Oh Yeah, You Blend

I’d thought last year was the last year Zhora and I would travel to Florida for the Invitational.

Then she got invited again, and I thought “why the fuck not?”.

So we went. Ruth and Orbit came with us to show. The drive down was a doddle.

In all the years I’ve gone to the Invitational thanks to the awesome dogs I have and have had the honor of running with, I have never had a dog have a perfect weekend. There’s always been one little thing that costs us a Q.

Not this year.

At 11 years old, Zhora managed to lay down FIVE OUT OF FIVE clean runs. She was pretty over it by the last round, and needed some cheerleading. Jumpers has never been her favorite, and you do TWO Jumpers courses at the Invitational, you start and finish with them. At the time I wondered if she was sore, but watching the videos, I think she was just tired and rolling her eyes at another Jumpers course. She was bright and sparkly in the courses with contacts (Standard and Hybrid), so while I came home feeling guilty for making her finish her weaves in the last round because I was worried she was uncomfortable, I don’t think that was the case.

That Sunday Jumpers course, the last of the weekend, was the only time I think I have ever asked Zhora to do agility “for me” like that, and I didn’t like that feeling at all. I have always seen agility as absolutely a team sport, and my dogs absolutely do get to have opinions about what they do and don’t do. It goes against my basic philosophy to “insist”, but once in a blue moon maybe it’s ok.

She finished 35th out of 175 dogs. and was the 15th out of 66 bred by exhibitor dogs.

I couldn’t be more proud of her. She has been an amazing and professional partner (in addition to just being a great pet and lovely dog to live with), she has always given 110%, and I feel like we both laid it down this time. She will go back into semi retirement now, she’ll still run until I feel like she doesn’t want to anymore, but she’ll do one day a weekend or so.

Zhora Friday Time 2 Beat:

Zhora Saturday Round 1 Jumpers:

Zhora Saturday Round 2 Standard:

Zhora Sunday Round 3 Hybrid:

Zhora Sunday Round 4 Jumpers:

.

The drive back….was something.

I glanced at the forecast and saw there was a storm pending, but it looked like we’d outrun it.

We didn’t.

Partway through Virginia the road signs started warning about winter storms and a need to be prepared. The skies up ahead started looking threatening and I started getting a bit worried.

Then, halfway up a mountain in West Virginia the snow appeared and literally we went from dry roads and normal visibility to 20 feet or so of visibility and so much snow I was finding the road using the rumble strips. If we hadn’t been behind a truck so I could follow its wheelmarks, I don’t know what we’d have done.

And then when we got to the top of the mountain, back to dry roads. But that was enough, we stopped for the night in Clarksburg.

Despite my doomscrolling about the weather, we made a later start the next morning and the roads and weather were absolutely fine the whole way home.

I am so very, very proud of my amazing Zhora. She’s a consummate professional working dog. She travels well, she tolerates changes in temperature, climate, location, you name it, with grace. She tolerates hotels, cars, loud and oppressive environments, other dogs, people, and lots of crate time, with equanimity. She’s amazing.

I’m sharing this mostly for myself, but I am proud of the hard work Evie and I have done over the last six weeks or so.

Evie stresses UP, which is a good thing, but it also means that she needs to learn how to channel that up stress and not let it explode her brain. She was disconnecting, zooming, visiting, and just checking out, because she didn’t know where to put the energy she was getting from a trial environment.

For the past several weeks I have only entered her in games classes, only did FEO, and often only did two or three obstacles and then got out of the ring, and we stayed for matches (even if it meant I didn’t get home until after 9 PM).

I am proud that I have been disciplined about not going for the Q but playing the long game, getting her the experience and training and mileage she needs.

I am grateful for the folks who were willing to be pretend ring crew in the classes we dropped into, and for Sue’s help and support as always!

It is ALWAYS worth putting in the effort. It is ALWAYS worth taking a step back and working your foundations. It is ALWAYS worth throwing a Q in order to give your dog the right experience (DON’T FIX ALL THE THINGS!).

Train the dog you want to have in a year. Be patient, but don’t be lazy. And VIDEO EVERYTHING, because seeing even small improvements can be the cookie YOU need to keep going,

It’s obviously a work in progress, but we are for sure several big steps along the right road!

I am so excited about what the future could hold for this little dog!

(Also she earned her very first title – Novice FAST!)

