AKC is fine by me!

We have an AKC trial this weekend.  It’s close enough to drive there and back both days, and I’m EXCITED!  A lot of great people and dogs I know will be there, and I know Layla would be really excited too if dogs got the concept of upcoming events.  (She’ll be READY the minute she sees the agility bag come out Saturday morning at the crack of dawn though, dogs get that!)

In honor of my present, and Layla’s near-future,’ OMG WE’RE GOING TO A TRIAL’-ness; I started thinking about the things I really like about AKC agility (certainly not to the detriment of any other agility organizations).

This is Layla after a day of trialing.  Layla AT a trial is more like schizophrenics at Starbucks.

Layla and I do best with a familiar routine.  In AKC I always know how long I’ve got to walk the course, I know it will be five minutes until the first dog on the line, and I often know before the trial the running order and who we will follow and what breed they are running.  (If you’re running after us, “All-American” means looks like a Border Collie with a hint of God-only-knows).  This helps Layla since the less harried I am, the less harried she is.

I love watching other dogs run AKC courses; I think AKC courses are generally lovely and even most NQs are a pleasure to watch.

My experience was that they measured Layla very fairly and carefully, the two people who measured her genuinely wanted dogs to get the best measurement possible.  And Layla was right on that 18” line, and I am very happy she gets to jump 16” as opposed to 20”.  And some agility organizations, nice as they are, jump dogs overall at heights I'm not comfortable with, but that's personal preference.

I like choices and there are a lot of AKC trials within a feasible travel distance from here.

The judge asked to speak with me after a run one time, and she gave me calm and kind advice.  It was a pleasant exchange, and helpful.  She just pointed out that I was louder in calling out commands on the first half of the course and we were shaky, but my voice was much softer on the second half and that part looked very good.  I told her I was working on that and she said “I can tell”.  It was all good.  Even when I tried the teeter twice in a run, and the judge that time blew the whistle on me, it was just matter of fact, nothing snarky.  I can deal with that, no worries!  I had such a fear of the judges at first (they're all dressed up after-all); but I’m more at ease now.

When we first started in agility, I heard through the grapevine that the people at AKC trials were so snotty that it was like a mucus volcano.  But there are snotty people everywhere in life, and I really haven’t encountered many at AKC trials.  OK, this one dude at one trial made a couple of us want to barf, but the fact that he was an anomaly was what made him so irritating.  I’ve gotten a lot of support at trials, even from folks I don’t know.  I’ve had a couple sit down to eat lunch with me, then figure out later all the amazing things the husband had accomplished with his dogs.  The guy’s a big deal, why would they decide to sit down with me?  I guess I was just there.

Over-all we are having a good time, even with my sometimes handling from hell.  As I’ve been told many times, I’ve got a “lot of dog”, (bitch, really, LOL), but I am still conscious and moving around, so maybe each time can get better, or at least tell me something.  I’m hoping this weekend will be on the better side.

Keeping it "classy" one tiny piece at a time

I engage in “minimalist” agility training; or at least that’s what it is called by Clean Run in the title of the discussion group I can’t for the life of me figure out how to sign up for.  It also sounds a lot better than admitting we have barely enough space for Layla to pee in.

I am not above blaming someone else at this point, and probably never was.  It’s our former realtor’s fault.  She gave us very bad advice in fixing up our place to put on the market last year (she said don’t fix it up) and then couldn’t sell our house because it wasn’t fixed up.  (Never get a friend’s spouse as your realtor, JUST DON’T).  Bottom line is that we have attempted, and are attempting, to get more outside space, along with a happier home situation for humans and dog alike, and when we do, I plan to beat the hell out of the plastic buying massive quantities of agility stuff.

Until then, minimalist has a cultured ring to it.

Last winter I purchased a mini-teeter after Layla decided against taking that obstacle once again.  Got that straightened out.  Then she started coming out of weave pole #10 at trials, so I added 6 weaves to my already owned set of 6 (electric fence poles along with actual 6 weaves; she doesn’t care), now she is back to her old and NICE weave performance.  Recently I found another wonderful, mini-option – a itty-bitty dog walk to address Layla’s recently emerging  JUMP FROM THE BLUE philosophy.  I know it's because she gets so excited on the dog walk that she literally can't hear me over the fun when I say "wait" or "slow" if I'm at a distance.  My dog being over-the-top is nothing new, we find our work-arounds.

 Actually, for a long time her running contacts were fine, then started slipping.  Why didn’t I just train 4 on or 2 on 2 off?  Because I’ve been battling her doggie hysteria combined with my agility frustration and ignorance since we first started.  But hey, we’ve made it this far, she’s smart and can be taught new things, or retaught old things that worked.  And there is a slight possibility on the horizon that I might not be hopeless.

Her dog walk contacts weren’t too bad in class last night, and really good in open practice last Saturday.  The real test will be at the trial we are going to this weekend.  First test I should say, since it will be a work in progress and we might not even be at mid-terms yet.  Always work, but fun, whether you have a monster agility set up in your back yard or one element/sequence at a time in your dog’s “pot to piss in”.

