He does a lot of snoozing these days and at 12 1/2 years old I figure he's entitled. He loves to lie on the deck in the sun, especially if I block off the deck from Strummer and he can finally get some peace.
Showing posts with label Cody retirement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cody retirement. Show all posts
Thursday, December 02, 2010
Anatomy of a nap
Courtesy of Mr. Cody Baloney, Professional Snooze Hound, S.H.
He does a lot of snoozing these days and at 12 1/2 years old I figure he's entitled. He loves to lie on the deck in the sun, especially if I block off the deck from Strummer and he can finally get some peace.
He does a lot of snoozing these days and at 12 1/2 years old I figure he's entitled. He loves to lie on the deck in the sun, especially if I block off the deck from Strummer and he can finally get some peace.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
DOCNA Trial
A great weekend all around-fun trial, great judge (Ann McQuillen, same as we had at DOCNA Champs), nice fast fun courses with some good challenges, all the dogs did great and had fun as well.
Strum did awesome for his second trial. He was well behaved, no lunging or barking fits, was good in his crate except for barking when I'd leave him behind, especially when I left to run another dog. He only ran in Traditional Gamblers, 2 rounds of Jumpers and the Strategic Time Gamble which I'm still getting the hang of. His jumpers runs are on the video, both were nice but with little glitches that cost us a Q but wow, I thought he did a nice job for his second trial. The first run fell victim to some poor handling on my part and the second run shoulda been but he got distracted by something outside the ring, maybe the next dog stepping in the ring to the line, and pulled off a jump for just long enough to cause a run-by then a back jump. His jumping at the end of that second run was awful, jumping WAY too early and I'm sure it's because he spotted the next dog stepping to the line. You can see his ears and tail go up for the last 2-3 jumps. We'll have to work on those distractions for sure and some jumping exercises. I've been focusing so much on contacts and weaves that I've been neglecting the jumping.
I knew his Traditional Gamblers run would be a no Q since the A-frame was in the gamble so I didn't worry about timing it to hit the gamble and picked a course to work on weaves, teeter and some handling. Again, he did a nice job, only got 2/4 of his weaves (popped out once and missed an entry I think), had a nice teeter, was listening for the most part but seemed a little distracted at some points. It went by so quickly, I can barely remember what happened. He did a send to the tunnel for the gamble then I called him to me and we bypassed the frame on our way out of the ring.
He saved the best run for last with the Strategic Time Gamble. I picked a course with a million tunnels and I'm not sure why I thought sending him through all those particle accelerators was a good plan but somehow I managed to keep up without having to break out the defibrillator. He hit all his weaves, beautiful teeters, so fast, 9 zillion points, at one point I said to the judge 'will the whistle ever blow?' because he finished all the stuff I had planned and I had to keep adding more so I wouldn't finish too early. You have a 30 second opening then a 15 second closing and you have to leave the ring in a certain window of time, 2.5 seconds I think? We got out in time so he got his first DOCNA Q. Even though we had the most points we finished quite low in the rankings (6th or 7th I think) because what's most important is how close you finish to 45 seconds, then points count next. Or something, I don't quite understand the scoring. The winners were all 44:xx and we were 43:xx because I ran out of obstacles too soon. I didn't care though, what a gorgeous run and lots of people telling us how amazing afterward, even people I didn't know.
This was a welcome change from all the zillions of people, including the judge, telling me how much fun Cody was having during his Traditional Gamblers run. Uh, yeah, not so much fun for me. Probably the less said the better. He redeemed himself with 2 nice standard runs though, both Q's. I've got the second one on the video, could end up being his last run in a trial. Yeah, I know, lots of big loopy turns but I was pleased with him anyway. I thought he looked good for 10 1/2 years old but still I think maybe it's time. He looked so slow compared to how he used to run and I worry about him.
Lola had a blast in her runs on Sunday. The courses were perfect for her and she had a chance to stretch out those long legs and RUN. She ended up with Q's in Strategic Time Gamble and one of her Standard runs and missed a Q in the second Standard run with a missed A-frame contact but otherwise such a nice run and she looked so happy. Love it when my girl is kicking up her heels and barking at me with joy, couldn't ask for anything more.
