CPE Trial Take 2

This past Sunday, the girls and I celebrated Easter in our own unique way--with a trip to Milford, Ohio, for another CPE trial. I decided if I couldn't spend the holiday with my family, enjoying our customary Easter brunch, I would stay busy by running six courses with Dally and Mesa and get more experience under Mesa's collar.

The end results were great--Dally went 3-for-3, earning Qs and first places in Wildcard Level 2, Standard Level 3, and Snooker Level 3. This finally finished her Level 2 title (two years after we had finished everything else--Wildcard is only offered once a weekend, and when you go to a small amount of CPE trials, it's hard to finish up levels quickly). She ran very well, happily going through tunnels and allowing me to run different courses with her than I would with Mesa. Running Dally is so much more relaxing than Mesa, so I appreciate her "Dependable Dally" moniker she's been given.

Mesa also went 3-for-3 on the day, earning Qs and a first place in Wildcard Level 1, second place in Standard Level 1, and second place in Snooker Level 1. Mesa finished her Standard Level 1 title! In her Standard run, she got a little too excited about the A-frame and hopped on that, earning a fault. Also, the smaller dog walk was deemed "unsafe" right before her run, so they replaced it with a straight tunnel, thus allowing her to shoot out of the tunnel extremely fast and barreling through the next jump. So, with two faults, she broke her win streak and earned second place. Oh well, it was good experience and a Q is a Q!

Her Snooker run was actually two-fold. We ran one course, which was not very fluid, and she went to go into the tunnel that started the closing after her third red jump. The judge whistled us off the course, thus NQing our run, but thankfully someone stopped him and said we were still OK in our run, because I still needed a "color" before I started the closing and could have done that tunnel again. So we ran back to the starting line for a re-run, which was a blessing because this run was much smoother than the last. She earned 49 points and was beaten by one point for another second place. I was proud of my little girl, though, because before our run I had heard other exhibitors talking about how Snooker is for "controllable dogs" and it'd be "hard for a young, fast dog" to Q. Well, my "young, fast dog" Qd just fine! :-)

I came home with one more thing from the trial, though this was one not expected, nor invited...a stress fracture. Recently I have been increasing my running distance as I've started training for the Bluegrass 10K in July. Saturday I ran four miles (my longest distance ever), then walked the pups 2.5 miles. The next day was the trial, and after a couple of runs I started noticing sharp pains in my right foot every time I put weight on it. I had hoped it was just a muscle pulling from my hip (long story, but bad hip), so I gritted through the day. Monday night was Mesa's final class in the "puppy/novice/intermediate" level class at Goose Creek, so I gritted through that class and went to the doctor Tuesday morning. Xrays show a "slight" stress fracture on the outside of my right foot. I'm currently in the walking boot and will have Xrays pulled again on three weeks to see if the fracture has started to heal or progressed. Until then, walks with the girls are being done by Matt or my friend Merinda. I've pulled Mesa's Novice FAST entry at the Hamilton, Ohio, AKC trial May 21, but Merinda will attempt to run Dally in her Excellent B Standard and JWW classes all weekend.

So now I'm looking at things I can work with Mesa on to keep her training on the right track, but not put a lot of stress on my foot. We've still got the weave poles set in the back yard, and I can walk with long, fast strides alongside Mesa. I wish she was more set on the poles in line (yes, they are in line now!) so I can try to work on just sending her through the weaves independently, but she's still too green for that. Looks like I'll be searching the Internet for ideas of more things to train her...

Weave Pole Boot Camp

Last week I was interviewed on the "Horse in the Morning" online radio show about doing dog agility with a Corgi. For some reason, the host didn't think Corgis were really that agile. I hope I changed his mind.

This brings me to the topic of tonight's blog post. Glenn (the host) had asked me how hard it was to train dogs for agility. I answered saying that most of the obstacles are things dogs do naturally--jump, go through tunnels, climb over things--except for the weave poles. The weaves are the one thing dogs (nor any animal, for that matter) do not do naturally. Training for the weave poles is mainly training muscle memory for the body. Because of this, it's the one thing Mesa hasn't been able to nail down in class.

The past three weeks Mesa has been in "Weave Pole Boot Camp" in the backyard. After the Louisville trial in March, I came home and set up my stick-in-the-ground poles in a thin channel with weave-a-matics (they were staked in at an angle) and ran her through all 12 poles. After a week I was able to put the bases in-line, but kept them at an angle to start teaching her to hop around/over the bases.

