FRAC DOCNA

Strummy and I had a DOCNA trial last weekend.  Very small entry thanks to some big AKC trial in Denver, one of those deals where they have the beauty contest and the agility on the side and who knows what all else.  In any case it made for short, fast paced days at the DOCNA trial which is just how I like them.  On Sunday I was able to sleep in, get 3 runs in and be home by 11:30, just as the first of the flurries of an incoming snow storm were starting.  That's my kind of agility trial.

I was not so happy with the courses though, especially when Sunday's courses were slight variations of Saturday's courses.  I know, every DOCNA trial I bitch about the courses and yet I still enter.  Hard to turn down a trial that's a 17 minute drive though, especially when there are no other trials and not much to do in winter and Strummy loves it so much.

We had some great runs and some not so great.  Several times Strummer flipped away from me to take an off course obstacle.  It's happening more frequently lately and happened at the seminar too.  Tracy said he's very 'subtle', something I've always known and struggled with.  If I don't call his name soon enough to cue convergence and his line takes him over the opposite side of the mid-line of the bar, he continues on his line even if I'm running the other way.  I have to be so precise when I handle him.  This is even more so on the straightforward yee-ha courses.  I have a tendency to abandon him in an effort to keep ahead.  Tracy helped me with this at the seminar but it'll take a while to become more automatic.

Saturday's Runs (Standard, Snakes & Ladders, North American Challenge)



Sunday's Runs (Standard 2 & 3 and Time Gamble)



The flipping away is obvious on the NAC run on Saturday's video (last run on video) and on Standard 2 on Sunday's video (2nd run on video).  The course is nearly the same after the tunnel under the dogwalk and both times he's over the bar on the wrong side of the mid-line and takes the off-course A-frame, after jump 15 on the NAC map and after jump 13 on the Sunday Standard map below.  Saturday's Standard course was nearly identical to Sunday's Standard shown below and after going off course in the NAC I did call him to cue convergence and he got the turn no problem so on Sunday I was sloppy about it and once again he was off course onto the A-frame.

This could very well be our last DOCNA trial.  Strum turns 10 next month and is showing no signs of slowing down (he won one of his Standard classes by about 14 seconds and I believe was fastest dog of all heights/divisions) but you never know.  I'll probably skip the 2 summer DOCNA trials.  Last year the August trial had the same exact courses as the year before and I can't be bothered losing a summer weekend of training and/or fun in the mountains to risk doing the same course 3 years in a row.  It's not the judge's fault and DOCNA has really been phoning it in lately with the courses with them being either the same courses we've run before or very similar and similar courses within a weekend.  Money and time in the summer are too precious to squander on these repetitive courses so our next possible DOCNA will be in November when we're back indoors and there's nothing else on the schedule.  Provided Strummy is still running by then.

In the meantime our next trial is USDAA in March in a couple few weeks.  I wasn't going to enter because there's always a big spring snow storm and I either have to eat my entry or I end up spending money on a hotel when I live just over an hour away.  I hemmed and hawed and finally decided not to go but yesterday I was lamenting not having a trial until May when I got an email from someone last night looking for a last minute team.  In general my motto is, 'When in doubt say yes' so I agreed.  At least the club has a cheap hotel rate of $64 with the La Quinta so if I get stuck down there it's not too bad of an expense and the hotel is nice, I stayed there last year.  Should be fun and I'm looking forward to it - Team and Biathlon, my favorites.

We were able to sneak in a fun agility practice yesterday with our training partner before the incoming snow storm.  People get so wound up about storms around here and I'm guessing it'll be about 8 inches, not so atypical for the Denver area in February.  So funny coming from Chicago and seeing how people let the media wind them up about snow.  I made the mistake of stopping at the store at noon on my way home yesterday and wow, it was like Christmas, I had to drive around the lot to get a parking spot and I thought a fight was going to break out at one point.  You would think the Zombie Apocalypse was coming.

MEX Strummer

Mr. Guaranteed Personality finished up his MEX this past Saturday.  This is DOCNA's Championship Title, like ADCH or MACH.

Obligatory photo with judge

Crazy Pants did not want to sit still for the camera.  Crazy Pants doesn't want to sit still for much of anything.  In fact he broke his start line first class of the morning on Sunday and I marched him out of the ring for the first time ever.  In fact it's the first time I've ever marched a dog out of the ring for anything.  Felt bad but his start line is beginning to erode and I can't have that.  I wondered if he understood why he was leaving but he held his start perfectly for his next two runs and at the practice jump so I guess it was the thing to do.

His final MEX run was an uninspiring Standard run, I saw the judge's arm go up for the dogwalk so I thought we had a fault and decided to experiment with rear crossing the weaves which did not go well but is not a fault in DOCNA.  It wasn't until I was leashing up Strummer that I happened to hear the scribe question the judge about the dogwalk and found out Strum did get a rear foot in and the judge took back the fault so we were clean.  Then there was the horrifying leap from the apex of the down ramp of the dogwalk on his victory lap.  The best part of the video is Strummy's training partner sticking his nose through the fencing at the end to congratulate him.  I put his NAC run on the video as well since it was a fun run and fast.  He dropped the last bar probably because it was a double heading into a congested area where equipment was stacked against a wall.  I think he just balked a little jumping into it.  But it's still a Q in the NAC and he ended up in 1st.

NAC and Standard MEX run
Strummer's MEX Run and NAC from colliebrains on Vimeo.


It was a tiring trial even though I'd only signed up for 3 runs per day because I'd had 4 straight days of mountain biking in Eagle and Fruita (over 4 hours drive) before the trial.  We were having our roof replaced and I thought it would be best all the way around if we took a mini vacation.  Of course roof had some major issues and they ran a half day late but dogs were mostly o.k. today with the noise and people.  Tomorrow we start with the re-tile of the bathroom project which will be super fun since it's our only bathroom.  Thankfully the Rec Center is only 5 minutes away and I can shower there but sheesh what a pain.

Now to recover for USDAA Regionals starting on Friday.

Arctic Cold, Hot Tamales and a Little DOCNA

I suppose the week and a half of single digit high temps. with -12 wind chill is news to no one so I wont' dwell too much on that.  In general the cold doesn't bother me that much but a week and a half?  And you know it's cold when your wattle bottle explodes in your hand as it did on Saturday morning while I had breakfast in the car before the DOCNA trial.

My first thought was, 'Wow, that was so cool.'  My second thought was, 'Darn it, my underwear is wet and I have to spend the day in a cold horse arena.'  As was my pants and my running tights underneath my pants.  Strangely enough this is not the first time I've had wet pants at an agility trial (went hiking in the rain at Devil's Tower during some down time at NADAC Champs) so I knew what to do.  Hit up the hand dryers in the bathroom and thankfully the hand dryers at Boulder County Fairgrounds are super sonic rocket powered, the kind that dry your hands in 3 seconds.  Also thankfully this was a small trial so I didn't have to explain to too many people why I was holding my undies under the hand dryer.  Crisis was averted and I spent the day being grateful for dry drawers.

Despite the single digit temps. outside the arena was heated and not too bad inside.  Not toasty warm but I was fine in my many warm layers, was even o.k. scribing with no gloves.  Strummer was very glad to have a place to stretch his legs out since the most we'd been able to manage in the past week of -12 wind chill were some short 40 minutes leash runs in his much hated coat and booties.  I was happy to get out of the house as well, I think we were all going a little stir crazy.

I only signed up for 3 runs per day - Gamblers, Standard and the NAC (Grand Prix type class) - so my days were short, done by noon both days which was perfect.  Enough to be fun but not so much that I was dragged out tired at the end of the weekend.

Lots of nice stuff from Strummer but every run but one seemed to have some small glitch - a knocked bar on one standard run, a missed dogwalk on another.  Some run-bys and refusals and another of the dreaded 'run across my feet after the A-frame' moments that were all caused by me being behind.  Not sure why I was behind, maybe Strum was going faster than normal due to the cold.  I got video of 2 runs, our one clean Standard run and the NAC which had an off course tunnel again due to me being behind and a knocked bar.

DOCNA Standard and NAC Runs Dec 7 2013 from colliebrains on Vimeo.

