Days 5 & 6 - ASCA Nationals

I've had some technical difficulties the past couple of days so I haven't been able to keep up - I think I've got it worked out now though! So here goes the past couple of days:

Wednesday
I showed Kaylie in obedience first. She did a pretty good job, but didn't qualify. They ended up moving the obedience to a different building - this building smelled bad (it was called the Livestock building - I'm guessing they put cows and other farm animals in there for various events). And it was loud and everything echoed. Our ring was right next to the Open ring where they were throwing dumbells. The dumbells definitely caught Kaylie's attention, so she wasn't focused 100% on me. Her signals were good, she got both of the correct scent articles, she got the right glove, but on the moving stand, she didn't stay - she kept walking with me. That ended it. Bummer! And then the go-outs were non-existent. She ran to the jump closest to the Open ring, barking the whole way - I thought for sure she was going to jump the baby gates to go get the dumbells! Crazy girl. Oh well - there's always next time!

Next came our Brace obedience with both Kaylie and Conor. Brace is when both dogs are connected by a coupler and you do the Novice exercises. They actually did pretty good, although we had a couple of no sits on our halts. But overall it was a good performance and we ended up placing 3rd.

Next came our Team obedience. What a crack up!! Team obedience consists of 4 people with their dogs. Again we perform the Novice exercises. The only difference is for the recall, we have to drop our dogs in the middle of the ring. First one person calls their dog, tells them to down, and then it goes down the line, meanwhile the first dogs have to stay in the down position. The perfect performance would have all the dogs lined up in the down position in the middle of the ring. Of course that didn't happen with us, but we did pretty good. The twist we threw in this year was that we all dressed up as sheep. We each made our own sheep costumes. Boy were we ever the hit of the show!! We were like movie stars - everyone wanted to take pictures of us. We ended up placing 3rd.

Conor also did agility today. Today was just the Open Jumpers runs. He placed 1st in his first Jumpers run, but NQ'd on the second run. He was a little crazy and I had to really work to keep him on course. He ended up 1.13 seconds over course time. BUMMER! So close. But his first run was absolutely beautiful!

Thursday
Thursday I just had agility. I had both dogs in Open Standard and Kaylie was in Elite Jumpers. I'm very proud to say that we qualified in all of our runs! I can't remember the last time I've Q'd in everything. Kaylie got 1st place in her first Standard run and then 2nd Place in her second Standard run. Conor got 5th place in his first Standard run and 3rd place in his second Standard run. Kaylie qualified in both of her Elite Jumpers runs, and placed 13th in the first run and 17th in the second run. This is still pretty good because there are well over 100 dogs in this class. And that also finished her Elite Jumpers title. Wooo hooo!!

We have just one more day to go. I'm hoping the weather is better for Friday. Thursday it was EXTREMELY cold and EXTREMELY windy. I'm guessing the highs were in the 40's. NOT good for this Phoenix girl!

Day 4 - ASCA Nationals

What a LONG day but wonderful day! Today was the Obedience Finals with Conor. He did very well for a young dog. I found out that most of the dogs he was competing against were much older and more seasoned. Guess some people just keep their dogs at the Novice level to keep competing in the Finals! The top 5 dogs had scores in the 198-200 range - there was no way I could compete with that with Conor, so I was very pleased that we ended up at #7. His second run didn't go quite as well - he stopped to scratch on the Figure 8, and then he had a couple of crooked sits. NOT good things at the Finals. It was interesting on our first run - as I entered the ring, the judge asked if she could pet Conor. No judge has ever asked me that before, so it kind of took me by surprise. She didn't do that with any other dog. Later on in the day when I took pictures with the judge, that judge told me she absolutely loved Conor and thought he was just the cutest thing. She really loved up on him while we were trying to set up for pictures. Conor got a real nice ribbon - I think it's as big as Kaylie's Premier ribbon. COOL!! I've been trying to upload pictures for the blog, but for some reason every time I do, I lose my connection. I'll post pictures later. I'm leaving the hotel Wednesday to stay at a friend of a friend's house - hopefully I'll be able to get a better connection.

Today was also the Finals for conformation. Kaylie's brother Ziggy placed 10th in Altered Conformation and Conor's brother Jackson placed 6th in Intact Conformation. Our friend Laura's dog Princess placed 10th in Intact Conformation, Conor's other brother Oz was also in the Finals, but didn't place. It was an honor for him to just be there though. It was definitely a great day for the Arizona dogs! It was all very exciting - everyone was just in tears!

Tomorrow will be more agility, team obedience, brace obedience and then Kaylie will be doing regular obedience. I'm crossing my fingers for two good go-outs!

Day 3 - ASCA Nationals

Today was just Kaylie's day -- obedience and conformation. First was our obedience run. She did absolutely fantastic. Her signals were perfect, she got both correct scent articles, her stand for exam was perfect, but then she got the wrong glove on the directed retrieve - bummer! We even had glove #1, which is probably the easiest to get. For whatever reason, she retrieved glove #2. Oh well. Then came the go-outs. She actually did the first go out!!!!! I about broke into tears. She then took the correct jump and did a perfect front and finish -- woo hoo!! What a girl. But of course, the second go-out didn't go as well. She didn't go out on the first command, so I sent her out again - she decided to play agility and started barking, jumped the bar jump and just had a great time. Goofy girl. It was a great run though. Then came the conformation. She flew around that ring, stacked like a pro and acted like she'd been in the breed ring all her life. I couldn't believe it when the judge pulled us for the first cut. We got to run around the ring a few more times, and she didn't miss a beat. The judge then made her Best of Breed, Best Opposite and Best of Winners choices, and at that point it was a little confusing. Some people started leaving the ring, but then a friend told me to stay in because we had won a Premier award. I was so psyched!!! We got a beautiful ribbon, which is really all I wanted!

Day 2 - ASCA Nationals

Today went much better than yesterday. Yay!! Here's how it went:

Kaylie:
Open Standard 1 - Q and 1st Place
Open Standard 2 - Q and 1st Place
Open Gamblers 1 - NQ
Open Gamblers 2 - Q and 6th Place
Open Jumpers 1 - NQ (I tripped and almost fell - made her take a wrong jump)
Open Jumpers 2 - NQ (I got totally lost but ran a fabulous course - the judge really liked it and said he may use it next time!)

