NADAC Trial at WAG , 6/14 - 15

Q: "Are you ready?

A: "I was born ready!"

This was a Games-only trial -- no Jumpers, Chances or Regular runs, just Weavers, Tunnelers and Touch N Go (tunnels and contacts).  Oh, and Hoopers, which we don't do. Once again my plans for tent camping were foiled by hot weather and M,M & I enjoyed the refrigerated air of the Extended Stay Suites.  It wasn't as hot as at the last trial we went to here, but hot enough -- high 90's.

Miko only ran in 2 classes -- the first one at his level each day.  On Saturday this was TnG, with an easy course that should have been a piece of cake for him.  But he hasn't been to a class since last October and all I do with him at practice is play, so he's rusty and he and I aren't fully in sync ... a roundabout way of saying he took an off-course obstacle and didn't Q.  However, despite how easy the course was none of the other dogs Q'd either, so Miko got 2nd place.  On Sunday he had a lovely smooth Tunnelers run for a first place Q.

Moxie was a wild man in his first TnG -- barking and spinning and taking off-course obstacles.  But then he settled down and left the screwing-up for me to do!  And I did plenty of that -- Tunnelers, in particular, are difficult for me, partly because I never have an opportunity to practice this type of course.  Physically moving around among a bunch of tunnels poses a handling challenge -- get stuck on the wrong side of one of those things and you have to run 30' out of your way to get where you want to go.  But the real challenge as far as I'm concerned is that there aren't any "landmarks" in the course.  Everything is tunnels, so you can't remember "tunnel, tunnel, dogwalk; tunnel tunnel A-frame."  It's just "tunnel tunnel tunnel tunnel tunnel..."  and even though they aren't all the same color they're more alike than different.  And I tend to get lost; did so twice last weekend.

Fortunately Moxie only needed one Tunnelers leg to finish his novice title in that class, and he got that, and a first place, on Sunday.  On Saturday he picked up the 2 Weavers legs he needed for that title.  I moved him up to open Weavers on Sunday.  He had one first place Q and one off-course NQ -- another of those inexplicable (to me) adventures where he literally ran into me as I stood directly in front of the A-frame directing him as strongly as I knew how to Get Out! and Take The Damn Tunnel, dammit!!  He hit me so hard he yelped!  He did this at the fun-raiser in Santa Rosa in April, too.  Of course I can't get him to do it in practice, and of course Sandy thinks I was late with my information or something.  But I wasn't.  His mind was firmly made up.  

Moxie's grand total was 6 Q's out of 10 classes, with 5 firsts and a 2nd.  He's now in Open everything except Chances, where he still needs one more Novice leg.

Now we have almost a month with no trials.  Our next outing will be the Bay Team CPE trial in Petaluma, the middle of July.

That's my story and I'm stickin to it.

Distance Seminar, and Tracking

On June 1, the Mox and I, and Elsa, drove to (you guessed it!) Elk Grove so Mox and I could take part in a Distance Handling seminar taught by Susan Rapillus.  Susan runs Shelties, and she's one of only 2 or 3 people I've seen successfully complete the elite distance challenge in NADAC classes.  It's so cool to watch the handlers basically standing at the start line and directing their dogs around the course with voice commands and body & hand cues.  They remind me of kids with those radio-remote-control cars.

Because Moxie has so much drive he seems like a dog that could do pretty well at this, if I could ever learn to handle the distance correctly.  Even if we never take it to that level, I figured I could use some help in communicating when he gets way out in front of me ... as he often does.

It was a beautiful day, and the seminar was very helpful.  Mox been having trouble with tunnel/contact discrimination, and sometimes going into the wrong end of a curved tunnel.  Susan showed me a couple of different body cues to give, and Moxie's improvement was dramatic.  I went home feeling I'd gotten my money's worth, and more.

Meanwhile, looking around for something other than agility to do with Miko while the weather is hot, I signed up for tracking lessons with Debi Best.  She's been teaching for years, and her Golden Retrievers have multiple AKC Obedience and Tracking titles.  Miko seems to have a pretty good nose, and he loves to use it, so I figured he'd enjoy this activity.

We met yesterday for the first time;  learned how to lay tracks, and then let our dogs follow the tracks (bits of food dropped every 3 paces, for us beginners) to find an object such as a glove or old wallet.  Miko was thrilled by all the smells in the grass and it took him awhile to get the idea that he was supposed to track footsteps from one bit of hotdog to the next.  He also did some "air scenting," where he lifted his nose and sniffed for the hotdog instead of keeping his nose low.  He'll learn.  I took him over to the Head-Royce School athletic field this morning and laid 4 tracks for him.  Despite the distractions of dropped potato chips and candy in the grass (last Saturday was Commencement), he did better today than yesterday.  I'll take him out tomorrow and Friday as well, and then we're off to WAG again for a NADAC specialty trial -- specialty in this case meaning no jumping classes at all.  A weekend of tunnels, weave poles and contacts ... and hoopers, for them as indulge in such as that!.