That 180 degree turn to the tunnel off the dogwalk was especially happy making for me.  That particular turn is often a challenge for us.

This should be the last of the crappy Flip video, my new GoPro camera came yesterday.  I shot some quick test footage of the dogs in the yard and it was awesome quality, can't wait to play around with it.  It was funny, I handed my Flip to someone to tape me at the trial and she said, 'A Flip camera?!'  I know, I'm so Old School but I'm finally moving on.

Chipping away at his Champ title,  just 2 Standard Q's left.  Mathematically it was possible to have gotten it this past weekend and I tried to use that as motivation to get myself a little wound up because I do better with a bit of pressure but I can't say I felt any different.  Can't get too excited about titles especially when I know we'll get it eventually.  I like running in DOCNA because Strummer loves to stretch out and run and there is some challenge in trying to keep up because I haven't trained any distance cues but the courses aren't very technically challenging.  Saturday's Standard and NAC courses were at least a little bit interesting but Sunday's Standards were back to the old pinwheels and tunnel flips.  Didn't enter any Jumpers runs and will continue not to enter them until I see some interesting courses start to pop up.

Best part of this trial though is the indoor Farmer's Market in an adjacent building.  Came home with red butter lettuce for me, goat bones for the dogs and the most awesomest tamales ever.  Got some extra for the freezer.  I'll need something to keep me warm if this winter is going to as long and cold as it's starting out.


Final Stats

Specialist Standard Saturday Q-1st place

1Q, 6 classes (2 Gamblers, 3 Standard, 1 NAC)

Dogwalks

6/10 (60%)

A-frames

7/7  (100%)

Teeters

6/6- 100%

Weave pole entries

7/7? (100%), no pop-outs,  I don't think he missed a weave entry, maybe one in one of his Gamblers runs but I don't think so,  yee ha if I'm remembering it correctly because it'll be the first time ever with 100% and no pop-outs on the weave poles

Bars down = 2

FRAT DOCNA November 2013

I know, very creative post title.  A quickie recap of the trial since I didn't do anything for the last 2 USDAA trials.  In general, more boring easy courses, picked up a Q in just about every event, we're now just 3 Standard Q's away from his MEX (Champ title in DOCNA).  Best part of the trial was that he missed the first 2 dogwalks of the trial and got every one after that (7/9=78%), beautiful hits, I practically wept after each one since the last 2 trials were Nightmare on Dogwalk Street.  Part of the success was because I experimented with managing the down ramp a bit by turning into him and decelerating as he approached and came down the down ramp.  I know, I know, NOT what you're supposed to do but I'm that desperate for some dogwalk success in the ring.  He's 8 1/2 years old and training seems to have little impact.  I am going to work through some things from Silvia's video on running contacts but it's so not on the top of my to do list at the moment.  Won't always be able to manage it of course, it's a band-aid fix for the moment and also helps get some success that I can mark in the ring.

We also got our Nationals qualifier for next year.  Nat's. is in Grand Junction and it's the weekend after Xterra Nationals so technically I could do both but we'll see.  Not sure I want to drive 4 1/2 hours for a bunch of boring pinwheels.  But at least I know I can go if I want.  Not sure about Xterra Nat's. either.  Oh, who am I kidding?  But that debate is for another post.

Got some video, I'll post a couple of runs.

Standard, Q and 1st place



Jumpers, Q and 1st place, 6.11 yps

FRAT DOCNA Specialist Jumpers from colliebrains on Vimeo.

I know, Nightmare on Pinwheel Street.  I hadn't entered Jumpers for this trial but they were taking 'day of' entries and since they were running Jumpers in another ring throughout the day I thought what the heck.  Strummer had fun though the course was annoying.

I've got a couple of USDAA trials coming up and another DOCNA trial in a few weeks but mostly I'm looking forward to a Rosanne DeMascio seminar this weekend.  I'm not in charge of the seminar this time which is a relief though to be honest it wasn't that big of a deal.  Still, happy to be able to show up and run without worrying about anything else.  Only doing one day, a four hour session of International Handling and 4 hours of jumping.  Really really enjoyed her last time she was here and excited for the weekend.  Going on a 'flood tour' on Sunday of some flood damaged open space areas that are still closed to the public and will remain so for the long term.  Should be interesting.

Final Stats

Specialist Standard Saturday Q-1st place

Specialist North America Challenge Saturday Q - 2nd place (knocked a bar)

Specialist Traditional Gamblers Saturday Q - 1st place

Specialist Jumpers Sunday Q-1st place, 6.11 yps

No titles that I'm aware of.

4 Q's, 7 classes

Dogwalks

7/9 (78%)

A-frames

6/8 (75%)

Teeters

5/5- 100%

Weave pole entries

3/8 (38%), no pop-outs

Bars down = 2

Somebody Had Fun at DOCNA this Weekend

Somebody actually said to me, 'That's the very definition of a crazy Border Collie'.  And I wasn't even coming off the agility field, I was cooling him down with the hose.  Strummer loves hoses.  I think they might be his favorite thing ever.  Loves them more than food and agility.  It was hot this weekend so he got plenty of hose time.  Stinker even went charging out of the ring to the hose at the end of his run.  I was not amused and he did not get to play that time.  Hard to believe he's 8 1/2 years old.

Whee Ha!

About the last thing I need sandwiched between  all my races is an agility trial on a hot August weekend.  But our last trial was at the beginning of July and our next wasn't going to be until Labor Day and I get too rusty if I go that long without competing.  In fact, 6 weeks was already clearly too long and I was plenty rusty.  And Strummer was plenty off his head despite the heat.

I only entered 2 classes each day in the morning so we could avoid the worst of the heat.  I ended up adding a Jumpers run on Sunday because we were there anyway and Strummer loves those wide open Jumpers courses even if I'm bored out of my brains with the pinwheels, serps and generally boring DOCNA Jumpers courses.  I decided to try an ambitious forward send out to a jump so I could get into position for a blind cross and he pulled off.  Oh well, it's good information about his commitment point at the moment.  And I did get the blind in no problem.

On the good side he got 2/3 of his dogwalks and a Q and 1st place in Strategic Time Gamble which is 10 Gamblers Q's and finishes off some title or another I think as well as the Gamblers part of his MEX.  Only needs 4 standard runs to finish off his MEX and we didn't get any this weekend.  Missed his dogwalk on Saturday and popped the weaves, knocked a bar and had a spectacular teeter fly-off on Sunday.  Didn't think it was possible to NQ the impossibly easy courses but we found plenty of ways.

Most if not all of the weave pole entries were coming out of tunnels and Strum blew all but one.  Sheesh.  And 2 naughty teeters.  Double sheesh.  Because I've got weaves, teeter and dogwalk/table plank set up in the back yard and we've been practicing several times a day all week.  He was nailing some difficult weave entries and finally starting to have some super nice teeters.  Trouble is my yard is too small to get any kind of speed going and this makes all the difference in obstacle performance for Strummer.  I tried to go to the field first thing in the morning before it got too hot twice last week but other people were there or showed up right after me both times so I left without getting any practice in.  Even came back after 50 minutes and one lady was still there drilling her poor dog in the heat and another lady had shown up so we went swimming at the Rez instead.  Guess I'll have to wait until cooler weather so I can go during the day and avoid the crowds.

While Strum had a grand old time I was on the 'meh' side all weekend.  Courses weren't very exciting (trying to put that as politely as I can) and I wasn't all that motivated.  We've been having an awesomely cool summer, unseasonably cool temps. in the 60's and 70's and of course the one weekend I enter an outdoor trial the temps. shoot up to the low 90's so I was a bit foggy in the heat.  The one good thing was that I ran in 3 classes, worked 2 classes and was done by 10:45 a.m. on Sunday.  Was done by 1:00 or so on Saturday.  Didn't sign up for the afternoon runs because I knew there was a chance it would be hot or there'd be early afternoon thunderstorms. 

I guess he had at least one good teeter.

I think I must have been cueing the weaves here.

Hopefully I can get out to the practice field at some point before our USDAA trial over Labor Day weekend.  I predict a lot of tunnel to weave pole exercises in our future.  I'll think I'll be a lot more motivated by then as well, signed up for Masters Challenge Standard and 2 Snooker and Jumpers courses, my favorites.  And it's on the springy, rubbery turf stuff that Strum did well on last year so that will be fun.  Regionals will be at the same place in May so it's good to get some practice on it even if it's months and months away.