Conor:
Novice Standard 1 - Q and 4th Place
Novice Standard 2 - Q and 2nd Place
Novice Gamblers 1 - Q and 7th Place
Novice Gamblers 2 - Q and 6th Place
Novice Jumpers 1 - NQ
Novice Jumpers 2 - NQ (I again tripped and he ended up dropping a bar)

I was very pleased with how well we all did today, despite my tripping or getting lost! Kaylie ended up finishing her Open Standard title and Open Gamblers title and Conor finished his Novice Standard title and Novice Gamblers title.

Tomorrow I'm just doing obedience and conformation with Kaylie, so it should be a much quieter day. Conor gets the day off to rest for his big Finals day on Tuesday.

Day 1 - ASCA Nationals

It was a very long and actually pretty warm day, so this will be short (I'm exhausted!!). Although Kaylie had great runs, she didn't qualify in anything today. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day! Conor qualified in 3 of his 6 runs. He Q'd and got 1st place in one of his Jumpers runs, and Q'd and got 1st place in one of his Gamblers runs, finishing his Novice Gamblers title. Yay!! He also qualified in one of his Standard runs, but didn't place.

Tomorrow is starting even earlier than today. Hopefully this means we'll get done sooner.

We Made it to Colorado

We left for Colorado on Thursday. We stopped off in Albuquerque to spend the night. Look what was right outside my door! I've never had a Denny's right outside my door before!Despite being very tempted to have my traditional country fried steak for dinner, I decided to order the tilapia with a lemon cream sauce. Country fried steak is best after a day of agility afterall.

We left Albuquerque this morning and headed north to Greeley. We were making very good time until we hit Denver at rush hour. Yuck! I thought Phoenix rush hour was bad. I will try to never complain again about our traffic! We stopped first at Island Grove to set up my tent and get all checked in. Then we headed to our home for the week. Of course, Kaylie & Conor have made themselves very comfortable.

Off to bed - gotta get rested for the beginning of a very busy week!

The Big Day is Getting Closer!

It's been a crazy few months! I've been working basically full time lately, so trying to keep up with things has been difficult. But I've made it a priority to still work the dogs every Tuesday night, plus most Saturday mornings to practice for Team Obedience. I think we are indeed ready! A few weeks ago I attended a Show-N-Go with Kaylie to see how we were coming along in Utility. I was VERY excited because it was the first time ever that we did a whole run through clean - if it had been a real trial, we would have qualified! YAY!!! So I'm very hopeful that it will go as well at the Nationals.

Over Labor Day weekend, I drove up to Prescott for an ASCA conformation show to get some practice doing conformation. It's been a while since I've done any conformation with Kaylie. She showed beautifully at the first show, and that's all I could ask for. Just before the first show ended, it started raining. By the end of the first show, it was REALLY raining. Here's what it looked like.

It rained like this for about 30 minutes. I was actually in the ring with a friend's dog when the rain started. My tent ended up being destroyed, and poor Kaylie was getting drenched. The judge finally made her Best of Breed pick, I dropped off the dog I was handling to her owner, and I made a beeline to get Kaylie out of the pouring rain. She was absolutely drenched. I grabbed as much of my stuff as I could and ran to my van where Kaylie and I sat for what seemed like forever. It was freezing and miserable. The rain finally slowed down a bit, so they did hold the second show. Kaylie didn't show quite as well at this show - she was wet and frisky so when she ran around the ring she was more bouncing around - just having fun. Oh well. Shortly after that, we left Prescott to head on down to Tucson for an agility trial. I wanted to get some competition agility runs in before I left for Nationals, so the timing of this trial worked out perfectly. And of course, the rain followed me from up north to down south. Yes, we had MORE rain at the agility trial. Luckily the agility was under a covered arena, so it didn't really affect us too much.

The dogs did much better than I expected at this trial, as we hadn't really done much agility over the summer. Kaylie got 1st in Elite Jumpers and 3rd in one of her Elite Standard runs. She missed a contact on her other Standard run. Conor got 1st in Novice Jumpers, missed in contact in his first Standard run and then took the A-frame instead of a tunnel. Most dogs would take the tunnel in a discrimination set up like that, but not Conor - he LOVES the A-frame. At least he hit is contact. :)

I think we're ready for Nationals now. Check back for Nationals updates.

We Did It!!! We Did It!!!! We Did It!!!!!

I just found out that Conor made it into the Obedience Finals at the ASCA Nationals!!!! I got the e-mail and had to read it over, and over, and over, and over! I looked at every single letter to make sure I saw this: Vickie,
You and your dog did make it in. Congrats and see you in CO! There is not a "not" in that first sentance, and there is a "Congrats" in the second sentance!!!!! YAY!!!!! I've been wanting this since I made the decision to accomplish this goal since January. All the practicing and praying paid off. This goes to show if you want something bad enough and go for it with all your heart, you can accomplish anything. Now I have to wait for the end of September. But at least this will be a fun wait - not the waiting for the unknown I've been doing since our last trial back in May. Colorado watch out - here we come!

Happy 4th of July!

The Wonderdogs wish everyone a wonderful 4th of July. Aren't they just precious as they pose for this patriotic photo?!

Disappointed but Still Hopeful!

The rankings came out for the ASCA obedience standings, and Conor finished #13, which actually is very good, and I'm so proud of how well he did. But only the top 10 get invited to Finals. Conor is now an alternate, so now the only way we can get into the Finals is if 3 other dogs can't make it. Sooooooo, since I am the Queen of Optimism, I do truly believe there is still a chance we can make it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!!! I believe I will find out by July 15 if we're a go or not. So everyone -- cross your fingers and toes and pray that we get into that #10 position!!