Strum did awesome for his second trial. He was well behaved, no lunging or barking fits, was good in his crate except for barking when I'd leave him behind, especially when I left to run another dog. He only ran in Traditional Gamblers, 2 rounds of Jumpers and the Strategic Time Gamble which I'm still getting the hang of. His jumpers runs are on the video, both were nice but with little glitches that cost us a Q but wow, I thought he did a nice job for his second trial. The first run fell victim to some poor handling on my part and the second run shoulda been but he got distracted by something outside the ring, maybe the next dog stepping in the ring to the line, and pulled off a jump for just long enough to cause a run-by then a back jump. His jumping at the end of that second run was awful, jumping WAY too early and I'm sure it's because he spotted the next dog stepping to the line. You can see his ears and tail go up for the last 2-3 jumps. We'll have to work on those distractions for sure and some jumping exercises. I've been focusing so much on contacts and weaves that I've been neglecting the jumping.
I knew his Traditional Gamblers run would be a no Q since the A-frame was in the gamble so I didn't worry about timing it to hit the gamble and picked a course to work on weaves, teeter and some handling. Again, he did a nice job, only got 2/4 of his weaves (popped out once and missed an entry I think), had a nice teeter, was listening for the most part but seemed a little distracted at some points. It went by so quickly, I can barely remember what happened. He did a send to the tunnel for the gamble then I called him to me and we bypassed the frame on our way out of the ring.
He saved the best run for last with the Strategic Time Gamble. I picked a course with a million tunnels and I'm not sure why I thought sending him through all those particle accelerators was a good plan but somehow I managed to keep up without having to break out the defibrillator. He hit all his weaves, beautiful teeters, so fast, 9 zillion points, at one point I said to the judge 'will the whistle ever blow?' because he finished all the stuff I had planned and I had to keep adding more so I wouldn't finish too early. You have a 30 second opening then a 15 second closing and you have to leave the ring in a certain window of time, 2.5 seconds I think? We got out in time so he got his first DOCNA Q. Even though we had the most points we finished quite low in the rankings (6th or 7th I think) because what's most important is how close you finish to 45 seconds, then points count next. Or something, I don't quite understand the scoring. The winners were all 44:xx and we were 43:xx because I ran out of obstacles too soon. I didn't care though, what a gorgeous run and lots of people telling us how amazing afterward, even people I didn't know.
This was a welcome change from all the zillions of people, including the judge, telling me how much fun Cody was having during his Traditional Gamblers run. Uh, yeah, not so much fun for me. Probably the less said the better. He redeemed himself with 2 nice standard runs though, both Q's. I've got the second one on the video, could end up being his last run in a trial. Yeah, I know, lots of big loopy turns but I was pleased with him anyway. I thought he looked good for 10 1/2 years old but still I think maybe it's time. He looked so slow compared to how he used to run and I worry about him.
Lola had a blast in her runs on Sunday. The courses were perfect for her and she had a chance to stretch out those long legs and RUN. She ended up with Q's in Strategic Time Gamble and one of her Standard runs and missed a Q in the second Standard run with a missed A-frame contact but otherwise such a nice run and she looked so happy. Love it when my girl is kicking up her heels and barking at me with joy, couldn't ask for anything more.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
That's All She Wrote
I had fun at the USDAA trial this weekend, Cody & Lola's first trial since DOCNA Champs. at the start of October. They didn't have much practice, maybe 3-4 sessions in the past 3 months but I don't want to work either of them all that much anymore because of their ages. Cody is 10 1/2 and Lola turned 8 last month. Hard to think of either of them as vet dogs.