Big thanks to whoever the nice lady is that took these photos.  I met her at a trial a few months ago but I forget her name.  She takes photos at trials for fun and posts them to Facebook.  I love them all, especially the A-frame.  Was glad to see he had a good solid teeter too.  For some reason I thought they were all iffy.

Can't be bothered with the stats.  In short, got only 1 weave entry, missed all the others and popped out during his Standard run.  2/3 dogwalks.  Naughty fly-off teeters.  Got all his A-frames.  1 knocked bar.  No off courses except for the gamble portion of the Traditional Gamble. 

Jaded at the DOCNA Trial

The good news about the weekend is that Strummer had an awesome time, ran so fast and focused and I had a great time running him.  However the courses were so similar to each other and so easy, pinwheel after pinwheel after pinwheel.  Dogwalk to tunnel.  Serpentine.  Sigh.  I know, every trial I have the same complaint and yet I keep going.  I like to trial and I like wide open courses every now and again and if I don't do DOCNA I have only USDAA and it cuts my trials in half.  Giving money to the AKC is out of the question.  So I stay home or suffer the pinwheels.  And Strummer doesn't care, he was so happy, he doesn't care what the course is like.  I think I'm a bit out of step with DOCNA's target market though.

Despite the easy courses we had only one Q in Jumpers because it was a woesome weekend for the dogwalk, only 2/7 dogwalk hits and those were in Gamblers.  Two standard runs had the exact same dogwalk challenge and I practiced it in 2 Gamblers runs so I had the wonderfully frustrating experience of 4 dogwalk misses on the exact same challenge.  And it wasn't even challenging.  And the other miss was the dreaded 180 degree turn off the dogwalk towards you to a tunnel under the dogwalk.  So 5 dogwalk misses on only 2 different challenges.  At least he was consistent and I know what I need to practice.

Everything else was nearly perfect though, 6/7 weave entries, no knocked bars, 6/6 hits on the A-frame.  Strum had some beautiful runs despite the dogwalk madness.

Saturday Jumpers and Standard

DOCNA 2-9-2013 JUMPERS STANDARD from colliebrains on Vimeo.


Sunday 2 rounds of Standard and Time Gamble

DOCNA STANDARD 1 & 2, TIME GAMBLE from colliebrains on Vimeo.


When I saw Sunday's course maps and noticed that about half of one of the Standard runs was exactly the same as the day before and saw a pinwheel in both courses I lost a bit of enthusiasm for the day.  I handled one run using rear crosses instead of the more comfortable for me front crosses and it was good to practice something different but otherwise I was feeling bored with the course challenges.  Maybe a bit jaded with DOCNA in general.  I was planning on going to a DOCNA trial in April to fill a hole in my trialing schedule but we'll see.  Maybe I'll give it one more chance.  There isn't another DOCNA trial until August so I would have plenty of time to start missing it again.  So looking forward to USDAA and the Masters Challenge classes next month.

At least the heat was working and the arena was plenty toasty and the 3-6" of snow predicted for Saturday night never materialized.  I was done with my 3 runs by 2:15 on Saturday and 12:45 on Sunday and the trial was only 20 minutes away so there are some good things about DOCNA trials close to home.  Now if only I could get the dust out of my lungs.  Only one more dirt arena trial until next October.

Trial Stats

Specialist Jumpers Q, 1st place

Dogwalks:  2/7 (28%) 

A-frames:  6/6 (100%)

Weave entries:  6/7 (86%)  no pop outs

Knocked bars:  None

Teeters:  5/5 (100%)

Refusals:  None

2 Off courses:  1 in Standard, I let off handling at an easy tunnel/A-frame discrimination after he'd missed his dogwalk, 1 in another Standard round, Strum flipped into the tunnel off the dogwalk rather than doing the turn towards me for the tunnel entrance under the dogwalk.

Almost Perfect DOCNA Weekend

I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful weekend.  Weather was sunny with temps. in the 60's, maybe even 70 on Sunday, a wonderful indoor Farmers/Holiday Market next door to the trial and the little Stinkbutt managed to Q on 8/9 runs, got 8/9 dogwalks and missed only one weave pole entry.  The only run he didn't Q on was Traditional Gamblers and it was a difficult sort of gamble for him, something we don't train and not a lot of people Q'ed anyway.  But he had a fabulous opening and I didn't feel the least bit bad about missing the gamble.  The rest of the runs were focused and fast and fun.  A few handling blips on my part but nothing bad enough to cause an off course (except for an accommodating run I was doing for Trigility).  Not sure what else to say about the weekend other than I was thrilled. 

And I had fabulous homemade tamales on Sat. and crepes on Sun. from the Farmer's Market.  This is one of my favorite trials because I always get a wonderful lunch.  And the bonus of a friend unexpectedly dropping in to watch.  I came out of the ring after one of my Standard runs and there she was.  She had been at the Farmer's Market and saw the dogs warming up outside so she came in the arena building and happened to come in right in the middle of one of our runs.  What are the chances of that?

Somebody else had some big fun too (photo from USDAA Nationals)

There was even a tricky part to one of the Standard courses:

The tricky part was the line of jumps after the #13 tunnel through 18.  I tried to do a perpendicular rear cross between 16 and 17 but I think I rushed it a bit and was too far ahead, stopped too soon and didn't show enough motion for the #17 jump so Strum stalled a bit but he got it eventually.  The only people who I noticed had a smooth run through there were folks with little dogs who put a front in between 16 and 17.  I thought about a front there but didn't like the line it set for 17 to 18 since I'd have to push a bit to get the turn between 16 and 17. 

Jumpers was uneventful.  Yet more pinwheels into pinwheels with a little bit extra challenge provided by a box.

Here's some video of a few runs from Saturday for the course maps shown above.  No video at all from Sunday since I was 2nd-3rd dog on the line all day and didn't have time to ask people to tape me.

DOCNA JUMPERS, STANDARD, SNAKES from colliebrains on Vimeo.


After the embarrassment of riches from the weekend I decided to check Strum's records to see how far we were from his MEX (DOCNA's version of ADCH, MACH, NATCH, etc.).  Last time I checked it seemed like we were half way there, especially in Standard but after this weekend he needs only 1 Gamblers and 4 Standard (requirements are 15 Standard, 10 Gamblers, 10 Jumpers).  Not too bad considering we only did 3 DOCNA trials this year and only 1 day of 1 of those trials.  Our next DOCNA trial is in Feb. and they're only offering 3 Standard classes so even with 100% Q rate we can't finish it then.  The next DOCNA trial I have planned after that isn't until August and the next after that in October so it could easily be another year until he gets his MEX but it's funny to think he's so close.  There are a couple more DOCNA trials in May and July but I wasn't planning on them for various reasons and the MEX isn't enough incentive to get me to go since we're in no hurry.

Final Stats

 Specialist Standard 1 Saturday Q - 1st place

 Specialist Snakes and Ladders Saturday Q - 1st place

Specialist Jumpers Saturday Q-1st place

Specialist Standard 2 Sunday Q - 2nd place

Specialist Standard 3 Sunday Q - 1st place

Specialist Time Gamble Sunday Q - 1st place

Specialist Jumpers Sunday Q-2nd place

Specialist Sunday Trigility Q - 2nd place


Titles

Specialist Jumpers Agility Merit Award (10 Jumpers legs)

Bronze Specialist Trigility Merit Award (earned at last trial in October)


Obstacles

Dogwalks
8/9 (89%)

A-frames
10/10 (100%)

Teeters
9/9 - 100%, though the first one of the day was iffy

Weave pole entries
7/8 (88%), 1 missed entry, my fault, handling error, no pop-outs

1 bar down - my fault, handling error in Gamblers

No off courses (except an accommodating run for Trigility, came over the A-frame and was supposed to flip to a tunnel but put a few paws back on the A-frame before eventually going in the tunnel)

FRAT DOCNA Trial

A nice weekend for Strum and me, nice smooth runs, a great site with wonderful cushy matting, and that easy breezy low key atmosphere at your typical DOCNA trial.  Not too many opportunities to try anything too fancy pansty but a fun weekend for Strummer no less.  He loves to let loose on those flowy open courses.