New Bronze Merit of Excellence ("MEX")

I accomplished another goal of mine a month early -- getting Kaylie's Bronze MEX!!!!! To finish this title, all I needed were three more Gamble legs (in DOCNA, there are two different types of gambles - Traditional and Strategic Time Gambles, and you can get any combination to complete the requirements). At the trial this weekend, three Gamble runs were offered - one Traditional Gamble and two Strategic Time Gamble. Kaylie sucks at the Traditional Gambles, so I didn't even enter her. My plan was to get the two Strategic Time Gambles this weekend, and then enter the trial in June to get that third Gamble leg and finish there. Jim Mills, our judge, decided to throw in two more Standard runs and a Gamble run, because we were actually finishing up the trial "early" (it was close to 7 p.m.). One other gal had hoped to finish her regular MEX with one of her dogs and her Gold MEX with her other, but she didn't get the two Standard legs she needed. I'm sure this is why he decided to do the extra Standard runs too. But we weren't going to complain!!! I think it makes him so proud to see his students accomplish their goals. So if he wanted to throw in some extra runs for us, cool!! Here is me and Kaylie with our friends who also got MEX's last night.

DOCNA Championships - Here We Come!!

Yay!! I finally got one of my goals for the summer completed -- getting Conor qualified for the DOCNA Championships. We had a trial this morning where we got two chances to qualify. Our first round was going fantastic until the second to last obstacle. We had a 12-set of weave poles then the finishing jump. Just before the end of the weaves, Conor popped out and then flew over the jump before I could get him back to re-try the weaves. BUMMER!!! I didn't realize we would get a second chance today, as I was also signed up for tomorrow. But instead of having to come back tomorrow, we were given the chance to just do it today. A new course was set with new challenges. This course had a couple of tunnel/A-frame discrimination challenges, and after our last trial in Pinetop, I was a little concerned he'd fly into the tunnel again. But he was a good little man this time and his only mistake this time was a knocked bar. YAY!!! So now he gets to go to his first Championships. I MUST work on my sprinting skills this summer so I can keep up with that little silver bullet.

Now All I Can Do is Sit and Wait . . .

I'm not very good at waiting, so this is going to be a LONG 2 months. Ugh. I competed at our last ASCA obedience trial this past weekend, and my Conor didn't let me down. First I have to mention that this was a very competitive Novice B group this weekend, as everyone did really well. Conor was the first dog in the group, so I had a very long wait to find out how we actually did. The group finally finished up by around 9:45 p.m. with all but one dog qualifying (a little Dachshund just couldn't handle the sits & downs). As we all headed back into the ring to get our ribbons, I had to keep reminding myself that it's the score, not the placement, that matters. All I wanted was something over 195, which I felt we had. But as the judge called out dog #8 for 1st Place, I was SHOCKED!!! That was my little Conor!! Woooo hooooo!!! And even better was our score of 196! YAY!!!! We finally broke that 193 streak. I don't really remember much more after that, as I had been in an obedience seminar all day long, and right after that I headed straight to the trial. I didn't even have a chance to have dinner, so not only was I tired, I was extremely hungry. Then came time to award the other special awards. My friend Leslie finally finished her UDX, and once again got High in Trial, High Combined and High Score - Other Breed. Then Conor was called into the ring for winning High Score - Australian Shepherd. YAY!!! Kaylie also did very well Saturday night in Utility. She had completed every exercise - up until the directed jumping. As we got set up to do the go out, a huge bird landed just outside the ring. Kaylie's eyes just lit up and were as huge as baseballs. Kaylie loves to chase birds. Many times on our walks around the neighborhood, we'll come across a huge flock of birds eating bird seed that someone leaves on the sidewalk. I always take her off leash and let her go chase the birds. When I saw that bird, I thought this could either go really well, or go really bad. Of course, it went really bad. On the first go-out, she ran half way down the ring, turned around to look at me and then took the high jump. BUMMER!!! As we got set up for the next go-out, I figured I had nothing to lose, so I was telling her to go get the bird. She was so excited when I told her to go, she just bounded out there, took the jump on the way out and was bouncing and barking all around the ring, looking at the bird - I actually thought she was going to jump over the baby gates to go get the bird. Luckily she didn't do that. I was laughing though, and the judge didn't quite understand why I could take things so lightly and wasn't more upset with not qualifying. I thought it was rather funny seeing my little clown girl just having a great time running and bouncing around an obedience ring. Obedience people are just too uptight.

Sunday night went well, but not quite as well. Conor had a couple of crooked sits and lagged a little on his figure 8, so once again we got our favorite score of 193. He ended up getting 2nd Place this time, but still won the High Score - Aussie award. Kaylie's Utility run didn't really go all that well though. She missed the sit signal, she got one of the wrong articles, she didn't go out on the first command to get the glove, and of course the go-outs just didn't happen. She still worked well though, despite making mistakes. I figure as long as she's having fun and not dragging like a lot of the Utility dogs, we're good. Even this judge commented on how well she works and is such a joy to watch because she does show with such enthusiasm. I'll take the mistakes Kaylie makes over a dog who begrudgingly does the exercises correctly.

Now I have to wait until July 15 to see if we made it into the Nationals Finals. I figure we did as well as we could do, so now it's in the paws of the other dogs around the country. One great thing though is I learned a ton of new stuff at an obedience seminar this past weekend, so I'll be using these new techniques all through the summer to improve on our skills, and to get Kaylie ready to compete in Utility and Conor ready for Open at the Nationals. And if Conor makes it into Finals, we'll be so ready to take on the competition with my new found knowledge.

Pinetop DOCNA Agility Trial

This past weekend we were up in beautiful Pinetop, AZ for a DOCNA agility trial. As always, we had a great time - some great runs, some not so great runs, and lots of laughs. I will probably remember this trial as the weekend Kaylie couldn't hit an A-frame contact to save her life! The only A-frame contact she hit was on her last run. Guess we have a new problem to work on. She did hit every dog walk contact though! One day we will get it all worked out where she hits every single contact on every single run!

