Wordless Wednesday: A Stump Kid Christmas Card

Wordless Wednesday: Ferocious Stump Kid Fight

Wordless Wednesday: My Teammate

Catching Up: Gonna Be Big Sisters

It has been a long time since I've updated things on this blog. I have quite a bit to catch you up on the lives of the Stump Kids, so we'll do it in spurts.

First, and maybe most important, is that the girls have a big job ahead of them in a few months.

LaMesa's sign: "I'm gonna be a big sister!! (But I'm always your 'Baby Bitz'.)
Dally's sign: "Oh no, another one?? (I'm still #1)"

That's right...the Stump Kids will be adding a third to their posse...only this time, it won't be another Corgi or another Vallhund (and, yes, those were the first guesses by not only my husband, but my family)...

Stump Kid #3

We are expecting Baby A&W February 11, 2015. I think LaMesa's just concerned that it doesn't have a tail because, after all, we don't believe in tails in this house. ;-) 

They say pets can tell when something's different, like a pregnancy. I don't know if I can say that either Dally nor LaMesa have changed their temperaments or attitudes towards anything--they're both about the same. M's cat, Sean, though, has been extra cuddly with me, and sleeps right by my stomach at night in bed since I've found out. 

I found out in mid-June, so I have been continuing to train and compete in agility with the dogs (on top of running and doing CrossFit), however my last agility trial until after the baby comes is this coming weekend. It just worked out that way--we usually don't do any trials in December, and the only trial we hit in January is towards the end of the month, and I won't be allowed to travel very far from home just a couple weeks before I'm due.

I'm currently reading as many tips as possible on how to prepare the pups for the new addition. I know how to prepare for a new puppy, but this will be completely different. We already know about having someone bring a baby blanket from the hospital home before we come home so they can smell the baby. My main concern is Dally, because she's been my number one all her life. Plus the girls have been my life for a long time now, but the baby will take over a lot of our time and be a major part of our lives that I don't think they'll ever be prepared for. I'm not looking to "replace" the pups with the baby--I want them to be a big part of the baby's growth. 

I also worry about LaMesa and how she'll handle a baby/child in our house. She's usually pretty timid around little kids--a lot of the time it's because of their sudden, jerky movements and their rush to see her when we're on our walks. Dally loves little children, so that's not a worry. Though I've been told by those who know LaMesa that she'll probably surprise everyone and easily "adopt" the baby as her own and be very protective of it. 

For now, we'll see. It'll definitely be an adjustment and different life for the Stump Kids from here on out...

Any tips about introducing (spoiled) child-like dogs to a baby are greatly appreciated.

Happy Howl-O-Ween from the Stump Kids!

Happy Howl-O-Ween from the Dynamic Duo!!

Chasing Bags--LaMesa Tackles Lure Coursing

The Stump Kids have been on an agility sabbatical, taking a break from training and trialing for multiple reasons (time off needed, finances, etc.), but that doesn't mean we haven't been totally dead.

Just a little over a week ago, I headed two hours south to Columbia, Ky., to take part in the Bluegrass Coursing Club's Coursing Ability Tests. They offered one test Friday evening, two Saturday, and two on Sunday. We pre-entered Friday just to see if the girls would even be interested. Well, one was very enthralled with it. The other....yeaaahhhh...not so much. Can you guess which was which?

If you haven't guessed, here's a video hint:



So...can you guess who earned her first qualifying leg on Friday, and then the final two legs on Sunday (yes, we went back)? That's right. LaMesa went 3-for-3 to become only the second Swedish Vallhund to earn her CA title!

Here was run #1, in the rain:


(Complete with cheering from the Brews Brothers)

Run #2 on Sunday:


(The yelp at the end of her run was not LaMesa, so don't worry, she wasn't hurt!)

Run #3 on Sunday:



I loved how every time the judge asked me "Ready?" LaMesa answered with a bark. (See, "Ready?" is what I use to rev her up in training when she's getting tired.) I also loved how every time she'd catch the bag at the end, she'd give it a little shake then run towards me like "Did you see me, momma??"

