One Second

This past weekend, we made the trek to Wichita Falls, TX for the first time. We drove and drove and drove up a country road for hours. We passed though several small towns that didn't even have a place to stop and pee. I was never so happy to get to a destination in all my life.

I set up my stuff and drove to the motel, which was another shocker. I still have difficulty with spending my weekends in crappy motels and dirty livestock arenas, but I got over myself by the second day. I kept picturing the 4 star Vegas hotel we stayed in last month and that didn't help at all.

On Friday, Maggie Q'd in both runs. She was doing so well. We barely made time in jumpers though. On Saturday, Maggie flew through the standard run. I've never seen her so fast in off-side weaves EVER. We managed to get 15 seconds under time. She Q'd in jumpers as well but it was a squeaker. On Sunday, she Q'd again in standard and I was getting shakey. Got a photo-shoot before jumpers and I think that may have spooked her. We missed our last Q by one second. ONE SECOND!

Still 5 out of 6 is pretty good for Miss Maggie. I tried my new trick of giving her some wheat treats prior to her run to get the sugar rush going. I also teased her with her favorite treat - string cheese. She didn't sniff in the ring once.

The other part of our weekend was socializing Kimi, which went just OK. He is still deathly afraid of traffic, although it is getting better, and these flea-bag motels always seem to be right by the expressway. With Maggie pulling me one way to sniff garbage and Kimi fleeing the other way from the traffic, I about lost my mind. I resorted to walking them separately, which worked much better.

By Sunday, Kimi was much bolder and we all managed to take a walk outside the arena. Saturday evening, I took Kimi over the practice jump after everyone was gone and he was great. Very excited to begin competing with him this fall.

Maggie's Photo Shoot

 

Two Double Q's

Wish Miss Maggie enjoyed getting her picture taken. I've never been able to get her in the same frame as her ribbons. I'm trying not to be greedy, but I wonder if I had skipped the photo shoot if we would have Q'd. Oh well. The picture is beautiful and we had a wonderful weekend.

APJ Baby!

A USDAA show this weekend. We don't do very much USDAA, but this one was close to home. Maggie was very pokey all weekend and wouldn't go down on the table, but we managed to Q in our final run with a 1st place and new title - Advanced Performance Jumper. She also won $6 in the Performance Speed Jumping finals.

Still trying to decipher Maggie May. On Sunday, I gave her 50 mg of Anxitane, which is L-theanine. I take it myself to help me deal with my performance anxiety, so I figured why not. Funny thing is that I forgot to take my dose on Sunday. I left the two shelties at home so it was just us girls. I didn't put any vaseline on her nose. Sunday was pretty relaxed so we practiced lead outs outside the gate and her tail was wagging.

So at the next AKC show, we'll do the Anixtane and do our best to play while we wait at the gate. It's pretty intense and crowded at AKC shows and frequently someone behind me is having a fit about a conflict in the other ring.

Dream Run

I took Maggie to a Show and Go Saturday to work on her speed issues. I planned on doing the course and stopping to treat every 3 obstacles to get her charged up. I did treat her a few times, but she was flying regardless. It was the run of my dreams. She flew through the weaves and didn't stick on any obstacles. We finished the course and still had 35 seconds to play around out of our 90 seconds.

There were so many things that were different from a show that I cannot figure out what got her happy. The dog in front of us was one of her buddies. There were no other dogs waiting with us. I played with her before we went into the ring and she actually flopped on her back for belly rubs.

At a show, the gate is crowded with strange people and dogs. The atmosphere is very charged. She is constantly looking around at the other dogs. I am tense although I try not to be.

In the ring, I had treats in my pocket.  There was no judge hovering around. There were no crowds in the stands right next to the ring. It was quiet. No barking dogs. No loud speaker announcements. No squealing pigs. Yes, we've had to deal with a pig auction at a show.

At a show, it is incredibly noisy with barking dogs. There is always a judge and Maggie takes a moment on the obstacles to look at him or her. The weave poles are usually near a grandstand where dogs and people are sitting.

It would be so easy if there was just one thing I could target, but on our second flying run, Maggie stopped on a dime and buried her nose in the ground and would not get it out no matter what I did. I had to pick her up and carry her out of the ring. She had dug up some little ball of crap and was getting ready to devour it. Ugh.

