The weather finally got below 90 degrees so we were able to do a little field training in the evening. I just brought Pizza out to the bird dog club. We worked some birds with a friend (and she was ROCK solid!), then afterwards I took her out to the back fields and just let her run and play. It was a great evening, just the two of us. I love that she can go weeks between trainings and never miss a beat.
I'd kind of like to skip over this entire day, but I am forcing myself to write about it. I am going to quit the agility recaps on Pizza as I have started a detailed spreadsheet with her visits and errors and that's where I will notate things. This saves you from having to read all those detail-ly things
My training pal was on vacation all week, so I took her border collie and Pizza to the trial. Well, her border collie has been cooped up with no stimulation or training for a week, and Pizza, was, well, PIZZA. We went 0 for 8 today. And not just any old zero, but a BIG ass zero. Tigs was wild, didn't listen to me, and was all over the map. Pizza reverted back to her pre-break self and did multiple long visits, forcing me to walk her off course on several runs. It was disheartening for sure, I feel I took a small step forward and then 45 steps back.
Pizza will get one more chance on Sunday. Meanwhile, I came home and spent some quality time outside with my boy Pretzel. He was having a good day today, so he hung out with me as I weeed my garden (I may or may not have given him a cucumber as a special treat!) This will probably be his last summer, so I am making sure he is enjoying every moment.
Let's start with the good first - Noodle had a really nice jumpers run but knocked a bar (so unlike her!). She had a decent Q in standard to finish her MXP title (can't believe we had to start all over with our master titles after she dropped to preferred...so dumb!). FAST was a crap as the send was jump, tunnel, back to tunnel and she was NOT having it with that damn tunnel.
Pizza was a hot mess again - multiple visits, multiple walk-offs. In our last class, after she left me to run to the bar setter I didn't even call to her, I just walked out. She immediately turned around and ran after me. Interesting. Not interesting enough to keep going, though. I talked with my coach and I am pulling her from the next trial weekend in early August), and we are going back to the training drawing board. Hopefully she has some ideas for us because I am fresh
Yesterday it was time for Noodle's blood test to check her albumin and protein levels. She has been completely off of the Mycophenolate for the past 5 weeks. I was worried that her levels would drop significantly, but although they did drop a but they are still hanging in there in the normal range. Our plan is to keep the status quo and test her again in 2 months. This will help us decide if she can stay off of the Mycophenolate (which I hope!). Regardless, I will keep testing her every few months. It's worth the $$$ for peace of mind.
Dolphin finally had a chance to go back to scent work class tonight. He did pretty darn good, having had over a month off of classes. I notice he is MUCH better when he is off leash, but unfortunately many trials/searches are not set up to allow off leash. I think I am going to need to train more often on leash to try to get him more comfortable with it.
It's been in the 90's all week, so that has curtailed our outdoor activities. I did do some agility training in the yard yesterday evening late with Noodle and Dolphin (they were outstanding, especially Noodle!). My dogs are really missing their field work, Dolphin has been going on point on birds in the yard that he sees (and Pizza always backs him so nicely!). I decided to get up early and head to the bird dog club this morning to let Pizza have a chance to work some birds before the heat of the day.
I guess getting up early wasn't enough to beat the heat. When we stepped off, the temperatures were 80 degrees and rising. It hardly slowed Pizza down until towards the end - she was running so beautifully! I put out three pigeons in the field. The scenting conditions were about as bad as they can be - zero wind, high heat, and crazy high humidity that left everything dripping wet. Couple that with the extra fresh green grass and cover that was growing, and it made the scent very hard to detect. Pizza did a pretty nice job considering the conditions!
The first bird she pointed was an odd situation. She was solid on point, staring dead straight ahead where she was convinced the bird must be. The bird was actually right next to her, to her left. When I flused the bird from her left side, it startled her as she was fixiated up ahead, and she did jump a little bit at the bird, which I had to correct. This is very unlike her, as she is my most solid dog. I think the situation caused the small problem, which means it was a
The next two birds were solid as a rock, and pointed from a better distance away. When we finished, the temperatures had reached the mid 80's, and into the 90's by the time we got home. All in all it was a really good morning in the field, and nice to spend some one-on-one time by myself with the Pizza Pie.
The question of the day, the month, or the decade - am I just wasting time trying to catch the chicken?