I joked that this was the easiest title I've ever earned with her, but it was so natural! LaMesa loves to run and loves to give it her all, so those 300 yard sprints were nothing for her.

I might go for her CAA, which requires just seven more qualifying runs, but I'm not going to spend the money, nor the time, to drive two hours again. Hopefully the BCC will have some events closer to Lexington, and that's when you'll see me out there. It was a fun break from the usual training and agility, and fun to watch dogs of all breeds go for the bag.

Mill Creek's Chyna Rust RN, AX, AXJ, NF, CA

Catching Up with the Stump Kids: LaMesa & the Hoosier

LaMesa has been making such strides lately...if only we can put it all together! It's always "just that one little thing" when it comes to getting our first QQ. We hit that a few times during the Hoosier Kennel Club trial.

Over the trial, she went 2-for-2 in Novice FAST to earn her title! The sends had tunnels to jumps, so it was easy to just send her and let her run. The way she handled the FAST classes this year (way more points earned than needed) makes me think I really should work with her distance work more and do more competing in FAST. I need to take advantage of her speed more than I do right now.

In her Masters classes, it was just a matter me directing her to the correct obstacles, such as in this Standard class:



But then we redeemed ourselves with this first place run in Jumpers:



On Sunday she won her Standard class and I kept trying to battle the thoughts of "Just go clean for our first QQ" and I think we did our best. Unfortunately she dropped one back toe on the last bar of the triple at the end, causing it to go down. :-(



LaMesa showed a lot of promise this weekend, which excites me. We're now taking a break from agility trials until August. The break should be good for me and Dally, but I don't think LaMesa really cares--she'd rather go all the time anywhere!

Stump Kid Link Love: Bones, Obsessive Paw Licking, Canine Cross Training, Jump Training

I know the blog has been quiet lately, and that's unfortunate because there's been a lot to update you on in the lives of the Stump Kids! I promise I'll do a quick update wrap-up this weekend, but first I wanted to share with you some interesting Internet finds for dog owners and lovers!

Recreational Bones for Dogs (Dogs Naturally): LaMesa loves bones of all types, and she's got some strong teeth and jaws, so we have to be particular about what we get her. This is a great basic article about the positives and negatives of bones for dogs and how to choose the right one for your furry friend.

Why Does My Dog Obsessively Lick His Paws? (Woofipedia): Another article related to LaMesa--she loves to lick and sometimes she will lick her paws a lot. What about your dog? Have you thought maybe he/she has allergies? Read more if you question your dog's licking obsession.

Thinking Outside the Box--Cross Conditioning (FitPaws): I'm all about cross-training when it comes to my fitness, so of course I like to do different things with the Stump Kids to keep their conditioning up. Whether it's hiking, running through tall/thick grass, or working on their FitPaws Peanut, I know that for dogs with long backs such as Corgis and Swedish Vallhunds, it's important to have a strong body. I'd love to do more with canine rehabilitation and conditioning as a career...maybe in some other life...

Total Team Series: Jump Collection Set Point (SpeedDoggie.com): I know LaMesa still has a ways to go with bettering her jumping. And I know I need to be a better handler to cue her for turns and collection. Thanks to Clean Run sharing this on Facebook, I am going to sit and watch more of these videos just to see what I can gather to help me help LaMesa.

Enjoy! If you have a favorite read or video from the week, please share it below so I can find more great things!

Agility Trial: LaMesa at the Border Terrier Trial at Queen City

I'm a little late in posting the wrap-ups from the Border Terrier Club trial at the Queen City Dog Training Club, and for that I apologize! Instead of boring you with why, I'll just get right to it.

This was our first trial back after Nationals. LaMesa had a nice break after the Louisville Cluster, but she was ready to run like nobody's business.

The courses by Peter Liu are usually very challenging, but always fun to run. This weekend they were fast courses, but they did provide their own little problems that maybe you don't see right away on the course map--off course distractions, etc. I guess I unintentionally decided to challenge not only myself but my dogs in doing different things.

