The Wishbone Wag Team Agility Trial

by Jada

I decided I needed a byline since it's hard to tell if it's Tyssen or me writing sometimes!

Thanksgiving was great for us - lots and lots of goodies were handed out as they were scurrying around making food. Yummy!

The day after Thanksgiving we had our Wishbone Way Team Agility Trial at the club. I was on a team called "Bad To The Bone" with a few of my buddies - Charm, a zippy little Rat Terrier, and Benny, a big black lab. We were only playing 2 games - Full House and Snooker. 26 teams competed - and we came in FIRST PLACE in Full House. I'm not sure where we placed in Snooker (wasn't in the Top 3, but Joni never went to look), but when they combined the scores for both games our team came in FIRST PLACE! I got a great toy and Joni got a gift card. Pretty fun day!

Joni also ran Reuben on a puppy team named "The Little Rascals" with a Keeshond puppy and a Lab puppy. They did pretty good also. Reuben can't compete officially until next Summer, but boy, he's going to be good!

Joni made their t-shirt design - Here's what they looked like:

The front:
The back:

Taking Some Time Off From Agility Due to Injury

by Tyssen

It's about time Jada quit hogging the computer! Joni rarely lets us on there, but when she does Jada has to take a few hours trying to remember every last run she's had in the last 8 months. My agility career seems to be dead in the water compared to Jada's. Yeah, she has 22 DAYS of trials, while we've had 4 days that consisted of a grand total of 6 RUNS. That's it. Only ran in March and April only. But then I've been in 20 dogs shows since then, so I guess that makes up the difference.

First we'll cover that skimpy trial updates. My March trial I ran 3 times and had 3 Q's and in April I ran 3 times and only had 1 Q. The two NQ's were Snooker (got distracted by a great smell and followed it into a tunnel - didn't go IN the tunnel, but stuck my head in,which was enough for an NQ) and Jackpot (yes, I'm related to Jada! But I DID do it, at least - just was 1 second over the time! So there!). So that was it - sums up my 2010 agility career in one teeny tiny paragraph.

I would have done more CPE this on Labor Day and in October, but I hurt my leg in August and Joni is not letting me do any agility for several months until she's absolutely 100% sure that it's all healed up. It's fine....but I can't convince her otherwise.

I hurt my leg when Joni got me a Premier Easy Walk Harness.
Image from: http://www.premier.com/View.aspx?page=dogs/products/behavior/easywalk/productdescription

I walk just fine on a leash and collar, until I see some of the dogs in my neighborhood and I just can't contain myself. That occasional pulling was making my ruff break off and leaving a collar line. That's not good for dog shows! So she got this harness, which I really liked. This harness has a ring in the front of my chest, so if I pulled any it felt funny and I stopped. That is....until I forgot one day that I had this on. I was at the end of my leash when I thought this bulldog hates me was out in his yard. I started to bolt over there - forgetting this new contraption that was on me - and when it stopped me it pulled at my chest and my body twisted some - and my left back leg twisted and got hurt badly. I fell down and held it up and was crying for Joni to help me. She ran over and rubbed my leg, which helped a little. I got up and didn't want to put it down. She laid me down and rubbed my entire leg some more. I was limping a little, but then it felt fine. But the next day I just hurt all over for a few hours. It was fine after that day....until I'd come down on my back leg wrong and I couldn't help but let out a little yelp and hold it up. Joni took me to the vet, but all he said that I sprained it. She later took me to a dog chiropractor. I wasn't sure about this, but he really did help me alot. I've had one or two small incidents since then when I came down strange on it and it hurt a little, but it's getting better. I suppose it's smart to let me heal totally and not run agility for awhile. But do you have any idea how hard it is to sit there at these 2-3 days trials all day long and do NOTHING? [groan!]

In the meantime Joni has gotten rid of that stupid Premier Harness and got a Walkeez Dog Harness from the Clean Run site. I love this one! It's soft and padded and doesn't hurt me!
Here's a photo of it from their site - although mine is black on black - no red or any other colors:


Image from: http://www.releashme.com/index.html

I've been doing lots of UKC shows. I'd love to do some AKC shows again, but we have to wait until my ruff grows out more.