Here’s a little sample of what Sue helped me with today: working Evie through distractions. It is SO helpful to have someone to train with who knows a lot and has good ideas (not to mention, it’s more fun).

Evie is very friendly and also stresses WAY up, the visiting is less about her being friendly though, and more about being an outlet for stress (remember even good stress is still stress).

I am absolutely THRILLED with this! Plus LOOK HOW FAST SHE IS, and look at how quick also – you can see her deke towards me and then back to the dogwalk when she isn’t sure where to go. And this is probably the best set of weaves in a course I’ve ever had from her.

Good girl Evie! She loves to work and is such a trier.

When you’re really invested in your dogs and your dog sport(s), it can make you feel all kinds of big, profound, wonderful, terrible, things.

For me, there are few things that cause me to doubt myself and my skill more than when I feel I’ve let my dogs down.

Since COVID I’ve been much more of a homebody than before (although I’ve really always been a homebody), and so I go to agility trials far less than before. Instead of doing 2-3 days 3 out of 4 weekends a month (or more), I go to 1 or 2 days, once or twice a month.

This has positives: it’s better for my bank account; I get to spend time at home (which I love), with my husband (whom I love); I get to spend more time with my dogs outside of our sport.

But it also has negatives: my dogs get far less trial mileage than before; I get far less trial mileage than before (this has a highly detrimental effect on our mojo); we fall behind with the titles etc.

Agility is just dogs jumping over plastic, yes. But it’s also an amazing bonding experience with your dog. When the mojo is working, you truly do become one mind.

Anyway, all that is a big preamble to me trying to work through how I’m feeling about Evie right now.

Evie is an amazing dog. She’s so fast and quick, in training when I can feel the beginnings of our mojo, it’s like running with a hummingbird or a rabbit, she’s so immediately responsive, it’s like driving a sports car. And, for a dog who can be a bit of a weirdo about some things, she’s really very confident out there (three different people remarked to me about how confident she is).

But she’s a very sensitive dog, and she’s really experiencing the throes of adolescence right now. She has a LOT of feelings about things. And while I absolutely love a dog who stresses up, because those are usually the dogs who end up being the most fun to run with, right now Evie can’t cope well with pressure. She’s run in a handful of trials, and initially she was what I expect out of a novice dog. But the trend over the last few trial days has not been what I want to see, and the way I’ve been handling her is not what I want to see. I am so thankful to have dog friends who are wise, and willing to tell me what they’re seeing and what they think.

Evie is zooming, and visiting, and tuning me out, and I’ve been dropping connection, which is a big part of WHY she’s doing that. I took the opportunity yesterday (after a really ungood trial day) to run her in a match (you have 90 seconds to do what you like on a course, you can bring a toy or contained food). And while I got some really good attention from her in our second run, I came home feeling quite defeated, and disappointed in myself.

So, I pulled her from all ucoming trials, other than the games classes, where I can run For Exhibition Only.

I’m going to do some Control Unleashed pattern games. I’m going to work on relationship. I really think she has the potential to be an amazing agility dog, but she needs more foundation work, and I need to step back, go back, and work this through.

Zhora’s MACH8 has its own post, and was obviously the highlight of the weekend.

One thing I’ve tried to cultivate in myself is that everything can be a learning opportunity if I allow it. I also made a more-or-less New Year’s resolution to try to be less lazy. Trulli coming along meant that the two other green dogs in my house (Alice and Evie) got relegated a bit, and that’s not fair to them.

It became extremely obvious to me this weekend that Alice needs more from me than I’ve been giving her. I realize I’ve sort of been treating her like she’s at maintenance levels when really she isn’t at all. So: more Alice time!

I also found a few areas I need to work on with Evie (this is absolutely expected). She’s doing the thing that Alice also did where she wants to go get the cookies before she’s finished running (and to be fair to her, she was in the crate a LOT this weekend, plus we stayed overnight, so she had a lot of pent up energy both mental and physical). I talked it over with Sue and she reminded me of the really useful cookie jar game, so we’ll be doing that along with some other games to help. That said, there were flashes of real brilliance from her, and I’m super excited about what I’m seeing. She picked up her second Novice FAST Q, but more exciting is that there were real moments of being in sync, with glimpses of mojo starting to build. She is very, very different to run than my other dogs have been (they’re all different from each other, but she’s REALLY different): she’s so tiny and light and agile it’s like trying to run with a hummingbird or something. It’s really interesting.