Improving Contacts and the Collapse of Space-Time in the Universe

I can see it now; me and Layla are going for our Excellent Standard title, she's been across the dog walk and up and down the a-frame with beautiful running contacts.  There is only one jump to go as she slides through the weave poles like a breeze through autumn leaves.  She's hurtling toward that last jump, leaps into the air, high above the 16" bar and .......

Some dumb-butt flips the switch on the Hadron Collider at Cern; and Stephen Hawking's worst nightmare proves correct:  Space-time collapses throughout the universe.  My guess is that this would cause an NQ.

Fortunately, Dr. Hawking prefaces this really bad day possibility with the disclaimer that it is very unlikely to actually happen.  Which was what I could say about Layla hitting her dog walk contact on the last day of the trial we ran a few weeks ago.

Of course I know a fix to try for THAT, eBAY.

I have to do "minimalist" agility; and I choose to do it cheap (as much as possible).  Fortunately, there is a lady who makes small training dog walks and sells them on eBAY, see little dog walk here.

I already have a mini-travel-teeter, as I've mentioned before, and it has been a great help in getting Layla past severe tetter-phobia.  If we had room, you can bet I would abandon cheap though, I'd be flirting hard with my credit card limit on agility obstacles, potentially to the point of needing financial counseling to avoid drooling on my keyboard as I order one more wing-jump fix.  But the minimalist agility world is where I live, and where I make the best adjustments to our game that I can.

I suspect that like the teeter, and the way Layla learned her kickin' weaves, we will see improvement from the scaled down approach.  When you think about it, the whole course isn't what a team usually screws up on, but a sequence, obstacle, contact, signal, or command (or two; or one and a tunnel suck).  I don't figure I need a three imbedded course set up for working on corrections, or we wouldn't have made it this far anyway.  I'm fortunate to have two agility classes to attend and get full courses and new, horrific, sequences to blow up on.  We will just do what we do and see how it works out, we haven't totally stunk up any trials lately so I see a lot of hope.

But that space-time crash would still probably suck.  Stephen Hawking on the possible Collapse of Space-Time  I've got no clue what it would do to run times.

List!

I was thinking about how I need to replace the throw-rugs I accidentally left at a hotel this summer (yes, throw-rugs); and thought I might make a list of things I must try to remember in order to enhance our trial traveling experiences.

Items to Bring:

Throw-rugs:  I love flooring in a hotel room, Layla decidedly does not.  When we put in the new   We have large rugs covering the downstairs enough for her to get around without precious toes touching the slippery.  I love any break from dirty, hotel carpet; Layla would take grime every time, I bring rugs. 

My ball, my rug!

When we put in the new flooring downstairs in our house, it took months to figure out how to retrain her to climb them again.

Chuck-it balls:  Even though there may not be a hidden, grassy area to be irresponsible and toss the ball around in; Layla likes to have at least one ball with her at all times, in her crate, in our bed, everywhere. BALL!

My own sheets and pillow:  Though Layla couldn’t care less, I’m painfully hotel-phobic and I think about it too much.

Actions to Control:

Crate away from the ring, (wanna-run, wanna-run, wanna-run, wanna-run,…..yipyipyip)

Do NOT get near any practice jump that is near the ring or over-the-top dog will materialize from the mists of doom.  OTT dog doesn't bother to show up for a jump in another room, however, so that's cool.

 Keep away from small boys:  Layla wants to herd them.

No treats while waiting to run; yet another murky gateway to over-the-top-dog.

Have treats available for after the run; she’s a good girl!

And after last week I have a new action to keep in mind; it might be better to go ahead and let her sniff the butt of the dog running ahead of us than to thwart her every attempt, only to have her stick her nose up his handler’s skirt.  I guess somebody’s butt was going to be sniffed, someway, somehow.

I'm tired

If I said dog tired I would be rudely stealing the description of Layla this morning.  There were things she even neglected to pee on during our walk.

But she was burning at the trial this weekend.  We finally got that first Excellent Standard Q and we got another Master JWW Q, with my girl taking 4th place (16 inches and a cloud of dust!)  We would have had another JWW Q but ME!  I am so proud of my girl.

However, for all my bluster about our love of FAST; we didn't just bomb in FAST, it turned into a Nevada nuclear test range.  Saturday was a basic cruise missile performance really, with Sunday's edition leaving a massive mushroom cloud.  Layla decided she was in control and couldn't even, or didn't even get her weaves.  She would walk through the middle of them and look around, I'm not sure she took many obstacles when I actually cued them.  BOOM!  She wasn't injured and could comfortably do the weaves, as she demonstrated later, but when I sat down and thought about it I came to a conclusion that I was doing some things that were just not working, and I needed to change.