The main thing I was hoping for this weekend was for Cody to finish his Perf. ADCH with a Super Q in Snooker and a Standard Q. I wish I had some great story to tell full of drama about how he pulled it all off despite the issues he's been having with the table . The reality though is that he had a beautiful Standard run going on Saturday, jumped on the table then jumped right off and ran into a tunnel, which was a nice thought and the correct obstacle if only he'd bothered to do the table first. I did get him to lie down and we immediately left the ring where I made up for all the celebrating I did not do on New Year's Eve. On Sunday he once again had a beautiful Standard run going and did in fact lie down on the table and hold it for what seemed like 9 million years and I was SO sure we had it but then the stinker blew the dogwalk contact. The dogwalk was heading into a wall which may have been part of the problem but with Cody who can tell. After that I was a bit distracted and late with a front cross causing an off course. Snooker was a perfect course for Cody, a tunnel/jump combo for the 7 and an obvious easy, flowy course for getting all three 7's. The unfortunate thing is that there is no strategy involved, only speed but I thought we still had a chance if I got some tight turns and pushed for speed. Also the pressure was off since he'd already blown his Standard runs. He could still pick up his Snooker title (and the next Snooker title too I think) but I didn't care all that much about it. In the end it didn't matter because after the third red I told him 'here' (7 point obstacle) and he went 'there' (2 point obstacle) and the whistle didn't go right away because I still could have saved it if I'd brought him back to start the closing (no Super Q of course) but as I stood there going, 'Duh uh which way do I go?' he decided the nearby #3 tunnel looked nice and who cares where the judge wanted me to go, I am so Punk Rock. So that was that.
I've decided to retire him from USDAA because when he was lying down on the table today his rear legs were trembling. I've noticed this in training the table at home, it comes and goes and sometimes is a lot of trembling, sometimes very little or none at all. It's the first time it's been that bad in a trial and I don't want to ask him to go through that again. I don't know what it's about whether a weakness in his rear legs or more likely something up with his back and I doubt it's painful but I can't ask him to do something that might bring it on. Every trial I watch him carefully and look for signs from him that it's time to stop trialing and today felt like he was telling me loud and clear. I'll still run him in DOCNA where there is no table and he can jump 16" because otherwise he looked great this weekend, perfect weaves, confident on the contacts, nice jumping, no stress. But no more USDAA. Yeah it's disappointing not to get the big bad title but it felt good to get so close and I can hardly be disappointed overall with his agility career. He's the first dog I ever seriously trained for anything and he was not the easiest first dog ever but he taught me so much and each little milestone along the way felt so huge and satisfying. Those last 2 missing Q's seem so insignificant in the face of how far he came.
As for Lola, she had a mostly fabulous weekend. She and her Pairs partner had lovely clean runs and took first place finishing up her Pairs title (yay! no more pairs!!!). She also picked up another Snooker Q with a wonderful run. She almost had her first Masters Standard Q on Saturday with a beautiful run but she missed the dogwalk contact. I even got her to lie down on the table and I'll write more about that later when I'm not so tired. Thanks for the table suggestions in the comments below, BTW. Today's Standard run started with her running circles around the table and refusing to get on. I got her on and got her down but she got up after 3 seconds and I decided that was enough of that torture. We were both a bit rattled after that and the run went downhill from there. And yes, she blew another dogwalk contact. Darn it, she was near perfect for 4 days at DOCNA Champs. Argh. But overall she was a dream to run this weekend, my timing with her was good and she was happy and full of herself.
I experimented a bit with running the various courses different ways with the different dogs, using a rear cross for Cody and a front for Lola. Both places that I tried to force a front with Lola did not work out so great. I pulled them off but I was way late. Hard to say if the rears would have been any better with her or if the fronts would have been better if I hadn't been so late. It was fun to play around with it though.
The one really bad part of the weekend was my knee. It was sore Saturday night despite icing it twice. Tonight I can't straighten it. I will spare you the moaning about the pain. I even broke down and took some Vitamin I. Was eyeing up the leftover Vicodyn but decided I'd rather suffer (cue violins). I'll stay off it as much as I can tomorrow and ice it a bunch and hopefully will be back to dog walking duties on Tuesday. Getting old is a blast.
