Danes Can Q

Foiled!

2012-02-15T14:24:00.000-08:00

This morning the dogs got me up early like normal. I let them out to potty, let everyone back in, and proceeded with breakfast preparations. Vegas eats in the garage; the little ones eat in the kitchen. After everyone had their dish I headed back up to bed for a short 90 additional minutes. Since Vegas only had a chicken quarter, I thought it odd three minutes or so later that she hadn't come upstairs and that I hadn't even heard the garage door open and close. Usually when she comes back through the door it closes all the way and with little exception I never miss the sound. Of course then I started worrying.... What if the door closed all the way when I came in the house and she can't get in? OR What if she tried to swallow too soon and choked?

Of course the latter got me out of bed the fastest. I opened the garage door (which was not shut all the way) and watched her frantically leap over something in her path and scramble back to me. Caught! I had forgotten the 60 pound box of beef hearts I picked up yesterday was defrosting in the garage. Vegas apparently didn't. Foiled her plans! No beef hearts that are not dished up!

An Attempt to Lose the Crazies

2012-02-13T18:39:00.000-08:00

By Saturday I was going to lose my mind if I couldn't get the dogs out of the house to burn off some steam.

February Contest Winner

2012-02-13T17:55:00.000-08:00

Charlton (and mom), thank you so much for providing such cute shots for my February contest. I just had to choose the following - you look just like a puppy, completely velvety soft and cuddly. Not to mention handsome!

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/432197_316870215014999_100000760697767_817545_1422212223_n.jpg

To redeem your prize, please visit my website at www.kennedyskustomkollarkreations.com. Make your selection from the Fabrics or Seasonal page and submit an order. Make sure when you fill in the contact information you indicate this was for the February Blog Contest.

Thanks for participating and congrats!

Doberman Trial Weekend Recap

2012-02-06T21:00:00.000-08:00

This weekend's trial was held at Clark County Fairgrounds, our most frequented stomping grounds, and hosted by the Mt. Hood Doberman Pinscher Club. Their trials are two of my favorite each year, partially because of all the Dobies that show up and I love them. Our judges for the weekend were David Mancino and Victoria MacVicar. We'd run under Victoria before, not David. I didn't put together two and two and come up with who he was until I heard today. David is a Doberman owner; his wife, Yvonne, runs Flare who won the 24" class at the invitational in 2011 and 2009. Very cool!

So without further ado, here's the scoop:

Saturday
We ran Standard first and JWW second. The run order was set to tall to small both days but for Excellent that was actually 24/26 running second Saturday. We were first dog in the 24" class for Standard, second in JWW. It's been a long time since we started the class. Quite frankly it was pretty nice!

My game plan was as follows:

Set up at a diagonal from #1 to make #2 apparent as the next obstacle plus place me in position to easily make it out in front of the tunnel to direct her properly.
Sweep into the tunnel using the left arm and blind cross out to the dog walk.
Step into her path coming off the dog walk to push out and around #5.
I walked the weave entry with both a front cross after 5 as well as a front after.
Rear cross the a-frame
Blind cross 14 to 15.
Rear cross 19.

The challenges were certainly plentiful. The start line was interesting. The push out after the dog walk to wrap the jump made a lot of dogs who usually run flawlessly very confused. For one second they were pushed so thought they were supposed to go to the tire then pulled back to take the jump. Then front crosses were late and caused dogs to take the off course (9) versus the weaves. Number 20 presented itself as an off course possibility if the 180 wasn't handled well at 13-14. The finish line was not straight so some dogs had difficult there and it was possible to even push out to the tunnel without proper queuing to #20 from 19.

I'm excited to say that while this was the most disjointed run we've had in a long time, it was clean and it was a Q for 13 points. The first issue that happened was right off the bat. I didn't say "tunnel," I would guess and Vegas saw the dog walk when she came over the panel and headed that direction. I got her set but then my brain game was off so I just felt jerky and off. Got her over the dog walk and around the #5 then I made a late front cross that just felt wrong. Fortunately this and the rest of the "off" feelings I had didn't cause Vegas issue which is why we were clean. It was just not a harmonious run. So with my front cross, I was on the right side of the weaves which set us up for 7-11. She nailed her a-frame contact beautifully which I'm thrilled with. She also handled the send out to 13 and read my blind cross to come back over 14 and hit the teeter just fantastically. Originally I took one look at the finish line from the table and thought I would handle on the left side, but realized when I walked it the line wasn't right to do that without risking a knocked triple since she would need to know when she landed to stride at the angle to hit #19. So instead I worked it from the "inside" which was just right. No video, but a great run and really nice to jump right in and have a Standard leg under our belt.

Jumpers... My game plan:

Work from the right for 1-3.
Send to #4 and "flip" to #5.
RFP to pull back from 5 and use my right arm to push into the tunnel.
Run out to be on the other side of #7 and call to weave; handling from right.
9-11 is fairly straight-forward but I had hoped to work a blind cross in after 11.
Flip from 12 to 13 (assuming I got the blind in).
Blind/front cross between tunnel exit and 15 and handle on the right through the end.

I almost lost her to the tunnel after #3.... Got a good call back before she touched it and that worked out. I was slow on 9-11 so not in a position to blind cross. Alls well that ends well though, as they say. We had a clean run and earned another five points!

End of day total for Saturday: 18 points and QQ. Technically we didn't need the QQ but hey, I'll take it. It does give us that leg up on invitational points.

As a related but just observation/feeling about how we did. It was odd to double-Q Saturday because we were not running as a fluent team. It wasn't anything about Vegas' behavior that caused the problem either. It was me. Not sure why; our last trial was two weekends ago so it's not as if my brain was on vacation from agility. I do know that before our first run someone was talking to me about Danes (Not a competitor; just someone who stopped in to watch?) and is interested in getting one. Few subjects can send me on a tangent like that one between going on and on about the wonderful characteristics of the breed to applying steady and persistent pressure regarding purchasing only from a breeder who really health-tests and is doing the right things, not to mention discussing their temperament, capabilities, health risks, longevity, and a plethora of other oh so fun chitter chatter on my favorite breed. Yeah, so I know as I stepped into the standard ring while they were changing bars I had a fleeting thought, "Do I know the course?" And then stood there trying to recall it. I know my timing was off and my brain was not engaged as thoroughly as it should have been. JWW was fine; I just wasn't pushing like I usually do and I was not handling my best. So I guess all that to say is, sometimes things still come together because the foundation is built right and the dog has the skills, common sense, and drive to take the wheel anyway and "git er dun!"

Sunday
Today we ran first thing. There wasn't a Fast class so it really was right off the bat. And wouldn't you know it. I slept through my alarm and we were first dog in 24" again. Fortunately they were doing walk, walk, run, run, which meant 16 minutes of walks plus 5 minutes to the first 26" dog plus a good 7 or 8 in that height running. So we ended up okay. First up again Standard, followed by JWW. Strangely, JWW didn't follow as closely as yesterday. Which meant I worked but that's okay. I like scribing and timing and chatting to get to know others who work. Plus the club is generous enough to give vouchers that can be applied toward future trial entries.

This standard course was B-E-A-UTIFUL! It was flowing and smooth and just plain fun. Of course it didn't hurt that I found a spot or two for a blind cross - my new love! No video here which is a bummer but here's how it played out.

Vegas on the left 1-4.
Blind cross 4/5 and a LOVELY touch on the a-frame - good girl, Vegas!
Blind cross 7/8 and 12/13.
Front cross out of the weaves.

SCT was 65 on 173 yards. Our time was 48.89 - 16 MACH points!!!!!!! Yea, I was pretty stinkin' happy. AND, I kept my act together. I was there for Vegas like she is always there for me. Thank goodness for no disjointed runs Sunday - amazing considering I only got about 4-5 hours of sleep the night before!

JWW was up before too long. I worked some first and Vegas lamented (loudly) in her crate. I hadn't even picked up course maps until shortly before this run..... And when I did take a look at it I wondered if it would be one of those runs we "could" get because we aren't the screaming-fastest, or if we'd just not make it because I lack the skills to handle some of the technicalities. I think I was freaked out about the start. *Usually* I am more than happy to say our lack of a start line stay doesn't bite me in the butt. Of course I teach my students to work hard at it and not to give up; I learned and applied that lesson with Leo's training.

I hung out course-side while they set, tweaked, and wheeled the course. Apparently I was due a lightbulb moment because I "Aha!" figured out how to handle the opening. Walking it, it made perfect sense and turns out that while people walked it about 50/50 each way, more ran it from the inside than the outside. The plan was to:

Severe angle on #1 so it was nearly a straight line to 2 (me on the right).
Front cross after the weaves and set her up for a straight line for 9/10.
Rear cross 10/11.
Front or blind cross 15/16.
Serpentine 17/18/19.

And we did it!!! The run was smooth and... exhilarating! Everything came together and it felt easy! I had so many comments coming off that course and it felt so good. People watched it and were just impressed. It was nice to feel like a part of the "excellent" crowd. Not to say I haven't gotten compliments on handling before, but it's always nice and on a highly technical course like that with pitfalls for all. It just felt good and I appreciate everyone who had something to say to me.

SCT was 42 on 148 yards. Our time was 35.38 and we earned another 6 MACH points. What a weekend. What. A. Weekend. So proud of my girl. It's kind of ironic that we didn't need the QQs for MACH (Our first, anyway... ;-) so with that pressure off all I did was think about the individual runs not the day in its totality. When they happened, well, wow. So super cool.

Our weekend totals included four Qs, two QQs, 29 Standard points, 11 JWW points, and put us 40 points closer to our goal. We have *just* 208 points to go. Vegas rocks!

And of course she was treated like royalty.... She had a bully stick at the show, a Wendy's vanilla frosty when we got home, and a yummy raw bone she spent a good part of the afternoon gnawing on. All in all, a fantastic couple of agility days with my girl.

Here are a couple of pictures photographer, Joe Camp, took that I scanned in. I will have video later in the week of our frolic in the lovely sunshine, too.

February Contest

2012-02-02T16:57:00.000-08:00

As a part of my one month delayed plan of rolling out a more consistent approach to my blogging, I am excited to announce my very first contest. The contest will run from today, February 2 until Friday, February 17. In honor of Valentine's Day and all the puppy love out there (plus to lift my spirits a bit during a time I'll miss my love even more), this contest will involve pup (and other critter) love pictures. You get to put on your creative thinking caps and adapt this how you like (Keep it clean, please!). Here are some ideas:

Valentine's theme
Valentine's wear (collar etc.)
Snuggles
Heart bokeh
Pup kisses

The Rules
Post as many pictures to your blog as you would like between now and the end of the contest
Comment on this post with a link back to your blog posting(s).

Feel free to share this with others.

Over the weekend following the contest period I will review all of the pictures posted. On Monday, February 20 I will post the winner of the contest and share their picture on my blog.

The Booty
Some of you may know I have had a lil' biz venture on the side for a few years. The first contest prize will be a Kennedy's Kustom Kollar Kreation of your choosing. That's right; you can pick from any available fabric or trim, select buckle or martingale, and the size and width you prefer.

So what are you waiting for? Get snap happy!

Invitational Photos

2012-01-29T18:22:00.000-08:00

We got our photos from the invitational! They arrived last week. I am so excited to have them and now need to figure out what I'm going to do....what ones to print, whether to make a collage, etc. But for starters, I'll share them. All photos were taken by Great Dane Photos (ironic, huh?). I am so very appreciative to their excellent photography and the fact that they sell all your photos in full resolution and send them to you on CD with permissions to reproduce. I love it.

Clearly we were having a "discussion" about touching the yellow contact. LOL

My favorite. :-) Look how regally she sat for this photo.

Rose City Classic 2012 - Saturday & Sunday

2012-01-29T17:40:00.000-08:00

Well, a week has gone by and I haven't gotten Saturday and Sunday summed up, so here goes.

Saturday
Saturday is the busiest day at the show with the highest numbers in attendance. It's also the only day that agility completely filled and even turned people away. That meant there were 660 runs between all levels and all classes. They were running Time 2 Beat and ISC Standard. It's also the day the big dogs were running the latest in the run order. Although that meant I didn't have to show up early, I knew if I didn't parking would be horrendous and I couldn't afford to have to park and ride the shuttle in - even if they would have let me with three dogs. So we arrived about 10 after 8. And still had to park in the outer regions of the parking lot and not right near the covered area!

In addition to running Vegas in Standard and JWW, I also had volunteered to bring her over to the Meet the Breed booth around noon. It turned out the time we would be running Standard would be conflicting with trying to be at Meet the Breed so I asked if we could be bumped up to the first of the class. We walked with the 24-26 inch group then got ready to run.

Standard
First off - check out that jump mid-course! Talk about getting used! My plan here was to work from the right and hopefully get out in front of 2 (the triple) to front cross. My concern if I were to just work it from the inside was pulling her to the off course jump before #4. There was plenty of room after the triple without any off course obstacles to draw her to that I felt safe in doing so. This would also give me the advantage of being in position to work the dog walk. From there I just needed to ensure she hit her dog walk contact, send her into the tunnel, then get into position to make sure she hit her a-frame contact. From there I could work the inside to the table, then change sides, almost like a front cross. I wanted to be sure not to cause her to knock the panel and fortunately the weave entry was nice and straight. I planned a little RFP to draw Vegas' motion toward me out of the weaves then, when I had her attention, send her into the tunnel. From there I just needed to back off to call her from the tunnel exit, direct her over 16 and toward the teeter. I often front-cross after the teeter which was the plan here. That way I would be able to more smoothly sned her over 18 and 19.

Course yardage was 182; SCT of 68. Our time was 49.85, another really fast run. Darn the triple we took down as everything else went off like clockwork.

We headed straight over to Meet the Breed which was running til about 1 o'clock (for Danes). There was a fairly good number of us there, which was good, but I don't know that people really knew about it as we pretty much just got a handful of passersby stopping to pet our dogs and ask questions. Then there was one or two people who'd had Danes before so were inclined to stop by and visit, tell their stories, and move on. Several club members were inquiring into when we would run and decided to stick around and watch. I can't say how good that felt. I'm so glad to have the support of club members and to be making friends with some of them. I don't oppose what they do (conformation) and it's good they don't oppose what I do (performance). Hopefully one day we'll see more cross-over; in fact, that's my plan with the next one. In the meantime, if we can learn from each other and respect what each does, that's good enough.

So we headed over to see where things were at. They were just setting bars to 24" and getting ready to have us walk so it was perfect timing.

JWW

So the first decision to make on this course was whether to work from the right or the left. There were pros and cons to either. For instance working from the left you were in a better position to direct the dog to #4. The con? If the dog got ahead of you enough s/he might pull in off 2 and make a beeline for 5 or just generally be more difficult to direct to #3. Either way, depending on what angle you set your dog up it appeared a straight line from 1 to 3. I hoped to work in a blind cross between 5 and 6, send her over 7 and rear cross to 8, a blind cross between 10 and 11 (or 11 and 12), and then I knew I'd have to be careful not to push in too far on 12 or risk an off course at 2. Here came a tricky part. With Vegas knocking bars periodically lately I really hated to send her over the triple and tell her to turn left. I was hoping to be on the left side at 14 so the transition was smoother. Once she was in the tunnel my goal would be to front cross to send her into the correct end of #18 with my right arm, then just turn around and call her out of the tunnel with a send to 19 and 20.

SCT: 45
Yards: 160
Our time was 37.64. We were 13th out of 18 qualifying runs in the 24" class. 7 points, a few blind crosses used again, and a lot of fun.

We did some wandering after that, took the little dogs out to potty, watched a bit of obedience, made our way through most of the vendors, and eventually wandered back by the agility rings to watch some of the Time 2 Beat class. We chatted with photographer, Nina Sage, for a bit and one of the judges Tim Pinneri, came to chat with me for a moment. He said he'd looked for me after JWW. He reminded me he'd judged at Rose City two years previous and just wanted to tell me how far Vegas and I have come and what a joy it was to watch her. That was seriously an awesome moment, that he remembered us but also sought us out to make sure I knew. So cool.

After that we didn't stick around too much longer. I was tired after four days, the weather was still nasty, and it was difficult to juggle three dogs in that kind of melee.

Sunday
Sunday arrived too soon. I realized how difficult it actually is to put in those kind of hours at the dog show, plus drive time, plus juggling three dogs, times five days. I was beat. There was nothing I would have liked more than to leave the little ones at home but since the boys were at their dad's house and I had no idea how long the day would actually go, that just wasn't fair to them. So off we went, arriving a bit later Sunday due to my oversleeping, getting there about 10 after 9.

Our runs ended up being pretty close together the way things ran. There wasn't Fast on Sunday so that made a difference.

Standard
So right off the bat here, we had to avoid the weaves as an off course, avoid taking the triple (backwards) as an off course, not take the chute.... This was the tightest course of any we saw over the four days. It wasn't too difficult, and it wasn't too tight to safely maneuver a big dog. It was just challenging. My plan was to work the right side and rear cross the teeter. From there I would continue to work the inside. In watching other dogs run, it became apparent it was important not to push in too far on 5 because a lot of dogs too #12 as an off course. The next challenge was the weave pole entry with the sequence prior to. Where to cross? What kind of cross to use? Wait to rear cross at the weaves and work the inside? I knew I didn't want to attempt a cross between 9 and 10. There is just too much temptation in the a-frame. So then I thought perhaps I could make it happen between 10 and 11. I knew for certain I didn't want to rear cross the weaves. We don't practice it and I am not confident in that at all. Front crosses, lateral movement, and giving her any general distance is fine, but when I move behind her that means she's to come with me. It isn't worth messing up the good thing we've had with the weaves for more than a year now.... The rest was fairly straight forward. I did want to make sure I was in the correct position to send her to the correct end of the #17 tunnel which mean staying close to the tunnel exit (#15). Fortunately the panel was on the straight and the last obstacle; I didn't give it too much thought.

Yards: 177
SCT: 66
Our time was 54.19 and we finished 7th out of 7 qualifiers. Vegas was clearly tired Sunday. Not for lack of sleep but just running on that surface for four days. It was a good indicator of what to do for next year which is to enter her in just two days (Saturday and Sunday). But regardless, a Q and a nice run on a course that obviously caught up a lot of the dog and handler teams. Very proud of my girlie.