Every night we've gone into the backyard and run through the weaves, entering on both the "off-side" and "on-side", as well as with me on both sides. She took to the routine quickly and really enjoys working the weaves. Last week I brought back a jump to add more to the weaves, making her enter the weaves from a 90-degree angle and collect into the weaves. I've even put out a small "puppy" tunnel on one end to use as a discrimination.

She's taken to the poles so naturally, it amazes me. I decided to train her on all 12 weaves, not starting out with six and then adding on after she moves up to Open. I started Dally on only six weaves and it was hard to get her to continue through all 12, so I didn't want that to happen with Mesa. I wanted to start her on all 12, then she would be ready for the transition into Open whenever she earns her Novice titles.

As of now (4/14) the weave poles all almost totally straight, in-line and Mesa is nailing it. Merinda came by tonight to see her in action and was just as excited as I have been, especially to see her doing the "patented two-footed hop" you see most fast small dogs do in the weaves.

I hope to get a video soon of her training in the backyard.

I think I might have to add the wires once the weaves are all straight and in-line, just as an added reassurance to keep her in the weaves. But, I might just wait and see how she does independently.

Mesa Tries Herding

I know this blog is titled "Agility on Stumps," but it's basically my way of chronicling Mesa and Dally's training. I've thrown a few posts in about their Rally experiences, so why not share Mesa's most recent experience outside of the agility ring ... herding.

I was lucky to have been forwarded an email from Joyce Burnham of Custom Stock Dogs, a Border Collie/stockdog trainer based out of southwest Illinois, saying she was doing some herding lessons and instinct tests at a farm in Cincinnati in April. I quickly signed up for a herding instinct slot for Mesa, knowing she already had a strong instinct when it came to herding the horses and myself (including Matt, who is still sporting a bruise on his calf from a nip last week). I wanted to see what she'd do turned loose on sheep.

(Side note: Anyone that knows Dally well already knows she doesn't care for sheep. She loves to chase after the horses on the farm, and herds me around the house from time to time, but after a trip to a Central Kentucky Herding Group Club working meeting, where she completely ignored the sheep, I have already decided she did not feel the need to run around the smelly, fluffy beasts, when she can sit next to people and be told how pretty she is and be petted. So, while Dally came along for the clinic, she hung out by the fence waiting for the return trip home. The documented proof can be seen in the photo above--Mesa is barking at the sheep while Dally chooses to ignore them and my instance to "Look at the sheepies, Dal!".)

When we first got to the site, Joyce told me she wanted Mesa to stand by the fence while Joyce worked with some of the older dogs so we could gauge her interest in the sheep. Let me tell you, there was no doubt how excited she was from the get-go. She barked and barked, having herself a great time. She'd bark at the sheep, bark at the dog herding the sheep, then turn around and bark at the group behind us as if to say, "You see those sheepies? I'm gonna get those sheepies!"

(Another side note: My two were the only non-Border Collie/Aussie dogs there. There were a few owners who wondered if Mesa had the drive to run around the big field. I just laughed thinking to myself they don't know what a little firecracker she is. Needless to say, her performance hushed them up about her size.)

Finally Joyce took Mesa into the small pasture with her. I was nervous that Mesa wouldn't want to work with Joyce and would stay by the fence by me. To my amazement, she only ran back to me a couple times, as if to say "Are you watching, mom?? Isn't this fun??"

Mesa ran around the field, circling the sheep tightly around Joyce, even changing direction when asked to do so, and chasing down any rogue sheep that dared to separate from the group. There were many comments about how she was the Energizer Bunny and many were amazed at her strong instincts, even though she was only 17 months old and had never seen a sheep in her life. I was grinning from ear to ear while I was recording the whole thing--Mesa was having the time of her life. We finally ended the session when she ran back to me for a fourth time, this time limping (most likely due to slipping on the wet grass, since the storms were moving in...she's back to 100% now). She was out of breath and chugged a bowl of water down, but she looked like she had had the time of her life.

Mesa's excitement with the herding has sparked a new interest in me to maybe give herding one more try. Unfortunately, my time and funds are limited, and I'm not sure I can devote the time needed to properly train her to be successful in the AKC herding arena. I know the time my friend Merinda puts into training her Cardigan, and I hear the horror stories of the difficulty of what some might think are simple tasks, and I wonder if I would be able to do such things. However, I know she loves it, and I would love to be able to hone that instinct for good, especially when I'm around horses, I don't want to have to lock her in a stall every time I ride or work near them.