High points were a couple of nice Jumpers runs where Strum did such a nice job of collecting, sending ahead, reading my turning cues, and generally being awesome.  But sheesh, yet more courses that were just pinwheel to 360 to pinwheel.  Lots of running down a straight line of jumps and a box to negotiate but otherwise nothing too crazy.  No wraps so no chances to practice a Ketscher.

Jumpers Round 1

Jumpers Round 2, the reverse of Round 1

Jumpers 1 & 2 with some goth music in honor of Halloween.  And yes I know it's after Sisters of Mercy went all crappy, poppy, commercial but I don't have any of the cool old school stuff on mp3.  And this particular song is a guilty pleasure.

DOCNA SPECIALIST JUMPERS, OCT. 2012 from colliebrains on Vimeo.



Another high point was that Strum got 3/4 of his dogwalks including both Standard runs.  Unfortunately he had uncharacteristic off courses in tunnels for both runs.  Round 1 he did that weird thing of running across my feet to take the least obvious entrance.  This mysteriously cropped up in a practice session several months ago.  He seems so sure of himself when he does it, I'm sure he's interpreting a cue in some way.  Wish I knew what he was cueing off of.  Round 2 was probably a case of me rotating too slowly out of a front cross and he took off for the wrong tunnel while my shoulders were facing it coming out of the cross.  Hard to say from the video and during the run I was shocked to have lost him so I'm not sure exactly what happened.  Otherwise some nice runs, especially Round 2 where I managed to hustle up a straight line to get a front cross in a couple of jumps after the A-frame.

Standard 1

Standard 2

Standard Rounds 1 & 2 and Strategic Time Gamble.  Missed that stupid time gamble by .08 seconds.  If only I hadn't stepped on my poor dog and caused a face plant.  Was a nice run otherwise and he got his dogwalk.

2012 DOCNA OCT STD TIME GAMBLE from colliebrains on Vimeo.



And here's our Snakes and Ladders run, perfect except for the missed dogwalk.  I'm mostly posting it because I found a cool version of Rocket Man performed by a band formed by This American Life from the classifieds for the purpose of doing just the one song.  The musicians included and indie rock drummer/bassist, a theremin player, jazz singer, acid funk guitarist, electric violinist, you get the picture.  Little Stinker got all his weave entries, over the moon about that.

DOCNA SNAKES & LADDERS OCT 2012 from colliebrains on Vimeo.

In all a fun weekend.  The indoor arena at Denver Dog Sports was so nice, felt great to go home without hacking up lungfuls of dirt and I love the cushy surface.  Strum's first 2 runs were a little crazy but it's hard to say if it was due to getting used to the springy surface or due him running his monkeys out.  After those first couple of runs though he settled in and ran so nicely on that surface.

The site is very near the site for USDAA Nationals so I knew where all the good food places were and I had a good lunch both days which always helps with energy levels.  Didn't have that exhausted feeling waking up Monday morning.  Plus I was done with my 4 runs by 2:30 or so on Sunday.  Hope they use this site again next year.

Next 4 trials are only 20 minutes from my house at Boulder County Fairgrounds, alternating USDAA and DOCNA one per month.  Such a relaxing thought after all the running around I did that past 2 months.

Final Stats

Specialist Jumpers Saturday Q-2nd place

Specialist Jumpers Sunday Q-2nd place

Specialist Trigility Q - 1st place

No titles that I'm aware of.

Dogwalks
3/4 (75%)

A-frames
5/5 (100%)

Teeters
 5/5- 100%, though all were iffy, not what I wanted, could have been the particular teeter

Weave pole entries
6/10 (60%), no pop-outs

Bars down
None.  Yay!

Strummer's Perfect Day at DOCNA

Strummer had a great day at FRAT's DOCNA trial today, getting 4/4 Q's, his first ever perfect day.  Well, sort of perfect anyway.  DOCNA doesn't ding you for refusals and you can have 12 faults and still get a Q in the North America Challenge so if your super fast Border Collie decides dogwalk contacts are for sissies you can still qualify for Championships.  And apparently you can tear past the finish jump on your way to the super fun water hose, get halfway there, come charging back into the ring and take the finish jump and still get a Q and 1st place if you're fast enough.

And somebody was fast enough.

On the one hand the courses were easy today.  On the other hand we've had 2 practices in the past 6 weeks since his July 4th trial and probably even less the 6 weeks before that.  And no trials since July 4th.  So I was extra happy with the day.  We're doing Team at USDAA next weekend and I entered one day of this trial so we could work the rust out of our gears so the easy courses were just the ticket.  We had some missed dogwalks, some refusals, a pop-out of the weave poles, an iffy teeter but no off courses, missed A-frames or knocked bars so I feel confident going into next week's trial.

We were done with our 4 runs by 2:00 p.m. and it never got horribly hot, low 80's with a nice stiff cooling breeze.  Can't complain about that in mid-August.  Seemed like there were a whole bunch of people there that I didn't know.  Don't know if they were newbies or folks who only do AKC who were branching out.  This was the case with 2 people sitting near me but not sure about the rest.  Kind of a strange atmosphere for me though.  Some people also having some not so very nice sportsmanship.  Thankfully I only heard about this and didn't hear or see it personally but still I think if you're getting bent out of shape about a placement at a small local DOCNA trial it's maybe time to take a little agility break.  Go enjoy the last few bits of summer left up on the mountains.  Or something.

I did get one run on video, Strum's North America Challenge run.  Despite the missed dogwalk this was  Q and qualifies us for DOCNA Champs in 2013 which will be in Golden again, about 40 minutes from my house.  Funny to think they haven't even had this year's Champs yet and we're already qualified for next year.  Not sure that I'll go but it's nice to know that I have the option and that I won't have to spend any more money on that expensive entry fee.

DOCNA AUG 2012 VER 2 from colliebrains on Vimeo.



Final Stats

Specialist Strategic Time Gamble Q - 2nd place

Specialist Standard Q - 3rd place

Specialist Jumpers Q - 1st place

Specialist North America Challenge Q - 3rd place (5 faults, missed dogwalk)

No titles that I'm aware of.

Dogwalks
2/4 (50%)

A-frames
4/4 (100%)

Teeters
4/4- (100%), though one was iffy

Weave pole entries
4/5 - (80%), one popout near the end of the poles

Bars down
None!

No off courses.

Several refusals.

Fun with DOCNA

Finally some interesting DOCNA courses this past weekend, at least in Standard.  We even had the back side of jump in one Standard course!  Very fun.  I screwed it up by not rotating far enough out of the front cross and sending Strum to the tunnel rather than the #13 dogwalk but still was fun to have the challenge.

 Overall a fun trial and some good stuff from the Strum man.  Nice dogwalks, he only got called on one and while none of them were that horrible outright leap there were some that I wish were nicer but overall good.  All his A-frames were pretty fabulous, didn't get called on any teeters but some weren't so fabulous.  DOCNA is very generous with acceptable teeter performance.  Still struggling with weave poles but he got quite a few this weekend.  Only 2 bars down all weekend and of course they had to be on an otherwise perfect run.  At least they were on the same run. 

Saturday didn't look so great on paper with only 1/5 Q's but really I couldn't complain about any of the runs except Jumpers at the end of a very long day.  It was after 6:00 and the 5th run of the day and both of us were tired.  I pulled him off of one jump then he ran past a jump on a long straight line at the end, something he did more as a baby but if I let up at the end he'll do that sometimes still.  They're talking about eliminating a standard run from February's DOCNA trial so the day won't be so long and if it turns out they can't then I won't enter Jumpers because it's too long of a day and silly for me to run when I'm so tired and out of focus.

We made up for it Sunday though with 4/5 Q's and some really nice runs, 1st places in Standard, Jumpers, and Trigility.

Strummer's 1st place Jumpers run from Sunday

Was happy to pull off that rear cross between #11 and #12.  Maybe practicing those rears is finally paying off.  Otherwise nothing too exciting here, DOCNA's typical pinwheel to serpentine to pinwheel Jumpers course.  At least the Standard courses had some interesting challenges.