At a show, I put Vicks on her nose to reduce her sniffing.

The highest of highs and the lowest of lows. That's our Maggie.

Here We Go 2013

Happy New Year!
2012 was an amazing year. Sweet Kimi came into our lives. Shane's eye degradation stabliized. Maggie got her MX MXJ, her PI Standard title, her PII Snooker title, and ended the year with her PII Gamblers title. She had her ups and downs, but in the end, she accomplished quite a lot this past year for a doggie who isn't really nuts about agility.

Not Too Shabby!

2013 will be about training Kimi and staying the course with Maggie. We are going to try some other venues to see if Maggie does better elsewhere. We've stayed mainly in one building for the entire year. We will travel a bit and experiment.

Shane may be done with agility entirely as his left front leg has developed some issues. We'll have to wait and see. He's quite a handful without some exercise.

Looking forward to the new year. Lots of possibilities and challenges ahead.

Happy Birthday Maggie May!

Maggie turned 5ish today. She came into our lives three years ago to serve as a companion to Shane while he pursued his agility destiny. I expected to spend all my time training this son of a world champion and wanted a little black dog to help Shane with his reactivity to black dogs. We had just lost Woody on December 23, so I gave that day to Maggie to be her birthday. Our hearts were broken when we lost Woody right before Christmas and Shane seemed lost without his brothers. Maggie came along and helped us all heal.

Maggie did agility in our backyard while I trained Shane so I decided to start her in classes. She wasn't as fast or confident when we weren't in the backyard, but I kept at it just for fun and exercise. When Shane was diagnosed with PRA, Maggie became my only agility dog for competition. We stuck with it and now Maggie has surpassed any achievements of all my other dogs. She's not the fastest, but every once in a while, she beats the buzzer for a Q. We'll keep plugging away while I train my next agility dog, Kimi, who is now Maggie's best bud.

Maggie and Kimi Play Every Day

 

Forgotten Friends Maggie May MX MXJ OF

 

Having a Heat Wave

Sometimes the hardest part of agility is trying to smile through your tears while listening to your friends brag about how great their dogs did in the ring. I didn't have the strength Saturday so I left early.

We had a god-awful weekend. Maggie was slow and got stuck on obstacles again. It's like the last year never happened. Not sure if it was the heat or the unusually tall well-fed judge that spooked her, but she did do better on Sunday when Frank came with us. She loves her daddy.

It was so hot this weekend and we were crated in the dirt. Four freakin' days sitting in dirt. I was so ready for the show to be over.

So the plan for the next show is to bring a smelly t-shirt of Franks to put in Maggie's crate and to try to keep her as cool as possible. I hope Fall shows up soon.

Fall 2012 Season Kickoff

When I was a kid, I looked forward to the fall TV guide so I could see all the new shows and decide which ones I was going to watch. Later on that developed into an excitement over the September issue of Vogue magazine to see what was in style for fall. Now, I'm excited about figuring out which fall agility shows to enter. It's been a long summer.

Our first show of the fall season was USDAA, which we do not do very often. Maggie refuses to go down on the table in the ring, so I haven't been very interested in doing USDAA. This show was close to home, so we went.

Friday
Maggie was .01 seconds over course time in Jumpers. We got a PII Snooker Q, which we didn't even need. The PII Gamble was a piece of cake, but unfortunately we got stuck on the teeter in the opening and the buzzer went off as she was over the final jump in the Gamble. The timer was set up past the jump so I didn't have a chance. If the timer had been set up at the jump, she might have triggered it before the buzzer. Oh well.

Saturday
Performance Speed Jumping was first today. Very excited. Got up at 5:30 so I could be there in time to walk. Competition was light so I was so hopeful. We did 3 jumps and Maggie left the ring. She has never done that before. She just sauntered off.

Snooker is next. Another Q I don't need. The Gamble was easy again, but we never made it to the line. Maggie started out of the ring and when I called her back she got on the dog walk and time ran out.

Finally, Standard. We got to the table and Maggie went down. I think I stopped breathing. She got a mess of chicken at the end of that run.

Pairs is last. I will be in PII Pairs for the rest of my life. We had a clean run, but again our Partner failed us.