This summer we went to the UKC Premier show in Richmond, Indiana since I was in the Top Ten. I was the #5 Keeshond for 2009 and was invited to the Top Ten show there.

The show was lots of fun. Wednesday was the Top Ten Preliminaries. There were a few other Keeshonds there, but I ended up getting Best of Breed. Groups were next, but not like normal groups. These were huge groups of all sorts of random dogs, not by their groups necessarily. There were about 45 dogs in my group - and I was the first dog they picked out of it to advance to the Top Twenty Finals. Pretty cool! The next night was the Top Twenty Finals. I had to go into 3 different rings with Judy and have 3 different judges go over me. At the end they called out the Top Ten out of the Top Twenty - and I was Number 4 overall! Not too shabby!



I had nothing to do for the rest of the show. Judy had brought along another Kees she had for the regular shows, along with Reuben the Pom and Rhade the Elkhound. So after my big night I just hung out and relaxed with Jada. We had a fun week there!

We've been to several UKC shows since then to get some breed wins for next year. Right now I'm ranked at #5, but that could change between now and the end of the year! Not sure what will happen next year since they changed the Premier show back to Michigan and Joni has to work that week. I might just be going up there with Judy only, maybe. ???

We have a new Cousin!
Yep, our cousin Beckett has a new pup living with him as of this summer - a tiny 12-inch tall tri-colored sheltie named Reuben. Hopefully nobody confuses him with our Pomeranian buddy Reuben! Little Reuben was 6 months old when they got him. Joni has been taking him to agility class so he'll eventually be running at trials with Jada and me. Yeah, he sure better not get more runs than me in!

Finally! Joni Gives Us Computer Access Again!

by Jada

FINALLY!
Joni has been saying for MONTHS that she's too busy to let either of us on the computer, but COME ON! This is ridiculous! It's been since last winter since we've been on it and now it's almost winter again! She's got several computers, so what's the problem! Now she's even got a laptop, which she was a bit stingy with at the beginning and is finally starting to let us use. We've even been telling her that we can use her computer when she's sleeping, but noooo, she still won't let us. Where's the trust here!

I don't even know where to begin. SO much has happened! I guess I'll have to summarize alot.

My CPE Trial Updates
Okay, trial-wise I'll definitely have to summarize alot. Since my last posted entry we've done a whopping 22 days of trials! No way can I remember everything we did now! But you know I'd love to try!

Let's see....in CPE we've done alot, but only 2 more titles - my Level 4 Standard (CL4-R) and Level 4 Handler (CL4-H) titles. I'm in Level 5 and working hard for my C-ATCH title hard here! Wait, I still have 2 more legs of my Level 4 Jackpot (groan) to get. Geez, I hate this game! They don't have enough of these at trials, and when they do they keep having "traditional" jackpots and I desperately need some "non-traditional" jackpots! This is the game where I have to finish it up by working far far away from Joni and you all know how much I hate that! I've come so close on some of them, though! I might have gotten some of them if I hadn't objected strenuously at the beginning at Joni coming to a dead stop by this colored tape and insisting that I go on without her. I always forget that it's okay sometimes! I can't remember everything! The last Jackpot we actually got - it was a "non traditional traditional" - which I kinda like. I did have to do a teeter far away from Joni and going away from her AND get that stupid contact - but I did it! When I got off of that I had to go to some off-side weaves. I thought Joni would pass out when I did this!

So the way it's going we'll have runs up to our C-ATCH 3 or 4levels before I finish this level 5 Jackpot!

Anyway, we've had some good CPE trials. The March trial we had 7 out of 8 Q's (only NQ was Jackpot, naturally). Our April trial was kinda crazy - we only had 5 out of 8 Q's. One NQ was Jackpot (again), but I screwed up on Wildcard and Colors also. Yeah, I know - I never do this sort of stuff. The Wildcard was just me laser-locking into another tunnel while coming out of a tunnel. I LOVE TUNNELS. Joni wanted me to stop after the first tunnel and take some jumps, but I was having SO MUCH FUN flying thru these tunnels that I totally tuned her out. Not a good idea in retrospect! The Colors course also involved a tunnel. There was a tunnel next to the A-frame an both times I was suppose to take the A-frame. I took the A-frame the first time, but the second time I decided to take the tunnel. Again, not a good idea once I had a chance to think about it.

