Truly got her NATCH!!! Here's the video of her NATCH runs plus an extra. Here special skills class runs weren't that great, so they didn't make it in. I'm so happy with how well she's been running lately, especially for so little practice on both ends.
Blue was silly (well, I was a crummy handler) and I didn't get that many runs on video, so here's a Chances. She is such a goof at the end. I could tell she was bouncing from behind.
She Qd 7/12 runs the whole weekend. One of her Regulars was even a 102 dri run. Sadly, I don't have that on video. I didn't get much on video of her. Gah, I wish my mom was still coming. I feel so annoying have to ask different people to film.
Tru Qd 9/12 runs. This video has an example of Tru finding the grass 'icky'. I don't know what it was about that particular spot, but she does it outside the ring and will run around certain spots. She's special. I also trip on a tunnel. gj me.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Long Time, No Post
In an effort to put off school work, I am deciding to bring this blog back to life. Sometimes I wonder why I even keep this. How many people actually read this blog? Seriously? I'm probably better off posting longer trial enteries to Tumblr. le sigh. Prepare for lots of videos. (And I noticed my last post dropped vids. So weird. I had to go back and add them in.)
Anyway, we've had quite a few trials since I last posted. There was the UDAC NADAC in January.
Yes, I said goodbye to a TV show in a dog agility vid. (And I just removed all my 'Chuck' links from my blog.) Cries forever.
Blue was exceptionally awesome at this trial and managed THREE bonus Qs and finish her Vers-NATCH 4. Not much else to say. This was after my first wee of school and I think she missed me. XD
Not one of Tru's most Q filled trials, but she finished qualifying for Champs and got her O-ECC. (She was also spunky and cute, like usual.)
In February, I entered Tru only in a trial up in Lake View Terrace. A friend offered to bring her up and let me stay in their motor home with them. That was interesting. Tru was very chill for that whole experience and didn't seem to have any issues. I don't remember how she did at this trial. I think she got both Jumpers, a few Regulars, no Chances, finished her S-HP-O, and I'm sure there was another class. Whatever. OH, all the courses we ran were the ones we did at the JCAC trial in December. I still find it funny when you get the same courses twice. It started to rain towards the end of the day one day. I don't remember which, though, haha. I only managed to get a couple runs filmed and here's one. Silly Tru.
Then we had PAC's NADAC in Ramona. I moved Blue to Skilled and had her jump 8". That was an, um, interesting, and completely new experience. It's definitely going to take some adjustment to my timing. She didn't Q at all on Saturday. I also moved her to Open Weavers. Gah, treating her like an old dog. She doesn't act like it.
Sunday was better. 8" is almost like hoops for Blue.
Tru was awesome at this trial. She really enjoys this location. I wish there were more indoor/covered places we could trial at. Also, SHE BROKE HER PATTERN! Truly seemed to have this Q Chances/NQ Jumpers or NQ Chances/Q Jumpers thing going and she managed to Q both classes both days at this trial.
She had a lot of nice, smooth runs.
And as of this trial, her current NATCH progress is 22/23 Regulars, 12/13 Chances, and 12/13 Jumpers! So, fingers crossed that she finishes at the next trial! I noticed that judge at the next trial was, in fact, judge at Tru's first NADAC trial. While I think it'd be fun to NATCH under a 'friend' judge, haha, this seems kind of poetic. That's if she isn't insane from the lack of practice and seeing me and ends up NQing all her runs. XD
We did a day of AKC the other weekend. I entered just so we could meet someone I know from forums/youtube/Facebook that was visiting. I entered both dogs, actually. Blue ran in Nov. Preferred and was a little nut. She was an adorable little nut, but still. She didn't Q either run, haha. She broke her start line in JWW and took an off course right away, but then impressed the crowd with her distance skillzzz. In Standard she actually decided to chase an airplane (this is the location right by an airport where the planes end up quite low) mid run. If I'd have made her do the obstacle she ran by, she still could have Qd, haha, but I didn't care. She was having a ton of fun anyway. (And it's not like we get to practice. What I'm seeing is that Blue still needs SOME practice if I still want her to do well.) I'd like a start line if we go to Champs and I think we're going to crack down on that at the next NADAC trial. Tru NQd her Ex A JWW run, but Qd in Open Standard. AND SHE WENT DOWN THE MIDDLE OF A SLATTED A-FRAME! I was so proud and surprised that I pushed her a little to hard to the table (next obstacle) that she bounced right off, haha. Well, I think she might be able to tolerate rubber slatted A-frames in small doses. I still think if she was asked to do them frequently, she would eventually slow down. She's lucky I don't care that much for other venues.
Sooo, that's what we've been up to lately. I'm at school doing lots of school things, but I've been home just about every weekend this semester for one reason or another. I stayed up this weekend, and last time I stayed up, I really started to miss the dogs part way through the second week. We'll see how it goes this time.
Anyway, we've had quite a few trials since I last posted. There was the UDAC NADAC in January.
