TruBlue Art and Agility

Super late trial post...

2012-01-26T11:04:00.000-08:00

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:

"We’re finally back from a(n over)weeklong stay in Phoenix. (Writing about the future in the past, hahahaha.) It was filledwith 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 seethem. Well, it’s actually the other wayaround, but still. Unfortunately thismay be the last trip to see multiple grandparents, as my maternal grandmotheris moving and my maternal grandfather recently passed away. That just leaves one grandparent to come seeon trips over. My mom has also decidedto retire Sirius, and really wants as little to do with agility aspossible. She’s way more interested inher school work (plants!), than in dog training. And last, I’m going to be going to schoolseveral hours away from home and living on campus. I love coming to AZ because one club offers areally, REALLY, good rate to JHs/full time college students and it’s moreNADAC, 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 thistrial, haha (6/13 for Blue and 8/13 for Truly). Friday afternoon was a messwith both dogs. They ran a round ofWeavers and Touch n Go. Neither dog Qdeither run. Six hour car rides are notthe 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 thoselast Weavers and TnG Qs for her Vers-NATCH 4.

I decided to try abonus 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 obstaclesfine, 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 shejust couldn’t send straight off the AF with me that far behind her. Whycomingdown/offthesideofcontactsisnotgoodforbonuslines.Alsowhyitwouldbenicetopracticecontactsregularly. I realized at this trial that it has probablybeen over a year since Tru has regularly practiced contacts. I’m surprised she still has somewhat of a2o2o. She was self releasing all overthe place this weekend, but at least she drove down to the bottom on most ofthem.

Saturday was bound to go better and it did. The dogs actually Qd some runs. Blue was insane in Hoopers and didn’t Q, butgot a Tunnelers, Jumpers, and Regular Q. She made a silly mistake in the second Regular and could have had herNATCH 7 on that run. She seemed to bemoving really and doesn’t look like she is almost 10. I didn’t notice her taking as many stridesbetween jumps in Jumpers as I have lately. Truly got another Regular and a Hoopers in addition to the Qs that Bluegot. Her first Jumpers run wasGREAT. She seems to finally be figuringout the 16” jumps. Could be that it wasnice 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 onher second Jumpers run! Oh, and therewas one random silly thing I feel like sharing. After Tru’s Tunnelers run, she was still running and headed right out ofthe ring towards our set up. She cameback, but on the way she felt the need to jump over the low hanging tapemarking the ring boundary. The clutztripped on it and pulled the little tape holders down.

Sunday threatened rain all day and finally gave in towardsthe end of the trial. We ran the secondround of Chances and Hoopers in the rain. Blue and Tru both Qd a round ofRegular, 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 topick up those last Qs for her Vers-NATCH 4 or wait for a mini-trial/specialskills only trial to pop up that I can enter as Proficient without dealing withthe jumps. Hmmm, I think they do specialskills only before Champs… Speaking ofChamps, I think Blue is now fully qualified and Tru just needs 2 WeaversQs. I have also heard they are confirmedfor South Jordan, UT! I will be tryingmy 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 isnow 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 toplay EGC on Tuesday evening. Theyoffered 2 rounds of each EGC class over 3 nights. Oh, my, gosh, did Truly have fun on thatstuff. She was hauling all 3nights. Maybe the fact that it was coldand dark helped, but one night she consistently ran faster than Blue, even whenthey both had clean/smooth runs. Ichecked the EGC point list on the NADAC yahoo group, and it appears that Truearned her Extreme Novice Gaters title. She can’t move to Open yet, because apparently you need your Superiortitle to do that. I’m notcomplaining. That stuff is tricky. All the Novice courses were 20 or moreobstacles long. My dogs did best atExtreme Hoopers, but I think that particular course was the ‘easiest’ out ofthe three sets we did AND the dogs didn’t need to do any ‘strange’ obstacles. They all know how to do hoops (and sequencesof hoops) already. I would really,really, like to do some more. There’s agroup of us in my area that would like to start it up, but we wonder if therewill 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’dlike 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 moreand because I ask her (and give her cookies).

The dogs' results were pretty good. My dogs placed in every run they got pointsin. Truly actually had the fastest timeof 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.

Movie/TV Reviews Round 5

2011-12-04T12:23:00.001-08:00

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.

UDAC NADAC 11/18-20/11

2011-11-24T12:25:00.000-08:00

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!

ACSD NADAC Oct. 8-9, 2011

2011-10-11T23:30:00.000-07:00

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.

PAC NADAC Aug. 2011

2011-08-29T14:21:00.000-07:00

Long time, no trial. Seriously, it's been months since we trialed. The last 'trial' we did was the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge. We haven't been doing that much practice since it's been warm. Mostly chilling at the beach or home or going for walks. School just started so now I've got that 4 days a week.

Anyway, the trial was tons of fun, even if I was tired on Sunday. This trial was held at the same trial site last year, which is right next to an airport, if you don't remember. Staying overnight is not fun for people. Blue finds the airplanes fun, though, if you recall. She did seem to care less and less, since we had her out the day before the trial just wandering around AND the night we hung out for the judges dinner.

Blue has been so adorable lately. OMG, I can't get over her sometimes. Maybe it's the thought of her not being around all the time that's bothering me. (I may be going away to school sooner, rather than later.) It's really hard to believe she'll be 10 in January. Here we come Double Digit at NADAC Champs!

Blue Qd 6/10 runs: one Jumpers, one Chances, two Regulars, Touch n Go and Tunnelers. She finished her Vers-NATCH 4 requirements in Tunnelers. Unfortunatly she's not even half way to that in TnG and just to that point in Weavers. I almost always screw around with lines in the special skills classes since their short and the tunnels encourage Blue to go fast. I have a major brag for her in TnG. She got her second ever 100 DRI run! Blue hasn't gotten one of those since 2008. Needless to say, we never had hopes of a Versatility PSS, haha. Blue's still got it.

Now to some bonus-y stuff. We only tried two lines. One was in Jumpers on Saturday and one was in Chances on Sunday. Lately, I've seen a definite difference in speed from her while working far away when we practice (and at trials). The last trial we did (May, JCAC), she was 'normal', which is moving at her usual speed. For at least a couple years, we've gone through phases of doing distance stuff 'slow.' It's probably my fault with a combination of doing too much, 'correcting' the wrong way, and horrible handling.

Anyway, she was really rather unsure about doing the whole distance thing on Saturday. She needed to send all the way to the back of the ring, which was just four jumps in a row. There was a jump off to the side after the third one and she decided to take that. I probably handled it wrong, but she had been a little unsure on the Tunnelers run before when I sent her, which was odd. So, I took it as a hint she didn't really feel like it and ran 'with' her the rest of the runs that day. (Well, the rest of the lines were in Regular and she needs those for her NATCH-7. Oh, yeah, only 6 more to go now!)

So on Sunday, I saw a Chances bonus (that had two point options, actually!) and went "AWWWW YEAH." Blue's best bonus class is Chances, so I figured why not. I made sure to practice a little distance in Regular after she had messed up. One round actually had a similar set up and sequence to something in the Chances course, so I made sure to try that from a little further away. She had good speed on the pieces I did, which made me happy (because it means she was happy and my handling was decent).

We didn't quite get it, but Blue was totally normal during the whole run and even went on after we messed up right at the beginning. I was surprised that I could actually handle the part I thought I would mess up. Yay me!

So, Truly did the same as Blue and got 6 Qs out of 10 runs. She Qd both Jumpers (which means she got her EJC!) , 2 Regulars, Tunnelers and Touch n Go. That means 15 more Regulars, 9 more Jumpers and 6 more Chances to NATCH. LOL, it probably seems so far for some people, but it doesn't seem like that many more Qs to me. I don't know if I'm more excited for her to get the title or for what I have planned for after that milestone. It's weird.

She was really flying some runs this trial. I think she looks way too fast at the beginning of her Tunnelers run, haha. If I recall correctly, she was only a couple hundredths of a second slower than Blue that run. Crazy. I was really pushing her for speed after she had a mistake on course to hopefully make up time so we wouldn't be over. I know if Tru has more than one mistake she most likely wont make time. Those little legs aren't quite fast enough for 16" Proficient Elite time and a ton of bobbles.

Anyway, I let her have really crappy contacts this weekend, at least on the AF. Her dog walk wasn't totally in the 'right' position, but I kinda wanted to train a 4 on anyway, haha. She never practices contacts, and it probably shows. I could gripe about how I don't have access to non-slatted equipment again (other than my own homemade AF), but I'll spare you. So, yeah, no trials for months + no contact training= crummy contacts. OH, and if I waited for her to get into position on both contacts, she'd probably end up over time, especially if she has one other miscommunication on a jump or something. It's crazy. I don't think Tru's slow, so I don't get it, but whatever, we're not leaving NADAC. I'm thinking I'll eventually train running anyway. Running contacts might actually help with the distance work eventually and cut down her times.

She also got to try that Chances bonus. I tried from the 15 pt line with her (Blue did the 20) and she got half way through the course and decided to hesitate and look at my mom filming. She's had that issue before, but mostly when my mom was in ring. I guess we're going to have to figure out some way to get over that. She kept going to the AF (next obstacle), but came in after that. I guess I'd been letting her do that all weekend, but I think she kind of had a brain fart after looking at my mom, so I'm going to use that excuse for now. Right now I'm really thinking about pulling our AF out and working on it in the next few weeks. Don't need no coming off the sides. :/

So yeah, I was mostly concerned about my timing for the hoop 180 thing towards the handler that was part of that course TWICE. It seems I didn't have a problem with it, because my dogs got it all the times they did it. I figured that tunnel would be so inviting, but my timing must have been right for once, yay! Maybe we're getting somewhere. I still think I might have found a little sequence to practice, though, just because I was concerned about it. (That and contact/tunnel sends.)

We don't have a trial in the area that we're for sure entering until October. Everything else around here is AKC, and I don't know if I really want to enter that right now, since it's so hot and Tru would be the only one to enter. Other than that, we've got at least 3 trials planned for November/December. We're hoping to get at least one more trial in, but that's really not for sure. In the mean time, we get to practice and play.

More TV/Movie Stuff

2011-08-26T00:04:00.001-07:00

Yeah, I'm so gonna write some random reviews at 12 am.

Prince of Persia: I barely paid attention to this. I was working on sculptures and stuff and not watching. I do this all the time. I just like the noise. So, yeah, the visuals were cool. Um, I can't really remember much else.

Fringe: I started watching Fringe on WB.com. I'd seen it recommended for me on Netflix and then a friend said they started watching and liked it. I'm liking it. The slightly paranormal/sci-fi angle appeals to me. There are probably so many other shows like Fringe that I'd find interesting, but one at a time, I guess. I do think it's a little graphic for me sometimes. So, people that are squeamish at the sight of nasty human bodies might be sick a few times, haha. Anyway, I think Walter Bishop is my favorite character. I think they've got the first two seasons on WB.com, but they rotate episodes every week, so I'm waiting to see if that's what they've got. Then I'll have to get the third season on Netflix. Maybe I can get caught up before the new season starts.

Tangled: I've been meaning to watch this for a while and it was in the Netflix queue, but then it appeared on instant play! Wooh! So, I watched it today and found it quite enjoyable for a Disney princess flick. No, it has nothing to do with Zac Levi voicing a character. *sarcasm* Yes, I totally watched just to listen to Zac. The visuals are amazing. It's crazy what they can do with animation now days.

I probably shouldn't do these so late, but I rarely have much to say anyway, so I guess that doesn't matter. Agility trial this weekend! NADAC! Yay!

So, I just finished watching Series 1 of 'Sherlock'

2011-08-10T16:47:00.001-07:00

AND WHAT WAS UP WITH THAT ENDING?!?! OMG, most annoying cliffhanger ever. (Other than maybe Chuck S2's 'Guys, I know kung-fu,' but that was because we didn't know the fate of the show yet.) I liked it and depending on what I hear of next series, I'll consider watching it whenever it's on here or Netflix gets it. Unfortunately, it seems it wont even return until 2012. Geez. Also, the fandom for that show generally scares me. I've been considering watching it for months, but the crazies put me off. XD Oh, and I adored the soundtrack. It kind of reminded me of the recent Shelock Holmes movie's soundtrack, which I liked. Yeah. This has been a lame little review by Rebecca.

Movie/TV Reviews Round 3

2011-07-30T14:30:00.000-07:00

Yep, it's my movie/TV review time again.

Heroes Season 2: Ehhh, it was short. It's been a while since I watched and don't really remember much of what I thought. I think I actually caught quite a bit of this when it was on TV. Stupid messing with time stuff and paradoxes and everything that bothers me. I think I watched the first ep of S3 and it's definitely a direct continuation of what was happening in the previous season, almost like one long season. Hm, since I seem to have found it so forgettable, that's not a good thing. I don't know if I think it was horrible, but it wasn't that great. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I think an issue that Heroes has is that there are so many characters running around and things get dropped or take for ever to develop. I dunno. Maybe at some point I will finish Season 3, but I really don't think I will go back and watch S4, haha.

How to Train Your Dragon: I thought this was adorable, and it probably has to do with the fact that it has dragons and the dragon displayed a lot of dog like behaviors. As I was watching the movie, it almost felt like some sort of positive animal training promotion. XD As I said, I really like that Toothless's behaviors and mannerisms were based on real animals'. It made him believable and showed me how animal behavior can be applied in character creation. The scenery was also gorgeous.

San Diego Comic Con 2011!

2011-07-26T17:36:00.000-07:00

Well, I had a fun, awesome, busy, disappointing, fantastic time at SDCC this year. I actually took pics, which I don't think I took many of last year.

This year I did four days. I was so freaking tired after each day and was never even rested when I got up the next morning. I'm still a little out of it to be honest. Anyway, I'll go over a little that happened every day.

Thursday: Hung out with friends cosplaying the 10th Doctor and Rose. I have to say I could figure out what a lot more costumes were this year. I recognized ones from Firefly and of course Doctor Who (So. Many. Elevens.). I even saw a Ned and Chuck from Pushing Daisies at one point. We didn't go to any panels and just browsed the Exhibit Hall. We went to lunch at a restaurant that sold 'sammiches', lol. Oh, and we went to a Doctor Who cosplay meet up. That was fun.

Comic-Con is odd. You can just become 'friends' with people dressed as someone in the same fandom as you. Our group picked up another 'Rose' towards the end of the day. It's so fun to just talk with nerds you don't know. This year I really felt like this was 'the internet in real life.' There were fan-girls flipping out over my friends costume and I was catching glimpses of artists whose work I'd seen online.

Oh, and I took my Critter and some (older) dude came over to take a photo. He was complimenting me on my skills. As he walked away he said that he "used to make props for Star Trek...if that means anything." That made my day. (Well, it's probably the highlight of the weekend.)

Friday: MOAR walking. Walking, walking, walking. That's all you do. Anyway, I don't know if this was as eventful, but it was more hanging out with friends. We walked to the mall for lunch. (And saw another 10th Doctor eating there. XD) I got a poster for Cowboys and Aliens signed by the screenwriters. Cool.

