"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom."

This weekend I stayed home, and hit an agility trial today just 3 miles from my house. I only entered Noodle, because for some reason Dolphin just hates to trial where he trains (boys....*eye roll*). I am working hard to get those points and double QQs towards Noodle's PACH, my goal is to get 'er done in 2025!

Noodle did not disappoint today! She qualified in Standard with the highest number of points in her entire agility career...YESSSS! She then came through with a very nice Jumpers Q, for Double QQ #13! My girl is gettin' it done!

The groundhog said 6 more weeks of winter yesterday, but today it actually reached 60 degrees! I enjoyed the day because it's back down to the 30's tomorrow. Today was a great day to spend in the field with Dolphin and Noodle. Both dogs were great. We didn't gun over them today, so it was a lot of work on just steadiness and honoring.

Dolphin hit one pretty nice honor. He stops well, but does like to turn in towards me. Not the end of the world, but I would like to keep him facing the direction he stopped. He also gets so impatient/bored/whatever and wants to turn away if the dog or handler takes too long. On the plus side, he was wonderful on his birds, including one that flushed back towards him and about skimmed his back - he was rock solid!

Noodle was wonderful - had several super nice honors including one that I swear was all the way across the 5 acre field. She had a good view of the dog and stopped...love that! She was a tad jumpy on her birds - nothing major but she was twitchy enough to pop forward a couple inches on the flush. She was dying to retrieve today. Hopefully we can do some retrieving on Wednesday.

So many ups and downs in dog training...on Monday and Tuesday this week it was definitely "up". Today, it was down, up, down, all over the place.

Noodle was wild and crazy. It was mid-30s and windy, and although I was freezing, the dogs absolutely loved it! Noodle was on edge with everything - honoring, pointing, you name it. She honored really well, but did hop a little when the bird was shot. She did NOT want to listen when she was running, and I had a hard time getting her to come back to me and not end up 2 counties away. She was hoppy on her pointed birds when they went up and got shot. Retrieves were 'meh'. Her training session was a bit frustrating (though she sure had a blast!).

Dolphin did fairly well. His retrieves were so-so, not great but not horrible. He was nice and steady on his birds. One bird was especially naughty and would NOT get up and fly, but instead ran to the woods. I took a dead bird and tossed it in the opposite direction for Dolphin to retrieve, which he did. Then when I released him to go on hunting he did a 180 and went to the woods where the original bird had run off to, picked it up, and did probably his nicest retrieve of the day...too bad it was on a bird that he was NOT supposed to go get.

The best moment of the day was when Dolphin went around the corner and there was a random chukar sitting on the path. He hit the brakes and did a nice point from a distance, and held that point the whole time while I chased that bird up into the air (see video below). That was a nice way to end the session.

We did something cool this week in agility class, we conducted an experiment to see how far apart we could place two jumps and still have our dog do it in one stride. I can't remember what Noodle's final distance was yesterday, but today Pizza topped out at 27 feet, and Dolphin was at 29 feet...I think Dolphin could have gone a lot farther, but after doing SO many repetitions he was pretty tired by the time we got to 29 feet. I would like to try him again at 31 feet when he is fresh.

What a day at the agility trial in Zanesville! This has never happened before - 2 dogs, 7 runs, and a perfect day! Noodle got a Q and 1st in FAST, a Q and 1st in Standard, and a Q and 2nd in Jumpers. Dolphin got a Q and 1st in FAST, a Q and 1st in Standard, a Q and 2nd in Jumpers, and a Q and 1st in Time 2 Beat! Say what??? What an amazing day! This is Noodle's 14th double QQ towards her PACH, and Dolphin's 8th QQ towards his MACH. We are inching our way to our goals.

To top it all off, Noodle finished her Master Preferred FAST title, and Dolphin finished his Master Bronze Jumpers title! BOOM!

Today's theme is Back to Reality. The morning started off promising, with both Noodle and Dolphin winning their FAST classes (although Dolphin did knock a 1-point jump). Then things went sharply downhill when both dogs NQ-ed in Standard. Dolphin got a little too far ahead of me on the dogwalk, and he started to turn his head to check in with me and I cued him to go on forward and take the triple, and he knocked the top bar. Since we had NQed so early (3rd obstacle), I used the opportunity to do some handling moves I don't normally do, like a backy-uppy (worked perfectly!) and a blind after the A-frame (barely got up there in time, but got it done!). Noodle was running clean but got distracted by someone with their dog right at the ring fence, turned wide, and upon correction she took an off-course jump.