Yes, I said goodbye to a TV show in a dog agility vid. (And I just removed all my 'Chuck' links from my blog.) Cries forever.
Blue was exceptionally awesome at this trial and managed THREE bonus Qs and finish her Vers-NATCH 4. Not much else to say. This was after my first wee of school and I think she missed me. XD
Not one of Tru's most Q filled trials, but she finished qualifying for Champs and got her O-ECC. (She was also spunky and cute, like usual.)
In February, I entered Tru only in a trial up in Lake View Terrace. A friend offered to bring her up and let me stay in their motor home with them. That was interesting. Tru was very chill for that whole experience and didn't seem to have any issues. I don't remember how she did at this trial. I think she got both Jumpers, a few Regulars, no Chances, finished her S-HP-O, and I'm sure there was another class. Whatever. OH, all the courses we ran were the ones we did at the JCAC trial in December. I still find it funny when you get the same courses twice. It started to rain towards the end of the day one day. I don't remember which, though, haha. I only managed to get a couple runs filmed and here's one. Silly Tru.
Then we had PAC's NADAC in Ramona. I moved Blue to Skilled and had her jump 8". That was an, um, interesting, and completely new experience. It's definitely going to take some adjustment to my timing. She didn't Q at all on Saturday. I also moved her to Open Weavers. Gah, treating her like an old dog. She doesn't act like it.
Sunday was better. 8" is almost like hoops for Blue.
Tru was awesome at this trial. She really enjoys this location. I wish there were more indoor/covered places we could trial at. Also, SHE BROKE HER PATTERN! Truly seemed to have this Q Chances/NQ Jumpers or NQ Chances/Q Jumpers thing going and she managed to Q both classes both days at this trial.
She had a lot of nice, smooth runs.
And as of this trial, her current NATCH progress is 22/23 Regulars, 12/13 Chances, and 12/13 Jumpers! So, fingers crossed that she finishes at the next trial! I noticed that judge at the next trial was, in fact, judge at Tru's first NADAC trial. While I think it'd be fun to NATCH under a 'friend' judge, haha, this seems kind of poetic. That's if she isn't insane from the lack of practice and seeing me and ends up NQing all her runs. XD
We did a day of AKC the other weekend. I entered just so we could meet someone I know from forums/youtube/Facebook that was visiting. I entered both dogs, actually. Blue ran in Nov. Preferred and was a little nut. She was an adorable little nut, but still. She didn't Q either run, haha. She broke her start line in JWW and took an off course right away, but then impressed the crowd with her distance skillzzz. In Standard she actually decided to chase an airplane (this is the location right by an airport where the planes end up quite low) mid run. If I'd have made her do the obstacle she ran by, she still could have Qd, haha, but I didn't care. She was having a ton of fun anyway. (And it's not like we get to practice. What I'm seeing is that Blue still needs SOME practice if I still want her to do well.) I'd like a start line if we go to Champs and I think we're going to crack down on that at the next NADAC trial. Tru NQd her Ex A JWW run, but Qd in Open Standard. AND SHE WENT DOWN THE MIDDLE OF A SLATTED A-FRAME! I was so proud and surprised that I pushed her a little to hard to the table (next obstacle) that she bounced right off, haha. Well, I think she might be able to tolerate rubber slatted A-frames in small doses. I still think if she was asked to do them frequently, she would eventually slow down. She's lucky I don't care that much for other venues.
Sooo, that's what we've been up to lately. I'm at school doing lots of school things, but I've been home just about every weekend this semester for one reason or another. I stayed up this weekend, and last time I stayed up, I really started to miss the dogs part way through the second week. We'll see how it goes this time.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Super late trial post...
For some reason, I just haven't really felt like taking the time to update this blog, hahaha. (Getting ready and heading to school, perhaps??) I figured I should really do it since I had one started BEFORE we even got back from AZ in December and I will have a new trial to write about this weekend. I'll start off with that post:
Guess I’ll talk about the ‘main’ trial now. The dogs were great as usual. Truly actually got more Qs than Blue at this trial, haha (6/13 for Blue and 8/13 for Truly). Friday afternoon was a mess with both dogs. They ran a round of Weavers and Touch n Go. Neither dog Qd either run. Six hour car rides are not the best thing to do before an agility trial. The dogs were both bonkers in Weavers. Tru continued her NQ streak in Elite Weavers and Blue didn’t get those last Weavers and TnG Qs for her Vers-NATCH 4.