Saturday: And the beginning of my disappointment. I was an idiot and decided to draw pictures of the Chuck cast to try to get signed. I finished the last new drawing on Friday night and figured I'd get up early to print them. Apparently I didn't get up early enough. My printer was being odd and then I had to wait for my brother to get dressed up. So anyway, we got there at about 8:40 or so and the line for Ballroom 20 and the Chuck panel was not quite as long as this. It was about to where the first couple of trees are next to the water. That probably wasn't even half of the line. I wish I had a pic of the front.

So I decided I'd rather stand in line for autograph wristbands. Last year WB just had people line up and you had to get lined up while the panel was going, heh. This year they had people draw tickets for a wrist band like all the other signings at Comic-Con. Well, we got to the point where there were about 4 people in front of us and they drew the last wristband ticket. :( I had hoped I might see Zac Levi at his Nerd HQ event, but no luck. Nerd HQ was honestly very meh unless you were a gamer or had tickets to a 'Conversation'. I finally got a Nerd Machine shirt though, so yay!

I saw several people from school and went to a Steampunk gathering. My brother was kind of dressed steampunk. Steampunk is cool.

Sunday: Oh, I was so out of it and had no idea what I wanted to do on Sunday. My brother wimped out and didn't come. I decided to browse pretty much the whole exhibit hall that I hadn't seen closely. I got a few freebies and bought a book I'd been meaning to get. (And for only a couple dollars more than I would have paid on Amazon!) I stopped by Nerd HQ a couple more times. AND THEN there was another Doctor Who cosplay meetup thing and I took lots of pictures. I just wanted to see all the cool costumes. This was such a Doctor Who filled CC for me. I am just obsessed right now.

the silly group shot

Anyway, I think I won't do all four days next year. One, the price is going up. Two, it's a lot to handle. I really liked going with friends and hanging out and think I might want to try a costume next year. (More than a jacket, bag and critter.) I also want to try to put something in the art show. I was really regretting not signing up for any of the Nerd HQ 'Conversations for a Cause.' They sounded really fun, but I wanted to hang out with friends instead. So that was my Comic-Con experience this year. Oh, and if you want to see some more photos, check them out here.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-07-06T08:46:00.000-07:00

Movie/TV Reviews Round 2

2011-07-01T20:01:00.000-07:00

Ooh, I feel like 'reviewing' some stuff I've watched recently.

Doctor Who: I've already mentioned that I liked this. A lot. New obsession. We'll see how long this lasts. (I have a t-shirt. O:) There are certain things I could do with out in the new series, but over all, it's good. I enjoy watching classic series episodes as well, although some can be a bit slow (this is okay if you just want some background noise and aren't really watching. XD). I've pretty much liked every Doctor and I don't know if I could pick a favorite. They are all the Doctor. I do have a little beef with Series 5. They got to the point where they were using time travel in a way that I find annoying. (Going into their own timeline and fixing/doing stuff. Blah.) It was also a bit more tightly knit story line wise. I never really got the feeling all the stories were totally connected in earlier seasons. It's not bad, I just found it interesting. Series 6 seems to be going in the same direction, but I am eagerly awaiting S6 part two in September.

Tron/Tron Legacy: I remember seeing the original Tron several years ago when my mom rented it from the library. Watching it again, it's rather slow. The story was interesting and the world was awesome, even though the CG was early. I think I can say the same thing for the new movie. It's been a month since I watched it, so I'm trying to remember what I thought after it. I think it was pretty much the same sort of pace as the first one, just with better visuals and maybe more action. I still think they were good. I think the designs are something of vastly greater interest to me than the story or other content of the movies.

Inception: This was interesting. I don't know if it was really to my taste, but I'm glad I saw it. I knew something about the end being open and it is really unclear what happened. It was nice to see an original action movie. I was amazed at how they edited all the scenes towards the end of the movie and managed to keep you up to speed.

Hellboy: I watched this on instant for the creature design, and didn't pay that much attention while I drew or whatever. Couldn't really hold my attention that well, but the creatures were epic. I like snarly beast thingies. Again, I enjoyed the fact that a lot of the creatures were mostly practical (at least they looked mostly practical). Seeing 'real' creatures almost makes me want to go into that, but then I think "Oh, it's a lot of physical work." XD

Heroes Season 1: I think I caught bits and pieces of Heroes on air, until part way though S3 when I started watching somewhat regularly because I discovered the Sybrows (Zachary Quinto's eyebrows). No, I'm serious, I started watching Heroes because his eyebrows where the biggest I'd ever seen. I watch through the end of S4. I never really thought to go back and watch the first season until I was reminded of it by someone. I'd always heard it was the best season and only really great one. I guess I'd agree, but I don't think it was exceptional. I think it dragged on with some story lines and found myself getting frustrated with how long something took. I also think there were waaay too many characters. I'm sure glad I didn't have to wait to see what happened next. I think some of the 'dragging on' has to do with the fact that the last few shows I've watched have had 13-14 episode seasons, so maybe I'm on a quicker pattern.

I haven't started watching S2. I'm not totally sure I really want to. I am kind of interested to see what happens, though and if it really is as bad as internet people make it out to be. Plus, I'm diggin the Sybrows again and need some more in my life, haha.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

What happened at the PIDC

2011-06-18T12:54:00.000-07:00

You probably would have heard me blabbing right away if we won. XD The agility is up on barknetwork now, so if you'd like to see our runs, go there. I dunno if I will even bother putting them up on YT. Well, maybe I will.

Anyway, Blue and I placed 3rd, yippee! (barknetwork's results say Truly got third, haha!) We don't have to go to Purina Farms this year and I didn't have to do an interview. My parents are sick of going with me to dog events (I think I've said this before), so I would have had to figure out some other way of getting there. (Like is happening with NADAC Champs.) I'm happy for the winners and hope they go have fun in St. Louis.

As for Blue's runs, she had a very nice first run. Only a slight bobble coming out of the tunnel under the DW. I called her just a little too hard. Second one was awful. I felt so bad making her run. She started shaking her head right as she went into the first tunnel and pulled off the weave poles. She pulled of some other stuff later, and I just went on. We were the last team to run, so we were already in third place for sure, so I was like, no need to go back out. (I'm dreading that run being aired. I wish it didn't turn out like that.) Poor dog. I was holding out hope that morning that her ears would be better, and she was fine all morning until just before our first run. >.<

Tru got to go play on Sunday. They had a demo show because the fair asked them to and it was just a fun exhibition thing. Truly was so crazy the first couple of runs. She didn't have the benefit of practicing for two days before like the other dogs. After the first two shows we went in the ring and practice between the shows (there were three demos). She did so good on the last run after doing a bit of practice. She missed the AF all three runs. On the first two, I brought her back and she did them. On the last one she said, 'Heck no' and we just went on. Smart dog. She had been clean and smooth up to that point. She is such a baby dog and this was a good experience. I know a bit more how she will react to a 'big' event or just one with more things going on than a normal trial. Also, Tru looks so much better at 12".

Anyway, no trials scheduled until late August (NADAC). I dunno if I will enter any AKC trials, since Tru would be the only one going. My mom keeps talking about going to a CPE trial, but we'll see.

Incredible Dog Challenge Tomorrow!

2011-06-10T20:31:00.000-07:00

Blue and I are competing at the PIDC tomorrow. They're live streaming it at BarkNetwork starting at 2 pm Eastern time (and our schedule says agility starts at 11:30 am Pacific).

We got to practice today and it was...interesting. Blue was a good girl and spunky and happy. Before we got to the chute. I think it jostled some gunk in her ear and she started uncontrollably shaking her head 2/3s of the way through the course.

She seemed a little weird after going through the chute the first time, as she pulled off the jump after it. Then she shook her head on the AF (after taking an off course), which was the second to the last obstacle. She continued to shake her head occasionally and tilt her ears funny while waiting for our second turn. As I said, she got most of the way through the course, before she had to be taken off. I watched the video and she shook her head right after she got out of the chute on the second round. So she came out of a tunnel and I had to go get her and pick her up because she couldn't really walk straight. Poor girl.

The onsite vet checked her out and couldn't see anything because he didn't bring any thing to look with. :/ We had to take her to our normal vet, which luckily takes walk in patients. The vet was pretty busy, but we needed to get this checked out. Turns out it's just a 'wax plug' covering her ear drum. The vet thought it might be pressing on it and that's what was bothering her. We put some ear wash and anti-inflammatory in there and hopefully she'll be better tomorrow. One of her ears is sensitive anyway and occasionally I'll hit it the 'right' way and get a reaction, but usually she stops after a minute. Anyway, she was very happy to be at the event and loved all the activity and people like normal.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-08T14:38:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-01T12:46:00.000-07:00

More of Tru's runs

2011-05-29T12:26:00.001-07:00

Here's the video of some more of Tru's runs from the other weekend. We did get the Q after they changed the yardages, yay! That leaves 170 more Regular points, 110 more Jumpers and 60 more Chances for her NATCH, haha.

JCAC NADAC May 21-22, 2011

2011-05-27T09:19:00.000-07:00

Well, this trial sure was interesting. We got to try some boxes and I found out how hard it is to make Elite Proficient Standard SCTs sometimes.

The arena in Prescott was lovely. I would gladly go back to a trial there. The drive from Sun City wasn't that bad either. I even drove home one day!

Blue was a good girl. She Qd 8/12 runs, and was happy, spunky and moving pretty well. We tried a couple of bonuses and she wasn't wimpy like the last few we've tried. She was really close on two out of the three tries. Stupid handler. I'll babble a bit more on the boxes later.

While it's odd that she missed that first discrimination on the second round of Regular on Saturday, I totally should have seen it coming. She only crouches like that for tunnels (and hoops apparently), so I should have stopped and gotten her attention. It doesn't help that she wanted to break her start too. XD She was all over the broken start this weekend. Maybe I should have trained it. Or not. She's old so I don't really care.

Truly's Q number is pending, but she for sure got 6/12 and her TG-O. I say pending because I think the yardage was wrong on one Regular and she missed the Q on time. Speaking of time, this trial made me think that Tru was incapable of making Elite Pro Std SCT. The wrong yardage course probably didn't help, and I kind of gave up on Regular after she had a redirect. I know when she missed the weaves a couple of trials ago, she barely made time. I don't think she's that slow, but apparently she isn't fast enough to make mistakes. I actually thought she's been getting faster, but is it fast enough? I can compensate for that by handling better. We just need to get our timing down.

The other problem is jumps. All Truly pulls off of is jumps. Constantly. She doesn't commit until she is over the jump in a lot of cases. There's probably a way to work on that. Maybe I need to be more consistent or something. I know she gets very 'careful' after messing up, but that's no excuse for not going over a jump that's one stride away. I don't know if she just has no idea what to do with jumps, is lazy, or hurt. I will be moving her to Skilled as soon as she gets her NATCH, but it's gonna take a long time if she wont jump. We were over time in Jumpers because I had to get her over one jump and she missed another Jumpers Q because she ran by the last two jumps. They pretty much right in a row (slight arc to them) and she just whizzed by. Gah.

Now for big brag (after a really rant-y couple of paragraphs, haha). TRULY GOT A 20 pt BONUS Q!!! I can hardly believe she made it, but she did. It was on a box in Regular. Here's the run on video.

I'm waiting for a possible score update to post Tru's other runs. Anyway, that box Q pretty much makes up for whatever failures we had that weekend. So, on to boxes. They are pretty much awesome. I've only done two now, but Blue was so close on both and Tru got one on her first try. My conclusion about boxes is that they are to MY handling skill level, and thus, I will probably do better at them. Blue seemed to like them better too, but that could just be that she was having a good weekend. I just hope more courses get them and they aren't phased out too quickly. A lot of people were willing to try the boxes, and it's usually the same with 15 pt lines. 20 pt lines are just so much harder, I think boxes will encourage more people to work distance, since they seem more doable.

Next agility event is the PIDC. Blue needs to lose some weight, but I was jumping her at 16" a week ago and she looks fine. We'll see what happens. If we get to to again, we get to go again, if we don't, well, I wont have to worry about that, haha. We might be heading to AZ for another trial, but I don't know. I do know that we need to practice!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-05-18T08:47:00.001-07:00

Boxes, Time Lords, Chuck and an AKC Trial.

2011-05-15T17:03:00.000-07:00

This shall be a varied post.

Chuck: First, 'Chuck' has been renewed for a 5th and final season!!! I'm actually kind of glad that we wont have to deal with the whole 'bubble' thing this season even though it means that it ends.

Time Lords: So I started watching 'Doctor Who' the other weekend, and I think it's brilliant. (I just wanted to say brilliant.) It's sort of like 'Quantum Leap' and 'Star Trek' (well, I haven't seen very many episodes of ST, but I'd say it's like that) put together (time travel + aliens). I'm almost finished with the fourth series and I'd love to check out the older episodes. This show was created in the 60's and I think it's amazing that they have continued and revived it for this long.

Boxes: It seems NADAC might be reviving the bonus box and I can't tell you how excited I am to see this. OMG, Blue and I might still be able to get some bonus Qs. For those that don't know, bonus boxes were the precursor to bonus lines. It was just a 'box' in the middle of the course, as opposed to a line across the start and finish. Blue and I were just starting to get better at distance when they switched to lines. I think our distance skills are definitely at a place where we could do boxes somewhat consistently if they are like the old ones. I really hope we can get a few courses with them on it soon and that they wont go back away before we have a chance to try them.

AKC trial: Tru was entered in both runs at an AKC trial today. Yes, Standard too. She was great and Qd both runs with first places. (Don't tell her that she was the only dog to Q out of about 4 dogs.) Her weaves were really fast and smooth in JWW. I spaced out for a hundredth of a second because they were so pretty. She also went down the middle of the AF for about half of the back end! I think it might have been a one time deal though, since she was kind of distracted by my mom and Blue outside the ring. I dunno. Maybe the rubber is okay? She did end up at the edge by the end of it though. :/

Finals are this week then off to AZ for a NADAC trial, visiting with grandparents and my birthday!

ACSD NADAC 4/30-5/1/11

2011-05-06T22:04:00.000-07:00

Well, this trial seemed much better...for Blue. Tru is just such an airhead when it's warm. Still love the little dork, though.

Blue Qd 8 runs in a row out of 10. I was pulling for a perfect weekend, but failed to pull her into the right tunnel in Tunnelers, haha. She's still awesome and it's nice to have my happy, connected, dog back. My mom said that she actually seemed 'old' at the last trial and she was definitely back to her 'young' self. I love my 'young' dog.

I also don't think she's up for bonus lines still. She was really good heading back out there and listening. I guess that's just a good skill in general that's been helpful. Also, there supposed to be a couple jumps where that tunnel was, but there were safety concerns because the dogs jumped down into a ditch, basically. So, it was felt that the tunnel change would be easier compared to moving all the jumps over 5 feet, haha. Anyway, it was a much bigger draw than a jump, I think, which is a good thing and a bad thing. Good because it's easy to get a dog to drive to a tunnel, bad because, well, it's more enticing than a turn to the correct jump. Ah, well. That was a 20 pt line too and it didn't have that many off course options for most of the course. I didn't think it looked good at first, but it looked like a very nice course when I walked it. Maybe I can get my practice friends to set the course up.