JWW
Run #8 out of 8 runs in four days. Yay for one tunnel, first off. My goal here was clean. Maybe not the fastest, but clean. Why? I was feeling a teensy bit of pressure for this run. Being as we already had gotten our Standard Q for the day, that meant this had the potential to be a QQ run. And not just any QQ run but our 20th QQ. I tried to get the butterflies under control before going into the ring and certainly didn't want them affecting Vegas. But I wanted this Q for sure. I started out working from the right side; it just made the most sense. I hoped to get in a blind cross somewhere to switch sides and be better in position to send her into the tunnel. My goal was to accomplish that between 4 and 5 or 5 and 6. From the tunnel exit things were pretty smooth and my goal was to shape the turn from 10 to 11 so it wasn't so severe. I figured on working from the inside then "flipping" her over 13 to 14 with a rear cross. That gave her enough striding distance to easily clear the triple and then move out to 15. I planned a front cross after the weaves to give me a better line for 17-19 without having to deal with any fancy footwork or send outs to get her over 19 if I was (inevitably) behind.

We did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a pretty run for my girl. As you can tell my crosses were certainly not where I had hoped but they worked well enough. She was getting tired enough that I was definitely staying ahead in most instances, but that's why those blind crosses are working so well. I can trust her to take what I put in front of her and if I can fit a blind in that means I am far enough in front of her.
SCT: 43
Yards: 154
Our time was 36.86; YPS of just 4.18. But that represented our second double-Q of the weekend and our 20th double-Q of all time. So very proud of Vegas. She's five years young and still rockin' it. None of our errors were crazy stuff like off courses or visiting the spectators or over time. A knocked bar in two runs out of eight; all the rest were Qs.

So we ended that super long weekend at 20 QQs and 502 points. We are so close it's amazing and I so look forward to the journey over the next couple months with Vegas. She's such an incredible girl and I am so blessed to have her as my pet, my competition partner, my friend, and my heart.

So then, to wrap up the weekend before I packed it in, I did a little bit of shopping...

An ornament that I can hang...

A pin that I can wear - it's pewter.

An armband holder for when we do obedience and I have plans to make it work for our agility stickers, too.

And this is a set of chimes with a black Dane head on lavender glass.

And here is what I got for my Vegas girl. She loves new toys!

And that's that for Rose City 2012. I'm already looking forward to 2013 although I already know I'll only get to enter on the weekend. Honestly, that's totally okay with me. I'm still, a week later, trying to catch up on rest and feeling well after overdoing it at the show with so many hours put in, etc. But what a lot of fun to see everyone, watch the Danes in the ring, learn more about the judges, and accomplish some of our goals.

Rose City Classic 2012 - Friday

2012-01-25T22:07:00.000-08:00

Friday was my "short" day. I had to get the kids to their dad's that evening which meant getting out at a decent time. Fortunately the big dogs were running earlier in the day than the day before so we had a pretty good chance. And there was to be only one Dane show, too.

You might notice a theme to the pictures I took Friday.... (all but one anyway)

This is a friend's lovely bitch, Boca.

So like usual, Standard was up then JWW. One ring started with Excellent Fast followed by Standard; we were running 20s then 24/26 inch dogs.

Standard
This course seemed fairly straight forward. The challenges presented were avoiding the off course #14 tunnel coming out of the chute, avoiding the wrong end of the tunnel after #13, and avoiding an off course #19 after the #17 jump if the dog got ahead of you. My plan for handling was as follows:

Work from the inside from 1 - 5.
I walked a rear cross as well as a front cross at the a-frame. I chose to stay on the inside.
Rear cross the chute
Work the inside from the table through 11
Push in and shape the angle over 12 to 13 to better point her toward the far end of the tunnel
Move out in front of 15 and work from the right side for 15, 16, and 17
Planned to throw an off side arm up at 17 to avoid/discourage taking the panel versus the tunnel

Since we've had some panel issues as of late, I also wanted to be sure I was out in front of the tunnel exit and in her line of sight to turn her toward the panel and make sure she got her stride right to clear it. I even added an extra "big" command to make sure she knew to jump high and clear it.

SCT: 66

Yards: 176

Our time was 49.55. We finished 19th out of 21 qualifiers. It was a fast, fast class of dogs. Nice course for it. We earned 16 MACH points on that run; whoohoo! Very proud of my girly, but now the pressure was on. If we qualified in JWW that would be our 19th QQ. Of course I wanted it, but I didn't actually put any pressure. We have points to go for MACH so it would just be a step in the right direction. Of course I wanted it though....

JWW

One tunnel, so yay for that! It was a long one, though. I walked the course a couple ways. In the end, I decided to start by handling from the left. I figured to run with her and rear cross at 4 and toss in a blind cross after 6. At the end of the weaves I was going to front cross and make sure I pushed well into the tunnel versus sending and moving out. The dilemma at that point was how far to beat feet. Sometimes if I'm too far ahead of Vegas she tries so hard to catch up with me that bars can come down. In this instance, I decided to risk it and moved out beyond 12. From there it was just a matter of taking the pinwheel and a run for home.

SCT: 42
Yards: 149
Our time was 35.87 with a YPS of 4.15. We placed 18 out of 20 qualifiers. And that was our 19th double-Q. What a high, what a day. Very proud of Vegas. She ran well, concentrated, focused, and was totally in tune with me. She's such a crowd pleaser; it's such a joy to listen to people when she's running and to talk with them before and after. A huge part of her time at Rose City is spent doing breed PR and she did a bang-up job of it - loving on kids of all ages, adults, seniors, and participating in umpteen requests for photos.

Rose City Classic 2012 - Thursday

2012-01-25T21:14:00.000-08:00

Thursday I had Vegas entered in both regular classes - Standard and JWW - and her brother, Leo, in JWW only. While I had set up our crates to save a spot for us Wednesday, I still had reason to get there early enough to get things unloaded etc. Plus I wanted a cup of coffee on the drive and had an errand or two to run. So another early day.

When we got there it was pouring. Like, torrential downpour, nasty, cold, wet raining cats and dogs. It was miserable. And the spaces closest to the covered walkways at Expo were taken. So that meant unloading all our stuff onto our cart in the rain, walking across the parking lot to the covered walkway, then walking about a quarter mile from the back end of the parking lot to the building. Let's just say that by the time I got in the building I was already in a foul mood. I am really not a fan of the weather in Oregon anyway and this did nothing to improve that perception. So I walk in the door and basically drop my umbrella, shove my cart inside, then try to get myself and Vegas in, pick our crap up again, and then have to "show our sticker" to prove we're participants, etc. As if the crapload of stuff wasn't clue enough....

Anyway, the little dogs were in a hard plastic crate so at least they were contained until I got things unloaded and set up. I was fortunate enough to get a spot by the wall with the curtain behind us so there was a "hidden" space to put extra crap. One of the biggest issues at Rose City is how little space the competitors/participants have for the varied accoutrements that come with dog showing. My usual setup includes at least one 18 gallon Rubbermaid container that stores all blankets, crate covers, clips, and dog dishes I may need to use. The container is not only sturdy and a good fit for this type of stuff, in our wretched weather it also ensures those things remain nice and dry for the pups.

It didn't take too long to get things set up and then Vegas and I went to pick up maps. Our judges for the four days were David Hirsch and Tim Pinneiri. We totally scored on that front. Fabulous courses, good humor, and just generally great people. In fact, the courses were generally well designed for larger dogs, did not have tight manuevers that were difficult in general, plus things ran well for dogs who are unaccustomed to a rubber-matted surface. I probably mentioned this in last year's Rose City post but probably 90% of competitors here only compete on rubber-matting once a year unless they travel and it's here at Rose City. The rest of our facilities offer varied dirt flooring that may include rock, clay, and other substrate combinations. So major kudos to those two because we really had wonderful courses and could not have asked for better tempered judges for such a long weekend in a more chaotic environment.

The show was alternately hosted by the Tualatin Kennel Club and the Dog Fanciers Association of Oregon. Thursday was Tualatin Kennel Club. Our first run of the day was Standard judged by David Hirsch. Our run order was different each day for Excellent level dogs with 24/26 running as the second group Thursday.

Of course I only had one other run with one other dog but it looked to be a conflict. The trial secretaries are really great at this show in helping all of us deal with conflicts though what with obedience, conformation, rally, and agility going on. They extended our walk through for big dogs so that I could run Leo's course first then come walk and run Vegas'.

My plan here was to begin by giving her as much of a run into the tunnel as possible so we backed up almost to the score table. From there I was hoping to move out in front of the tire and call her through. From there it was important not to push in too far on #3 which could cause her to take the off course jump. I was hopeful that by hanging back, on the inside, she would smoothly make the turn from #3 to #4 in a 180 versus looking around. From there I assumed I could work in a rear cross at 7 with a verbal command to go to the table. Once she was on the table I just needed to turn back where I had come from to take the same jump we'd just left again and pull her back to the teeter from the inside. From there until the weaves I would be able to maintain position. Of course I had the a-frame in mind and making sure she nailed her contact. I wasn't concerned about the weaves and trying to front cross in there. I knew I would have time while she was in the weaves to front cross afterward to be in position to send her ot the tunnel after 14. The biggest issue with this course was making sure she nailed her contact on the dog walk and then not pulling in too soon, too tight so as to miss #17 or draw her back into the weaves. Fortunately she makes things pretty easy sometimes and her run off the end of the dog walk gave us just the right shaping we needed to head back up on the finish line of 17-20.

SCT - 71. Yards - 191. Our time: 51.54 - a smoking 3.71 YPS.

So one thing I hadn't counted on but understand better now was the knocked panel (#3). I moved laterally and she looked to me - which was good! However, it caused Vegas to drop her rear which, in turn, dropped the top bar. So major bummer cause my girl was seriously moving on this course. She ended 19 seconds under course time - a major accomplishment for such a big girl. So I was not upset; she did what she could and I now know to watch for lateral movement with a panel and be more careful, plus work this when we do practice. She's so efficient in her jumping these days she just doesn't have the room to spare that we once did. Which is why she's faster, and which means I have to accommodate.

Being as JWW always runs faster, it wasn't but a short wait until we were ready to walk our JWW course. Although I didn't love the two tunnels, I had no other complaints. The challenges were fair and there was a good amount of room to move on the course. I planned to start at an angle to the #1 jump (from the left side) to give her the advantage of moving out and arcing initially in her movement. It also put me in a good spot to be able to get out between 3 and the tunnel. Once she was in the tunnel I planned on just backing up a couple steps and calling her to make the left exit and work the tunnel #6 entrance from the right. Again, I planned to back up and just call her toward me so she knew what direction but give the "weave" command. Here came the tricky part. I just didn't feel confident in attempting any sort of cross after #8. I felt like there was too little space and I'd end up sending her into the tunnel inadvertently. So I worked 8, 9, and 10 like a serpentine. After the weaves I pulled her toward me and pushed over 8, pulled over 9, and pushed over 10. I then planned a blind cross between 11 and 12 but ended up with a front, I believe. I worked the inside for 13 and 14 and planned (and executed!) a blind cross after 14. I also planned a blind cross between 17 and 18 with a "flip" to turn for 19.

I love how well I can count on my Vegas. She's super reliable, what others have called "honest." She will do what I tell her, even if I don't mean to tell her to do something. Our time on this run was 37.08. SCT was 47 and yards were 167. We were 10th place out of 16 qualifying runs.

All in all, a great day. Can't fault the oops on Standard and while that's the better run to Q in, I can count on my girlie for JWW.

Of course there was some more conformation, too, Thursday and I took some more random pictures.

The empty agility course...

The Pom ring...

Working Group...

The awesome FitPAWS booth - we had so much fun there!

From the evening specialty after Best in Show.

This is Stevie who earned his Championship on Saturday.

After Best in Show....nobody's around. Except the Dane peeps.

Vegas thought watching conformation was boring. She wanted home and dinner.

The beautiful pup, Darla.

We finally got out of there about a quarter after 9. It was a late night with an early morning the next day so we pretty much drove home, the dogs were fed, and we were all off to bed. Fourteen hours, two great runs, and a qualifying score plus a day spent with cool people.

Rose City Classic 2012 - Wednesday

2012-01-23T22:45:00.000-08:00

Well, five days down and a lot of sleep lost, but we had a blast. So much to tell so might as well get comfy. There was a lot of action. I'll start with Wednesday.

Wednesday started fairly early with the goal of arriving at the Portland Expo Center at 7:30. Somehow I ended up ahead of myself and got there just after 6:30. Yikes! Wednesday is "specialty" day. For the Danes, that meant we started with the Mount Rainier Working Dog Club show followed by the Willamette Valley Great Dane Club specialty. My role in this whole thing was to bring all the raffle prizes collected over the last 8 months or so since I volunteered myself. Other than that and a few little random things, I appointed myself official photographer. I took right about 1,300 pictures the first day and I surely won't post them all here (That's what Facebook is for!) but I do want to share a few, starting with some of the fun raffle prizes we had. And I have to say, that silly girl of mine wanted to try out every single stuffy toy we had. There was the nasty (awesome) oppossum, the snake, a warthog, a monkey, and a couple others.

From the working dog rings -

At one point I was just wandering around outside the ring and caught this...

From the across the ring....

And outside the ring....this cute lil' thing is what had the fawn Dane all worked up and in play mode.

Newfoundlands!

Rottweiler!

And from the group ring:

I couldn't resist - frog-legged. LOL

And here....is the #1 Doberman in America and the bitch that took THREE, Count em'!, THREE BIS (her 19th - 22nd) while in Portland: Ch Protocol's Veni Vidi Vici "Fifi"

She was in Florida at Eukanuba, too, and I never did get a chance to watch any breed so didn't see her. I figured she had to be coming to Portland since it's one of the biggest shows in the country with plentiful opportunities for majors and whatnot. I cannot express how exquisite this creature is. She almost seemed robotic in her automatic stacking and subsequent sustained hold in that position. That is, until I saw the way she shared a look with her handler, Jocelyn. She's pure beauty and her movement is a glide.

I loved this face!

So after the working dog specialty and group were complete, we moved over to another ring for the first of the two Dane specialties. The second was to be held the following night (Thursdsay) after Best in Show.

Here are just a few shots from that show:

The lovely awards table.

And that wound out the first day. I had brought my crates with me so at least I was able to stake out a spot early. That was one load off my mind.

I was already exhausted by the time I got home and still had to put things together for the next four days. Unfortunately it was pouring down rain all evening long so I opted to risk waiting to load until morning. Unfortunately it was raining just as hard then, too. It made for a bit of a rough start, but that's Oregon this time of year.

Two More Sleeps!

2012-01-16T21:46:00.000-08:00

Two more sleeps and the Rose City Classic is finally here! Five whole days of dog shows! Four whole days of agility! Tons of vendors. Tons of dogs. Tons of friends. Excitement. Danes in conformation. Obedience. Meet the breed. Did I mention I was excited?

Okay, so in all truthfulness, this dog show comes around every year but it's one of my all-time favorite events. And it's even more exciting this year because I got to take Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off for it. I don't get to do that every year because there's a trade show that often occurs at the same time. Interestingly enough I don't go out of town for that event so there's no real reason I can't be off, too, but that's the way it is. So when I get to take the whole time off not only for the days I show but also for the day of all the specialties (Wednesday), I'm all that more stoked. It's a great week.

So yeah, just two more "sleeps" and then the fun begins. Vegas is entered in Standard and JWW all four days. Wednesday I'll be taking all the oodles of raffle goodies to the show as well as my crates to set up. I'll spend the entire day helping the club (Willamette Valley Great Dane Club) and hopefully taking a ton of pictures of the Danes in the ring, too. There are a total of six shows over the five days so I hope to really have a chance to soak things up, learn a lot more about conformation, and enjoy some nice looking Danes.

And without further ado, I'm going to head to bed to start one of those two sleeps. Here are a few pictures, too, that I took yesterday while at the park with V.

Distance recalls in the field.

"CHARGE!!!!!!!!!"

"Somebody" egged her on to go chase the birdies. I don't know who....

The river was so smooth and still I was almost convinced it was actually a lake.

Reflected in the river

I found it somewhat ironic the bank had all these cracks in the mud but it was actually quite wet out.

She's standing at the top of a small rise. Every time we're out in the woods, if there's an uphill at all she charges up then turns around like, "Aren't ya comin'?"

PAC January AKC Trial

2012-01-15T23:12:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was the Portland Agility Club January AKC Agility trial. We were originally entered both days but attended Ty's memorial service/open house at his mom's Saturday so only ran Sunday. Running just one day had its advantages. I only brought our agility bag, no crates, blankets, etc. I kept Vegas in the truck when I wasn't walking the course, otherwise she was with me. It was kind of a nice change.

Standard
Our judge for Standard was Mark Upshaw. The course had some technical elements but overall flowed very nice. People with a lead-out worked from the left. Those of us who can "pull" our dogs well or don't have a lead out tended to work the right at the start of the course. From the weaves I planned on a front cross to send her into the tunnel and to beat feet over next to jump 5. From there I was in position to be back far enough to not encourage the off course panel jump and, instead, pull to the teeter. One of the technical components was to get enough room off the teeter to make the turn to #7 nicely and then wrap back to the chute. From the end of the dog walk it was important to pull to the table, thus avoiding the #18 jump. The wrap was the only part I didn't care for, mostly because it's just a hard pull on the dog's body to have them land and immediately reverse direction. Part of that movement is coming down on the shoulders in the landing position then reversing to the flat and trying to do so while landing. It's harder on their shoulders and can be on the elbow joints as well. Vegas rocked this course. I was so proud of her. We were right on that day and such a team. It was one of those feel-good runs where we were so connected.

SCT was 66 with a yardage of 176. Our time was 51.71 for 14 points. We were 8th place.

Something kind of cool about this trial I had never seen before was that our scribe sheet were on carbonless paper so we could pick up a copy after our runs.

JWW
I think we may have actually run JWW first, but I can't remember now. The judge for this class was Katherine Leggett, whom we had also run under before. I was going to work from the inside at the start, setting Vegas up at a good angle from the first jump to give me a shorter distance to #2 where I hoped to front cross. My backup plan was to stay on the inside and rear cross as I sent her over #4. Worst case scenario I would be on the left all the way to the tunnel. It's a good thing that didn't happen - she was moving! that day.