Today I got up at 4 am to head to an agility trial in Cincinati with Noodle and Dolphin. Today I grade a big fat
• JUMPERS - Dolphin: Like I mentioned, it was actually a good run, the best the entire day. I sent him to a jump and moved laterally to show the turn (and keep him out of the off-course tunnel in front of him), and he read my lateral too literally and pulled off the jump for a refusal. Everything else was great!
• JUMPERS - Noodle: We had a weave fault when she entered the weaves, slammed on her brakes and stopped to smell the first weave pole. Interestingly, she was about the 5th or 6th dog to do this, even after the ring crew cleaned the poles. Not sure if another dog peed there or what, but it was a problem all morning. She knocked a bar later in the run, so it was a non-issue.
• Time 2 Beat - Dolphin: So many issues. Dolphin sneexed right before taking the first jump, and knocked the bar. He also stopped to smell the weave poles - he stopped to smell pole #3. I never was able to get him through the clean. He also leaped over his A Frame contact, I fixed it, and we ran out of time. Ugh.
• STANDARD - Dolphin: We had a refusal at the second jump. I have no idea why other than he had zero mojo and just pulled in and went past it. I corrected it, and he did run the rest of the run clean, and picked up some decent speed in the last half. I just wish he started as good as he finished. That's been our problem lately - he starts sluggish, and then halfway through he kicks it in overdrive.
• STANDARD - Noodle: We got to jump #5 and someone slammed the outside door that was right next to the ring by that jump, and she slammed on her brakes right before the jump, stood there looking, then saw my friend videoing and just stood there looking at her. I ended up walking her out because her mind was definitely not in the game.
It was such a frustrating day. Very very defeating. I am seriously questioning my efforts and commitment to this sport as I feel like even though I work so hard at it, I am just spinning my wheels with absolutely zero progress with any of my dogs. Even with the best coaches around, it just isn't happening. Is there any point to chasing chickens?
I know, I know, I said I was NOT going to enter Rally Nationals again after not having any fun or enjoyment at it last year, but I did. Noodle qualified in Excellent, and you never know when this might be her last year to be able to do it, so I gave in and entered. I wasn't positive I was actually going to show until maybe a day or two before. I got to take our new camper van (named "Ivan") so I had a place to hang out in the a/c with Noodle, so that part was awesome.
I had one run on Thursday, my walk was at 7:50am but I didn't actually compete until the end of the day (around 2:30 or 3-ish). Once again this venue is SO difficult for Noodle - people and dogs standing shoulder to shoulder, rings backed up against other rings with dogs right up against the fence. It was a real stress to her, but today she handled it great. Our run was really nice, other than I had a big boo-boo and started to go on the wrong side of the cones for the offset serpentine. I managed to correct it, but it was significant points off (-10). Noodle had a small boo-boo where she was supposed to come front and she ended up going towards my side and was crooked. More points off. There was a woman just SCREAMING at her dog i the next ring and it really distracted Noodle when we were on that end of the course, and it made her a little sticky on her signs. We ended up with a socre of
Friday was a tough day. Two mornings of waking up at 4am is hard on both of us. We were third dog in the ring in the morning. Noodle did really well, even though she did get distracted by a barking dog in the ring next to us. I managed to not go on the wrong side of any cones, and we ended up with a score of
I ended up not having quite as miserable of a time as I did last year (although it was a bummer to end on such a low note). Having the camper van there to go back and relax between things was great for both of us. That venue is just so difficult for Noodle. Mark reminded me today about how far we have come - years ago I would have never been able to do something like this...off leash with Noodle! She's not perfect, but she is so much more reliable for the most part. I love how hard she tried, even when things around her were trying to pull her attention away.
Fun fact: Out of 836 dogs that competed, there were only
Because I am a glutton for punishment, I got up early yet again today and took Noodle, Pizza, and Dolphin to the bird dog club to run in the mock hunt test. Other than Pizza, none of them have been on birds in over a month. Yeah, you could tell. Noodle grabbed a bird that flushed in her face right at the start of the bird field. She didn't get a chance to work another bird after that, so I ran her again at the end of the day. She was gone from me, standing way on the far end of the field on point, and stood there forever with her nose practically on top of the bird. It was really hot, zro breeze, and the cover was extremely thick, high, and WET. Couldn't ask for worse scenting conditions! Noodle stood perfectly but when I got the bird up she jumped forward with the shot AGAIN. She did end up completing a nice retrieve, but man...we have some serious work to do. On the plus side, she had multiple nice honors.