Truly went 4/10 in Qs this weekend and finished her EAC. Not spectacular, but not bad since this is our second trial in Elite. She was just hot and not into doing things (particularly jumps). I can't believe she was even running around hoops. I could/can tell some of the things were my fault, but occasionally it seemed she should have been committed but wasn't. It's a 'problem' sometimes, because she is more responsive than Blue and I forget. She also failed a couple discriminations, which she's been doing pretty good on for as little practice as she gets with them. The place we practice at has only slatted contacts so if we set up a discrimination, she always does the tunnel. I think I was moving too much on one, but the other I think I stopped and called soon enough. Silly Scrumpy-D.

Well, Tru's entered in one day of an AKC trial next weekend. I just had this urge to do it, but now I'm like meh. Just the usual cycle. She's in Ex. A JWW and *gasp* Open Standard. Yes, I'm gonna see if she can take the slats (these contacts are also rubber coated, so it's safer than the sanded one she fell off). I'm sure nothing will have changed, but I don't think she will die from one run. If I have to do a venue with slats (and I don't), AKC is probably the best fit for her because you only have one run with slatted equipment a day. Fortunately for her, AKC is expensive and I only have the urge to do it occasionally. It sucks that my slow trial months are over the summer and that's when I usually end up entering AKC. I think the heat + slats isn't a good combo, no matter how few runs she has to do. Blah. I dunno. I'm seriously considering running or dual contacts on her (faster DRIs plz), but I dunno if I have enough access to equipment. (I'd want to start her on slatless, I think.) I'm also thinking I might do that after Champs/NATCH though, haha.

Then we have a NADAC trial in Prescott, AZ over my birthday weekend. Gonna go hang out with the grandparents and agility peeps for my 20th. O: Gonna finish Tru's EJC and TG-O, yeah! Oh, and Blue only needs 11 more Regulars and 1 more Chances for her NATCH-7. That's just 3 more trials if she Qs all the runs and she will go to Skilled! I'm actually pretty excited to move her down. It's gonna be hilarious (and I wonder if she'll start hitting over 6 YPS in Jumpers again).

In other random news, NADAC has officially changed the name of the MEDAL to NATCH-S. Now the 5 pt Regular Qs need to go, especially in Elite. Oh, and USDAA sent a survey last week and I told them I would do USDAA if they got rid of slats on rubber contacts, haha.

Some Movie/TV Reviews

2011-04-22T16:34:00.000-07:00

Since my parents reminded me that we still have Netflix, I decided to watch some random movies/TV shows that were either suggested or I’d heard about and available instantly. I actually feel like reviewing them, so here were go. They’re pretty much spoiler free.

Princess and the Frog: Well, I forgot I even watched this, to be honest. It was a Disney movie and I just felt like ‘Why not?’ when I decided to watch it. I remember before it came out, people were freaking about it being potentially racist or at least the original script. All I can say is that it was a Disney princess movie. Not really my thing.

Aliens: I’ve seen most of this once and saw it that is was on instant. I finally saw the rest. ‘Scary’ and somewhat gory stuff isn’t usually my thing, but I love the special FX on this film. The xenomorphs’ designs are awesome. I love old FX because they use models and there’s just something about CG creatures that just isn’t the same as a model. It’s as if they can’t quite integrate the atmosphere with something that wasn’t even there. Films today should try to use all techniques instead of just relying on CG. I know CG make somethings possible that you can’t do with a model, but many movies over rely on it. I do appreciate both types of FX, though.

Firefly/Serenity: I feel like I’ve heard about this TV series so much. It took me a few episodes to get into it, but I really enjoyed it overall. I thought the space western atmosphere and backstory for their future of human kind was unique. No aliens, just humans that left earth (mostly of American and Chinese decent). I usually prefer critters and aliens, so that’s a testament to the enjoyability of the show. So sad that it got cancelled after one season. I did think the season ending was okay. I mean, it didn’t seem to conclude anything, but it kind of worked for the show. You knew they would just keep adventuring. And I’m just talking about the last episode of Firefly, not the movie, Serenity. Serenity made me feel okay with the idea of Chuck being canceled if we could get a movie to finish it all up. There were only a few things that went unresolved, even after the movie, but they weren’t a huge deal to me. The ‘romance’ between Capt. Reynolds and Inara and what the deal was with Shepherd Book are the main things I can think of. River’s history was pretty much revealed in Serenity, which is one of the only things I can really think of that wasn’t resolved in the show. I really have the urge to do some fan art for this show.

Alice in Wonderland (the new one): Ugh, this bored me. That’s all I can say. I seriously considered turning it off. I watched it because I’d seen some of the concept art and figured I should watch for the character/creature design. I’m not crazy about Johnny Depp, so that wasn’t a huge draw for me. The VFX didn’t even seem that good, but then I was reminded that it was a 3-D movie and think that might be why the FX weren’t that realistic. I feel like this movie was a waste of my time.

District 9: I thought this one was interesting. Again, I watched for the creature design because I saw some concept art and was reminded of the movie. I wasn’t too keen on the blood and guts and swearing. I don’t really know what to say about it. The documentary approach was neat, and I liked that.

The Pixar Story: A fake documentary was followed by an actual documentary. A look at the film industry can only be a good thing for me to watch. (For those that don’t know, I’m interested in becoming a concept artist for the entertainment industry.) The development and chronicling of Pixar’s success (and almost failures) was very interesting. I thought this was a good documentary.

Pushing Daisies: I remember seeing ads for this before it premiered. I thought it looked fun. (Maybe Ned’s eyebrows were subconsciously drawing me in. I have a thing for thick eyebrows. And nerds.) It came out around the same time as Chuck, and like Chuck, I only saw a few episodes of the first season. 2007 was really the year of the nerd with special abilities, as I think there was still another show with the same idea. Well, it was fun. The fairy tale/story book atmosphere was really unique. I did feel as if some character issues dragged on, but overall I liked it. I really did not like the ending. Ugh, they needed either a longer season or another one. There were too many things introduced in the second season that were not able to be addressed in the 3 minute epilogue on the final episode. I also have the urge to do some fan art for this show, too. And listen to the Harry Potter audio books because Jim Dale narrated this show, haha.

Well, those are my reviews. Maybe if I do this more, I will get better.

MAC NADAC April 16

2011-04-17T11:55:00.000-07:00

We did one day of a NADAC trial. It was hot. The dogs weren't the most into it.

Blue was odd. She's actually been acting odd at practice for the last couple of weeks (which she hasn't been doing much at). We took her to the vet to get vaccinated last week, and had her looked at because my mom was concerned about her weight and how firm her abdomen felt. At the vet she weighed 34 lbs! Last time we were there, she weighed 32 and even that was heavy. We usually like her around 29-30. We started feeding the dogs raw full time at the end of December, and supplementing it with Honest Kitchen Preference, which is just a mix of dehydrated fruits and veggies. So we think this might have been the issue, since there were quite a few extra calories or there is something she has an allergy to. Anyway, she doesn't seem as swollen since we stopped feeding it last week (and the scale at home even said she weighed 32 lbs again).

One other factor that might have contributed to her weirdness is that I found a huge lump at one site where she was vaccinated. Ugh, stupid vaccines. It wasn't as bad as her rabies shot a few years ago when she could barely even run it hurt so bad and she cried when you touched it. She wasn't flinching or anything when I was touching this one. She also didn't seem to want to leave yesterday morning. I don't know if she didn't understand we were really leaving or what. I dunno what is up with her.

Anyway, she only Qd 2 runs, and both were not pretty (one Regular and a Jumpers). She/I were making the same mistakes as most of the other people, and I was usually able to fix my handling for Tru. I felt much more connected to Blue and our runs were much more flowing on our NQs. I hate fixing things. Blue did not want to do distance very much, even on things where I wasn't that far away. She also ticked quite a few bars in Jumpers and even ran by a jump. I did not say 'over' or 'go', but she knows how to take things when I am clearly showing her the path. So that was odd. All I can think is she didn't feel good going by how she was running. I'm hoping that if I get some weight off her and that maybe she still needs to get some of whatever was in the Preference flushed out, she will feel better next trial.

Tru was pretty good despite the heat, and earned 4 Qs out of 5 runs. She also finished qualifying for NADAC Champs! Pretty good for her first trial in Elite (except TnG). She popped out of both 12 sets of weaves, even though she nailed all of them back in February. She was nearly over time on the second round of Regular and her only big mistake was popping out of the weaves. There were a couple wide turns that probably took a couple seconds, but I was surprised at how close she was to an NQ. I haven't run an Elite dog in a Standard jump height for so long, I didn't realized how tight times are. Blue's in Vet so she gets more time, and she was in JH for almost her whole career, so she always had extra time. Tru's gonna have to step it up speed wise. Well, I just need to be a tighter handler.

Sirius didn't run at all this weekend. She was limping last Friday and continued to for a few days after that. We weren't sure if she hurt her self or not, but then realized the same day she started limping was the same day they got vaccinated. So we figure that's probably the reason she was limping. Fortunately she doesn't seem to be limping anymore, but we are watching her.

Random other note. Tru's AF at the end of the video was kind of funny. She flew up it and didn't seem to realize how fast she was going. She landed pretty far down for her and was scrambling to stop. I think she figured out how much she little had to work on the AF for the rest of the day.

Hopefully the girls will all feel better in a few weeks when we have another NADAC trial. It's also more local, so we wont have to get up at 4 am. Maybe they were just tired? And hot.

Grrr...

2011-04-09T17:51:00.000-07:00

I have a copyright strike on YouTube. Now I can't make unlisted videos and my account isn't in good copyright standing anymore. I don't know what bothers me more. It took them almost a year to decide to put a strike on it. Ugh. I don't know if I want to deal with making a new account or just deal with the strike. Thoughts?

Silly

2011-04-06T17:21:00.000-07:00

So I was messing with Tru on the contact board again. I put the PVC box on it for her to stop in. We've been working on stopping in the PVC box for quite a while now, since I learned about it on the NADAC training group. I'm attempting to use this PVC box to train a 4 on contact performance. We'll see how it works.

Anyway, she kept trying to do a 2o2o instead of stopping in a four on. They were really fast 2o2os too, which I hated to not reward, but I'm trying to train a 4 on. One rep, she slid off and ended up doing a handstand for a hundredth of a second, haha. Trying to use our front end much?

Anyway, she's looking at me a lot, so we're going back to just the box and working on sending ahead with out staring at me. She seems to be enjoying targeting her (closed) bait bag. I'm liking that better than a target. She doesn't get the cookie when she's wrong. She's not too keen on toys either, but likes to go get things, so win/win. It probably didn't help that it was sprinkling (it's wet and cold. Tru loves the cold), but she was just doing flat work.

Another blog...

2011-04-02T14:10:00.000-07:00

I started a wordpress blog. Don't worry, I'm not going to stop updating here. I think the wordpress blog will be more art related and less dog related, like this one has become, haha. I will hopefully be adding more art to it and maybe I'll be able to link people there instead of to my crummy website.

Busy, But at the Same Time, Not

2011-04-01T22:01:00.000-07:00

Hm, I haven't posted anything in a while and figured I might as well. School just seems to keep me busy, but I mostly spend time doing less productive things online. I really want to work on that. I spend way too much time on the internet doing nothing, when I should be doing school work or ARTTTT.

I'm actually in a pretty arty mood after reading various blogs and art websites. I really need to surround myself with some more art related stuff rather than mostly dog stuff/people. Should do more research too. I also need to just do more art. I have some projects that have been sitting around started, including a commissioned sculpture. Speaking of art, I started a Tumblr where I seem to be enjoying posting doodles.

Haven't done too much new on the agility front. For all that blabber about contacts and having time to work them, I haven't done much. Still trying to decide what to do AND the weather was crazy. Rain is good though.

And the last couple of days it's been HOT. We actually went out and practiced today and I think Blue and Tru were both very warm. Blue was kind of out of it, so I dunno what was up with her. She's been very off and on lately. I never would have thought my agility loving dog could just be so meh sometimes. Oh, well. Did I ever mention that after she finishes her next NATCH (7!), I am planning on moving her to Skilled? She can then jump 8" which will be hilarious and fun. I'm actually looking forward to it.

Now if there were just enough NADAC trials this year. Seriously, we are only going to make it to possibly 9 (more like 7) more this year and we're having to go to AZ for a couple. That's not including Champs which is only Regular Qs. There is just so much AKC (and this year, CPE?) in the area it's almost impossible find free weekends to put on trials. Too bad my dogs are not doing much in other venues now. :/ I feel like a lazy trainer because Tru doesn't like slats (I'm sure that's what it is) and I should train her to like them, but why? Supposedly they can cause injury, so why not listen to my dog? I think she might be able to to AKC occasionally. Blue is definitely done with that though. I hate to say it, but Blue's looking towards semi-retirement in the next year or so. Probably after I transfer away.

This fewer trial 'problem' cuts into my newest plan for Tru. I am planning on moving her to Elite at the next trial and working on her NATCH. After she finishes her NATCH, we well move back to Open (Novice in the case of TNG) in Skilled, practice some distance and start working towards lines. I think she likes 12" better, but can take 16" for at least one NATCH. She'll also go a lot faster at 12", which will help keep her momentum up for distance work. I'm sorry, but I don't think I want to wait until she's in Vet to get a NATCH on her. If MEDALs didn't count 5 point Qs (which I think they still do), I would so be in Skilled. I just have this thing with the 5 pt Qs in Regular. This of course, depends on how she does. If it's too much, I'll just move her back to Open. This also helps, because I wont be tempted to screw around with lines as much, so that we can really work it in practice before we try and do a bunch more at trials.

Anyway, we are entering one day of a NADAC trial in the middle of the month and one April 30-May 1. Can't wait to trial again. Tru only needs two more Champs Qs, come on!

One last note. BarkNetwork is livestreaming the Eastern PIDC regional tomorrow. For those that can't afford/don't want to pay for AKC Nationals livestream, but still want to watch some agility online.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-30T09:51:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-23T11:43:00.000-07:00

I have heard that the image is not appearing for all. Here's a link.

Carrie and Ivy by ~TruBlueArt on deviant ART

Testing...

2011-03-22T22:06:00.000-07:00

Just testing how dA embeds.

Bark at the Sun by ~TruBlueArt on deviant ART

What's Up

2011-03-08T18:02:00.000-08:00

I'm just gonna list off some stuff that has happened recently.

