Jeff got his cracked tooth repaired today. We figured out that he probably got his tooth cracked when he was practicing overs with Tooney quite a few months back. She jumped and collided with his face and the side the cracked tooth is on is the side that she hit. Now we think that was probably when she cracked her tooth that was pulled in December. So basically after that incident Jeff had decided not to do overs with her anymore.

Went to an USDAA trial this weekend. This one is relatively close (30 minutes away) compared to most of them (90 minutes away + traffic in the afternoon). It was nice to be able to get up at a more reasonable hour. Still haven’t managed to get Enzo any more Q’s for nationals, unfortunately. His contacts were decent he stoped on about half of his aframes for the weekend and only leapt one. Still stopping short on all but one dogwalk. I think he does that because he thinks if he stops sooner then that means he can leave sooner. I try to make him come all the way down most of the time but sometimes I’m bad and sometimes he’s bad and self releases.

Saturday, Tooney ran first in P3 Standard. She had a good run but she was pretty amped up and left the table when the judge said go. Then Enzo ran in Starters Standard. His contacts were kind of eh, fast and almost maintained criteria but not quite. His dogwalk he hestitated in the spot where’s he’s been stopping early and then took off and for his aframe he had nice striding down into the yellow but didn’t actually stop. On the table he laid down right way but he got up halfway through the count and wanted to jump off the table. It took several seconds and some body blocking but I eventually got him back down. So we managed to Q that run and that finished his Starters Standard title so now he can move up to Advanced in Standard.

Next was PNS/GP. In Tooney’s PNS run, she leapt over the dogwalk contact and then I pushed her off of a jump when I wanted to rear cross. It was a tricky spot where they were coming down with a lot of speed and there was a tunnel ahead but they had to turn 180 to the teeter. You had to pull a little to the jump and then rear cross. I think I got in her path a little. I probably should have tried a front cross there but there wasn’t much of a curve so I wasn’t sure about getting there in time and then I was afraid of flinging them over the next jump even if I did get there. Unfortunatly I made the same mistake in Enzo’s run, even though I did better at staying out of his space I was still putting too much pressure on. At least he had already knocked a bar before that or I would have really been mad at myself for making the same mistake twice. It still kind of annoys me though.

Then we ran in relay. Tooney missed her dogwalk contact but did well otherwise. Tooney’s partner decided he didn’t want to go up the teeter so no Q there. Enzo’s relay partner was Sam a big Golden with an awesome attitude and Enzo’s puppy class classmate. Enzo knocked a bar but we still ended up with first place.

Next was Enzo’s Starters Snookers run where he knocked the first bar and then took the next obstacle since I led out kind of far so we got whistled off right away. I need to have a contingency plan for that situation or my brain doesn’t react fast enough.

Then Tooney ran in P3 snookers and got 53 points for 3rd place and a super Q. That was her 3rd Super Q in Performance and I think that finished her PK3.

Then we ran PSJ/Steeplechase. The opening of the course was one where you’d really like to have a 3 jump lead out but I knew that neither of my dogs would stay. It was 3 jumps very slightly offset to a 90 degree turn to the weaves and there was a straight tunnel parallel to the weaves about 10-15 ft back. With Tooney, I tried running on the right side of the jumps and rear crossed the third jump but she just went right into the tunnel. With Enzo I led out on the other side hoping to at least get far enough out to do a moving front cross before the weaves. I couldn’t get there for that so I RFP’d before the last jump but I did that a little late and he knocked the bar but did get the weaves instead of the tunnel. Unfortunately, he knocked another bar so we didn’t Q. This time he would have made the cutoff with only one bar. He really doesn’t knock a lot of bars in practice but we seem to be getting a lot in competitions.

Sunday, Tooney actually Q’d in 3 out of 4 runs. She didn’t get gamblers but she placed 2nd in Snookers, 2nd in standard and 3rd in jumpers.

