOCNA but it's more the weaves and A-frame that worry me than the jumping. He looks great but he's slowed down so much and I figure that's his way of telling me it's enough. He can play at the practice field though. It's cheaper than trialing and I don't have to worry about him.
I have been going to Stacy's camps for years. I get a lot out of it. I am going twice this year. A lot of money but we don't have to pay for lessons during the year as we have no instructors here. Yes Shandy is great for her age. She went to Cynosport games last year and did OK. Two of my other dogs are 10 years old which is hard to believe. It is nice just basically running Rift.
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