(Most of these have at least 2 photos in the series – just keep clicking “next” above the big picture until you stop seeing shelties :). )

Some pretty photos of Bryce Sunday in jumpers …
Bryce in Elite Jumpers

and in tunnelers …
Bryce in Elite Tunnelers

He’s not as wild and crazy as he used to be, but he’s still having fun and looking pretty good!

Here’s Jayda – in jumpers Saturday …
Jayda – Saturday Jumpers

and Sunday. Jayda – Jumpers


Doesn’t she have the LONGEST legs???!!!

I like this photo of her coming out of a tunnel – for once, she has a very soft, pretty expression on her face!
Jayda – Touch N Go


This group starts with an interesting sequence – can you tell me why Jayda popped that last pole? (Hint – look at her ears in the 3rd picture!)

Jayda Weaves and A Frame

Note to self: Always ask the paparazzi NOT to photograph Jayda in the weaves!

The pictures of Raven really tell the story of her weekend! Here’s Raven in Saturday’s jumpers. Can you tell she’s about to head me off and jump on me as soon as she lands?

A very excited Raven – jumping

(Notice that I’ve been working on learning the patented and uber-scientific “pointy finger” method of handling – however, I haven’t quite gotten the knack of the “double-pointy-finger” technique yet, which is what you need if you want to become one of those REALLY competitive “world team” types !)

Here she is in Regular – eyeballing the judge on the other side of the dogwalk and bouncing out of the tunnel …

Raven – Novice Regular

(BTW, I did NOT gain 30 lbs – I had 3 layers of clothing on under a rain jacket that wasn’t meant for layering!)

And here she is on her GOOD jumpers run. Handler-focus, obstacle-focus, handler-focus, obstacle-focus … back and forth, back and forth the entire run, but she held it together!

Raven – Sunday Jumpers

It was a we-e-e-i-i-rd weekend for a NADAC trial and not just because it was Halloween! After this weekend I’m so glad to be done with outdoor trials ’til Spring! Saturday was one of those hot-cold-rainy-sunny, never-know-what-to-wear days – you know, the kind where you put on several layers, then you’re too warm so you take some of them off, then 5 minutes later you’re freezing again! Gets sunny for a while, then starts to rain. It was really windy too, which was freaking out poor Jayda a bit.

Nonetheless, I was very pleased with Jayda’s speed this weekend. She popped at the 10th pole in Regular, which meant I had to go back and do them all again – and still managed to get a 5 pt Q. Sunday in Touch N Go we had a miscommunication bobble at a hoop but she made time by several seconds. That wouldn’t have happened a year ago! She also Q’d twice in Jumpers and once in Chances to finish her Superior Novice Chances (S-NCC, 100 pts) title! One more jumpers Q and she’ll have her Novice Triple Superior!

Bryce wasn’t entered in much this weekend – he had a nice run in Elite Jumpers Saturday but an unfortunate spin put him over time. He made time and qualified in jumpers on Sunday and had a very near miss (0.4 seconds over) in Elite Tunnelers.

There was a costume contest on Saturday. I personally thought Raven’s little bee costume was just THE cutest thing, but she didn’t win – oh well, there’s no accounting for taste (or lack of it) …

Raven’s weekend was quite interesting – I think I saw her literelly GROW UP over the course of the weekend’s runs!

Saturday started with her at her jumping-up worst. Let’s say she DESERVED to have to wear a little foo-foo costume! The first run I think she jumped up on me EVERY OTHER obstacle – argh!!!

Sunday in Regular she was a LITTLE better. She also did well her first time on rubber contact equipment (though she was a little weirded out by the judge standing behind the d/w staring at her.). I ran her in chances with no attempt to do the distance part, just using it as an opportunity to practice on a short course. I was pleasantly surprised when she made it through 9 obstacles before jumping on me!

Then we came to her last jumpers run – beautiful course for a dog like Jayda (who ran it first and qualified), wide open, lots of lo-o-ong, straight lines. More like your worst nightmare if you have a dog who keeps running in front of your feet! As I stepped to the line, I had horrid visions of this pushing Raven to her “herd the handler” worst.

Silly me. Raven went out there and absolutely CRUSHED that course! Didn’t jump up on me ONCE. I heard her start growling a little near the end but she kept her feet on the ground. There was some side-to-side motion in her path because she kept turning her head in to look at me then turning back out to jump, but despite that she finished the course in 20 seconds at 4.68 YPS, beating Jayda’s run by a second or two! Woohoo, Raven – THAT’s what I’m talkin’ about :)!!!

