Echo's 1st Agility Trial

Echo competed in her first agility trial June 19th - 21st at the RAT formerly known as Lacey but has now been name Largus trial at Argus Ranch in Auburn Washington. I started her out in NADAC which is my venue of choice; we will also do some AKC starting next year. Echo was beyond phenomenal this weekend. I entered her in Hoopers and Tunnelers Friday night; 2 Regulars and a Jumpers Saturday; and a Regular, Jumpers, and Tunnelers on Sunday for a total of 8 classes. This ended up being the perfect number of classes for the baby dog.

I was so nervous Friday night before Hoopers that I could hardly stand. I do not remember being that nervous with Hershey or Kant but I felt so many more expectations put on me now. Novice dog after novice dog ran around the ring or out of the ring or would not start and then it was Echo’s turn. To the line we go in Hoopers; sit stay and I lead out past the 2nd non-test hoop, release her and off we go with incredible speed and beautiful directionals. We got our non-test hoops with our two tests done in 18.52 second, our first agility Q, and first place.

Tunnelers was just as wonderful with just a little too much here and pulled off a tunnel but still finished in 26.39 seconds with another Q and 1st place. She ran Tunnelers in 5.42 yards per second.Saturday we started with Jumpers and Echo was running so fast I got caught standing there watching in amazement of the speed and forgot to direct her over a jump so she went and did her own. I got her back on course and we still finished 5 seconds faster than the other dogs in the class. Our first Regular run was awesome with just a little too much speed in to the weave poles and we had to try a second time earning our first Regular Q with 1st place. We got over the top excited by the dog that ran in front of us on Regular Round 2 and I did not get her focus back on me. The second obstacle was a dog walk with a big yellow tunnel right next to it, Echo took the tunnel. She pretty much will choose any non-stopping obstacle over a stopping one. We ended up with another off course in Regular 2 again because of speed and obstacle focus and not so much teamwork. Echo slept very good Saturday night.

Sunday we started out with Jumpers and I learned from Saturday to direct that speed and we had one of those runs that brings tears to your eyes. The course was 105 yards and we did it in 16.18 seconds earning our 4th Q with a run that was 6.49 yards per second. Next we ran Tunnelers and Echo did not take my turn and ended up in an off course tunnel but there were lots of places for her to choose not to listen to me and she did listen to me, over all I was very pleased with the run. Our Regular run had another dog walk/tunnel discrimination and Echo took the tunnel even with me call from way back with total body turn. Right now I am not worried about the discrimination stuff because she had a perfect start line stay at every run, incredible speed,

great contacts,

beautiful weave poles, and wonderful obstacle focus. I learned there are two things I will be working on: obstacle discrimination and finish line routine. I could not have been happier with Echo this weekend and I got a lot of great comments. It was a great start to her agility career!

We cannot forget about Kant. She also started the weekend out great getting a Hoopers Q and a Tunnelers Q Friday night. Saturday we got a Weavers Q.

Kant knocked one bar in Chances, both Regulars, and Jumpers but had very nice runs in all of the classes. Chances was difficult and Kant did all the hard part but knocked a bar. Six more months and she will be a Veteran dog and able to jump 12 inches, hopefully that will help.

Saturday night was Fido Follies which is a three dog/handler team that runs in costume on a specially designed agility course. Each year the theme changes, in the past it has been board games, jungle, etc, this year it was The Circus. I was on a great team with Adele and Beau and Anne and Zuni and we were the Flying Furballs. Adele made great t-shirts with pictures of our dogs and gold metallic capes with gold metallic bandannas for the dogs and Anne provided top hats for us to wear. Kant and I started with the first 7 obstacles and we could get 10 bonus points if I wore clown shoes; which of course I did because I needed as much help as possible. Anne and Zuni had the next section which consisted of two 40 foot tunnels (2 20 foot tunnels hooked back to back), a couple of regular tunnels, and a set of weave poles. She did not have any bonus given on her section but how fun to run a 40 foot tunnel, twice. Adele and Beau ran the last section and she had two bonuses; one if she wore these HUGE white Mickey Mouse gloves and two if she ran from this narrow long marked box (tightrope) which of course she did both. There was an additional 20 point bonus given if your dog went in to the “lion’s cage” captured the lion and drug him out of the cage. The cage consisted of set of six weave poles set in a box formation with the corners open and the furious lion was the size of a beanie baby. We all decided to try it because again we needed as much help as possible and Kant amazingly went out on the first try and captured that lion and drug him out of the box. Anne also provided brownies to bribe the judges, did I mention we needed as much help as possible. All of our bonuses, bribes, and great dogs worked and we ended up 3rd out of 22 teams, much to the shock of the three of us. Our prize was a book of Circus Dog Tricks. Great fun!!