Sunday
Frank comes along with us and I think Maggie is more excited. We start the day with Standard and Maggie does a Down again for our PI Standard title. Finally. Pairs is next and I totally blew it. I will never complain about my Pairs partners again. We ran second. We go over the first jump, weaves are next and the numbers were removed. I started looking around for the number 3 obstacle and only saw 13. I had such a brain fart and couldn't get it together. Maggie started over the dog walk and it was all over. I don't think I've ever said Sorry more than I did after that run. I was screaming it out as we left the ring. I was the accomodating partner for the next person and of course we did great, but it didn't count for me. I had to redeem myself.

Gamblers is next. We nail the opening, but Maggie didn't have the momentum to do the Gamble. Last run of the day was PII Jumpers and she did great. I think we'll be able to wrap up PII at the next show over New Year's.

 

Sometimes it's fun to be the only dog in the class!

Kimi
Another project for the weekend was acclimating Kimi to the show environment. The last time we were at Belton, he was terrified of the traffic noise. This weekend he was skittish, but worked through it all. He had a blast at the show meeting people and walking around with Maggie and Shane. He continues to get better and better each day. I'm very hopeful.

Dog Days of Summer 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another Roller Coaster Weekend

Another two months have gone by so it's time for a show! Not the best plan if you want to keep your skills. Maggie, Kimi, and I got up before dawn Saturday and headed to College Station. I brought Kimi along to see his brother and other Mom, Kay. It was hard to leave Shane at home, but I didn't want to deal with three dogs.

Our first run was STD and it was wonderful. It was the 10th Q for us and Maggie's MX Title. Susan Miller caught it for us.


Turns out that was our best effort for the weekend. Her JWW run was 1.44 seconds over time, which I thought was a little tight. We did T2B for the first time and she knocked the first bar, which I think totally spooked her. She started sticking on top of the Aframe again. Sunday was a complete mess. She seemed to have shut down on me for whatever reason. Maybe she missed Frank or Shane. Maybe she didn't feel good. Not sure. But she was sure happy to get home.

Forgotten Friends Maggie May MX MXJ

The other goal of the weekend was to expose Kimi to new experiences. He had a lot of trouble with the sounds around the arena, but with the help of his brother and Kay, we conquered the RV generator noise. At the hotel, we had more problems. Kimi was terrified of the squeeky door and the noisy trucks in the parking lot. I tried to potty them around 9:30 and it was pretty active in the parking lot. Kimi charged back to the hotel door and hit the glass. I can't even imagine the terror he felt. We went out at 4 am in the quiet and he finally pottied.

Back at the show on Sunday, Kimi got passed around a lot. He was happy and confident inside the arena. Susan Miller held him for the longest time near the teeter and he was happy and relaxed.

Happy Kimi

I've had my share of scaredy dogs, but this one is new for me. Shane charges. Maggie freezes. Kimi runs away. There is always something to work on.

Another nice surprise was the height card holder Susan Miller made for me. Kimi is named after a race car driver, so she hand stitched this amazing racing design on the holder. If you are interested, see her at the next show.

Maggie Loves Her Daddy

Frank has been gone on two business trips this month and it affects Maggie more than the other two. That's one of the reasons I don't travel much with her. She needs to come home and be with her Dad to recharge.

The sound of the garage door puts everyone in place. I hear the car trunk slam shut and then the door opens. Shane always hangs back but Kimi gets right in there for some rubs. Maggie is the one who cries.

Boom Boom Too

Another thunderstorm last night. Everyone sat with me watching TV without any drama. Granted the storm wasn't as noisy as the previous one, but I still consider it a win. Now the hurdle of getting dogs to potty in wet grass. So picky.

Cape Fear

Working on Kimi's fear of traffic this weekend. I purchased some sound files of garbage trucks and freeway traffic and played them while he ate his meals. He was a little skittish at first, but by Sunday night he gobbled his dinner down as usual. This morning during our walk, when he saw a truck, he went into a sit and watched it go by. Huge improvement. I use Look At That as well, but he is still too stressed to take the treat until the truck is out of site. 

We got to stop and greet our neighbor and her poodles today. Everyone did so great. Very proud.  