Saturday was bound to go better and it did. The dogs actually Qd some runs. Blue was insane in Hoopers and didn’t Q, but got a Tunnelers, Jumpers, and Regular Q. She made a silly mistake in the second Regular and could have had her NATCH 7 on that run. She seemed to be moving really and doesn’t look like she is almost 10. I didn’t notice her taking as many strides between jumps in Jumpers as I have lately. Truly got another Regular and a Hoopers in addition to the Qs that Blue got. Her first Jumpers run was GREAT. She seems to finally be figuring out the 16” jumps. Could be that it was nice and cold too, but I noticed her doing better at the last trial. I know she’ll be much happier at 12”, though. She actually knocked a bar on her second Jumpers run! Oh, and there was one random silly thing I feel like sharing. After Tru’s Tunnelers run, she was still running and headed right out of the ring towards our set up. She came back, but on the way she felt the need to jump over the low hanging tape marking the ring boundary. The clutz tripped on it and pulled the little tape holders down.
Sunday threatened rain all day and finally gave in towards the end of the trial. We ran the second round of Chances and Hoopers in the rain. Blue and Tru both Qd a round of Regular, a round of Chances and Hoopers. Blue also earned her NATCH 7!!!! I dunno if I want to stick around in Proficient for another trial to pick up those last Qs for her Vers-NATCH 4 or wait for a mini-trial/special skills only trial to pop up that I can enter as Proficient without dealing with the jumps. Hmmm, I think they do special skills only before Champs… Speaking of Champs, I think Blue is now fully qualified and Tru just needs 2 Weavers Qs. I have also heard they are confirmed for South Jordan, UT! I will be trying my hardest to go even though I have school. That is such a reasonable drive compared to Gillette (or Springfield, haha). And speaking of NATCHs, Tru is now 50 Jumpers pts, 40 Chances pts, and 70 Regular pts away from hers!
"We’re finally back from a(n over)
weeklong stay in Phoenix. (Writing about the future in the past, hahahaha.) It was filled
with cold weather, tons of agility, and preparing for a Christmas party. As I’ve probably written on this blog before,
my grandparents all live in this area, so agility is an ‘excuse’ to come see
them. Well, it’s actually the other way
around, but still. Unfortunately this
may be the last trip to see multiple grandparents, as my maternal grandmother
is moving and my maternal grandfather recently passed away. That just leaves one grandparent to come see
on trips over. My mom has also decided
to retire Sirius, and really wants as little to do with agility as
possible. She’s way more interested in
her school work (plants!), than in dog training. And last, I’m going to be going to school
several hours away from home and living on campus. I love coming to AZ because one club offers a
really, REALLY, good rate to JHs/full time college students and it’s more
NADAC, but I don’t know when the next time I’ll get over is.
Guess I’ll talk about the ‘main’ trial now. The dogs were great as usual. Truly actually got more Qs than Blue at this trial, haha (6/13 for Blue and 8/13 for Truly). Friday afternoon was a mess with both dogs. They ran a round of Weavers and Touch n Go. Neither dog Qd either run. Six hour car rides are not the best thing to do before an agility trial. The dogs were both bonkers in Weavers. Tru continued her NQ streak in Elite Weavers and Blue didn’t get those last Weavers and TnG Qs for her Vers-NATCH 4.
I decided to try a
bonus on TnG since we’d already NQd Weavers.
Why I do this to myself, I don’t know.
It actually didn’t seem like that bad of a line. Blue got through the first 5 or so obstacles
fine, but instead of switching to a tunnel, she decides to switch with a very,
very wide turn to the entrance of the DW!
She did fairly well after that and only had one more mess up. I tried the line with Tru as well and she
just couldn’t send straight off the AF with me that far behind her. Whycomingdown/offthesideofcontactsisnotgoodforbonuslines.
Alsowhyitwouldbenicetopracticecontactsregularly. I realized at this trial that it has probably
been over a year since Tru has regularly practiced contacts. I’m surprised she still has somewhat of a
2o2o. She was self releasing all over
the place this weekend, but at least she drove down to the bottom on most of
them.
Saturday was bound to go better and it did. The dogs actually Qd some runs. Blue was insane in Hoopers and didn’t Q, but got a Tunnelers, Jumpers, and Regular Q. She made a silly mistake in the second Regular and could have had her NATCH 7 on that run. She seemed to be moving really and doesn’t look like she is almost 10. I didn’t notice her taking as many strides between jumps in Jumpers as I have lately. Truly got another Regular and a Hoopers in addition to the Qs that Blue got. Her first Jumpers run was GREAT. She seems to finally be figuring out the 16” jumps. Could be that it was nice and cold too, but I noticed her doing better at the last trial. I know she’ll be much happier at 12”, though. She actually knocked a bar on her second Jumpers run! Oh, and there was one random silly thing I feel like sharing. After Tru’s Tunnelers run, she was still running and headed right out of the ring towards our set up. She came back, but on the way she felt the need to jump over the low hanging tape marking the ring boundary. The clutz tripped on it and pulled the little tape holders down.
