Jada's Thanksgiving Weekend CPE Trial

Originally posted on Spoiled Rotten Keeshonds on Friday, December 4, 2009

We had a really fun Thanksgiving weekend at the CPE Trial! I did 8 runs over the weekend - and got 8 Q's!
I also got a new title - my Level 3 Strategy Games Title (CL3-S when we got our last Level 3 Jackpot Q)
So all I need is one more Level 3 Wildcard leg and we'll be out of Level 3 forever. Everything else we're doing is in Levels 4 and 5.

We camped out in our usual spot in our big blue round crate surrounded by some of our favorite friends. On one side were our Keeshond buddies - Tav and Sky. I really really like Tav...but for some reason he just cringes when he sees me. His owner says he likes his girls to play "hard to get" and I just gush all over him, and that makes him nervous. But in a crate he's okay with me being next to him. On the other side of me was Benny, our big black lab pal. We just love being around him. He likes me a whole lot, but isn't as crazy about Tyssen. I think he'd like Tyssen better if Ty would keep his nose to himself and out of Benny's private parts!

These were our Saturday runs:

Fullhouse, Level 4.
We got 3rd place in this run.
1st place: 43 points in 35.26 seconds (Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever)
2nd place: 42 points in 31.19 seconds (Wheaten Terrier - our buddy Tucker!)
3rd place: 42 points in 35.31seconds. (me)
Guess I shouldn't have backed out of that 3-point tunnel when Joni attempted a rear cross behind me. Bummer.

Then we ran two Standards back to back.
Standard, level 4, round 1
We got 3rd place again
1st place: 41.61 seconds (Sheltie)
2nd place: 42.65 seconds (Sheltie)
3rd place: 44.19 seconds (me)
Where are all these fast shelties coming from?

Standard, level 4, round 2
This was a tough one. The 3rd obstacle was to take the A-frame....but on either side of the A-frame was a tunnel entrance! Wow! Good thing I'm generally a contact-sucker sort here! But Joni was worried that TWO big old gaping tunnel holes might be tempting to me. But she ran it like the tunnels weren't even there - and I could tell exactly what she wanted me to do and I did it - I took the A-frame. Out of 33 dogs running in level 4-5-C here, only 11 Q'd. The rest were sucked into the tunnels and an off course. Tough one! Here's what it looked like on the right here:

1st place was 37.60 seconds (Sheltie)
2nd place run was 39.13 seconds (me)

Jumpers, level 5
This was our last run of the day. We got 2nd place in this one, but not by much!
1st place: 26.63 seconds (Sheltie again!)
2nd place: 27.92 seconds (me!)
3rd place: 28.99 seconds (Border Collie)

Our Sunday Runs:

Jackpot, level 3
Fortunately, this was a non-traditional jackpot. Actually, they called it a "non-traditional traditional jackpot" - but all we cared about was that we didn't have that line down on the ground that Joni couldn't cross! We got 3rd place in this one
1st place: 63 points in 48.43 seconds
2nd place: 62 points in 45.65 seconds
3rd place: 59 points in 44.1 seconds (us)

Wildcard, level 3
We got 2nd place in this, by less than a second.

Snooker, level 4
Joni scared me a bit on this one. I know it was a long weekend and she just zoned out for a little bit on the course! We took the red jump, then the tire, then red jump #2 and into the weaves for 7 points. Then the 3rd red jump and back to the 7point weaves. Halfway thru the weaves Joni sorta lost it and blanked out on if this was the first time for doing the weaves or the second. I KNEW it was the 2nd time, but boy, she worried me for a second! I wasn't sure if she was gong to head back for the red jump again or start the closing! But she pulled it out and headed for the closing part of the game. Whew! Close one! Then she did some clunky front cross as I came out of the tunnel later on instead of the nice blind front cross she usually does, and it really threw me then. Where the hell was her mind at? She sent me over a jump, and I sort of balked at the next jump thinking she was really screwing up. But she insisted I go over and I did after giving her a few quick "wake the hell up" barks, then we finished. I really wonder about her sometimes! But we finished, as ugly as it was. Amazingly, it was also our first 1st place finish of the weekend also. Go figure! We also had the overall second highest point count of 46 points. (51 was the highest)