Here is a recap of how Kaylie & Conor did this weekend:

Kaylie

Specialist Jumper 1 - Q - 4th Place
Specialist Jumper 2 - Q/2nd Place
Specialist Jumper 3 - NQ
Specialist Snakes N' Ladders - NQ
Specialist Standard 1 - NQ
Specialist Standard 2 - NQ
Specialist Standard 3 - NQ
Specialist Traditional Gamble - NQ
Specialist Strategic Time Gamble - Q - 1st Place
Specialist Trigility - NQ


Conor

Intern Jumper 1 - NQ
Intern Jumper 2 - Q - 1st Place
Intern Jumper 3 - NQ
Beginner Snakes N' Ladders - Q - 1st Place
Intern Standard 1 - NQ
Intern Standard 2 - Q - 1st Place
Intern Standard 3 - NQ
Specialist Traditional Gamble - NQ
Specialist Strategic Time Gamble - Q - 2nd Place
Intern North America Challenge - NQ
Intern Trigility - NQ

Conor finally finished his Beginner Snakes N' Ladders title in grand style with a 1st place, so I was happy with that. Perhaps the most exciting part of the trial was being able to compete with both Kaylie and Conor in the same level for the Gamble classes. Neither one qualified on Saturday in the Traditional Gamble class. The gamble was extremely difficult. It consisted of a jump to a curved tunnel to the weave poles then to a jump. Only 3 dogs in the whole class got the gamble - it was pretty tricky. But both Kaylie and Conor did qualify in the Strategic Time Gamble on Sunday, with Kaylie getting 1st place and then Conor getting 2nd place. Very cool! Sadly, Conor did not qualify in the North America Challenge though. He was doing so well until the very end where we had a dog walk/tunnel discrimination. He was supposed to take the dog walk, but he ended up taking the tunnel instead. The dog is just so fast - he was in that tunnel before I knew it, despite my many pre-cues to take the dog walk. Oh well. Luckily there is a mini trial next weekend where I will have two chances to get Conor qualified for the Championships. And then if it doesn't happen there, we'll go to Prescott and try there.

This weekend we will be shifting gears and doing an obedience trial. This will be Conor's last chance to get those elusive 195+ scores that I know he can get.

Arizona's First Ever ASCA Agility Trial

This weekend was Arizona's first ASCA-only agility trial. For a little history, there is an agility venue called NADAC. Way back in the day, NADAC and ASCA basically had the same rules and used the same types of equipment, so most clubs would hold dual sanctioned trials, where you could earn titles in both NADAC and ASCA. With these dual sanctioned trials though, the trials were held by the NADAC rules. Then NADAC started changing its rules and created different classes, and it basically became too difficult for ASCA to deal with, so the two agility organizations decided to go their separate ways. It worked out for ASCA exhibitors in some parts of the country where ASCA agility was firmly established, but here in Arizona, the club that held the dual sanctioned trials decided to just do NADAC trials. That basically left it up to our local Aussie club to hold ASCA agility trials. Unfortunately, most of the people in our Aussie club do not do agility, so there just hasn't been the support needed to hold a trial.

After a 4-year hiatus, the Northern Arizona Australian Shepherd Association (NAASA) and Top Dog Performance Club put together a fantastic ASCA agility trial up in Chino Valley, Arizona. I had such a great time - great friends, great courses, great dogs, and did I say great friends?? Man, if people don't get involved in agility to have fun with their dogs, they need to just do it for the camaraderie and hanging out with friends.

Kaylie and Conor did absolutely fantastic - I couldn't have asked for anything more from them. I'm sure though they would probably ask for a better handler -- especially Conor. Since I had never done an ASCA agility trial, I didn't realize how spread out courses typically are, which means you are RUNNING (or with Conor -- it means sprinting like an Olympian!) And then combine that with the higher altitude, I'm amazed I made it through the weekend without having a heart attack! After every run I felt like puking. I'm glad I didn't eat a whole lot, or I'm sure I would have.

Here is how the Wonder Dogs did this weekend. Kaylie was entered in Open Standard and Open Jumpers, because I had done a couple of the NADAC/ASCA trials where she finished her Novice titles before the ASCA/NADAC split.

Kaylie

Open Standard Round 1 Q = 1st Place
Open Standard Round 2 NQ
Open Standard Round 3 NQ
Open Standard Round 4 Q = 1st Place

Open Jumpers Round 1 Q = 1st Place
Open Jumpers Round 2 Q = 1st Place
Open Jumpers Round 3 NQ

Novice Gamblers Round 1 Q = 2nd Place
Novice Gamblers Round 2 Q = 7th Place

Open Gamblers Round 3 Q = 1st Place

Since the first two rounds of Gamblers were on Saturday, and Kaylie qualified in both runs, I moved her up to Open on Sunday. For a dog that’s not so great at distance, she was awesome in Gamblers this weekend, and qualified in all three rounds.

Conor

Novice Standard Round 1 NQ
Novice Standard Round 2 Q = 3rd Place
Novice Standard Round 3 Q = 2nd Place
Novice Standard Round 4 NQ

Novice Jumpers Round 1 Q = 2nd Place
Novice Jumpers Round 2 NQ
Novice Jumpers Round 3 Q = 3rd Place

Novice Gamblers Round 1 Q = 1st Place
Novice Gamblers Round 2 NQ
Novice Gamblers Round 3 NQ

I was so disappointed in Conor's Round 2 Gamblers run. We had racked up something like 50 points - the dog was on absolute fire. Then we got to the gamble portion. It started with the A-frame, and then had 3 off set jumps - it looked pretty easy. Unfortunately he missed the A-frame contact. I was really surprised, because he typically doesn't miss his contacts, but alas, it happened. Bummer. His Gamblers run on Sunday was almost as good - he was running like a maniac, racking up the points. The gamble on this run was basically just a serpentine - four jumps off set that they basically just zig-zag over - very easy. Unfortunately by the time we got to the gamble portion, I was so out of breath and not in the best position, so he missed the first jump. I tried to get him back over that first jump, but I just hit a wall - my legs wouldn't work, my brain wouldn't work, and my body wouldn't work. And he just stood there barking at me trying to get me to give him CLEAR directions. I just had to laugh - poor dog! He did finish his Novice Jumpers title though this weekend.

I'm so looking forward to the next ASCA agility trial. I've gotta start really working on sprinting so I can keep up with my Conor baby!