We didn't have another CPE trial then until Labor Day weekend, and that was a 3-day trial. I did great there - had 11 out of 12 Q's. I know y'all are expecting this one....only NQ was...drum roll.....Jackpot. Big surprise. But that Jackpot I was mentioning before (with the teeter) was also at this trial and I got that one!!!!

The end of October was our most recent CPE trial. I was 6 for 8 on this one. In 5 of my 6 Q's we got 1st place in 5 of the 6 Q's and in 3 of them I was the fastest dog of ALL that ran the course! In the other 2 I was the 2nd fastest dog overall! Amazing, in 2 of my runs I was running in the 18+ FEET PER SECOND range!

The two NQ's? Well, we split those. Joni was brain dead on the first day after a long long wait of over 5 hours between our 2nd and 3rd runs. Standard was our 3rd run and her brain just flat-lined for a few seconds. We were heading down a line of jumps towards a tunnel when it happened. All this time I was heading for the right entrance to to this tunnel. At the last minute Joni suddenly tried to call me off of that entrance and into the other one. What was she thinking? I went ahead and went into the right side entrance knowing that I was right! But when I came out of the tunnel Joni was there still insisting that it was the wrong end - so what did she do? She told me to go BACK into the tunnel! For a second I thought maybe she was right and I screwed up - I went back thru the tunnel and we continued on the course. But I was RIGHT! Joni putting me BACK into that tunnel was our off-course! Boy, for once it's nice to not be the reason we NQ'd! I know she felt like an idiot then, but hey, it happens!

The other NQ was my fault. I just love going fast so much that sometimes it's hard to stop! I get on the teeter and I go all the way up to the yellow section and stop and wait for the teeter to move. It goes down as I wait impatiently...and once it hits the ground I'm just DYING to start running again! So sometimes it just seems silly to take one more extra step and get a foot into that ridiculous (yet important!) yellow section. So I forgot - sue me. Guess these CPE judges are less impressed with my athletic abilities than the yellow contact rules. I'll be working on that for the next time!

So that's it for CPE so far for the year. We have 6 days of CPE trials coming up in the next month, so that'll be fun.

My AKC Trial Updates
We did alot of AKC trials also during this "Joni won't let me on the computer" time. I have some issues with AKC and some of their silly rules, but after a few times of testing them out on the rules, I have figured out that they're actually quite serious about them and won't bend any of them just because I think I'm being cute or inventive out there. What I've figured out is they don't particularly like if I drop an occasional bar, or if I decide I've done enough weaves and am ready to move onto the next obstacle. They also don't like me showing off my athletic ability by jumping on the table, and "boinging" off and jumping back on in a blink of an eye. Apparently the judge did NOT blink at that moment and saw it all.

First was the trials in May. The first weekend we were 2 for 5....yep, 2 Q's and 3NQ's out of the weekend. Not good. One NQ was that I didn't see a jump that Joni expected me to see and they got me for a refusal when I did do it. One was me popping out of weave pole 10 when Joni glanced up to check out where the next jump was. I swear I thought she was ready to bolt for it - so I left also! Another was a dropped bar that mysteriously fell off when I went over it. Sheesh. Picky picky picky. But I finished my Novice Standard title at this trial.

A couple of weeks later we had a 3-day trial again. This was our first trial at an indoor soccer place with fake grass and boy, is this stuff great! I am SO AMAZINGLY FAST on this stuff! I was faster than Joni anticipated because all of our front crosses were turned into rear crosses since I was flying thru the course! They worked, though. I don't like them, but they worked. But the downside is that I'm too fast for myself! Yes! I was getting to places faster than I thought! I saw an obstacle coming up in a blur then - BAM - I'm there! I couldn't adjust fast enough a few times so they actually called that on me! WTF? Give me a break Did they SEE how fast I was running? I can hardly be expected to come to THAT fast of a stop and make a weave entrance!!! See, this is what I mean about AKC. They're very unforgiving. What a buncha mean people! I'm not sure I like AKC at all! I did get my Open JWW title at this trial, though.