Of course the only Standard run I don't have on tape is his perfect 1st place finish but oh well, here's the map anyway.

I put a blind cross between jumps 13 and 14 and it worked great since I was easily able to complete the cross and pick him up on my left before he took off for #13.  It's the only blind cross on a jump that I attempted for the whole trial because it was the only place that seemed a good choice.

The Standard runs I do have video for each have some minor errors, 2 dropped bars on the first video (Standard Rd. 4 map) and Strum misunderstood my flailing arms on the second video (Standard Rd. 1 map) and thought he was supposed to come up on my left after jump 14.  It's tempting to blame that on the blind cross from the other run but this run was before the run with the blind and aside from a few exercises at the seminar I haven't done them at all on a jump.  Was simply a miscommunication.  I don't flail my arms nearly as much as I used to but old habits die hard.  Even Jonny noticed it on the tape and thought it was confusing to the poor dog.

Standard Runs

Overall I'm pleased but definitely room for improvement.  So much snow and cold right now though, don't think the practice field will be clear anytime soon.  We were supposed to get 1-2" of snow on Friday night and I woke up to 4-5" in my yard and it was still snowing.  Almost rolled over in bed thinking I didn't want to drive but it's only 18-20 mins. to Boulder County Fairgrounds on a good day so I decided to chance it.  Roads were fine, just snow packed so I drove nice and slow and thankfully the few other drivers out on the road didn't do anything stupid so it was no problem, about 33-34 mins. and I was there.  I walked Strummer around the grounds before the trial started and the snow was all sparkly and magical.  I don't mind it if I don't have to drive in it.  It stayed in the 20's all day but the sun came out and the ground was so warm, was shorts weather a couple days ago, so the roads were clear for the drive home.  Thankfully my Jan. and Feb. trials are also at Boulder County Fairgrounds so it's not a long drive if it does snow.

I had a dinner party on Saturday night after that long long day, was so tired and was late to the party but I couldn't miss the 2nd Annual Soup Off.  Last year the competition was casual with no voting or prizes but this year we had official ballots and prizes.  There was some controversy over the scoring and some possible shenanigans from the Russian judge but after the smoke cleared Jonny took 1st place in the vegetarian category for his Sweet Potato Chipotle soup.  Was too spicy for me but I gave him high marks anyway.  Was a very fun night with our mountain biking friends but I didn't have time to shower and felt obliged to explain my grubbiness and (hopefully) faint aroma of horse arena.  Everybody else scrubbed up nicely and dressed all fashion forward but they forgave me, at least to my face anyway.  I only made it until 9:30 though then pure exhaustion set in and I had to make my apologies and go home.  I think the only reason I was able to get up at all on Sunday morning was that I jolted awake from a bad nightmare about the dogs and couldn't have gone back to sleep if I tried.

Somebody at the trial asked me if Strummer was neutered which I thought was a strange question at first.  When I told oh hells to the yes he is neutered she was disappointed and I realized she wanted to breed one of her dogs to him.  I told her it's just as well, he's crazy and she said she likes crazy.  But still.  I love Strummer to pieces, wouldn't part with him for the world and I love his personality but I'm telling you, the world is not big enough for any more Strummers.  Plenty of fast Border Collies that would make great agility dogs sitting in rescue anyway, no need to pump out any more onto the planet.

There was a winter Farmer's Market/holiday gift market going on in another building next door to the arena and on Sunday someone reminded me about the awesome tamales from last year.  Mmmm, vegetarian spinach tamales, sooo good on a freezing winter's day.  I brought some into the stands to watch the Starters class and soon everyone left to go get their own they smelled so good.  Have to remember that for both days next year.

Next trial is USDAA in January.  It'll be my first time ever entering the Tournament events in the Championship division - very exciting.  Otherwise we're back in Starters.  Not very exciting.  Now if only the snow would melt so I can get back to the dogwalk and weave poles.

Final Stats

Specialist Traditional Gamblers Saturday Q-2nd place

Specialist Standard Sunday Q-1st place

Specialist Strategic Time Gamble Q - 3rd place

Specialist Trigility Q - 1st place

Specialist Jumpers Q - 1st place

No titles that I'm aware of.

Dogwalks
4/5(80%)

A-frames
100%, not sure how many we did, somewhere between 8-10

Teeters
7/7 - 100%, though some were close

Weave pole entries
Can't remember exactly.

Bars down
2 bars down, both in the same run one right after the other.

October DOCNA Trial

I'm a bit behind on posting a report for this trial.  Was in Chicago last week with no internet except for phone internet and do not even get me started on the frustrations of phone internet.  How do people stand it?  I could barely answer the emails I had to answer, took me half an hour to type 2 sentences.  Anyway all the blogging I had planned went right out the window.

Highlight of the trial for me was Sunday's Standard run.  Got called on the dogwalk but still it was fun, 5.32 yps, fastest run in the entire class.  And also the North America Challenge at the end of the day, got a Q and took 1st place.  I had to do a double take at the yps though since it seemed slow at 4.56 yps but when I watched the video I realized I had some wasted time at an A-frame/tunnel turn and a wide turn somewhere else.  Still was a fun run and we're qualified for DOCNA Champs in 2012 in Golden if Xterra Nationals doesn't work out.  Nice to have that to fall back on and would be a good warm-up for USDAA Nat's. so I was pleased to get those Q's.  We also had a clean run in Saturday's NAC so we've even got an extra Q and it was some kind of NAC title.

NAC and Standard runs


Was happy to discover some new music yesterday, a new album by a band called Banner Pilot.  Song on the video is Spanish Reds.  Finally some new music for me even if it sounds like Jawbreaker circa the mid-90's.  At least I've stepped out of the 80's.

I fell down hard in Saturday's Jumpers at a pinwheel to serpentine section that was identical to something we had in the Finals at Champs that I blundered a little there as well.  It's mostly due to not trusting Strum on a lateral send and being too far behind for the serpentine.  This time around my timing was worse than at Champs and the poor dog took me out at the knees then he got scared when I fell and started running out of the ring.  I called him back though and we finished the course though way over time.  I thought we'd had a great run for the second Jumpers run then saw my score and people told me Strum had run past a jump.  How did I not notice that?  I was so sure I was watching him.  Oh well, was otherwise really nice.

Missed dogwalks caused 2 NQ's (one standard, one Snakes and Ladders).  Still too many missed weave pole entries.  No bars down though, I'm starting to think that footing plays a big part.  Teeters were mostly looking good.  A-frames were perfect.  This is starting to sound like a broken record.

Overall a fun trial.  Still a bit bored with DOCNA courses though.  I've got DOCNA trials in Dec. and Feb. because they're only 20 mins. from my house and nothing else is going on either month but after Feb. I might not do any DOCNA until the end of next year.  Going to focus on qualifying for USDAA Nationals and give myself a break from the pinwheels and serpentines.

Final Stats

Specialist North American Challenge Saturday Q-2nd place (clean run)

Specialist North American Challenge Sunday Q-1st place (clean run)

Specialist Strategic Time Gamble Q - 7th place

Trigility Q - 3rd place

Specialist Gamblers Title

Specialist North America Challenge Title

Qualified for 2012 Champs.

Dogwalks
3/5(60%)  Though I think we got a gift on one of them

A-frames
100%, not sure how many we did, at least 6 or 7

Teeters
7/7 - 100%, though some were close

Weave pole entries
4/8 (50%)  Approx.  Can't remember exactly.

Bars down
No bars down, yee ha.

DOCNA Champs 2011

Overall we had a great Champs, lots of solid improvement over last year.  A puzzling number of bars came down and that happened last year as well so I have to wonder if there's something about the footing that Strummer struggles with.  Though I'll take credit for a bar or two.  He only missed a couple weave pole entries compared to nearly every one last year and his dogwalks were awesome.  He got 4/5 (80%) during Champs, only missed one on Traditional Gamblers where it didn't 'matter'.  He did miss one on his Standard warm-up run and it cost us a Q so the percentage goes down to 4/6 (67%) for the whole weekend but still I was pleased.  Missed only one A-frame out of about a million and that was the last day during the Strategic Time Gamble.  I flung my arm up into the air and sent him flying early off the A-frame.  I think it was the only instance of arm flinging all 4 days though so that was good.