Enzo got his first Advanced Gamblers Q. the gamble was Aframe turn away into the tunnel under the aframe and then 2 jumps out. Enzo did it perfectly, he stopped at the bottom of the aframe and I said left tunnel and pointed towards the tunnel and he turned his head and went right in. I don’t really use directionals normally but he does know left and right turns on the ground. Don’t know if the drectional helped or if he just followed my body language.

We ran Starters Standard for fun since he already got his title the day before. It was good that we didn’t need this one because he leapt over the aframe contact. he did one stride over the top and leapt. I marked it and stopped him this time. His dogwalk ended up being really awesome this time, he ran all the way to the bottom.

Enzo needed the Starters Jumpers Q to get his AD and move up in everything but unfortunately he knocked two bars. Really fast time and decent turns though, second fastest time and only 0.1 seconds behind the fastest time and 6.2 yds/s.

Overall, not a very successful weekend, as I only got 1 Q out of 8 runs between the two dogs but at least Enzo got his 10th Excellent B Standard Q for his MX title. Tooney was having weave entry problems all weekend except for her last run where she took the wrong end of a tunnel. I’m going to have to do a little weave refresher training with her. Other than that she was running pretty good.

Enzo’s standard run on Saturday had an off course. I made a poor handing choice. It was table jump teeter in a pinwheel shape with the aframe about 10-15ft from the teeter. I did a front cross between the jump and teeter and Enzo ran behind me and took the aframe. Since I can’t lead out at the table I probably should have pulled to the teeter and front crossed at the end. In JWW, he got the wrong end of the tunnel. I didn’t get his head in time. Sunday’s standard Enzo ran clean and actually stuck his aframe contact! woohoo! Still a little sticky on the dogwalk stopping just short of the ground. Table was good both days. In JWW, he knocked the first bar and also missed the weave entrance, he bounced off the poles somehow but I was pushing him and got a little ahead of the weaves before he got there.

2 days of USDAA next weekend. Hopefully we will have a better Q rate!

Saturday I went to the USDAA trial in Fillmore. I had entered 12 runs for this day! Didn’t really think about how many that was until after I entered. Of course I probably would have done it anyways. Started out the day running Tooney in P3 Gamblers. She came really close to getting it but ran by the teeter. She was right there but didn’t take it. She avoided the teeter once at our last fun match so don’t know if there is something going on there or it was just the distance this time.

Next Enzo ran in Starters Gamblers and Q’d in that. Worked his contacts some. He ran off the first aframe and then stopped on the ground on the second aframe, then on the dogwalk he stopped just short of the ground so I took the time to make him come all the way down and then the buzzer went off. He got the gamble so that was his 3rd starters gamblers Q and he can move up to advanced in that now.

Tooney did really well in the Performace National Standard. I had a couple close calls that we managed to save which made it pretty exciting and she ended up with 3rd place. Then Enzo ran in the Grand Prix which didn’t really go that well. There was a 180 turn away from me after the dogwalk so I front crossed the end of the dogwalk and that pulled enzo in too tight and he ran past the next jump. I didn’t really step in to send him so that was my fault. Then the jump after the tunnel I sent him over and ran to get a front cross in further down the line. That launched him over the jump so far that he actually went out of the ring and back just barely getting the next jump. The the closing line had another one of those run like heck straight lines which went aframe chute and then 3 jumps. Since I can’t really leave him on the aframe yet that put me behind and he ended up pulling in to the offcourse teeter. He did actually stop on the aframe this time though!

Next, Enzo ran in Starters Standard and Q’d. He was a little sticky on the table and the end of the dogwalk again and didn’t stop on his aframe but other than that he did good.

Then Tooney ran in P3 standard and missed the weave entry and also bypassed the teeter again towards the end of the run. She flew by it and took the next jump which was pretty far away.

Next was Performance Speed Jumping for Tooney which she just rocked! I wish I had video of that run. She got first in that and she actually beat a lot of really fast Border collies in that class. Of course the running aframe helps a lot. Too bad that wasn’t in round 2 where we can get money!