Colors, level 4
This just goes too fast! Literally! We ran this in 15.09 seconds for our second 1st place finish of the weekend.
1st place: 15.09 seconds (ME!)
2nd: 16.20 seconds (Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever)
3rd: 19.22 seconds (Sheltie)
4th: 24.36 seconds (Border Collie)

Our time was the fastest of all the level 3-4-5-C's that ran the course.
fastest: me at 15.09
2nd fastest: a dog in level 3 with 15.21 seconds
3rd fastest: our lab buddy Benny at 16.05

I'm looking VERY forward to our New Years Trial! Poor Joni will have 5 runs a day to memorize, so I'll have to keep up with those wake up barks now and then. I'm also looking forward to Ty getting out there and running some! This will be fun to watch! Hopefully he does as well as I know he can if he doesn't act like a big ol' fruit loop out there!

Jada Gets Her First AKC Agility Title

Originally posted on Spoiled Rotten Keeshonds on Wednesday, November 25, 2009

We just did our first 3-day AKC Agility trial a couple of weeks ago. Lots of fun, but not sure I like this "half day" thing. We're so used to getting there early and staying ALL day long!

We didn't have to be there until noon...which mean Joni had me there at 10am. Not sure what she thinks she's going to miss out on here. I had to stay outside in a crate in a tent with a bunch of loud Shelties. Not sure I liked that part of it. Joni kept checking on me and leaving me in there. I was a little worried she forgot me sometimes, but I could see the car if I looked thru a blowing tent piece...and it never moved, so that made me feel better!

So I went in there the first day, Friday, with a Novice Standard and a Novice Jumpers leg under my.....collar (I never did like belts). I was hoping to knock out this Novice stuff in the first two days. But that was not to be.....

Friday started out with Jumpers, which I did perfect on and got a first place. Two legs down and one to go!
Then we did Standard. Sigh. I guess I'll take a little itty bitty piece of blame for this, but only a VERY little bit. Most of it I'm putting all on Joni! I have a problem with laying down on the pause table....always have. I'll sit...I'll stand....hell, I'll do backflips, but I don't like to lay down. I just never have liked laying down on command ANYWHERE. There just isn't a point to this. Of course, naturally, I'll do it for FOOD! If I'm going to go to all this trouble to lay down there better be a good reward for me in it. So Joni was worried about if the judge was going to make me lay down on the table. She had me practicing this all week. I did it every time for her, but after awhile I was having fun messing with her head. I'd lay down and roll over. Boy, that really got her more worried! No way I'd do that on a table, but I sure had her thinking I might!

So it turns out the table is a "down". Joni was convinced she could fake me out and I'd think she was going to have a treat for me. I heard her tell a few people this. She didn't even try to whisper it so I wouldn't hear - just blurted it out like I was the village idiot that had no idea what she was saying. So I went in this knowing the big fake-out was coming. We started our run.....and I ran perfectly. We got to the table and Joni said "Down" and I sat....and looked at her. She pretended she had something in her hands and said it again. And I just looked at her. It was hard to keep from bursting out laughing at the panic I know she was feeling. Finally I took pity on her and laid down SLOWLY on the 3rd request. The judge counted down....5 and 4 and 3 and 2 and 1 -- .and Joni took off! What the hell! She's supposed to wait until the judge said "...and GO!" I knew this was bad...but what was I supposed to do? So I followed her. I saw the judge make a motion with her arms out of the corner of my eye and I knew it wasn't good. I was right. Joni screwed up. Uh oh...do you think I played with her mind too much on this one? Maybe. That's why I'll only take a teeny tiny bit of the blame for that. She gets 99.9% of that screwup, though! Now Joni claims she doesn't know why she left - she claims her brain wanted to stay but her legs just took off. Rolling my eyes here....whatever. Even "I" have more control than that!

