I want to wish sincere congratulations to my dear friend Lora Withnell and her charming little bitch Sally on their first Open WIN!! They laid down a smoker at the District 1 Regionals today. First team to the post and their score held all day!
Lora was so excited for me and just wonderful when I was so happy about Lucy's first win and I really treasured that moment. Here's a little celebration for Lora and Sally in return: YOU GO GIRLS!
We are all very proud of you.
16 October, 2010
09 October, 2010
Zora goes to NADAC Championships 2010
Photo courtesy of C. Harwell
Well this was my first time competing in a national championship for any sport, and it was a major thrill to do so with Zora. She was a terrific partner. Every mistake was mine. She ran clean in 6 of the 8 regular rounds, with both course faults being mine.
NADAC Championships were at the CamPlex in Gillette, Wyoming this year. The drive was long but easy, and Courtney and Logan came long, so Courtney shared the driving duties. I think that was the farthest she has ever driven in one sitting! The first 800 miles of the drive are actually fairly interesting and beautiful. The last 300 are monotonous and can't end soon enough. Especially the last 70 miles getting to Gillette really had us feeling grouchy.
I was a bit leery going into the event. I had heard plenty of horror stories about how disorganized the event would be, how exhibitors never knew what to expect because the running order was changing all the time, etc. I am pleased to say none of those things were problems at all. The running order was the same every day, and with the exception of day 1, the days ended at a reasonable time (before midnight). The live feed on http://www.agilityvision.com was a great feature. Then if people left to take a break, get a nap at the hotel or the Stakes people needed to know when to show up, they could just log on and get a LIVE update on where we were in the running order. I think that really simplified things for everyone.
Zora ran great. After round 5, I felt very certain we would be out of the finals. I made a critical handling error and was a half-second late realizing it, resulting in 10 course faults. Imagine my surprise on Sunday when they announced our names to run in the final. I was very excited!! Zora's final run was lovely and I am very proud of her. She really peaked at the right time. We had a detailed training plan in the 3 months leading up to Champs, and I think it really paid off. We focused on a different training goal every session, and progressively longer courses until Zora and I were both comfortable doing about 50 obstacle courses.
She was the smallest dog in her scoring group, and ended up coming 4th place overall. She was only 0.76 of a point behind the 3rd place dog (a small margin given that the cumulative scores were in the 700s by that point in competition).
Looking back, it was a very fun experience. Everyone was very supportive, the friendship and cheering were really amazing for every dog. It was exhausting: a mental marathon for me and my dog, especially with going home and doing homework every night. Without the homework it would have been MUCH easier! That being said, I think it was a fun thing to do once, but I don't know if I would go again. It was a ton of work and a ton of fun, but maybe not something to do on a regular basis!
Here are the videos of our runs (even the bad ones).
You can also view the videos bigger on my YouTube channel.
Round 1 was divided into 2 courses with a 45 second break between them. Zora ran both halves clean and earned 1st place.
Round 2, also a double - clean.
Round 3 - one fault (early turn away to cue the close obstacle of the discrimination resulted in her aborting the lead change)
Round 4 - clean
Round 5 - one fault (I realized too late she had not taken my come-in after the tunnel, so my hand to begin the front cross looked like a support to her resulting in the dogwalk fault)
Round 6 - clean
Round 7 - clean
FINALS - clean
06 September, 2010
Shedding: Not just for trials.
Pleased to say we Lucy and I had a very nice day today.
Diane had her 20 acre field mowed so it is just great for longer work right now. Lucy drove the full length of the field 4 times and did 4 big outruns. Her outruns were spot-on. No redirects required. I think that was very good for her confidence. I sent her from different/odd locations in the field, and in between setting the sheep took her to the holding area and worked her on a separate flock in between to diminish her memory of where the sheep were set.
We also practiced dog-leg fetches on both sides and she did just great. I was really expecting a tough practice today but Lucy was right on. Her confidence is coming back and it was really nice to have my regular partner again.
Just as we were finishing, the neighbor hollered over the fence...
Neighbor: "Hey... can you help me?"
Me: "Sure, what do you need?"
Neighbor: "Just need some sheep moved up the road."
Me: "Yes, I can do that. Which sheep are they?"
[Neighbor points down into his pasture.]
Neighbor: "The big white ones."
