DogSport Essay Contest

Earlier this year I won a free subscription to DOGSport Magazine, a bi-monthly magazine covering all aspects of canine sports. It's a pretty good read, and I was happy to start receiving the publication because I follow them on Twitter as well. I had noticed in the first issue I had received that the magazine was running a contest where the winner received a year's worth of entry fees from DOGSport Magazine (about $4,000 total for the year of 2012).

Basically you had to write (in 500 words, or less) why the magazine should pick you to win the prize. In return, the winner will help promote the magazine at the trials entered and do photos and write-ups for the magazine. Sounds perfect for me, right?

Unfortunately, you had to pick only one dog and one event. I originally was going to write about LaMesa and our new budding partnership, but after the latest successes with Dally and the sudden change in her attitude towards competing, I had a tough decision between writing about each girl. So I did my best to try to sum up my desire to represent DOGSport with Dally in one essay and LaMesa in another, and asked a couple of co-workers to choose which one they felt was the better entry. Here are both essays:

LaMesa:

A Few Roadblocks Towards a Partnership

Have you ever been given a golden opportunity, only to not be able to fully embrace it due to circumstances that you really can't control? That’s how I feel about my young Swedish Vallhund, LaMesa, and her agility career.

Thanks to a family friend, I got an opportunity to own a Swedish Vallhund puppy with great athletic potential. The breeder said this one pup showed more interest in running around and jumping than standing stacked on the groom table, so she thought the runt of the litter could be a success in the agility arena. One look at her little nubbed tail scurrying around at high speeds and I knew we would make a great team.

"Mesa" is my second dog, but she’s been a whole new challenge for me. While my first agility dog's early career was full of just making the time and almost a lack of enthusiasm, Mesa is a firecracker with the drive to do whatever she can to please me. When she looks up at me after we’ve completed a series or finished running a course, it’s like she’s saying, “Did I do good, momma?” She waits for nothing more than just a pat on the head and a “good girl.” Working with her has been refreshing for me and very educational.

I see so much potential in my little furry partner, however it’s been hard to get the ball rolling and keeping it on the right track. Things have been slow for us to due to a lack of funds for more training and more trials. When looking at the budget and trying to decide if I should campaign my older Corgi (who's own agility career blossomed this year) more than the younger Vallhund, LaMesa generally gets the short end of the stick.

I always assumed it’d be physically and mentally challenging to run two dogs at a trial, but I never really realized how hard it would be on the on the pocketbook. I’d do just about anything to not have to think twice before travelling to support my favorite American Kennel Club agility trials and show both dogs to their full potentials. Mesa has a strong potential to compete annually at the AKC Nationals, and even make a run at the AKC National Invitational once she's solid in Excellent B.

So why should DOGSPort Magazine choose Mesa and I as the recipients of the entry fees? It would mean that LaMesa never had to sit on the sidelines in 2012, giving us the chance to accomplish our goals and making things were just a little easier when it comes to difficult monetary decisions. The advantage of not having to worry about entry fees also means being able to attend clinics to improve our partnership, all while sporting the DOGSport brand.

Dally:
The Trials & Tribulations of Training a Corgi for Agility

“Training a dog is a lot like training a horse, only the animal is smaller and you’re not on top of them--unless you fall on them.” This has been my training mantra since I started training and competing in dog agility four years ago. I grew up training and showing horses, but after life took me further from my horses, I turned to my Pembroke Welsh Corgi and decided she needed a job and I needed something to train.

Dally is my heart-dog. I got her as an 8-week-old puppy before work forced us to travel around the United States for various lengths of time. Because I had to leave my horses and family behind, Dally became my everything--and she still is. She’s been through the tears and the laughter, the moving boxes and the long hauls. We embarked on an incredible journey when we discovered agility after finally settling in Lexington, Ky.

At the beginning, we struggled with the typical agility challenges: the weave poles, distance work, consistency, etc. It was then that I also learned about that infamous “Corgi attitude.” We’ve had those days--and by "we" I mean Dally"--where she just didn’t feel like running the course my way…or even running the course at all.