We ended up with 2 Q's out of 6. Not good at all. Joni was beginning to not like AKC as much either, but insists that we keep doing it. Sigh. Guess one of us will have to get their act together!

Next AKC trial was in August. Well, we're up to a 50% Q rate this weekend. 2 Q's out of 4. My first Excellent JWW course and I missed the friggin' weave pole entrance. But it was an exceptionally TOUGH weave pole entrance and alot of dogs missed it also. Still...

I did get my next Excellent A JWW Q the next day, though! also got my Open Standard run - ran it great! The next day, however, would have been my last Open Standard leg and I ran that great also! But I dropped the bar on the last jump! Joni didn't even know. She was so happy with me and thought we had it! I wasn't sure how to break the news to her - I was so devastated and embarrassed! But halfway back to our seat someone told her and she didn't even believe them! She didn't believe it despite numerous people telling her until she saw it for herself on the video. I felt SO bad then! I don't even know how it happened! I was running so fast and we had run it perfectly! I think someone sneezed or something out there and made it fall!

So two weeks later we were off to another trial that we weren't scheduled to do, but Joni was determined to get me out of Open Standard before our next 3-day trial at the indoor soccer place. She thought having both runs in Excellent would be easier in a 2-ring trial, which made sense to me also! So we went to this next trial and we only ran Standard only. I got my Open Standard title that first day and the next day I got the first leg in Exc. A Standard! Good weekend for us!

Now we're in Excellent in everything and ready for the next trial.....only to end up with 1 Q and 5 NQ's. What a horrible weekend. Joni was to blame for most of this, but I'll take my share also on one or two of them. We did get our 2nd leg in Exc. A JWW's - but that's it. Out of the 5 NQ's I can fully take blame for ONE of them and Joni accepts full blame for 3 of them...the other one I'm not supposed to talk about since it was the judge's bad call that caused it. Nuff said about that. I'd like to bitch about it, but Joni has threatened my computer privileges (such as they are - hmph!) if I get us banned from AKC for voicing our shared opinion of this event.

Okay. My mistake was that I thought it'd be a cool move to jump on the table and bounce off immediately - showing off my awesome abilities - and jump back on instantly. I could hear the crowd gasping and oohing and aahing when I did this....only to learn later that it was really gasps and groans of disappointment and dismay at my instant NQ! *@#$%. Nobody ever told me I couldn't do this! Apparently I was supposed to just know this fact. Whatever.

The 3 NQ's Joni was responsible for was just BLOCKING me or distracting me! She did a great front cross in front of the teeter -but misjudged it and was blocking my entrance. I tried to adjust, but going around her screwed up my forward momentum and I was only able to touch the teeter before going off the other side by the first contact. The next time she mis-judged where she was and blocked my weave entrance. I tried to improvise by going into the other side of the weave entrance, thinking that maybe the judge wouldn't notice. Hey - I was desperate! If I stopped it'd be a refusal! I'm TRYING here! Those AKC judges are pretty sharp sometimes, and they saw my slick move and called it. All I could do was try, right? The last one was the most absurd. I came flying off a jump and was just laser-locked into that weave entrance. Joni wasn't blocking it - it was a perfect entrance. Just as I got inches from it, Joni suddenly says "Jada, weave!". WTF did she think I was doing? I stopped to make sure I wasn't doing the wrong thing and was utterly confused for a second - only to find out she wanted me to do the friggin' weaves I was heading into. What an idiot she can be! Oh wait - let's let the judge call that one also. Joni, Joni, Joni. You've GOT to shut your mouth sometimes! You can't take me totally out of obstacle focus and into idiot handler focus!

I tell you what - she has GOT to get the VIDEO up of these runs! She's got them! I think she's just embarrassed about some of this stuff!

Looks like we're all caught up with my trials this year since I've been not allowed on the computer. Next Friday is our Wishbone Wag Team Agility event. Our team is called "Bad to the Bone" and is made up of a few of my best buddies: Charm, a Rat Terrier, and Benny, a big black Lab.