A couple weeks ago, Truly was missing for a few hours. I was at school for most of those hours, while my dad was the only one home. He didn't notice that she wasn't there. I got home and did notice that Tru didn't greet me, but figured she was outside. After about an hour, I noticed that she wasn't barking at someone out front (XD). I then proceeded to freak out as I called her and called her but she didn't come. Ask Dad if he's seen her, says he didn't notice. I get this feeling to go out and look in the walk in shed. I open the door and out pops Tru. She and I were both quite relieved and I find it pretty funny that she got locked in the shed after going to see the cat.
This last weekend, we went out to Borego Springs for an off road meet up. This one was HUGE and had a ton of vendors. Blue actually went with us in the Bronco to the vendor site. In one booth (for the BLM, I think), they had a taxidermy coyote and badger. Blue went right up to the coyote, as she could really see it. It was just a standing mount, with a neutral facial expression. She did get a little weirded out as the people in the booth started moving it. Then she saw the badger. Now that one really got her attention. It was snarling and she immediately backed off. Once again, the people were making it move and Blue gave out some growls. Which, to be honest, is okay. I don't want her to just flip out at animals, but if she's scared of badgers, that's good. Don't want her to wander up to one if she ever happens too. That's just one other thing to add to Blue's uber short "Scary Things" list. Fly swatters and taxidermy animals.
The dogs all went for rides of various lengths in the Bronco. My parents haven't really let them ride before. Blue went for a very long one and I don't think she'll be doing it again. She was awesome, but it was hot. Tru went at night at settled after a while. Sirius freaked out in it.
I randomly played with the dogs running on a flat board today. I kind of want to teach a running and a 2o2o to Truly. She seemed to be having fun running down the board and kind of understood running through the contact and not jumping. I would need to video to make sure though. Blue on the other hand, is waaayy to 'bouncy' for RCs. It's just the way she is and she is a little old for me to be worrying about retraining contacts. She had a really fast 2o2o after a couple running reps though. I have a month or so before our next trial. Perfect time to work some contacts, right?

Ramona Rampage NADAC 2011

2011-02-21T13:34:00.000-08:00

Wooh, Ramona Rampage! This trial is always rainy, but so much fun. It's also one of the only covered trials we ever do. Usually there are two weekends of Ramona Rampage, but unfortunately circumstances did not allow for that.

First off, Blue and Truly both received High in Trial for their respective levels! Blue got Veterans and Truly got Open!

Obviously, Blue did well. I think she got 7 Qs out of 10 runs and managed to snag another 20 pt Q in Chances! She would only need one more non Chances or Jumpers bonus Q to qualify for SuperStakes. See, she can qualify when she isn't going. XD

I think I might have mentioned Blue being 'off' at the last trial. Well, she got taken to the chiropractor and started an Adequan injection series. I could definitely feel a difference in how she was running. She was a lot more fluid and smooth and not so stiff looking. Well, it did seem like she was getting tired in third set of weaves in Weavers, but she seemed okay the rest of the weekend.

Her attitude has been what was really bothering me. We went to a fun run and she ran off to visit dogs/people after she got out of the car. There were other loose dogs and didn't want her to get in their faces or jump on people. I tried to call her and she just ignored me so I went over and got her, then put her in the x-pen. She was kind of odd for most of the time, although I didn't think the ground was the greatest either. Odd as in being slowish and ignoring commands.

When Blue is great or good, I will usually leave her out of the crate or x-pen and let her socialize. She abhors getting in the x-pen and will avoid going in. So usually if she ignores me during a run, I will give her treat/praise, then put her away. It's not like anything bad has ever happened to her in there, but she is just away from all the activity, which is what she wants.

I tried to see if this might be what was causing attitude issues. Well, she was good all day Saturday and got to visit after runs. Sunday she had one run where she was just sassing me the whole run because she jumped off the AF. I guess she hit the contact, but it wasn't a very good performance, haha. She was going to go off course so I called her off and went on, but like I said, she 'sassed' (she knew she did something wrong). I gave her cookies and put her away. I didn't withhold praise or act angry. Just put her away. She was 'pouty' the next run. She skipped weaves and ran to a strange off course after the weaves. So I let her visit after that run or at least stay out for a while and guess what? She was fine the next run! I guess she's just getting more sensitive and 'bitchy' about what she wants in her 'old age.'

Since both Chances courses are in these videos, I'll give some observations on them. Saturday's course looked very challenging from the start. It needed a lot of distance directionals and handling. Quite a few people Qd on that course. The challenges were pretty clear and obvious.

Sunday's course on the other hand, only had 5 Qs in Elite. Why? This course was only 9 obstacles long, but there were two areas tripping people up, the first switch and getting the jump after the second tunnel. The challenges were a lot more subtle and relied a lot on timing and being in the right spot. I was surprised at how many dogs that had good distance were coming into that second tunnel.

Truly actually got less Qs than Blue for once. She Qd 6/10 runs. She earned her ECC and WV-O. She earned another few Qs for Champs and just needs one more Regular and TnG to qualify. One more big Q brag. Truly Qd every Chances run for a whole year! The Q streak ended Sunday as I decided to practice the first part of the course from the bonus line and she didn't even get to any hard parts to mess up on. She just ran straight to the tunnel after the first two hoops. XD

My was she fast and hyper. She tried to break her start twice on Saturday. Her weaves were smoking all weekend and she hit all the entries and stayed in them. Her contacts weren't totally consistent, but she was flying over the AF and DW. I'm glad she's back to liking the contacts. Random note: I've been doing a couple reps on the slatted equipment the last two times we've practice and she still slows down a lot more than compared to the rubber. Her AF is still weird on the slats, but the DW isn't as bad. She does get slower as you do more reps. (The max I've done is 3.) If only I could go somewhere close to practice slatless contacts...

Her distance switches were fail. I know what we are working on. Her waits were also quite creepy. She usually immediately pauses when I tell her 'wait' at a distance. So, so, so useful for line work. I can easily go out and 'rescue' her (and the Q sometimes).

Truly was very crazy the last run on Saturday. Her 'special' talent of running under jumps magically reappeared. This is the first time it's happened at a trial and she hasn't tried to do this in quite a while at practice. I think she does it because she doesn't think she can get over the jump safely because of a weird or close approach. Thus I can see the reasoning for the first one, but that second one, I don't know. I guess she was just in a mood. As long as it doesn't happen again I'm okay, haha.

Since we don't have any trials really planned until the end of April, I think I will be giving Blue an agility break and try to take my dogs to do other things. Truly needs to lose some weight, which I think would help her jumping. We were just told about an ASCA trial in March and how you don't need a number unless you want titles. So Truly and Sirius might go to an ASCA trial. Maybe I'd take Blue and run a round of Nov. Jumpers. We'll see what happens.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-02-16T16:19:00.000-08:00

Wordless Wednesday

2011-02-02T20:29:00.000-08:00

One Day of AKC with Truly

2011-01-22T23:23:00.000-08:00

Yeah, so this might be a little short or incoherent because I'm tired, but whatever, this will be a short post.

Truly and I actually drove further than 5 miles for AKC! I don't think I've traveled more than that for AKC since WAGS for Wishes in like, 2007, haha. Well, we wanted to see how this site worked out for the AKC people, even though we've already used it for NADAC so my mom asked me to enter one day. I got to chit chat for a long time, haha.

Tru had a great run, even though it was a long wait for it. (We got to the trial at about 10 am, Open check in was at 11 am and we ran at 3 pm!) I think if I ever enter her in Standard again, that will be all she runs until she gets to Excellent, haha. She Qd with a first place and that finished off her OAJ! Yay! She had the second fastest time (off by .04 sec.) out of all the heights in Open.

Video! I think her start line is adorable with that little rock back, haha. Also, yay for staying in the weaves while I try to get ahead!

JCAC NADAC Jan. 15-16, 2011

2011-01-20T14:50:00.000-08:00

First trial of the new year. Wooh.

Yeah, so this trial didn't have the greatest feel for our dogs. Don't quite know what was up, but all the dogs seemed off, especially on Saturday. On top of that, I find out that Blue and I happened to be one of the two agility teams cut out. Dunno what we did wrong, but we got fourth, yet they show the fifth place dog instead. All I can think is I either forgot do do something, or I didn't look very interesting doing distance work. Kind of a bummer there.

Blue ended up with 4 Qs over the whole weekend. Silly girl messed up on two runs where I didn't do lines, including her senior moment in Chances. It's like she forgot I said "tunnel" while she was doing the jump, lol. She also blew a discrimination at the beginning of a Regular run.

I didn't leave any of her weird runs in here, but most of the line attempts were strange, so I was/am worried about her. I'm gonna try to get her into the chiropractor soon. I'm also wondering about her hearing. When she was young, she got something in one of her ears and the vet said it scratched the inside and there might be some scar tissue that could cause issues. She's also nine now. Does anyone know anything about hearing tests?

Random bonus line bits. I loved her try in Regular round 4. I felt so connected and the run was so smooth. Also, I think I'm going to really cut down on the amount of special skills lines we try, just to cut down on the bonus lines. She could still do Regular, Jumpers and Chance because those count for a "normal" Silver Achievement Cup. Of course if the course looked like something we really had the potential to get, I'd try it, but if there's something I'm really (or maybe a little) unsure about, I wont do it.

Now, Tru on the other hand, Qd 7 runs. She got 3 more Regular Qs and a Weavers Q towards Champs, her first Elite Qs and finished her HP-O. One more trial to go and we could have a year long Q streak in Chances, woot!

Unfortunately, I noticed Tru's jumping seemed a little off. She knocked a bar in each Jumpers round. I was looking and it seems like she is trying to push of with her front and I don't really think that's a good thing. I'm gonna try working with her on it some, while trying to work her rear end a little more.

Sirius only Qd two runs and I didn't feel like posting video. My mom's going through another "I'm retiring Sirius" phase. We'll see how long that lasts. Sirius will magically be good for a couple trials. I'm attempting to convince her to try and finish Siri's Elite Versatility at least, lol.

So not the best start to the beginning of the year. Hopefully, the next trial will turn out a little happier. Well, the next trial is one run of AKC with Tru, so I mean the next NADAC trial, lol. Oh, and you can watch the whole PIDC and my runs separately at http://www.barknetwork.com/

PIDC Air Date and Time

2011-01-13T23:03:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to let everyone who cares know that the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge National Championships air nation wide this Saturday at 3:30 pm EST on NBC. Hopefully Blue and I made the cut, seeing as we were 4th out of 5 dogs, haha.

http://barknetwork.com/

Waaah.

2011-01-07T18:51:00.000-08:00

I want some EGC down here. :(

We need to practice, though. I don't know when the last time I had a gate out was.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-01-05T09:44:00.000-08:00

JCAC NADAC Dec. 18-19, 2010

2010-12-30T11:40:00.000-08:00

Here comes the last trial post for 2010!

Well, we headed over to AZ for our annual Jumping Chollas NADAC trial. My mom and I were also staying for the rest of the after the trial to do Christmas at one of my grandmother's house. The rest of the family was going to come over later. I have some amusing videos from our stay that will probably have a different post dedicated to them.

Let's start off with Blue. She Qd half of the runs and got another two bonuses! We tried so many lines. I'm so glad there were so many to try, even if we didn't Q. Her bonus Q runs were a 15 in Weavers and another 20 in Chances. I just have to say, OMG, the 15 pt line in Weavers was like, the easiest line ever. At least for Blue. I walked it, then the 20 and I was like, hmm, give Blue a break and go for the easiest line evah or try the harder challenge. Seriously, half of the course is practically next to you.

Oh, and Blue got her NATCH-6 at the last trial. I fail at counting apparently. She's also qualified for SilverStakes again.

Tru Qd 8/12 runs and finished two titles, her OAC and S-OCC! That means she will move up to Elite Chances, her first Elite class, at the next trial. I can't believe she already has a Superior in Open. My baby dog will start working towards her NATCH soon. Silly pupper also got her first Hoopers NQ at this trial.

Her contacts were pretty good Saturday, but deteriorated on Sunday. She was self releasing all over the place. I was like, um, well, at least you went fast and had confidence. We really need somewhere with rubber contacts to work this. I don't want her to loose confidence because of slats, but she needs to work her contacts. After she gets her 8 more Regular and 2 more TnG Qs for Champs, she will go on another contact break at trials. That is if we don't find somewhere to train.

I also tried a bunch of lines with Ms. Scrumptious. She didn't get any bonus Qs, but we came away with tons of things to work on (like usual). I really wish we had some more tries at Novice lines, but Novice and Open lines aren't always available so it wasn't worth waiting around. I just have to do more work in practice.

Back to Blue for a second. She decided to be naughty and jump over the A-frame contact, not once but twice. That's more times than in her whole life up to that point! So we decided to do a little ring contact schooling after the second time. Blue was thinking "WTK?" as we ran out of the ring after the second try, haha. She didn't try that again.

Sirius came out of this trial with a good haul of title ribbons. Out of 12 runs with 7 Qs she managed to finish 5 titles, her S-TG-N, S-OAC, S-OJC, HP-N and ECC! She's only been in Elite Chances for three shows now and already has three Chances Qs! She also gets to move to Elite in Jumpers and Regular now! My mom never expected her to get all those Open Qs. The Hoopers title is also pretty significant as Sirius has been doing it for years and just this year managed to get three Qs!

I guess this was a pretty good trial to end the year with. I'm now curious to see the Top Ten standings by breed now, haha. I'm thinking Blue will only be on that list in Chances this year, but who knows. Tru hasn't run in Elite yet, so she wont be eligible until next year. Next year Sirius and Tru are starting new adventures in Elite and we'll see what happens with 2011 Champs. I haven't even heard a confirmed location for that yet.

We'll be having some fun in the desert this weekend. See you guys in 2011!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-12-29T14:11:00.000-08:00

(Late) Wordless Wednesday

2010-12-15T20:52:00.000-08:00

MAC NADAC Dec. 5th, 2010

2010-12-07T11:29:00.000-08:00

All the dogs were great at this trial! We only did one day (my mom has school on Saturdays this semester), but it was a very successful day.

The most exciting brag I have for Blue is that she got TWO 20 POINT LINES! That's pretty good for only 6 runs total. She got a Chances bonus (her fourth, I think) and a Jumpers bonus (her first!). We also tried lines in Regular, and she was very close in the first round, no so much in the second. Let's watch Blue qualify for SuperStakes the year she most likely can't go, lol (like 2009). She also Qd in Tunnelers. Oh, and she finished her Chances requirements for her NATCH-6. I don't think she's ever been in need of Regular Qs to finish off a NATCH before, haha.

There's one interesting thing to note on the first Regular course. As I walk out and see the first 4 obstacles I think to myself "Wow, this looks familiar...could it be?" then I hear someone saying that yes, it is basically the finals course from this year's Champs (modified for a weekend, of course). I decided I wanted to try the distance again (well, I just want to try distance, lol), and we did it further from where I ran it at Champs (and Blue didn't run off the AF right away to do the tunnel, lol). I'm surprised she got as far as she did, and I guess it was kind of a good idea that I went in and helped her at Champs, especially because she was getting mentally burned out.

Truly did really well two. She ended up with the same amount of Qs as Blue in the same classes, haha. Truly also GOT A BONUS in Jumpers! That was her first Open bonus Q (well, we've only seen Open bonuses at two trials now) and her first Q towards next year's SilverStakes class. That Jumpers Q finished her O-OJC.

Her contacts were okay. Still not what I'm looking for, but better than super creepiness. I don't have it on video, but she did stop early on a DW send away in the first round of Regular (she stopped right above the ground instead of going right into a 2o20). Her second DW was great though. I think she left the AF a little early in Chances, hence the confusion caused after it. She wasn't creeping down the sides though so yay! Tru hearts rubber contacts.

Sirius did well too. She got 2 Qs and was really close on her Chances run. My mom kept her moving pretty well through most of the runs.

Siri and Tru's videos are combined.

Well, this semester is nearly over (yay!) and we have another NADAC trial next weekend. We don't have any trails for probably about 4 weeks or so after that. Tru could potentially finish her S-OCC, Blue will probably get her NATCH-6, and Sirius could finish her S-OJC and S-OAC and move to Elite! Hopefully we can end this year on a high note!

