SOTC Obedience Day 2

Tia once again put in an excellent effort! She did not do the drop on the first command today, but otherwise her signals were pretty reasonable. For articles, not only did she check all of them, she selected and brought back the correct one! I was very proud of her. Maybe she's beginning to "get" it after all! The glove exercise she did by the book today, and the moving stand was as good as ever. Our go-out once again did not exist. We obviously need to work more on doing that in strange places so that she will be more confident about doing a full go-out cold without refreshers. She did the directed jumping fine, even though I had accidentally set her up off center a bit.

So no qualifying performances this weekend, but still quite productive I would say. We'll keep training for the June trial!

SOTC Obedience Day 1

Today was the first day of the Syracuse Obedience Training Club's winter obedience trial. I just had Tia entered in Grad Open. We actually got to sleep in for once!

Tia did a wonderful job. Her signals were picture perfect, and the heeling was probably the nicest that she has ever done for me in a trial setting. On articles she did check most of the pile, but not the one that I had scented, so she ended up bringing an incorrect one back. Gloves was a comedy of errors - first she didn't do the pivot with me, then when I gave her a second command for that she immediately took off to get the glove! It was the correct glove though, so whatever. Her moving stand was lovely. The go-out flopped, and then she did the directed jumping perfectly. She really likes that exercise - I can tell that she knows she is right. Gotta love that Aussie smile!

We are entered again tomorrow, and once again our goal is just to have a good experience and do a couple things right.

Sheltie Trials

Just finished up four days of agility hosted by the local Sheltie club. The judges were GREAT - Scott Stock and Robert Kripaitis. Some interesting courses and lots of fun.

Tia had a wonderful weekend - two qualifying runs in Excellent B Jumpers and one in Excellent B Standard, all with first places! Her other runs only had minor errors, and she was running very well. The Bopper is quite the dog!

Queezle, on the other hand, was in the doghouse. We were having "bitssues" - she felt she should be in charge and that I was getting in her way, and I said like hell sweetheart. I pulled her off the course multiple times for obnoxiousness, because if she isn't going to work with me as a team, then she doesn't get to play. She didn't like having her runs cut short, but she also wasn't particularly willing to back down - several people commented on her attitudey walk when I was taking her back to the car. It was very frustrating for me, because at our last trial back in June I was thinking that we were really starting to run as a team. We had this problem a few years ago with the weave poles - I would say, "Weave," and Queezle would say, "Make me." This weekend she was doing the same thing at both the weave poles and some tight parts on courses. Not totally sure what brought it on, as we have been able to practice in different places pretty frequently (and last weekend we did a lot of agility during downtime). I think we'll get through this storm faster though because she has really good weaves once she shuts up and does them. It's like when a horse suddenly starts balking at a bridge they have crossed every day - she is testing me, and as long as I am consistent and don't let her get away with bad behavior she will revert to the awesome agility dog that I know and love.

Today she bounced back - we made it almost all the way through Standard before she started giving me grief, and then in Jumpers all I had to do was make her lie down when she started to bark at the weave poles and then she composed herself and we finished the run in fine style. We are entered at Cato in two weeks, so between then and now we're going to make sure we do some quick weave pole practice once or twice a day. And contacts too of course - you can never practice those too much!

I also ended up running Hokey and Dani some because my mom got mild heatstroke on Friday (she is fine now) and then she had other things going on on Saturday. Hokey and I had a nice run in Excellent Standard and the qualified in Exc Jumpers! Dani NQd in Jumpers both days but we had pretty good runs.

June and July... In August

On June 17th, Queezle got a Group 2 in Topsfield, MA! We then drove back home for my brother's high school graduation, returning to MA Saturday afternoon. On June 19th she was Best of Opposite.

The 23rd through 26th were the agility trials in Cato, NY. Tia earned two Excellent B Jumpers qualifying runs I believe. Queezle qualified in Open Standard to finish her OA! She is now in Excellent in all three classes. Most excitingly, Flag the Ridgeback qualified in Novice Jumpers in the pouring rain on Friday to finish his NJP! The also means he will get a versatility title from the Ridgeback club.

Next up were the Bainbridge shows. On Thursday Queezle was Select bitch. Friday she won the breed, nothing in the Group. I also showed Flint the young Rottweiler puppy, who went Reserve Winners Dog. It was his first show ever, and he had a grand time. Saturday Flint went Reserve again and Queezle was Best of Breed. Queezle had been blowing coat pretty rapidly over the weekend (the entire Terv entry was), so on Sunday we elected to stay home and went to herding practice in Caroline.

July 9 and 10 we drove up to Hamlin, NY for conformation and obedience. Queezle was entered in breed on Saturday, but severely lacking in hair so she just showed in obedience. Flint was very cute but got second in his class. Queezle's heeling in Open A obedience was not stellar, but she did everything else very well despite the very high temperatures and ended up being the only qualifier! The score was not pretty, but a green ribbon is a green ribbon. On Sunday her heeling was much worse, and we ended up failing on that. On the retrieve over the high jump she got the dumbbell, brought it back and dropped it at my feet. Since we had already failed, I told her to pick it back up. She pounced on it, laying down as she picked it up. Then she looked at me confused, and rolled over with the dumbbell in her mouth! Goofy dog. After that we drove home to Vernon for a week of doctor and dentist appointments for me (eww), plus an impromptu haircut.