Enzo also had a nice fast steeplechase run but he hit the broad jump. I think I started decelerating before he cleared it. He should be able to handle that but we need to train more on it. Unfortunatly the 5 faults put us out of Q range by about 1 second. The first place dog was 3 seconds faster than everyone else and that kind of wrecked the curve!

Next I ran Tooney in P3 snookers. I planned a pretty conservative course since I was tired and didn’t want to run too much, a 7 and two 5’s. She knocked the bar in the number 7 combo in the opening but so ended up with 40 points for a Q. She did the teeter twice in this run so maybe the run bys were just flukes. I don’t think she’s ever had teeter issues since she was ready to start competing.

I also planned a conservative course for Enzo in starters snookers a 3, 7 and 5. He really flew through the whole thing and the only mistake was missing the weave entry in the closing but that is ok in starters. It was starting to get dark at this point.

I ran Tooney is P3 jumpers right after that. She started out really well but went off course towards the end. After that I decided to skip starters jumpers with Enzo because it was going to be really late and completly dark by the time they got to that. They hadn’t even started walking advanced jumpers at that point.

So Tooney is Q’d for USDAA nationals in PSJ and PNS now and just needs a team Q. Enzo still needs 2 Grand Prixs and 1 steeplechase. Enzo just needs one more Starters Standard and one Starters Jumpers before he can move to advanced.

The AKC trial on Sunday felt like a very easy day after all that! Tooney ran in JWW first and ran clean and placed 2nd. Enzo had a really fast JWW run (5.9 yds/s) that was 2 seconds faster than Tooney’s time even jumping 20″ vs 16″. He had one wide turn and unfortunately he also knocked a bar so didn’t Q. His time was good enough for 3rd. He was about 2 seconds slower than 1st place and 1 second slower than the 2nd place dog. Both are super fast BC’s. I hope that one day I can get him up to that level but we’ll see.

In standard Tooney missed her weave entry. I forget that she need just a tad more help than Enzo sometimes. Enzo knocked the second jump in standard. I should’ve led out past the second jump and then that might have helped. We’d been doing so many long lead outs that I wanted to give him a break since I didn’t really need it to keep up in this case. Then when we got to the table, he laid down fairly quickly for him but when she got to the count of 3, he just jumped off the table. Then when I tried to get him to go back on, he started barking at me and wouldn’t stop. I had yell at him hey! stop it! before he would settle and get back on the table. I had to resist laughing because it’s really kind of funny but I don’t want to encourage it for sure!

I ran Enzo in a one day ASCA trial on Sunday. This was after running in a Show and Go on Saturday to really work contacts. The ASCA trial had one round of Gamblers and 3 rounds of Regular AKA Standard in almost every other venue. Enzo is in Open for everything in ASCA. ASCA is not really my priority but I’m doing it since his breeders are big on ASCA. The courses are definitely a big change from AKC and USDAA.

We ran Gamblers first and even though he made up his own course in some parts of the opening we got the Gamble and a Q plus first place. The Gamble was a send to a tunnel and then teeter about 7 ft or so from the line and then a jump straight ahead of the teeter. No problem for Enzo. He also had good contacts in this run since it was the first of the day and we had just done the Show and Go.

Next was Open Regular Round 1. My brain was like one obstacle behind Enzo on this course. I was not very mentally sharp that whole day. The opening was really fast and I really needed to run hard to get the tunnel instead of the aframe but I forgot where we were going for a split second and by the time I recovered Enzo was on the aframe. Then out of the tunnel Enzo didn’t know where he was going because I was behind and he stopped and barked at me. Since he jumped off the aframe I took the opportunity to train in the ring since we already NQ’d. After the aframe I forgot where we were going again for another split second. I took a half step to the right and Enzo read rear cross and shot off to the right after the jump. I can barely even see that I did that in the video but I know I did it and so did Enzo! His dogwalk contact wasn’t great as he stopped short and I had to wait him out but he did eventually come down into 2on/2off.