Maggie guards the side yard

Kimi guards the rear

Sweet Kimi

Maggie hides under the chair in my office

Boom Boom

The night before the 4th and the golf club set off their fireworks display. Caught me off guard. Maggie handled it like a pro. I played Boom Boom Treats with Shane and he was fine. Kimi had a panick attack and ran to hide under the bed. I tried everything to get him out. Nothing worked. Finally opened the jar that contains his food and made quite a racket with it. He appeared!  We went outside and played a bit. I think he's OK. For now.

Every Two Months

It's been two months since Maggie and I competed. Time sure flies. We acquired Kimi and I almost broke my foot in the hiatus.

Friday we all headed up to Belton. The first show in the domed arena and I didn't have a clue what to expect. It turned out to be a great event. The A/C was fabulous. The surface not so much. The 4/8 inch dogs ran and then my 12 inch group pitched a fit over the surface. I didn't know what was going on, so I was waiting at the gate to run as we were pretty close to the top of the list. Waiting. Waiting. What the hell is going on. Finally, an announcement. Run or don't run. We don't care. Man was the negative energy heavy around the ring. All because of a few people. Finally got to run, and Maggie was flying!  Blew the down side of the dog walk. People said she got it, but who knows. I do know that the Judge was pretty upset over the hubbub about the surface. In jumpers, I ran like an idiot trying not to trip on the ruts, so Maggie was pretty slow. We didn't Q in either run.

Kimi became a bit of an issue. He seemed so frightened to be outside. Not sure, but I think it was the sound of traffic. He suddenly became afraid of big trucks after hearing the garbage truck let out a very loud hiss. I also noticed that one of his canines was at a right angle to his mouth, just hanging there. A fellow sheltie lover tried to pull it out, but it was still attached. One more day he told me and it fell out that night.

Shane was great. I try to take him over the practice jumps a few times, but could never find a good spot. At one point, we were climbing the stairs in the arena, and he stopped at the top for a treat like he had just navigated a course. Too cute.

The surface on Saturday was much better. Maggie Q'd in Standard, but still too slow in Jumpers. Kimi got to visit with a lot of people, but I didn't make him go outside. Luckly, my day was short so he got home in plenty of time to potty. We have to work on this fear.

Sunday, I had very high hopes. Left Shane and Kimi home so I could concentrate on Maggie. Just one more Q for Maggie's MX and sure enough I blew it. I worried too much about getting into place for a front cross and she ran past a jump. Jumpers was painfully slow, but the course time was very generous. We Q'd with no points.

Two months until the next show. Maggie needs to lose a few pounds as do I. Kimi has to get over his fear of trucks. Busy summer ahead.

They Don't Call Me a Bitch for Nothing

Kimi is the easiest dog I have ever had. He has learned so much this week and is fitting right in. I had to hire a behaviorist to help me get Woody through our doggie door. Kimi learned to climb stairs, get up on the sofa, and use the bench to get up on the bed. He seems to be growing bigger every day.

Today he drove out from me to get his toy, brought it back to me, and dropped it at my feet. I've never had a dog that would do that. I had to teach Maggie to drop it and I have to pull it out of Shane's mouth. I am so excited about this puppy! I hope to keep him toy motivated, but he does go nuts for his treats.

Maggie had been growling at Kimi since we brought him home. Yesterday, Maggie was sitting next to me on the floor and Kimi came up to sniff her. She growled and then lunged at him. Kimi pulled back and Maggie has been fine ever since. Maggie still runs from him but does not growl. I guess she had to test him. Since that though Kimi and Shane have seemed to band together. Two guys against one gal. I guess that's why she's a bitch.

Corked my Bat

Three day show in San Antonio. Staying in a hotel with the dogs. We head down Friday morning.  Maggie Q'd in the very first run. She was flying! Jumpers, not so much. She has never Q'd in that ring. There are lots of smells and apparently, that is where they feed the barn cats so there is food everywhere. Lovely.

Saturday we blew everything. In STD, Maggie was running so fast that she caught me off guard at the table and ran over it. It was so exhilirating to see her moving so fast. It didn't last though and JWW was way over time.

When you are done with your runs at 1pm, staying in a hotel is pretty boring. Not sure I will do that again unless I'm chasing MACH points.

Sunday, Maggie was flying again in STD. I really wanted that QQ, so I put vicks on her nose for JWW. Had to cork my bat, and it worked. We didn't get any points, but we got that Q. Her weaves were way too slow. We are batting 500 right now. Not too bad I guess.