DOCNA Champs is so well organized and well run, it's truly an event designed with the competitor in mind.  I was through with my 4 runs each day by 2:00-3:00 and most days all the runs were done by 4:00-4:30.  The awards were another matter, usually running until 5:00 or so.  There are a lot of awards in DOCNA, in a way it's kind of ridiculous but that's another post for another day.    The most excellent food vendor was back again with wonderful, tasty fresh food and vegetarian options at great prices.  Weather was sunny in the mid-80's again each day but mornings were nice and cool and 2-3 of my 4 runs were in cool to reasonable temps.  I even wore a fleece for Sunday morning's run.

Our best event was Jumpers.  Only one bar down out of 3 runs and we finished 3rd overall compared to last year where we had about a million bars down each run, some off courses and I believe finished DFL.  The courses were once again serps. & pinwheels.  Somehow despite all my practice I still managed to bungle both serpentines a little, even turning into him on one of them which is something I haven't reverted to in ages.  Don't know where that came from.  We were in 2nd place going into the Finals even with the bar down because DOCNA scores Jumpers & Standard as time plus faults for Champs. but I had a few handling bobbles in the Final round and we ended up in 3rd.

Jumpers Rounds 1, 2 and Finals


Standard also went well.  Round 1 was clean and put us in 2nd place with just under a second behind 1st.  But he had a bar down in Round 2 and combined with a refusal and a missed weave entry we ended up 7th overall and missed making Finals by 2.4 seconds.  The absence of any one of those mistakes would have put us in the Finals.   Again a huge improvement over last year.  I was so pleased, especially that he got both dogwalks with nice solid hits.  In fact the missed weave entry was caused by me mentally celebrating the dogwalk and forgetting to verbally cue the weaves in time.

The North America Challenge (like USDAA's Grand Prix) was another lovely run with a beautiful dogwalk with a tricky 180 turn to tunnel (not a flip) with 3 off course options that he had to run past to get the tunnel.  My training partner gave me a great handling tip and it worked a treat.  We had 2 bars down but no other refusals or errors and while I wasn't happy about the bars I was so happy with the run overall.  Last year we had an off course and other errors so this was a big improvement.

Sorry for the red, white and blue tie dye t-shirt fashion disaster nightmare but those were the shirts DOCNA gave us and we were sort of pressured into wearing them for the day.  I was horrified wearing this thing but it's important to pick your battles in life and this one wasn't worth it.

NAC and Standard Rounds 1 and 2

Then there were the games-Snakes and Ladders, Trigility, Traditional Gamblers and Strategic Time Gamble.  We ran Snakes & Ladders and our Jumpers portion of Trigility clean and took 3rd place in both.  Strum did the gamble beautifully in Traditional Gamblers but I wasn't watching my footing and went thundering over the gamble line like a herd of elephants.  I realized as both feet were in the air that I was going over and it must have been a comical scene to see me trying to backpedal mid-air.  Strategic Time Gamble was our worst event.  I flung my arm out during the opening causing the only missed A-frame of the day and sending him not where I intended him to go.  He also missed a weave entry.  Then I added an extra loop trying to waste time and that actually put us over time.  If I'd just left the ring we would have been fine.  Ah well.  It was Sunday morning and I was tired and not with my heart in that run.  Last year it was our best run of the trial.

Games



And what would a Championships be without an obligatory cheesy ribbon photo.  I'm missing our fancy overall Jumpers ribbon because Jonny left after Jumpers taking Strummer with him and I came home later after the awards with a friend.

I love the crazy look on his face, sums him up perfectly.  I should have taken my hat off but oh well.

Even though I'm cranky at the idea of splitting the West Champs into 2 next year and I wasn't planning on going I may rethink it because I had such a great time this year.  If it conflicts with some other event (ie Xterra Nationals) I won't go but it's hard to pass up such a fun event when it's only 40-45 minutes away.

I was tired after 4 days and thankful that Grand Junction isn't that long of a drive.  We finished with the awards at just after 2:00 and even with a long stop for gas and a few pockets of traffic we were home by 6:15 or so.  The leaves are changing late this year so it wasn't as golden driving home through the mountains this year as last but it was still pretty.

This Charming Man

Strum had a pretty good weekend on paper.  Hit all his dogwalks, 5/5, and all his teeters.  Didn't get called on any of his 6 A-frames but on the video it looks like he might have gotten a gift on one of them.  I made a compilation of his dogwalks and most of his A-frames for the running contact freaks.  SO so happy about those dogwalks, first time he's ever hit 100%.  And one of those was at a distance in a gamble!  He was such a Mr. Awesome Pants.


Running Contacts Compilation



He had 5/6 Q's on Saturday (maybe we can forget about the 0/4 Q's on Sunday) and finished up his Specialist (Masters) Jumpers and Standard titles.  He also had only 1 bar down the whole trial and thankfully it was during a run where lots of other stuff went wrong as well.  I think the footing at that trial a couple of weeks ago isn't the best for Strummer.  It's hard packed dirt and while I've trialed there before and never thought of it as being a problem I just can imagine why else he had so many bars down.  In any case I'm glad to see the issue was an anomaly. 


Saturday's Jumpers and Standard Runs



I have video for the North American Challenge and Traditional Gamblers but it's not posted to vimeo yet and it's not all that interesting though he did get a distance gamble with a dogwalk which was something of a miracle.

On the one hand I suppose I should be happy with all the Q's.  On the other hand my goal for the weekend was to have nice smooth runs that were truly clean, ie no refusals or missed weave entries, and we didn't have a single such run.  A refusal here, a missed weave entry there put us out of all the placements for the weekend.  Even our most awesome Trigility team came in 2nd by fractions of a second because I had a refusal in my Jumpers run while teammates ran clean.  Thankfully the 1st place team had my same 2 teammates so I didn't deny them their 1st place, just shifted it to their other team.

Weave entries were iffy on Saturday.  One of them looks like a handling error but the others, I don't know.  No refusals on Sunday but I was tired and came out of the nine zillionth pinwheel of the weekend on a Jumpers run and briefly forgot where to go next.  I hate getting lost, especially during Jumpers.  Then called him a fraction of a second too late and got off course tunnels in both Standard runs.  Mr. McSpeedypants needs to hear his name before he takes off for the jump before the turn.  I had just practiced this on Friday too.  I was tired by Sunday, I didn't finish Saturday's runs until 6 pm and even Strum was tired for once when we got home.  Sunday I left after 4 runs at around 11:30 a.m. and it was a good decision.  Sitting around for 4 hours in the heat for 1 run is not my cup of tea.

Sunday's runs



I know, deliver me from Pinwheel Hell.

Anyway, I was so hoping to have nice smooth runs before Champs. in Sept.  The courses were so easy if not repetitive and tedious.  SO many pinwheels this time.  We can do pinwheels no problem but they're oh so boring.  Especially by the 6th run.  I'm hoping we'll see some more challenging courses at Champs.  And hopefully not so many pinwheels.

I'm starting to wonder if the announcement of an Arizona Champs next year will also effect this year's entry in Grand Junction.  Maybe the AZ folks won't bother to come up this year because they know it'll be in their backyard next year and they'll wait and go to that.  I guess we'll find out in Sept.  I know, I should be bitching to the folks at DOCNA not to you folks but I think they're busy w/ Champs. stuff for this year right now and it seems easier to pick a different agility goal for next year than to kick up a fuss.  There's always something to do on any given weekend.


Final Stats

Specialist Traditional Gamblers Q-6th place (re-did the weave poles due to pop-outs 3 times so lost a lot of points)

Specialist Standard Round 1 Q-4th place (missed weave entry and a spin on a poorly managed rear cross)

Specialist Standard Round 2 Q-5th place (missed weave entry and run by at last jump when I let up at the finish)

Specialist Trigility Q-2nd place (We had a refusal in Jumpers, partners ran clean)

Specialist Jumpers Round 1 Q-4th place (lost time due to a refusal)


Completed Specialist Jumpers Title

Completed Specialist Standard Title


Dogwalks
 5/5 (100% baby!!!)