[I look down and frown. There are 40 or so sheep down there... and about 10 "big white ones"]
Me: "Oh, so you need those sheep sorted off of your other sheep, and then moved down the road....?"
Neighbor: "Yes. Thanks."
[I frown... thinking this might not go well.]
Me: "Um. Ok..."
I walk down into the pasture and have Lucy gather the sheep. Fortunately for me, the sheep he needs sorted off are from a separate flock, so they are a bit easier to shed off than they might be if all of the sheep were flockmates. (Is flockmates a word? Spell check says no.) There are no pens or gates to sort with in that pasture, so I maneuvered around a bit and decided to do an international style shed and hope to sort them in the middle of the field.
As I got to moving the sheep around, I had all the ones I wanted plus about 15 extra, so called Lucy in for a first cut. We then proceeded to sort off all the correct sheep on the first try! I am sure my smile was huge, I was beaming with pride for my little red dog.
Once we had the sheep sorted off, I drove off the flock that was staying into a corner, then we took the misfits up out of the pasture, down the road and to a new field. The whole process took perhaps 10 minutes.
Best part of the day:
(astonished) Neighbor: "How did you do that?!"
Me: "I have a really good dog."
Treasure each day you have together, friends.
Thanks for reading.
Diane had her 20 acre field mowed so it is just great for longer work right now. Lucy drove the full length of the field 4 times and did 4 big outruns. Her outruns were spot-on. No redirects required. I think that was very good for her confidence. I sent her from different/odd locations in the field, and in between setting the sheep took her to the holding area and worked her on a separate flock in between to diminish her memory of where the sheep were set.
We also practiced dog-leg fetches on both sides and she did just great. I was really expecting a tough practice today but Lucy was right on. Her confidence is coming back and it was really nice to have my regular partner again.
Just as we were finishing, the neighbor hollered over the fence...
Neighbor: "Hey... can you help me?"
Me: "Sure, what do you need?"
Neighbor: "Just need some sheep moved up the road."
Me: "Yes, I can do that. Which sheep are they?"
[Neighbor points down into his pasture.]
Neighbor: "The big white ones."
[I look down and frown. There are 40 or so sheep down there... and about 10 "big white ones"]
Me: "Oh, so you need those sheep sorted off of your other sheep, and then moved down the road....?"
Neighbor: "Yes. Thanks."
[I frown... thinking this might not go well.]
Me: "Um. Ok..."
I walk down into the pasture and have Lucy gather the sheep. Fortunately for me, the sheep he needs sorted off are from a separate flock, so they are a bit easier to shed off than they might be if all of the sheep were flockmates. (Is flockmates a word? Spell check says no.) There are no pens or gates to sort with in that pasture, so I maneuvered around a bit and decided to do an international style shed and hope to sort them in the middle of the field.
As I got to moving the sheep around, I had all the ones I wanted plus about 15 extra, so called Lucy in for a first cut. We then proceeded to sort off all the correct sheep on the first try! I am sure my smile was huge, I was beaming with pride for my little red dog.
Once we had the sheep sorted off, I drove off the flock that was staying into a corner, then we took the misfits up out of the pasture, down the road and to a new field. The whole process took perhaps 10 minutes.
Best part of the day:
(astonished) Neighbor: "How did you do that?!"
Me: "I have a really good dog."
Treasure each day you have together, friends.
Thanks for reading.
04 September, 2010
Update
Well, school is back in session. I'm still getting into the swing even though it's week 2, as my classes this semester have different weekly due days than previous semesters. I've spent a couple of days restructuring to figure out exactly how school will shake out.
On the dog trial front, Lacamas bested me. On Thursday I sent Lucy blind as she did not spot the sheep from the post. She got a bit lost on her outrun and rather than limp her along I decided to RT. If I had invested a few more minutes I could likely have gotten her to the sheep, but given that the trial was already 2 hours behind schedule and my dog was really listening well, I decided to call the run and left the post. She was quite happy when it was time to exhaust and she finally got some sheep time.