Sunday Kant got a Touch’N’Go and a Regular Q.

She knocked a bar in Regular 2 and knocked most of the bars in Jumpers. I would like to blame that on the rain and the slick grass but that would just be an excuse, Kant was just plowing through the jumps. She did not want to redeem herself in Tunnelers and choose not to listen to me or my body position and take an off course tunnel. Not one of Kant’s better weekends. She ended up with 5 Q out of 13 runs. I just have to love her for keeping me humble.

Thank you Howard Templeton for all the great agility pictures!

Busy Weekend

Saturday, June 12th my alarm went off at 4am so I could leave for Fido’s Farm in Olympia Washington by 5am to arrive by 8am for the Handler’s meeting and course walk; which I did. And then I had to wait for 6 Level III dogs and 4 Level II dogs to run to get to the 12 Level I dogs. Kant was 3rd from the last. We were herding 30 sheep at this large flock trial and you had 25 minutes to complete the course. A couple of dogs timed out but most of the dogs finished well below the 25 minutes. Kant completed the course in 15 minutes 27 seconds. You were scored on 6 exercises on the course with a total of 90 points available for Level I and II and 100 points for Level III because they have an additional piece to the last exercise. Kant scored 85 out of 90, she did a great job!! There was a cattle dog that ran a couple of runs before us and did a fabulous job and I knew that was going to be the dog to beat but we did not do that this time and got 2nd place; the cattle dog got 86 out of 90 so it was very close. This finished Kant’s Ranch Large Flock Level I sheep title!! You can watch Kant’s run on You-Tube, thank you very much to Dave Vesely for sticking around to watch our run and then offering to tape it. Holding a camcorder, no matter how small, for 15 minutes can get very heavy. And it was about 320 yards to the far end of the field from where Dave was taping. Here is the You-Tube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epnCjo8o8oI
The judge’s comment on my score sheet was “Beautiful run – it was fun to watch your dog work” and I had several people come up to me and tell me how nice it was to see such a great working Sheltie. I am very proud of Kant and all that she gives me! Echo, PITA, and Slick came along for the ride.
Every dog must have his day. – Jonathan Swift

My very best friend, Lee, came over from Prineville to do some shopping in Portland and she stayed Saturday night with me. I barely got back from Washington before she arrived. And of course we stayed up way too late talking. The next day we hung out and got caught up spending a great day together! We did not see each other in 2008 and you would have never known that with the way we just talked liked we saw each other every day. I know I say this every time we see each other but we have to get together more often! The time just goes too quickly. Lee tried to tell me Bradey was driving and bought a car and that Ethan was 12 years old. She tried to prove it with pictures but I still cannot believe it. As she was heading out of town we stopped at Godfrey’s Nursery in Shaw Oregon. Lee wanted a large pot of flowers and boy did she get a great one. I was going to pick up some flowers to fill the last of my pots but I was too overwhelmed so I had to go home and figure out what I really needed and Thursday I will take Jordana back with me to help.

What an outstanding weekend with great herding and even greater time spent with a friend!!

NADAC Fun-Raiser Corvallis Oregon

May 29 – 31 Kant and I ran in the NADAC Fun-Raiser. Friday night was two rounds of Hoopers. Round 1 was one of the most technical courses that I have ever seen in Hoopers and we were over time; you could not have one little bobble on this course. In Round 2 I found a course that Kant liked much better and we qualified. We did not have a very good day Saturday only getting Qs in Touch’N’Go and Weavers. I was very distracted and not handling very well and Kant did not like that. I worked much harder to stay connected with her on Sunday and Kant was much happier. We got a Regular Q, our 1st Elite Jumpers Q, and a Weavers Q. We have not had a Regular Q since the end of October so that was very nice to get. And of course I am thrilled with the Jumpers Q since that is the hardest class for us; only 12 more to get our NATCH!