A-frames
6/6 (100%)  Technically perfect but I think we got a gift on one of them.  All the others looked great though.

Teeters
100% , very happy w/ his teeters

Correct weave pole entries
6/9 (67%)  Three of these were with the weave poles as the first obstacle

Weave pole pop-outs
3/9 (33%)  Popped out on 3 runs

Bars down
Only 1 bar down out of 10 runs, pretty fantastic

DOCNA Prairie Dog Trial

Strummer and I ventured out to the eastern plains for a day of DOCNA fun in the sun.  It got hot, mid-90's, but it was dry and breezy and eventually some cloud cover blew through.  As long as there is Hose, Strummer is happy.  He was a bit subdued with the heat and by that I mean he was sort of approaching a normal fast dog as opposed to a crazy off his head fast dog.  Except for the Strategic Time Gamble which was first class of the day.  He was well off his head for that.  Thankfully I have no video to relive that comedy/tragedy.

Overall he did well though dropped more bars than I'm used to lately.  2/3 on his dogwalk and didn't get called on any A-frames though I saw some gifts from the judge on the video so we'll be working on the A-frame more than I have been which is pretty much not at all.  Missed 2 weave pole entries and uncharacteristically popped out of the weaves on one run.  He did it at practice last week as well.  I have no idea what was going on with the bars.  He dropped one bar in both his Standard runs and the NAC (like USDAA Grand Prix) but kept them all up in both his Jumpers runs.  Nice teeters, at least some training is working.  Seems like I pour so much training time into dogwalks and weaves and we don't get anywhere though 2/3 dogwalks is an improvement.

Standard Runs with slow motion contacts at end


Was mostly happy with the Jumpers runs.  Bars stayed up, my handling was o.k., I was mostly ahead of him.  He had 2 run bys on lateral sends so I'll be going back to basics on those in the next couple of weeks.

Jumpers Runs and NAC

Apparently the contacts had recently been painted with a semi-gloss paint so that could be the cause of his missed dogwalk in the NAC but I'm not prepared to place all the blame on the equipment.  He did have a perfect dogwalk on his first Standard round.

We had the same judge we'll have at Champs and she was nice.  DOCNA courses are the same no matter who the judge is but it's good to know that the judge is nice since it'll be 4 days of showing with her.

Overall a fun day despite the heat and little mistakes here and there.  Was especially pleased with myself for pulling off a Jumpers Q in the heat of the day when I was getting woozy.  I didn't get cranky with the heat either like I did in May.  I think both Strum and I are well acclimated by now.  I don't have air conditioning in my house and I've put in some training sessions in the heat.  I've also taken Strum running with me in the morning when it's starting to get hot towards the middle/end of the run (and by hot I mean 70's).

Next trial is DOCNA in 2 weeks, can't wait.  It could also be hot but there's a lot of nice shade in the park for crating.  I love this particular trial/site so I'm looking forward to it.

I'm not bothering with scanning course maps right now but I will if somebody requests them.  Just leave a note in the comments and I will get to it.


Trial Stats:

Jumpers Specialist Q, 2nd place (lost time due to a run-by)

No titles

Dogwalks
2/3 (67%)  Getting better, I'm going to keep up with my training plan.  Still need to work on tunnel after the dogwalk.

A-frame
6/6(100%)  I'm not counting the 2 the judge didn't call that looked like misses.




Teeters
4/4 (100%)  Teeter getting better



Weaves
3/5 (60%) entries, still struggling with this, no amount of training seems to make a difference
1 pop out between the 9th and 10th poles

Bars down
 3 (one in each Standard run and the NAC)

DOCNA in the Dirt

Still sort of exhausted after a marathon of agility.  Four days of a seminar last weekend then zillions of runs and a late running trial this weekend has taken its toll.  I finished my 5th of 6 runs at around 5:00 pm Saturday and decided to skip Snakes and Ladders and head home.  It was nice to be home in daylight, have a nice dinner with Jonny and take my mind off of dogs and agility with a 'This American Life' DVD from Netflix.  Where I slept through most of it but the one story I happened to stay awake for was about a lady who leaves her crazy OCD husband and becomes a dog agility teacher.  Or maybe I dreamed up that ending, it's hard to say at this point.

My goal for the trial was to have most excellent, perfect handling after the four days of experts helping me with every little aspect of my handling.  O.k., maybe not perfect handling but hopefully some reasonable improvements.  There were so many things for me to work on that came out of that seminar though, I decided to pick just a few to focus on, namely lateral and forward sends and trying not to whip my shoulders around on a pull.  And the big one-keeping an eye on Strummer so I could get my cues out at the exact right moment.  Handling at the speed of Strummer is a rush or a train wreck and things go much better when I keep my eye on him.  But not to the point of spectating, sometimes I have to RUN and know he will follow but still keep him in my sights.  My head is still kind of spinning with all of this.

In general the trial results don't look so great on paper.  Only 2 Standard Q's out of 10 runs and at least one of those Q's was a gift because Strum blew his dogwalk but the judge didn't call it.  The other dogwalk was iffy too.  But I felt like I'd made a little progress in my handling.  I was still doing some stupid things but felt like I was doing a better job of paying attention to where Strum was and getting my cues out at the right time.  One strategy for improving your swim stroke is to pick one thing to improve and focus on drills to fix only that one thing for a month rather than trying to fix a bunch of things at once.  It's a struggle to overcome the old habits that are built into muscle memory and rebuild new ones so I'm trying to be patient with myself, acknowledge the mistakes so I can continue to work on them but not get emotionally upset with myself for not getting it right away.  I feel like Strummy and I are getting oh so close to being a nice team but we're not quite there yet.

Dogwalks were mostly abysmal but I knew that would be the case.  He did have one beautiful, perfect dogwalk on his very last run of the trial that had a dogwalk.  I thought his A-frames were perfect and the judge didn't call any but at least one video shows that he might have missed.  Hard to say for sure from the angle but it wasn't a good solid hit in any case.  And he's still doing weird things with the weave poles though this was probably his best trial yet for getting entries.  His weaving issues came up in the seminar and Mary Ellen was even a little surprised by them but she gave me some things to try.  I'll write more about that later.  And the teeter, ugh, I need to have independence on that stupid teeter.  How many times have I said that?  I've been working a little but bad weather has taken its toll on my obstacle training.  Looks like sun and mid-40's to 60's for the rest of the week so I'll have to get to the training field and my yard may be clear by tomorrow or the next day.

I want to do another detailed write-up but I realize this may be tedious so I'll section it off for those who might not be interested in all the details.  Also, I'm changing the format a little bit from last time.  I'm copying 4 Dog Craziness' idea of putting the course map and video for just one run together rather than combining video for multiple runs into one video file.  I can't find her exact post but I remember liking it when I read it and thinking it was a clear, simple way to look at each run so I'm giving a go.
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NOTE:  In DOCNA, Specialist = Masters.  All courses are Masters level.

SATURDAY

Specialist Jumpers

DOCNA FEB. 2011 JUMPERS SATURDAY from colliebrains on Vimeo.

I was so sure I'd do well on the Jumpers runs after all the work I'd done with my handling at the seminar but I was off course after jump #1 on the first run of the trial.  Strum did beautiful lead out pushes with a 3 or 4 jump lead out at the seminar.  I was able to go to the next part of the course right after I released him and he didn't pull off.  But of course in a trial he pulls off on a 2 jump lead out.  Oh well.  The course was pretty boring, just a bunch of pinwheels.  I'm starting to grow weary with the monotony of DOCNA's courses and it's not the judges' fault.  Ultimately one person reviews them and changes them so they all end up with very similar challenges.  I decided to experiment with some rear crosses.  Not too happy with the second one, I need more practice.  Also I pulled him off jump #10, a bad habit I'm finding hard to break.


Specialist Traditional Gamblers

The blue numbers are the plan I ran, the black #13 was the plan I walked but I knew when I got there that I had too much time left over so I added another loop and was out of  position when the buzzer blew.  Still we had plenty of time for the gamble and he did it but dropped bar #3, one of only 2 bars that he dropped the whole trial.  I was blathering like an idiot for him to 'GO JUMP' and running forward probably waving arms around frantically while he was over the bar so I suppose it's no surprise it came down.  I didn't like the layer at 3 to 4 so I was overhandling.  He did get his A-frame contact very solidly according to several people in the crowd.  Otherwise the run went very smoothly, nice weave entry, I was pleased.  No video.