And Dally’s not your "typical" fast Corgi. She often somehow "knows" the standard course time and run just barely under time to qualify. For a while, it felt like she just didn't feel the urge to put forth much effort in running faster than a gently lope.

She’s been a challenge, but has rewarded me by teaching valuable lessons in patience, forgiveness, and humor, and the best part of all, recently, Dally has simply blossomed.

At the mature age of 6, she’s decided that faster is better. We’re now racking up the AKC PACH points. Something clicked in her mind and she now believes that trials can be just as much fun as training, and she’ll pull me to the ring and be feisty at the start line. We make the ring crew laugh as we do our normal preparations of getting excited to run, while she makes very ferocious Corgi noises, only to be all business upon hearing, “Go.”

Now that we’ve hit our stride, we’re looking to qualify for the AKC Nationals. Unfortunately, my tight budget seems to hold us back. While Dally's potential is unlimited, my limited funds put a cap on how much training we can receive and how many competitions we can attend. I’d love to have more money to put towards attending clinics to learn more to be a better handler for Dally, but those goals seem like they're just out of reach. Instead, we enjoy our time at local trials.

I’d love to see Dally's potential fulfilled in 2012 before her age starts to catch, and the help from DOGSport Magazine would be a giant step in the right direction with the DOGSport brand.

Can you guess which one I chose? I decided to send in my essay about Dally because it showed more about what we've been through, while I'm sure there were probably quite a few entries about budding partnerships like mine and Mesa's. The winners will be chosen no later than Oct. 1, so I have a few more weeks until I know my fate. It would be a big help to have this opportunity next year, since I'm sure my ability to train and trial will be stunted due to wedding savings and preparations.

Keep your fingers crossed, and I'll keep you updated!

Finally! Photos!

I finally received the photos I ordered from the photographer at the Milford CPE Agility Trial back in March--LaMesa's first-ever agility trial. (Granted, I didn't order them until late July, but the photog was on vacation and was able to upload them for me as soon as she got home--good customer service!) I ordered two of LaMesa: one going up the dog walk and one coming out of a tunnel, and one of Dally stepping off the teeter ever-so-dainty.

I love how she's stretching out her front leg here!

I've decided this is what it looks like when a chupacabra is rushing out from the sewers to attack its prey. ;-)

She looks so small here!

I have much more to post, and I know I need to do better about updating things. But we're getting into the busy-season for agility trials, so I'll have plenty to write about then!

Catching Up: NADAC in Buckner

So my friend Merinda is very active in NADAC (North American Dog Agility Council), having qualified for the NADAC National Championships twice--an amazing feat when you consider there aren't a lot of NADAC trials within close driving distance like there are AKC trials. Because of this, she's always doing her best to talk anyone in our group to join her for a trial. I've been to one trial with Dally last year, so when the opportunity came in July to enter one that's an hour away, I decided it'd be great to run Mesa in an indoor soccer facility on some fun courses...and let Dally play in her favorite class: Tunnelers.

Mesa ran her three classes first, first attacking Touch N Go, a class where there are no jumps so all dogs in all jump heights compete against eachother. The obstacles include the contacts (A-frame and dow walk), tunnels, and hoops (hoops that stand so dogs go through instead of over). Mesa blasted through it--the second fastest Novice dog (the fastest was a Border Collie)! So, she qualified and won her "jump height."

In Regular 1 & 2 (standard, only you run the course one way, then turn around and run it the opposite way), it included six weave poles, jumps, dog walk, A-frame, and hoops. The first way in Regular 1, Mesa handled it realy well, running fast and fluid, even hitting her weave entrance! I was so proud of her--she won her height and qualified. In Regular 2, she ran really well, except coming off the dog walk she noticed that a big fan had just been turned on (it wasn't on during Regular 1), and it spooked her, so she ran into the opposite end of the tunnel (an off-course). I picked her back up, sent her into the correct end of the tunnel, and she came out and nailed her weaves yet again! She ran clean the rest of the course, but with the off-course, she didn't qualify, but still won her jump height. Such a good girl!