Our next NADAC agility trial is June 19th – 21st in Auburn Washington and I am looking forward to going and just running my dogs. This will be Echo’s debut agility trial. The last two NADAC agility trials have involved me judging and with me being VERY new to judging I found it very difficult to switch back and forth from judge to competitor.

Memorial Day Weekend

This was a “work” weekend for me. It started Friday afternoon when I worked Echo and Kant on sheep. Echo and I improve every time we work sheep. I am so lucky to have such an excellent herding instructor and great friend in Lora with excellent sheep for whatever we are working on. Kant and I had tasks to do very similar to a ranch course. This is what Kant and I are best at where we can work together. I entered Kant in an AHBA Ranch Large Flock trial in June. Echo’s herding debut will be in PT this summer.

I ordered a unit (7 ½ yards) of bark dust to be delivered Saturday. Late last summer I got tired of maintaining the grass in the front yard and decided to remove it all. I planted a few shrubs and put around pots with flowers and vegetables with plans for finishing it this year. So Saturday I put down 220 feet of weed cloth and covered it with the whole unit of bark dust. Jordana got home from work just after 6:30 then we had dinner. After dinner Jordana helped me finish spreading the last little bit of bark dust, put all the pots back in place, and put down the step stones that my dad made for me years ago. We finished just before 9:30pm but it was all done and the mess was cleaned up. This is what we ended up with;

low maintenance, clean looking, and done!

Sunday morning I woke up with very sore muscles from moving all that bark dust but I was determined to get the inside of the house clean. I deep cleaned the kitchen, dining room, and living room.

Monday I was hoping to kick back and enjoy the two days of hard work but the day did not go completely that way. My dad came over with 2 tomato plants, chives, parsley, and a salad mix that all needed to be planted.

We got all of that planted and will enjoy all of it all summer. Then he and Jordana headed in to the bathroom to replace the fan while I headed for the kitchen to get the ribs in to the oven, make potato salad, and strawberry shortcake. We all finished at the same time and enjoyed a game of Up Words that I won by the way. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner of BBQ ribs, potato salad, and of course potato chips because you cannot have potato salad without potato chips. Jordana and dad wanted a rematch that dad won and then we enjoyed the freshly made strawberry shortcake. It was a great way to end a great weekend and the fan in the bathroom is so quiet I can hardly hear it.

A dog naps so much because it loves so hard. –Anonymous

The Clinic

Tuesday started the 3 day judge’s clinic followed by a 3 day trial. I had a great time and a frustrating time; the education was great and stressful; it was exhilarating and exhausting. There were several first timers there and a few current judges and I was most impressed with how EVERYONE got along and was always willing to answer a question and step in to help. It was a GREAT group of people! One of the reasons I want to become a NADAC judge is to work with other agility folks around the US and this clinic confirmed that for me; I loved working with each and everyone of one of the people that traveled to Moab for the clinic.

For those of us that brought our dogs we were able to run in the trial. Friday was 2 rounds each of Touch’N’Go, Weavers, and Tunnelers. Kant qualified in 4 of the 6 classes. Saturday and Sunday each had 2 rounds of Regular, Chances, Jumpers, and Hoopers. Saturday Kant knocked at least one bar in each class except Hoopers where we had a beautiful Qualifying run. Sunday she only knocked one bar in Regular 2 but missed the contact in Regular 1 and crossed the line in Chances. We had another beautiful Hoopers run with a Q. But the most excited news of all is that Kant Qualified in Open Jumpers finally finishing her Superior title so she is now in Elite Jumpers!!! I am still smiling ear to ear!! Echo was awesome all week for a puppy to be in a crate way more then usual and then to never be out not on leash; I was very proud of her. She is entered in her first trial June 19th – 21st.