Here are the videos of Mesa's instinct work. I did them in three separate videos because I wasn't sure how long the session would last and I worried about uploading them to YouTube. I uploaded them in order, though.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Images of the Louisville Cluster

I was lucky enough to get a few images of Dally and I running in the Excellent B Standard on Saturday of the Louisville Cluster AKC Agility Trial March 19. These three photos bring a smile to my face every time I see them, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Gotta love the "badonkadonk" of the Corgi!

I love how Dally always watches the teeter as it goes down. The stop action on this photo is great--notice it hasn't hit the ground yet?

I love this photo because it shows our mutual love and how much fun you know she's having.

Rally Titles

A few weeks ago I took a Friday off from work to take the girls to Queen City Dog Training Club for two AKC Rally trials in one day. In December Dally had earned the first two legs towards her Rally Novice title and Mesa had earned one leg towards her title, so I was hoping we could finish out both titles in one day. And the day was a success!

I entered Dally in only the morning trial because I figured she could pretty much get her title by going 3-for-3. And, she did. But let's just say, I don't think Rally is Dally's thing--she gets bored with it. And I have to keep my eye on her that she stays by my side and doesn't start walking behind me. Because of this, I was trying to do the course by memory and when it came to a point when I knew I had to go to the right to go into the serpentine, I did a 90 degree right turn. WRONG! It was supposed to be a 270 degree left turn. That meant Dally got a -10 points--she would have scored a 96 (good enough to place fourth), but instead she scored an 86. It was still a Q, but not a high score like she deserved. Oh well...it's the title that's most important, and she earned it going 3-for-3. She's now "Frontiers Honkytonkbadonkadonk CGC, AX, AXJ, AXP, AJP, RN"

While Dally plods along the course, Mesa tends to be uber excited to do anything, and since this was one week after her agility trial debut, she thought she could cheer on all the dogs at the obedience trial. And she had the advantage of going after Dally so I had learned my lesson and we did the 270 to the left and ended with a score of 95 and fourth place! She barked at me in excitement only a few times, but she stayed pretty calm and controlled.

With Dally done in the morning, I was able to concentrate solely on Mesa to hopefully finish her title as well. This time, there was not as much barking (I wonder if she figured out we weren't at agility?), but she did try to herd me through a few of the maneuvers on the second course. I was very proud of her, though, because both courses called for a sit and for me to walk around her and she nailed it both times! (In December there were down and walk-arounds and she could not handle me walking around her. Needless to say I really worked on that because I also knew that would help with our start-line-stays for agility.) She scored a 90 on the second course and placed third to finish her title. (I feel the second judge was a little more critical in her judging when comparing the scores of everyone in both courses. Oh well.) Her registered name is now "Mill Creeks Chyna Rust RN"

Now that we're done with all this "obedience nonsense" and back to concentrating on agility. The countdown is on for Mesa's AKC agility debut, and I've sent in her and Dally's entries for a NADAC trial in April in Taylorsville, Ky.

Mesa's Agility Trial Debut

This is it...what we've all been waiting for. Mesa made her big agility trial debut over the weekend at a CPE (Canine Performance Events) trial in Milford, Ohio. Of course, Dally went along and competed as well, so I'll tell you about her trial first.

So far, Dally has stayed at the 8 inch jump height for CPE, mostly because we rarely do that venue and the amount of obstacles isn't as high as in AKC. She's in Level 3 and 4 for everything, so the courses are finally starting to get to the level of AKC Excellent. In Jumpers Level 3, she Qd and placed 2nd with a time of 42.47/47. Standard Level 3, she Qd and placed 2nd with a time of 55.61/61. In Jackpot Level 4, she Qd and placed 1st with 54 points and a time of 50.78/57. And, finally, in Full House Level 3, she Qd and placed 2nd with 26 points and a time of 39.59/40.

Overall, it was a good day for Dally--she ran well and we had fun. That's all that matters.

When I sent in the entries, I decided to only run Mesa in three of the four classes because I wasn't sure how the Jackpot would play out. I started her in Level 1 because that level does not require weave poles nor a teeter. The teeter isn't a problem, but we're still working on the weave poles being tilted out and a small channel. This is why I think CPE is the best venue for beginner dogs.

In Full House, Level 1, our first run of the day, I was nervous only because I didn't know how she would act or what she would do--would she run around the course? Run out? Pee in the tunnel? She was full of excitement, barking in the line and barking at the speaker that proclaimed "Go." I wanted to run her the same course I mapped out with Dally, however she had other thoughts and loved the dog walk. But all was good, I just changed it up and we ran through the course with no problems. We ended with a Q and first place with 25 points and a time of 40.13/40.