Dolphin had a beautiful point, but broke on the shot. He completed a wonderful retrieve, probably one of his best ones yet - right to hand. His honor was a little iffy (Ok, it was a LOT iffy), but that's to be expected since we haven't trained in forever.
Pizza was a rock star...until she wasn't. She was the MOST solid of all the dogs - never moved a muscle on point, on the flush, and the shot - perfect. Went out and picked up the bird on the retrieve, and dropped it about 10 feet from me and wouldn't pick it back up...right back where we were last summer. UGH. She, of course, had a spectacular honor with was fun to see. I do love that. Her retrieve though...yuck. If this heat ever breaks, I can get back to serious training again. Can't wait!
I cannot fathom it - Noodle turned
I decided that on her 8th birthday, Noodle gets to do her most favorite thing on earth - well, her two most favorite things on earth. The first was field training, of course! We headed out to the open training night at the bird dog club, and she got to point a pigeon and honor another dog, and run in the fields with sheer joy. The smile on her face says it all, and I am so glad I was able to give her this today.
Her second favorite thing is getting to sleep upstairs in bed with me. Of course, it was her turn tonight since it was her birthday (I usually trade off between Noodle and Pizza. Pretzel can't do stairs anynmore and Dolphin is rude and takes up WAY too much of my bed LOL!). I look at her and find it hard to believe she is 8. I don't ever want her to slow down. I know she has slowed way down in agility with her intestinal issues, but so far no matter how sick she feels, she hunts like a champion. We will keep doing it as long as she has a breath in her body, because she deserves it!
Well let me start this post with a photo of Dolphin's winnings. It was a mixed bag of a weekend, and it ended so badly, but looking at that photo I am reminded that overall it was pretty successful. No double QQs, unfortunately...ugh. Here is a recap:
Friday
• FAST - Send was jump, to the far end of the tunnel, back to jump. What a tough one, and Dolphin actually got it for a Q!
• Time 2 Beat - Dolphin jumped off the yellow on the A-Frame so I did a fix n go. He came out of the weaves the first time, but ended good.
• Standard - Dolphin was kind of slow, he knocked a bar and had a refusal. This course was wonderful for big dogs, very straightforward and had nice flow. Bummer that we failed at it.
• Jumpers - This was a decent run - course was twisty and he nailed it for a Q!
Friday
• FAST - Send was tunnel - jump - wrap back to tunnel, Dolphin NAILED it for a nice Q.
• Standard - He did come off the side of the dogwalk and missed the yellow but the judge did not call it. Unfortunately he pulled off of a jump at the last minute, getting a refusal. His weaves were AWESOME though!
• Jumpers - Another twisty course, and again he nailed it (with fantastic weaves!).
Sunday
• FAST - Send was Jump, jump, wrap back to jump. Again, another Q and a 1st place!
• Time 2 Beat - Dolphin did pull off of a jump but I was able to correct it (there are no refusals in T2B), he had GREAT weaves and ended up with a Q and 1st place!
• Standard - UGH, he pulled off the exact same jump he did in T2B even though I was really supporting it this time...I have no idea why. He then ran past the teeter, knocked a jump, and missed another jump. However, his weaves were again awesome.
• Jumpers - This class was a wreck. This was the only course all weekend that hat the weaves near the beginning - it started with a jump and then the weaves. Dolphin knocked the first bar, and then ran past the weaves. I did a fix n go, reset the first bar and re-did it, he got the first jump but ran past the weaves two more times before finally getting them on the third try. What the heck??? We managed to get 3 more jumps in before time ran out. What a crushing way to end the weekend.
I have a nice list of things I need to work on: Jump to weaves at the beginning, contact to a 90 degree turn to a jump, and pretty much all of those dang contacts. I hate having a terrible last run, it makes the long drive home really depressing. Of course, my mind churned all the way home as I developed a training plan for the next week or so to see if I can make some improvements.
On the plus side, we had a blast with our agility pals. We hiked about 8 miles in the Rocky River Reservation over the weekend, ate some good food, and had a great time. That counts for everything!
Today I did a 3 1/2 hour agility seminar with Pizza. Man, she was on
We ran two courses, and then broke down the courses and analyzed what we did and different options on how we could have handled it, then re-ran, trying out the new options. Pizza was