I had to judge for the clinic on Friday and Sunday and Saturday was my day off. Late morning I was hanging out with Kant and Echo at our crating area when the wall of dogs behind me starting barking quite loud and pretty viciously. I noticed a family with mom and dad and several kids had arrived and were trying to enter the crating area to see the dogs but the barking dogs startled the kids and worried the parents. I quickly put Echo on leash and grabbed a handful of treats and went out to visit the family. All the kids got to meet Echo and give her a treat. There were several questions about the kind of dog she was, her age, and if she would be running. I answered all their questions and then went to get Kant so they could meet a dog that was running. It came time for us to run the course so the family went in to the stands to watch. As Kant and I were finishing our run I heard the family cheering for Kant so when we were done we went up in the stands so they could congratulate Kant for a good run and I could answer any questions they might have. One of their children was handicapped and need a walker so he could not climb the stairs to sit in the stands with the rest of his family so as Kant and I left I stopped to thank him for coming to watch and let him give Kant a treat. I am very competitive when it comes to running agility but it is those experiences that touch my heart the most and make me love agility even more.

Every morning I woke up to this wonderful view where I would sit and eat my breakfast and enjoy it. The campgrounds were full of folks for the jeep gathering; on Sunday they were heading out because another group was coming in with side-by-side ATVs, they looked like golf carts on steroids.

Sunday morning I took down the tent and got the car all packed for the trip back home. After the trial was over the dogs were back in the car; we pulled out of Moab at 7pm. We made to the southern end of Salt Lake City for the night, out of Utah and through Idaho, down the Columbia Gorge past Multnomah Falls, and then back in to Salem on Monday. After visiting the Moab area all it has did was made me want to go make and explore some more. Overall the trip was wonderful!!

Moab Utah

I loaded the car Friday night, May 1st, with the tent, sleeping bag, a couple of crates, two ice chests full of food, and a suitcase packed for a 10 day adventure to Moab Utah; it took 1 ½ days to make the just over 1000 miles to Moab. The drive over was uneventful; I made it to Ogden Utah the first night. After leaving I-15 and heading east on I-90 I drove through a beautiful mountain pass with a raging creek running along the interstate that opened up to the most beautiful valley. I have not seen the Grand Canyon yet but this is what I would imagine it would look like.

I arrived in Moab just after noon and found the campgrounds. I set up the tent and unloaded the car. After having a little lunch I headed to Arches National Park. I only have 1 ½ days to explore all the beauty of this area before the NADAC judging clinic starts on Tuesday.

WOW!! Arches National Park is breath-taking. My pictures can not do the massive red rock formations and the magnificent arches justice. It is truly amazing what nature can create. I loved all the arches but the Fiery Furnace was my favorite rock formation.

Here is just a small sampling of the 145 pictures I took.

We ended the evening with a storm blowing in. It rained really hard Sunday night and I was worried about it being too nasty to go exploring Monday but I woke up in the morning to a beautiful day.

I went back in to Arches National Park arriving just after sunrise to do a couple of hikes before it gets warm. I did a couple of miles at Delicate Arch and then a few miles to see several arches in Devils Garden. I arrived back at the car by 10am and it was still very cool and the dogs were great. I understand why the dogs can not be on the trails at the national parks but I still do not like it. After finishing my explorations of Arches National Park I headed to Canyonlands National Park. Canyonlands is much bigger then Arches and I only visited Island in the Sky. There were some hikes available in Canyonlands but nothing that interested me. There were a few times in Canyonlands that the heights got to me. I really wanted to enjoy the beauty from the view points but getting too close to the edge was not an option. At the very end of road there was a picnic area and a picnic table has just opened up so I decided to stop there for lunch and let the dogs hang out. I very nice couple traveling from Chicago asked if they could share the table with me and we had a very nice visit over lunch. I enjoyed my exploration of Canyonlands and wished I had time to explore some of the other areas; next time.

I ended my Monday travels with a visit to Dead Horse State Park. With this being a State Park and not a National Park the dogs were allowed on the trails. We spent several hours here exploring the trails and meeting people. We met two great couples one that had just arrived from England on holiday and other from Vancouver Canada. The man from Canada had bought a motorcycle from Maine and was driving it home. His girlfriend flew to Denver where he picked her up and they were making a small vacation out of the last part of the trip back home. They all enjoyed the dogs and the dogs enjoyed entertaining them.