On July 22nd I judged the Livingston County Fair for dog 4H. Temps were in the 90s, so we flew through the ten obedience entries and two grooming & handling kids. All of the kids put in a good effort, and there were no big disasters. The two Aussies in Grad Beginner did an especially good job. Hopefully all of them will stick with it and continue training next year! Driving home I bought ice cream for the dogs and me.

Saturday the 23rd we drove down to Binghamton for an obedience trial. Queezle put in a lovely performance in Open A, but sat up with 20 seconds left on the long down. Grad Open took forever to get started, so Tia was pretty deflated by the time we went in the ring, and then I couldn't hear half of what the judge said so we did a pretty shoddy job. Tia really perked up on the glove exercise though, which made me happy, and on the directed jumping took the jump that I told her to (which turned out to be the wrong one - I had misheard the judge - but oh well!).

Sunday the 24th was wild. I went to pick up Queezle's number, didn't see mine on the board so I assumed I had the wrong number in my head and picked up 217 instead. Bad choice. A few minutes later the real 217 came to find me and take her number back, at which point I went to the table to figure out what number I really was. I was actually 214, but since I hadn't been written on the board they put me at the end of the class. Then when Queezle and I got to the ring for our turn, the judge didn't have a sheet for us! He had to go check with the trial secretary that I really was entered, and then we finally got to go. Queezle did a wonderful job, qualifying with a 192 and second place to finish her CDX! She finished both her CD and CDX under Frank Washabaugh - I guess we'll have to watch for him when we're getting close to our UD!

Tia was awesome in Grad Open. She did the drop in the ring for the first time ever, even though it took two commands. The rest of her signals were nice. On the articles she brought back the wrong one, but she did actually bring me one, which is a step in the right direction. She brought the correct glove and did her moving stand. On the go-out, she went all the way to the gate (another first for us in a trial setting), but then instead of sitting came back to me. On the directed jumping she took the wrong jump, but the rest of it was such an improvement that I couldn't really be mad at her. We'll keep working! On the way home we picked up five ducklings for my mom. They then spent the night at my apartment and I delivered them on Monday. Initially I was calling them the Jackson 5, but they have since been renamed the Chocolates - Godiva, Toblerone, Ghirardelli, Lindt and something else that has escaped my mind. Can't really tell them apart anyway, except for Godiva who is the smallest and Toblerone who is the biggest.

Last Wednesday I moved out of Lake Street and dumped my stuff in the new apartment. Lake Street had its faults, but I did love that apartment and will miss it. Next year should be fun though, as Queezle and I will be living with a bunch of band people.

SOTC Obedience Trials

Queezle made her debut in Open A obedience and not only qualified, but scored a 191 1/2 and went 2nd place out of 29 dogs! She worked wonderfully, and Judge Bob Self couldn't say enough nice things about her. Good dog!

On day two things didn't go quite so well - it was raining very hard outside, and then something crashed a couple times in the hallway, which Queezle thought was thunder. She held herself together and did a decent job of heeling, but was clearly nervous and we eventually left. Naturally, the bad weather cleared up halfway through the class. Oh well - I'm still very pleased with how she worked on day one.

Tia was entered in Grad Open, which is sort of a stepping stone from Open to Utility. She really wasn't ready to be entered, but since it was our club's big trial we thought why not since she knew most of the exercises. Poor Tia had kind of a meltdown on Saturday when I gave her the drop command in the signal exercise, staring at me blankly. I was surprised because she usually does signals well in class, but whatever, on we went. I tried to keep her happy and "up" but she was acting very lost and confused. She did, however, pass the moving stand.

Our goal for Sunday was to keep Tia up and pass two exercises instead of just one. She was still sluggish, but much better - although she brought me the wrong glove on the directed retrieve, she did at least bring me one instead of trotting around aimlessly. Once again she passed the moving stand, and then to my immense surprise, she took the jump on directed jumping! I was very proud of her for that. Directed jumping and go outs were the two exercises that she didn't know at all when we sent in our entries, and we've been practicing for the 3 weeks since I finished up with finals. I was so pleased with her for that, and it was perfect because that way she ended on a high note.

Salt City Shows

Last weekend was the big Salt City Cluster at the Syracuse Fairgrounds. I was showing Tia in obedience, Flag the Rhodesian Ridgeback in agility and Belle the Vizsla in conformation.

Tia was the star of the weekend! On Thursday and Friday she showed with my mom in Open A. On Thursday she had a really nice individual but laid down in the last ten seconds of the sit stay. On Friday she put in another decent performance and qualified to earn her second leg with a score of 180 1/2! On Saturday I was able to show her. She did a lovely job (probably the best that she has ever worked for me), and qualified with a 184 to finish her CDX!