The main thing I was hoping for this weekend was for Cody to finish his Perf. ADCH with a Super Q in Snooker and a Standard Q. I wish I had some great story to tell full of drama about how he pulled it all off despite the issues he's been having with the table . The reality though is that he had a beautiful Standard run going on Saturday, jumped on the table then jumped right off and ran into a tunnel, which was a nice thought and the correct obstacle if only he'd bothered to do the table first. I did get him to lie down and we immediately left the ring where I made up for all the celebrating I did not do on New Year's Eve. On Sunday he once again had a beautiful Standard run going and did in fact lie down on the table and hold it for what seemed like 9 million years and I was SO sure we had it but then the stinker blew the dogwalk contact. The dogwalk was heading into a wall which may have been part of the problem but with Cody who can tell. After that I was a bit distracted and late with a front cross causing an off course. Snooker was a perfect course for Cody, a tunnel/jump combo for the 7 and an obvious easy, flowy course for getting all three 7's. The unfortunate thing is that there is no strategy involved, only speed but I thought we still had a chance if I got some tight turns and pushed for speed. Also the pressure was off since he'd already blown his Standard runs. He could still pick up his Snooker title (and the next Snooker title too I think) but I didn't care all that much about it. In the end it didn't matter because after the third red I told him 'here' (7 point obstacle) and he went 'there' (2 point obstacle) and the whistle didn't go right away because I still could have saved it if I'd brought him back to start the closing (no Super Q of course) but as I stood there going, 'Duh uh which way do I go?' he decided the nearby #3 tunnel looked nice and who cares where the judge wanted me to go, I am so Punk Rock. So that was that.
I've decided to retire him from USDAA because when he was lying down on the table today his rear legs were trembling. I've noticed this in training the table at home, it comes and goes and sometimes is a lot of trembling, sometimes very little or none at all. It's the first time it's been that bad in a trial and I don't want to ask him to go through that again. I don't know what it's about whether a weakness in his rear legs or more likely something up with his back and I doubt it's painful but I can't ask him to do something that might bring it on. Every trial I watch him carefully and look for signs from him that it's time to stop trialing and today felt like he was telling me loud and clear. I'll still run him in DOCNA where there is no table and he can jump 16" because otherwise he looked great this weekend, perfect weaves, confident on the contacts, nice jumping, no stress. But no more USDAA. Yeah it's disappointing not to get the big bad title but it felt good to get so close and I can hardly be disappointed overall with his agility career. He's the first dog I ever seriously trained for anything and he was not the easiest first dog ever but he taught me so much and each little milestone along the way felt so huge and satisfying. Those last 2 missing Q's seem so insignificant in the face of how far he came.
As for Lola, she had a mostly fabulous weekend. She and her Pairs partner had lovely clean runs and took first place finishing up her Pairs title (yay! no more pairs!!!). She also picked up another Snooker Q with a wonderful run. She almost had her first Masters Standard Q on Saturday with a beautiful run but she missed the dogwalk contact. I even got her to lie down on the table and I'll write more about that later when I'm not so tired. Thanks for the table suggestions in the comments below, BTW. Today's Standard run started with her running circles around the table and refusing to get on. I got her on and got her down but she got up after 3 seconds and I decided that was enough of that torture. We were both a bit rattled after that and the run went downhill from there. And yes, she blew another dogwalk contact. Darn it, she was near perfect for 4 days at DOCNA Champs. Argh. But overall she was a dream to run this weekend, my timing with her was good and she was happy and full of herself.
I experimented a bit with running the various courses different ways with the different dogs, using a rear cross for Cody and a front for Lola. Both places that I tried to force a front with Lola did not work out so great. I pulled them off but I was way late. Hard to say if the rears would have been any better with her or if the fronts would have been better if I hadn't been so late. It was fun to play around with it though.
The one really bad part of the weekend was my knee. It was sore Saturday night despite icing it twice. Tonight I can't straighten it. I will spare you the moaning about the pain. I even broke down and took some Vitamin I. Was eyeing up the leftover Vicodyn but decided I'd rather suffer (cue violins). I'll stay off it as much as I can tomorrow and ice it a bunch and hopefully will be back to dog walking duties on Tuesday. Getting old is a blast.
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