Oh So Close

Kaylie is getting closer and closer to pulling it all together to get that first UD leg. We had an obedience trial yesterday in the pouring rain, and Kaylie gave it her all (as she always does). We started off with the signal exercises -- her heeling was very nice, but then she missed the down signal. I'm guessing it was because of the rain in her eyes. Oh well. The rest of the run was awesome though. She got both correct scent articles, getting a 29 out of 30 on both of those, she got a 29 out of 30 on her directed retrieve, she got a 30 out of 30 on her stand for exam, and then came the directed jumping (the "go-outs"). The dreaded go-outs. We had been working really, really hard on these go-outs, so I was actually feeling pretty good about them. Unfortunately on her first go-out, she went to the jump stantion, turned and sat. Bummer. I then sent her out for her second go-out, and IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!!! She actually did it, and did it really, really nice. She went to the end of the ring, I told her to sit -- she turned and sat. The judge told me to send her over the high jump, and she did it! Wooo hooo! The judge then let me do one more go-out, just to see what would happen. How nice was that. Most judges would not allow that. So I sent her out again, and what do you know? She did a second beautiful go-out. YAY!!! So she got in two beautiful go-outs in a show!! It didn't matter that she didn't Q - it was a great run, and that's all that really matters. Next I showed Conor, trying to get a great score. He actually heeled beautifully. I was very, very pleased with the whole performance. There was a bump on the figure 8, and he did sit a little crooked on one of the sits, but other than that, it was really nice. I was a little surprised when we got our score, and again, it was only a 192.5. Hmmmm. This was WAY better than the other 192.5's we've gotten. Perhaps the rain had distorted my perception, and I was just happy to get out of the rain? I don't know. But amazingly, only 2 out of 12 Novice B dogs qualified, which is really unheard of in a Novice B class. Usually most of the dogs qualify. But Conor did get 1st Place, and ended up winning High Scoring Aussie. So that was pretty exciting. I did find out that one of our club members is going to hold two more obedience trials, so we now have two more chances. What a lucky gal I am! All of the obedience competitors hung out in their cars. We knew it was going to be a fairly short day, so it didn't make sense to set up our tents, and plus it was pretty cold. So this was my view for the morning -- a nice rainy window. And here are me, Conor and Kaylie, hanging out in the van. Luckily I had blankets and a scarf to wrap up in to keep warm. I knew there was a reason I keep all this extra stuff in my car - I just never know what kind of weather we're going to have.

Agility and More

We had another DOCNA agility trial last weekend. Kaylie again was entered in just a few runs, while I concentrated more on working on the teamwork between me and Conor. Conor actually ended up doing very well, and finished a couple more titles. And of course Ms. Kaylie had some great runs too.

Here are the results from that DOCNA trial:

Kaylie:

Standard #1 - 4th Place

Standard #2 - 4th Place

Gamblers - 5th Place

Conor:

Standard #1 - 1st Place -- Finished Beginner Standard title

Jumpers - 1st Place

Traditional Gamblers - 2nd Place

Strategic Timed Gamblers - 1st Place - Finished Intern Gamblers title

Trigility - 2nd Place - Finished Beginners Trigility title

Overall it was a very good trial, and Conor is doing great.

This weekend Kaylie & Conor are entered in an ASCA obedience trial. Kaylie will be in Utility and Conor has one more chance to get a great score in Novice to secure a spot in the Obedience Finals. We've been working real hard, and we're ready. Yesterday we were at the park with my friend Terri and her doggie Chase to practice. After all the hard work, the doggies let loose and got to run and have fun.

Conor playing keep away from Chase.

What a great looking group of dogs!

Obedience Finals Bound??

Well, I just found out Conor is ranked right at #10, along with 3 other teams. The top 10 teams will be invited to compete in the Obedience Finals, so right now we're in the running. Unfortunately, there are still 2 months left before the time for qualifying is over, so there is plenty of time for other dogs to get qualified. This is the end of our show season, whereas other areas around the country are just starting their show seasons. I do have one more show to try to get one more great score, so Conor and I will be very busy perfecting our heeling. If only I could switch my AKC obedience scores with my ASCA scores -- we're ranked at #5 in AKC!

March DOCNA Agility Trial

It was a beautiful weekend for a DOCNA agility trial out in Queen Creek at Club Doggie. My main goal for the weekend was to get the doggies qualified for the Championships. Anything extra was just icing, and we got lots of icing! Kaylie did qualify, but Conor did not. He just took the wrong end of the tunnel, but other than that he did quite well. I'm sure he'll get it next time. I'm just so happy that I'm going to the Championships with at least one dog. Here's the low down on how the Wonder Dogs did:

I entered Kaylie in just a few runs this weekend -- she's getting close to her Bronze MEX, so I just entered her in classes that would count towards that.

Kaylie:

Standard 1 - 2nd Place

Standard 3 - 4th Place

Trigility - 1st Place

North America Challenge - 4th Place

Conor:

Jumpers 1 - 3rd Place

Standard 1 - 1st Place

Gamblers - 2nd Place

Jumpers 2 - 2nd Place

Gamblers - 1st Place

Kaylie ended up finishing her Bronze Specialist Standard Merit Award and her Silver Specialist Trigility Merit Award. YAY!! And Conor finished his Beginner Jumpers Award and his Beginner Gamblers Award. More YAYS!!

We had a couple of very scary incidents this weekend though. On Conor's Snakes & Ladders run, when we got to the dog walk, he hit the up ramp with such force that it caused him to lose his balance. He tried his very, very hardest to stay on, but he ended up falling off. He scraped up his belly pretty good, cut a pad and one of his nails started to bleed. Poor little guy. Unfortunately, this fall has caused an issue on the teeter -- he's jumping off too early now. Hopefully it was just an issue on Sunday, and he'll get over it quickly. It turns out that the dog walk wasn't set up correctly, so that's why when he hit it, it bounced him up way too high. All his other runs were in the other ring, and this was the first time he was in that ring with that particular dog walk. I had noticed a lot of other dogs were also bouncing up that dog walk, but didn't realize why. And then in Conor's second Standard run, he totally busted through the tire jump. He tried to take the tire jump (the first jump) from his sit position without taking a couple steps before hand, and he just busted through it. The photographer even got a photo of it. The interesting thing about this photo is that he looks like he's 3 months old! Very bizarre. He may now become the poster boy for this new displaceable tire.