The weekend after that we have a trial on December 3-4-5 - then again on December 31, January 1-2. Hopefully we have some great runs!

4-Day New Years Trial

Jada: Yeah, it's been a few weeks since our 4-day trial, but this is the first time we've been able to pry Joni's fingers from the keyboard and catch up on our blog! It was also pretty tiring doing this, but SO much fun - and that's all that counts!
Overall, I had a pretty good trial. I did 16 runs, and had 14 Q's and 3 new agility titles!

This was also Tyssen's first trial! He was only doing one run a day, but he had 3 Q's - and got his very first agility title! Way to go Ty-baby! I was really proud of him! I'll let him tell you about his runs in a little bit.

It was a busy week or two leading up to the trial. Joni had us down at the Club practicing alot. Silly, but she realized after she signed Ty up for the trial that he's only jumped 12" and had to jump 16" at the trial. Oops. So that was a good reason to work extra with him some. He can jump 16" easily, but he sure put on a show a few times that he couldn't do it without dropping a bar. He'll do anything for those extra treats and practice!

But then again....maybe Ty isn't pretending he doesn't know what he's doing! We went to practice a few days before the trial and he was a big ol' fruitloop! What an idiot he was! I was cringing with embarrassment watching that debacle out there. It wasn't that he'd forgotten....he was just a total flake! Joni was not very happy with this. In fact, she drove us over there the next day to practice again. This time Ty's brain was fully functioning and he did pretty great.

Thursday, December 31
Jada: Finally - we're at the trial on Thursday! It started later on the first day, so we didn't have to get there until 10am or so. Joni got Tyssen measured for his height card and we were ready to go.

First up was Full House. I ran this pretty well - got 42 points in 32.89 seconds (only needed 25 points) and a 1st place. This is how the rest of the class looked (level 4)

1st: 42 points / 32.89 (ME!)
2nd: 41 points / 33.74
3rd: 32 points / 26.52
4th: 32 points / 37.76

There were a few other dogs with more points - 45 and 49 - but they were in other classes or levels.

Next up on Thursday was Wildcard. I screwed up a few times in this earlier, so I'm just now on my last leg in Level 3 for this. No pressure! The course time was 33 seconds and I ran it in 16.83 seconds for 2nd place. 1st place was 16.33 seconds....lost 1st place by half a second. Oh well....we're moving up to level 4!
Here's my stats for this course:

Course time: 33 Seconds
Yards: 75
Our Time: 16.83
Yards per second: 4.456 (13.368 feet per second)
Obstacles per second: 0.594

Snooker was next...which I did horrible on. I just wasn't thinking...and I back jumped the second red jump. I have no excuse....;-(

Jumpers was next. Pretty standard Jumpers course....except I dropped a bar. I have no idea how that happened! I think I've only dropped one bar at a trial ever! But it happens, I guess. It did drop me to 3rd place because of the fault. I would have had 1st place since I had the fastest time.

1st: 30.65
2nd: 32.68
3rd: 26.74 (MINE)

Yep. That sucks.

Course time: 33 seconds
Yards: 122
18 Obstacles
My time: 26.74
Yards per second: 4.562 (13.68 feet per second)
Obstacles per second: 0.673

And how's this for one days work....3 titles in one day! I finished up my CL3-H title with that Wildcard Q, which also completed my Level 3 title. I also finished my CL4-F title with my Full House Q. Now I have a few more titles to add to my name here!

Tyssen's up for Jumpers next - his VERY FIRST RUN EVER at a trial!
I'll give up the keyboard and let him tell you about his run.

Tyssen: Hey - Tyssen here! This was SOOO fun! I knew Jada was having fun out there, but I had no idea how MUCH fun this would be!
Okay, I know I worried Joni a bit before the trial, but honestly, she's just way too damn easy to mess with. I act goofy and she just freaks a bit. I know what I'm doing.....I just like to have a bit of fun! But when it came right down to it - I did the job at the trial! So we get out there and Joni is giving me little bits of treats almost nonstop to keep my attention on her, which was good. I'm pretty easily distracted by all those other dog butts around me - all those pretty girl dogs to woo. It's just too hard to pay attention to jumping when there's a new dog to check out! C'mon - I'm only a teenage boy dog!