Later that night we did FAST. I blew this the last time since I have to work away from Joni and I jumped over the contact. I confess I was feeling a wee bit sorry for her for her big screwup earlier, so I was determined that I'd make her feel better by astonishing her with doing this correctly. Which I did...no biggie. We only needed 50 points in this 35 second run, and we got 73 points. The send part with the line that Joni couldn't cross was that I had to go over an A-Frame, then into a tunnel, which I did perfectly. We did only get 2nd place since this zippy little Sheltie got 76 points, but he took 7 seconds longer than us also! But that's okay.

Saturday we went over early also so that I could get my two height measurements by two AKC reps that were there. They measured me shorter than I thought I was....16.5". ??? And here I thought I was 17" tall. This will take some getting used to now. I'm trying hard not to get that "short dog" syndrome now.

I got my last Jumpers leg today! And my first AKC agility title - my NAJ title. I got first place - and had the fastest time of all the 23 Novice dogs! Open Jumpers here I come!

Standard was next. I was relieved to see that the table was a "Sit" - Joni certainly doesn't need the pressure on this one. Maybe today we'd get our 2nd leg, and could get our 3rd leg tomorrow - sounds like a plan! And we did it perfectly. I got 1st place (and a perfect score) with a time of 40 seconds! The next fastest time in the entire class of 23 Novice dogs was 50 seconds! Not too shabby! One more leg tomorrow and we can get that Standard title outa the way!

Sunday we did our first Open Jumpers, and I did another great job on it. We got 2nd place in this division - only 8/10 of a second slower than a Sheltie. One open leg down....

Then came what I hoped was our final novice standard leg. No pressure here! We started off great.....I saw the dog ramp and launched myself onto it. Usually I take the dog ramp at a fast speed, with Joni running alongside me. But today I was so excited about my new title - not to mention my impending NEW title - and had SO much energy that I figured I could go faster! I was a few feet ahead of Joni now when I heard her saying something to me. What? Why are you talking to me now - I'm concentrating on running! It was so hard to hear her with the wind rushing thru my fur and my ears (think of hanging your head outside a moving car!). Now we have a disagreement here....I could just swear I heard her say, "Jada! Go faster! And jump over that yellow piece at the end of the dog ramp!!!" - so I did. Now Joni insists that she said "Jada! Slow down! Wait!".
Sigh. I guess after thinking about it there's no earthly reason she'd be telling me to jump over the contact now, is there. Sigh. Fine. I guess I'll take the blame for this one. [hanging my head in shame]. The rest of our run was flawless...Joni didn't even screw up on the table countdown.

So I guess I'll need another weekend to get out of this Novice stuff. Hopefully I don't drag it out too long or Joni will get her wish and we WILL be there all day long....in Excellent Jumpers and in Novice or Open Standard! Ugh!

Overall I guess I like this AKC stuff okay. It's fun....but not as much fun as CPE games are. We decided we like the strategy and thinking that goes into the CPE games more. It's alot of fun to make up a good course for enough points, or to have to make decisions out there - not ONLY just running 17-18 obstacles in a precise order....
But we'll keep doing this AKC stuff (can't let Ty get ALL the AKC titles in the family!).

We've got our CPE trial coming up this weekend! I can't wait!

Two More Trials! Another CPE Trial and our first AKC Trial!

Originally posted on Spoiled Rotten Keeshonds on Friday, October 23, 2009

Hey, Jada here again. It's been busy around here......we got a new computer and all that entails with moving stuff over, etc. So Joni hasn't let me get on the new computer for awhile. Yeah yeah....there's an old computer now that works perfectly well for me...but no, she won't let me use that one!