Will the obnoxious jumping make a return appearance? Probably, but getting rid of it COMPLETELY for one run was very encouraging. It was the best “real” run I’ve ever had with her and I couldn’t have asked for a better end to her weekend!

The weather was beautiful yesterday so I took the new car on it’s first road-trip (to a NADAC trial). It’s officially a dogmobile now!

Three crates in a Forester. Notice how nice and neat it is – the water bowls all fit nicely in the little side area. Bungees and clamps are on the other side And check this out – room to put stuff behind the front seat – what a concept!

Fall foliage was out in full force – I took this while sitting in local traffic on the way home…

This was a last-minute “day of trial” entry. The trial secretary at this trial usually accepts same-day entries (at $1 more per run) if the trial doesn’t fill – I love having this option and I wish more of them did this! Feeling kind of short on cash, I limited my entries to just a couple of runs per dog.

Bryce ran REALLY well yesterday! He didn’t *quite* get his elite Chances attempt, but it was the closest he’s been in a long time! I ended up handling him from what later became the Open line and he was fine from there. Seeing that he’d completely lost his distance work a while ago, that was encouraging. Also encouraging in light of the last CPE Jackpot Q we need. I ran him on a nice, fast, elite Jumpers course later in the day and he looked great – his speed was better than I’ve ever seen him at 8″ (skilled vet) and he seemed very happy out there and pleased with himself afterwards. Didn’t hurt that his entire fan club greeted him at the gate after he ran – that boy still loves to schmooze :).

Jayda Q’d in Chances and Jumpers with two really nice runs, but popped the 10th pole in Standard. Her weaves have been a little “off” lately – I know what we’re working on this week.

Raven was doing the Annoying Jumping Up Thing again – more about that in another post, but I’ve gathered more information and think I may have settled on an effective way to deal with it when it happens!

“Say what?” you think, glancing at the calendar. “That must be a mistake it’s only mid-October!” Has she gone mad? Does she not know what month it is?

Yesterday I was wearing a down jacket (with 3 layers underneath), 2 pairs of pants, gloves and a hat. I was bundled up like that kid in the Christmas Story movie and I was STILL cold! I don’t care what the calendar says – that’s WINTER. And pouring rain too. Exactly the kind of day I would have stayed home, if it weren’t my own club’s trial!

Saturday actually wasn’t half bad. It was cold and cloudy but the rain held off. We all had a pretty good time.

Saturday started with Novice JWW – I had entered Raven and Bryce (just for fun). Unfortunately, the timing of it being the first class of the day, having to get Raven measured, and having to run Bryce in the same class and height meant I had to leave Raven with other people a couple of times and she was clingy and insecure when I went to run her, popping out of a tunnel multiple times and jumping up at me again. I convinced her to settle down mid-course and the second half was very nice. I was pleased with that – to me, it’s better to have the second half of a course come together than to have a great first half that falls apart!

Bryce ran beautifully (clean, 1st place run) and had a great time :). It was a big difference from last year when I pulled him because he was too sick. I have to run him at 12″ in AKC – I don’t run him 12″ indoors any more because I think it’s harder on his feet/toes but outside on soft grass he’s fine at that height. He was very pleased with himself and wanted to run again, but since that was all he was entered in he had to settle for some walks and ringside schmoozing. He was OK with that too.

Jayda was in Open JWW. I don’t know if it was nerves or excitement from the cold, but Miss Perfect Poles tried to scramble through the weaves WAY faster than she usually does them and couldn’t stay in. Twice. She was back to her normal speed later in Standard, but she popped the end – I was probably hovering because of her earlier performance (bad handler.) Anyway, it was just 1 R, so it was her first Open std. Q. I was proud that I was able to manouver her past an offcourse A-frame on one side and an offcourse jump on the other side of the opening sequence, each of which took out a lot of teams!

Sunday was pretty much a washout. Bryce wasn’t entered and I didn’t want to soak/freeze the babydog. I ran Jayda and she was doing well in Standard again until something spooked her at the weaves (a flapping tent? Someone in scary rain gear?) and she froze like a deer in the headlights. I managed to get her through them – a pole at a time and lots of in-her-face coaxing. I was certain we had a string of “R”‘s on or sheet for that, but we went on. The rest was fine except where I assumed she’d run right into the chute and she ran past it instead. Turned out she only had ONE R for the weaves and that second one cost us a Q! Once again, my bad.

“Work Every Obstacle” and “It’s Never Over ‘Til It’s Over”!