After a long wait through Jackpot and most of Standard, it was finally time for Mesa's Standard, Level 1. I came up with the idea of taking Mesa for a short run up and down the short road in front of the building to try to get some of her extra energy out. I had meant to put a front cross in between the jump (#2) and the dog walk (#3), but she came out of the tunnel so fast that I just ran the long way. Not a bad idea, right? Did I mention that it had been raining all day? Apparently I hadn't dried my shoes off well-enough after our run because right at the end of the dog walk, my feet slipped out from under me and down I went. I was able to keep my eye on Mesa, and to my surprise she stayed on the dog walk, hit her contact, and flipped right into the tunnel while I directed her, all from the floor. I was so proud of her for keeping going while I fell--I was afraid she'd jump off to see why I was on the floor. I quickly got back up and we ran through the course without any hiccups. I was so happy and proud of her!! She Qd and placed 1st with a (smoking) time of 28.88/51.

Mesa's Jumpers, Level 1, was the last class of the long day, but she stayed on the ball. She had a couple of moments of being a puppy--we barked at the photographer before going into the first tunnel, had a conversation about going into the third tunnel, and then ran by the last jump. But we stuck together, and I even got a rear cross in, and she Qd to place 1st, yet again, with a time of 33.67/52. She went 3-for-3, with three 1st places and her Handlers Games Level 1 title in her first agility trial ever!

One of the BFO trainers described her as a "firecracker" and I think that's the best term to call her. She loves agility and she loves running with me. This is evident when we're at training and, now, at trials because she just barks and barks and refuses to sit and be still for one moment on the start line. Now Merinda is working with me on trying to contain her excitement by waiting out her barks. Last night at class I would just stand at the start line while she barked and jumped around until she finally sat and was quiet--as soon as she was, I'd just run flat out for her reward. It's going to time and a lot of patience from me, but it's something just as important as nailing those weave poles. I need to have a calm down to start our runs and to have a decent length start line lead-out as we get into AKC courses, and this is the foundation for that.

Once I get a photo from the photographer at the trial, I'll share for everyone to see. Until then, enjoy the videos.

This Friday the girls and I are heading to Queen City for a rally trial--two trials in one day. I'm hoping to finish both their Rally Novice titles. I'll let you know how that turns out.

Breakthrough

So I meant to post this earlier this past week, but time got away from me. I have two new updates on my Stump Kids, so I'll post them separately on here to give them each their due...

Last weekend my friend Merinda and I traveled up to Lewisburg, Ohio, for an AKC trial at Circle G Arena, known affectionately as the "Mud Hole." My goal for the weekend was for me to not get lost in any courses (re: the Nashville trial) and for Dally to continue her speed.

Well, I didn't get lost in any of the courses = mission accomplished for me. And, Dally ran beautifully all four runs! We only Qd once, and it was a much-needed Q to finish up her Excellent A Preferred JWW title, but they were four awesome runs that had me grinning from ear to ear.

First of all, here's her Q run, one that that required me to BYARF (Bust Yo A**, Run Fast) in the opening. There were three ways you could handle this run. The first would have been for me to start off on the left side, run past the first three jumps and do a front cross. The second option would have been start on the left side and rear cross that jump, or the third was to just RLH (Run Like H*ll) on the right side and do no crosses. I decided on option three because I was nervous with the front cross I would not get there in time and I could slow her down and with the rear cross she can some times do them (if she's running fast enough), but I didn't want to slow her down with confusion if she came over that jump and tried to find me. It wasn't a very pretty run, but it got the jump done and she ran fast (which made me run fast)!

Her standard runs were NQs due to little things--but she ran so fast and happy, how could I fault her?? On Sunday our standard course had a 180 towards the end. Most of the time Dally hates those and I have to work deep into the angles to keep her going. This time, she ran tight and fast--I was so happy. We NQd only because I wanted to pull her off an off-course jump and I over-exaggerated my shoulder and pulled her off the jump she needed to take. Oh well! She was so good with everything else, I couldn't have been happier. See for yourself.

Her jumpers run on Saturday was fast and happy, but she popped out of her weaves. Saturday saw a comical Corgi who decided she loved contacts more than tunnels for once.

She's now back in Excellent B for both STD and Jumpers, so now we can start earning Double Qs towards our PAX (soon-to-be PACH in 2013) and maybe see if we can qualify for the AKC Nationals in 4 inches. ;-)

Mesa's weekend was spent training on measuring table in preparations for her first trials. She's measuring right at or so close to 11 inches (the cut-off for the 8-inch jump height is 11") that any amount of relaxation we can get from her on the table will be a big help.

Next post....Mesa's agility trial debut in CPE!!!