We've had a lots of classes and several agility trials since I last wrote. Our August CPE trial was great - another 3-day trial. Boy, I'm loving those 3-day outings! We did pretty well.....we Q'd in 11 of our 12 runs! The only one was didn't qualify in was......big surprise!.....Jackpot! Yep, Jackpot is becoming our nemesis! What's with these Traditional Jackpots? I just don't like doing stuff that far away from Joni! But she keeps trying to make me! But I really really did try! But this was a hard one! I had to run into a tunnel with Joni way way behind me....then come out and go into weave poles. I don't think so! I came right back to Joni and didn't leave again! But I tried to make up for it by doing everything else really great over the weekend.

Next trial we're in Level 5 Jumpers - and Level 4 for Standard, Full House, Snooker, Colors and we're still in Level 3 for Wildcard and Jackpot.

My official stats are out of my 61 CPE runs, I have 53 Q's! I don't think that's too shabby for 7 weekends!
My 8 NQ's have been three in traditional jackpots, two from our first few Snookers, and two of our wildcards early on. Oh....and that stupid standard that I screwed up badly...but I'd rather not talk about that one!

A few weeks ago we did our first AKC Agility trial! We entered the one-day agility trial for the Chesapeake Bay Retrievers National Specialty. First thing I noticed is that it was not an event we needed to get up in the wee hours of the night to get ready for! We didn't have to be there until almost noon! This is great! Sleeping in - whoo hoo! This was at a different place than I was used to - a club called Queen City Dog Training Club. We visited there a couple of weeks before to do a few run-thru's so I could get used to a different building and equipment. Apparently this could have been some sort of traumatic event for me....but I could really care less! Show me some tunnels and jumps and I'll do it anywhere! Anyway, this place is different for me because they don't have indoor crating. What? You mean I have to stay...outside? Apparently so. I'm told they usually have a tent, but didn't today...so I spent lots of time in the car since it was so crowded inside. That was a bit weird for me!

Once we started, though, it was just another agility trial! First we did FAST - which, unfortunately, is exactly like a Traditional Jackpot except it's only 30 seconds long or so. Great. No pressure here! Joni insists this was a fairly easy section where I had to do it by myself, and I suppose it was....all I had to do was go into a tunnel then over an A-frame - no biggie. Except I blew it. I went over the A-frame and saw that Joni was about 6 feet away and looking like she might bolt suddenly and leave me, so I cut the corner a bit on the bottom contact and ran after her. Why can't I remember that she isn't really going to leave me there? !@#$%.

After that was Standard - which we got first place in and a Q. Cool! Then we did Jumpers with Weaves - another 1st place and a Q. Then that was it. Seriously....that was it! We were done already? Feels like we were just getting started!

So...looks like we're going to keep doing this AKC stuff. I wish we weren't doing FAST again, but Joni has endless faith in me and signed us up for it again. Sigh. Will she ever learn?

Our next AKC trial is in two weeks - a 3-day trial. Looks like it's an afternoon event again since we just started and are in Novice...which may be a good reason to never get into Excellent, right? Shhh....don't tell Joni that!

I hear that Joni is doing this because she wants to take me on a long road trip next spring for a trial. Yep - she wants to take me to the Keeshond National Specialty in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. I haven't a clue what that really means...but it sounds fun! And this is an outdoor trial! Wow - will be very cool to do all this stuff outside in the fresh air.....unless it's raining. That could be bad then! I hate getting rain in my eyes! I can barely walk outside when it rains....everyone laughs at me. I squint my eyes closed really really tight - every time I try opening them I get water in them, so I just squeeze them shut again and walk really really slowly. Now this could make for an interesting run, dontcha think?

November is going to be a busy month for us! We're doing the AKC trial one weekend; Tyssen has 4 UKC shows one weekend, and then a CPE trial another weekend. Then a few short weeks after that there's our 4-day CPE trial! I can't wait!

I'm hoping Joni will get those video's of me up soon! I keep bugging her about this...maybe soon!

Well...guess I'm outa here.....wait...what? Oh, hold on. Ty wants to say a few things!

Hey, Ty here! Yeah, you heard Jada - I have my OWN shows coming up here soon! AND I get to spend 4 days at Judy's (where I was born and where my mom and sister live) being pampered while they're at the AKC trial! She wants to use the time to "work me"...which I think is a good thing. I don't really need the "work" since I'm so damn good, but I'll let her think I do. Makes her feel useful....but that's just our secret, okay?