UDAC NADAC 11/20-21/2010

2010-11-24T19:44:00.000-08:00

Wooh, NADAC trial! In the rain. I think this is the first really rainy trial we've been to in a while (not counting February trials because we're running indoors). I don't know if the dogs really minded. I think Blue might have been a bit more hyper when she was running in the rain, but I could have just been imagining it.

Blue only Qd 5 out of 12 runs this weekend. She didn't Q any of her runs on Saturday. The NQs were mostly caused by failed bonus attempts and occasionally me being dumb. I don't know what was wrong with me when I was running Blue. Sorry girl.

Some random thoughts and notes on individual runs. In the second round of Regular, where she came in to the tunnel, I had said "out, tunnel, go tunnel." That double command always gets me, lol. She just takes the second command as an early signal for the next obstacle. Also, Blue was super close to a bonus on a TnG run that didn't get filmed. She just turned a bit wide and that negated the bonus. That's only her second TnG Q this year, haha.

Truly was really good. She entered non contact classes + Chances again. She Qd 4/6 runs and finished her O-OCC and S-WV-N! The two NQs were caused by me trying to mess with some distance handling stuff. I was really proud of her second Jumpers run. No, there wasn't a 'real' line there. I also tried to do Chances from about where the Elite line was and she nailed them.

Sirius only ran one day. She Qd 3/6 runs. I actually made a video right after this trial because I ran her in Chances because my mom had to do something in the morning at home. So I ran her in her first Elite run and she Qd!!! Yay Siri. She also finished her O-TN-O.

We've got a couple trials in December coming up to finish off the year. We're doing one day next weekend, and then heading to AZ the weekend of the 18th & 19th. I've entered Tru in the contact classes, and I'm hoping to get some more practice in. I choose to enter her because the contacts will be rubber, and not just (crummy) slatless. I also hope she can get 3 more Chances Qs and finish her S-OCC and move to her first Elite class next year! Blue could potentially finish her NATCH-6 at the AZ trial (or if she miraculously gets a bonus line next weekend).

Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-24T14:53:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Truly!

2010-11-22T11:19:00.000-08:00

Truly turns 3 years old today!

From this...

To this.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-17T11:32:00.001-08:00

11/13-14/2010 AKC trial

2010-11-14T12:55:00.000-08:00

Blue and Truly were entered in JWW at an AKC trial this weekend. The 'best' part was Blue finally finishing her MXJ! She finished it Saturday and got to do some distance practice on Sunday. I (teasingly) got called lazy. I now understand that the AKC mentality is if you can run with the dog you should or you're lazy (or it's not right, as I heard last trial). It's okay for crippled people to use distance, though. Not like distance work is way more complicated than running with the dog... Oh, and this was probably her last AKC trial. I figured I'd retire her from AKC after she finished her MX and MXJ, because I don't feel the need to put her in Preferred and start over, when I don't do much AKC anyway.

Truly had a nice run. I felt it was a lot smoother than her other Open JWW runs, even though she popped the weaves. It's funny because I could see her speed change 4 poles before she popped and could see it coming. She's always had a problem with trying to do things faster occasionally and then not knowing how to control herself at those speeds.

Oh, and I made $15 for drawing. I'm going to try to sell sketches again at the NADAC trial this weekend. Can't wait. I'm hoping Blue doing fairly well on the AKC course bodes well for some bonus lines.

Haha.

2010-11-13T16:33:00.000-08:00

I just found this on barknetwork.com. Check out who's on the thumbnail. Also, the date they're airing the PIDC Championships is Jan. 15th, 2011 on NBC.

Champs Trip: Part II

2010-11-12T17:13:00.000-08:00

Oooh, the eagerly awaited part II! (Yeah, right.)

First, a montage of Blue's SilverStakes runs set to music.

Okay, so after we left Gillette, we drove. And drove. And drove. We did stop at some interesting sites. On the first day, we stopped by the Mammoth Site in South Dakota. We stayed that night at a pretty little campground in 'Middle of Nowhere,' Nebraska. The pond and trees in the morning were beautiful.

From there we headed into Ord, Nebraska, where my grandfather grew up and is buried. We stayed the day at a park with campsites. Sirius got to play in a little creek nearby. The other dogs weren't too interested in getting wet, haha.

We pulled into Purina Farms the day before the event. Very large and very nice facility (at least for a weekend). I was amazed at how many fields there. Lovely grass, too. Oh, so we had to dump the tanks in our trailer and went to this really pretty state park a little bit away. It was really, really pretty.

So, as nice as Purina Farms is, it wasn't perfect, at least for an Agility Championship event. As of our trip, 2011 NADAC Champs was potentially going to be held in the brand new indoor facility there. First, there was no dump site at the facility, second, there were very few sites with full hook-ups, if any. That's just the camping. The indoor facility's uber expensive flooring did not impress any of the competitors. We didn't run on it, but none of us would have let our dogs run on it. There was no cushion either. I've heard more unhappy comments elsewhere and one could probably find them if they wanted. There are rumors that Purina is attempting to find a temporary surface they could roll out for agility events. Although, from what I've been hearing, Champs is not going to be there next year.

Well, the PIDC was fun. Friday we got to do our two practice runs, and then had dinner. There was a video presentation after dinner for all the competitors, that was basically a recap of the regional events.

Blue wasn't as clean on this course as the Regional one. She ran only one round clean each set. I was a little late on the turn on the practice run. Interesting course, though. Here's her runs. The music they had isn't as good as the ones I got on the other runs. :)

Here's a video of her practice runs. I'll save the 'real' ones for the TV special (if we get on.) I don't remember the exact date it's supposed to air, but I remember it was in January before the NFL playoffs.

I'll just mention what happened on our 'official' runs. Well, first off, that morning Blue got out of the trailer and ran over to the truck, as if to say, "I'm ready to go home now." I'm thinking, "That's not a good sign." Well, she did seem okay during her runs, but she decided to have an issue with a jump that'd I'd seen another dog have problems with, but Blue was fine with on both practice runs. Ugh. So she ran one round with a couple of faults and the other clean. She was tenths of hundredths of a second over the third place dogs time. I really can't figure out how I could have gotten a much faster time out of her, except for handling differently in one spot. (You know that turn she missed the on the first practice run?) Oh, the good thing was I didn't have to do another interview.

Well, Blue wanted to go home, and we got to go home. The trip home wasn't particularly interesting. It was quite stormy in a lot of places. We were quite happy and relieved to be home when we arrived.

Here's a montage of our trip!

And some photos!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-10T12:59:00.000-08:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-03T10:53:00.000-07:00

EGC practice...with no video :(

2010-10-31T16:28:00.000-07:00

So I thought I'd post a little about the "What is the EGC" practice I went too. Unfortunately, the format that we were running did not allow me to get video. My mom didn't want to go, so I drove myself, a whole hour or so away!

Blue was pretty crazy at first and I had to get her settled. I'm glad she's up and herself again after having a break. She was just so burned out at the last trial. I'm looking forward to running again in a couple weeks. We've got an AKC and a NADAC coming up. Blue was actually coming in on the gates today, instead of just doing big loops around them. We did a couple of the courses we ran in Gillette and she did somewhat better on the technical stuff this time.

We also ran some Extreme Hoopers, that included the gate circle of doom. While the first course wasn't that bad (a go on through the middle), the second one was tricky. The dogs had to go pass an opening in the the side to another hoop on the outside. Blue got pretty close on her first try, but Tru had issues. Tru had more issues because I ran her first and was figuring out how to handle it. What worked for my dogs was actually looking where I needed them to go, which usually works when I do it. I just forget to watch where they need to go, and watch them instead. It's quite surprising how much it helps.

Well, the eye thing was mostly what I remember being a key point today, and since I don't have video, I can't remember everything. Oh, wait, Tru ran off after messing up on one of the runs to chase a very fast BC. She'd never do anything aggressive, but she sure ignored my calls. I just have to worry about the other dog nailing her, but luckily the BC was so focused on it's owner it didn't notice Tru. She's usually so good about paying attention only to me, but this BC was very interesting to her, as she watched it the whole time we were there.

Truly's Contacts!

2010-10-29T20:02:00.000-07:00

Repost from YouTube

"We just set up our AF again after a month. First we were gone, then it rained off and on the last week or so. I was working with Tru on her bottom behavior before and was only working on one ramp with two targets. One at the bottom (to get her driving down the middle and then stopping) and one on the other side of a hoop (to encourage her to focus and drive ahead). I took it out yesterday and did a little with no, one and two targets. Today she was doing very well driving to the bottom and stopping with only one target after a hoop. She is driving towards the edges though, depending on where the target is or where I am. She also seems to get "stuck" going to the wrong spot with me on certain sides while going certain ways. She's weird. At least it isn't the same "edge" behavior she was having on the slatted equipment at trials and practice.

If anyone has any critiques of her style, let me know. I've noticed that our AF is very "bouncy", which could be why her butt is bouncing up and down, lol. We are working on quick releasing to build drive for the position. I will increase duration (mostly only to practice control, I guess. quick release = faster times right?) after I get the enthusiasm/confidence. Faster release = more fun than standing there waiting."

On another note, her being able to wait longer is for when I need it, haha. She's pretty much had sorta quick release contacts. I mean, I don't hold her forever at trials, but I usually give her a longish "yes" or "good girl" at trials. I don't know if I really plan on "early releasing" her much because I don't want her to end up like Blue, lol. Not that Blue misses a lot of contacts (ugh, like 7 in her life now, 3 or 4 of those this year). Blue pretty much self releases now, even when I say "wait."

I stopped caring about a 2o2o with Blue after she got hurt. She will still do it in practice, but she just blows me off at trials usually. Well, except when she has already messed up and then decides to hold the contacts and get into position. She used to creep so bad, and I would wait for like, 3 seconds for her to get into position at trials. Blue never really had a solid 2o2o, because I didn't really understand why I needed it, I think.

I'm hoping to have her contacts "finished" before December. We'll be heading to our usual AZ NADAC trial and Christmas with relatives. She needs to get 12 Regular Qs to qualify for Champs, not to mention 2 TnG Qs, when she still needs a few more for her S-TG-N. Then there's my slight desire to do SilverStakes with Tru. She needs good, independent contacts for that and the bonuses she needs to qualify. We do have till July 31st, so I guess I shouldn't be worrying.

I should really finish the videos from our trip and do a post on the PIDC. Do that instead of reading school work? Hmm. Darn 6 hour painting class messes my reading schedule for my online classes.

Portrait of Miley

2010-10-24T12:32:00.000-07:00

I drew this for Diana after reading her post this morning.

What? 2010 NADAC Champs post?!?!

2010-10-21T21:30:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so I'm going to do a two (or more) parter for the whole trip.

2010 NADAC Championships, Gillette, WY

The trip up was pretty uneventful. We stopped in Beaver, UT, the first night. The last couple Champs we've gone and visited the vet we got Blue from, but unfortunately, this was a Saturday evening and the vet wasn't open. A couple of days of driving later, and we're into Gillette, WY, and the most interesting thing one the way up was a big fire we drove by.

Before Championships, there was a "Pre-trial," that was basically a normal NADAC Fun-raiser. It didn't count for Champs, but was a nice "warm up". We only did two out of the three days.

Truly had a ton of fun! It was indoors (thus, no sun) and cold, perfect Truly conditions. She Qd 4/6 runs and gave me some awesome distance and speed. I was attempting a 15 pt bonus with Tru on that second Weavers run, and Tru decided to go "wheeeeeeee" out of the first few tunnels, haha.

Blue only entered two runs a day, as to not wear her out too much. She Qd two of the four runs she was entered in. I tried bonuses on the two she didn't Q and that says enough. She seemed happy and fast, which was good, as she seemed funny at the trial in August.

Oh, and we got to runs some Extreme Games Challenge classes!!! Unfortunately we didn't have time for Extreme Hoopers, but we got to run the other two classes, Chances and Tunnelers. I figured Truly would like this, which she did, but I was surprised at how well Blue did and how much fun she seemed to be having. That's one reason why I only ran Blue in one round of each class. We all give at least these two classes thumbs and paws up. I'm not sure that Blue will be as enthusiastic about Extreme Hoopers, but we'll give it a try before we count it out, haha.

Okay, so onto the main event...

First, I decided I wanted to make a PURPLE NADAC DOG sculpture to put in the raffle similar to the "Chimera" I did back in March (I think). I was thinking about it, then found some crazy fur on some pillows at a store and just had to make one. After that, I though, "Wow, I have a lot of fur, maybe I should make another one." Not the best idea in the world. All my spare time two weeks before, during the trip and up until Thursday morning was centered around finishing these two items. The actually did pretty well in the raffle, the bags for each one were pretty full. A Jr. Handler won one of them, and a lady I know won the other, so I'm happy about where they went and that they'll be appreciated. Art projects are like my babies, you know, so I like to know they're going somewhere good.

Wooh, now to the runs. We ran 8 rounds of Regular this year, instead of two each of the special skills classes and then 6 rounds of Regular. Champs was also only 4 days this year instead of five. The plan was to have two part courses, where one half was a Regular course and the other was a "Highlight Round" of another NADAC class for example, Jumpers. There would be a break in between the two runs.

Blue was awesome on Thursday and started SilverStakes off with a first place in round 1! Round 1 consisted of a Regular and a Jumpers-type course. I say Jumpers-type because there were hoops in addition to jumps and tunnels. She was clean on the first part, but faulted on the second, so she did not have a completely clean run. As it usually happens, the two part courses took waaay to long. We were up and running our second round past 11 pm. Which is one reason we didn't do a two parter for round 2. The other reason was that it was a Hoopers highlight and Stakes hasn't really ever done (distance) Hoopers. Round 2 was one of Blue's only clean runs and she placed 3rd. I love this run.

Blue and I were just so in sync for the two regular courses. I was also surprised at how "close" the distance was. Which was good for Blue. It was the perfect distance so that Blue wasn't too frustrated, and I guess it was just right for our skill level. I'm quite glad we didn't do SuperStakes.

Not quite as great as Thursday, but courses were a lot trickier (and shorter, lol). She still did well, only faulting once per round. She got 4th in round 3 and 3rd in round 4. That tunnel turn back thing was so bizarre. I needed to be further over, call her then send, but the line that was more points ended at some point through the weaves, I believe, so I didn't want to be up next to it for the next part. I think the sequence we got points for was over after the tunnel or when the dog hit the AF. I don't remember.

Oh, maybe I should explain how the points worked. Well there were a couple lines on each course, worth different amounts of points. Instead of getting points for each obstacle, we got points for several sequences on the course that we needed to do perfectly for full points. If you faulted or redirected, you got no bonus points for that sequence.

So everything was going good until Saturday morning. Blue and I just bombed on round 5. She got a whole zero points for this run. She had way too many faults and earned no bonus points. The hard thing was someone telling us Blue was in first place until that run. Gah, there was a reason I wasn't adding the points together, haha. The amazing thing was that she was only bumped down to third place overall! Needless to say, she was pretty much near the bottom in placements.