Open Regular Round 1:

In the second round, I chickened out on the front cross before the aframe tunnel discrimination. I walked a front cross but his speed coming at me scared me so I wimped out and tried pulling instead. Normally he will take the obstacle closest to me without too much effort but since he blew off his aframe contacts at the last USDAA trial we went to we’ve been practicing and rewarding aframes a lot. I messed up the second aframe tunnel discrimination too. I was doing the “HB” or “hide breast” as Nancy Gyes calls it. LOL. I just brought my arm up without acutually turning my shoulders enough for the RFP. He at least stopped on his first aframe but it was a little creepy.

Open Regular Round 2:

Round 3 was a much easier course. I was relieved to see that there were no more discriminations! Enzo did jump off the aframe early and almost flipped into the tunnel on his own. I had to yell “hey!” to keep him from going into the tunnel. That’s why we got the spin after the aframe. He has a tendency to do that sometimes. The Judge got in my way a little bit in that loop after the aframe but I still made it for my front cross after the tunnel. Enzo got first in this round and did it in 5.06 yds/sec and I think this run he was actually a little slower than in the other two regular rounds.

Open Regular Round 3:

Next weekend will be one day of USDAA and one day of AKC. First frisbee competition of the year will be March 21.

Went to one day of a USDAA on Saturday. I was hoping to get some tournament Q’s but that didn’t happen. I don’t think I was quite mentally focused on agility. Tooney missed her weave entrance in P3 standard and didn’t get the gamble in P3 gamblers. She got the first 4 obstacles but didn’t get the last jump. In PNS, her only fault was a missed dogwalk contact. In PSJ she went off course. I took one step too far. Didn’t see the potential off course to the broad jump.

Enzo Q’d in starters gamblers. His second q in that. He ran his dogwalk and aframe contacts even when I had him do the dogwalk twice. He got his first Q in starters standard. His contacts managed to hold together long enough for that. In the Grand Prix, he knocked the first bar and then the rest of the run was kind of a mess. He missed a weave pole when I ran ahead to front cross, missed his aframe contact, and then I couldn’t get him out to the jump after the chute. There was an impossible long run down the entire length of the field and I just could not get there in time. He ended up barking at me and running past the jump. I think that was the first time that I really needed a directional, either right or out. His Steeplechase run was better but he ended leaping over both his aframe contacts and knocked a bar. I’m glad I don’t have any trials coming up for a few weeks so we can do some reminder training.

Went to an AKC trial this weekend. Enzo was jumping 20″ to get him more practice at the higher height. He seems to be gaining more confidence at 20″ since the last trial. It’s kind of nice having my two dogs in different divisions since I get an extra walkthrough between my two! Gives me some time to think about what did or didn’t work.

My first run was Tooney’s JWW. She broke her start and knocked the first bar but the rest of the run was good. Enzo had a few wide turns but he was clean and ended up getting first! Next was standard. Tooney was having a good run but went over an off course jump when she was supposed to turn to the table. When I ran Enzo I made sure to talk to him before the took that jump before the table. Enzo had a nice run in STD and even sat on the table instantly but I pulled him off the jump after the weaves. I was moving away ahead and laterally to get ahead for a front cross later on and he just came right to me and right by the jump. I guess a “go over” would have helped. I just took the jump for granted since it was straight ahead. He did stop nicely on his contacts though.

In Sunday’s JWW, Tooney broke her stay and then I was late on a front cross and she ran behind me to take an off course jump. She’s really difficult to call off of something once she’s locked on. Enzo held his stay but I was still a little late on the same front cross and he knocked the bar so maybe a rear cross would have been better! I’m working on handling more aggressively so it will take me a little while to figure it out. I couldn’t quite get there in time to show deceleration before he took off so he jumped long and straight and then saw me turning which caused to bar to come down.

In standard both dogs did really well. Tooney leapt from the dogwalk a little high but didn’t get called for it and she ended up getting first in 16″. It’s a problem when I don’t keep running straight with her on the dogwalk. Enzo also did really well. He spaced out a little on the table and wouldn’t make eye contact but he sat after a couple seconds. He still managed to get first in 20″ though. His time was a couple seconds behind Tooney’s because of the table. Unlike Saturday, he ran all of his contacts this time.