I keep waiting to be entered into an agility, but so far Joni seems to think I need to wait more. Personally, I think Jada is telling her this. She's afraid I'll show her up maybe? Yeah...that has to be it. What else could it be? Joni thinks I'm getting close, though.....the only thing she keeps working on alot with me is those crazy weave poles. Now what's the purpose of these things? They make no sense. In the real world I can see the purpose needing to jump, or go over a ramp - hell, even going thru a tunnel - but there is absolutely NO reason weaves have a functional reason for existing! But.....I'm beginning to get it. Joni told me she can tell the light bulb has gone off for me...but that I have a dimmer switch. I'm not sure what that really means....but I just nod like I do and that makes her happy. But I guess I can keep working with them.

She also thinks I am way too social. She doesn't want to pay for an entry only to get me out there and let me try to meet every single dog on the other side of the ring. Hey - since when is being nice and polite a crime! Sheesh. So I get a "fake" trial - a show-n-go coming up here. Supposedly it'll be "good practice" for me. We'll see.


Oh yeah....also have to mention our latest toy for agility trials! Very cool! Joni got tired of coming up with 16 D batteries each day for our two battery operated fans, so she went and got a "power pack". She got a DC splitter so she can plug in both fans - and they both run on high for 12+ hours in our crate. They might go longer, but she unplugged them after 12 hours of testing them, so who knows how long they'll last. Each day after the trial she just takes the power pack home and recharges it all night - and it's good to go all day the next day with the fans. Pretty cool! She's turned our little home-away-from home into a nice cool place!
Here's the view from the inside and top!

Power pack: Schumacher Portable Power PP-2200 , 22 amp hour / 400 watt, Built in inverter and 12 volt outlet

Jada's CPE Agility Trial Weekend

Originally posted on Spoiled Rotten Keeshonds on Monday, August 3, 2009

It's been a couple of weeks now, but I'm finally able to tell you about our latest Agility Trial. Joni's been hogging the computer non-stop since then, and it's been tough talking her down from the keyboard to give me a chance here!

Our last CPE Trial was a new one for me - a THREE day trial. Whoa! I thought two days was exhausting! But we had so much fun that it just flew by. Joni bought me a spiffy new crate for the trials. I was SO excited when I saw it - it's huge! No more being cramped up in that wire crate with just enough room to lay down!
Check it out on the right here (just ignore the pug - no idea who this critter is!)

This thing is so awesome - I can stretch out in the 50"x50" interior! She puts in a couple of portable fans and I'm in hea-ven! Once there, I found out that I don't get this room by myself - I have to share it with Tyssen! TYSSEN!! What's he doing here? He's never been here before at a Trial! I figured he'd ruin the whole weekend with his non-stop talking and whining. Maybe Joni drugged him or something, but he was great! He didn't ruin anything! He was in there rubbing my shoulders down before we ran, giving me encouragement and some last minute tips. Oh, wait.....you're not believing that? Okay, he was great, though. He was very happy every time I came back from running, but I strongly suspect that was because he got treats when I did. I'm not all together sure what he did to deserve the same reward I got for all my hard work while he just sat on his ass, but maybe he was off doing something worth rewarding while I was gone.

Let me describe a typical Agility Trial weekend. We get up bright and early on Trial mornings - at 4:30. Joni is insane. That alarm goes off and she stumbles off to get dressed and Tyssen and I just lay there on the bed in utter disbelief."Is she SERIOUSLY getting up at this hour". Yes she is. Not only that, she gets us up and we're out walking around the neighborhood in the dark. Geez.....we just went to sleep a few hours ago! She feeds me when we come in. Sure, I'm tired...but I'll EAT any time anywhere! Then she's off to go get ready herself. We usually left around 6:15am, but now we can leave later since Tyssen is coming with us and we don't have to drop him off first. You'd think she'd figure out this time difference and let me sleep in another half hour, wouldn't you? Maybe next time she'll do that. Are you listening, Joni? I want to sleep in till 5am, not 4:30!!!!!