For instance, in this Standard run with LaMesa, I should have just let her do the weaves and trusted her at the end for a front cross or blind cross. Instead, I wanted to rear her into the weaves, which meant me getting in her way (which you hear she does not approve), causing her to get pushed out of the entrance and refusing. I could have just pushed her into the correct end, but I didn't trust her. I need to learn to trust LaMesa now that we're getting more trials under her collar.



Sunday we finally saw some success with a clean run, and her second Masters Jumpers leg! The only thing I wish I had handled differently was the first rear cross--I was too late (or too early?), but thankfully she stuck with me and moved forward.




Peter liked starting his courses this weekend with tunnels. I quickly learned that I need to really work with LaMesa on control when it comes to those start lines. In each run that started with a tunnel, she was fired up, which did not allow me to get the right start. She doesn't have a 100% solid start line stay, yet, and she definitely doesn't when it comes to tunnels/chutes at the start.

In Sunday's Standard, LaMesa was fired up to see the chute at the beginning (when I sat her down in front of the chute she playfully growled at me, and I immediately thought "Uh oh"). I meant to do a front cross on the landing side of the jump (second obstacle) so I could pull her to the correct side of the tunnel. When I couldn't get there in time, I had hoped to beat her to the end of the dog walk to front cross there. When that didn't work, I tried pushing her...yeah...no good. She went into the wrong end of the tunnel. After that, I decided to try a blind cross at the end of the weaves, but to do that I needed to beat her to the end of the weaves...taking off like I did caused her to pop out of the weaves to catch up to me. So, lots of work to do there. (And I'll admit there was a small voice in the back of my head saying this could be LaMesa's first QQ...FAIL.)




We're making progress...slowly, but surely. We'll get that first QQ soon!

Every Trial's Progress with LaMesa--Greater Louisville Training Club

There are times that I don't think I see much progress with LaMesa and agility trials, but then there are times that I see a lot. We're coming so close to being a solid team.

At the Greater Louisville Training Club's Kentuckiana Cluster, I felt like we were finally gelling, which is surprising since we hadn't trialed since November and not trained very consistently over the winter.

Our first run was Masters Jumpers 8" Regular, and I was so happy when she nailed the weaves perfectly the first time. Then a mistimed blind cross might have cost her her rhythm to knock a bar, but she handled the push so well when I realized my mistake. But everything felt solid.



Then Standard came and she kept the bars up, but she misread my moves for the wrap and she pulled off the jump. Oh well...she was again solid on her weave poles!!



Sunday's runs I was just wanting some clean runs--no dropped bars, no miscues. Well, we got the "no dropped bars" part down! And again another day of solid weave poles! The Jumpers run had one oddly-placed jump that seemed like it was a good idea to either blind or front cross. I performed a front cross with Gus (that post to come if you're asking "Who's Gus?"), but I had enough time to do a blind with LaMesa. Poor decision. I didn't get deep enough in the jump to cue her on the blind. That was my fault. But the second pull off was her fault...I believe (if I'm wrong, please correct me). But, again, clean weave poles!



And, finally...we finally got a Q in Masters Standard!! That makes for our 3rd Masters leg! We ended up in third place in a class of like 35, with some stiff competition. Her run earned her 28 MACH points, and we probably could have been faster. I tend to be more conservative in Standard with LaMesa because I need her to stay focused on the task at hand. At the table I wait until the judge says "Go" before I take a deep breath and the cue her for the next obstacle. When the second the last jump was a panel jump and I saw it move when she jumped, I almost had my heart in my throat. But, she was clean! (I don't have the video, unfortunately.)

So we're getting there...slowly but surely, we're getting there (which is the only thing she's slow about, haha). We're becoming a team!

Here's the wrap-up from Dally's weekend.

Puppies in Agility: How Much is Too Much Pushing?

It's time for another thought-provoking day sponsored by the Dog Agility Blog Action Day! Today's topic: Starting Puppies in Agility

I don't know if I'm the best source of information on this topic, but I have been there. In fact, starting a puppy in agility was the main reason why I started this blog--I wanted to chronicle my journey with LaMesa as she started her agility career, as well as my journey with Dally, whom I had started a few years prior.