From the tunnel I needed to work the pinwheel and front or blind cross out of #9. Then I had to be cautious not to move too far out and cause her to take the off course jump versus turning into the weaves. Out of the weaves, I knew it was important not to move too far out so we didn't accidentally take #2. But then again, when turning to take 12 to 13, it was important not to turn too sharply. One of the most difficult parts of this course was out of the tunnel to 16, 17, 18. Vegas was flying through the tunnels and I had to make the same distance plus some. I needed her to move out from 16 far enough to curve nicely on 17 to make it flow right into 18. If I turned her too tightly from 16 to 17, then the bend to 18 and subsequent wrap is harder.

All in all, she rocked this course too and we ran as one. She did so well - especially with the killer long tunnel having to be taken twice. SCT was 45 for a yardage of 158. Our time was 37.12 and we finished 11th place. 7 MACH points for a total of 21 for the day. And double Q number 18. Woop-woop! That puts us at a total of 447 MACH points. Just two QQs and 303 points to go. I can taste it. It's a reality; we will be doing this. It's such a thrill, I can't even describe it. This journey, this adventure, is just the coolest thing. Vegas has been a dream of a dog and a dream of an agility partner.

I'm Back!

2012-01-15T20:08:00.000-08:00

Okay so it's plagued me since I decided to step away. I have needed to be busy and while I spent the first week going to work and then sleeping all evening, it only lasted the first week and then I felt like I just had to get back into my routine. So here I am. Writing is cathartic for me and my memory gets poorer and poorer as time goes on. I hate to lose account of things and I am also struggling to keep busy as it keeps sadness at bay.

Thank you to those who commented to me after my last. The support was very helpful. I won't go into details but to say, the person I lost was someone who I shared a tumultuous past but was the husband of my heart despite our not sharing the same last name. I miss him dearly and still struggle to believe he is gone. But here I am, remaining, and life must go on. I'm trying.

I last shared about the first of three days for the Boston Terrier Club of Western Washington's AKC Agility trial in Elma, Washington.

Sunday we ran tall to small and it was an early to finish kind of day. Fortunately because I shouldn't have been there and am so fortunate my Vegas is so amazing. It was another no Q day for both runs but not because of V, for sure.

Standard
I seem to have misplaced and/or never scanned the maps from Sunday which is a total bummer. I've never done that before, but I guess that's just the way it goes sometimes. It was a tough course but we actually almost had it. For some reason she knocked the panel jump on the back corner. Then we had what was probably a refusal since I lost her behind me.

JWW
We didn't even finish the course in JWW. The first mistake I decided I was not fit to run Vegas, thanked the judge, and left. We headed back to the hotel, went and got lunch with the boys, then took a nap. That was probably the best thing for me at the time and I slept again at a decent time that evening after having packed up our room to check out the next morning.

Monday was a small to tall day so I didn't have to arrive quite as early although there were fewer dogs and they were running Fast first. In the end I arrived probably 90 minutes before I even had to, but oh well. I worked and watched friends run and basically just acclimated and tried to keep my head on agility and nothing else.

Standard

Well, I managed to keep my head where it needed to be so Vegas wasn't short-changed....we almost lost it near the end when the final jump (as an off course) was almost too appealing. I'm not sure why my commands are so audible in this video as compared to normally unless it's the fact that my boys videoed from the upper part of the bleachers so...

A Q and 14 points! I was so proud of her.

JWW

Just like the rest of the courses that weekend, Monday's had a certain degree of technicality that kept us on our toes. I was able to drop in a rear cross again on this course and overall was fairly happy with it - particularly without a tunnel and with a long, smooth finish line. Another Q, 6 points, and QQ #18!!!!!

Seriously, a huge accomplishment considering where I was mentally the day before and on the drive home that day. But we made it and I couldn't have been more pleased. My girl rocked!

Correction -

This was QQ #17. Also, I found the course maps.

Sunday -

Monday -

Sometimes Life Just Kicks You in the Teeth

2012-01-05T18:27:00.000-08:00

In addition to updates for last weekend's trial I had plans to roll out some more consistent blogging in 2012, my agility year in review, some upcoming obedience plans, and lots of little things. But Saturday night about 9:30 pm I learned that someone very special to me had passed away. Long story short, while we weren't together (in a relationship) at the time, we were deeply in love and just trying to find our way. I have no idea when I'll be back to blogging. I'm not even gungho on doing anything that might be blog worthy anyway. Thank God for loyal dogs because they're getting the shaft with this emotional upheaval.

BTCWW Agility - Day 1

2012-01-01T07:42:00.000-08:00

This weekend we're staying Elma, Washington for the Boston Terrier Club of Western Washington's 3 day AKC agility event held at the Gray's Harbor County Fairgrounds. It's a bit of a drive from our house - about 2.5 hours - so I had hoped to get to bed early. The boys were coming along and decided to be very helpful Friday in helping get us ready. They actually did a lot of the prep and it seemed I would make my goal of a 9 o'clock bedtime last night until I faced the mountain of laundry I needed to put away just in order to pack for the weekend. Long story short, I was a little over an hour late on my goal but then didn't sleep hardly at all, woke at 4:30 to feed and potty dogs, extended my "sleep" and didn't actually sleep, and hit the road about 6:30 or so. Fortunately despite the longer drive, they were running Fast first plus running small to tall today. As always was the concern about crating space, but it turned out not to be too bad. We got a decent sized space and that's all that matters.

One of the reasons I love this place is that it has warm water and real bathrooms, good food, a heated crating area (often), plenty of grass to get the dogs out and walk/potty, and the hotel is within a half mile. The hotel is a Microtel that is seriously on the scale (and better than) many high-end hotels I've stayed. Plus they're uber dog friendly which is huge.

So as I said, running small to tall today and they started with Fast, for which we weren't entered. Our judges for the weekend are Paula Ratoza and Ann B. McQuillen. We've run under Paula plenty of times; this is our first trial with Ann as judge.

Since I'm getting tired, I'm going to get right to it and will try to be more explanatory later.

Standard
The course was really running rough. It was truly a reason to celebrate when a single dog ran clean. It wasn't that the course was too difficult, just very handler heavy with pitfalls easy for the dogs to fall into - which they did. In fact, some of the problem areas might have just had written invitations the dogs just could not refuse. That said, I learned a lot watching the other dogs and had a chance to think out my handling strategy.

With Vegas' normal speed on the dog walk I knew I could get to the end and make a front cross so that was the plan to avoid an off course in the wrong end of the tunnel (Pitfall #1). Next - just a huge Woop woop! for the shorter chute being used already. What a huge relief - I don't think Vegas knew quite what to do with it! Originally I thought I would just stay to the inside for the 5, 6, 7 sequence to the table (#7 was much more straight on to the table than the map shows), but in walking it I felt comfortable, especially with the shorter chute, front-crossing after 6. The angles show pretty good for 9 to 10 here. Most people were handling from the left and originally I had thought to do otherwise. However, there's a good distance between 9 and 10 and I was concerned about pulling her off 10 so opted to handle the way the masses did. Of course that way risked an off course with the triple. The smoothest, prettiest way of handling the 180 (11-12) and wrap to the teeter was actually a front cross after 11 and another to pull her around the jump on the far side (instead of between the jumps). My plan from there to avoid major pitfall #2 (off course wrong end of tunnel #15) was to front cross after the teeter and handle from the left.

Well, Vegas was wound up and moving really fast! A great thing, just meant sometimes she was a bit like a freight train. Still not sure why she knocked the bar on #10, but oh well. She did fall prey to the wrong end tunnel #15 and instead of making her take it correctly, we finished the course. SCT was 66; we finished in just under 50. That would have made a nice addition to our point total, but it wasn't in the cards. Sure was fun though!

JWW
I timed for the 20" class of JWW. It had it's pitfalls, too, but mostly was a nice, flowing, fun course. The biggest issues in the 20" class were the dogs extending and taking #14 as an off course after 3, taking 13 as an off course after 8, and handling the 9-11 sequence.

Since we didn't have a double-Q on the line I decided this course presented a great opportunity for me to throw a bunch of blind crosses out there and see how Vegas handled them. I really felt confident in them but definitely knew I could rethink that if she wasn't reading it and change things up. But why not, right? Nothing ventured, nothing gained....

The locations I planned to - and did - drop in blind crosses were between 4 and 5, 7 and 8, and 12 and 13. I love, love, loved the long finish line that actually had room for V to run out of collection for once. All in all, a great course and one she did really well on.

So today we didn't add any more points or another QQ to our 2011 totals. But we did have fun, Vegas was excited, happy, and smoking out on the course and that means the world. We continued to receive tons of compliments about how she runs and our performance as a team. A fellow competitor and instructor told me she has a Dane in class and I was excited to hear it's a very drivey dog, too. I shared my blog and I hope the handler gets some use out of it as well as some enjoyment.

2011 In Review
So for AKC this year alone, we accumulated 16 QQs, 362 points, attended our first AKC Agility Invitational, and took home the Top Great Dane medallion. We have grown exponentially as a team. Our bond and connection with each other is unchallenged and possible something I'll never experience again. I still love that girl with all my heart, possibly more with each passing moment we share. I cannot wait for 2012 and the things to come in our life together.

Thankful Thursday

2011-12-29T19:36:00.000-08:00

Today I'm thankful for Vegas' allergist who is always there to answer questions, give advice, hear me out, and not force me into exams and will dispense an occasional refill of a prescription to help us out. She's flexible, communicative, has a great staff, and I'm very thankful to Dr. Amy Randall and her practice, Animal Allergy and Ear Clinic.

Vegas has been battling her allergies all Fall and has gotten increasingly worse this month despite my having picked up an addition to her allergy serum - a mold spike. We're juggling and in the interim she is suffering. After giving them a call today after really noticing how incredibly pink my girl is (I love pink like the next girl - and that includes pink, black, and white - but not a pink dog.). So anyway, today she gave us a prescription that will help give her some relief as we balance out her serum doses.

A Deep Moral Dilemma

2011-12-27T18:50:00.001-08:00

Is it wrong to call out "kitty" or "squirrel" in order to achieve the desired facial expression for a photo? The one with perked ears, engaged face, excitement and interest? Inquiring minds want to know....

The End of the Invitational - What a Ride!

2011-12-26T00:13:00.000-08:00

We had such a blast at the invitational. It's hard to believe I could be in the building all day for two-and-a-half days and not see any conformation or any obedience. Plus I didn't do any shopping. Weird! The latter is okay; I was on a tight budget. But I was sorry about not being able to see the Danes or any of the other breeds nor obedience. Since we are getting into obedience now it would have been cool to see the top dogs show their stuff.

So by the time I left I was exhausted, exhilarated, and already trying to figure out how I could come back next year. We had such a good time, met so many cool people, made so many new friends, and really have an appreciation for what it takes to pull something like this off plus a respect for how hard all of us worked to get there. And I love the support. It amazes me how supportive people are. It makes for a much more enjoyable time to see how hospitable and kind the people are - particularly to those who were new. And honestly, there didn't seem to be a competitive spirit. Sure people wanted to do well, but they acted like they were competing only against the clock and the course, not each other. That was incredible to me.

Finals was awesome. Of course that was a first for me as well. I took a ton of pictures both of the dogs running and of Vegas hanging out in the stands. Sadly I did something dumb with my camera and managed to lose all those. Guess I'll have to go back again to capture them next year now, right?

This is a final collection of pictures not included in my last two (really long) posts about the invitational. Needless to say, I lugged along the big camera, the video, and my laptop, to fully capture the experience for posterity, my lousy memory, and in commemoration of such a wonderful opportunity with my amazing Vegas.

Here goes:

A Tibetan Mastiff walking around as a holiday moose.

Keri with Mega and K8 plus Teresa holding Morgan and her Dane, then Vegas and I.

I DID get to meet Elena and Niko (GCH OldBluz Nikolai Maxsim)!

Ribbons!

The bigger ribbons Vegas was eyeing...

Half of the agility crating area.

Gail Storm and crew walking the Round 3 JWW course to figure out what changes they could make to avoid risk to the dogs with the falling apart surface.

One of the monitors displaying results and recently scored dogs.

Bichon Frise at Meet the Breeds.

Bedlington Terriers at Meet the Breeds. This pair were about 9 months old.

More awards table bling - the stack of breed club medallions.

Big awards bling - the trophies for finalists.

Boxers at Meet the Breed.

This little girl climbed up on this guy, weaseled her way in, and started smooching on this little kid. So cute.

I forget her name (and the male's) but I believe these two blacks are the GDCA president's Danes.

Golden Retriever at Meet the Breeds.

French Kisses! Meet the Breed booth - French Bulldogs. These are for you, Lindsay!

Dobermans at Meet the Breed. I had soooooo hoped to meet Fifi, the #1 Doberman in the country and a stunning bitch. She is sponsored by LubriSyn and their booth was in the agility hall. But I never did see her. Darnit.

Miss Mega playing tug with Keri.

The Vizsla carrying off one of the mats from Musical Mats.

A Dane we met outside the breed hall by the superdogs.

One of the warm-up jumps.

Sunday was really windy when we walked over and the dog was on its side. This was taken later that day when it was upright again.

Vegas outside the OCCC.

Bullmastiff - Meet the Breeds

This was outside the convention center.

Notice the rainbow through and to the right of the spouting water?

Ring 2.

V in our hotel.

Above is the back of our bar code tag and below is the front. We were to have this attached to our leash at all times to scan our way into the ring. This apparently registered us at the scoring table. .

Vegas looking out the 15th floor window in the elevator lobby.

Getting ready to say goodbye to Orlando. We went for a walk around the grounds to really take time to take in the scenery and soak up some sun and warmth.

She finally looked at me! I guess "squirrel" and "kitty" are the magic words....

Cool, GIANT ball ornaments in front of the hotel.

Big dog or tiny tree? You decide.

Decorated electrical box.

Birds of Pardise

Running!

Rolling in Florida grass

In front of The Peabody

The corner of Convention and "Welcome."

The West Concourse of the Orange County Convention Center.

Aaaahhhhh! Ferocious alligator! Be careful, Vegas!

Guess they're friends now.

Convention Center and pond/water fountain.

The back of our hotel (Rosen Centre). I liked the angle.

When I left Florida I thought we had finished 47th in the 24" class. A couple of days ago the trial secretary sent out a follow-up email to participants to let us know the final results were up on the web and to ask for feedback. I reviewed the results and looked to see if they had any additional breakdowns such as by group, etc.

They had a report organized by high in breed. It listed us having been in 42nd place.

I realize now that I read it wrong. We finished 42nd in Round 4, but cumulatively we finished 47th.

Still, very pleased for a giant dog.

Here is a link to some of the additional reports: High in Breed Summary and Cumulative Results by Score.

Congrats to all the awesome dogs that were in attendance, thanks to the AKC for putting on a great event, thanks to our judges for challenging us and to the wonderful announcer who so consistently and beautifully shared our awesome sport with attendees as well as announcing us in ring 1. Last but not least, thanks to all my friends, family, coworkers, and fellow agility competitors who made this ride so much fun, who were supportive, and who kept our spirits up, encouraged us, and believed in us.

Our First Invitational Experience - Sunday

2011-12-25T20:09:00.000-08:00

Sunday we were running a little earlier than Saturday and with a mid-night potty call, I was very tired. But we made it. We headed over to the convention center about 8 am. I had pottied Vegas again before going inside then spent 10-15 minutes getting her settled in her crate along with putting my trusty Vibrams on. While she threw a fit as soon as I started to walk away, she did settle down and I checked on her a couple times before pulling her out again and she was quiet inside her crate. So thank goodness for small favors.

Round 3
Round 3 was another JWW course. Our goal (Val's and mine) was for me to run Vegas then head over to the conformation hall to watch the Danes. We would be cutting it close but hoped to make it and watch some friends. Plus I wanted to meet a Yahoo Group/Facebook friend and her Dane, Elena and Niko. Niko is a stunning and gorgeous Harlequin that has done really well in the show ring, completing both is championship and grand championship plus going to Westminster this year.

So with Vegas crated I was free to watch the 20" dogs running, review my map, and be ready to walk when it was our turn. We were in the first 24" walk through since we were running the 10th dog into the class.

In watching the 20s, most were fine through the weaves and up to #6 or so. The course map is a little different than what we actually ran because of the turf issues I mentioned in Saturday's post and Gail Storm's last minute adjustments to avoid the 24s running the same path. I've tried to show how it was different in a second map below the first. For the 20s though, many handlers were making a front cross after 6 and after 7. Their timing was very close to avoid being in the dog's way but their goal was to avoid the off courses that seemed inherent in sending the dog ahead. Surprisingly the off course jump above #10 never caught any dogs I watched. Apparently with the turn required to 10/11, handlers were queuing it enough that the dogs never saw or tuned into that jump. From there, 11 to 12 was a long stretch. Dogs were turning the wrong direction to start and having to turn back. Not a big deal except wasting time. Few turned correctly and came in, missing #12, and fewer still went wide around #12. Mostly it was just a really long stretch to run on the inside legs and maintain speed. A few dogs were catching #10 after #12 but most stayed the course. A few were making the wrap off #14 well, taking #15, then going off course on #11 because of a wide turn. Again, it was a tight course with a lot of handling required. This one was designed by Nalle Jensen and 24" dogs were to be judged by Blair Kelly.

My plan for this course was to set her up far off the left of the first jump at an angle pointing her toward the pivot point of the turn to the #2 jump. I was going to set her up far enough back and then run like hell to make a front cross to send her to #2 knowing that her collection for and taking of the jump would give me the time. There was enough distance to #4 and after in that open space in the center of the course that no matter which way I walked it, I was most comfortable with a front cross into the weaves. From there, as you can see our adjusted course while perhaps a few yards longer, was actually easier - in my opinion - with a clear and straight-forward serpentine. I planned to work it from the inside, and maintain the same side through #14. I knew the most difficult parts were queuing the "turn on a dime" after 14 and 15. From there I figured we were pretty good.

The good news is, Vegas was happy, acting interested in the warm-up jump, and engaged and playful that morning. I had plenty of time to warm her up, stretch her, play with her, get her revved up, and was feeling good going into the run.