So off we go. I love to run as fast as I can, but I also like to look around while I'm running. So sometimes I miss an obstacle.Sorry, but it's just so fun having the wind blow thru my hair that - never mind. It sounds silly to even write it, so I won't. I blew by one jump halfway thru the course and we had to stop to go back and do it. Then I ran past a jump towards the end that I swear wasn't there the first time I ran by. Joni stopped suddenly and made me come back. I ran forward again (apparently on the other side of this newly appeared jump) and she had to stop again and get me back. OH! THAT JUMP! Was that there before? Fine - I jumped it and we moved on. Boy, they expect you to see EVERYTHING out there on the course, don't they? But we Q'd! I got 2nd place, which I guess I wouldn't have if we didn't have to stop a few times. Guess it made all my stats come down some, didn't it?

Course time: 46 seconds
Yards: 112
16 Obstacles
My time: 35.26
Yards per second: 3.176
Obstacles per second: 0.454

Yeah....I'm way faster than Jada and she has faster Yards Per Second? Guess I'll have to work on that. No way can I have her beat me!

Now for the 2nd day - Friday, January 1st.
Tyssen: I'm up first this morning - my very first Full House ever!

So we get out there and off we start running. I suspect Joni had a plan for me for this, but I knew I could make it better, so I did! Jada had already let me know that in this game was not a numbered course - Joni just made it up on her own. Cool! Gotta hand it to her, though, she recovered quickly from the few surprise twists I threw in there! She definitely can think on her feet! But there was at least one surprise out there for me. I started to take another jump and DAMN - it was a friggin wall! No way was this was a jump! I know it had to look funny the way I put the brakes on and skidded to a screeching stop right in front of it. Jada told me later that this was a panel jump and it's just like a regular jump. ??? Guess Joni will show me what to do on that some other time! It was all over pretty quick - pretty much just a blur to me now, though. I Q'd and got first place! I had 31 points (only needed 19) in 34.48 seconds! It was the most points in my entire Level 1! And even better - this got me my very first agility title since I Q'd in Jumpers yesterday. So now I can add that "CL1-F" title behind my name! VERY COOL!

Now for Jada's Fullhouse and the rest of her day:

Jada: Fullhouse was kinda screwed up for us. I have no idea what I did on this...they screwed up the score here by mis-adding it so I'm not sure what I got. I did Q, though. But until Joni looks at the video I don't know how many points I really got. But the Q is all that matters, right?

Next up was Standard. This is my 3rd of the 8 I need for Level 4. I got 1st place in this one. It was also the start of a little friendly rivalry for time between me and a Sheltie named Kovu. As the weekend progressed we were always really close to each others times, so it was kinda fun to see who beat who each time.

1st: 39.75 (MINE!)
2nd: 40.57
3rd: 42.85
4th: 62.30

My time was the fastest in Level 4....and the 2nd fastest overall of Levels 4/5 that ran the same course. The fastest time was Kovu...at 35.35.

The course stats:
Course time: 70 seconds
Yards: 164
18 Obstacles
My time: 39.75
Yards per second: 4.126 (12.378 feet per second)
Obstacles per second: 0.453

Wildcard was next - finally in Level 4 in this! Got 2nd place in this one....

1st place: 21.32 (Kovu - sheltie)
2nd plae: 21.91 (MINE)
3rd place: 23.63
4th: 24.10

The 2 fastest times in Level 3-4-5-C were the 1st/2nd place times above.

Next up was Jackpot. Whew - not a Traditional Jackpot! Which meant we had a chance! Only needed 44 points for this....24 in the opening, 20 in the closing. We got 73 points adn 1st place! I was having so much fun collecting points! This was the highest score in the entire level 4 - and the 3rd highest off all levels.

1st highest: 76 points (Kovu / Sheltie)
2nd highest: 74 points (Charm / Rat Terrier)
3rd highest: 73 points - MINE

You'd think we'd be tired after two days of trials...but we were all pretty good so far, even Joni!