Round 6 went a little better and would have been perfect if she would have just. hit. her. dogwalk. contact. Ugh, why did she have to do that at Champs??? The jumped contact caused me to hesitate and pulled her off a jump, adding another 30 faults to the 10 for the missed contact. Otherwise, it was a very nice run. I also ran into the lesser bonus point area for the sequence that included the out tunnel/AF discrimination. I had seen many dogs miss that during the regular classes. People were literally having to stand in front of the AF to get the tunnel because of the angle. So even though we got less points, I knew that more points wasn't worth the fault risk. Especially after she got all those faults on the "easy stuff." She placed 6th.

Last day. :(

Round 7 was what I have dubbed, "The Horseshoe of DOOM!" We were informed this 10 obstacle course had the lowest Q rate of the entire event. Yeah, 10 obstacles in a horseshoe shape. It was explained to us as a pure test of contacts and weaves at speed. Thus, we were given points based on each contact and weave performance. This was Blue's other clean run. She placed 3rd.

The final round was a pretty tricky course that had a lot of tunnel call offs in it. Blue immediately runs off to the tunnel. I probably said "get out," when I should have said "here" or something, but when I was behind her she seemed quite sure of herself and didn't seem to be paying complete attention as she came off that AF. I made sure I went in and helped on the tricky parts. Didn't want to risk more faults than she had. Unfortunately she turned a little too wide/I called too late? and missed a jump. Otherwise she did good and I was proud of how well she'd done all week.

As I said in another post, Blue placed 7th overall and earned the award for Most Bonus Points in 12 Vet (with 77 pts!). I didn't really expect to place while running against all heights of dogs, well, mostly tall dogs jumping various heights. It's so hard when the scoring is time + faults, and a Border Collie can have bar down or miss a contact and still beat Blue running clean (or with a fault neutralized by bonus points, haha) because they can run 5-10 seconds faster. I thought we did have a chance at the Bonus Point Award, but I never really run like I'm trying to win. I just try to run the best we can. Well, I did start getting cautious after the "bomb" run, but that's partly because the courses were getting more difficult, even though I was considering the possible off course faults as well. Then again, my strategy of sorts has always been "run clean" because we were always, ALWAYS running against tall dogs. I swear that I will run Blue in her own jump height one day. Fingers crossed for next year?

Speaking of next year, the latest from Sharon is that they are investigating two locations, one in Kentucky and one in Ohio. Yeah, not as close as Purina Farms, so I'm not sure what's going to happen, but there's no way to tell this far ahead. I will qualify both my dogs (which are the same as last years requirements), but I'm not going to make it my highest priority ever. If I go, I must figure everything out because my mom/rest of the family does not want to be dragged to another far off dog event. Sooo, buy art from me please!!! At least I can fund it. Well, and someone from the area offered to take me with them, so I might be set for transport (other than maybe flying).

Okay, back to this year, overall, it was an exciting experience. I loved being part of a small group, although it was kind of intimidating at first because I didn't know very many of the people. After the first run, Sharon told us that we didn't look as friendly as the SuperStakes group, lol, and were basically told to lighten up. Eventually we got to group cheers and stuff like that. I was told by Tom Maloney-Harmon, who I've watched do SuperStakes with his Shelties for years, that I was an inspiration to him! That made me feel really good and I thank him for that. Rock on distance Shelties!

I will post a part two eventually, haha.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

2010-10-20T12:43:00.000-07:00

I believe it should say 2010 instead of 2009, but whatever. I'm not planning on sending it back.

ACSD NADAC 10/9-10/2010

2010-10-15T22:42:00.000-07:00

I'll get to a Champs/PIDC post eventually. It's just that I need to finish videos and editing photos and haven't had (or taken) the time to finish stuff. In the mean time, have a trial post.

Blue definitely seemed tired of agility at this trial, especially on Saturday. She seemed a bit better on Sunday when we had everyone that usually attends trials (me, mom, Tru and Siri) there. Blue really seems to be sensitive to whether her family is at events, because this isn't the first time she's acted funny when one or more of the usual members are missing. This is really good to take note of because I am considering going to Champs next year without my family. I would definitely not enter her in a Stakes class if that's the case. Everything next year is up in the air (even the exact location of the event!), though I would really like to attend.

Oh, results, she Qd 7/12 runs and is now 3 Regular Qs and 3 Chances Qs away from her NATCH-6. Not much else to say. She sure was loopy when I tried lines and these were pretty decent line courses that she probably could have nailed if she wasn't so burned out.

Truly was a good girl like usual. I feel like that's always my comment regarding my dogs. She Qd 6/7 runs and got her OJC and O-TN-O! She's now 5 Qs away from her S-OCC and 4 away from her S-TN-O, which means she'll move up to Elite in those classes soon. The Chances Qing streak continues and if she keeps it up, she should be in Elite in three trials. O_o I decided that Chances must be my best class as both my dogs suddenly got super consistent at it. It must be because Chances is practically running with the dog compared to lines. She's also one Q away from her S-WV-N, which means only TnG to go for her Nov. All Around and Nov. Superior Versatility.

Oh, and I only entered her in classes that don't always have contacts. I was reading that I should probably get her away from the contacts until I can figure out exactly what I want from it. I probably will do the same for the next trial because I don't think her contacts will be ready by then. I need to get all her obstacles figured out if I even want to consider qualifying for and doing a Stakes class with her. I really need to work with her a lot more if I want to do that. I wrote down a list of stuff to work on. Maybe I should post it.

Soo, I haven't posted about Sirius in awhile. I can't really post that in depth on her because I'm not the one normally working with her and don't have that bond. All I can say is her attitude is still improving. I don't think it's ever not improving, haha. She was just awesome at the one day of this last trial. My mom has school on Saturdays right now, so Sirius wont be in a full trial until December.

Well, all her Qs are in the video. The single biggest brag for Sirius is that she finished her S-OCC and will be entering her first Elite class at the next trial!

Finally Home!

2010-10-05T21:37:00.000-07:00

We're finally home after our several week long trip to two different Championships, NADAC and Purina. I will get some posts up eventually, but I still need to download, sort, and edit photos and videos.

I guess I'll get the results out of the way. At NADAC Champs, Blue took the "Highest Number of Bonus Points" in her division (12" Vet) in SilverStakes. She placed seventh overall (mostly because I didn't fix mistakes, but more on that later), but had the most bonus points out of all the dogs! She also received the sponsored awards for Highest Scoring Sheltie, Sheltie in Veterans and Rescue Dog.

At Purina, I'm fairly certain she took fourth. Details to come, although there isn't much to tell about that.

Oh, and trial this weekend!!!

PAC NADAC Aug. 28-29, 2010

2010-09-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

So this post is quite late, but better late than never right???

So, Palomar Agility Club hosted it's fourth trial ever at a brand new location. The only drawback to this location was that it was right next to an airport and planes flew right over the agility ring. Not many dogs seemed bothered by it, and only one dog chased a plane all weekend (you'll find out who, haha). I also wore my new "Chuck" shirt one day and sold some sketches.

I'll actually start with Truly's results for once.

Truly came out of this trial with 8 Qs out of 10 runs and 3 new titles! She finished her S-NAC, O-WV-N, and OCC!

I moved her up to Open Regular on Sunday and she did great on twelve and on the longer courses. As for her finishing her OCC, I was looking though her Chances Qs from this year and she hasn't NQd in Chances since February. Geez, trying to outdo Blue much?

I also tried an Open bonus line with her. The start for that course while trying to do the line was crazy awkward. I had to try it. I wasn't even planning on trying the whole line with Tru (where I run in was were I was planning on going in anyways), but any little bit of practice helps. Also, even though it was not good for the bonus line, Tru stopped to look for me on the AF. Her face was the most adorable thing ever. She had gone up over, disappeared from my sight, then stopped and came over the edge just enough to get a peek at me. Her face just said "What? You're not coming with me??" I told her to go all the way to the bottom and she did. She did pretty well for not doing that all the time, I think.

Oh, and her contacts definitely don't seem as confident as earlier in the year, but they were not as weird as the ones at the AKC and CPE trials.

Videooos. Jeffster music FTW!

Bluedeedoo got 6 Qs out of 10 runs and managed to snag a 15 point bonus in Jumpers! She was really close to a 20 in Weavers, but we had a call off and ended up out of flow.

Saturday she was really quite strange while working the line, at least on our first two attempts. She was almost the way she was at the last NADAC trial, very unsure and careful. The weird thing is she seemed fine working "fake" line distance at the CPE trial the weekend before. She seemed better on the Weavers try. She was better on Sunday, and by the end of the day had her single bonus of the weekend. This unsure and creepy phase is not something we need before running SilverStakes at Champs. My only goal for that class was for us to not look like idiots or like I was frustrating her and now she'll act like she has no idea what I'm asking and look freaked out.

Okay, so I said you'd find out which dog chased a plane. Well, it was Blue. She though, "It's the last run of the weekend and it's HOOPERS for goodness sake!" I didn't really care, as I personally think she's looks cute and retarded and I kinda wanted it on video. Is that bad? She got slightly distracted one one round of Regular. I think you can tell where.

Next up, CHAMPS. Well, Pre-Trial and then Champs. And the EGC. And the PIDC. I'll actually have internet access this time, so I might actually post while I'm away.

What's been up lately and a CPE trial!

2010-08-27T08:53:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted something that's not a Wordless Wednesday post. Well, what have we been up to?

A bit of practicing. Blue had diarrhea that morning, so I took only Tru to the park. I picked the wrong day to take a tunnel as it was pretty windy. We've got to practice gates and tunnels for the Extreme Games Challenge that they are holding in Gillette at the same time as we'll be up there for Champs.

Then, my mom asked if I wanted to enter a CPE trial a week or so ago and I said yes. Blue and Truly actually did pretty good and both ended up with 7 Qs out of 9 runs.

Sirius ran one day and actually, had some pretty good runs and earned one Q. She only ran three and they are all in the below video.

Truly earned her CL2-F and her CL2-S! She also fell off the A-Frame in one round of Standard. It's not like I wasn't expecting something to happen sooner or later, but, it kinda shook me. I don't know if I've mentioned this before or not, but Truly does not like slatted contacts. Unfortunately, that's all she's seen the past couple of months as the field we practice at only has slatted equipment and she's been doing slats at trials. This incident made me get out my slatless AF at home and we're going back to the working the 2o2o position. I was planning on reworking her contacts anyway, so that she doesn't look back or hesitate, but this just made me realize I need to do it at home on the slatless stuff (first). She probably won't be doing any slatted contacts at practice or at a trial for a while.

If Blue's expression on her first couple of runs could be pictured as an emoticon, it would look like :D. She was just flying on her Jumpers run and craaazyyy on her Standards. I should mention why we ended up with two of the same Standard runs. So, Blue and I were running, and as we are heading around and Blue's going through the weave poles, the competitor before us is having a loud conversation with the judge about her score! So I slowed down and caused the off-course, because usually when there's a loud carried on conversation, something went wrong and you need to stop. The judge was nice enough to let us run again, though it didn't make any difference, haha. I just thought that was pretty rude. The person could have waited until the person running was done.

So, the next day, Blue got to run twice in a row. We literally went from the Standard ring, right over to FullHouse and then ran that. Blue was rewarded for agility with more agility, haha.

Oh, maybe I should mention what titles she got. She FINALLY finished her Snooker requirements for her CL3-S. We've been working on that title for about 4 years. She also got her CL5-R. I was hoping she'd do that Saturday so I could move her to Lev. C on Sunday and we could get some pretty rainbow flat ribbons, haha.

Well, we've got a NADAC trial tomorrow, which is our last trial before Champs. I hope the rubber contacts make Tru really, really happy and she magically remembers how to do them fast. Wait, this isn't our last trial. We signed up for the Championship "Pre-Trial" because we were planning on getting there early and figured why not.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-08-25T11:25:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-08-18T12:40:00.000-07:00

AKC Trial Aug. 7-8, 2010

2010-08-08T21:07:00.001-07:00

Guess what? We actually had a pretty good weekend. I figured that we would do better.

Blue Qd both her runs, so that means only one more to go for MXJ. She got 3rd on Saturday and 1st on Sunday. Saturday's course was actually pretty technical for her, but she was a good girl and I was a competent handler and she got it. Sunday's course was much more "Blue friendly." If she had Qd both runs last weekend, I so would have run this with an imaginary bonus line. I guess the judge commented with something like "She can run, what's she doing distance for?" and someone replied that I did NADAC and I guess she said about bonus lines, haha.

Truly was okay. She got a JWW Q, with one refusal. It's like she isn't committing as quickly and I can pull her off jumps quite easily. Standard was blah. I pulled too hard as she came out of the chute, but then started driving too much. Then she didn't realize that she needed to jump the panel jump, haha, and didn't want to sit on the table. She did some nice layering from the DW all the way through to the weaves, which she popped out of the end. We are still figuring each other out, even after a year of trialing.

Now for my rant on Tru's contacts. I think I am just going to start really (re)working them. I hate how she comes to the side on slatted contact equipment. I don't know if it hurts her in some way, or if she's just a little sissy, but slats really bother her, especially on the AF. I thought she might be okay on the rubber granules, but I guess the slats still bother her. I'm thinking I'm still gonna go with her 2o2o. I keep thinking about if only one could have both running and stopped, but it seems so hard to let them know which they will be doing at any given time.

Yay for NADAC trial in a couple weeks. I think Tru's contacts will go back to being good. I'll be interested to see what happens though. She doesn't get to practice on equipment she likes, so it's hard to prep for that.

AKC Trial July 31-Aug. 1, 2010

2010-08-01T14:15:00.000-07:00

Description copied off YouTube:

"Blue's first JWW run- I definitely turned her away too soon. Then she decided to have a fit. We ended up with an E.

Tru's JWW-First run in Open. I drove a little too much, too soon and then didn't drive enough, haha. I guess Tru's attempt to go sideways through the triple counted as a refusal? I knew she had two, but I'm not quite sure where that third one came from.

Tru's STD- Good layering, TruTru! I don't know what was up with the table, but it was rubberized and I don't think she's ever been on a rubber table. Or I could have driven her too far. Okay, so at the end, Truly was soooo avoiding the patch of bark. She's always had an issue with patches of odd surface in her way. She totally was going towards the jump and then turned off.

Blue's second JWW run- I called and turned, yet Blue still thought that we were going to the weaves. Luckily she called off, but then a spin out of nowhere! Refusal! She has done the before and I HATE when she does it. It's like she's too close and the pressure is just too much. I see a tiny something that might have turned her off, but my body was going the other direction. I don't know. Also, I could not have gotten her to wrap that cleanly the other way if I had tried, lol."

I hope we do much better next weekend. I don't know what was up, but I guess I just wasn't on it this weekend. I was really happy with Tru's weaves. She stayed in all twelve both times and that's her firs time doing 12 at a trial. We have NADAC later in August and I'm hoping she'll finish her S-NAC there, so she can start qualifying for Champs next year that I would really like to attend.

Comic-Con 2010!

2010-07-26T13:51:00.000-07:00

So I had quite an experience at my first SDCC. Here's a gallery of some photos I took.

So I guess I'll talk a little about what I did each day.

Friday!