There's the one little spot where I very nearly cost us the run by forgetting my turn positioning and Vegas did exactly what I said. Fortunately she responded well to my correction and we avoided an off course. Yahoo!!! I was so very happy. A clean run. Finally. And she was so happy and handled the entire thing so well just like I'm used to. What a girl!

Our time was 35.977; SCT was 46. And we were clean! One clean run moved us up to 62nd out of the 122 dogs in our height class. I was so pleased with such a wonderful, fun run with her! Interesting, as I look at the cumulative results right now, I notice we're only 5 seconds slower than the very fastest dog in the class. That was cool!! Seriously, she's probably twice the size of the Vizsla. Amazing.

Needless to say I was on cloud 9 at this point. I kept Vegas with me for a while and hung out with Val some more. We watched some runs, walked around, and I have to say, the amazing support of the people there, the other competitors is like none other I've experienced. I couldn't begin to count how many times, how many people came up and congratulated us on our run. They were so remarkably supportive and I am so thankful for that. It was a wonderful feeling to have so much support - particularly so with it being our first time attending the invitational. A big shout out to the NW competitors there, too, who were looking out for me and trying to watch my runs when they could. I so appreciate you!

And the number of people I met who used to have Danes, who used to run Danes in agility, or who are interested in doing so. It was so cool!

In fairly short order we did start to head over to conformation for the Danes but they'd gotten done in a half hour? Crazy fast so instead we stopped for a cup of coffee out in the food court area. Afterward I kenneled Vegas again so she could rest. Another decision I made about the second day was to rest her more. The walking around and socializing might have overstimulated her and made her tired. So rest it was in the crate. Fortunately after her initial temper tantrum kicking up the crate pad she settled down good. Sunday I also brought with a blanket from the hotel to cover the crate with to give her some semblance of privacy or a "cave."

Round 4
Round 4 was a hybrid course. I didn't know what that was until I re-read the information pamphlet the AKC provided. A hybrid course contains only two contact obstacles. Otherwise it's mostly a jumpers course. I was exceedingly glad the course did not contain the dog walk. Despite our "issues" with the a-frame contact, the dog walk is our slow obstacle so I was obviously concerned, particularly when I saw the course time. It seemed low for a course with contacts but then again, we didn't have the table either so....

The surface was holding up better here so no need to modify anything to accommodate the 24" class. A good part of that may have been that the smaller dogs were running here so the impact wasn't as great. This course was designed by Blair Kelly and we were judged again by Nalle Jensen. I really liked this course. I was the 100th dog in 24" so had quite a while to watch. In fact, I watched the entire class up until my marker dog. Most handlers were front crossing after #2. Just like in an earlier run, I was hesitant to do so because Vegas likes the a-frame and my doing so my cause her to go over it. I felt initially, after walking the course, and after watching others run the best course of action for me was to remain on the right and pull her over #3 and rear cross the teeter. From there I knew I had to be sure to push out far enough to make the weave entry, but I didn't over-worry about it since she's been so solid on her weaves. The only real problem for this course was the 13 to 14. The dogs were getting ahead of their handlers at 12 to 13 and then not knowing where to go. A 180 after a fast running stretch like that was proving difficult to maneuver. People were also prone to move in on the dogs to queue the 180 turn but, in doing so before the dog took off for 13, caused their dog to slide over and take 14. Or, the handler was just too far behind and the dog turned to the left after 13. Then there were back jumps over 13, wrong courses over 14 (the wrong direction), off courses taking 14 first. It was kind of a mess and I'm really glad I watched it. There were probably fewer teams than I could count on one hand that smoothly handled that which gave me a lot to think about and be prepared for in running it. When I looked at the map, walked the course, and watched the course run, I was thrilled beyond belief for a fast finish. I loved the long line from the 180 to the last jump. I knew Vegas could make up a lot of time there plus would have a lot of fun. I more I watched the more excited I got to run her again!

I loved watching this run again. We lost a second or so on the a-frame as we worked out our agreement for Vegas to touch the yellow. But that's okay. She ran well and it's so good to hear the support of the audience when I watch the video. You can see from the video, too, we learned from what we watched on that 180 and she handled it flawlessly. On another note, it doesn't matter how many of our videos I watch, it amazes me what our times can be because she doesn't look like she's moving fast because she runs in collection due to the short spaces between obstacles and her size. But she really is moving and rocking those courses for a dog that measures 32.5" and weighs in at 125 pounds.

What a way to end our trip. Two clear rounds on the same day. She did such a beautiful job on both our runs Sunday; I was so pleased with her I could hardly see straight. And thank Dog for Val and Keri, she had a great reward waiting for after her second run. She got to have breakfast and dinner in one - real raw food. She was thrilled and once she was cooled down I let her have it back at our crating area.

As things stood when I checked results a bit later, Vegas had finished up in 47th place in the 24" class. She had two clean runs and a cumulative score of 380/400. I couldn't have been more pleased with her. We came a long way to show what Danes can do. She gave me her heart and soul like always and ran joyously, consistently, and smoothly. She worked the crowds, loved on people, and made dozens of new friends.

We went and picked up our awards before finals. That was a joyous moment.

Two - count 'em - TWO clean round ribbons. So proud of my girl!

Okay, so there's a story to the ribbons and I'm going to refrain from saying more than this: Take note of the lowest most text on the ribbons. Then please recall the location we attended the invitational. One guess and it begins with O and ends in rlando.

And equally as exciting.... Our Top Great Dane medal! And oh my wow is that thing heavy! Seriously must weigh more than Juicy which means, poor Chihuahua! LOL.

As an extra bonus after finals and when we went back to our room Sunday night, Val had saved Vegas part of her ahi tuna steak which she swallowed in a single gulp.

Our First Invitational Experience - Saturday

2011-12-19T07:21:00.000-08:00

Saturday we were scheduled to walk our first round (Standard) at 8:45 and run starting at 9:10. We were running in the later group of 24" dogs. They were running about 30-45 minutes behind mostly due to issues with the sod/surface. That was an ongoing problem all weekend. The sod strips laid down were just two feet wide. I guess they used sod last year as well but didn't have any issues. Per some in the know, the previous year's product was four feet wide and much thicker with a dirt base/substrate. This was very sandy and probably less than two inches thick. In our first class and first round of the weekend, it was getting torn to shreds any area where the dogs were moving fast on a directional change (E.g. 180s, 270s, and also the weaves). It was getting treacherous with some dogs skidding out, sliding onto their shoulder, etc. A common sight throughout the weekend....

Originally they were pouring sand on torn up spots. Then they were pouring sand and stomping it down. Then they were patching in the pieces of turf that went flying. In the stands it seemed a consensus that the biggest issue was the dryness of it all. You can tell the surface doesn't look very green. True, it's not getting sunlight but if it were just laid and was good quality to start, you'd think it would look a little better. Of course I didn't have any idea what had been used previously so didn't have anything for comparison. But I was surprised at the rapid deterioration. Friday it had a bit of spring when you walked on it. By Saturday morning and our walk through, no spring. So anyway, without beating a dead horse, I'm surprised there weren't a ton of injuries from those dogs sliding. Thankfully AKC was very diligent at working at it and re-rolled turf when a section was irreparable, watered those areas down to help congeal them together, and even Gail Storm could be seen on hands and knees tamping the surface down. At one point Sunday she even rebuilt part of the course "on the fly" in order to avoid the 24" dogs running the same path the 20" dogs were and risking more problems. I think it was a lesson learned. From what others had said of last year's surface, these problems weren't an issue. Apparently the thickness was about double as was the width of the turf rolls. So hopefully this year was a lesson learned and next year will be better.

Courses throughout the weekend looked challenging but doable. Mostly they were handler heavy with multiple options depending on where your dog was or where you were.

Round 1

Round 1 was a Standard course designed by Mike Lappin. We were to be judged by Nalle Jansson. In the pictures above, imagine one of those pink-robed poles on the left side right next to the #2/8 jump. That's about where I wanted to be to send Vegas into the tunnel so she had a running start. A running start makes the tunnel easier and faster for her. Someone asked if I could send her in diagonally from somewhere in the vicinity of the opposite side of the #2/8 jump. I debated on it but ultimately came to the conclusion the best entrance for her is straight on. All that meant is I had somewhat limited space between the jump and the pole and I wanted to be sure I didn't knock the bar with my butt. :) From there, most handlers were making a front cross before the weaves. I knew how appealing the a-frame would be to Vegas and also that I would have time and room to make a front cross after the weaves, if need be. Ultimately I rear-crossed the teeter which worked well for us. By staying back on the weaves, too, I avoided wasting time on allowing her to jump and run out far and having to pull back to the weaves. My biggest concern, like it has been lately, was the down contact on the a-frame. My timing has to be so precise with when to call the contact, where my deceleration point is, and when to move on. I have yet to master exactly what it is so it gives me much angst in preparation for a run over that one small component. Based upon normal handling, I planned to rear cross 10 with a "flip" command of an off-side arm. I figured I would then be between the jumps and able to call her around the 180 (plus) then rear cross (again with a "flip" or "switch" command with an off side arm) 13-14. I knew I would be on the left for 15 to 16 but figured I would rear cross 16. I knew I had to rum out the length of the chute before moving to the dog walk, which was fine. So that was the plan and all went fairly well.

What I could never have accounted for was that Vegas would be a bit clingy and less independent on some obstacles. Or perhaps I wasn't clear enough in my signals. Either way, our first "issue" was after the a-frame (Hooray - she nailed the a-frame beautifully!) at #8. I thought I sent her and went to move off toward #9. She pulled off #8 causing a refusal. I corrected her without an off course and moved to #9 and 10. We seemed to be back on track and then she missed #12 and I had to correct. She seemed to want to come between the jumps. Our next issue was at #16. I think I trusted her again to take the jump and she peeled off again with me and that made our third refusal. All for all for a first run, we completed every obstacle, had no off courses, but accrued three refusals. We were within time though, so that was good as well. I went into this run with the mantra that we were running just like we do at home. I couldn't let myself be any more mentally psyched up than seemed to be inevitable so I decided I had to run "just like always" and figure that was what had gotten us there anyway. Going into the run with my head in that place was a lot better. Prior to making that decision I had butterflies like nobody's business and I knew that would transfer to Vegas, too, which was no good. With my head in the game, I laughed off the things that happened, called Vegas a "silly girl," and knew there wasn't really any way I could have known she would need me to stick closer. A lesson learned and one I was prepared for with Round 2.

Our score was 85/100; SCT was 62 with our time 55.359. That put us in 98th place in the 24" class out of 122 dogs.

We had lots of time between round 1 and 2. In light of Vegas' normal reaction to being crated, I figured I would just keep her with me walking around, watching, etc. We wandered through the meet the breeds booths, watched the "Eukanuba Incredible Superdogs" show, talked with people, and tried to watch friends' runs. Of course I took a TON of pictures.

The dock diving pool was in the same hall as agility. We stopped to watch some of the dogs jumped. Vegas was over-the-top engaged. I wish that meant she would be interested in doing it, but she was more just tuned into and keyed up by the other dogs who get so intense. Somehow it triggers an insanity switch in her and makes her a bit nutty. Basically from the pictures you can see she was tuned into the dogs on the dog and in the water and when they jumped or when their toy was thrown she charged and ran in a semi-circular pattern at the end of her leash. I finally had to leave that area as she was just too amped up and I was afraid she would strain herself sliding on the slippery floor in her frantic rushes back and forth. Needless to say, she was entertaining not only to me but those around us.

The very first Dane to ever earn the prestigious MACH title was Morgan, owned and handled by Keri Caraher. Keri has been participating in a traveling dog act called the Superdogs in Canada for the past few months and was asked by AKC to perform at the invitational. So we went over and watched their show on Saturday after our first run. Basically they do all sorts of "dog fun stuff" with some quippy commentary, showmanship, and cool equipment thrown in. They also demonstrate disc dog stuff and demonstrate the incredible physical ability of some of the dogs.

Above and for the next couple of pictures, the dogs started on the red platforms, ran jumping through the red/black/white standard, went into the tunnel, looped around the silver dog bone, back into the tunnel, and returned to the platform through the jumps.

Again with the amped up and active dogs, Vegas was attuned.

Here is Mega and Keri.

Notice the fair competition....Great Dane versus Chinese Crested. Who do you think will win? Poor Mega; she's way cuter for sure.

Next they brought out a set of 24 weave poles decked out with cool silver streamers. The dogs that really got going sent the streamers flying - it was really pretty. Above is K8, another of Keri's Danes. K8 was a crowd pleaser particularly on Sunday.

I think it's so adorable how both stand and hug Keri. Vegas doesn't mind jumping up but prefers to do so for only a second at a time and certainly doesn't care to extend her legs up onto my shoulders and relax her elbows against me.

Above is Ethan and Power. Power is a Belgian Malinois with a ton of drive and athleticism showing off her mad disc skills.

This was one of my favorite parts of the show! The dogs played musical mats. The dogs were to walk with their handlers around the silver bones and when the music stopped, the dogs rushed to lay down on a mat. The last dog not "downing" was eliminated.

This cutie Vizsla got sent to the penalty box more than once because he was mat obsessive. :) He was a bit anxious and kept going to the mats instead of remaining outside the box and walking. In the Sunday show we caught, he made it to the mats first despite the penalty box.

This was pretty incredible. There was a thick foam cushion for the dogs to land on and the bars got higher and higher for dogs that cleared the previous height. Below is an Ibizian Hound who cleared the highest - 13 bars on Saturday for a total of about 5 1/2'. Amazing!

After the Superdogs show we went in the conformation hall. Turns out Danes weren't showing Saturday so we headed to the Pom ring. Caught the tail end of Best of Breed and snapped a couple pictures. The black in group didn't turn out at all - too bad. I think it took 4th or 5th - select perhaps. The rest were orange.

Having so many amazing friends and supporters both at home and around Facebook-land, I tried to take some pictures of the booths for some of those friends' breeds. Above, the Pumi for my friend, Twylla, who has her first Pumi, Furgie.

Above and below are the Bullmastiffs taken because my friend, Andrea, has two of them. I think we walked past these two (above) both days and they never moved. Flat out in their costumes. Embarrassment or exhaustion? You decide....

Just a random shot of Vegas when we were walking around.

A frequent routine of ours surrounding agility trials has been getting Vegas ice cream, usually from Dairy Queen. At the Orange County Convention Center and my hotel, my options may have been slightly more limited but there was an ice cream vendor. I saw their prices and about flipped. The sales person didn't speak English too well and didn't seem like she understood my question about whether they could be flexible on price and just sell me a small single scoop. Yea. I decided I just couldn't justify $4.25 for a single scoop of vanilla. Love you Vegas, but I could have bought her four treats that would have lasted a lot longer from another vendor I had seen.

A woman had just finished paying for her ice cream when she observed this interaction. She heard/saw me decline to purchase anything and pulled out her wallet. She told the sales person shes would purchase it and to give the ice cream to Vegas. I tried to decline but she wouldn't take "no" for an answer. So Vegas had an unexpected and benevolent friend. She enjoyed her treat thoroughly.

Round 2
Our Round 2 course was JWW designed by Terri Campbell and judged by Mike Lappin. First thing to note, of course, as those who follow my blog know, was the single tunnel on course. Yay for that even though it was a 20'. In watching the other classes, the area to hang up dogs and handlers the most was the 180s at 9 to 10 and and then not hitting an off course to 14 or the wrong end of the tunnel plus the 180 of 13-14. It was a tight course no matter how you looked at it and very much required the handler to be on his or her toes. Definitely no time to relax and just run your dog. You had to be ready for adjustment at any moment should he or she land just outside of what you expected or not look at you and read a queue like you're used to. The wrap at 15-16 was not great either as some dogs saw the off course tunnel and went for it, and it just slowed the ending versus allowing a nice home run stretch. This wasn't the kind of course I had seen from Terri Campbell in the past so I was a little disappointed.

My plan was to work from the right with a front cross after #3. I knew I could pull her back to the weaves. Another big issue other dogs had was going off course after #7 since there was quite a bit of distance and they were moving out ahead of their handlers. Naturally they turn back toward their handler and, "Oops!," take 13 or 14 or.... So my goal was to move out off the end of the weaves far enough to make a front cross that drew a long straight line down through 8. She still picked up enough speed that I had to throw an off side arm to side her out to 8, though, but thankfully I was prepared.

I had a concern after the 180 about sending her into the tunnel with my left arm and rear-crossing. Sometimes she seems prone to back out, particularly since the issue with the chute. Worst case scenario I figured I would run the outside of the tunnel. Fortunately she handled it fine. Keri reviewed the course map with me and suggested pushing out at the tunnel exit to shape the #12 and begin her turn. This was very wise because many, many dogs landed perpendicular to the jump then had a hard turn back to #13 and or they hit the #8 jump as an off course. In that regard, 12-14 was really more of a serpentine which we totally have down! I had intended to turn her to the outside after the #15 wrap to go from 16 to 17. Unfortunately, as the video shows, she didn't see my queue so my timing was clearly off. We had knocked the second jump bar anyway, but whew, there was some adrenaline pumping action at the end.... See for yourself.

She was a crowd pleaser, for sure. This was the round we had the announcer telling a bit about us and while I heard a bit of it, I remember the crowd even more. Despite our knocked bar at the beginning, the people watching were pulling for us during our struggle at the end. It was really, really fun to hear them when we finished our run.

Our score was 95 (just one fault, the knocked bar) and under time by 3+ seconds. Cumulatively, we moved up from 98th to 81st even with two faulted rounds. My goal was still a clean run (at least one!) and a super pretty ribbon. But at that point I was thinking I hadn't queued her for the turn at 16 and caused that fumble at the end....plus I'd had a break down after our run over her knocked bar thinking something was wrong. Keri watched the video late in the day and told me I had queued it. Small difference but at least I didn't forget. I was late, though, clearly or she would have seen it, read it, and acted on it.

All in all, we moved up in ranking plus our overall faults were lower. And she wasn't needing me to stick so close and was running like I was used to. So things were looking up.

So that was that for Saturday. We did some more visiting, watching, and wandering, and finally headed back to the hotel around 6:30. Val and I ordered pizza on the way and Keri met us in my room where we chatted and had dinner. After they left I took Vegas out on another potty walk for the night. I brought my camera again in hopes of getting a better picture in front of the nutcracker....