3rd Day - Saturday, January 2nd
Jada: We started off the day with Jackpot....groan.....a Traditional Jackpot. Which, of course, I blew entirely. All I had to do inside the line by myself was the tire, a tunnel (but it was on the other side of an easy jump C'mon!) and then the table. Sure....it sounds so easy seeing it in print, doesn't it! Joni tried to get me a few chances of practice by taking me over during the opening to make me do the tunnel rather than the jump. I took the jump the first time, and the tunnel the second time. But when it REALLY counted - during the Gamble - I opted to take the jump. I know....I heard Joni practically screaming "TUNNEL" to me over and over but I couldn't take my eyes off the jump - my eyes were just laser-locked onto it and no amount of screaming and yelling was going to make me stop! Big NQ here!

Ty's up next with his first Standard run.

Tyssen: Boy, I was raring to go this morning! I could hardly wait to get out there and tear that course up! I know I could beat Jada's times here! I could tell that Joni was getting a bit worried at the beginning....she kept her hand on my head before we started. I think she sensed that the millisecond she took her hand off my head I was OUTA THERE before she could even stand up straight..and she was right. Okay...so I was a bit too eager! I took off so fast I dropped the bar on the jump right in front of me - the opening obstacle. ARRRRGGGGHHH. I knew that was the stupidest thing to do, but it happened and there was no taking it back. I just had to run my little ass off and make up for it. I came really really close to missing a contact on the dog ramp, but it seems the judge thinks I got a toenail in. But I screwed up again. Joni did a front cross in front of the tunnel and I took my eyes off the next obstacle after the tunnel to watch her make this great blind front cross...and dropped the bar on that jump. One bar is okay but two will get me nothing but a big fat NQ. Oh, and I also decided to go check out the folks keeping score right next to the last obstacle. Just being polite - and it only took a couple of seconds! Probably not a good idea in retrospect.

Course time: 66 seconds
Yards: 128
15 Obstacles
Time:31.22 (3rd place)
Yards per second: 4.1 (12.3 feet per second)
Obstacles per second: 0.48


Jada: Okay...now it's time for my Standard course. We got 1st place in this with a time of 47.61.

1st place: 47.61 (MINE)
2nd: 52.06 (Tucker - wheaten terrier)
3rd: 53.34 (English springer spaniel)
4th: 57.42 (English springer spaniel)

We were the fastest of all Level 4 dogs and 2nd fastest of 4-5-C level. Naturally.....the fastest dog was Kovu with a time of 47.57 in Level 5. We were SO close - only 4/10 of a second slower!

Course time: 75 seconds
Yards: 164
20 Obstacles
My time: 47.61
Yards per second: 3.445 (10.335 feet per second - kinda slow!)
Obstacles per second: 0.42

Colors was next. We got 1st place in this one also. We weren't the fastest in the Level with our 16.05 time - the fastest was 15.67 (an Australian Shepherd), but we were right up there with the fastest in Level 3-4-5C
1st fastest: 15.67 (Aussie - Level 4)
2nd fastest: 16.03 (Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrieiver - Level 5)
3rd fastest: 16.05 (MINE! Level 4)
4th fastest: 16.07 (Smooth Fox Terrier - Level 3)
5th fastest: 16.2 (Charm - Rat Terrier - Level 3)

I think the 7th fastest was Kovu, my speed demon nemesis, with a time of 16.59. We won that one!

Jumpers was the last course of the day.....this long long long day.....I got this one with a 1st place and was the fastest dog in Level 3-4-5-C.

1st place: 27.24 (MINE
2nd: 28.96 (Kovu - sheltie)
3rd: 30.32
4th: 31.62

My stats were also way up in this one:
Course time: 48 Seconds
Yards: 148
18 Obstacles
My time: 27.24
Yards per second: 5.433 (almost 16.3 feet per second!)
Obstacles per second: 0.661


Sunday, January 3rd
Jada: The last day of the trial. I was getting a bit tired on the 4th day, but still was eager to run! Joni still seemed pretty peppy also, must to my astonishment. I thought she'd be dragging her ass by yesterday afternoon, but she's hanging in there. She's actually getting the least amount of sleep of all of us, but that's her decision....