Jumpers was a little better. Noodle had a really nice Q. Dolphin was running awesome and clean until the end. The course had a double wrap (wrap one jump, then wrap back the next jump). On the second wrap, even though my entire body and arm was facing right, Dolphin turned left (WHY?????) and then blasted into an off-course tunnel (again WHY? It wasn't even that close!). It was a very odd mistake for him.

Dolphin did have a nice Time 2 Beat Q and 2nd place. He once again started to charge to an off-course tunnel but I screamed his name and actually got him to turn away from the tunnel just inches from the opening...good save!

I did some field training with my friend today. Dolphin was a bit iffy on his birds. The first bird got up and flew past his head and he did jump up and snap at it (thankfully he missed). Ugh. Second bird was much steadier. His honoring was good, but he always wants to turn and come to me after he stops, and I have yet to figure out how to fix this without making the honoring a negative experience. We did one retrieve, it was OK. I did three tosses with this bird (since we didn't have a gunner). The retrieve got a little better each time. I'll just keep at it and do what I'm doing, I guess.

Pizza got to work with my friend's puppy again. She was stellar, until the very end. The last bird she went on point, the puppy came in and stole point, and then flushed the bird right over her head. She just couldn't resist, and leaped in the air with the puppy to try to catch it. Luckily, the bird flew high enough to get away. I did capture this with my phone, pretty funny! It's hard to be mad at her, she is always so darn 'perfect' in the field, it's OK to occasionally just have fun and be a wild dog.

I haven't posted in the past few weeks - haven't had much to report. I did a little field training a few weeks ago, Noodle and Dolphin made some mistakes - mainly in honoring and retrieving. Unfortunately the weather turned ROTTEN for a while, which meant no training at all. I had Noodle entered in a Rally trial last Sunday but a big snow and ice storm hit us. I got about 4 miles down the road and had to turn back home because it was too dangerous to drive to Cincinnati. Oh the joys of winter. Needless to say I went into this coming weekend with a bit of trepidation, having not been able to train for weeks.

I judged on Friday and Saturday, it was really cold but the weather was dry and sunny and the dogs were a blast to watch. My air bnb was freezing and definitely misrepresented on the website...definitely not staying here again! On Sunday I was able to enter bot Noodle and Dolphin in Master Hunter.

Noodle was in the third brace. My goal was to handle her and keep her with me so that we actually entered the birdfield together, unlike last year. She actually handled really well. I did not let her get out of sight. We got into the bird field, and soon the other dog went on point. Noodle came in and did a nice honor, but she was a bit 'hoppy' on the shot and release. That's always something we have to work on. Her own bird work was excellent, although she did anticipate my release to the retrieve a bit, but it was OK. All in all it was a decent go, and we earned Master Hunter pass #36! I should also mention that this was my 75th master hunter test I have run. I am pretty proud of that, because every bit of experience I get helps me be a better judge.

Dolphin was in the 6th brace. I wasn't feeling very confident with almost no training this past month. He hunted fantastic in the backfield with a nice forward run and lots of confidence, which was great since he has never been on these grounds before. When we got into the bird field, the bracemate went on point first. Dolphin was ahead of me and did a really nice stop to honor, and he only turned his head to look at me rather than moving his feet. Big victory! Unfortunately that bird was missed. Dolphin hunted hard, and was getting really really hot and panting a lot (the temps reached around 70 and the sun was blazing). He locked up on a super beautiful point, and the bird was about 10-15 feet in front of him. I flushed it and for once in my life the bird went exactly where I needed it to go, it was cleanly shot, and Dolphin waited for me to walk slowly back to him and tap him for the retrieve. His retrieve was so-so, he put the bird down a lot and panted, but got it to hand, and we heeled off.

Dolphin's bracemate went on point, and I had to call him over to honor. These situations are always hard because it's hard to get a nice honor when you are having to direct your dog towards the other dog. He did an OK stop, and stood perfectly for the flush (which went right across in front of him) and the shot and retrieve. I heeled him away and got him quickly to the water since I could see he was starting to overheat. We went on and continued hunting until time ran out. All in all it was a success and we have a new Master Hunter in our house! This was a HUGE goal of mine and we got it done. 5 Master passes out of 7 attempts, that is pretty darn good!