Last weekend we were supposed to go to the PlayBow NADAC trial up in Rhinebeck, NY. Saturday morning, I woke up, took one look at the pouring rain … and went back to bed! I have wussy Shelties who don’t like running in rain, and I’m a wussy handler who doesn’t like running in rain! (Actually, Jayda doesn’t seem to mind it that much, but she was outvoted.) People who went Saturday told me I made a good choice – it rained heavily all day, lots of ruined tents, some thunderstorms too.

Sunday’s weather couldn’t have been better! Bryce did well, getting a 1st and Q in Elite Regular and a Q in Elite Chances (there are no placements in Chances). Both of these classes involve distance challenges – Bryce had gone through a period of being very “sticky” and we hadn’t qualified in either in quite a while. It was great to see him get his distance work back :)!

Jayda wasn’t as stressed at this trial as she was the previous weekend. She also qualified in her Novice Regular (2nd place) and Novice Chances classes.

Chances (for those unfamiliar with it) is a short course with one or more challenge areas, marked off by a tape line which the handler may not cross. The challenges must include a Distance, a Directional and a Discrimination test – this can be combined in one part of the course or in several different places. In this case, it was combined. Higher levels have to work at a greater distance than the babydogs.

Here’s Sunday’s course (very approximate – from memory, not a course map). (The reduced size is distorted – click on the image to see it full size). The challenge area is obstacles 5-7 (actually 4-8 for Elite), the red line was for Novice, the blue line for Elite:

For Bryce, I stayed to the right side of #3 and flipped him with my infamous “Turnip” command (I use “hup” for jumps and “turn” for a change in lead, so “Turn-Hup” sounds like “turnip”).

For Jayda, I tried staying on the left of the jumps after the tunnel, since I had a little more room. Maybe not the best choice, as this resulted in me stopped at a dead standstill, toes against the tape line as she went over jump 3 (if you’ve ever done Gamblers or Chances you know that’s a REALLY bad position to be in)! But somehow, I managed to turn her, getting her to ignore the inviting blue tunnel, get her over the first jump. I took off, and so did she – taking a nice line OUT to the far jump and back in over the 3rd. Then into the tunnel and down the final line of jumps to qualify! This from my nervous-novice babydog – what a good girl she is!

I ran Jayda in tunnelers (all tunnels) too – and decided I’m not entering her in that class again, at least not for a LONG time. Bryce loves it, but Jayda gets so slow and un-motivated – argh! Sally was the same way – NOT her favorite class.

Bryce Jayda and I haven’t been posting because we’ve been busy at Fall agility trials.

Two weeks ago was Skyline’s AKC trial. Bryce had a pretty easy weekend – I just moved him to preferred (he’s had some injuries to his front in the last year and I’m much more comfortable jumping the little guy at 12″ these days) so he had to go back to novice. Pretty much cake for him – he was 1st place and Qualifying in 3 out of 4 runs. The 4th, he inexplicably bailed off the teeter early – could have been my position, the path the judge was taking or something about it he just didn’t “like” – or all 3. Just one of those things.

Here’s a cute photo of Bryce bouncing out of a tunnel … don’t you love the little “smile” on his face?

Jayda had a really rough start – she didn’t want to come out of her crate Saturday! I mean … digging in her heels and REFUSING to come out of her crate. Lots of avoidance behaviors from her on her Saturday courses, poor girl. Sunday I spent a lot of the day just coaxing her out of her crate. Her first run I did a “mental health” run – took her over 3 jumps and a tunnel in a straight line from the start to the finish, thanked the judge and left. That paid off with a very nice Qualifying run in jumpers that afternoon :)! She earned a 3rd place to Bryce’s 1st.

I’ll post the jumper’s course when I get a chance – it was a very easy, fun course – I’m not as surprised that my dogs did well on it as I am at the number of dogs who failed to qualify.

We spent last weekend at the new SCOR CPE trial in Madison. Couldn’t have asked for better weather – clear and in the 70’s both days. Sunday was the more comfortable as there were some clouds (the sun was pretty relentless on Saturday).

Bryce had a great day on Saturday, with a 1st place and Q in 4 out of 5 runs. That other one had a U-shaped tunnel facing the A-frame and I didn’t *quite* pull hard enough to get him into the correct end. Sunday he started well, with another 1st place in Jackpot, but I could tell he was getting a little tired. He got a 2nd place in Standard, then we NQ’d our last 2 runs – one my fault (overhandled him in Jumpers) the other definitely his fault (saw a little piece of paper on the ground near the weaves, wasted a lot of time trying to see if it was edible – like I said, he was getting tired!).

Jayda’s weekend was a roller coaster ride of highs and lows. She started well with a beautiful Jumpers run – 1st and Q to finish her CL1-F title. Followed by a very distracted attempt at Snooker. Then a nice, qualifying Colors run, followed by an absolute MELTDOWN in standard that ended with her hiding in a tunnel and refusing to come out :(! I *think* that was triggered by a plane from the nearby airport going overhead, but it could have been anything she saw or heard outside the ring … I scratched her last run of the day.

I decided that Sunday I would bring Bryce to the ring gates with her each time I ran her – it seems to make a difference in her confidence, having the unflappable Mr. Brycey nearby.

Sunday started with Jackpot – she was doing well for about 7 or 8 obstacles then she started to worry and zone out. I got her attention back, took her to the table (she likes her table), took her out of the ring and had a party. Not great, but much better than Saturday afternoon’s disaster.

But the high of her weekend was her next Standard run – I was afraid there was “meltdown potential” because she was very nervous outside the ring. She totally surprised me – she TOOK OFF and did a BEAUTIFUL run – smooth and fast (except for one little glitch where I almost tripped over her) – impressive contacts, lovely weave poles – first time I’ve EVER run her and felt like I was running the dog I KNOW she can be! I had people coming up to me afterwards complimenting us on that run! Even with the little boo-boo in the middle, she was way under time!!!

She also did a nice job in Wildcard (finishing her CL2-H title – bad mommy didn’t realize this until after we got home and forgot to pick up another New Title rosette for her). By the time her last class was setting up, people were putting things away, tearing down tents and packing their vehicles, and we were all tired, so I decided to end on a good note instead of risking another meltdown – we went home.

They were taking a lot of photos so I should have some pictures soon! Both of them are tired today, Jayda’s a little wild – I think she’s glad to be home.

(Another old picture – our first trial of the season is the week the rest of the family will be at the FCI World Championships!) This week’s class went much better than last – it looks like Bryce and I are almost in synch again!

We were working mostly A-frame/tunnel discriminations and serpentines/threadles/270’s in both classes. The ease of getting most discriminations with Brycey never ceases to amaze me – as long as I give him the correct signal (hand up for contacts, hand low for tunnels) I don’t even need a verbal, he just does it! The only time we sometimes have problems is if I send him out and ahead to a tunnel on the far side of an a-frame and can’t keep my momentum as I send – I can’t stop “flatfooted” with him on a course. Ever!

Jayda was also doing well working her easier discriminations. We just had her doing the a-frame today, gradually moving the tunnel closer. She doesn’t totally understand the game yet, but she seems to be catching on.

Both dogs loved doing the threadle/serpentine exercises. The two dogs handle very differently – I have to turn into Jayda to check her stride, especially on the threadles. Bryce I can shoulder pull through the entire exercise – as long as I keep my eye on him and turn my shoulders accordingly we’ll go clean through that kind of sequence. Very few teams I know can get away with that strategy but it works for us :)!