Then Dally's turn finally came when she got to run in Tunnelers--all tunnels all the time. She loved it! She was fired up, rearing to go (as you can tell in the video) and you could tell after a while she was like, "You mean I can go through just tunnels?? Yes!!" She won her jump height and qualified. I hadn't entered Mesa in the class because I hadn't thought about it, but I'm sure she would have torn it up as well--maybe a little too fast to be able to direct her.

So it was a successful day at the NADAC trial presented by RuFF (Run For Fun). After that day, I decided to go ahead and register the girls in NADAC so we could hit any upcoming local trials for some more training and fun. I won't campaign hard in it like Merinda, but Mesa seemed to love the big, flowing courses, so why not?

Catching Up: The Hoosier

I apologize for the lack of posting to this blog this summer. I believe I got into the same trouble last summer--too much to do and not much time to do it all. Truth is, when I actually get a break, I try to not even think about getting on the computer, which means my blog posts get pushed to the side.

So while apologies have been said, it's time to catch everyone up on the Stump Kids' summer of agility. This post will be about Mesa's big AKC debut at the Hoosier Kennel Club Agility Trial in Lebanon, Ind., June 10-12.

This was an outdoor trial, so we had to contend with many, many distractions all around--a cow show, high school rodeo, and of course everyone's tents already the two rings. Plus, my friend Merinda drove up with Porter (Dally and Mesa's best friend) to compete Saturday and Sunday, so it was like one giant party for Mesa.

Friday it took a lot to keep Mesa's attention before we ran. In Novice Standard, she was a wild woman, running up and barking at the course workers and anyone else who was around. Because of a lot of the run-arounds, we NQd. I blame myself for not making her focus throughout the run. When she would finally come back to me, I'd run on to continue the course--a tribute to being competitive and running a seasoned dog like Dally. So after really thinking about how I needed to run her in jumpers, I decided that if I had to call her back to me, we'd stop and I'd take a deep breath before we continued. Fortunately the design of the course didn't give Mesa an opportunity to really do much running and barking. We had one hiccup with the weave entry, but besides that, she ran clean, fast, and (most importantly) with me! She Qd for her first Nov B JWW leg with a score of 100 and a time of 30.88/43. Here is her run. Her first Nov FAST run wasn't much to write about. My goal for the run was to get her back on the teeter (in STD she was bounced off the teeter and did a somersault, so I didn't want her to be scared of it) and to work on her weaves. We accomplished those tasks, but ran out of time to do the bonus and accrue enough points...oh well, I accomplished the little goals.

After talking with one of the judges from the weekend that I know pretty well, I spent a lot of time working on Mesa's focus before our run and working on the little ideas that the judge gave me. Our Standard run was better--I used the contact obstacles as opportunities to have her stop, look at me, and we both would take a deep breath (or at least I'd like to think that she took a deep breath, too). However, she still got excited to hear Porter's barks during her run, which would break her concentration all to pieces. We didn't get our weaves, and a few times she just ran like a goof, so it was just a good learning experience. Her jumpers run started off stressed because right before our run I had to take her into the tent where she was crated to get more treats and she saw that Dally's crate was empty (my mom had taken her home because it was getting so hot). Plus, the jumpers ring was right next to Merinda's tent where Porter was crated--you can hear his barks in the background and actually see her try to figure out how to get to him. I did do a better job of getting her to come back to me and focus. I actually tried to Q in her FAST run, but we had some struggles with the send, so NQ. Oh well--it was a frustrating day, but I learned some new things...yet again.

Sunday, the third and final day, saw a brighter time for her STD and JWW runs. In her STD run, she finally nailed her weaves on the third try, and only ran off to bark at a course worker one time. She actually earned a Q in that run with a score 89--her first Nov B STD Q! She ran well in her JWW run, but she wasn't able to do her weaves in the three allotted chances, so it was NQ. However, she ran better with me, so I had to be happy with that.

So her first AKC trial weekend came out to have two Qs--1 leg for her Nov B STD and 1 leg for her Nov B JWW. And lots of life experiences and lessons!