Dally and I didn't start doing agility until she was about 3 years old. LaMesa, however, was started around her first birthday.

Starting a puppy from scratch was definitely a lot more difficult than starting a more mature dog who had already been around the block a couple of times. It's so hard to remind yourself that everything is new in every way, and they won't get everything so quickly.

I'm thankful to have had people who made sure I didn't push LaMesa too much too early. I'm afraid there are some that will start their puppies already on difficult things such as tight turns, jumps, climbing, when their bodies just aren't ready. I'm all for laying down groundwork--that's what we do with horses is do a lot of groundwork before they're even introduced to the saddle.

For LaMesa, we started classes with Merinda. On top of the basic obedience, we did a lot of different things like learning to wrap jump standards. We learned to do changes of directions on the flat with front crosses, rears, and blinds. We learned how to push away to get distance…again on the ground. We slowly added contacts, but kept them low and simple. We started to add jumps at a low height, which for LaMesa was 4 and 8 inches, towards the end of the first session.

This photo was taken during one of our first class sessions.
This time we focused mostly on her focus on me.

We wanted to make sure our dogs were able to handle the stress of jumps before we added that stress. It's so important to remember that.

I think it's also important to remember to give your puppy a vacation from training. With young horses, we called it the "2-Year-Old Vacation". That vacation allows for their minds to take a break, just as much as the body. What you'll find is that somehow a lot of that training really was absorbed by the young one, and when they came back from vacation they're further along and ready to learn more. Young dogs need those vacations as well. They need a break from constant training to be able to be a dog--stretch their legs and their minds, relax and enjoy the partnership they now have.

LaMesa's first trial wasn't until she was 15 months old, at a CPE trial and entered in just a couple of classes, mostly to get the experience. Her first AKC trial wasn't until she was 18 months old, and perhaps I should have waited a little longer for that one, as it was outside and she was so wired.

LaMesa's first agility trial ever--CPE. She looks so small there! 

I don't push to trial often, but definitely not as a young dog would I want to hit a trial every weekend. The stress that can put on their minds, as well as their bodies, might not be ready for that. Maybe it's just me, but I shiver to hear about dogs who are close to their MACHs when they just turned 2. Are we asking too much too soon?

We have to remember to make this fun with our puppies, as well as our dogs. Absorb the lessons that not only are you teaching your puppy, but that your puppy is teaching you. LaMesa has taught me so much more patience and diligence than I ever have with any young horse or older dog. And I'm still learning.

My Partner

Be sure to check out other DABAD blogs for their takes on training puppies in agility.

Some good reads from the day (so far):

• Trials of an Agility Neophyte: Of Puppies and Patience
• To Dog With Love: 5 Tips to get Your Puppy Started in Agility
• Tails of Rav'nLeigh: Apples and Oranges
• Brews Brothers: Puppy Agility?

LaMesa's on Injured Reserve…& We're All Going Crazy

A week ago Wednesday Dally, LaMesa, and I were playing snow tennie. We were enjoying the semi-warm early evening sun, playing around since the sidewalks were still pretty difficult to navigate. After a while I noticed she was holding up her left front leg, but I couldn't tell if it was from excitement of playing (which she does, often) or she was hurt. We continued to play for a few more minutes when I started thinking something wasn't right. So we came inside, where I rubbed her shoulders, stretched her front legs, worked her toes, and did everything I could to get a reaction out of her to see where she was hurting. She never really reacted out of the norm, but I declared us done for the day, gave her half a Traumeel tablet, and kept an eye on her.

Thursday she still wasn't any better, in fact she wasn't putting any weight on that leg, so I called our chiropractor to squeeze in an appointment. I was sure it was a soft tissue injury, but it never hurts to have Dr. Forry take a look at her (plus Dally was due for an adjustment). She was out in a few random spots (lower back) and out in the lower part of her left leg, but Dr. Forry said she had seen quite a few sprains in the same area (front legs) in dogs from running in the snow the past week or so.