Sunday threatened rain all day and finally gave in towards the end of the trial. We ran the second round of Chances and Hoopers in the rain. Blue and Tru both Qd a round of Regular, a round of Chances and Hoopers. Blue also earned her NATCH 7!!!! I dunno if I want to stick around in Proficient for another trial to pick up those last Qs for her Vers-NATCH 4 or wait for a mini-trial/special skills only trial to pop up that I can enter as Proficient without dealing with the jumps. Hmmm, I think they do special skills only before Champs… Speaking of Champs, I think Blue is now fully qualified and Tru just needs 2 Weavers Qs. I have also heard they are confirmed for South Jordan, UT! I will be trying my hardest to go even though I have school. That is such a reasonable drive compared to Gillette (or Springfield, haha). And speaking of NATCHs, Tru is now 50 Jumpers pts, 40 Chances pts, and 70 Regular pts away from hers!
So, we had a day long break and were off to JCAC’s field to
play EGC on Tuesday evening. They
offered 2 rounds of each EGC class over 3 nights. Oh, my, gosh, did Truly have fun on that
stuff. She was hauling all 3
nights. Maybe the fact that it was cold
and dark helped, but one night she consistently ran faster than Blue, even when
they both had clean/smooth runs. I
checked the EGC point list on the NADAC yahoo group, and it appears that Tru
earned her Extreme Novice Gaters title.
She can’t move to Open yet, because apparently you need your Superior
title to do that. I’m not
complaining. That stuff is tricky. All the Novice courses were 20 or more
obstacles long. My dogs did best at
Extreme Hoopers, but I think that particular course was the ‘easiest’ out of
the three sets we did AND the dogs didn’t need to do any ‘strange’ obstacles. They all know how to do hoops (and sequences
of hoops) already. I would really,
really, like to do some more. There’s a
group of us in my area that would like to start it up, but we wonder if there
will be enough interest to keep it going.
I guess there’s always practicing and fun runs for personal enjoyment. I know that Truly LOVES this stuff and I’d
like to do more of what she really enjoys.
Blue likes ‘normal’ agility and everything involved with that. She just does EGC (and Hoopers) to play more
and because I ask her (and give her cookies).
The dogs' results were pretty good. My dogs placed in every run they got points
in. Truly actually had the fastest time
of the class in a couple rounds."
And I was pretty proud of Tru for doing that, haha. She rarely ever beats Blue at anything, much less other dogs. I don't know if there's much else to say. Like I said, we've got a trial this weekend. I'm going to see if I can do another trial with Tru in February in addition to our annual Ramona trial. It mostly depends on who's going to that other trial and if someone can bring Tru up to it, since I'm in school now.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Movie/TV Reviews Round 5
I haven’t done one of these in a while. I’ve watched quite a bit in the last couple months.
Lost: I started watching this and haven’t finished. I’m partway through the second season and it’s probably been a month or two since I last watched. I guess that says something. I’ve heard it’s really good, but it’s just so drawn out, I guess I kinda got distracted. I really should start it up again. I did find the characters and mysteries interesting, and the scenery on the island is gorgeous. I had the show sitting in my Netflix queue for a long time, and hesitated to start because it’s so long. Darn long American TV seasons....jk. I like them when it’s a show I love.
Merlin: Wooh, more BBC stuff. Honestly, I’m not a ‘omg, British TV is the best evah’ person, but I seem to be consuming it regularly. I like this show. (I’m actually downloading the current season as it airs. Shhhhh.) Unimposing title character with secret powers, sign me up. It does get a bit cheesy or ridiculous at times, but it’s okay if you just enjoy it for what it is.
Fringe: I already posted about Fringe, but I got caught up and omg, a new favorite show. I had to get seasons 2 and 3 as dvds off Netflix, so it took me a while to catch up, but I did. I’m so sad it’s on winter hiatus now, I want to see what happens next. It’s unfortunately a ‘bubble show’ like Chuck was, which means it’s chance for another season is up in the air due to ratings, but it’s on Friday, so what do you expect? I don’t know how Fox works, but I know Chuck got away with low ratings because of fan/advertiser support and the fact that NBC kinda sucks anyway. Chuck wasn’t that low compared to the rest of NBC’s shows. I somehow doubt that Fox is in the same place as NBC, so I don’t know if any cards are stacked towards Fringe’s favor or not. I think this show could explore a lot more places, if given the opportunity. (And they can’t take my bb Walter away.) I wonder if the low ratings have to do with the sort of 'reset' that was in the S3 finale? It did affect a couple relationships in the show, particularly a romantic one. Hmm.
Howl’s Moving Castle: I’m not really into anime, but I figured I should give a Miyazaki film a look, and this was streamable. I was pretty much bored though most of this movie. The voices kinda weird me out since they were dubbed. Am I the only one that thinks the voices don’t sound like they are coming out of the mouths right when they dub things? The designs were pretty fantastic though, and that’s one thing I really thought I should watch for.
Peter and the Wolf: Okay, so this is a stop motion film that I watched because it came up as a suggestion and was short. Very, very neat little film. I loved all the animal models and mannerisms in this. It also has no dialog, but still keeps your attention. I would recommend watching it if you have Netflix and like that sort of thing, especially since it’s only about 30 mins long.