Specialist Standard #1

DOCNA FEB. 2011 STANDARD 1 SATURDAY from colliebrains on Vimeo.

A very boring course, again the judge had campaigned for more turns but was overruled.  I was surprised to see 4 jumps in a row on a Specialist course.  I was so sure I'd left those behind in Novice.  FC at 5-6 and 8-9, didn't support the push to 10 very well so we had a bobble there.  RC behind the teeter then had a bigger bobble between the teeter and jump 14 because I was behind to support the teeter and he started to head to the tunnel.  I was not at all happy with his dogwalk even though the judge didn't call it.  Hard to say if he had a toe in.

Weaves and A-frame were good.

Still this run was good enough for a Q and 1st place by just .6 seconds.  5.68 yps even with the 2 bobbles, imagine if it had been clean.

Specialist Standard 2

DOCNA FEB. 2011 STANDARD 2 SATURDAY from colliebrains on Vimeo.

Another boring course and this time I have to run for the 4 straight jumps rather than lead out and let him do the work.  Bad dogwalk, Strum thought he was turning into the tunnel but still was pretty bad.  Those turn cues need more proofing.  This was the one run with an iffy A-frame too.  FC from 13 to 14.  Botched the RC from 14 to 15 and I've screwed this same scenario up before so I was trying to pay attention this time.  I got impatient and started the RC too soon and pushed him off the jump.  In retrospect I had plenty of time for a front.  I'll have to set up this simple exercise and practice it both ways.  DOCNA may have repetitive challenges but that doesn't mean I won't keep screwing them up if I don't practice.

Weaves and teeter were very good.  Four jumps in a row turned out to be no problemo.

This run got a Q and 3rd place (a dismal 4.53 yps with all the mistakes) but I wasn't terribly happy with it.

Specialist North American Challenge (similar to USDAA's Grand Prix)

DOCNA FEB. 2011 NAC SATURDAY from colliebrains on Vimeo.

Missed his dogwalk.  Nice solid A-frame though.

Nice teeter though he's looking at me, something else to proof for.  Lateral send at 6 and FC at 7 to 8 were o.k., maybe could have been better to tighten up that turn, maybe not.

Did his weird weave pop out thing and it was only 6 poles.  Then he does his other weird thing of get the entry and look back at me and pop out at the first pole on the long set of poles.  He did this at the seminar too and Mary Ellen was a bit perplexed.  It's always fun when you have problems that stump the experts.  She did have some things to try though and I'll have to give them a go.

Messed up the FC between 15 and 16 or maybe for some reason he was committed to the A-frame.  Pulled it off nicely in the previous Standard run, not sure why it didn't work as well here.  I think I rotated out of the cross a fraction of a second too late and he had his nose pointed to the A-frame.  RC to 17 was easy this time because he was coming at the jump from a better line from the A-frame (I didn't go back to fix the tunnel).


Specialist Snakes and Ladders

I bailed on this, was SO tired and it's not my favorite class.  Staying for the North American Challenge was already a test of endurance and I thought I'd get some rest and save some energy for Sunday.  Also the main reason I enter is to test weaves and aside from the NAC his weaves were looking great.  Also didn't want to give him another chance to do poorly on the dogwalk.

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SUNDAY

Specialist Strategic Time Gamble

No video.

The numbers show the course I walked and ran.

Strummy had a really nice run, hit both A-frames (at least she gave him points and I thought he had nice hits, I don't have proof on video) hit both weave entries, didn't pop out.  Nice teeters too I think.   Unfortunately I pulled him off the course too soon and our actual time was 40.26 (or 41.26 with our 1 second time bonus).  My original plan was to continue on after the #20 teeter to the #15 jump to the #16 tunnel then head out over the finish jump (labeled 21).  Our time needed to be between 41.5 and 46 so I'm not sure if my original plan would have put us over time (I doubt it) but I had thought briefly about looping him over the #15 jump after the teeter and if I'd only done it we likely would have gotten the Q.  I always panic when I hear the buzzer and get him out too soon.

For this game I never plan an opening and closing, I usually try to get between 21-24 obstacles and run it like a flowing course, maybe repeating a loop.  I don't worry about points either, it's all about time.  I think I have to make sure I have at least 22 obstacles if I'm going to omit the dogwalk.


Specialist Standard 3

No video.

Blew his dogwalk and he headed up the A-frame rather than the #4 tunnel.  Several very fast dogs did this.  Hard to say what went wrong without the video, I thought I cued it properly.  Was planning a FC between 4 and 5 but because of the confusion at 4 I was too far behind so threw in a RC which worked o.k. unless that was where we had a bar down.  I don't think she called his A-frame and I thought it was good but I don't have video.  Got a FC in between 11 and 12 but it was poorly executed.  Was hoping for a Forward Motion Front Cross but I was a bit rattled and unfocused by that part of the run and didn't execute is as I had walked it so it was a very late FC.  Sent him into the weaves on my left and he missed the entry, again he got to the entry then looked back at me.  Got in a FC btw'n. 18 and the teeter and he had a poor teeter so I had him redo it since we'd already NQ'd.  Did the teeter nicely the second time.  I'm pretty sure we had a bar down somewhere, maybe #5 or 6.

Specialist Standard 4

 

DOCNA FEB. 2011 STANDARD 4 from colliebrains on Vimeo.

This course finally had some challenges to it, at least for us.  I was behind babysitting the teeter again (I'm sensing a theme here) so I couldn't get far ahead enough to cue the tunnel and for whatever reason Strum locked onto the dogwalk.  For some inexplicable reason I threw up my outside arm in a panic and called his name but those things occurred after he was already committed to the dogwalk so while they weren't helping my case they weren't the cause of the off course.  Popped out of his weaves again as well, the weaves definitely deteriorated as the trial wore on.  Rest of the course was really nice though, probably our best Standard run AND he got his dogwalk.  The jumping part of the course was trickier than it looks on paper and lots of potential for me to get lost so I was pleased that I kept my focus and got my cues in properly for those parts. Not a super challenging course by any means but I was glad to finally have some handling stuff go right.

Specialist Trigility

We had a fast clean run on the Jumpers portion.  It was so easy, not even worth printing the map.  Standard partner was also clean.  Gamblers partner had a nice run but had a bobble and missed the gamble (ironically after already getting it as an accommodating dog for another team) so no Q.  I had the easiest course by far but I didn't want to put Strum up on the dogwalk if I could help it and the other courses had dogwalks.  I don't really care about Trigility, it's simply more ring time for us and I may as well run it if it's in the middle of the day rather than sitting around.

Specialist Jumpers 2

No video.

This course was challenging because of the sheer speed of it.  I did my stupid handler trick of pulling him off of #5 but once we got going again it was a beautiful run.  I got in front crosses between 7  and 8, 13 and 14 (yes people, I pulled that off and it was awesome, let's hear it for the Forward Motion Front Cross) and 15 and 16.  No bars down, nice and smooth, a great way to end the trial.  No Q because I had an off course after pulling him off that early jump but what a rush for the rest of the course, wee ha!

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Trial Stats:

Standard Specialist Q, 1st place
Standard Specialist Q, 3rd place

No titles

Dogwalks
1/4 (25%)  We're on a downward trend.  I'm not counting the one the judge didn't call that I couldn't confirm.  Haven't been able to practice due to weather.

A-frame
7/7 (100%)  I'm not counting the one the judge didn't call that looked like a miss.

Bars down
2 (one in the Gamble the other was likely a handling error)

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Strummy is still caked in mud from the conditions at the trial site.  We had snow during the week then bitter cold then temps. shot up to the 60's on Saturday and Sunday.  Strum would get snow/water on him when I took him outside then when we came inside the dirt in the arena made a nice mud paste on him.  Plus the actual mud in the parking lot.  I may have to break down and give him a bath, a horrifying thought for both of us.  There's still a bit of snow about so for now I'll wait and see, maybe the remaining snow will wash the dirt off of him.  Better go hit the trails and see if this theory pans out.