On Saturday, I got Lucy to her sheep. She still required redirection on the outrun as she was getting lost in the terrain. On either side of the outrun the dogs had to run a series of ridges and swales. Lucy got lost in the 3rd swale. I blew her out, which she took, went quite wide but not deep enough and obviously still did not know where to find her sheep. Finally I stopped her under the sheep and gave a look back. She saw the sheep, kicked herself out both wide and deep and lifted smartly. The sheep had been leaning hard on the dogs all afternoon and Lucy was no exception. I had used up a lot of dog during the outrun with the redirects. Her confidence was pretty much shot. I tried to stop her and open her up on the fetch to help her get better control of the sheep, but she ran through my stops. This is very unlike Lucy, so I just blew flanks on the fetch to keep her from unwinding and completely losing her sheep over the hill. Though it was quite offline she did get the sheep to my feet. Turning the post, she had 2 groups of sheep, and 1 particularly grouchy ewe lamb. She backed that ewe up 2 times, then the 3rd time she finally gripped so we were excused. I think Dee Marroni got the whole sequence on film.
So, Lacamas was Lucy's first RT and first DQ. Sheep 2, Monique 0. I have some new training goals. Our next trials are Vashon and Fire Ridge.
Terrain on outruns longer than about 400yds is a training hole for Lucy and I intend to close that hole as soon as possible. (She also struggled with running from bright sun into dark shade at the handling clinic.) It is a difficult hole to close in the places we have to train. Lucy has been sent 700yds with terrific outruns in the past, but never so far over terrain where the dog is blind several different times. Its a skill lacking but one I believe she can learn. She is normally a very good outrunner so this shook my confidence as well as hers.
On a positive note, Jorgen and I took our dogs to help a friend who needed to work his 1200 recalcitrant Romneys through the chutes for treatment. Lucy and Merckx thoroughly enjoyed themselves and it was good, practical, confidence building work for both of them.
Looking ahead, I have a trip to Las Vegas next weekend to give lectures at the SVBT CE Conference. Then 2 weeks later, a long trip to NADAC Championships with Zora. Lucy will ride along, as well as a friend and her Border collie.
So, that's what you missed. Nothing to write home about. Just a lot of work to be done.
On the dog trial front, Lacamas bested me. On Thursday I sent Lucy blind as she did not spot the sheep from the post. She got a bit lost on her outrun and rather than limp her along I decided to RT. If I had invested a few more minutes I could likely have gotten her to the sheep, but given that the trial was already 2 hours behind schedule and my dog was really listening well, I decided to call the run and left the post. She was quite happy when it was time to exhaust and she finally got some sheep time.
On Saturday, I got Lucy to her sheep. She still required redirection on the outrun as she was getting lost in the terrain. On either side of the outrun the dogs had to run a series of ridges and swales. Lucy got lost in the 3rd swale. I blew her out, which she took, went quite wide but not deep enough and obviously still did not know where to find her sheep. Finally I stopped her under the sheep and gave a look back. She saw the sheep, kicked herself out both wide and deep and lifted smartly. The sheep had been leaning hard on the dogs all afternoon and Lucy was no exception. I had used up a lot of dog during the outrun with the redirects. Her confidence was pretty much shot. I tried to stop her and open her up on the fetch to help her get better control of the sheep, but she ran through my stops. This is very unlike Lucy, so I just blew flanks on the fetch to keep her from unwinding and completely losing her sheep over the hill. Though it was quite offline she did get the sheep to my feet. Turning the post, she had 2 groups of sheep, and 1 particularly grouchy ewe lamb. She backed that ewe up 2 times, then the 3rd time she finally gripped so we were excused. I think Dee Marroni got the whole sequence on film.
So, Lacamas was Lucy's first RT and first DQ. Sheep 2, Monique 0. I have some new training goals. Our next trials are Vashon and Fire Ridge.
Terrain on outruns longer than about 400yds is a training hole for Lucy and I intend to close that hole as soon as possible. (She also struggled with running from bright sun into dark shade at the handling clinic.) It is a difficult hole to close in the places we have to train. Lucy has been sent 700yds with terrific outruns in the past, but never so far over terrain where the dog is blind several different times. Its a skill lacking but one I believe she can learn. She is normally a very good outrunner so this shook my confidence as well as hers.
On a positive note, Jorgen and I took our dogs to help a friend who needed to work his 1200 recalcitrant Romneys through the chutes for treatment. Lucy and Merckx thoroughly enjoyed themselves and it was good, practical, confidence building work for both of them.
Looking ahead, I have a trip to Las Vegas next weekend to give lectures at the SVBT CE Conference. Then 2 weeks later, a long trip to NADAC Championships with Zora. Lucy will ride along, as well as a friend and her Border collie.
So, that's what you missed. Nothing to write home about. Just a lot of work to be done.
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