You saw our disappointing Hybrid run, but here are our other three successful runs from our 2014 AKC National Agility Championships experience:
Time2Beat: Finished 9th
Jumpers: Finished 12th
Standard: Finished 12th
The trials and tribulations of training a Pembroke Welsh Corgi and Swedish Vallhund for agility.
Showing posts with label Qualifying run. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Qualifying run. Show all posts
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Saturday, May 25, 2013
LaMesa's (Frustrating) Trip at Hamilton
With Dally, I expect to qualify during a trial with her. It hasn't always been that way, but now she's known as "Dependable Dally". (Though she does keep me grounded at times, don't worry--I can't get cocky with her.)
(Our Standard run on Saturday I left out about four obstacles. Don't ask me what I was thinking--I had just run that course perfectly with Dally. But I figured out that I was off course by the time we hit the table. Oops. Oh well, it was a good laugh for all of us.)
Sunday's runs with LaMesa were probably the most frustrating I've had in a while. Standard started with another weave pole pop-out, followed by a few missed obstacles. She did nail a tough discrimination that her sister didn't make, so that was a positive.
Finally in Jumpers, just when I was losing all hope, we somehow pulled off that rare Qualifying run. That's right--no "just one thing", no knocked bars, no popped-out weaves.
It felt good to know we actually can put together a full, clean, smooth run. I know we still have a lot to work on--my timing is off with my front crosses with her now that I'm doing those more than rears. I had wanted to throw in a blind with that course like I did with Dally's run, but I wasn't fast enough because I was worried to take my eyes off of her. I need to trust her, and she needs to focus a little more on the obstacles than me.
So now we'll work on weave pole boot camp and a few other things. We will be doing one day at the Derby City Agility Association's trial next weekend, then three days at the Hoosier Kennel Club trial (my dad's trial) the weekend after. We'll also be attempting FAST again for the first time since I first trialled LaMesa at the Hoosier, so that ought to be interesting.
But with LaMesa, it's a crapshoot if we'll qualify or not. We're still not 100% a team and still trying to figure each other out. That's OK--she's only 3. It just some times gets frustrating when I see other "young" teams very successful. But I know that time will come for us, too....soon....I hope.
Hamilton was a frustrating weekend with LaMesa. We're back to having weave pole issues. Whomp whomp. It's back to weave pole boot camp.
Case in point, our Excellent 12" Jumpers course on Saturday:
(Our Standard run on Saturday I left out about four obstacles. Don't ask me what I was thinking--I had just run that course perfectly with Dally. But I figured out that I was off course by the time we hit the table. Oops. Oh well, it was a good laugh for all of us.)
Sunday's runs with LaMesa were probably the most frustrating I've had in a while. Standard started with another weave pole pop-out, followed by a few missed obstacles. She did nail a tough discrimination that her sister didn't make, so that was a positive.
Finally in Jumpers, just when I was losing all hope, we somehow pulled off that rare Qualifying run. That's right--no "just one thing", no knocked bars, no popped-out weaves.
It felt good to know we actually can put together a full, clean, smooth run. I know we still have a lot to work on--my timing is off with my front crosses with her now that I'm doing those more than rears. I had wanted to throw in a blind with that course like I did with Dally's run, but I wasn't fast enough because I was worried to take my eyes off of her. I need to trust her, and she needs to focus a little more on the obstacles than me.
So now we'll work on weave pole boot camp and a few other things. We will be doing one day at the Derby City Agility Association's trial next weekend, then three days at the Hoosier Kennel Club trial (my dad's trial) the weekend after. We'll also be attempting FAST again for the first time since I first trialled LaMesa at the Hoosier, so that ought to be interesting.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Gotta Love Agility at Hamilton
This past weekend, we returned to the Hamilton Dog Training Club's AKC Agility Trial at the Game Time facility. I love this trial. I don't really know why, but I think it's because Dally usually does really well at the facility. Sure there are some negatives to it (it tends to get rather warm in there the later it gets, if it's tall to small the days are long for us), but it's in a nice area and the foot and equipment is wonderful.
Dally racked up another QQ on Saturday with two great runs. I was a little concerned with how she'd do, considering on Friday she started limping pretty badly on our walk. An emergency trip to visit Dr. Forry, her chiropractor, revealed it was more soft tissue than anything else--she was probably a little sore from the longer walks we went on the day before. So she was put on Traumeel (thank you Merinda and Melanie!), and she seemed to be fine the rest of the weekend!
Here's her Masters Standard run from Saturday--the speed demon! We ended up with 26 points on this run.
By the Jumpers, she was a little slower, but we still got 9 points:
On Sunday, she was moving and grooving so fast, I couldn't pull her off of an off-course tunnel. The chute was to the left of the tunnel, and they were supposed to go teeter, jump, turn left to chute. Well, she locked onto that tunnel and took it. (I made the mistake of calling "Tunnel" even though my body was turned towards the chute--my mind was reading that she was going to the tunnel and I was thinking "Not the tunnel!" So I said "Tunnel!" instead of "Chute!" Oops.) Oh well. The rest of the course was fast and she had fun. She made up for it with 6 points in Jumpers later that day.
Dally likes to remind me we can't be perfect all of the time, so I always have to thank her for keeping me grounded. I am loving running her right now--we're having a lot of fun and I don't feel stressed when we're running any more. That's the icing on the cake right there.
LaMesa has some good news to share from her time at Hamilton, but I'll save that for tomorrow's post. ;-)
Dally racked up another QQ on Saturday with two great runs. I was a little concerned with how she'd do, considering on Friday she started limping pretty badly on our walk. An emergency trip to visit Dr. Forry, her chiropractor, revealed it was more soft tissue than anything else--she was probably a little sore from the longer walks we went on the day before. So she was put on Traumeel (thank you Merinda and Melanie!), and she seemed to be fine the rest of the weekend!