This picture (above) was actually taken leaving the convention center earlier.

"Nope."

"Not gonna look at you."

"What's that? Over there..."

"Ain't gonna do it...."

Much more cooperative in front of the tree.

Too bad I chopped the top off the tree in both pictures.

Random and strange... a phone book outside of our room. It was there until the day we left.

Recall I said I had a breakdown worrying about something being wrong with Vegas when she knocked a bar? Turns out there was. She pooped three times during the day, once she almost did so inside the building which is completely unheard of. Something was certainly off and all I could figure is that it was her traveling food. I mentioned some time back about buying a dehydrated raw, NRG. We've used it quite a few times before for a weekend trip out of town, etc. I had opened two of the three boxes I bought, one of which had grain, one which did not. No issues other than softer stool and more of it. Well, at the third time of the day I was stressing. It was a lot to go. And she wasn't drinking a lot while some of her excrement was quite loose bordering on diarrhea. She went again when I took her out before bedtime; that made the fourth time of the day.

She was fairly wiped out about 10:30 pm or so; I went lights out about 11:00 pm. She woke me up before 2 am to potty. Guess what? She pooped again. Wow. Five times in one day. This NRG stuff was not working for us - at least not on this trip. I don't know if it was just sensitivity, if it is the grain - which she is completely unaccustomed to - or if it was the travel, too. Poor girl. But thank Dog she woke me up to go and was able to hold it until we got down from the 15th floor, out the lobby, and into grass. Whew!

So I made the difficult decision to fast her on Sunday morning. I'd already given her a really good massage and stretched her. I couldn't do much else and the cause of everything seemed to be food and gut related. If her tummy was processing food that often throughout the day, no wonder she couldn't extend for the triple and we were having troubles. As I fell back asleep for a wake-up alarm to come in just four hours, all I could think was how I was going to make it through the morning getting ready when she wasn't going to get food.....

Friday - Fast Day

2011-12-16T20:10:00.000-08:00

So much for a restful night last night but we'll catch up tonight. Woke up about 8:30, got Vegas' breakfast started to reconstitute, and went for a walk. She "did her thing" and we came back up in fairly short order (25 minutes or so). We got into the room and Vegas did a funny. I thought she was just going into the bathroom for a drink. I went to do something in my room and didn't think anything of it when she didn't follow me out. When I called her she didn't come. I got up and went looking. She had two paws on the counter and was having breakfast. The counter in the bathroom is easily 4 feet. No matter; she was hungry and my schedule wasn't convenient. Silly girl.

We headed over to the convention center around 10:30. We saw some of the juniors run which was a really cool thing. So glad to see some kids getting started in this sport. They did really, really well. Completely impressive how these young people handled themselves and their dogs.

Entrance to Hall C where agility (and dock diving) is being held

Then I went wandering. As we wandered Vegas PR'd all over the place. She's a complete showstopper. Don't know how I knew that at 7 weeks but our family couldn't have named her better. She must have been petted by 200 hands today and kissed another dozen. She was wonderful, tireless, comedic, and sweet. Just like usual.

We saw the GDCA booth and met Dave Miller and Gordy (didn't get the last name). Chatted with them quite a while and then asked me to try to stop by to do breed PR for a while with Vegas. That was super nice. :)

I did a whole lot of wandering, checking things out, PR, talking to people, meeting people, watching, and just taking it all in. Vegas was with me all along and did fantastic. We finally went and found our crate and hauled it down to agility. I was pooped by then and a little cranky, plus there was a huge (I mean HUGE.) line for picking up packets. I went to the end of the line and figured by the time I got to the front of the line I'd be calm and cooled down. I was the former, not the latter. But I got my stuff and wandered some more.

Somewhere along the way, early on I believe, we visited the FitPaws booth and Vegas got up on the extra giant sized peanut ball. She was so awesome. She turned full circles, sat, stood and was generally a rock star. The took pictures using my camera as well as their own. I dubbed them the peanut gallery and we're going back tomorrow for more. So much fun and a great "warm up" for the day, too.

Fast walk through was 1pm - 1:55. Our estimated time for 24" dogs to run was 4:30 - 5:20 pm. We waited, waited, wandered, waited, met up with our friend, Val, and waited and waited some more. Then we walked and met up with Keri, wandered, waited, and watched some more.

We finally ran around 6. It was a bit confusing. They wanted us to be scanned into the ring. Each dog/handler has a laminated card with a bar code on the back. All fine and good. Vegas' was on her collar - she runs naked. Well, with the major delays and people being antsy (me being one of them), when it was my turn I was r.e.a.d.y. I'm not one to mess around anyway. Just "git er' dun." So I start to go in the ring. They hadn't been clear on when the scanning was happening and I couldn't see it happening as people entered. Well, the lady wasn't paying attention so I'm like, it's our turn, in I go. She stops me three steps into the ring and I have to take Vegas back to be scanned. Well at that point she was already in "let's go" mode. Grr. So she got scanned, which was a hassle as it wasn't a quick "scan and go" as the scanner didn't want to cooperate as well and she wasn't either. But we got it done and went in. I took her collar and leash off and she was already dancing around wanting to take off. I didn't even get her set up and she took off so missed the first jump I had planned on. She did launch over the broad jump for which I'm glad as we may see it in competition so wanted to be sure she remembered what it was. My goals especially after talking with Keri were to not worry about trying the send and to focus on my areas of concern - namely the a-frame and getting the broad jump in. So we went broad jump, a-frame, tunnel, dog walk, jump, weaves, a-frame. She blew her contact on the a-frame so I made her turn around and do it again. She did it successfully and we took the teeter and headed out over two singles. No idea of what time, doesn't matter. We got what we needed done and she was happy to get up and run, she was focused, shes was drivey, and she didn't care what was going on outside the ring. Yay. All this way I would hate to have her change that mental game that we have going.

The rest of our evening dealt with her getting fed, watered, rubbed down, us having dinner, then my taking her out for another potty walk. She's sacked out for the night and that's where I ought to head so we have a good start for tomorrow. Our walk through is 8:45-9:05 am. Twenty-four inch dogs are running (approximately) 9:10-10:55 am. We are the 9th dog running. That's for the Standard class. JWW walk is 2:10-2:30 pm and we run between 2:35 and 4. We're roughly two-thirds of the way through the first group of 24" dogs. I won't have any video until I go home as I realized I forgot my camera cord there, and I'll likely not blog until Sunday since I have to pay for the net each day. Wish us luck - we want four clean runs to get into the finals.

We have arrived!

2011-12-15T23:29:00.000-08:00

Short and sweet and will catch up tomorrow. I need to crash but did get a chance to meander around the entire outside of the hotel with Vegas for a late evening (early morning) stroll to check out the grounds and simply stretch our legs. I took my camera along, of course.

In the elevator.

This grass doesn't smell like ours at home, Mom.

Deck the palms!

I know Lindsay would love this!

This is projected onto the lobby floor of our hotel! How cool is that! Hoping for a picture sans leash tomorrow.

Vegas has recently developed this fascination - or perhaps acknowledgement of - mirrors. Couldn't resist her looking at herself.

And with that, I'm off to unpack and go to sleep.

2011 Invitational or Bust Countdown - 0 Days

2011-12-14T22:01:00.000-08:00

Well, tomorrow's the big day! We're packed and about as ready as we're going to be. Our day started early per usual. The dogs wake me up for breakfast. I went back to bed for a couple hours and got up to start the day. I had to make two important phone calls - one to the Rosen Centre regarding my hotel reservation and the second about my first flight tomorrow. That took some time but once I was done, I had some breakfast, showered, and headed out. The dogs needed some exorcise (Thanks for the term, Lindsay.) but we had two stops first. I had to go to the post office to mail some collars, pick up some chewies at our local pet store, then we went to the park. We spent about 90 minutes romping around in the fields, the dog park, and the woods until the dogs were slowing.

One of our favorite things to do.... I leave Vegas in a stay and go out as far as I feel like I can without her self-releasing. When I tell her "okay" she gives it her all and flies back to me all joy and ears and tail.

"What's that sound?"

"Hi, Mom. What?"

Romping and bounding around gleefully in the grass.

"Tally-ho!"

"Is there a squirrel up there?"

After our fun trip to the park, I had to go home and change. Vegas went back with me to the pet store to pick up cat food and then we went back home again. I had a couple other errands to run and some groceries to pick up. By this time it was 4:30 and I needed to make dinner. And was feeling like the day was getting far, far away from me. Scary.

But as per usual, it comes together. I'm grateful it came together earlier than my usual business trips do. I hated the thought of not getting the rest I would need tonight heading into a long two flights with a dog and an insane schedule for the weekend.

The soonest I'll get a chance to blog again will be Friday. Hopefully I'll have some beautiful pictures of the grounds and a picture of the courses, too. Say a prayer for my friend, Valerie, who was loaning us a crate and bedding for Vegas while we're there. She busted her arm yesterday and was seeing an orthopedist today. She has to be in a lot of pain and was planning on volunteering at the show this weekend.

2011 Invitational or Bust Countdown - 1 Day

2011-12-13T15:08:00.000-08:00

Today is my last day of work for a week. Today is my LAST DAY OF WORK FOR A WEEK. TODAY IS MY LAST DAY OF WORK FOR A WEEK!!!!!

I think I'm as excited about that as anything. I've never (repeat, NEVER) taken a week off for something fun. In fact, I've never in my life taken a real vacation aside from a couple days camping. Never. Wow. Sorry kids, mama's going away with the big dog. And I'm NOT GOING TO FEEL GUILTY ABOUT IT. Whew. Now that I got that out of my system....

Tomorrow I'm off work. I've got one errand I have to run and perhaps a grocery store stop for a couple of snack items to pack. I hate to pay convention center prices on everything and if I can get away with coffee pot heated water and packet oatmeal for breakfast while I'm there, well, more money in my pocket.

I'll be packing tomorrow (if not tonight, but my son has a choir concert) as well as exorcising (to borrow a term from my friend, Lindsay) and bathing Vegas. Other than that, my goal is to R&R. And sleep early.

So here's a bit of stuff I went over today.... I reviewed all the umpteen docs they have posted for us and emailed out to be prepared. For instance, what is the layout of the building, where is agility in relation to everything else, and where is my crating space.

I also did some checking up on the judges assigned for the invitational. I've run under only one of them before - Terri Campbell. Always enjoyed running with her as judge, her courses are great - no worries there. Checked with a Facebook group designed to share feedback about running under AKC and USDAA judges and got some positive feedback for Dr. Mike Lappin. I guess he runs Goldens and his courses tend to be flowing and nice for the larger participants. So yay there! Can't really find a lot on Blair Kelly but positive feedback of being an amicable sort. Wish I could see some course maps but tends to be that those are so taboo.... I'd never really thought about it as I post course maps on my site but I know I almost never remember to mention the judges we're running under so my blog doesn't come up on hits for people searching. I guess... Anyway, someone from the FB group did friend me and send me her run under Dr. Mike Lappin so that was nice. I'll take a look at that and get a feel for the course structure, that being standard and our sometimes nemesis. The last judge is from Europe, Nalle Jansson. I'm hoping these are only indicative of international style and not what we'll see in Florida: http://www.eo2012.com/nallecourses.htm. They're not bad; they're just not conducive to giant dog speed and motivation.

Anyway... So that's that for today. I've got some wrap-up to do at work, added a few things to my lists to pack, but we're starting on the first day of our journey tomorrow by packing and finalizing the remaining details to fly out. Yahoo! I can hardly wait.

2011 Invitational or Bust Countdown - 3 Days

2011-12-11T23:11:00.001-08:00

Today we got up and went to our obedience club for a match. Vegas did quite well - I need to remember to remain peppy and not get tense. She reads me so well that it's very detrimental to her performance when I don't. I learned that we need to continue working on heeling with as much attention as possible - at least without sniffing or a wandering eye and recalls. Everything else was lovely.

Afterward we went for a nice walk at our local park.

Yesterday I got started on spiffing me up to match Vegas for Florida....

Today I worked on my wardrobe a bit. Checking things off my list...one item at a time. And for now, I'm off to bed. My contribution to tomorrow's cookie exchange at work didn't get done as early as I would have liked so I have to finish things up early.

2011 Invitational or Bust Countdown - 5 Days

2011-12-10T00:53:00.001-08:00

Another work week down, a weekend to go, and just two work days. My goal is to have everything packed and ready Tuesday night so Wednesday the dogs and I can play. But I'll get to that then. Did I mention I only have two more work days? =)

So tonight I crossed a couple more details off my list. I had needed to pick up another pair of capris and a few t-shirts. So the latest on my list is to finish my t-shirt designs and then get them made. I've got some good ones for sure.... will share a bit when they're done.

Working the Dane

2011-12-08T22:28:00.001-08:00

Tonight was Vegas' night to both get out of the house and work. She was thrilled. We had 102 to ourselves tonight. We started out with some recalls. It took a bit of doing - not to get Vegas to recall well and enthusiastically - but to get her to come when I said "come," not when I said her name. It's going to continue to be on our to-do list but I'm very conscious of working this with her without dampening her enthusiasm. I don't want her to shut down on recalls. As it is, I'm thrilled with the actual recalls. She's almost 100% on fronts and she is so happy on the return to me that she even slid on the mats as she threw on the brakes. It's beyond adorable.

We then worked on random heeling patterns, some figure-8s around cones, and basically just finding heel position. I got the broad jump out and we worked on jumping over it and then returning to front. I had her doing nice, tight 360 lefts, and worked on sticking close on about-turns. All in all, it was a very successful half-hour of working and I'm absolutely amazed at how with me and enthusiastic she is. I look forward to the match Sunday to see how she does in that setting. It's likely our last chance to get in a match before the Rose City Classic (mid-January) where I intend on entering her in Beginner Novice.

From there we headed to the Cash' barn for the last week of agility league. When we were there last week one of the participants asked if I would sub for her tonight. Of course I said yes. It's a great way for me to get to exercise Vegas and let her do something she loves. Plus hang out with great people.

The only downfall is the extreme cold - the barn was a "balmy" 38 degrees tonight (insert wry grin and sarcastic humor here).

Standard was first.

When we went out in the ring I took Vegas' collar and leash off earlier than normal. I took them off close to the entrance of the ring instead of at the start line. Immediately she started bounding around and it seemed she would start taking obstacles in her excitement. I got her attention back just enough to start the course. I'm quite certain she vaulted over the dog walk contact but she did stay on the table. From there things went well until she flew into the wrong end of the tunnel at #8. Not that she was the only one, but it was clear from her craziness I had not a hope of preventing that one. She also blew the a-frame contact with a giant stride/leap over. She got her weaves and plowed through them and we finished the course in 51.43. Whew! To describe her performance it was: enthusiastic, happy, bouncy, silly, and fast.

The game tonight is one of my favorites. There is a set course planned but any obstacle taken while the handler is completely inside the box incurs double value of the numbered obstacle. For instance, the weaves are #11 and if handled from inside the box are worth 22 points versus just 11 if you run and handle next to your dog.

I set Vegas up in front of the first jump and took off. I jumped into the box as she was heading for the tunnel and I think I was inside the line before she started the tunnel. I was inside for 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, I think 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14. I had to come out of the box to get her to take 15 and then just went ahead and ran with her to 17 since I don't handle distance from that far away. If my calculations are correct she earned 239 points out of a possible 272. Very good! She was so darn happy the whole time, too, and coming off the run. Just a silly, happy, bouncy girl. Even after all those tunnels.

After our run we packed up and left. There were still some dogs left but I needed to get home and get some things done and to feed her. All in all a very nice night. I'm looking forward to the weekend home to finalize some of the details I need to take care of before leaving, to start packing, to sleep in, and to spend some quality time with my pups. But first there's a Friday I have to get through.....

2011 Invitational or Bust Countdown - 6 Days!

2011-12-08T15:30:00.001-08:00

At this rate Vegas will have more "outfits" in Orlando than I will....

Today I picked up her newest allergy serum. This one is a "mold spike." Last year she was in good shape. This year she's continued to itch and has been on Temaril P off and on for the last 4 months or so. The doc figured it was an increased reaction to the molds that kick up in the fall so we're going to try this out. And if it works she'll have a summer formula and a winter formula in the future, the winter containing more mold-fighting allergens. Here's hoping - I'll give her the first mold boost tonight.

Tonight we're going to sub for the last week of agility league after practicing at our obedience club for a bit. Part of me wishes we weren't because it's super cold and the barn will exaggerate that. But it might be the last time to get Vegas some practice, too, and I can't deny the benefit of that. I'm looking forward to the courses, particularly the games course. It's one where the obstacles are all set up outside of a huge box in the middle of the arena and you can earn double or triple points for obstacles completed while the handler is in the box. I'm finding distance challenges much more fun than they used to be, probably because Vegas and I are actually a well-oiled machine that works together and reads each other well now. Anyway, more on how league goes tomorrow as well as course maps.

2011 Invitational or Bust Countdown - 7 Days

2011-12-07T15:59:00.001-08:00

SEVEN DAYS - OHMYGAWD!

Yeah, I had one of those moments a little while ago. I'd gotten another email from Steve Herwig with AKC regarding our crating assignment. Seems they've assigned Vegas two side-by-side spaces since she's "a bit larger than most attending." Yes, I suppose she is. I really can't believe it's just a week from tomorrow morning that we'll be on a plane and on our way. It's somewhat surreal now that it's truly snuck up on me.

So, not to be left out of the couture plan for this adventure, Vegas and I will be matching in some aspects. The feathers I posted on earlier countdown days are going to adorn my hair and my nails are already sporting tips that will match the fuchsia in Vegas' vast array of collars. The above is a cell phone picture of the nail decals I have. They'll be added to select toes and nails before we leave.

Of which she has another one or two...

Tonight we'll start our twice daily regime of Shen Calmer. It's mostly a "just in case" measure. It doesn't make a huge difference for Vegas, just takes the edge off any anxiety she may feel during our whole travel ordeal. I'm not expecting anything - she'll just be happy to be with me and that's what matters the most.

2011 Invitational or Bust Countdown - 8 Days

2011-12-07T00:22:00.001-08:00

I tried posting this last night from my phone and it apparently didn't post so it's late but day 7 is shortly to follow.