Of course Dally ran all three days that weekend. Long story short, she went 3-for-3 in STD accruing 16, 13, and 17 PACH points along the way. Her Jumpers runs saw an extremely slow Corgi, so NQs. But, hey, 46 PACH points in one weekend for Dally is pretty darn good! Her runs on Friday and Saturday.

Next up: Buckner, Ky., NADAC trial where Mesa ran in three classes and Dally ran in one.

Conquering the Weave Poles

Just an update on Mesa's weave pole training. We've gone through all the stages of the 2x2 instructional video, and Mesa's done really well. It is refreshing to watch your dog just all of a sudden "get it" when they see the poles in line--it's like their light bulb moment! That's how it was with Mesa.

She loves her weave poles! Any time she sees them and she's near them, she wants to go weave, which is great! She's always attacked them with gusto--never walking or trotting through them, but doing the "small dog hop" between them and tearing her way through the sets. It's refreshing for me to see her do this all the time, unlike Dally's inconsistent weaves (she may walk through them, trot, half-hop, or do beautiful hops through the whole thing--you never know).

In Merinda's class on June 7, she set up a couple of open courses with 6 weaves (in-line) with some hard entrances to use as a tune-up for Mesa's AKC debut later that week (coming up in the next blog post). It took a couple of missed entries, but then she nailed the weaves! It was such a great feeling!

Now we're working on 12 in-line. Due to my inconsistent/time-crunched schedule, it's only been in the back yard (but a different spot) or at Sandra's right now--no trips to the park or other locations. We've gone from a 90% entrance hitting rate to about 70%, and she's starting to pop out at the tenth pole--not good. So we'll go back to almost the beginning to get her entrances back to being consistent, then work on the weaves in two sets of 6 (with a few feet in between) to try to stop the dreaded tenth pole pop-out (which can be a killer at trials, trust me!).

Pinch Handler

In baseball there are pinch hitters and runners, and some times in dog agility you need someone to step in when you're not able to handle your own dog. If you're lucky, your dog and the pinch handler will mesh well and run well at a trial. If you're not...well...sorry about your luck, I guess.

Luckily, my experience was a positive one. After suffering my stress fracture at the CPE trial, Merinda offered to run Dally at the Hamilton AKC trial for me since I had already sent my entries and it's one of our favorite trial venues. I went ahead and withdrew Mesa's Novice FAST entry, since I knew there was no way she'd run for anybody else. For three weeks Merinda worked with Dally in Melanie's class getting some pointers from me and learning from Melanie about handling a non-distance dog. (Porter, her Cardigan, works very well at a distance from her, and he runs totally different from Dally.) I'd go along to the classes, but I'd take Mesa outside to work on other things that my booted-foot could handle on uneven ground.

Just a couple of days before the Hamilton trial, I was released from my walking boot, but I wasn't 100% yet. I wanted Merinda to still handle Dally as planned because I wasn't sure how my foot would handle things, plus I knew she had been working so hard trying to figure out Dally and giving more than 110%.

I couldn't have made a better decision. Merinda and Dally meshed quite well (though it didn't hurt that Merinda introduced Dally to tripe patties from the Bluegrass Barkery). Her first standard run, Dally was running great, but I think Merinda took her eye off of Dally for a split-second and Dally ran past a jump. No worries--that could have easily happened (and has happened) with me handling her. Her first jumpers run saw Dally popping out of the weaves, but still a solid run.

Finally Merinda was able to break through and handled Dally to her first Excellent B Standard Preferred Q (first MXP leg) on Sunday! It was a great run to watch. Unfortunately another weave bobble in jumpers meant no double Q, but at least we scored one Q with the experiment.

Let me tell you, it was hard watching someone bond and work with your dog. I knew Merinda was a great handler because she's a great trainer and teacher, but I didn't think the experiment would be as much of a success as it was. I'd walk the course with Merinda, trying to predict what Dally might do on the course and show Merinda what I would do if I were handling Dally. Then I'd tell her, "This is what I would do...but you're running her and I trust your judgement."