Alice Friday FAST (Q):

Evie Friday Time 2 Beat:

Alice Friday Jumpers (Q):

Alice Saturday FAST (Q)

Evie Saturday FAST (Q):

Evie Saturday Jumpers (the second half of this course was amazing):

What an incredible journey this dog and I have taken. Once we got our mojo Zhora became a qualifying machine. Forgiving of my mistakes, a dog who usually chooses to slow down and look to me for direction rather than grabbing any obstacle or zooming or stressing. So many of our runs were Q’s because of this. She’s my comfy slippers, my cozy home feeling. When we’re in the zone with each other, it truly feels like we have one mind.

I always thank her for the privilege of her efforts, for her impeccable, unflappable working temperament. For her kindness and the joy she shows at the start of every run. She’s nearly 11 now (August 5), and she’s slowed down as you’d expect. But she still sometimes manages a miracle run, like our Friday Standard run where she ran it in 4.2 yards per second, which I think is her personal best. She’s a long and quite massive dog even though she’s lean and muscular. She isn’t a light and quick little hummingbird like Evie is, or a squat little speedy fighter jet like Nina was. Zhora is a dragster, straight lines are her milieu, collection is expensive for her. But even when I ask her to do something she really dislikes (like pinwheels), she does it, even if she does it slowly, she still does it.

She’s done everything I’ve ever asked of her. I am so grateful to her and for her. I don’t know what the future holds for her, she still comes to the ring with joy and good energy, but I think we can slow down a bit, put more energy into the up and comers. Whatever Zhora wants, I will (to the best of my ability to ascertain it and provide it) give her.

Dan Wolfson’s courses were fun and challenging. They got the better of Alice and I, but Zhora just scoffed at the traps and had a perfect two days.

Thank you my ZhoZho.

Friday Standard (4.2 YPS, first place):

Friday Jumpers:

Part 1 (Standard) of MACH8:

Part 2 (Jumpers) of MACH8 (featuring skipping Sue):

A different view (thanks Jan!):

And another courtesy of Jan:

I’d kind of had Westminster on my bucket list for a while, but it’s a pretty expensive agility weekend and it’s a big hassle and blah blah blah.

But after losing Nina I got to thinking that if I was going to go with Zhora, I should just go. Zhora will turn 11 in August and while she’s still healthy and sound and running well, she isn’t getting any younger and neither am I. After all, it’s better to regret something you have done, than something you haven’t.

So while lots of folks overnighted their entries and all that, I handwrote our entry the day before the trial opened and snail mailed it. I figured if we got in, then the universe was telling me we should go. I was shocked when I got word that we were 13th on the waiting list. I realized then that there was some danger we might actually get in! And then less than 24 hours after closing, we were in!

Of course I hadn’t made any arrangements and had to hustle to find a (very expensive) hotel.

So off we went!

We hit terrible traffic in New Jersey trying to get into the Lincoln Tunnel because of course we did. I’m used to city driving but we were at a standstill with no shoulders or anything packed in like sadines and I got a bit panicky about it and had to call Jim. Once I got into the tunnel though it was fine, and then driving through Manhattan on our way to Queens was just wonderful. Such a beautiful city.

Checking into the hotel I had to drive around the block four times before a spot opened up where I could stash the car while I went to check in. There was a guy screaming in the lobby, hotel staff were trying to calm him down, police were being called, two different women told me how much they liked my hair. It was so NYC.

Our room was in a half basement and tiny, but it was clean. A nice agility person saw me with Zhora and showed me where I could walk her. And then Zhora and I went for a stroll around the block to stretch our legs after being in the car all day.

We got up the next morning, quick potty walk, got our game faces on, checked out, and headed to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center

It’s an absolutely gorgeous facility. Purple and gold was everywhere (yes, the dog show starting tomorrow is the big draw, but there were still a LOT of people there as the day went on).

We checked in and got our awesome swag (an embroidered North Face knapsack, a picture frame, a dog toy, a bandana, a really nice t-shirt, and a ticket for a free lunch).