Grimm: I started watching this on Hulu because I was bored. I think I might keep watching (on Hulu of course, since it's on at the same time as Fringe and Fringe>Grimm). Obviously the 'omg, weird power and confused person' thing got me, even though the main character is pretty bland. The reformed 'big bad wolf' character is freaking hilarious though, and probably the best character. There are also monsters it so I'm good. Now that I think of it, the monster thing applies to Merlin a bit as well.
Supernatural: I kinda just watched what was on the CW.com the other day because I was bored, but hear about the show on Tumblr all the time. I don't really want to deal with getting it from Netflix one disc at a time and don't really want to download it. Plus, I'd have to wait for the beginning of this season since I missed it. (I think it's on at the same time as Fringe as well.) I don't know how interested I am in it. Might be a little scary/gory for me. I still need to watch the latest episode, but it sounds sad.
Voyage of the Dawn Treader: Yeah, I got this from Neflix and finally watched it after having it a month. I never saw it in the theater, although I should have supported the series. I’m not sure if they’re continuing or not, but I always believed that the Chronicles of Narnia were ideally suited to be movies, since the cast changes every couple of books, haha. I thought it was good and the end was very moving. OMG, creature designs. The dragon, heck yes! (I actually read VotDT first because I heard it had a dragon in it, back in 5th grade, haha.) The sea serpent! I said, ‘It’s awesomesauce,’ out loud and my mom’s reaction was, ‘what?’
Jekyll: I just finished this in the last couple of days. Steven Moffat and modern adaptations of old stories, why not give it a shot right? (And it’s only 6 episodes long.) I have no expectations for most of this stuff, so I enjoyed it. I’ve actually read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and liked it, and I didn’t care that this wasn’t a direct re-telling of the story. It seems a lot of people didn’t care much for the end and I have to say the last couple of eps did seem a little convoluted to me. Things were brought up, sorta explained then dropped. The actor for Jackman/Hyde was great though and his performance was brilliant. I’d have to warn for swearing though, they use the ‘f-word’ quite a bit, but mostly referring to sex, and not just cussing. Hyde can be kind of frightening too, so just don’t let little kids watch, haha.
Then there's always the shows that have come back from summer break: Psych and Chuck and then Doctor Who came back in August, finished up, and went on break.
Lost: I started watching this and haven’t finished. I’m partway through the second season and it’s probably been a month or two since I last watched. I guess that says something. I’ve heard it’s really good, but it’s just so drawn out, I guess I kinda got distracted. I really should start it up again. I did find the characters and mysteries interesting, and the scenery on the island is gorgeous. I had the show sitting in my Netflix queue for a long time, and hesitated to start because it’s so long. Darn long American TV seasons....jk. I like them when it’s a show I love.
Merlin: Wooh, more BBC stuff. Honestly, I’m not a ‘omg, British TV is the best evah’ person, but I seem to be consuming it regularly. I like this show. (I’m actually downloading the current season as it airs. Shhhhh.) Unimposing title character with secret powers, sign me up. It does get a bit cheesy or ridiculous at times, but it’s okay if you just enjoy it for what it is.
Fringe: I already posted about Fringe, but I got caught up and omg, a new favorite show. I had to get seasons 2 and 3 as dvds off Netflix, so it took me a while to catch up, but I did. I’m so sad it’s on winter hiatus now, I want to see what happens next. It’s unfortunately a ‘bubble show’ like Chuck was, which means it’s chance for another season is up in the air due to ratings, but it’s on Friday, so what do you expect? I don’t know how Fox works, but I know Chuck got away with low ratings because of fan/advertiser support and the fact that NBC kinda sucks anyway. Chuck wasn’t that low compared to the rest of NBC’s shows. I somehow doubt that Fox is in the same place as NBC, so I don’t know if any cards are stacked towards Fringe’s favor or not. I think this show could explore a lot more places, if given the opportunity. (And they can’t take my bb Walter away.) I wonder if the low ratings have to do with the sort of 'reset' that was in the S3 finale? It did affect a couple relationships in the show, particularly a romantic one. Hmm.
Howl’s Moving Castle: I’m not really into anime, but I figured I should give a Miyazaki film a look, and this was streamable. I was pretty much bored though most of this movie. The voices kinda weird me out since they were dubbed. Am I the only one that thinks the voices don’t sound like they are coming out of the mouths right when they dub things? The designs were pretty fantastic though, and that’s one thing I really thought I should watch for.
Peter and the Wolf: Okay, so this is a stop motion film that I watched because it came up as a suggestion and was short. Very, very neat little film. I loved all the animal models and mannerisms in this. It also has no dialog, but still keeps your attention. I would recommend watching it if you have Netflix and like that sort of thing, especially since it’s only about 30 mins long.