We get to the Trial and Joni makes us sit in the car for a little bit while she takes some stuff in. That's always fun, though. Just Tyssen and me in the car watching other dogs and people arrive. I made up stories about the dogs and what they're doing there....which Tyssen totally believed. He's wide-eyed back there in his crate and has his eyes glued on what he really believes is the Queen of England and her dog (just one of my many elaborations!). I had him totally believing this guy walking by was the Dog Whisperer dude. Ty's always good for a few early morning chuckles. We get inside and Joni sorta forgets about us for a little while as she's off running around and talking and deciding how we're going to run our first run. She sorta goes a little OCD over these things...just obsesses over them. Me - I just go out and run it perfectly the first time having never SEEN the course before! So I think she just needs to relax, chill out and do what I do!

So our first run of the day is ready to go! It's called "Full House", and it's the last leg of Level 3. If I "Q" - Qualify - in this leg, we can move up to Level 4. In Full House we get to make up our own course, but there is stuff we have to do - a Pair (2 round objects like a tunnel or tire), 3-of-a-kind (3 jumps) and a Joker (a contact). That's 14 points and we have to have 23 total points to Q. So we get to make up the rest of the course myself for these extra points before the horn sounds and we have 5 seconds to make it to the Table, which ends the game! We only got second place in this today, but we'd have done better if Joni was as quick as I was!

Our 2nd run of the day was Level 3 "Standard", which is a course that we have to do in a certain order. We got First Place in that one!
Our next two runs of the day were Level 4 "Jumpers" courses - which is all jumps, tunnels and weaves. Lots of fun and speed here! We got Second Place in both of those. So far we're 4 for 4 on Q's for the weekend!

So - end of the first day, and we go home where Tyssen and I both crashed and slept. Not sure why Tyssen had to crash, but he tries to do everything I do - just less successfully! I got a new Title on Friday - our CLF-3 Title.

Saturday morning started out the same, except Joni was a bit nervous about our first run of the day. It was "Jackpot". She said, "no, not just Jackpot - but a Traditional Jackpot!". Whatever. She worries about the silliest things. Jackpot is a little like Full House - we run around and accumulate points under a certain time. Different obstacles have various point amounts, blah, blah, blah. We have something like 30 seconds to do this, then they blow a horn and we have 18 seconds to do the second part of the game, called the "Gamble". The "traditional" part that had Joni quaking in fear was that this Gamble part has to be done in a very specific order...but Joni had to stay behind a line on the floor while I do these obstacles. I'm on my own. By myself. While she's way way way over there. By herself. Waving her arms frantically while I'm confused, shaking my head and saying "you want me to do what?" Now how can I do these things while she's way over there? She's supposed to be right by my side! So until she comes to her senses and comes close to me - I'm just not gonna do these things! What if I fall off? What if she runs off while I'm in the middle of one of them? The possibilities of what can go wrong are endless. So I just choose to look confused and bark at her. I've seen so many Border Collies go in circles and bark crazily at their person that it must work - so it's worth a try. I can't bark too long since some buzzer that hurts my ears goes off and Joni is putting my leash on. ??? Wait....What happened? Don't we get to finish? Apparently this was an "NQ" - a "non qualifying" score. Do I still get a treat?


So...not starting off too terribly well. I'm just devastated, but putting on a brave front. Our next two runs are "Standard" runs, like the day before. Nothing major - we've done these lots of time. I was still quite rattled from that NQ, though, and couldn't keep my mind on the course. I couldn't get that stupid "behind the line" thing out of my head. Halfway thru the course I was running over the dog ramp when I suddenly thought that Joni was leaving me! She was right there next to the ramp, but her shoulder turned just a little bit - but just enough to give me the hint that she was going to leave me high and dry up there! So I bailed! Yes, that's right! Something I NEVER ever in my entire life had ever thought I'd do while way up there on the dog ramp - I jumped right off! I realized I made a serious mistake as soon as I saw the stunned look on Joni's face, though. Oh, !@#$% - now I've done it! Joni bravely continued but I knew something was wrong and couldn't shake the ever growing bad feeling. I was right.....they gave us an NQ for that! WHAT? Nobody ever told me I couldn't jump off an obstacle before! Okay, so I know now and it'll never happen again! Sheesh. So we were 0 for 2 on Saturday and it wasn't looking good......