Conor's 1st and 2nd RAE Legs

I'm about a week behind -- with the start of baseball season, plus dog show season really ramping up -- there just aren't enough hours in a day! Anyway, last weekend was PFOC's (Phoenix Field & Obedience Club's) big obedience trial. I always love this show -- it's just obedience -- no floofy goofy dogs in the way -- just the smart ones are at this trial, and it's so much fun to watch. Conor was entered in Advanced B and Excellent B to earn legs for his RAE. To earn the RAE, you must compete in both Advanced B and Excellent B on the same day, qualify in both on the same day, and you must do this 10 times. Last weekend we did just that for our first and second legs. Conor's first run of the day was his Excellent run. It didn't go so well, but we did qualify. My friend Barb had her dog Shasta in the area, and when Shasta is around, Conor's brain goes down the drain. He just loves her. It had been a while since the two had seen each other, and I thought maybe now that he was neutered, he wouldn't be so bonkers over her. But I guess even getting neutered doesn't stop this boy from loving his first girlfriend. He'll always love Shasta. So we kept the two of them away from each other the rest of the weekend, and Conor did much better. He got a 99 out of 100 on his Advanced run later that day, which was good enough for 1st Place. YAY!! Sunday things were really a mess. Our Rally judge couldn't make it because she was sick, so they decided to split things up and have one judge for each Novice, Advanced and Excellent, which meant they had to wait for all the judges to finish their original judging assignments and then judge Rally. And then they neglected to tell us this on Saturday. So all the Excellent dogs showed up at 7 a.m. to get settled in, as we believed our class would start at 8 a.m. It wasn't until we got there that we found out our classes wouldn't start until 11 a.m. We had to sit around for 4 hours and just wait. And even then I don't think we really started until closer to 12 p.m. We finally got our runs in, and Conor's Advanced run was pretty nice, but I did have to repeat a station because he didn't do it quite right. We got a 94, which put us out of the ribbons, but still a pretty decent score. Then we got a 99 on our Excellent run. YAY! There was one perfect score, and then two other 99's who finished the course faster than we did, so we ended up getting 4th Place. So we're on our way -- just 8 more legs to go!

Yesterday was the start of the Fiesta Cluster at Westworld. I'm just showing Kaylie in agility this time around. We had two pretty decent runs but just a small mistake in both, so no Q's. Hopefully Sunday and Monday will be a little better!

My First Ever High in Trial!

I've been doing competitive obedience now for about 12 years, and have never come close to getting High in Trial. Well, maybe a little close -- I've earned High Score Aussie many times with both Kaylie and Conor, but there are so many fantastic dogs around here, I just never thought it would ever be possible to get High in Trial. I finally did it -- I got my first ever High in Trial, and not with the most incredible dog ever Kaylie, but with Conor. I would describe Conor as a dog with not a whole lot of spark in the obedience ring, but he is very consistent. He knows his job and he does it. And to think I almost didn't go to this trial! I decided to go because I made the decision last week to try to get Conor qualified for the Obedience Finals at the ASCA Nationals, which will be held the end of September of this year. I had originally tried to think of ways to get Kaylie qualified for the Agility Finals (because she is the most incredible dog ever, and I always think of her first), but it was going to take a lot of traveling and a lot of money. I really, really want to compete in Finals, but just couldn't figure out a way to do it with my meager salary. Then it dawned on me that I could possibly make it with Conor in obedience. So I figured I'd better get showing him to get those high scores. They invite the top 10 dogs in the country to compete in the Finals. And to be in the top 10, you have to have three very high scores. So, so far, we're on our way! I know there are at at least three more obedience trials before the end of May (the deadline), so I'm keeping my fingers crossed! As for my winning picture, unfortunately, they forgot the ribbons, so my ribbons will be sent to me. As soon as I get the ribbons, Conor will have his picture taken with his High in Trial and High Score Aussie ribbons.

My Annual Fall with the Dogs

I've noticed a trend that seems to be happening once a year with my dogs -- I fall flat on my belly. And this morning was this year's annual belly fall. I don't remember all the years' falls, but I do remember the one when I was rollerblading with my Chow Barley. I was rolling along, and then all of a sudden Barley saw a cat. He took off and pulled me down, flat on my belly. Then there was the time when I was pregnant and some how as I was going out the door with Takara, I ended up flat on my stomach going down the steps from the front door. Then there was the time a few years ago that I twisted my ankle and fell to the ground as I was going out the door for a walk with the dogs. This time though I didn't land on my belly, just on my butt with a twisted ankle. This was just two days before an agility trial, and I could barely walk. I wasn't going to let a hurt ankle stop me from going though!! I made it through the trial, gimping along, but at least I stayed up on my feet! Then three years ago at a DOCNA trial, I fell flat on my stomach once again. We were doing a Trigility run. The ground was very icy and slippery. My first teammate did her run, although she had some problems negotiating around the course, and ate up quite a bit of time. Then the next teammate did her run, then it was our turn. I thought for sure we could make up the lost time. I took my first step and my feet just slipped out from underneath me and once again, I was flat on my stomach. Kaylie was awesome though -- taking the first two jumps like she was supposed to. Then she started back to me to see why the heck I was flat on the ground. I told her to keep going, and by golly she did. I finally got on my feet and we finished the course perfectly, and even got the gamble. My only real concern was if we made time. We didn't. Oh well. Then last year, Conor was the cause of my belly fall. We were at the kids' bus stop, and he was with the boys playing ball with them. I knew the bus was coming, so I called him to me. He came running as fast as he could, body slammed into my knees and knocked my legs right from underneath me. I ended up once again flat on my stomach, and my chin. I had not a scrape on my knees or hands or anything, just a big scrape on my chin. It was lovely. Then this morning was this years' belly fall. I was running with the dogs this morning. I actually took a different route this morning (big mistake!) We were starting to go around a corner, and apparently part of the sidewalk was raised -- not sure if it was because of tree roots or what, but for whatever reason, it was raised and I didn't see it, and I ended up once again flat on my belly. Luckily my doggies have a good recall, because I ended up dropping the leash as I fell, and there was a car coming. I was afraid the dogs were going to keep going straight instead of rounding the corner -- so I yelled "doggies come!" and they came running back to me. Whew!! This time I ended up with a scraped up left knee and a scraped up right elbow, and the upper part of my left arm hurts when I push on it. Wonder what next year's fall will be like!

It's Hiking Time!