Grimm: I started watching this on Hulu because I was bored. I think I might keep watching (on Hulu of course, since it's on at the same time as Fringe and Fringe>Grimm). Obviously the 'omg, weird power and confused person' thing got me, even though the main character is pretty bland. The reformed 'big bad wolf' character is freaking hilarious though, and probably the best character. There are also monsters it so I'm good. Now that I think of it, the monster thing applies to Merlin a bit as well.
Supernatural: I kinda just watched what was on the CW.com the other day because I was bored, but hear about the show on Tumblr all the time. I don't really want to deal with getting it from Netflix one disc at a time and don't really want to download it. Plus, I'd have to wait for the beginning of this season since I missed it. (I think it's on at the same time as Fringe as well.) I don't know how interested I am in it. Might be a little scary/gory for me. I still need to watch the latest episode, but it sounds sad.
Voyage of the Dawn Treader: Yeah, I got this from Neflix and finally watched it after having it a month. I never saw it in the theater, although I should have supported the series. I’m not sure if they’re continuing or not, but I always believed that the Chronicles of Narnia were ideally suited to be movies, since the cast changes every couple of books, haha. I thought it was good and the end was very moving. OMG, creature designs. The dragon, heck yes! (I actually read VotDT first because I heard it had a dragon in it, back in 5th grade, haha.) The sea serpent! I said, ‘It’s awesomesauce,’ out loud and my mom’s reaction was, ‘what?’
Jekyll: I just finished this in the last couple of days. Steven Moffat and modern adaptations of old stories, why not give it a shot right? (And it’s only 6 episodes long.) I have no expectations for most of this stuff, so I enjoyed it. I’ve actually read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and liked it, and I didn’t care that this wasn’t a direct re-telling of the story. It seems a lot of people didn’t care much for the end and I have to say the last couple of eps did seem a little convoluted to me. Things were brought up, sorta explained then dropped. The actor for Jackman/Hyde was great though and his performance was brilliant. I’d have to warn for swearing though, they use the ‘f-word’ quite a bit, but mostly referring to sex, and not just cussing. Hyde can be kind of frightening too, so just don’t let little kids watch, haha.
Then there's always the shows that have come back from summer break: Psych and Chuck and then Doctor Who came back in August, finished up, and went on break.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
UDAC NADAC 11/18-20/11
The dogs and I had an awesome time at our first NADAC trial that was just us. My mom has decided to stop running Sirius at most of the trials and she also wants to do other things. I had to drive by myself for about 50 miles and through some switchbacks on a mountain at 5:30 in the morning and go home in the dark on Friday. I'm not the most confident driver, but I got to the trial and back fine. Well, on Friday night I was pulling out of the trial location and it was a one way driveway and a neighbor was pulling in off the road as I was going up the driveway. I ended up backing down and into his big, heavy, white, wood fence. I guess he didn't care because I sat there for a while and he didn't come over. I didn't see any damage to the fence the next morning and my care just has a white mark on the back bumper.
There were three runs on Friday afternoon, two Hoopers (strategic and numbered) and a round of Weavers. It was nice and cool and cloudy and getting dark. Perfect doggie weather. My dogs were just flying. I was really impressed with Truly's speed. She hauled butt in Hoopers. She ended up with the fastest time in Open and Elite strategic Hoopers. (They're the same course.) I think that's the first time she's been the fastest in the class, haha. She Qd both Hoopers and finished her O-HP-O. Blue Qd both Hoopers as well, and I think she needs one more for her Superior Elite title. Most of the clubs around here haven't been holding Hoopers, so I figured I should do it when I can. Oh, and both dogs probably finished the Hoopers requirement for Champs (as long as it's the same as the last couple years).
We had a different judge that day who could judge bonus lines, and there was one in Weavers that night. It looked like a very nice line course and I really wanted to try it, but Blue 1) is older, so I didn't think doing a Weavers line in the dark was the nicest thing to do to her, 2) she needs just a few more Qs for her Vers-NATCH 4. So, I tried it with Truly, haha. Screw the fact that we haven't Qd at all in Elite Weavers (been running in it since May). She was so awesome! We didn't Q, since I didn't give her the cue to come in soon enough and she took an off course tunnel at the back of the ring. It was so me, I start to mess up when my dogs are doing great and don't get my commands out fast enough. She even got all her weaves and did an extra set! She was over half way though the course before I screwed up. Oh my gosh. Maybe one day Tru and I will be able to do this. (It just needs to be dark and cold, haha.) Blue Qd with a nice, smooth run.
Well, Blue did pretty well the rest of the weekend. She Qd 9 more runs and was her happy, spunky, self. She was so crazy on Saturday. She had some unusually wild contacts. I'm surprised she hit the contact on her Regular round one AF and the judge didn't call it unsafe or something. So, she got one Regular leg, a Chances, a Touch n Go, and a Weavers. Oh, my goodness. Weavers. That had to be our most interesting experience of the day. It's pretty much explained in the video below.
I forgot to mention that a dog before us actually came out limping. Why no one went to check it after that, I don't understand.