Oh, and I can't forget to boast that Merinda and Porter earned their first ever Double Q on Saturday of Hamilton, then on Sunday Merinda earned a Double Q herself with Dally's standard Q and Porter's jumpers Q. It was a great weekend for her, and it was great celebrating her success.

I'm very grateful to have such a good friend like Merinda that stepped up and offered to work with and run Dally for me. I had always offered to run Porter for her while she underwent her chemotherapy a couple of years ago, but she always sucked it up and had the extra strength gumption and ran Porter herself every time. I wish I had had that gumption to run Dal myself in my boot, but I think that'd be a little too awkward. :-)

(I had some video issues, but I was able to get a couple of Dally's run recorded, so they'll be up soon.)

Mesa & the Weave Poles: Take 2

You might remember my post about Mesa attending "Weave Pole Boot Camp" back in April. Well, she was doing great--weaving all 12 poles in line, hitting 90-degree entrances off of jumps, and allowing me to run a good distance parallel with her while she weaved. She was displaying great form. with fast hops between the poles.

That is until we took it back to Sandra's and worked on the in-line weaves there. She'd run by the first few poles, then hop in and finish the rest. Or, she'd just do a middle set. Or, she'd just run right by them. This was frustrating to me because I couldn't understand why she can do the poles perfectly at home in the back yard, but go somewhere else (even some place she's been training in almost every week since November) and she can't nail her entries. This is when Merinda told me I needed to work her in different places and to start moving around with the weave poles. This was foreign to me because Dally never needed this. I worked her mainly at the BFO field when we started out, and she has been just fine. That's when I get reminded (time and time again): Mesa is a totally different dog from Dally.

So what to do? For the past week, I've been learning Susan Garrett's 2x2 Weave Poles, thanks to the video Merinda loaned to me. I've walked Mesa through the steps, this time working in many different places: a new spot in our back yard, my parents' garage and front yard (during a 3-day visit last week), the local park, and Sandra's. It's been hard for me understand all of the training involved, and since Mesa wasn't started on shaping and offering behaviors like other younger dogs from our group, I knew we could be at a disadvantage.

But some how one day it clicked. I've been doing my best to be patient and not lure Mesa into the entrances, like Garrett warns against. I have to admit, there have been a few times that I was just getting frustrated and once Mesa made one positive move, I'd treat her and we'd be done.

Another small frustration is the lack of the 2x2 weave poles. I've been using my stake-in-the-ground weaves and mimicking the set-up that uses the real 2x2s. In the beginning, I was using a 3-pole base that my dad had made for me while I was training Dally for weaves in my small apartment--it was a set of six, but with it divided in half, and only at 20 inches (as opposed to the 24-inch spacing in competition weave poles now). I used these for the initial training on our concrete slab/porch in the back yard, that way I could throw the treats on the reward line and it'd be easier for Mesa to follow. But now we're working in the yard with the stake-in-the-grounds, so finding the treats is a little harder, but still doable. Plus, I was having to figure out distances and make sure my poles were set up like they should be if I were using the standard 2x2 pole bases.

I'm lucky enough to use the standard 2x2 weave pole bases at Sandra's, which I did Monday and Tuesday of this week, so that has been a big help.

Today at lunch we were able to get the four weave poles in line. A few times Mesa missed the entrance, but then she'd get it. Now to keep working the entrance and arc, all while hopefully adding the third set of two weave poles for six in line Thursday on our lunch. Then Mesa will have a three day break from weaves as she sets off for her last conformation show in Cincinnati Friday through Monday, so I'm hoping she'll come back Monday afternoon ready to weave six and move on to "double sixes" as Garrett calls it.

My goal is to hopefully translate this success to her having the same success anywhere we go to weave: the park, Sandra's, mom and dad's, a TRIAL... She's entered in her first AKC agility trial June 10-12, which is outdoors and hosted by my dad's kennel club. I'm really hoping we can nail these weaves down by then and she'll be able to post a few Qs that weekend in her big debut. Then we can move on and get the ball rolling on what I hope will be a promising agility career for Mesa--12 weave poles and all!

Anyone else have experience with 2x2 weave poles?