Since then, she's been on rest. No tennie, no walks. It's been hard. Unfortunately we didn't do so well with the "rest" this past weekend because we were visiting my parents' farm and LaMesa had too much fun running around in the snow with her Swedish Vallhund uncle, then chasing my dad's "bad kitty" through the living room. In hindsight, we should have brought a crate with us, but we just didn't think about it.

We've been combatting the injury with icing her leg for 10 minutes in the morning and in the evening, as well as she's been wearing Dally's Back On Track blanket for a few hours every night. Traumeel is a regular staple, and she has been put in a crate when I go to take Dally for a walk (I can't not walk her).

For LaMesa the only positive to this injury
is the extra loving she's been getting from
mom and dad. But being injured is boring!

LaMesa doesn't appreciate the crate while we're out for our walks--you can hear her barking outside on the sidewalk. I even came home one time to see she had pulled the bottom of the crate inside some with her teeth…brat. And this was with a pig ear chewie in her crate (which she tears into with anger).

I'm trying to keep positive that she'll heal just fine and be ready for our first trial of 2014 in mid-March, but I still worry. With rest she's able to put some weight on her leg, though she turns out her toes to compensate for it. But if she walks around too much, she's back to hopping on three legs (which she's surprisingly good and fast at). I'm going to continue with the ice, BOT blanket, Traumeel, and rest for a few more days, and add in some warm compresses as well (thanks to an article Merinda recommended). If she's not showing much improvement by Sunday, I'll call the vet first thing in the morning Monday. I've put off the vet because as a soft tissue injury, I know there's not much they can do for her, but there might be a slight chance it could be something worse, so I don't want to risk it too long.

If you're interested in learning more about sprains in dogs, here are a few articles that Merinda sent to me that are helpful:

• Pets.WebMD.com: Dog Sprains/Strains 
• AgilityNet.co.uk: Sprains and Strains
• DogForums.com: Healing Time for Strains

Have you dealt with a sprain/strain in your dog? Any tips?

Wordless Wednesday: Snow Tennie!!

Wordless Wednesday: Sleepy Stump Kids

Wordless Wednesday: Sooo Bored

2013 Review & 2014 Stump Kid Resolutions

Another year has come and gone. There wasn't anything too exciting for the Stump Kids, but it was overall a successful year.

January started off the year right with participating in a seminar with Dawn Weaver and celebrating Dally's PACH, not to mention the end of LaMesa's Q drought that was almost a year long. February was quiet, with only one agility trial, but some success along the way.

March saw a trip with Merinda and Porter to Tulsa for the 2014 AKC National Agility Championships that was a lot of fun because I had quite a few friends to share the event with. We chronicled our road trip for The Daily Corgi, as well as on here, so I hope you were able to enjoy the event, too.

April was a struggle to get back into a groove with both girls, though I'm not sure why. LaMesa and I started taking classes at Shamrock Acres in Louisville, which was a great decision because it helped us become more of a team. In May the Stump Kids tried out a Terrier trial for the first time, with barn hunts and lure coursing on the docket.

June saw LaMesa finally get a re-measurement to move down to the 8" Regular height, which has been a huge relief for us. She's now re-learning to not jump so high and it's helping her in many ways on the course. July Dally was on the injured reserve list and LaMesa got her first Novice FAST Q.

August was quiet--no agility trials, but we talked about different things like battling age with agility dogs, a police K9's legacy, etc. September was busy getting back into the groove of agility, but still no Qs for LaMesa.

October saw the girls earn plenty of medals at the Canine Olympics, but more importantly LaMesa earned her first MACH points in Tennessee and Ohio! November Dally finished qualifying for the 2014 AKC National Agility Championships, which I wasn't sure would happen or not. And, finally, December was another quiet month with no agility trials, but moving houses and talking about the mental aspect of agility.