She was much less hyper on Sunday. I went down to get stuff ready to go, and Blue was still in bed with my parents, while the others were downstairs. Then I fed them, and she went back upstairs with my parents. She also crashed as soon as she got in the car Saturday evening. She was still moving though. She Qd both Regulars, TnG, a Jumpers, and Tunnelers. She only needs 1 more TnG and one more Weavers for her Vers-NATCH and 2 more Regulars for her NATCH-7. Then it's Skilled time! (And probably moving to Open/Novice Weavers.) Blue's still the best dog, though. I'm really enjoying these last few trials before I go to school. It's gonna be hard not seeing her every day.
Truly didn't do nearly as good as Blue. She was just so crazy from the weather and we aren't quite as in sync, since we don't normally practice at that speed/craziness. Well, haven't practiced much at all in the last month. I don't think we've practiced at the field since before the last trial! She Qd one run on Saturday, and 4 on Sunday. The only special skills class she Qd in was Tunnelers. Oh, my, gosh, Tunnelers. It was the last class of the weekend and it finally started to rain on us. It was a fairly short course, but I didn't know how she'd do in the rain. Well, she ran it smooth and in 7.4 yps, with a 111 DRI. Geez. Blue did 7.7, with an 111 DRI (that's the max number, haha). Good girls! Even though she wasn't Qing that much, she was giving me some great distance.
Truly and Blue were both pretty naughty with their start line stays this weekend. I know with Truly it's because she was just so happy about the weather. I noticed on Sunday she was being better about them, and was even really dopey when the sun came out for a bit before Jumpers. I didn't even lead out that much pretty much ran with her. Then she was back to being eager the next Jumpers. I felt like I should have just been sticking her back or whatever and I wouldn't have had the issue, but I wanted the Qs/fun, and I'm just going to work on more self-control and staying with both of them at home/practice. I swear this is really only an issue in 'Truly weather.' Otherwise she just melts on the start line. Blue, well, she's almost 10 and I'm not going to bother with her on the start line at trials, haha.
I'm definitely going to try and get out to practice more before our next trial, which is our usual December Phoenix trial. I recently found out that club was doing EGC at night during the week we are staying and flipped out. I'm am totally entering (as long as it's not full). Truly and Blue will be doing it, although I think that Truly will appreciate this way more than Blue. I think EGC is Truly's true calling, haha. It sucks that there probably aren't enough people interested around me to make it worthwhile to put on an EGC trial. I have several NADAC friends that are interested in it, but I don't know.
Oh, and happy Thanksgiving everyone!
There were three runs on Friday afternoon, two Hoopers (strategic and numbered) and a round of Weavers. It was nice and cool and cloudy and getting dark. Perfect doggie weather. My dogs were just flying. I was really impressed with Truly's speed. She hauled butt in Hoopers. She ended up with the fastest time in Open and Elite strategic Hoopers. (They're the same course.) I think that's the first time she's been the fastest in the class, haha. She Qd both Hoopers and finished her O-HP-O. Blue Qd both Hoopers as well, and I think she needs one more for her Superior Elite title. Most of the clubs around here haven't been holding Hoopers, so I figured I should do it when I can. Oh, and both dogs probably finished the Hoopers requirement for Champs (as long as it's the same as the last couple years).
We had a different judge that day who could judge bonus lines, and there was one in Weavers that night. It looked like a very nice line course and I really wanted to try it, but Blue 1) is older, so I didn't think doing a Weavers line in the dark was the nicest thing to do to her, 2) she needs just a few more Qs for her Vers-NATCH 4. So, I tried it with Truly, haha. Screw the fact that we haven't Qd at all in Elite Weavers (been running in it since May). She was so awesome! We didn't Q, since I didn't give her the cue to come in soon enough and she took an off course tunnel at the back of the ring. It was so me, I start to mess up when my dogs are doing great and don't get my commands out fast enough. She even got all her weaves and did an extra set! She was over half way though the course before I screwed up. Oh my gosh. Maybe one day Tru and I will be able to do this. (It just needs to be dark and cold, haha.) Blue Qd with a nice, smooth run.
Well, Blue did pretty well the rest of the weekend. She Qd 9 more runs and was her happy, spunky, self. She was so crazy on Saturday. She had some unusually wild contacts. I'm surprised she hit the contact on her Regular round one AF and the judge didn't call it unsafe or something. So, she got one Regular leg, a Chances, a Touch n Go, and a Weavers. Oh, my goodness. Weavers. That had to be our most interesting experience of the day. It's pretty much explained in the video below.
I forgot to mention that a dog before us actually came out limping. Why no one went to check it after that, I don't understand.
She was much less hyper on Sunday. I went down to get stuff ready to go, and Blue was still in bed with my parents, while the others were downstairs. Then I fed them, and she went back upstairs with my parents. She also crashed as soon as she got in the car Saturday evening. She was still moving though. She Qd both Regulars, TnG, a Jumpers, and Tunnelers. She only needs 1 more TnG and one more Weavers for her Vers-NATCH and 2 more Regulars for her NATCH-7. Then it's Skilled time! (And probably moving to Open/Novice Weavers.) Blue's still the best dog, though. I'm really enjoying these last few trials before I go to school. It's gonna be hard not seeing her every day.