Accomplished a few more things today. I verified flights and need to make one more call. They have us set up for bulkhead seating on three out of four flights (not the very first). Maybe we'll get bumped to first class instead? lol

I also arranged ground transportation with Mears Transportation as listed on the host hotel's website. They offered a much more affordable deal than what AKC was recommending at just $30 roundtrip to and from the airport. So, yay! That's a load off worrying about those logistics.

2011 Invitational or Bust Countdown - 9 Days

2011-12-05T12:48:00.001-08:00

Today's not looking so hot. In fact, it has me a bit worried. Long story short, I had an injury to my left knee years and years ago and occasionally it flares up. The last time I saw an orthopedist he indicated I would eventually likely need surgery - probably when the bad days outnumbered the good. The good news is that I've not had a flare-up with it in years. The bad news is that it flared up Saturday and has stuck around since. Sometimes I can barely put weight on it. Other times it feels better to put weight on it and put it in full extension. It's very strange. But disturbing to say the least 10 days from such a big event that relies on my ability to move fast and fluidly. Chances are it'll go away in a couple days and I'll forget I was worried. But for right now, it's on my mind.

Wondering what all the seemingly random pictures have been about? Worried that the queen of agility Danes won't be properly dressed for such a big event? But of course she will! Been hard at work getting her couture completed. Here's a sampling of what she'll be sporting in Florida...

2011 Invitational or Bust Countdown - 10 Days

2011-12-04T22:36:00.001-08:00

I've started on a checklist of sorts and am even using Excel. So far I've got three tabs: Errands, Tasks, and Pack. Under Pack I've got four columns started: Vegas, Clothes, Shoes, and Agility Bag. Of course the agility bag has to go in my suitcase, but there are still some critical things I need to make sure I have. I know I won't pack until the day before I leave (I'm off work.) but being prepared is something I really need. I don't want to go into this frazzed out.

On the Tasks tab so far I have entered a half dozen things, some of which are time critical. For instance, I need to start Vegas on her Shen Calmer a week or eight days prior to leaving. This will help greatly in reducing some of the anxiety she has from time to time. I also need to pick up my draw check from work either the day before I leave or get it on my last day (the 13th). I'll need to grind Vegas' toenails right before I go. I'll need to give her allergy injection.

I've barely scratched the surface but will get the lists thoroughly hammered out in the next day or two and feel a lot more comfortable about where we're at.

Today Vegas went along to the agility seminar where we were focusing on Masters level courses this morning and International style courses this afternoon. I had left my chair set up yesterday so just brought along her big Costco bolster bed from the garage and a blanket. Today was slightly warmer - at least from time to time - but with her along I carried in the propane heater and fired it up. We did a lot of watching all morning but before heading out for lunch I asked if I could spend a few minutes with Vegas on the course before we got started again. Patty (the barn owner) didn't have a problem with it so we went out and worked. Vegas did fantastic. I'm continually amazed at how independent her weaves are now. I moved out laterally from her about 10+ feet and she just drove through like she didn't care where I was. I also sent her over a jump to my rear and then ran forward telling her to weave. I didn't look back until I was past the weaves and there she was just plowing through them. It was awesome. She also was really working the a-frame contact which I am pleased with. All in all I know she enjoyed the change of pace in the day and was content to curl next to me for the rest of the session. I learned lots and will post those notes in the days to come.

Oh My WOW!

2011-12-03T22:38:00.001-08:00

So until about four months ago I didn't know anything about the AKC Agility National. All I knew about was the invitational. Well, when I learned of the National and the qualifications for attendance, it seemed unlikely we could meet the requirements and didn't give it much more thought. Then in October, the third Dane to ever earn her MACH, Tilly, set another new record. Tilly was the first Dane to ever earn MACH 2. She earned that second MACH just a year after her first. Still, I thought we'd come up short and knew I couldn't afford to go despite the 2011 (held in 2012) National being held in Reno, NV.

The requirements to attend the National differ from the invitational. It's not about breed at all. The requirements are simply 6 QQs and 400 MACH points (AKA speed points) between December 1 and November 30. Vegas ended 2010 with 49 points. She didn't have any double-Qs. We ended the month of November with 411 points and 16 QQs. We were just 38 points shy of qualifying. I still can't believe it and am just in awe of all my girl has accomplished. She's my first Dane. She's my first agility partner. And she's amazing.

So while we didn't get the AKC email congratulating us on our accomplishment this year, she earns my sincere congratulations and continued adoration for how simply amazing she is.

2011 Invitational or Bust Countdown - 11 Days

2011-12-03T22:33:00.001-08:00

11 days.... Time's a winding down and I'm feeling it. Got two more things checked off my list today.

I also spent the day at an agility seminar with Rosanne DeMascio hosted by Peak Agility. Today was all about crosses - front, rear, and blind - and tomorrow is Masters level and International style courses. I'm taking lots of notes and will try to summarize what I learned later in the week.

2011 Invitational or Bust Countdown - 12 Days

2011-12-02T15:46:00.001-08:00

Well, the clock is counting down. Above is a bit more on our 2011 Invitiational or Bust theme.

I got something crossed off the checklist today. I retrieved the weather information for Orlando in the month of December complete with historical highs and lows. I can count on a mild low 70s the entire time we're there. I couldn't be more pleased with that news. Now to find out what temperature they try to keep the building....

2011 Invitational or Bust Countdown - 13 Days

2011-12-02T01:28:00.001-08:00

The countdown is most definitely on. And since this is our first invitational and certainly the only one Vegas and I will enjoy, it's going to be a BIG DEAL. In honor of the occasion, I've got a few things planned, a bit of a style theme going, and a whole lot of anxiety about getting everything done and ready in time. But enough about that...I'll start making my checklists and include some of that stuff later. For now, and without further ado....

Day 3 MCDF

2011-11-27T22:21:00.001-08:00

Wow what a weekend! Today was our last day and we even got to sleep in a bit. My plan was to be up at 7 and out the door at 8 for a 9 o'clock arrival. Of course the dogs had other ideas and needed up, pottied, and fed at 5:30. But then we went back to bed. We were running small to tall which is what gave us the slight luxury today - although I knew Leo's class wouldn't be too late and I didn't want to miss that.

Standard
There was definitely much to do about something in regard to this course. It wasn't bad; it just wasn't good. The course was somewhat zig-zaggy and had a lot of hard pulls on the dog to avoid off courses. Of course I still had to worry about the a-frame contact.

My handling plan was as follows:

Begin from the left
Remain on the left and "flip" her after the tire
Rear cross #5
Run out the length of the chute
Lead out toward #10 from the table
Rear cross the teeter
Hold back and handle the weaves from the off side
Front cross after the weaves
Front cross and pull her over #16

SCT for this course was 62 seconds for 166 yards. Our time - 50.82. 11th place and 11 MACH points. I couldn't have been more pleased with Vegas. She handled that course like a pro. Some of the things that cropped up this weekend were such a blessing in disguise and I'm fortunate we already worked through them while still qualifying, too.

Interestingly enough, later as we were walking around, we went down the stairs to the arena floor and she stopped before leaving the stairs. I looked back at her and for the briefest of moments was going, "What?!" And then it dawned on me. That brilliant girl...she really took our a-frame lesson Friday night to heart along with our drill before each Standard course. We were using the stairs to "practice" our contact behavior. She was told "touch" each time we went down the stairs and had to hold the position until I released her. She picked up on that just wandering around and applied that lesson back to me. Smart, smart girl.

JWW
Without a lead-out possible, my plan was to run on the left and front cross after 3. I planned a "threadle arm" maneuver after 5 to pull her into me for the correct end of the tunnel. My goal was then to move outward of #7 and call her over the double as she came out of the tunnel. I walked the weave exit several times and wasn't comfortable with either. The first option was a front cross but then you had to be sure to step back/out because #11 was really not in line with the end of the weaves to move toward #12. Of course there was always the potential to off course to #20, too. The second option was to remain on the right and swing back to the #11 from the right side, then "flip" after 12 to 13 and rear cross. The concern there was pushing her to the #7 jump and that was the last thing I wanted to do. Or, if she ended up turning back to look for direction she might swing ahead to #16 and that was no good either. I went with the front cross.

From there I planned a front cross after #15 and ran like hell to 20.

SCT was 45 for 160 yards. Our time was 37.92. 7 MACH points and double-Q number 16. Wow. Wow. We were 13th out of 15 Qs for the 24" dogs.

What a weekend. What a ride. And what a dog.

Our weekend: 2 QQs, 45 MACH points. 5/6 Qs.

Current MACH journey totals: 16 QQs & 411 points.

In addition to her usual treats at the trial today, Vegas got a McDonald's cheeseburger on the way home. She got turkey necks for dinner. And she got tons of love from her family. Her boys were proud of her and so am I.

MCDF Thanksgiving Trial

2011-11-26T22:19:00.001-08:00

This weekend is our last agility trial before the AKC Invitational. Yikes. Three days to max our potential and work out any kinks. Vegas was entered in just Standard and JWW Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Our Friday started off very early - 5 am when the alarm went off and 6:03 when we pulled out of the driveway. Yikes. The location of the trial has very little space for crating so time was of the essence. The day's runs weren't to start until 10, crating was supposed to be allowed starting at 8:30, but those arriving to help unload and set equipment could stake their crate space at 7:30. We arrived right at 7 am. Yawn!

After a brief doze in the truck, 7:30 had arrived and I left the dogs to head inside and see what needed to be done. I laid out our crate mat and went to work. First up each day has been Standard followed by JWW.

Friday
Standard

This was a new judge for us but I was pleased enough with the course. My plan was to handle from the right as I felt trying to rear at #3 would potentially cause her to take the off course #18. That worked well and she hit the a-frame fast. Unfortunately what I'd been attributing to an occasional "oops, stride over" on the contact has become a pattern and a bad habit. It was this run in particular that I realized how much of a problem it is and oh how I wish I'd worked her harder on it sooner. So in walking the course I had told myself, "Work the contact!" Imagine my dumbfoundedness when she blew straight over the contact without a modicum of touching the yellow. Must have thought it would burn her feet. So as I stood there she then also took the #12 tunnel. Whoops! Then we were back on track. I got her back and went into the 180 and weave. Thank you, God, she's so solid on her weaves these days. She nailed that and moved onto the walk. Here was a dilemma - front cross to get the correct side of the tunnel or threadle arm and move sideways? I opted for the lateral move and it worked well. The #12 tunnel was quite intuitive for most dogs so I didn't worry too much. She did, however, scare me when she hit the table. She landed on the lower side so abruptly and with such power that, while she didn't tip it, she did spend the entire five-count straining her muscles to hold her body aloft and not come off forward.

After last weekend's chute issues, I knew I wanted to run the chute out with her. I had then planned a front cross after the panel jump into the #17 and 18. By running out the length of the chute though, I was behind in her quest to dive over the panel. She landed long and I had to make a last second decision to handle from behind. It worked well to serpentine 16-18 and she ran hard and fast for the #19 jump. So all in all a good run, a lesson learned, and something to work on.

JWW

Obviously JWW has been our game historically and I wanted to make a comeback. I was disappointed there were two tunnels, though. My plan was to run the outside of the tunnel and call her to #3 verbally. From there I would run up the inside, slowing at #5 and dropping her into me at 6 and then pushing out to #7. Rear cross at 11 and a hard push into the tunnel with a front cross for the weaves. I hoped for a front cross at #18 to make the final sequence, a pinwheel, and "go for gold."

SCT of 45 for 161 yards. Our time? 36.75 with a YPS of 4.381. 8 MACH points and 11th place out of 17 qualifiers. Not too damn shabby for the largest and tallest dog of the class. So proud of my girl!

That put her MACH point count at 374 - the halfway point.

Because of our earlier debacle with the a-frame and my realization, we stuck around really late last night for a B match. I entered both Vegas and Leo to run the standard course and I knew that I would use the time to work the a-frame. And work it I did. I didn't count but my guess is that Vegas climbed the a-frame about 20 times. Yep, 20 times. Jump/a-frame/jump/a-frame, rinse, repeat. She nailed the contact each and every time. Go figure.

Saturday

We didn't have to arrive quite so early this morning but tall dogs were running first. We got to the trial site about 7:45 and had a little more than an hour before the Standard class started.

I really liked this course. My biggest concerns were really the tunnel/dog walk discrimination (although they were set a decent distance apart and I knew exactly how I would handle it to avoid an issue) and the a-frame. Did I mention I had anxiety over the a-frame? I set Vegas up for a start-line stay and, would you believe, I got one? Wowza. Gave up on that two years ago but never stopped trying. Good girlie! From there I was going to front cross after the weaves and pull her around the 270 and make sure my shoulders were square to the tunnel. From there I planned to rear cross the tunnel and I knew after talking with Craig about another area of the course not to push too hard on 6-7. I didn't want to push her too far and potentially get an off course tire or anything. As soon as she committed to the tunnel I was pulling back to the dog walk and calling the command. I also wanted to control her landing on the table this time so we didn't risk her knocking it over, rocking it, or continuing forward motion. That worked well. I also hoped to be able to lead out a bit while she was on the table because shaping the chute entry was important. My plan was to lead her straight over the jump, out, then drop with my left shoulder to push into the tunnel, again running out the length with her. Cha-ching! Success. Teeter to panel and then I debated a front cross after the panel to the a-frame or to front cross afterward. Both after watching Craig walk it and figuring it avoided me losing time or causing a dropped bar on the panel with any late movement, I worked from the inside and fronted afterward. The area he had pointed out of issue was 17 to 19. He said it was natural to move in on that section but doing so could easily cause of off course from 16 to the triple, #7. It definitely happened to a few dogs so I held my position and moved in a straight line toward #20 closer to the a-frame than the tire.

SCT was 66 for 176 yards; our time was 54.03. 11 MACH points and a clean run complete with Great Dane feet having connected with the yellow a-frame contact. Whoohoo! Very, very pleased with that run. Could have been faster, sure, but it was clean because I played it safe and I worked the areas I was concerned with.

JWW was another lovely course. The most concerning part to people walking it was the off course jump by the weaves. In reality, it didn't catch anyone unless they had issues they had to correct with the short sequence before.

My plan was to work from the inside all the way to the tunnel. Setting her up at a nice diagonal start line, she could see clear to the #2 jump. From there I was just going to move outward to pull her over 3 and send to 4 and 5. I hoped that while she was in the tunnel I could move out at least to the other side of 6 if not more toward 7. I debated and walked the 7/8/9 section. I was comfortable with both a front cross after #8 and also rearing the entire thing and working the weaves from the back wall (off side). In the end, I was able to get out to #7 while she was in the tunnel and draw her over those jumps for a smooth front cross before 8. From there I hoped to rear cross 12 with a send out to 13, draw her back over 14 and front cross at 15. I actually managed to pull off a front at 16 because she was moving so well laterally and away from me. This was a run of a lifetime. There was not time for extra thought and we were really syncing. I watched the video and her timing was amazing, her ability to respond to my queues just gorgeous. We nailed this course with an incredible time, I think, for the SCT set. I had actually gone into it worried we could do it in time. The SCT was just 40 seconds. Vegas ran it in 31.83.

This run also represented a landmark - QQ #15. Three-quarters of the required QQs for MACH. Wow. And, we are now at 393 MACH points. 19 points for the day and 27 points for the weekend with one day to go. So, so, so proud of my girl. She still amazes me. I can't wait for tomorrow.

Vegas' XF Title

2011-11-24T18:34:00.001-08:00

Vegas' XF title certificate came in yesterday's mail.

Mt. Hood Doberman Pinscher Club AKC Agility Weekend

2011-11-22T22:38:00.001-08:00

This past weekend we were at the Clark County Fairgrounds for one of my favorite clubs' trials. Perhaps they're one of my favorites because Dobies are one of my favorite breeds, but also because the club members are always really cool and I've not experienced any negativity in working for them. Anyway, I never miss their trials. Judges for the weekend were two new ones for us: Nancy Davis and Beverly Morgan Lewis. Great courses that were challenging but flowed well and were fair and open enough for big dogs to maneuver. Yay for that alone! Oh, and Sunday there was no tunnel in JWW. So without further ado, here's the rundown.

Saturday
Fast
This was our very last Fast class entry. It was a carry over from my trying to finish our XF title and having entered this trial a while back. I did go ahead and move us up from Excellent A to B "just in case." While walking the course I did have more than one thought and even voiced it out loud - how much effort at succeeding on this course did I want to put forth? After all, if we qualified I knew I'd feel "obligated" to complete the title. Unfortunately there are 10 legs required for the Excellent B Fast title. Yikes! For a class that doesn't earn the team MACH points and just equates to more money out? That said, we did have fun and I was thrilled with Vegas' performance.

So the send bonus was the jump #4, into the left side of the tunnel, and back over the same jump going the opposite direction as the first time. From there I was going to perform the course as you see. In walking it I did consider throwing in an extra jump or two if not the entire pinwheel before the a-frame. In reality that's what we did and it worked well.

As you can see in the video, lots of momentum and speed. I just didn't queue the proper end of the tunnel and in the end I was just laughing with Vegas about how she did. It was all for the best. No Q but a fast, fun performance anyway.

Standard

This looked like a fantastic course. The only hitch in our step was the tunnel. The map does not show it at all as it was. The tunnel was the longest one used in agility and it was bent almost in half. The curve did "curve;" that is, it wasn't a point, but it was a sharp bend with the majority of the tunnel lengths running straight on either side. A friend of ours who was course building did her best to set it to give Vegas maximum movement room in there. At least it was a fast, straight shot into the tunnel. I started Vegas out on my right and well back from the first jump to give us maximum speed. She shot into the tunnel but wow, it seemed a long time before she came out. Poor girl. The goal was then to be up by the #4 jump and lead her over it and straight to the triple by using my shoulder positioning to avoid any confusion in taking #1 or #2. Still handling from the inside my goal was to front cross after the teeter. From there I knew I needed to balance my direction over the panel jump with not pushing her too far but not pulling back and causing her to drop the bar. One of my ongoing concerns is the a-frame. She just keeps on making me fret over missing that contact. Not from a true launch, but from a long-legged stride she just can't help. She nailed it though and stuck the table. I planned a front cross into the pinwheel with a rear at the chute. I almost blew that one as she barely made it into the chute. As Craig said in retrospect, I should have front crossed there. Now I know. :)

She qualified in this run for 14 points. It was a beautiful, fluid run and I'm very pleased with how it went. That run completed her MX2!