So what's on tap for the Stump Kids in 2014? Well, Dally and I are competing in what is probably going to be her last AKC National Agility Championships. Next year's event is in Reno, so I don't see us making that long trek again. We're so close to finishing up her PACH2 (just 5 QQs & 205 points), so that would be great to accomplish this year.

LaMesa and I still have a lot of work to do, but I'd love to see if we can get qualified for the 2014 AKC Agility Invitational as being in the Top 5 Swedish Vallhunds. She's currently sitting #10, with points only from 2 Qs, so if we can start to be more consistent and Q (and start QQing), it could be very doable.

What do the Stump Kids think?

LaMesa: "My resolution is to try to harness my rogue-ness, as mom calls it, and maybe act a little more domesticated at agility trials in 2014."

Dally: "I don't need a resolution…I'm fabulous every year!"

What are your pups' resolutions? 

Playing Around with Invitational Courses

The Stump Kids and I have been on a little vacation from all things agility with the weather, move, etc.

But Thursday night, we headed over to Goose Creek Dog Sports to do a little training with my friend Camille and her Miniature Poodle James Brown and Papillon Gus. I expected to have to set up some sort course (which I am not that good at doing), or just doing some jump grids and weaves. But, I was excited to see that the jumpers course that was used for the 2013 AKC Invitational Championship!

It seems like LaMesa does better with the more difficult courses because we have to really work together. Maybe it's because I am more in tune with her and how to run her on the tighter, difficult courses? Or maybe because those types of courses don't really call for a lot of all-out speed, which can start to get to LaMesa's head. Whatever it is, it works. I worked her over this course multiple times, starting off by working different sections here and there, mostly with rear crosses.

When I worked Dally on the course, I had a lot of blinds, with one rear thrown in, and those worked great with her because she was on fire. I don't typically school a course over and over with Dally any more, but if it's something that I know we'd benefit from by working different parts and seeing what I can do to make our course more efficient, I will.

Anyway, I finally decided it'd be fun to video me running LaMesa on this course. By this time, we had really worked on a lot of things, so she was tired, which might explain the knocked bar. I do wonder about running the opening with a Ketschker on the wrap, like I heard some people ran at the Invitational, but for LaMesa's size, I think the wrap was more efficient. I ran it with a wrap with Dally, too.

So what do you think:



I love how she likes to run these types of courses.

I'd love to try to get her qualified for the 2014 AKC Invitational--if we can get more consistent at the trials (nail all 12 weaves the first time, keep the bars up, and listen to me), we might have a chance. I won't be able to trial a whole bunch the first part of this year, which means the last half of Invitational qualifying, but we'll give it a good college try.

Happy Stump Kids, glad to be back to agility!! (That's Dally wearing
her Back on Track blanket, I'll post on that in the next few days.)

LaMesa Turns 4!

I interrupt our regularly-scheduled agility posts to wish my little chupacabra-honeybadger-baby-wofl-hybrid a happy 4th birthday!!!

LaMesa, the "baby bear" the first night we had her.

LaMesa's first agility ribbons from a CPE trial.

LaMesa's first agility trial ever, a CPE trial in Ohio.

Life with LaMesa is certainly never boring. She's been a lot of fun to own, train, and compete with--no matter how frustrating she can be. Some times it's pretty hard for Matt and I to remember she's a dog--she has some many child-like qualities, emotions, and actions that makes us feel like she's just a fury human walking on four legs.

She's taught me a lot, and I hope I've taught her a lot as well. She might not be as consistent or dependable as Dally, but she's good for a laugh. 

We celebrated her birthday this weekend (it's Nov. 10) at the agility trial--I made dog cookies for her to share with her friends (I'll post the recipe on here soon) and she got lots of loving from everyone. 

Here's hoping now that she's 4 we'll be a more consistent team and she'll be a little more mature and a little more domesticated…..

Yeah…right…

LaMesa's First MXJ Leg

Yep, you read that right--LaMesa earned her first Masters Jumpers leg over the weekend at the Queen City Dog Training Club's AKC Agility trial! I was so proud of her!