Truly didn't do nearly as good as Blue. She was just so crazy from the weather and we aren't quite as in sync, since we don't normally practice at that speed/craziness. Well, haven't practiced much at all in the last month. I don't think we've practiced at the field since before the last trial! She Qd one run on Saturday, and 4 on Sunday. The only special skills class she Qd in was Tunnelers. Oh, my, gosh, Tunnelers. It was the last class of the weekend and it finally started to rain on us. It was a fairly short course, but I didn't know how she'd do in the rain. Well, she ran it smooth and in 7.4 yps, with a 111 DRI. Geez. Blue did 7.7, with an 111 DRI (that's the max number, haha). Good girls! Even though she wasn't Qing that much, she was giving me some great distance.
Truly and Blue were both pretty naughty with their start line stays this weekend. I know with Truly it's because she was just so happy about the weather. I noticed on Sunday she was being better about them, and was even really dopey when the sun came out for a bit before Jumpers. I didn't even lead out that much pretty much ran with her. Then she was back to being eager the next Jumpers. I felt like I should have just been sticking her back or whatever and I wouldn't have had the issue, but I wanted the Qs/fun, and I'm just going to work on more self-control and staying with both of them at home/practice. I swear this is really only an issue in 'Truly weather.' Otherwise she just melts on the start line. Blue, well, she's almost 10 and I'm not going to bother with her on the start line at trials, haha.
I'm definitely going to try and get out to practice more before our next trial, which is our usual December Phoenix trial. I recently found out that club was doing EGC at night during the week we are staying and flipped out. I'm am totally entering (as long as it's not full). Truly and Blue will be doing it, although I think that Truly will appreciate this way more than Blue. I think EGC is Truly's true calling, haha. It sucks that there probably aren't enough people interested around me to make it worthwhile to put on an EGC trial. I have several NADAC friends that are interested in it, but I don't know.
Oh, and happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
ACSD NADAC Oct. 8-9, 2011
Well, it's been a while since I posted anything, haha. (I bet I always say that.) Anyway, we had a trial this past weekend. It was at a new location that, while a little cramped (it's at someone's home) and kinda warm, was nice. We've been waiting for this field to open for a loooongg time. Anyway, the dogs were great. Well, my dogs were. Sirius was really, really freaked out and my mom is basically going to stop running her. She won't fully stop, but just not do as much.
Blue was great and only missed Qs on two runs. One was from a bonus attempt in Jumpers and the other a strange knocked bar in Chances. That thing dropped way after she had landed and was going to another jump. After I watched the vid (while at the trial) I thought maybe I hit the base with my foot. When I saw it on a bigger screen, it doesn't seem to be the case. I thought I wasn't that close to the jump. XD
Anyway, she got a bonus Q in Touch N Go!!! She was one redirect away from another TnG bonus, but still. Yay! I'm so happy that Blue is almost 10 years old and still out running so well and enjoying it. She's such an awesome dog. I can't wait to run her in Double Digit Vet at Champs next year. (Probably said that already.) She still can kick ass. She earned a lot of 90 DRIs and even got a 100 in Tunnelers. I was watching one dog that recently moved to Skilled Vet run, and thought, 'Dang, that's what it's gonna be like when Blue moves to Skilled.' XD I can't wait to see her jumping 8" at a trial. Speaking of moving to Skilled only 5 more Regulars for NATCH 7. Although, I actually checked her points for the special skills classes and she (now) only needs 3 Weavers and 3 TnGs for her Vers-NATCH 4. I didn't think were would even be that close before I planned to mover her to Skilled.
Oh, and I let my mom run her in Weavers on Saturday. She actually did pretty well and even Qd (although it was just barely under time, haha). I don't know why she was weaving so slow. Mom said she started to freak out a little when Blue actually ran ahead of her, lmao.
Truly was really good at this trial too! She Qd 8/12 runs and earned her TN-E and TG-E. All her Qs were smooth runs as well, which I was really proud of. Maybe it was the courses, maybe it was that I'm finally getting my timing down. Her contacts were, uh, more consistent at this trial than the last one. They weren't the greatest, but at least she was putting her front feet on the ground before leaving. I messed around with her on a contact board a few days before the trial. Maybe that helped? Maybe it's just that she actually trialed about a month ago and it wasn't 3 months between trials.
We've got two trials lined up for November and our usual AZ trial in December. Yay for more fun with my girls. I feel like these are going to be a little bittersweet for me. I'm going to 'go away' (a couple hours lol) for school in January. Basically I won't be seeing my dogs every day for several months. I can still trial and come home to see and practice with them on weekends. It's not like I won't have summer soon, too. So, yeah.
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