I went with my brother and a couple of friends on this day. First thing, I got a "Chuck" version of the WB bag! We mostly walked the exhibit hall all day just checking out all the different vendors. Saw plenty of costumed attendees. I did attend a panel about concept design for entertainment that featured several designers that worked on Avatar, Star Trek(2009) and Alice in Wonderland. The panel was informative, even though it started a late and they were rushing towards the end. There was no time for Q&A.

Saturday!

I went with the same two friends as Friday, minus my brother, but split off to Ballroom 20 for the "Chuck" panel. It was a loooooong wait until we got into the room. I arrived around 8:10 am, and got in the room at around 9:50. Then, the "Chuck" panel was supposed to start at 10 but that started late so we didn't get to have any fan questions at this panel. There were some fun videos at the beginning including a Season 3 summary, with Momma Bartowski actor reveal (Linda Hamilton aka Sarah Connor!) at the end and a Jeffster dance video.

Some videos of the panel and Jeffster dance vid found on YouTube.

After the panel, I headed down to the WB booth to try and get in line for autographs. The panel got out at 10:45, and the signing started at 12. I attempted to navigate the crowd, and ended up in the wrong line. Apparently they started the line for the "Chuck" signing while the panel was going! So, needless to say, I did not get my poster (what I posted for last week's Wordless Wednesday) signed by the whole (or most) of the cast. I later found out that Adam Baldwin was signing somewhere else and went to get his autograph, so I at least got one (it cost me $40)!

I also got Peter Mayhew's (Chewbacca) autograph, a free sketch from some dude and many business cards and brochures related to art schools and concept art, haha.

All in all, I would really like to go back next year, maybe for 4 days and maybe in costume, haha. There better be a "Chuck" Season 5 so I can learn from my mistake this year and get everyone's autograph.

My Comic-Con Excursion is Over!

2010-07-24T22:27:00.000-07:00

So I've finished my two days of Comic-Con! I'll post details soon! My shoulders are so tired from lugging bags and backpacks around for two days.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-07-21T18:01:00.000-07:00

Practice 7/19/10

2010-07-19T19:32:00.000-07:00

Yay for some practice at the park!

This was a Masters/PIII USDAA gamble that I had the map for, but had not run. Yes, I just take course maps from trials I visit/work but don't run.

I'll just repost what I wrote on Youtube. " The line for it (the gamble) basically ran along the yellow hoop. It was interesting how Blue and Truly didn't want to switch away the first time. I'm not sure how I would have run this at a trial. I think the way the first two obstacles were handled depended on where you came from, but I think the second way I did it with Blue would have been a more sure shot for a first try."

I'm trying to figure out what to work for Super/SilverStakes. I'm thinking about reviewing "Go On" on a long line of jumps, even though we don't have to do Jumpers this year. We've had issues going on all the way on a long straight send that we have to switch away after. If anyone can think of anything else to do, post a suggestion in the comments.

PS-Comic-Con is this week!!!!

Ahhh!

2010-07-15T10:24:00.000-07:00

I just read that the Chuck season premiere is September 20th and guess what, I probably wont be home for that. Or for the next week's episode or the next. I will have to resort to the internet, haha. Why is everything at the end of September/beginning of October? Champs, PIDC, Chuck premiere,... what else?

ACSD AKC July 10-11, 2010

2010-07-11T21:56:00.000-07:00

Well, we actually had a great time at the AKC trial this weekend! Blue came home with 3/4 Qs and Truly got 4/4! Can you believe those results for our first AKC trial in about seven months? Blue did one day of USDAA and otherwise all we have done this year is NADAC!

Blue had some great runs and QQd on Saturday. She placed 1st in Standard. That was the first time she placed 1st in Ex. B ever and she's been in Ex. B for three years. She got 2nd on a nice Jumpers run. She was only .08 seconds behind the 1st place time.

Truly Qd both her runs. She had the fastest time out of all the Novice dogs in JWW.

Sunday went just as well. Even though Blue didn't Q in STD, she was great! Since I didn't care if she Qd or not, I planned to practice distance on that run. The course worked for an imaginary line and I went for it. I'm impressed with how far she got clean! I think she could have made the whole course clean if she could stay on the table at a trial, haha. I also forgot the four paw rule and got whistled off. I forgot for a second this was not a NADAC trial. She also had an awesome JWW run and got ANOTHER 1st place!

Truly did pretty well again. She Qd both runs and finished her NA and NAJ. She's only done three days of AKC and already has her Novice titles. I guess that might not be a big deal, but I've been told on a forum I'm on that dogs trained for NADAC don't need as many skills as dogs trained for AKC. I don't agree and that's part of the reason I entered Truly. Truly has only done three days of non-NADAC trials, not including this one and I mostly train her for NADAC type things.

Oh, and Truly does this adorable little hop out of the chute in Standard.

Both my dogs actually did pretty well this weekend. I have been told that I need to retrain Blue for AKC on one occasion. I do think the courses were pretty good for Blue and not "hard" like some courses. I've realize that the key for me on just about every course is I need to know how to handle it and sometimes I don't know how to communicate what I want to my dogs. That's the point where our run usually breaks down, especially on bonus lines. Oh, I should probably mention that Blue was back to normal this weekend (if you couldn't tell) and she was refusing to get in the ex-pen. :)

I've filled out entry forms for two AKC trials towards the end of the month/beginning of next month. Truly will probably do one day and Blue will just run in JWW both days. There's also a pretty close NADAC that we will be doing in August. Then I think Champs is the next event. Oh, my.

Practice Video

2010-07-05T16:52:00.000-07:00

My goodness, another video! This time we have some of Sirius and Blue practicing a Novice JWW course. Unfortunately, my mom did not get any video of Truly.

Yes, Another Video!

2010-07-04T20:02:00.000-07:00

Happy Independence Day!

Here's a video I took of a not too new trick of Blue's. I actually captured this behavior while trying to teach her to put her toys in a basket (a trick I just cannot seem to teach my dogs, haha). I really need some interesting and new tricks to teach my dogs. Truly hasn't been taught a new trick in what seems like for ever.

I think I've figured out what settings and what computer I have to use for the new videos. I will most likely be editing the videos with my iMac, while storing the files on an external HD that works with my laptop that runs Windows. The "real" files that I can get onto my laptop are a whole lot smaller than the files that are imported through iMovie. For example 343 MB on my laptop (and the camera) as opposed to 13.47 GB on my Mac! I figured out a way that I can transfer the files incase I needed to get them back onto my Mac for some reason.

AKC trial this weekend! I can't believe I am actually sort of excited. Maybe it's because I get to run Truly too. Maybe the thought that Blue could finish her MX helps also. We'll probably get some more practice at 16" in this week for both dogs.

Also, my summer class ends this week and Comic Con is this month! It'll be my first time going to that. I was excited to see that the "Chuck" panel is scheduled for Saturday which is one of the days I will be attending. I'm hoping to get the cast's autographs and drawing some portraits for them to sign.

Another Test Clip...

2010-07-03T22:42:00.000-07:00

Featuring Echo!

Testing the New Camera!

2010-07-03T14:29:00.001-07:00

Practice 6/30/2010

2010-07-01T08:22:00.000-07:00

I used a course found here. It focused on front crosses and looked like a fun little exercise. I did the final front in the "wrong" spot, but it just felt right to do it that way and it was a front cross, so no harm done, lol. My dogs could get that distance wanted in that post anyways.

Oh, and my parents won a new HD camera in a silent auction so I think I'm going to be trying that out at the field next time we go so watch out for more practice vids. I'll get the post about our last trial up soon too.

MAC NADAC June 26-27, 2010

2010-07-01T04:54:00.000-07:00

We had an iffy time at this trial. Parents were out of town so I had to go and stay with a friend. Let's just say Bea (friend's dog) wasn't too excited to have Blue around, especially when Blue tried to get a drink, walk towards her bed area or check out "her" shadows. We drove up Friday night and stayed in another friend's driveway and their neighbors were having a party. Not fun.

Blue was fine the first couple of runs on Saturday, but I noticed she was off. I cannot really explain it, but it just did not feel like when we normally run. She did not seem as enthusiastic or like she was having the best time of her life like usual. She did get a Q in Chances and both rounds of Regular. One of those Regulars happened to be a 20 point bonus. Her other Regular and Jumpers bonus attempts were really close too. I think if we were totally on, she could have nailed the Jumpers easily, but we couldn't "switch" away to save our lives for the rest of the weekend. Err. There happened to be bonus lines on all but three courses all weekend. Err again.

I was really worried about her Sunday. Almost all she wanted to do was hang out in her crate. She usually vehemently protests when asked to go in. I thought that maybe she was sore and got very upset. Then I called my mom and she reminded me that Blue was sort of like this when we were at Championships in 2008. Only my mom and I drove to Gillette with Blue and by the last day, Blue really seemed like she wanted to go home. I think she misses the other dogs when she goes alone. I also think the issues with Bea didn't help at all.

She got another Chances Q and a Regular Q on Sunday. Once again, we couldn't switch so we missed a few bonus Qs. She was pretty close to a 15 in Regular that I tried just so I could run a bit closer to her. The only time she seemed a little more normal was in TnG. Tunnels yay!

This attitude issue cost us qualifying for SuperStakes, as there are now no more trials to go to before Aug. 1st. There was going to be one day at another MAC trial, but that trial was moved to a later date. I think this is the first goal that Blue and I have failed to reach. Just because we didn't qualify doesn't mean we wont be running. I volunteered to run SuperStakes if they need more teams to even have the class. I know last year they needed more people to have enough competitors to offer the class. I don't know if they will have the same issue this year, but it was worth a try. We will definitely be doing SilverStakes if we don't get in to SuperStakes, though.

I was also told how mentally fried dogs are after running SuperStakes. Which made me think, "Oh, snap" thinking about the PIDC we have to the weekend after. We'll see what happens with that. Wasn't planning on going there to win anyways seeing as there are younger dogs that are faster on tighter courses than Blue. Hopefully she can keep her head together enough to have some nice runs there.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

2010-06-23T10:07:00.000-07:00

Truly with her Novice High In Trial ribbon from the Memorial Day Madness NADAC trial.

2010 Purina Incredible Dog Challenge Western Regional

2010-06-21T17:10:00.000-07:00

As you might have seen in my my last Wordless Wednesday post (or read the twitter feed on the side of my blog), Blue and I competed at the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge Western Regional.

All I can say is that we had an incredibly fun time at the event. Blue liked that she got to play agility and it was tons of fun to hang out with people I trial with, some acquaintances, and a new face or two. There were a bunch of NADAC competitors running at the event. Almost the whole large dog division was comprised of handlers that run NADAC. The small dog group was about half NADAC competitors. The judge was also a NADAC judge.

I guess I'll talk about our runs a bit. I believe Blue was the only dog to run all the rounds clean, including the two practice runs. I ran it two ways both times and the second round that I handled mostly from the center ran faster both days.

Here's video of our practice runs. I think the music on the first one is amusing as I had just used that song on our most recent trial vid.

Here's a music video I did of all the NADAC people (at least the ones my mom knew were ran NADAC and bothered to film). Yes, there are results shown, so spoiler alert for those that want to wait until it airs! The schedule for when it will be on TV is here.

Yes, Blue and I won the small dog division! How awesome is that! We get to go to St. Louis, for the Championship in Oct. The only issue I am having is how to schedule school with NADAC Champs one weekend and then the PIDC the next weekend.

So that was our "incredible" experience. Be sure to look out for us on TV in the coming months!

In non-PIDC news, I have a NADAC trial this coming weekend with Blue only and in July I am running both dogs in an AKC trial.

OMG, Yay!

2010-06-19T13:11:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! Blue got her Platinum Speed Star at our last NADAC trial in May! It's kind of annoying that we have to wait to for the point list to come out on the NADAC Yahoo group to know for sure about DRIs, but they just came out for the rest of May this morning. So I check and was thinking we'd get at least one, but there were two! Yay, we made that goal so now we can move on to more distance work in Regular! I am just wondering where in here titles do I put this award, in the front or back of her name?

Wordless Wednesday

2010-06-16T14:37:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day Madness 2010!!!

2010-06-01T09:50:00.000-07:00

We had a nice three days of agility in Pearblossom. It was hot, though, especially on Sunday and Monday. There was a nice breeze some of the time so it wasn't all bad. The motel sucked most nights. Why must people be so loud? Usually we have our trailer, but we didn't this year.

Blue was good like usual, haha. She Qd 9/15 runs with no bonus Qs. There were only three to try all three days, ugh. I needed/wanted more tries. I swear, there have been so few bonus lines around lately, except at that one in April which had a line on almost every course. I think there were a lot on Regulars in February. We aren't going to qualify for SuperStakes at this rate, if judges don't pick courses with lots of lines. Just because we don't qualify doesn't mean the possibility of running it is totally out, lol. She did get super close to one in a round of Regular and still managed to Q. We just had a bobble so didn't get the bonus. She also only missed a couple jumps in a Jumpers try. We are getting closer and closer.

We only seemed to Q one Regular a day, lol. Need to work on discriminations, haha. It seems I must say "here, walk" to get the dogwalk on a discrim, rather than just walk and stop moving. I have noticed that lately. One run, I told her "here, walk" before the tunnel that was before the discrim, and then "walk, WALK" and stop moving, before the DW, yet she still goes in the tunnel. Argh. Well, that is now on our list of things to practice.

Oh, she got her NATCH-5! Onto NATCH-6. She got her NATCH-3 at this trial last year. She also had this smoking Tunnelers run with a yps of 8.09 and she had second place (not by much though)! She seemed a little slow in Jumpers and some other runs to me this trial. Maybe it was the heat or bad sleep in the motel, but it could be that she is just slowing down. She is eight years old. Besides, while she looked a little slow to me, she still effortlessly clears the jumps. We just have got to get those 100+ DRI Regulars soon. I think we might have gotten one this weekend. There was another one with yps that could have gotten 100+ in Jan, but now I'm not so sure.

Now, Truly was a little super star this weekend. She seems to becoming a lot more consistent Q, speed and distance wise. She Qd 13/15 runs. This is her one year NADAC anniversary, and last year at this trial she got like one Q each day, haha. For Qing all those runs, Truly received the Novice High in Trial award! She also finished her O-TG-N and S-NCC, so she got to move into Open Chances. Now she is in three Open classes.

Truly needs to work on staying in the weaves when there is an exciting tunnel ahead. She generally needs to work on everything. Still such a baby. She was 100% on her discriminations this weekend, unlike another dog I know. She had a couple instances of self releasing on the contacts. One where it looks like she just runs it, I told her "go, go" so I guess I told her to do that. I was planning on being able to early/quick release her contacts anyway, but haven't really tried it out at a trial. I haven't really worked it much on full size equipment at the field. I have messed around with it at home on a teeter plank though.

We don't have anything for sure until August, but I hope to hit a couple more trials before Aug. 1st, when Champs qualifications end. My mom doesn't think she will take Siri to Champs. She just isn't consistently up enough to even just be the entertainment. She just made a comment to me today about how it would be fun to see Tru run at Champs which got me thinking. She has been so consistent lately, that it doesn't seem that farfetched to run her at Champs. Only problem is there aren't enough trials to qualify from now till then. If I had been planning on it, I would have entered her more in Open. I just didn't think she had it in her when we were first talking about it. Maybe I'll enter her in Open at the next few trials and try to get some Open Qs on her, then send in an entry for the period where not fully qualified dogs can be allowed in if there is enough space. I really wasn't planning on putting the pressure to qualify for Champs on her this year. She has so many years ahead of her that I would be okay if she didn't go this year. Might be fun though!