January in Phoenix is such an awesome time of year. Although it is a bit cold for me, it's actually the perfect temperature to go hiking. I couldn't pass up the chance to be outside on such a beautiful day, so I decided to take the dogs out to Thunderbird Park for a little hike. There are several trails in the area, and I usually do the same one. The day before I did the trail that I usually do, so this time I thought I'd try a different trail. I had NO idea what to expect, and had no idea how long the trail was. It was 10 a.m., so I figured I had a good 5 hours to make it home in time for Brandon to get home from school. The dogs and I started out, and I thought to myself what a great trail! It wasn't too rocky or too steep. I thought how great it would be to bring some friends next time. Then all of a sudden, the trail got much steeper. There goes the idea of bringing friends along!! They'd think I was trying to kill them! Guess I'll just keep hiking by myself and the dogs. It was a great hike though, and it took just under 2 hours. And that included stopping a few times for water, and of course picture taking. Now that I know what to expect, I think I can do it faster next time. Sounds like a challenge for another hike! I do need to let my knees recover though -- they are a little achy today! I'm sure by Monday, my next day off, I'll be back to 100% and we'll try the hike again.

Double Q, Where are You??

Another AKC agility trial weekend has come to an end, and Kaylie and I are still at 6 Double Q's. Saturday we started off with Jumpers. It was a really nice course, until we got to the double jump into the weaves. I just didn't handle it right, she jumped too big and missed the weave entrance. The rest of the run went perfect. Our Standard run was perfect, hitting all the contacts, weave pole entrance, and kept all the bars up. YAY!!! We ended up finishing 18 seconds under course time! I think that's one of our fastest Standard runs ever. Sunday we had our Standard run first. After Saturday's Standard run, I was feeling very confident about our contacts. We were going along just perfect, we hit the dog walk contact no problem, hit the weave pole entrance with no problems, hit the teeter contact with no problem, then the second to last obstacle was the A-Frame. After that I knew we were home free! We hit the A-frame contact (or so I thought), jumped the last jump, and I was psyched. Our first run of the day and we were on the road to a Double Q. But then a friend walked over to me all bummed and said the judge called our A-frame contact as a fault! WHAT????? I know she hit it -- I was right there. But I guess the judge didn't see it that way. This is the first time I've ever felt a judge made a bad call on my run. I actually felt tears start welling up, I was so sure Kaylie hit that contact. Hopefully somewhere down the road when Kaylie really flies off the A-frame or dog walk, the judge won't call it! I actually half considered just going home and scratching from our Jumpers run. The Double Q was out of the picture, and I just wanted a big bowl of Birthday Cake Remix from Coldstone. But then the competitive side of me took back over and made me want to do that Jumpers run. It was a pretty tricky course -- lots of possibilities for off courses. But we ran clean and got a Q -- 13 seconds under time. Wooo hooo! We did have a great weekend, great runs, and lots of fun. Next agility trial is the Fiesta Cluster at the end of February. Kaylie and I will be spending the next month working on perfecting our Utility exercises, and working on Open with Conor.

3rd Day at Wags for Wishes

What a day! Conor and I are finally starting to work as a team, and I'm getting a good feel for his timing. I still need to step it up a bit, as he is one fast little bugger, but I'm getting there! We started off with his FAST class, and it went just as planned. He got all the necessary points as well as the send bonus, so he qualified, finished in 3rd place and finished his title -- his first agility title!!! His Jumpers run was going along nicely, and then came the weaves. He'd missed all the entrances on all the previous runs throughout the weekend, so I fully expected him to miss the entrance again. I hung back a bit so I could call him back and re-send him, but by golly he hit the entrance perfectly, went through them in the blink of an eye and was off to the next couple of jumps before I could even realize what had just happened. He left me in the dust!! I tried to salvage the run, as by that point he hadn't gone off course, but I was just too far back and couldn't get where I needed to get to in time -- he was just way too fast. He eventually took a wrong jump, and I could hear the judge sigh. And in my head I heard my teacher Jim say "trust your dog." I should have trusted that he would have hit the pole entrance and not popped out. Next time I will! Then we ran his Standard course. Of course the tire jump was the first obstacle AGAIN! First day I tried placing him right in front of the tire . . . that didn't work. Second day I tried running from start line with him . . . that didn't work. This time I placed him pretty far back, did a nice lead out and bent down so he could see me through the tire hole and told him to jump, and by golly THAT WORKED -- he jumped THROUGH the tire instead of going under it!!! So far we're running clean. We made it through obstacle by obstacle, hitting everything perfectly, and hitting all his contacts. We get to the weave poles, and he does miss the entry, but in Novice Standard, refusals at the weaves aren't counted. I quickly get him back in, and he finishes them without popping out. We're getting pretty close to the end, and then comes the broad jump. It was at a very weird angle, so I was worried that he'd cut the corner again, but he made it over with no problems. Just 3 more obstacles, and we'd be done. I had to concentrate on each obstacle as they came, because I know if I think too far ahead, I mess up. And I didn't want to push him too hard over the teeter, as he does have a tendancy to fly off that if he's going too fast, so I kept cool, he hit the teeter contact, then over the last two jumps, and woooo hooo!! He ran clean!!! Conor got his first Novice Standard leg. And placed 3rd place to boot. It was so very exciting.

Kaylie's Jumpers run was very, very tricky, but lots of fun, and she ran clean and Q'd. No placements though -- it's pretty hard to place when some of the top people in the country are running against you with them darned Border Collies. But she was 11 seconds under time, so we got more points added towards our MACH speed points. Her Standard run was going along very nicely, but by golly that darned dog walk contact got us again. I swear they put poison down on those contacts. It was a great run otherwise, so I'm still very happy about that.

We're looking forward to next weekend for another AKC agility trial. I'm only showing Kaylie, so it shouldn't be so exhausting.

2nd Day of Wags for Wishes

Today was a much better day, although again between the two dogs and 5 runs, we only got 1 Q. Conor's Jumpers run was very nice and he did everything very well, but he kept popping out at the 5th pole. After about 5 attempts, I decided to go on, so no Q. He did the rest of the course very nicely though. His Standard run was also very nice, but the first obstacle again was that darned tire jump. He ran under it, and before I could call him back to re-try it, he was already in the tunnel, which was the second obstacle. The rest of the run was beautiful, so I feel we're getting close. If only they would get rid of that tire jump! Kaylie's Standard run was also beautiful, but she missed the contact on the dog walk. There was a tunnel sticking out on both ends under the dog walk, so I had no other choice but to go around it, which was just too much distance for Kaylie and that down contact. Kaylie's Jumpers run was perfect, so at least we got one Q, and 6 points towards our MACH. That makes 358 points out of 750. We're more than half way there in speed points at least! Conor's FAST run didn't quite go as planned, so we didn't get a Q in that either.