Flag had a rough start on Saturday, taking one jump and then leaving the ring to look for his owner. For Sunday we decided to have me pick him up at her house and not let him see or be anywhere near her until after his class, so that he would understand that he was stuck with me. It worked! He had a great run, and qualified with second place for his first NJP leg. Only two more to go!

This weekend was Belle's first show ever. I was really impressed with how great she was in the building - she wasn't bothered by any of the noises or the crowds. She showed like a pro both days, going Winners Bitch and Best of Opposite to earn her first point on Saturday.

Tia's First CDX Leg!!!

It wasn't pretty, but Tia qualified in Open A obedience today for her first CDX leg!!! Overall she did a pretty nice job, though there were a lot of no-sits. On the retrieve on the flat she dropped the dumbbell 2-3 feet away from me. The rule is that if the handler can reach the dumbbell without moving his or her feet, it counts as being close enough. So I knelt down and stretched out my arms and managed to flick it closer with me finger. Then on the the retrieve over the high jump she did a lovely front. Man was I sweating bullets all through the long sit stay! But she did it, and now we're one down, two to go!

Cato Trials

We just finished up with 4 days of agility trials in Cato. Tia was the star of the weekend! She was running in Excellent Standard and Excellent Jumpers, and I was also running Flash in Excellent Jumpers and Excellent FAST and my mom's Terv Hokey in the same classes as Tia.

On Friday, Tia qualified in both classes, also known as a double Q! Then on Saturday she qualified again in Jumpers. She now has two double Q's toward her PAX title and 7 MJP legs. Almost all of her runs were under time, and she ran with me very well. Our nonqualifying runs just had minor errors and were still very smooth.

Hokey and I had a lot of nice almosts, though he was having trouble making his weave pole entry. He is very silly and had a good time.

As always, the Flash was fast and furious. Our main issue was knocking bars. I did notice that she knocked the double and triple jumps fairly consistently, so I think I'm going to challenge her jump height at the next trial we go to. Several years ago the AKC changed the height limits for the 8" division, but I never remeasured her because she was doing just fine as a 12" dog at that point. If she measures within the 8" division, that means she will be able to jump 4" as a preferred dog, which will make all the jumps a lot lower for her. We'll see!

Miss Tia Bean is still basking in praise, and got a burger on the way home each day that she qualified.

SOTC Obedience Trial

June 12-13 were the Syracuse Obedience Training Club's annual June trial, which is always a fun event for the club and other exhibitors. People travel from all over to enjoy the show and then the wine & cheese party Saturday evening, which features a ton of excellent food cooked mostly by club members!

Having recovered from January, I once again had Tia entered in Open A. Though I was prepared for another heavy dose of humility, I focused on how great she has been doing in class and on keeping her up beat and psyched before we went in the ring.

Saturday was a bit of a bummer. I had Tia really up and timed our warm-up perfectly so that we could do some quick review in the hallway and then relax in a chair ringside to watch the dog and handler before us. Into the ring we went, Tia smiling up at me and promptly sitting in heel position when we lined up for the heel pattern. Her heeling started off great, but in the middle of it she started reverse sneezing, a weird snorting noise that a lot of small or smush-nosed dogs do every now and then. Aussies are not a breed that typically does it, but it can still happen either when they choke on something, are pulling on their lead a lot or as a stress thing. For whatever reason, Tia started doing it and wouldn't stop, so the judge excused us. Often when something like that happens the judge will let you come back later and try again, but this judge said that we were done for the day.

On Sunday I didn't time our warm-up quite as well, but Tia was still reasonably up when we got in the ring. Her heeling wasn't bad at all, and she even did some automatic sits! For the figure 8 she did the first half very nicely and then got a little messy on the second half. Her drop on recall was lovely as always. Then on the retrieves she must have started running out of steam because halfway out to the dumbbell she stopped and looked lost. This caused us to NQ, but I was still very pleased with Tia's performance!

Tia and the Ball

The other day, Tia detected a ball in the corner behind our big armchair. The ball had been there for months, and none of the dogs had shown any interest in it (we don't even know how it got there). But of course, despite having multiple bins full of toys ready at hand, once Tia noticed it she just had to have it.

Her first step was to crawl through the small space between the chair and the shelves behind it.


On the far side of the chair, there is a table that sticks out a little and presented Tia with an even narrower space to get through. This challenge gave her pause for a moment.


But she was determined to get that ball, and with a final heave, she was free!


Having claimed the ball as her own, she wiggled her way back out from behind the chair and proceeded to parade around the house.

Tia Issues

Over the past couple months Tia has been doing a funny cough thing. Recently it has been getting worse, so today we took her in to do bloodwork, a tracheal wash and chest xrays to see what's up. Haven't determined anything for sure, but heartworm or lungworms are definite possibilities so she is getting Panacur for a couple days. For her part, Tia doesn't seem overly concerned, though she was a little miffed that she didn't get breakfast today. Unlike Queezle, who absolutely hates going into the clinic, Tia doesn't mind and likes visiting with all the people.