she means the world to me

Click on comic to enlarge.

our friend ruby

She got her ADCH (Agility Dog Champion) this weekend.  Very exciting!  We bigtime heart Ruby and her handler.  And the Aussies and the two Border Terriers (including a four-month-old) shared one motel room and all was quiet, all was calm.  A good weekend.  Some nice runs, some goofy runs, a couple ribbons, a lot of lessons learned...it was fun.

[insert sound of dogs panting]

Even though we lead a very boring life there is stuff to catch up on.

Trials, training, travel.

Or maybe not so much going on after all.

family portrait

On left, Whistle (12 y.o.).  On right, Po (11 y.o.).  In the middle their son Chug (8 y.o.).

Just out of the shot, a small herd of Highland cattle.

just hangin'...

Handsome Whistle.

Lovely Po.

The pack approaches (Rumor in front).

So peaceful, right?  But this is how the walk started...

The dogs are hanging out with five other Aussies this week while we are in South Carolina. But we did pay visit to their favorite store to get chicken necks for crabbing. Wonder what Rumor would do with a crab...

more initials

Went to a nearby AKC trial this weekend, had some nice runs, some silly runs, some ugly runs, but that's pretty much how it always is!  But so happy because Rumor got ALL of his contacts all weekend and also a Standard Q, so now he has his Novice Agility title to go with his Novice Jumpers.  Hemi had some nice moments but he was poking along a lot of the weekend.  I was told that he'd Qd his last Jumpers run (and I believed it!) but turns out he was over time because he'd had a couple refusals/runbys at some jumps.  He is being treated for anaplasmosis, a tick-borne disease, that we just discovered last week, but since he hasn't had any symptoms I don't think his lacksadaisacalness had anything to do with that and everything to do with the heat, the stuffy indoor ring, the general vibe, and the fact that he might have smoked some weed while I wasn't looking.  Love the Hem.  And so proud of Mr Rumor!

Now no trials for a while, but some ongoing classes and also a seaside vacation (sans dogs).

a few camp photos

Up the ramp.

Down the other side.

Through the poles.

Out the tunnel.

Being his usual glamorous self.

Back from a wonderful week at camp.  No movies, no comics, and actually, nothing to say, just a really fun time.  Great people, happy dogs, decent weather.  I only had Hemi the first few days so he had a lot of agility and got to play with the sheep a little. Rumor was able to come mid-week (after being ill) and lay down some awesome runs. A super week, we are all exhausted but happy.  Well, maybe some of us are just wondering where all the salmon treats went.

a good weekend in saratoga!

Just wrapped up a long weekend in Saratoga at our second USDAA agility trial.  Hemi was a ROCK STAR, with placements in Standard (three times), Gamblers, Snooker, Jumpers, and Pairs Relay and about four or five Qs. And Rumor had a great Jumpers Q and first place and with Hemi the Pairs Relay Q.  (Katie ran him while I ran Hemi.)  He had some great moments and then some ridiculous moments, so I ended some of his runs early.

Most of these ribbons belong to Miley (on left, this dog is a real star), Jeep (in the middle, a semi-retired star), but eight of them are ours.  Definitely have the USDAA bug, the courses are challenging, there was a lot of nice handling, and even though I only ran each dog in three courses a day there are options to do more.  It was hot, though, and I'm glad I didn't go all out.  Interestingly, Hemi picked up speed and confidence as the weekend went on, which I wasn't expecting.  So I'm glad that I'm trialing him, and of course always glad to run around with Mr Rumor ...

Lobolo, bar setter.

And Hemi. Wheeee!

Rumor at the club trial in May. And this is another test of mobile blogging.

all roads lead to indiana

East on 74 to Indiana. South, I think that’s Indiana. This weekend headed west, then north, to Merrillville, Indiana, and a big (for us Novice A types) AKC show. 

Here’s my email report to my friends following Day One. 

Huge soccer palace.  Day started at 7 and we didn't do our first run til after 3.  BUT am super happy with my dogs!  In my memory there are no spins ... I can see there were a few.  And I crowd them at weaves.  And there is some interesting contact stuff going on.  And etc.

VERY proud of both my dogs and I must say of myself too.  I forgot to put my sticker on shirt til Rumor was almost up so I had to run and get it, was hyperventilating and thought I couldn't remember course.  But luckily I had found some adidas pants in my closet -- rainy day dog walking gear, forgot I had! -- and those give you special advantage (though not the advantage I thought re: vision, just the magic course advantage.)  I ran that first course in a complete zone, I wasn't sure where to go and was just rear crossing as I went, I don't think I walked it that way but it worked.

It's funny, looking at them I can see how I am doing x or y, plenty of things to work on ... but really, not too shabby -- Hemi got a Q in the Standard -- and SO crazy proud of my dogs for handling this environment and not biting me or shutting down...

And video from Day One.

rumor jww indiana from vtdogs on Vimeo.

hemi standard indiana from vtdogs on Vimeo.

rumor strd indiana from vtdogs on Vimeo.

Day Two was another long day and I think Hemi was kind of worn down from the hubbub but we had some nice little runs and ended on a good happy note.  And Rumor got his NAJ with this silly run.

rumor naj day 2 indiana from vtdogs on Vimeo.

Ok, there is lots of room for improvement but I am SO pleased with my sweet, cute, capable dogs that I don't even care about showing the bad parts, which are all my fault anyway.  (I could train them a little better to get weaves at speed, for instance.  Or how about those contacts?!  And just general slowness and lameness in handling.)

Once again I found that AKC was not the scary intimidating venue that I'd heard about.  I was super lucky to be there with friends who enjoy their dogs no matter what and appreciate each other's runs, Q or not.  All of our dogs have their own goofy issues (and not-perfect handlers).

Anyway, was reading on a discussion list about people who did not want to run their dogs (in this case because of a physical issue) because of "the ridicule of the other agility competitors."  Hmm...there's always the issue of railbirds at a competition (go to a dressage show) but most of it is just self-puffery that one can "spot the issue."  And right, people are critical, they like one style of handling over another, they think something looks sloppy or clunky and they can tell why the dog isn't running well.  And they are sitting there for eight hours so of course they say something snarky to their friends.  Sad if it comes down to ridicule.  And it is not fun to come out of the ring with your adrenaline still pumping and be told what went wrong.  Chances are you know what your problems are (or at least the top three or four) and have been obsessing and trying to adjust and fix.  And are maybe disappointed for ten seconds that you haven't figured it out yet, or can't quite go from the theory to practice.  Because you're not good enough, fast enough, coordinated enough, whatever.  (My yogi friend Cora calls her practice "Imperfect Yoga" as in "I'm + Perfect," I like that.)  It's crazy hard not to be defensive sometimes even when people mean well ... so I can't imagine how it would feel if I thought they didn't mean well!

So anyway, all roads lead to Indiana and all the roads to Rome, and throw in some cliche (but useful) stuff about the journey and what the destination really is ... and then also do what I do which is to be deliberately dense sometimes.  It feels good not to get drawn into the world where people are actually ridiculing other handlers and their dogs...and especially nice to spend time with people who really DO just love running with their dogs.  Thanks for that Chris and Cindy, and also for the awesome videography work!