I had tried back in the spring to make some demands, or if you like, place requirements on Layla, rather than just get her to behave for about a second then TREAT, then beg for another second TREAT!  I'm not someone who has ooozed up from the pits of hell and impose iron handed disciplinary training on my dog, but I will employ the word "no"; generally at home or training on Saturdays with not that many people looking.  I've been told never say no to a dog around agility (by people who weren't my teachers), just treattreattreattreat.  As I sat there on the floor (my chair was up next to the ring for watching) scratching Layla's neck (after demanding she accept it and not bark at me for daring to touch her at a trial); I realized that a couple of things Dr. HatefulVet told me might work better than the actions of my carefully honed, agility trial personality. She told me I could demand some good behavior rather than basically beg for it.  So I decided to say "no" when she started barking before a run.  She does that to my husband at home when he's eating and he rewards her with bites of his meal.  She isn't doing that because she can't control those excitement impulses as much as she is demanding treats during those times, obeying what she's been taught.  So that was OUT.  Next, she would get "no" when I would want to pet her and love on her like she enjoys at home and she would bark and yap at me and pull away.  Stern "NO" then sweetly "GOOD GIRL" when I scratch her neck and she starts leaning into my hand.  I took her out to the area outside the ring, where my chair was residing, and had her lie down by my feet and not be obnoxious or "no".  I didn't bring one treat with me.  No bribing me for one second of decency then! (We actually have worked some on that down in TN, where the bleachers are further from the course).

Did "no" cause her to crumple when it was her turn to run, to be scared to death of me when I scratched her neck waiting to run?  The next time out she got her first Excellent Standard Q ever and had that brilliant JWW run after that.  She was so scared of  my daring to say "no" in agility that she ran 15 seconds under time in jumpers.  The final day of the trial didn't produce Qs but the mistakes had nothing to do with Layla becoming the prophesied fearful, agility-hating dog of lore; our three mistakes that day were a blown contact and a tunnel suck in Standard, and me causing a refusal in JWW.  Nothing new there, just more work to do.

I'm going to keep working on her behavior like this.  She discovered, finally, that she can still enjoy scratches by the one she came with at an agility trial; and I discovered that she is capable of more than I'd given her credit for, on and off a course.

Just Belly-aching

Two days before a trial, a big one since it is local and I know a lot of the participants; (which is scary since we run better under the veil of anonymity); DISASTER!  Well, not total disaster, Layla’s in good shape and my legs and arms are working fine, but my belly has been attacked by a stomach bug.  Fortunately this one doesn’t make it likely that I will foul the course (I know it’s an NQ if a dog barfs on the course, but what about the handler?  I’m not sure the AKC has addressed that?).  However, after an aching stomach for 3 days and finally a REALLY aching stomach with weakness and chills, I’m still not 100%.

I took off work yesterday to lie flat and consume massive probiotics, liquids, and a glorious meal of white rice (bland rocks right now).  My little, furry nurse applied toe licking and bed cuddling, which are wonderful, holistic therapies she instinctively developed on her own.  I can now walk around without chilling and hurting so much.  But I’m worried about feeling a bit weak, and I know that my much-loved, big, soft pretzels will be off the trial agenda at least for tomorrow.

I missed agility class last night too, and it was the night the new dogwalk appeared, according to the Best Friends listserv buzz.  No use belly-aching about it.

I am going to drink a big cup of my chamomile and green tea combo, which seems to help too.  Chamomile for the soothing stomach effect, and green tea so the chamomile doesn’t cause my head to smash onto my keyboard.

I’m really excited about running my little girlfriend tomorrow, even if I fall flat at the end of all three runs.  A handler passing out after a run surly isn’t an NQ, even if it’s aggravating.  Enjoying that time with my spectacular little buddy is what it’s about, but maybe someone might have some smelling salts handy?  Anybody?

Come on, let’s talk

Am I the only person who has ever Googled to the point of finger exhaustion only to never find anything but the happy-happy written about dog agility?

Where’s the criticism?  The “this makes me mad”?  I guess it doesn’t and shouldn’t exist.

I don’t want all this fun to be torn apart, much, I just wonder what would happen if people could express various, small issues they have on the very rare occasion (when the big pretzel eaten at the trial probably didn’t agree with their belly) anonymously?

I’m not saying there are ever actual issues that aren’t solely the fault and misunderstanding of the individual (though there might be), I wouldn’t say that because it would be like crapping on a Christmas tree.  I did have a quiet conversation at a trial with someone though who said something about a particular process bugging her and I said “me too”.  Then we admitted we had each thought we were the only ones with this issue.  What would it be like to have an online forum where people could gripe about agility biger picture issues (though of course no one would ever do that) and get it out of their system, or even find solutions without being blasted for bringing it up?

When I say “griping about agility” I don’t mean the ever popular (with me) “DAMN THOSE FRONT CROSSES!”’; but more like “This _____, (venue), does X and I don’t know why and don’t see the point of it.”  And yes, I am familiar with the ever-popular saying “IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT YOU SHOULD QUIT”.  Which doesn’t apply since I absolutely “like it”.

Trust me; I’m not volunteering to set something like this up!  I don’t have anything like the experience it would take to make this OK.  I’m risk-taker enough by even having a silly blog.  But I’m fully convinced that a little anonymous blood -letting wouldn’t spoil anyone’s fun.  It certainly won’t demotivate any dogs, we can just tell them “no treats” if they read it (we are talking a lot of Border Collies in this group).