We have two months off until the next show. I need two more Qs for her MX to finish up the season.Starting in the fall we will be doing the slow climb to her MACH.

Weekend Off

Took a weekend off to do some home chores. Maggie and I went to a Show and Go Friday night to work on weave poles and she did great. So many things were different that I can't tell what was the primary factor. I had treats with me and I hadn't fed Maggie dinner. It was a one ring show so nothing else was going on. Dogs and people were very laid back. No judge was following us around. I wasn't as nervous.  Who knows.

We have a three day show coming up in San Antonio. I'm picking up our new puppy. So this was our last weekend of rest and relaxation. Enjoy it kids!  It's going to get busy.

Master Agility Jumper

Sunday Maggie earned her MXJ, which is 10 qualifying runs at the Excellent level in AKC agilty. Woody was the only other dog of mine who managed to get an MXJ and he was 9 years old when he did. Maggie is only 4 years old. We have so many years now to work on the next level.

Friday
Jumpers was easy compared to last week. Maggie had a burr up her butt and we qualified with time to spare. Standard was another story. She stopped on her way to the table, sniffed, and stopped on her way from the table and sniffed. Way over time.

Saturday
Jumpers was hard. The judge said it was a 20 second course and a good dog could do it in 20. OK. I guess mine is bad. We made it by the skin of our teeth. Zero points, but we Q'd. Standard was a slow mess. Maggie stopped on everything. Got to do something different.

Sunday
Final Q in JWW for our MXJ. Got our one point. Now for Standard. I was ready to try something else. I remembered how excited Maggie gets when I bring out her chicken, so when she slowed to a crawl on the dog walk to watch the other ring, I said "I've got chicken!" Man did she speed up. right off the dog walk, over a jump to the teeter. Fastest teeter ever. Finally the A-frame. CHICKEN!!!!  She came flying down. Q and 9 points. Our most ever.

It's fun to unlock Miss Maggie's secrets. I'm going to continue looking for ways to get her going. In the meantime, I'm looking at getting a new puppy. It's been so hard to accept the fact that I was just going to have Maggie to run and my fast sheltie was sitting in a crate just watching us. I was going to spend my years racking up points one at a time and maybe get a MACH someday. A friend brought her sheltie puppies to the show and I spent three days playing with them. Two other people told me about other sheltie puppies. It's like the skies opened up and dropped puppies down on me. It had to be a sign.

After much deliberation including two nights of tossing and turning, we decided to give it a go. I'm bringing the puppy home for a week to try with Maggie. I hope she'll be OK with it all. The wee thing just reminded me of Woody, whose talents were squandered with extremely bad training. I have the chance to try it again the right way.

Double Q Number 2

Three day AKC show in Belton this past weekend. The courses were outrageously difficult and thanks to Gerry Brown at DePaw Agility, they were a piece of cake for us.

Friday Maggie got a QQ and we got a ribbon and a prize - coupon for DQ (double Q isn't that cute!)

Saturday and Sunday did not go as well. Saturday STD, Maggie ran BEHIND me to get on the dogwalk again. We had already done it. I got scrambled and picked her up to leave, which I know I shouldn't have done, but in the heat of the moment, I chose poorly. She was happy though. In Jumpers we missed course time by 1 second. I watched the judge wheel the next course and he took the turns very tightly. Some judges give the dogs a wide turn, which would have helped us with the course time. Oh well.

Sunday, Frank came along. Maggie saw him from the dog walk and ran over to say hi, which put us over time. In Jumpers, she ran off twice looking for him and again we were over time. Heavy sigh here. Still, we had a good weekend. Got to watch herding, obedience, and rally. Shane got to take the practice jump a few times. Lots of backyard fun when we got home. Love this time of year.

Double Your Pleasure

AKC show this past weekend. Took Shane along for good luck and it worked. Maggie got her first double Q on Friday. I haven't had a double Q since 2007 when I ran Woody.

Saturday, I pushed her too hard into the weaves and she missed the entry and she jumped over the table to head to the A-frame. Still she ran great! Q'd in jumpers by the skin of our teeth.

Sunday, we Q'd in Standard, but were over time in jumpers. Frank came along so I was hoping having all of us there would help Maggie's confidence, but I think she just peters out on the third day.