I took Conor to the herding instinct test after we were done with the agility. He had so much fun, and did a very nice job herding the sheep, and keeping them together. He didn't have the same crazy excitement he did when I took him a couple of years ago (he was pretty young then), but the tester said he did a very good job keeping the sheep together and getting them moved around the ring. It was fun to see that instinct just kick in. My friend Terri also took her pup Chase in. Chase is just a year old, so he had that crazy spirit out there. He had a great time chasing the sheep around. Here are some pictures:

Here's Conor

And here's Chase

Here's our two cutie pies after their herding test:

First Day of Wags for Wishes

Well, today definitely wasn't one of our best agility days. My first run of the day was Conor's FAST class. It actually was a very good run, and he ended up qualifying, with a 3rd place. But unfortunately it went down hill from there. Next was Conor's Jumpers run, which actually wasn't all that bad, but there were enough small mistakes to not qualify. Next was Kaylie's Standard run. I'm not sure where this dog came from -- it definitely wasn't Kaylie. First she took a wrong jump, then she popped out of the weaves and then she jumped off the teeter. After that was Kaylie's Jumper's run. It started off great, everything was going as planned, and then I got in her way -- it was a tricky exit out of the weave poles to the next jump, and I just got in her way, which caused a refusal. That's all it took to NQ. Last but not least was Conor's Standard run. The first obstacle was the tire jump, which we've been having issues with. I thought I'd try setting him up right in front of it, but alas, he still went under it. He was actually doing quite well after that, but for some reason just couldn't get the weave poles. Oh well. The funniest part of this run was the broad jump. He's never seen a broad jump in an agility run, so I wasn't even sure how he was going to handle it. He ended up jumping so high and so far over the jump, that he practically landed right next to the last jump of the run. He ended up going past that last jump and then back jumped it, so that was all it took to NQ on that. He did have lots of fun though!! He's definitely one dog that thoroughly enjoys doing agility. The pups are pooped now -- and so am I! I think I will go take a nap before dinner time, like Kaylie is.

Arizona Wags for Wishes - Here We Come

We're heading off to our first appearance at the Arizona Wags for Wishes in Glendale, Arizona!! This is the second time Arizona has held the Wags for Wishes event, benefiting the Make-A-Wish Foundation. We've always gone over to Del Mar, California for the Wags for Wishes, but last year when they changed the agility venue from AKC over to NADAC, we stopped going. We're hoping this can be at least half as fun. We'll be missing the wonderful California weather, but heck, Phoenix in January (at least THIS weekend) -- we'll have PERFECT weather! Check back later to see how the Wonderdogs did in agility! This will be Conor's first full AKC agility trial, so not real sure how it's going to go. We did a few runs earlier this week for practice, and he did pretty well, so there is hope.

If you're interested in coming to watch, not only will you see agility, but you'll see fun events like this:


And this:

And this:

This event is being held at Sahauro Ranch Park in Glendale, Arizona. For more information, check out www.azwags4wishes.com.

Kaylie's "Re-Debut" in Utility

After a 2-year break from obedience and training in Utility, Kaylie re-entered the Utility ring yesterday morning at our local ASCA trial. We didn't qualify, but I was quite happy with her performance. On the Signal exercise, we got a 35 out of 40, for the Scent Discrimination Article #1, she got a 29 out of 30, we NQ'd on the #2 Scent Discrimination Article, she got a 28 out of 30 on the Directed Retrieve, she got a 29 out of 30 on the Stand for Exam, and then we NQ'd on the Directed Jumping. For her first go-out, she took the high jump on the way out, and then for the second go-out, she took the bar jump on the way out. But I was pleased that she at least ran away from me with no hesitation, which is the first time she'd ever done that. She would usually take a step away, then stop and look at me to make sure that she really is supposed to run away. And even then, she'd only go a few feet away. So we're making progress. I've decided to hold off showing her in any AKC trials, and wait for our ASCA Cactus Cluster trial in March. She had great enthusiasm in everything she did, so that's 90% of the battle. Must work on that "running away from mommy" is a good thing idea!

This weekend is the Arizona Wags for Wishes trial, so now we have to switch gears and get back into agility mode.

Practicing Does Actually Work!!

My poor dogs -- they are always subjected to the pressures of the show ring with very little work. I've been very fortunate with my Wonder Dogs that they seem to have been born knowing what to do. Both dogs sailed through Novice in ASCA and AKC very easily, and then Kaylie made it through Open with very little practice. She had her CDX in both ASCA and AKC by the time she was two years old. I then tried to rush Kaylie through Utility training, and tried showing her a few times just after her 3rd birthday. I quickly learned that Utility actually requires WORK -- and not just a week before the trial!!! I would sometimes go gung-ho for a week or so with the training, but then things would just come up, and although I would go through the exercises in my head, and think about how I would train Kaylie to do them, osmossis just didn't work!! I don't understand why! I ended up focusing more on agility over the next couple of years and didn't think much of Utility. This past fall though, I figured that Kaylie wasn't getting any younger, and I really want to get my first Utility Dog ("UD") title with her. Some other friends wanted to really get serious about training their dogs too, so we decided to meet every Monday morning at the park to train. I'd show up every Monday to work my dogs, and at first my friends showed up too. But as the weeks past, fewer and fewer of them showed up, and eventually just one other friend would show up (and I think that's only because I'm making her show up!) But I kept practicing with Ms. Kaylie. My goal was to be ready by our January ASCA trial, and I think we're actually there!! I went to a fun match yesterday, and I was amazed how well she did. She did get one of the wrong scent articles, but she was in such a hurry to get back to me, she just grabbed any article -- we'll work on that. And then her go-outs were a little shaky, but I think with hard work over this next week, we'll be there. I'm looking forward to this Sunday to see how it all comes together in a real show situation!!! I'm thrilled to see that our hard work has actually paid off!