JWW

Having worked some of the earlier classes, the off side of the tunnel had been very appealing but seemed to be less so for excellent. I believe the left (off) side of the tunnel was set back a little farther and less conspicuous. So 1-4 were fairly straight forward. I planned on handling from the right and using a bit of a side-step and slight shoulder pull to ensure the correct tunnel entry. From there I wanted to beat feet to be on the other side of the #5 jump and queuing the weaves upon her tunnel exit. I was hoping for a front cross at #9 and kicked around the idea of handling #13-15 as a serpentine were she fast enough. As the course ran, all went well except the serpentine didn't happen. Instead I front-crossed at #13 and reared #15. Having watched our new friend and her Leonberger, Biko, run beautifully and accelerate hard on that last line, I didn't foresee what I did as causing what happened. We almost lost the Q. I was focused on driving into the tunnel and as soon as I assumed it was all clear and Vegas was committed, I focused on the final jump. It caused me to almost pull her off the tunnel enough for a refusal. Fortunately she didn't cross the plane and was always facing toward the tunnel.

43.22 seconds; SCT of 46.

We ended our day with 16 MACH points and our 14th QQ. Not too shabby!

Sunday
Fortunately we were running tall to small Sunday and there were no extra classes. The day seemed like it should go much more quickly.
Standard

This was another lovely, lovely course I was so looking forward to running. Everything was smooth and flowing and logical. It looked to be a blast. My plan was to drive down the first line (1-3) and decelerate at the #3 jump to move into a 180 for #4. A front cross didn't seem practical since the line to the #5 jump was not straight nor was the chute. I opted to stay on the inside and planned a rear cross when she went into the chute and to pick her up at the dog walk. I knew from the dog walk queuing the weaves quickly and keeping her head focused was key with the big, empty, inviting corner over there. Then I was going to either drop my shoulder low and pull her out to the correct end of the tunnel or front cross with a front cross again to the a-frame. From there it was a matter of working the inside curve all the way to #17 where I hoped to get a front cross in before #18 and pulling her into the final jump.

Sadly it was not to be. I messed up and Vegas also clearly didn't want to do the chute and was looking for an excuse not to. She seemed committed and my rear cross was "late" and she backed out instead of sticking it. I thanked the judge and pulled her from the course.

At this point I'll interject why I feel so poorly now. I was pretty upset and still felt once committed and at Vegas' skill level, her backing out was uncalled for. That said, check out the photo from Nina Sage of Saturday's chute performance. I think she either got spooked or just didn't like what happened in there. It certainly didn't look comfortable.

Before I knew what happened and actually for about the next hour, I really considered scratching JWW and going home. I don't know why I went from zero to 90 so quickly in frustration. My girl is solid. I guess my hopes and goals get bigger than life sometimes. I just didn't get it. It felt like she was really committed and even a late rear shouldn't have negated that. Talking with my friend, Beth, she said I should run her in the JWW course. She said not to let the day end that way and she called the JWW course "makeup sex." I have to laugh at that. I've never heard anything agility related called that before but, hey, first time for everything. And she was right. Dont' walk away negative. And don't walk away from Vegas' favorite kind of course and one without a tunnel! So we stayed and I'm glad we did.

JWW

Started out on the left and planned a rear cross at #4 to the 5 jump, a rear at #9, a front after the weaves, a rear at #16, and a run for home. All worked well and Vegas rocked it. 31.94 seconds on a 44 second JWW course. Couldn't have been prouder. 12 points in JWW and a great end to the weekend.

MACH quest status - 14 QQs, 366 points. The coolest, most amazing thing? We have earned all 14 QQs in 2011 and she has earned more than 300 points this year as well. We have three trial days left plus the invitational. Six more runs. It's hard to believe and amazing at the same time. If we even come near the same pace in 2012, Vegas could have her MACH by this time. Wow. She still rocks my world.

Sno King AKC Trial 11-13-11

2011-11-20T21:16:00.001-08:00

Once again, better late than never...a quick Sunday agility recap for last weekend.

Tall to Small, Vegas was running Standard and JWW. First up was Standard.

This looked like a fun course to run. I debated on handling left or right initially but it made more sense to stay back to the right and rear cross while she was in the tunnel and move out ahead of the tire. A lot of people struggled even with the same move as their dog came straight out of the tunnel instead of looking toward them. In retrospect it was probably a late verbal call. In our instance, it worked fine although I had to move quick to be out of the way for the teeter. From there I was working on the inside through the chute to the triple and back to the tunnel. I stayed on the inside with the dog walk knowing I'd beat her to the end because I wanted to front cross. That worked well and we were really moving. She nailed her weaves and I just moved out ahead and led her to the table with a dropped left shoulder and rear crossed to move around in front of the table. From there I worked on the outside of the a-frame. I had walked several ways but the line wasn't super clean on the back stretch and I didn't want to misqueue her on the jumps. So being on the outside of the a-frame my plan was to rear cross the #16 jump. Unfortunately my brain wasn't engaged or our timing was off because I did so and pulled her off #17 then caused a back jump - R & W and NQ. Bummer! We finished the course in 53.72 seconds; SCT was 66 so would have been another really nice run.

Not too far off was JWW. Here is the course map:

The first issue here was that #1 was very close to the stall/wall at the front of the ring. There wasn't a lot of room to get started. Second, this line was so misleading to the dogs! Most of us had a little trouble in setting it up and both getting into position for jumps a couple down the way as well as properly queuing the first couple. I put Vegas on my left and as far back as possible. I figured without a lead out the best I could do was to run with her and pull hard to the right to get #2. Unfortunately that put me back a bit for #3 and while she nailed it, I could have gotten close to a refusal on #4 as I was playing catch up. All in all it worked out, though and I was able to queue her out to #4 and get back into the position necessary. I front-crossed after #6 to be in the best position for after the weaves and not to accidentally send her into the tunnel. After the weaves the plan was to pull to the #9 and "flip" back into the 180 to the tunnel. I'd meet her on the inside of the #11 and my next concern was remembering to push out hard and far enough for #15. Then we ran like the dickens for "home."

155 yards, SCT of 44; our time - 32.88. 11 MACH points and 12th place. :) A great way to end the weekend.

Sno King AKC 11-12-11

2011-11-12T19:56:00.001-08:00

Wow, today started early. I somehow woke up at 2:36 am, about half an hour before my alarm. The dogs and I were on the road before o' dark hundred (3:45 am) to head to Argus Ranch for the Sno King AKC agility trial. We made really good time, about a half hour shorter than previous trips. Many thanks to photographer, Nina Sage, for saving us crating space. That saved me a ton of stress and strain. One of my least favorite places at this venue is the precious little crating space for the number of dogs entered. I got unloaded, set up, and then took the dogs out to one of the fenced fields for the dogs to have some off leash stretch and potty time. After a short while, Nina brought her Papillon, Heidi over to play. She and Juicy romped a bit. It was pretty cold, the grass iced over, and soon it was time for me to take mine in and see where things were at.

I picked up maps and proceeded to wait. I could have sworn first dog was to be on the line at 8:30 but they waited until 9. Standard was up first followed by JWW. There was no Fast running this weekend. They ran our favorite schedule with Excellent classes followed by Open then JWW. Leo wasn't entered today and it meant we got our runs out of the way relatively early. The one down side is that we couldn't check into our hotel until 3.

24/26 ran first in Standard and in JWW they ran 16, 12, 4/8, 24/26, 20 which meant we had some time between runs. Good and bad. I didn't have to stress over both courses at once, but it was cold enough (30s) that I wanted to be sure to get Vegas good and warmed up as well as stretched out.

Our judges were Lisa Potts, who we had run under before, and Carol Smorch, who we had not. No video this weekend as my normal "posse" aren't up here with us. :)

Standard

So most of this course looked like fun except I really struggled with which way to handle 1-4. My gut was telling me to handle it from the inside (left) because I knew I had a good "flip" maneuver to turn and send Vegas into the chute. The line was terrible and the off course jump in front of the tire was much closer than it appears on the map. Plus crossing from the right seemed like I would be way in the wrong position. Truth be told, none of the options for that section were good. In the end, I worked from the right and made sure I called the tire early. A mantra I need to keep repeating until it needs no thought to provoke it: Vegas is a rockstar. She goes out there and gets the job done. She knew what to do and did it with gusto. I rear-crossed the chute and she somehow just knew what direction she'd be going. She nailed the dog walk and moved across it. I decelled at the contact, waited for her then called weaves. She took off like such a shot I was almost certain we would have to restart our weaves. Again, Vegas is a rockstar. She likes the weaves now so hits em' hard. From there to the triple I needed to make sure she had good momentum, I didn't accelerate too hard or far into the jump, but not pull off early and cause her to drop a bar. The objective was to not hit the off course either #18 or #17. Again, she handled it like a pro. I'd like to have had a rear cross at the teeter but that didn't happen, although in hindsight I probably could have as she drove straight into the tunnel. A blind cross from the tunnel to the a-frame while I made sure to watch her tunnel exit so as to avoid her taking the off course jump. Nailed our contact to the table. She hit the table so hard as I came around it almost seemed her momentum caused her to struggle to stay on, but stay on she did. While I know I called hard on the 16-17 as I think I moved in a bit far, it's kind of a blur. This was a mind-blowing, fast, fun run. As I sit here and describe the course, I know it wasn't perfectly fluid or in sync, but it felt like it was at the time. Vegas was hauling ass and having a ball and I was just steering as we went. I couldn't believe our time - 48.02. To get a standard course time that low seemed unreal for my big girl but that's what the final score showed. SCT 63, yardage 168. Fourteen MACH points. Whoohoo!

JWW

I worked the 12" class so got to see how this class ran first hand. I think it's probably good I watched it so many times as I really feared getting lost. The weave pole entry was what everyone struggled with. They either stayed on the inside for the 6-9 stretch and pulled toward the #2 jump to shape the entry (most people) or they front crossed between 8 and 9 and pushed in to the weaves. Either way that was difficult and fewer dogs got it than you would expect for an Excellent class. The other issue although a bit less so was the #14 jump. They either went wide around it or took it instead of #13, the former being more common. It was a tough course. I'm proud to say Vegas nailed everything I told her to do. Her weave entry was gorgeous. Her speed was wonderful. I made the mistake and I knew it right away. In handling the 13-14, I pulled out too far and drew her around the #14 jump. Had I rear crossed 13 but stayed in front of 14 or even moved back toward 15, we would have been fine. As it was, when I tried to correct the "refusal" on #14, I accidentally pushed her over it the wrong way. So an off course and a refusal. Oh well. She was still awesome and I know it was my fault. And, I knew it right away and told her it was my fault on course. Her time was 43.07; SCT was 41 on 146 yards.

And that's today. We worked half the 20" JWW class as timer in order to kill time before checking into our hotel. After getting unloaded and settled we napped from 4-6 or so, then I fed Vegas and we went out to potty and grab me a bite to eat. She's now sawing logs on the bed, happy as a clam.

Rogue Canine Agility October 2011

2011-11-03T14:01:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we headed for Central Point, Oregon and the Rogue Canine Agility club's AKC agility trial. Rachel and I had attended a trial here once before recently and really enjoyed it. This weekend was no exception. The judges were Lori Sage and Debby Wheeler - both whom we have enjoyed trialing under previously. Plus they were doing a Halloween costume contest after classes were finished Saturday. That provided to be more fun - and creative - than I could have imagined.

We ran small to tall Saturday and tall to small Sunday. Although the trial was fuller this weekend than the previous, the club handled things efficiently and runs went quickly. Vegas was entered in Fast again as I have been trying to get us our final leg for the XF title.

Here's the course map:

Here's what I had planned out:

Originally I thought we would use the double again after the teeter just because it was in flow but in the end I knew Vegas could wrap tightly after the teeter and since we didn't get points for the jump a second time it was an unnecessary obstacle. My biggest goal with the send bonus was my personal momentum out beyond the second jump to pull her then the wrap and a push back out over the third jump. It turned out to be no problem. Why do I worry about these things? My girl is so awesome. While I knew the the dog walk was there as were the weaves, I didn't want to waste time when I knew that and the ability to accumulate the points is most of what has cost us in qualifying previously. So I opted for a push to the tunnel as a quick exit. Turns out it worked! Vegas was flying and finished the course with 65 points (60 were required) in 28.87 seconds. She was first place and that was our third leg and XF title. So pleased with Miss V - she's so darn reliable!

Next up was Standard.

In walking this course I was going to handle from thel eft side of the 1-4 sequence then make the turn to 5-7. From there I debated on a front cross once she was committed to #8 to wrap and pull her back to the dog walk or to handle from the left again. In the end positioning for both of us allowed me to make the cross. From there to the table, I changed sides and handled from the left again through 14. Then I knew I had to avoid the off course jumps and pull her back to me. There was a slight possibility of an off course again after 16 to the chute but by pulling back and keeping closer to the dog walk Vegas easily understood the chute was the next obstacle. From there I felt confident in my ability to front cross in front of the weaves and that worked beautifully. I had set the chute for the entire 20" class and saw how that handled at the end. I didn't like the cross from the left side of the weaves and knew I had time to do the other which made the pull back to the tire for the final obstacle easy.

Of course all is well in theory, but I screwed up big time. Again. And unfortuntely I didn't catch it myself on course. I thought I had queued Vegas correctly. The area of the course I'm talking about is 4-5. I still don't feel that a deceleration queue was completely necessary at that point as I definitely turned my shoulders. But perhaps I was late doing that and I know I certainly could have moved toward #5 when I called her back to me versus just standing there so know that part is my fault. Regardless, my error made for an off course, particularly devastating as Vegas' time was 55.03 with an SCT of 70. I'm guessing that had I not screwed up we would have been at 17-18 seconds under course time which would have been amazing! But hindsight. What I learned from this was to check my brain into the game for each run the remainder of the weekeend and not just make a plan and barrel through it. I need to more actively think on my feet since I expect Vegas to and I'm the one that has a map and can read numbers. I'm her GPS after all!

The last run was JWW then the costume contest. My walk plan here was a front cross between 4 and 5, a rear cross at 10, and then to run it all out. I ended up with a front cross after 16, too, but other than that, the course ran well. I was particularly excited there were no tunnels to slow us down plus we had two long straight lines of jumps to pick up speed on the finish. Right up our alley.

Our time was 36.05; SCT was 42 for 148 yards. Five MACH points and a really fun run!

Vegas hung out in her crate during the costume contest since I had my hands full with the little ones plus taking pictures of the rest of the participants. I'll add pictures later...but suffice it to say people were very creative. There was Charlotte and Wilbur, an Oregon Duck's fan, Little Bo Peep and her sheep, sheep herders, a Mariachi band, and so much more. Good times and laughs were had for all. Then we headed back to the hotel, picking up dinner along the way, pottied and fed the dogs, and settled in for an evening of R&R. Vegas slept really hard after dinner so I know she needed it. She works herself up too much when crated and I know that anxiety contributes to her tireness.

Sunday we packed up and headed to the trial site after checking out of the hotel. There were no Fast classes offered Saturday and we were running tall to small so things boded well for getting out of their at a decent time.

Again, Standard was up first and JWW followed shortly thereafter.

One of the biggest concerns with this course was the chute to #3 - avoiding the off course jump since the dogs would be coming out of the chute blind. Of course I almost forgot to pack my brain on this run and was slightly slow. I also remember seeing Vegas look at the teeter after she crossed #3 wondering if she was supposed to take it. But we made it through that section smoothly and onto the teeter and tunnel - to which she shot at like a bat out of hell! Over the a-frame, nice contact, and an absolutely beautiful, tight turn into the weaves. Rachel commented on it several times but wow, to see the video. Spectacular move for my big girl.

The next area was just the maneuver to the #12 jump... to do a front cross after the weaves or not. I opted to do it and she again had a nice tight turn to the table. Here's where I admit we got a gift on Sunday. But, my disclaimer is this: obstacle performance was not unsafe for the breed of dog running and none of it was intentional. Her natural stride based upon foot placement on the dog walk caused her to stride right across the contact but it wasn't called. Super lucky! Although I'm not going to count on luck and will work that one more again from now on just in case. Then we ran home free. Her time: 53.60; SCT: 66; yards: 166. Twelve points and a really fun, really nice run.

Last run of the weekend - JWW.

This course looked fun, too. The parts I considered in handling options were the weave entrance, after the weaves, and how to manuever the tunnel area to avoid both the off course jump (#16 out of order) and the wrong end of the tunnel. Turns out it wasn't that big of deal. By pulling out and decelerating at #14 the dogs naturally worked toward the handler so then the correct end of the tunnel became the obvious choice. For 18-19 I "flipped" her out toward the wall to come back versus risking me being in the wrong place and causing an off course back jump.

SCT was 45; yardage 159. Our time: 36.13. So proud of my girl! Eight more MACH points.

Our totals for the weekend - 3 Qs, 1 QQ, and 25 MACH points.

Current MACH countdown: 13 QQs & 312 points.

Happy (Belated) Birthday, Vegas!

2011-10-29T20:12:00.000-07:00

Vegas had a birthday on Monday! While we definitely celebrated, I'm just very late getting to this post.

Sunday Leo and I had been at a tracking seminar but we got out a bit early and were home in time that I was able to spend it with my girl. We started with our local pet store, Critter Cabana, for some goodies. Vegas gets to pick out her own each year... This year she tried stealing things more than once....and I paid at the register for a few items already "used."

Crunching down on a "stolen" treat.

I had to laugh at the expression on the puppy's face.

One of the Sulcata Tortoises that roams around the store.

The loot!

Then we picked up her boy from home and headed to Sonic for an ice cream.

From there we headed back home only to take a walk to the park down the street from our house, just the two of us. And from there, I got to do a little reflecting, and basically just enjoyed my girl's company. She's such a blessing to me.

This was right as she was finishing a roll in something unidentifiable. lol

My favorite of the day....

A "strong eyed" Dane...?