Standard was in the stadium:

Jumpers was in an outdoor ring under a tent (this is actually where the biggest crowd was – most were just bystanders and they were AWESOME! The cheered LOUDLY for every team, it was so much fun!):

And then! We walked and ran standard, had lunch, then walked and ran jumpers:

Standard was first (Q and 14th place!). There are supposed to be “official” videos coming but Jesse kindly videoed too:

ProPlan gave us a lovely, healthy, and delicious free lunch (not dog food but I did share my sandwich with Zhora):

Then Jumpers (Q and 12th place!!):

I was hoping for one Q, and instead we doubled! And Saga the Vallhund was in the top 10 (awesome!) so made it to finals, but if she hadn’t, we’d have likely gone to finals too!

I am always humbled and amazed by Zhora. She always rises to the occasion, she thrives under pressure. I am so very glad we went, it was a whirlwind, tiring, crazy and expensive two days, but it was so very worth it for the amazing experience we had. Thank you Zhora for being the wonderful partner you have always been.

Finally, I just want to say that it was so awesome to see so many of my usual agility peeps there being supportive and having fun running their dogs and doing wonderfully. And it was so nice to see Whitney and Susan with their amazing Vallhunds (ALL FOUR VALLHUNDS QQ’d!), and it was just so lovely to feel the support we gave each other, we were all genuinely happy for how well each other did. Agility might just be dogs jumping over plastic but wow can it bring out the best in people sometimes.

“Official” standard video:

“Official” JWW video:

(and finally, as if my heart wasn’t full enough, tomorrow Zhora’s son Orbit and his co-owner Ruth will compete at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. I wish I could have managed to stay and watch but it wasn’t to be, I’ll be watching on the live stream though!)

Alice and I had a great time at the Kayl McCann and Jamie Moreau (both Canadian world team members and certified OneMind Dog instructors) seminar! We learned some really useful things. I usually think if I learn one or two things to keep in my training toolbox it’s worth the price, but we learned so much more from these two, including some really good ideas about commitment!

Our first trial of 2023, and what a great day it was! I’m only doing one day per weekend at Countryside during the winter because that way if the weather is bad, I don’t mind eating a day’s entries. If I enter a whole weekend and the weather’s bad…it’s irksome.

Anyway! Judge Laura Kuterbach designed some really difficult courses with very low qualifying rates, and I’m horribly out of shape, and the dogs aren’t in great shape either (we’re working on both), and we haven’t trialed (other than Zhora at the Invitational) since November, and we haven’t been training at all…and and and….but somehow, my amazing girlies pulled off a PERFECT DAY!

Zhora earned her sixth QQ towards MACH8, and Alice earned her very first QQ (and it was actually a triple Q, towards her TQX, because she also qualified in FAST). It was a very small trial, and there were only 5 8″ dogs, so I had almost no time to warm up properly, so I was running even slower than usual, but we did it! The courses didn’t have much room to open up and let the dogs run, and they don’t like that, but it also meant that Alice didn’t get high and zoomy and stayed controlled. Not as much fun, but better for qualifying. AND! They went 1-2 both times with very close times. Alice might have edged out Zhora for first place in Standard if we hadn’t had a miscommunication that led to a wrong turn and ate some time.

Alice Saturday FAST (part 1 of QQQ #1):

Alice Saturday Standard (part 2 of QQQ #1, second place):

Zhora Saturday Standard (QQ #146, first place):

Alice Saturday Jumpers (part 3 of QQQ #1, second place):

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (QQ #146, first place):

Zhora has been invited to the Invitational every year since she got into Masters. She’s been such an amazingly consistent dog, and every run with her I am cognizant of what a privilege it is. Anyway, since Orbit and Ruth qualified for the AKC National Owner Handled Series Finals this year, Ruth and I packed up the dogs and headed to Orlando! Orbit and Ruth’s adventures will be in a separate post.

Zhora went 3/4 in the Invitational, and also qualified in Time 2 Beat. The one NQ was my fault. We weren’t our fastest, we weren’t our fittest (I had a foot injury that meant we got way less exercise and practice than usual in the months beforehand), but we showed up and ran! Z finished 66th out of 148 dogs, not bad!

Thank you as always for this experience, Zhora!

Time 2 Beat:

Round 1 Jumpers:

Round 2 Standard (our only NQ because I disconnected, but also my favorite run):

Round 3 Hybrid:

Round 4 Jumpers (Zhora had a reverse sneezing fit right at the startline, she was sneezing and wheezing for the first half of the course, but she just kept going, she has so much heart and so much working drive):