Here's her Masters Standard run from Saturday--the speed demon! We ended up with 26 points on this run.
By the Jumpers, she was a little slower, but we still got 9 points:
On Sunday, she was moving and grooving so fast, I couldn't pull her off of an off-course tunnel. The chute was to the left of the tunnel, and they were supposed to go teeter, jump, turn left to chute. Well, she locked onto that tunnel and took it. (I made the mistake of calling "Tunnel" even though my body was turned towards the chute--my mind was reading that she was going to the tunnel and I was thinking "Not the tunnel!" So I said "Tunnel!" instead of "Chute!" Oops.) Oh well. The rest of the course was fast and she had fun. She made up for it with 6 points in Jumpers later that day.
Dally likes to remind me we can't be perfect all of the time, so I always have to thank her for keeping me grounded. I am loving running her right now--we're having a lot of fun and I don't feel stressed when we're running any more. That's the icing on the cake right there.
LaMesa has some good news to share from her time at Hamilton, but I'll save that for tomorrow's post. ;-)
Friday, February 1, 2013
Ending the Q Drought!
So if you're a regular reader to my blog, you know LaMesa and I have had some struggles in the past year--missed weave entrances, popping out of weaves, dropped bars, etc. And you know we've been working through those issues with the weave pole bootcamp and Dawn Weaver seminar. Well, I'm so happy to say that hard work is finally paying off!
LaMesa's weekend was definitely more successful than Dally's weekend in Nashville. Saturday we started off in Standard. She knocked the second jump, but nailed her weaves!! I was so excited to see her drive to the weave poles and nail all 12 (THE FIRST TIME!). Then we had a little bobble on the teeter--not sure what spooked her, because normally she loves to make the teeter bang, but oh well--she nailed the weaves!
Next came Jumpers--and we were clean! No knocked bars! Twelve weave poles in a row, the first time! After she cleared the triple jump (which tends to be a nemesis of ours some times), I took a deep breath and sent her into the weaves after the tunnel. She drove through them like she was on fire, even hopping out at the end like she was just as excited as I was. Now I was just holding my breath, willing her to jump just a little higher so she wouldn't knock a bar. I even changed my plans on the serpentine because I didn't want to risk her shortening her stride. As she got over the second-to-last jump, I could feel it, but I knew we had one more jump. Once she took off and she landed with that bar still up, I had tears in my eyes and I was hopping up and down--so proud of my little Vallhund! As Merinda says in the video, yes, I did cry a little. It was such a relief, and she ran so beautifully!
Sunday's runs were very successful, but we didn't come away with any Qs. In Standard LaMesa came out like a rocket--she was moving so fast I couldn't get in a planned front cross (which you can see in the video). Then coming off the table, she moved so quickly to the teeter, I couldn't pull her back to jump the triple. Still, we regrouped and continued, and she nailed the weaves yet again, and then rocked an awesome 4 jump serpentine.
In Jumpers LaMesa wasn't moving as quickly as I thought she would be for me to do a rear cross, so I pushed her past a jump. But she still left all the bars up and again drove through those weave poles.
I'm feeling so much more confident handling LaMesa now. A few friends were saying, "No more worrying about those weaves!" But I know differently--there's always a slight worry about the weaves, and the jumps, and everything else. Dally has taught me to never take a clean run for granted and to always continue to train and push for a faster, clean time.
Our next trial isn't until the end of February...ugh!
LaMesa's weekend was definitely more successful than Dally's weekend in Nashville. Saturday we started off in Standard. She knocked the second jump, but nailed her weaves!! I was so excited to see her drive to the weave poles and nail all 12 (THE FIRST TIME!). Then we had a little bobble on the teeter--not sure what spooked her, because normally she loves to make the teeter bang, but oh well--she nailed the weaves!
Next came Jumpers--and we were clean! No knocked bars! Twelve weave poles in a row, the first time! After she cleared the triple jump (which tends to be a nemesis of ours some times), I took a deep breath and sent her into the weaves after the tunnel. She drove through them like she was on fire, even hopping out at the end like she was just as excited as I was. Now I was just holding my breath, willing her to jump just a little higher so she wouldn't knock a bar. I even changed my plans on the serpentine because I didn't want to risk her shortening her stride. As she got over the second-to-last jump, I could feel it, but I knew we had one more jump. Once she took off and she landed with that bar still up, I had tears in my eyes and I was hopping up and down--so proud of my little Vallhund! As Merinda says in the video, yes, I did cry a little. It was such a relief, and she ran so beautifully!
Sunday's runs were very successful, but we didn't come away with any Qs. In Standard LaMesa came out like a rocket--she was moving so fast I couldn't get in a planned front cross (which you can see in the video). Then coming off the table, she moved so quickly to the teeter, I couldn't pull her back to jump the triple. Still, we regrouped and continued, and she nailed the weaves yet again, and then rocked an awesome 4 jump serpentine.
In Jumpers LaMesa wasn't moving as quickly as I thought she would be for me to do a rear cross, so I pushed her past a jump. But she still left all the bars up and again drove through those weave poles.
I'm feeling so much more confident handling LaMesa now. A few friends were saying, "No more worrying about those weaves!" But I know differently--there's always a slight worry about the weaves, and the jumps, and everything else. Dally has taught me to never take a clean run for granted and to always continue to train and push for a faster, clean time.
Our next trial isn't until the end of February...ugh!
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