Our next Standard run came up quickly and I was determined to be perfect this time! And I was! I just flew thru that course! We got First Place and according to our time, we ran thru those 18 obstacles at the speed of 4.6 yards a second! That's 13.8 feet a second! I told you I was flying thru it!

Our last run of the day was Snooker. Joni has had her issues with me in Snooker so this one makes us both a bit nervous. Our first couple attempts at this game were painfully bad, but since then it's been okay, so we really need to relax about this game! I get it now! It's a bit different than any other game, so it took me a few times to figure it out. Snooker has a whole course laid out there - numbered 2 thru 7. But it also had 4 scattered "red jumps" around the course. This game is also in two parts. The first part is to do a red jump, then any other obstacle on the course. Then another red jump (not the same one as before) and another obstacle, then another red jump (again, can only use them once) and another obstacle of your choice....that's the end of the first part. Sounds simple, doesn't it? After that last obstacle you run the numbered course starting with 2. It sounds so simple....but it's not! But I ran it brilliantly! We got First Place with 44 points (I only needed 28) and had a great ending to a day that didn't start out so well! All in all - we're 6 for 8 this weekend in Q's and I got another Title today! With our Snooker Q we finished up our CL2-S Title! Two days - two new titles! Not too shabby.

Last day of the Trial and I feel like it's Day One again! I'm just anxious to get out there and run!

Our first run of the day was Full House again, this time in Level 4. We had 35 seconds to get 25 points and the obstacles seemed VERY far apart. But we flew thru it and managed to get 34 points and a First place finish.

Next up we had Wild Card. Wild Card is another game that requires some thinking out there! It's a numbered course, but there are 3 sets of obstacles out there in the course that are set up right next to each other with the same number, but are an "A" or a "B". For this course you got to pick which of these you wanted, but we had to make sure that out of these three options, we HAD to pick two that were "A's" and one that was a "B". If Joni had it planned out a certain way and I picked the other option, we could fix it at the next option, but that took some fast thinking to do while on the run! Don't tell Joni, but I've taken the wrong obstacle on purpose a few times just to see her scramble and try to fix it further down the course....unsuccessfully both times. So I quit playing that little game so we can finally Q and get out of this Level. I'll spring that little surprise on her another time sometime. We finished it with a Third Place finish, and got the "Q" and finished up our CL2-H Title - and finally finished all the games for our "CL2" Title. Now everything we're doing is in Levels 3 and 4.

Our next run was "Colors". This is basically a BUNCH of obstacles out there at one time - it's literally two different courses out there at the same time, but are numbered (or colored) differently. We pick a course (color) and run that - ignoring the other course and some of the obstacles we'll be running by and not being part of our course. Pretty simple, really. We got First Place in this and finished up the last leg of Colors for Level 3 with this one.

Our last run of the day was Snooker again. I'm actually looking forward to this game now that I get it! We needed 30 points now that we were in Level 3, but that was easy enough. We got 46 points and a First Place out of it! Great way to finish the weekend! Officially we were 10 for 12 in Q's this weekend, and got a few new Titles!

I can't wait till our next 3-day Trial now at the end of August! I'm trying my best to talk Joni into getting me into some AKC trials, and it looks like my begging has finally worked! She knows we have to do it soon as she wants to take me to the Keeshond Nationals the next couple of years for Agility.

Oh, Joni has all of these runs on video, but she hasn't transferred it yet. Maybe someday she'll quit being lazy and get it loaded up online so I can give you a link to them!