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!
Lots of fun and very challenging courses from Zach Davis and Janet Budzynski. Zhora had a perfect weekend with two more QQ’s (running slower than usual because she really didn’t like these courses), Alice got a very tough FAST send on Saturday, and earned a “moral” QQ on Sunday, with a Master Standard Q AND an Excellent JWW Q to finish her AXJ (on a course I thought we didn’t have a chance of qualifying on). Such great girls.
Alice Saturday FAST (Q):
Zhora Saturday Standard (QQ #144):
Zhora Saturday JWW (QQ #144):
Alice Sunday Standard (Q):
Zhora Sunday Standard (QQ145):
Zhora Sunday JWW (QQ145):
Alice Sunday JWW (AXJ!):
Evie is six months old now. I have done SHOCKINGLY little with her to be honest. Playing, relationship building, a few tricks, conformation handling, but very small amounts of each. This puppy is HUNGRY to learn, she LOVES to work, she is EXACTLY what I wanted out of a Zar/Alice baby. I am so excited about her. She is so smart, she is so willing, she has SO MUCH sticktuitiveness.
Here is a tiny bit of training from yesterday, the good the bad and the ugly. We have done MAYBE three sessions of tiny sequences before this. She’s done a few tunnels, she’s done a handful of “offering the jump” sessions, this is about as untrained as you get. But she figures it out, she wants to play, and she wants to RUN.
Love this puppy!
Always nice to have a trial in almost my own back yard! Oksana Syrkin gave us some pretty tough courses. Alice earned her first MACH points and picked up a T2B and AXJ leg and overall ran really well. Zhora went 5/6 and picked up her first two QQ’s for MACH8. Fun time with good friends!
Friday Alice T2B (Q and first place!):
Friday Zhora Standard (Q):
Friday Alice Standard (Q and first MACH points!):
Zhora Saturday Jumpers (QQ #141):
Zhora Saturday Standard (QQ #141):
Alice Saturday Standard (NQ but nice run):
Zhora Sunday Standard (QQ #142):
Zhora Sunday Jumpers (QQ #142):
Alice Sunday Jumpers (AXJ leg #2):
Favorite judge and friend Sherry Jefferson gave us some tricky, trappy courses. Friday we managed a single Q (Alice in Master FAST). But SATURDAY! Zhora earned MACH7 (her seventh agility championship) and Alice earned her Agility Excellent (AX) title, she is now in Master Standard and starts earning MACH points. Still two legs to go for her AXJ (Excellent Jumpers) title, she would have had it yesterday but I overhandled a tunnel near the end and she did exactly what I asked her to do, which was the wrong thing.
We’ve had a lot of time away from agility and I can feel it and it shows. We aren’t fit enough and we aren’t in sync enough. Rusty rusty. Still, my girls are working hard and doing what I ask! And it’s still agility!
Alice Friday FAST (Q):
Zhora Friday Standard (NQ):
Alice Friday Standard (NQ):
Alice Friday Time 2 Beat (nice run but NQ):
Zhora Friday Jumpers (NQ):
Alice Friday Jumpers (NQ):
Zhora Saturday Standard (part 1 of MACH7):
Alice Saturday Standard (Q and AX title):
Alice Saturday FAST (NQ):
Zhora Saturday Jumpers (MACH7!!):
Alice Saturday Jumpers (nice run, handler error!):
We’re starting to get our mojo working again. Judge Frank Gilmer gave us some really challenging tests in his courses. Alice had a Master FAST Q and a Time 2 Beat Q, and some really nice other runs (we were only just starting to really know how to work together when we took the puppy break, and the whole giant COVID break really put such a spanner in the works getting her going initially). Zhora earned her 19th QQ for MACH7 on Saturday! She’s a pro and even she got caught by one of Frank’s evil weave/tunnel traps.
Alice Friday FAST (Q):
Zhora Friday Standard (Q):
Alice Friday Standard (NQ, nice distance and holy crap look at her aframe LOL):
Alice Friday T2B (Q):
Zhora Friday Jumpers (NQ):
Alice Friday Jumpers (NQ):
Zhora Saturday Standard (QQ #139, this run felt great, connected, I trust her so much to do her job properly and independently):
Alice Saturday Standard (NQ but a lot to like her, the opening especially is really good):
Alice Saturday FAST (NQ):
Zhora Saturday Jumpers (QQ #139):
Alice Saturday Jumpers (NQ, but a lovely run. This is a perfect example of how important connection is. I connected with her out of the tunnel, but dropped the connection to check where I was at JUST the wrong time, and she drove out to what was in front of her, as she should. The rest of the run was awesome):
Our first trial in MANY months. And we’ve had very little training/practice either. So I felt rusty as hell on Friday, somewhat better Saturday. The dogs are in generally good shape and stayed pretty fit during the puppy hiatus. Yours truly, on the other hand? Well…I have some work to do.
Zhora went 3/4, picking up QQ #18 towards MACH7 (2 more to go, then I think I will move her to Preferred, she’ll turn 10 this year), Alice went 0/5 but had some gorgeous runs.
Friday Zhora Jumpers (NQ, she was sniffing a lot at the start and I wasn’t connected when we got going so she missed the weave entry):
Friday Alice Jumpers (NQ but really nice run, I got in her way a bit at the double so got a bar):
Friday Alice FAST (NQ):
Friday Zhora Standard (Q):
Alice Friday Standard (rabies mode, and her only rabies mode at this trial, and a perfect example of why I need to stay connected to her!):
Zhora Saturday Standard (QQ, you will notice that she knocked a bar near the end, it wasn’t set to the correct height so she got a pass for it):
Alice Saturday Standard (NQ):
Zhora Saturday Jumpers (QQ):
Alice Saturday Jumpers (NQ but really nice run, she misstepped in the weaves):
Carpet cleaner = loud. Puppies who’ve had sound desensitization at the right age/stage (thank you Puppy Culture!) = no problem.
The puppies eat almost all their meals in crates now, they climb over each other to get in! Food is a very strong motivator, and the best way to show a dog that something is positive is to make it true. They take turns in different crates with different bedding.
The puppies had their first official trip to the vet (where I work) yesterday (they’d been for happy visits a couple of times first). They had their checkups, first distemper-parvo shots (once again, I had a nomograph run on Alice, so we knew that the ideal vaccine times for this litter were 7 and 11 weeks for DHPP), and microchips. They did GREAT!
They’ve also been eating at least one meal a day alone or in pairs in crates, to help them start learning that crates are ok, and I will also start feeding the ones who may be flying on a plane to go home in a Sherpa bag so they are used to that too. You can’t guarantee that they’ll be perfect, but at least they’re getting some experience with it!