Someone showed up in a wedding dress and set up a camera and tripod to take pictures. Of the groom? Not sure.

Mild temps for late October so she enjoyed some splashing around and wading in the Willamette River.

We headed home where she got dinner and enjoyed a nice evening on the couch watching movies with the boys.

I'm trying not to make a big deal out of her turning five. It has the potential to stress me out a lot if I think about it too much. Fortunately she's so youthful in her actions, her energy, and her spirit that it's easy to live each day just loving her for who she is and being thankful for the amazing bond we share.

Happy birthday, Vegas Rose. I love you with all my heart and look forward to many more birthdays together.

Clackamas Kennel Club Obedience B Match

2011-10-22T23:38:00.000-07:00

Today Clackamas County Kennel Club held an AKC sanctioned B OB match for conformation and obedience. Originally I figured on just bringing Leo since he's entered this week in the Pomeranian specialty. After how well Vegas was working with me at 102 the other day and because she desperately needed to get out of the house, I decided to bring her. I'm so glad I did!

We had a chance to try out Beginner Novice. My biggest concern was really her not being able to sit in the middle of the ring while I walked around it. She held that really well! Her heeling was actually the biggest issue. She mostly forged. Strangely she'd been heeling really well outside the ring. I guess I must have different mannerisms inside the ring that I'll need to identify and work on. Other than that, not sitting on the recall (she went around me and then came to front to sit), and getting up as I walked back to her after the sit for exam, she did better than I expected.

The leashed heeling patter was a heel to a left turn, slow pace change, about turn, fast pace change, right turn, and a halt.

Only four dogs who were in the class would have received qualifying scores. Vegas got third!!!!! Not too darn shabby for a dog whose never taken an obedience class and who just had a quick practice a week ago!

First Visit to 102

2011-10-20T23:14:00.000-07:00

Last Friday night I took Vegas with me to our obedience club facility (102) for the first time. We weren't entered in the match but wanted to go deliver our friend, Lindsay's, collars and watch her practice with her Danes. Let's just say that after leaving Vegas in the truck for 10 minutes while I went in and scoped things out, plus the fact that life has been way too busy lately, she was pretty darn amped up! The biggest thing was her very loud, and wet, panting. Of course she wanted to love all over anyone there and was nearly beside herself. But, we even got asked to be a distraction at one point and went out one door, around, in the other door, and walked across the front of the ring during long downs.

Then Sunday I had reserved time to go work with both dogs. I brought Vegas in first. I decided to focus on heeling patterns around the ring intermixed with some jump work for rally maneuvers and Beginner Novice exercises. I'm really excited to say she was very focused and doing very well. Little sniffing, little distraction and disconnect, and a lot more fun than the last time I tried obedience work with her. I set up my video camera for a good portion of our session and will hopefully get some of that edited out soon and shared.

My favorite part? Attempting a drop on recall and her bounding, exuberant rush to me with the drop onto the elbows, rump in the air, goofiness that is all Vegas. Love that girl!

Mt. Bachelor Kennel Club AKC Agility Trial

2011-10-06T23:40:00.000-07:00

Last weekend the dogs and I headed out Friday night after dropping the kids off with their dad for Prineville, Oregon and the Mt. Bachelor Kennel Club trial. We'd never been there before and I knew Friday night traffic plus a plan of 3.5 hours or so on the road plus a tiring week... After slogging through East Portland and Gresham, we started to pick up the pace. The route we took was Highway 26 East over Mt. Hood. Sadly we're moving into our "early dark" time of the year so I didn't get to see much around me. It's rare that I go up and over Mt. Hood when there's not a goal of being out in the snow, so I wasn't familiar with the drive. And I'd never been to Prineville. We arrived at our hotel about 9:30 and all was settled, dogs pottied, truck unloaded, and calming down for the night shortly after 10.

We got up and headed off to the fairgrounds with the intention of arriving by 7 am or so. The first dog was to be on the line at 8:30 am. The trial was at Crook County Fairgrounds and the view was simply stunning when we crossed under the arch with wispy clouds and pink and blue skies at sunrise. We got unloaded, set up, and picked up course maps. Another new (to us) judge, Pamela Sturtz, fun courses on the agenda, Leo measured for his permanent height card, and we were ready to go. Saturday we ran small to tall; Sunday tall to small.

It was a little while before Vegas got to run despite the fact that it was a one ring trial so fewer participants. They were running Excellent Standard, Excellent JWW, Excellent Fast, Time-to-Beat, Open Standard, Open JWW, Open Fast, Novice Fast, Novice JWW, then Novice Standard.

Standard

I started out on the inside and started to lose Vegas' head right away at to the dog walk for not queuing the jump turns quick enough. It was slight, but scary. Once she was to the dog walk, my plan was to get ahead of her, move out beyond the end and make sure she had plenty of room to turn and dive into the tunnel. The last thing I wanted to was to crowd her making that turn. That worked well so then I needed to get beyond the end of the tunnel to be to the inner/left side of #9. My goal and plan had been to front cross after the teeter but for some reason my brain didn't kick in and I didn't. That's where we fouled up. Because of the sharp turn I then had to make back to lead her through the turn of jumps to the dog walk, I caused a refusal. The rest was just fine except for popping out of the weaves to which there seemed no good reason. Oh well, it was an NQ anyway from the refusal at #12.

JWW

JWW was a little tricky but looked fun. I was pleased there was only one tunnel. I set Vegas up and handled from the right to start the course. My plan was to rear cross when she was committed to #5 and then front cross before #8, if I could, or rear cross again after #8 to make the turn to 9 and 10. Then I figured on a rear cross to #11 into the weaves. All was going well and I even got her to the right end of the tunnel which was an easy off course. The #13 jump pointed the dogs right to it but more teams than not avoided that pit fall. Coming out of the tunnel to the #15 triple, she must have not guaged her stride right or something and knocked a bar. That caused me to go off my game and I handled the ending poorly.

We took some walks around the grounds a bit, spent a bit of time napping, and basically just tried to wile away the hours until Leo's runs. It was a very long day and I was glad to head back to the hotel. Sunday we had to pack up and check out of the hotel then headed to the fairgrounds, early again since we were running tall to small.

Standard

So Standard started with a tunnel which meant standing well back of the entrance to give Vegas that nice speed into it. The overlaid circular sequences following the dog walk just meant I had to be on my game, careful not to push or pull too far. My goal was to work from the inside, beat Vegas to the end of the dog walk and be sure to queue the contact command but still move out quick enough to be sure she took the #3 jump instead of the chute. Easy enough - she doesn't like chutes. From the tunnel exit (and yes, I felt her pain on that long-ass tunnel), I wanted to be up toward the jump and pull into to the teeter. After the teeter it was important to use my body and my shoulder to draw her toward the chute versus the line that was set up back to the #3 off course jump. Since she's somewhat slow in the chute I wanted to get out and front cross off the far side of the #9 jump to pull her straight out of the chute and then into a nice line over the jump to the table. Table to the jump and a pull back to the a-frame, easy enough. However there was a void in the corner beyond the a-frame and some dogs crated on the other side of the fencing plus above next to the bleachers. Appealing smells, sounds, and typical dog curiosity meant I wanted to control her descent on the a-frame to ensure contact with the safety zone and then move out far enough to get a good line into the weaves but not over-control. Tricky, tricky.

But talk about tricky. Rachel and I must have walked the next sequence 25 times. It doesn't look so bad on paper. The sequence comprised of 14-17 looks like a line with some offset jumps, right? Yeah, not so much. Walking it there were umpteen choices and none of them pretty. You had to avoid pushing beyond one jump or into an off course or pulling off the correct obstacle, too. It was a fairly narrow channel of space and almost any handler maneuver could cause a problem. Options considered:

Front cross after the weaves, front cross after 15, send over 16 to 17.
Front cross after the weaves, over 14 and push with off side arm to 15 (to avoid the teeter off course), pull to 16 and flip to 17
Remain on the left side of 14 to 15 then push to 16 (while trying to avoid #11 as an off course)
Remain on the left side of 14 to 15, attempt a front cross to pull to 16, then flip to 17

The list goes on. It was a case of trying to be prepared for anything. Nothing I did in that line changed my plan for the tire. That was my typical flip and send to the final jump. At least Rachel and I knew that if we NQd (because of a mistake in that sequence), it was because the course was really difficult, not something simple we messed up.

We did it! I was so pleased with my girl. She handled it all and we worked so well as a team. Course yardage was 183; SCT 68; our time 57.49. We earned 10 MACH points!

JWW

Jumpers was another loopy course where you had opportunities to get lost or take the wrong "loop." But it looked doable, fun, and smooth. We were really enjoying Pamela's courses. Walking the course my plan was to front cross after #3, rear cross at tunnel, turn over the triple, nail the weaves hard and fast, front cross after the weaves, and run like hell for home. And that's just about what we did. Vegas rocked it - 162 yards, SCT of 46, and we ran it in 40.09. Five more MACH points and another QQ. So proud of my girl. She's so amazing and sometimes I just can't believe what a wonderful partner I was blessed with.

Our MACH countdown to date is: 12 QQs and 286 points.

We again had to wait for Leo's run. Eventually I started packing up as much as I could. Once he'd run we were able to get out pretty quick - he was one of the last dogs of the day anyway. On our way out of town we stopped for the dogs' traditional Dairy Queen vanilla. This time was extra special. The gal at the window asked if she could give the dogs a bone. I told her, "No, thank you; the ice cream is for them." We got our order and got on the road. I didn't get it out of the bag until a couple miles down the road. To our surprise....

Bonus! Needless to say, Vegas was a happy pupper.

Since I was getting to drive home in the daylight but didn't have time to stop since I had just enough time without major traffic delays to get to my boys in Beaverton (without a stop at home first), I was naughty and took some pictures as I drove. Don't worry! I had one hand on the wheel at all times as well as my eyes on the road. I just held the camera and hoped for a good shot. Here's some of the lovely high desert country we drove through.

I'm a flop at geography so not sure what mountain this is in the background. I can't see the top...it's probably Mt. Hood....?

I'm continually fascinated by the cool rock structures in my part of the country. Look at this! It almost looks carved as if it were a pole fence.

And here...the layers....

Plateau/flat top.

And here, the next couple of pictures with burned ground...they were on the left side of the highway. Traveling west that would be...north.

And this was the right side of the highway....unscorched.

As soon as I cleared the high desert and headed into the Mt. Hood National Forest, the colors changed. The fir and pine trees came back as did the leafier trees. I was really trying to capture the glory of color but, well, it was darker and I was driving..... Very pretty though.

A True Working Dane

2011-10-05T21:59:00.001-07:00

Found this article through the Great Dane Review and love what it has to say. Wish more people with Danes believed this and got up and did something about it.

http://greatdanereview.com/html/winnersworkingdane.html

Product Review: NRG

2011-10-05T13:48:00.000-07:00

As a raw feeder, traveling can be a royal pain. Since I've been traveling for agility trials quite a bit lately and have our Florida trip coming up in December, I needed to analyze my options. I'm a part of a raw feeding group (WAzzOR_BARF) through Yahoo Groups and I knew they would be the best place to start. People were great about offering feedback and sharing their experiences and opinions about the products on the market. The main reason I decided to go with NRG brand dehydrated raw was because I was told the product reconstituted well enough you could fairly well tell what the ingredients were. Some reports of the other products were that they were basically gray mush. I couldn't imagine feeding that to my dogs, particularly when they're accustomed to a very high quality, fresh diet now.

The products I ordered were NRG Vitality RAW-One Buffalo. The ingredient list is as follows:

Cooked free range meat, (Vitality is available in free range buffalo, beef, chicken or wild caught salmon) naked oats, wheat germ, eggs, liver, carrots, grapefruit, winter squash, broccoli, cranberries, limes, papaya, apple, parsley, garlic, goat milk yogurt, flax seed, cider vinegar, egg shell, olive oil.

Pros:
This was super easy to pack. No cooler. No ice. No mess. No fuss. The dogs dug into it right away and other than Leo finding a piece of stand-alone veggie he turned down, they readily cleaned their bowls. The product is very light. Only requires warm water - tap water worked great. There was no odor - foul or otherwise. This product also keeps very well for extended periods of time as long as it's kept well-sealed.

Cons:
With our "regular" raw diet, I just take a bag or item out of the fridge and it goes into the bowl. Sometimes the dogs get fed frozen. This takes only a moment to prepare but needs to sit for 20-30 minutes to "refresh," as the package indicates. Vegas has been raw fed for more than two years now. She still doesn't seem to ever "fill" and would be happy to eat indefinitely. That means she will wake up in the morning and try to forgo her "constitutional" for breakfast. Needless to say, 20-30 minutes was very difficult to get through - particularly out of town, in a hotel, and usually somewhat in a hurry to be ready and head to the show site.

The only other complaint I have about the product is the volume of stool it produced, and perhaps the composition. With her "normal" diet, Vegas goes once to twice a day but the actual volume is probably that of what you would expect in a Golden Retriever (or smaller) dog. The stool is very firm and formed, easy to clean up. She woke me up at 1 am Sunday morning to go out. She just made it to the side of the building when she left a steaming pile of mush. Needless to say, it was unpleasant to clean up. She went again mid-morning, leaving behind an amount nearly identical. To compare her intake with her output, they looked very similar which was disturbing. Leo had quite a bit more waste (at least twice as much) than normal, but fortunately his was well-formed.

It's very expensive compared to our regular food. Boxes are approximately 13-15 pounds each and when combined with water for reconstitution will provide approximately 2-3 times that weight in food for the dog. The food is measured by cup according to the dogs' weight. Vegas needed 1 cup per 20 pounds, so 5-6 cups per day. I split it into two meals. I got a total steal through the raw feeders group for the product but it was still between $67 and $79 per box depending on the formula.

The Verdict:
I have two more boxes of the product coming within the next week or so. The other two boxes are the NRG Optimum formula, designed for "active" and large dogs. I purchased Beef and Salmon formulas. The ingredient list is as follows:

Cooked free range meat, (Optimum is available in free range chicken, buffalo, beef and wild caught pacific salmon) dehydrated from raw free range meat, squash, carrots, naked oats, wheat germ, eggs, buffalo liver, grapefruit, pumpkin, broccoli, salmon meat, flax seed, cranberries, blueberries,apples, lime, papaya, parsley, garlic, goat milk yogurt, kelp, apple cider vinegar, egg shell, coconut oil, cod liver oil

I had given Vegas a single meal of the RAW-One prior to our trip out of town but since she leans more toward the firm stool side, my guess is I didn't notice a difference in a single meal. I'm hopeful that will continued use and/or the different formulas the "cons" won't be so bad. Perhaps it was just an adjustment period along with being in a new place and running agility. I plan on continuing to use this product since I have it and unless I see any other issues will likely repurchase it when necessary. My reasoning is simple: The product itself is top of the line for the dogs' health and I need something more convenient for travel times. I'll deal with the impatient dogs - that's minor when compared with the other benefits.

Modern Video - Dog's View

2011-10-05T00:20:00.000-07:00

There is another video that was made using a more modern camera!

This one was kind of cool, too, with the embedded frame showing the live action as well as the animated dog's view.

Cool Video!

2011-10-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

Would be great to see a more modern version of this video without all the pixelization, but it really gives an idea. I always wondered how in the world dogs could see straight after doing weaves so fast....

Portland Agility Club AKC Agility Trial September 2011 - Sunday

2011-09-25T22:51:00.000-07:00

Today started way too early. Sometimes I have to wonder why I do this to myself. But then I get to the show site and get to run my girl and, well, it all makes sense. Seriously running on empty here and have a new employee starting tomorrow so going to make this recap short and sweet.

We weren't entered in Fast today and we were running tall to small. Standard was up first - a nice course that looked doable and fun.

Sadly it sort of fell apart from the get-go. We knocked the bar on the second jump right off the bat. It was nice and cool this morning and Vegas was feeling pretty frisky when we went in the ring so my thought was she landed long from the tire and just didn't collect for the jump. Knocking bars is pretty unusual for her unless I do something to get in her way. This afternoon Craig and I spoke and he wasn't watching closely but actually had felt she didn't have the speed she needed to clear the bar. That puzzled me as it was the opposite of what I'd thought. The video is fairly telling, though, at least to me. I think the reason was the former. If you watch you'll see her running versus striding. She was moving out and just didn't give herself the time to stride and collect. Feel free to correct me if you think I'm wrong...I really need to learn to read these things better. I may re-process the video tomorrow at a slow speed on that section to see even better.

The other thing that happened was that I front crossed after the weaves. It was one of those moments where your body does something and your mind screams, "What the heck?!" It was too late to stop myself and by then I wasn't handling and following through like I should. So naturally she did what was expected. Major bummer with our fumbles because her time was decent. SCT was 63 and she ran it in 54.39. If we hadn't fumbled she probably would have been a second or two faster, at least. Oh well. No harm, no foul. We had a nice little run (of Qs) going until then.

We had a bit of a wait until JWW since they had to run all the Novice and Open Fast and JWW classes first in that ring. We visited, chilled out, walked outside, got rained on a bit, and watched the other Danes running (Soooooo glad to have Lindsay, Heffner, and Bess running local trials again!). The course looked fun - challenging, but fun. There were some opportunities for mistake but in all honesty some of the spots that could be for the Excellent course were worse for the Open dogs.

There was a bit of drama for the 24" dogs though. The SCT written up on the check-in board said 38 seconds. Even the very fast dogs were like, yeah, not much chance there. Thank you, Craig!, for chatting with the judge. Yep, some mistakes had happened including getting the wrong yardage written down thus the calculation wrong. Oops! Thankfully they fixed it; SCT was 46 seconds for 164 yards.

Things went quite well. I did feel like I was struggling to get her to move out and pick up the pace but when I watched the video she was mostly steady. Maybe we just need a slightly faster steady. Haha. I almost lost her at the tunnel after #15 because I thought I had her and took my eye off her. Fortunately we saved it. Our time was 44.03. One JWW Q today and 1 more point.

We stuck around to watch Lindsay's last run with Bess in Open Standard then loaded up, got our final scores and ribbons, and headed for home a little after 4. I unloaded what I had to and ended up napping on the couch with Vegas for about two hours. She put herself right to bed after dinner and is still peacefully snoring. Sweet girl. God I'm so lucky.