First up was Jumpers again - my 4th leg out of 5 for Level 5. Maybe I am more tired than I thought, since I got a fault and was a bit slower this morning than yesterday's Jumpers. I got 5th place on this one, but mostly because I dropped a bar - again! Not sure why I'm doing this suddenly. This is my 2nd dropped bar this trial. I still had an okay time....was the 4th fastest time overall of Levels 3-4-5-C, but that 5 point fault cost me what would have been 2nd place. My time was 27.7.....
All levels fastest:
1st - 24.41 (Border Collie)
2nd: 27.15 (English Springer Spaniel)
3rd: 27.60
4th: 27.7 (MINE)
5th: 27.87

Course time: 38 Seconds
Yards: 132
18 Obstacles
My Time: 27.7 seconds
Yards per second: 4.76 (14.3 feet per second)
Obstacles per second: 0.65

Standard was next....got 1st place in that with a time of 40.02. Kovu beat me by a little bit time-wise on that with a time of 39.36, but another sheltie (Abby Steele) beat all the times with a 37.56. Smokin' fast!
Course time: 74 Seconds
Yards: 177
19 Obstacles
My Time: 40.02 seconds
Yards per second: 4.423 (13..27 feet per second)
Obstacles per second: 0.475


Tyssen: I was determined to not make the same mistakes today as I did yesterday! I promised to pay attention and look very closely at ALL the obstacles on the course! And it worked! I got 1st place in my Standard run and NO FAULTS! Too bad I blew it yesterday or I would have had my Standard title also..but I'll get that next trial! I did pass up one jump accidently, but Joni got me back and I picked it up without losing too much time. This is SOOOO much fun! I can't wait till the next trial!

Overall, I had the fastest time in all of Level 1. They say it was a tough course. Only 4 Q'd out of 11 running it in Level 1.

Course time: 70 Seconds
Yards: 140
15 Obstacles
My Time: 36.03 seconds
Yards per second: 3.886 (11.658 feet per second)
Obstacles per second: 0.416

Guess I'm done for the weekend.

Jada: On to Colors next. I thought we were flying thru this, but we were only flying fast enough for a 4th place. But I Q'd and that was my last Level 4 colors leg.
1st: 14.86
2nd: 15.07
3rd: 15.5
4th: 16.05 (MINE)

Kovu really beat me on this one with a time of 14.5 - the fastest of all the dogs running.

Course time: 32 Seconds
Yards: 79
10 Obstacles
My Time: 16.05 seconds
Yards per second: 4.922 (14.76 feet per second)
Obstacles per second: 0.623

This was fun to watch.....Joni ran another dog in Level 2 Colors - a Sheltie named Keegan. Now he is LIGHTNING FAST!
Keegan ran this 76 yard/10 obstacle Colors course with a course time of 38 seconds in.....9.92 seconds for a 1st place win (no faults). That comes to 7.661 yards per second - or 23 FEET PER SECOND! He sure was fun to watch!

Last course of the trial - Snooker. Seems kinda cruel to put such a tough thinking game as the 16 course of a long trial, doesn't it?

Joni really struggled with planning this course. She had some goofy course in her head that she admits she hated, but she couldn't think of another course to do. So she walked this one...and walked and walked and walked it. Then they started running it and she saw a better course people were running and she almost changed our minds. But the last time she changed the course we really blew it. So she want back to our planned course. But seconds before we walked onto the course, she changed her mind and decided to run the course she'd seen others run - without having walked it at all. Uh oh.....this was making ME nervous! They always say NEVER DO THIS! But we did it - got three 7's in the opening and went on and finished the closing successfully. Damn, she makes me nervous sometimes! We got 2nd place on this....only from a time issue since we had the maximum amount of points you could get. Joni didn't stick around long enough to see how many seconds we got 2nd place by - doesn't really matter. We were all more interested in getting home and crashing!

So.....until our next trial - just lots of classes and fun! Our next trial is March 6-7 and then April 24-25. Then 2 weeks after that we have an AKC trial on May 8-9. Not sure what we're doing after that......

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!