It's funny because after having a not-so-stellar jumpers run on Saturday, and then a slight bobble in Standard on Saturday, I was saying I wasn't sure LaMesa liked running at the Queen City facility very well. Dally loves that place, as evident if you see where she gets most of her QQs. But really, I think I just have to change my thinking with her--she can handle anything, as long as I prepare her for it.

Here's our qualifying run from Sunday. She earned 3rd place (in a very tough 8" class) and 12 MACH points:



We were soooo close to our first QQ! Unfortunately, we were able to prove that an 8" dog can break the tire, even if it's touching the floor:



After I saw that she broke the tire, I wanted to try to do a lead-out on the table. Unfortunately she listened to the judge say "Go" and not me. I wanted to make her do the table again, but realized that we'd get blown off for "training" and I really wanted to finish the course, so we went on. It wasn't as nice as her Standard run on Saturday, where I was able to get a nice long lead-out off the table:



(Don't ask me what happened on the teeter--I have no clue.)

So no first QQ for LaMesa….yet. But it was a great weekend--she's really excelling at the difficult courses and we're becoming a team that a lot of people are cheering for and watching. The biggest positive: She has been perfect on her weaves in the past two weekends--8-for-8!! I hope we can continue this streak going into the trial this weekend!

Jump form update: We've been working on jump grid sequences following some Susan Salo exercises Merinda sent me. We've done two sets of exercises so far and seeing her really think. I'll do a post soon. 

Dally's weekend is up next!

LaMesa Earns Points in Dayton

I think LaMesa likes running in indoor horse arenas--the courses are larger and more spread out, which allows her to really run. She seems more comfortable running on the dirt with her style of running and jumping. I came to this conclusion at the Dayton Dog Training Club's AKC Agility Trial this weekend.

That said, we're still knocking bars. :-( She was perfect on her weaves, though, and I couldn't tell you when the last time was that LaMesa nailed her weaves the first time every time! So, that's one big positive.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to get any videos from LaMesa's runs on Saturday, but you know how they run from Dally's post and the course maps.

Standard LaMesa ran so well, except she took the 180 after the teeter a little too tight, thus knocking a bar. Everything else was really nice, though. In Jumpers, she knocked a couple of bars, one I think was definitely caused by me being too tight to her on a rear cross--I tend to crowd her too much some times.

Since she knocked the bars, we decided to have a little fun and she ran around the trial rocking her Minion costume. She got a lot of "How adorable!" comments, and I think she enjoyed the extra attention.

Sunday's Standard run:



Everything felt great about this run--I was able to stay with her through the whole course, I didn't make her go too tight in the 180, and she stuck those weave poles. She did start to come off the table a little too early--I figured the judge would call us on it, but he didn't, and I'm so thankful that he didn't because it was LaMesa's second Masters Standard Q with a 2nd place (narrowly getting beat by a speedy Papillon) and 28 MACH points! I was so proud of her!

Sunday's Jumpers run:



This time I wasn't thinking "This could be LaMesa's first QQ" like I did in Tennessee--I just wanted her to run clean and weave again. Unfortunately she knocked a bar towards the beginning…and again it was on a rear cross, but I don't think I was too close to her (was I?). The rest of the course was spot-on and I was proud of her!

Looking at the still photos from the trial, there were quite a few jumps where LaMesa was taking off 2-3 lengths too early, thus starting to come down from her jump arc as she's over the jump. She's literally tucking her butt under her as she's landing to try to avoid hitting the jump. We always knew she was over-jumping and some times jumping too early when she was jumping 12", but I had hoped that she would calm down at 8". Four months of jumping 8" later, she's still jumping around 16" and way too early. It amazes me to think of how fast she really could be running if we cut the extreme height on her jumps to be more efficient.

So now we're working on some jump exercises by Susan Salo that Merinda recommended. I'll do a post on those as we progress. Last night was our first set, and it was a good learning experience for LaMesa.

This weekend we're heading back to Queen City for some more chances. Dally runs so well at Queen City, but it seems to be a little harder for LaMesa. We'll see how it goes!