I'm Bored

2010-05-27T10:34:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so I'm starting to get a cold. Not cool. I want to trial this weekend. I'm bored so I figured I'd just talk about some stuff. Sorry if it is a little incoherent, my brain is a little fuzzy right now.

So a couple weeks ago I noticed there were some spots in Tru's eyes. There is one grayish spot right around the middle in each of her eyes. I had forgotten about it until last weekend, so we took Tru into the vet Monday to have it looked at. He thinks she has corneal dystrophy, which will not go away, but does not usually cause pain, grow or cause blindness. It doesn't sound like there is a treatment that doesn't include surgery and nobody knows for sure what causes it, but it is genetic. If anybody has any good information, feel free to share. I'm not going to worry about it unless it gets bigger or looks like it bothers her, but I will keep monitoring it.

I'm also really happy that Chuck got renewed for a 4th season. The finale on Monday was pretty epic. I am sad that they killed Orion. I don't know why I have gotten this random attachment to Scott Bakula, haha. I am not convinced that he wont come back in some form, whether it be flashbacks or even that he isn't really dead.

Blue was really good when we went to the field this week. We are still figuring out our timing but she really seems to be understanding "switch" and had a really nice turn out of a tunnel with me far away. One thing I really know that I need to do is tell Blue right before her head goes in that tunnel what she needs to do next. Have I said that before? Yesterday we tried something that a lot of dogs weren't even getting up close at a recent trial, an out to the DW with a tunnel closest to where I was running. We could not get this from a large distance. She would always go in the tunnel. I had to run with her to get her to figure out it was there. I wonder if she felt like the tunnel was blocking it or she couldn't really see it (more like she wasn't looking for it).

Tru is such a wimp. She always wants to get out of the sun as soon as she is done running or sometimes even while she is running. I've decided to try "Fluffy" or the invisible dog to try and get her to come back with out me going to get her. It's actually worked pretty good most of the times I've done it. I was even doing it a little with Blue (when she started to go off and do her own thing) on Monday and she was responding well to it too.

She was hauling butt yesterday on jumps/hoops/tunnels. She was also doing some pretty good sends of the end of the DW. She is really coming along, but still has her princess attitude. She gets a pass because she is so freaking cute. I love my Dumpster.

Yeah, so I hope we don't have to cancel this weekend because I'm sick. Blue and I really need some bonus Qs. This trial is always so fun too. It kinda sucks that we wont have our trailer there.

2010-05-25T15:01:00.000-07:00

The original Star Wars is 33 years old today!

Also a practice video!

Star Wars Fan Videos

2010-05-23T17:24:00.000-07:00

Since I'm in such a Star Wars-y mood, I wanted to share this video I made out of SW clips. Do not take this seriously at all.

Also, I don't know if it will work, but I made this. The most EPIC. THING. EVER.

2010-05-21T16:58:00.000-07:00

Because I know everyone cares, happy 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back!

2010-05-19T16:43:00.000-07:00

I just realize that today marks the 5th anniversary of the release of Star Wars Episode 3 and the 11th of Episode 1. I don't have the motivation to draw a picture though. :(

Wordless Wednesday

2010-05-19T13:26:00.001-07:00

2010-05-14T17:01:00.000-07:00

This photo has probably been uploaded before, but I just found it in a folder and had to post it again. Silly Tru.

ACSD NADAC May 1-2, 2010

2010-05-05T19:55:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty awesome weekend at the ACSD NADAC trial. I'll just get the big news out right away. Blue got a 15 pt bonus on Jumpers and a 20 in Chances, while TRULY GOT A 15 pt BONUS in Nov. Jumpers! I can't believe little wimpy Tru got a bonus and it was a very pretty run too.

Now for some details. Blue Qd 8/10 runs and finished her Vers-NATCH 3! There was a bonus on Tunnelers, but we actually ran Sunday's courses at Elk Grove in March, so I knew not to even think about trying that one. We haven't been practicing turning away from tunnels while coming out of a tunnel. Unfortunately, my mom did not film that run.

It was nice to start the weekend off with a bonus Q. We actually tried some 15 pt lines in Regular, because we were then 3/4 of the way to qualifying for PreSuperStakes(now known as SilverStakes). I figured there was no reason not to try and just get qualified for that so we could actually be in some sort of distance class at Champs. I waited a tiny bit to long to call "here" on that first Reg. bonus try, otherwise we could have gotten that course easily. Bad handler.

The next day starts of even better for Blue. We nail a 20 pt line that we did not get in Elk Grove. That qualified her for SilverStakes, while giving us a Q towards SuperStakes! Only 4 more 20 pointers to go. That's Blue's first 20 since the end of May 2009. That extra 10 points also puts her one Chances run away from NATCH 5. I don't think either of her Regulars will be 100+ DRI runs as she only hit just over 5 yps on both runs. They were some nice runs though. Jumpers was bleh on Sunday, Blue and I were out of it, lol. Blue had been having squirty poop for the last couple of days and was up the previous two nights.

I already let you guys know Truly's really big brag, that run also finished her S-NJC. I am still going to leave her in Novice for a while because I would like to try some more Novice Jumpers lines before moving up. My plan at the moment is to move her up in classes where the course doesn't change for all levels (Chances, TnG, Tunnelers, Weavers, Hoopers) after her Superiors, but hold her back longer for the others (Reg. and Jumpers). I tried some other Novice lines in Regular. I had to go get her or she messed up towards the beginning in both of those, so I ended up running with her or practicing. She got a normal Q on one run and a E on the other.

Her Chances was hilarious. I was trying the beginning sequence from far away to "practice" for the Regular bonus. She came in and thank goodness for her "wait" command. I got her to stop half way over the line and backed her up. As she was backing up, she picked up the tape in her mouth for a sec. I was wondering the rest of the run if the judge had "E"d us, and we still got the Q. Tru also had an awesome TnG, the fastest time in Novice and a Q.

Sunday went great as well. She only "E"d one run, because I went over and touched her after she started to pull a wimp act. "Oh, my, I'll just melt in the sun, it's just too hot to run." "I'm going to go find some shade." Um, no, Truly, you are running the rest of the course. I found it amusing that they thought I needed the leash. I didn't say "thank you" or anything to the judge. I only realized he was coming over as I was about to take off. All her other runs were really great, with some nice distance work thrown in. She was just on with the distance this weekend. She got another Chances Q, a Regular and a Jumpers. She also Qd in Open Tunnelers, finishing her TN-O, her first Open title.

I was very happy with her speed and attitude. Her contacts were pretty good, after last trial's stand above the bottom then walk off.

Sirius Qd 3 runs. She got a Chances Q, a TnG Q and a Regular Q. Otherwise she was overtime or went off course or "E"d for training. My mom may take a trialing break with Sirius. I think she should at least try for the classes she needs for Champs, but otherwise we would just be working on motivation. Siri only needs two more Chances Qs for her S-OCC and then she could move to her first Elite class. She also finished up her TnG Champs requirements.

Hopefully we will get to our usual Memorial Day weekend NADAC trial. It's actually a little iffy on the entering front this year. *cough* daddoesn'treallywanttodrivethetrailerup *cough* Tru could finish up her S-NCC and move to Open Chances and Blue could get her NATCH-5. Blue and I might be able to hitch a ride with a friend to another trial in June. My parents are going away that weekend, so I would be on my own. Well, with a friend. Then there is one more in July somewhere in SoCal or maybe we could hit up one in AZ. Those are our last chances to get qualified for SS. Hopefully we wont have to try for all of those and I could magically guide Blue to four 20 pt bonuses at the Memorial Day trial, lol.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-05-05T19:01:00.001-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-04-28T15:28:00.000-07:00

Almost Wordless Wednesday

2010-04-21T08:25:00.000-07:00

Chuck fanart and an Enfield

MAC NADAC April 17-18, 2010

2010-04-20T10:10:00.000-07:00

The crew did pretty well this last weekend. It got fairly warm and humid in the afternoon, so not the best weather for Sirius and Tru. All I really cared about this weekend was doing bonus lines and that is what Blue and I did. I didn't really care how Tru did Q wise because I was so focused on the bonus line work with Blue.

Blue got 4/10 Qs. Two Hoopers, one Weavers and a 15 point Tunnelers! Yes, we got one bonus run! Yay! It was the last run of the weekend too. Her second Hoopers run was the fastest out of all dogs, nearly 4 seconds faster than the next fastest time. She also had a smoking Weavers Q, where she was a bit faster than the dog that normally beats her in the special skills classes. That Weavers Q completed her Vers-NATCH-3 Weavers requirements. We still need one more Tunnelers Q for that.

This weekend, we added some more to our list of things to work on. I think I need to teach a command that means "come in towards where I am." "Here" wasn't quite cutting it, even though my timing on the verbal was good. I am thinking of using "come." We also need to work on turning away from things that are right in front of Blue's face to something she can't see right away. This mostly applies to tunnels though.

Truly got 5/10 Qs, with most of the NQs being Es for me going over and touching her. She was soo hyper on some of her runs and distracted on others, while still having other awesome runs. Her contacts were not excellent like they were at the last trial. She still needs more practice. She had some super wimpy! Tru runs. On both Weavers she tried to pull her "It's too sunny and hot" act. You can sort of see the first one on video. She decided to stand inside a tunnel because it was shady. She was also kind of distracted that run as well. Her second try was trotting off the start line to go see Sirius and my mom while I was handing her leash to the least runner. She's all "No Becca, I'm going over here in the shade with Siri." I'm all, "Haha, no. You are coming out here and running the course. With distance because we've been Ed." Speaking of distance, I made up some "baby bonus lines" to do with her and she did really good, Qing both the runs I did that on. Tru needs to work on sending ahead straight aka "go on."

Oh, I forgot Tru's title brags. She got her S-HP-N! Now I will mover her up to Open Hoopers. She also got both of her Open Tunnelers runs, so she could potentially get her TN-O at the next trial.

Sirius was Sirius. She got 4 Qs, one in TnG, one in Weavers and two in Hoopers. Those Hoopers Qs are her first ever and she has been running NADAC since before they introduced Hoopers. Sirius gets to run Open Weavers now because she finished her S-WV-N with that Weavers Q.

The next trial is next weekend. Hopefully we can get out to work some stuff. I should work Blue's "come" work in the back yard. I hope we can get some 20 point bonuses at the next trial. Maybe if there is no bonus on Tunnelers, we could get Blue's Vers-NACH-3.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

2010-04-14T06:28:00.000-07:00

Chuck fan art! Humans omg!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-04-07T08:48:00.000-07:00

WAG NADAC Trial March 27-28, 2010

2010-04-01T14:36:00.000-07:00

The trial in Elk Grove was a blast! We loved the trial grounds and seeing friends we don't often see. We got to watch Truly's brother run, and his owner get a NATCH on another one of her dogs. We also got to see Susan and Fritz run. I wanted to get some pics of Blue and Fritz together, but never got to doing it.

Tru and Aiden say hello from WAG!

Blue was a good girl. She Qd 7/12 runs and was very speedy and happy. She had been acting a little off since after those trials in February, like I would practice and we would mess up and she would freak out. She had been very itchy (I don't know if I ever mentioned this), and was sleep deprived, I think. She was just itch, itch, itch all the time. We gave her some Benadryl and after she stopped itching she really started to perk back up. She also went to the chiropractor to get adjusted as well.

Now onto the runs. She was super cute when we would mess up a couple of time. Particularly in TnG and Weavers. In Weavers she totally seems like she was mocking/mimicking me. My parents were laughing as I came over and they told me that. We may have gotten one 100+ DRI Regular, but I can't be sure.

We didn't get any bonus Qs and there were only 4 opportunities the whole weekend, and we tried three of them. A really good bonus line handler told us that she thinks the courses have gotten way harder to do from the line. Not really good news to hear, but she also said that if there aren't enough people qualified for SS(like last year), Sharon will have to let people in (that she knows can do bonuses of course). My timing is still what is holding us back. It's really hard to get everything coordinated right, verbals, body motion, signals, and position, looking where you want them to go, etc.

Oh, and Blue now has 6 NATCHs in Jumpers and 5 in Regular. Only 4 more Chances for her NATCH-5 now, haha.

Now Truly was a little star. She came out of this trial with 11/12 possible Qs and 4 new titles. She got her S-TN-N, O-NAC, O-NCC and TG-N! That last one completes her Novice Versatility! The only title she could have gotten that she didn't was her S-NJC. Oh, well, next time. She gets to enter her first Open class at the next trial, Tunnelers.

She had some really nice runs, and others weren't as smooth. She only had one small bobble on most of the courses. She had some weaving issues in a couple of runs, either running by or popping out. Her contacts were very good though, right to the bottom and stopped on all but one. She keeps getting faster and faster and her distance was great as usual.

Sirius was Sirius for most of the weekend. Her first two runs were crazy fast for her, but she tapered off after that. She Qd 4/12 runs, 4/6 on Sunday. She got her O-OJC and completed the Regular requirements for Champs. We'll see where the Champs thing goes as she still needs 2 TnGs, 1 Nov. Weavers and 2 Open, and her Nov. Hoopers title + 2 Open Qs before August. Sirius has never Qd Hoopers. Ever. I hope my mom can turn that around.

Here are some fun videos from the trial of other dogs we know.

First is a video of Fritz and Mini-Fritz(Blue) running the same course. I think you can see why Blue got the nickname at her first Champs in 2006.

Here's a vid of Tru's brother Aiden running. He will kick some major butt when he gets some more control. They are still babies at only 2 years. His owner is envious of Tru's control while I envy Aiden's speed, lol. Opposite siblings are fun.

Here's a small amount of photos. There are some of Tru and Aiden and some from our walk around the capital building on Monday. We stayed an extra day to look around.

We have a couple of trials planned for the next month or so. The trial in Lake View Terrace is a games trial. Hopefully there will be a lot of lines to try. Blue could also get her third Vers-NATCH if we Q in a Weavers and 2 Tunnelers. Tru could get her O-TG-N, O-WV-N and S-HP-N. Then there is another trial at the beginning of May that we are definitely going to as my mom is working hospitality and I am doing awards. It's a "normal" NADAC trial.

Sculpture Project Videos

2010-03-25T13:57:00.000-07:00

Here's a couple of videos I made of my sculpture projects. The maned wolf with mushrooms on it is made out of clay and the chimera is a mix of found and already had materials. The maned wolf has since been fired and glazed, but not fired again, yet. I am eagerly waiting to see how it comes out.

Here are some photos of it before I glazed the mushrooms.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-03-24T15:25:00.000-07:00

Cat Update (Mostly)

2010-03-21T16:44:00.001-07:00

I haven't posted in a while, much less about the cats. I have good news and bad news.

The bad news is that Thyme went missing the weekend of the last trial. I have know idea what happened to her. The both of them were disappearing during the day a couple of days before.

They were allowed out in the back yard at night, but they had been doing that for about a month or so. Thursday before we left for the trial, the cats were gone all day but came back before agility class in the evening. That was the last time I saw Thyme. :(

The good news is that Echo has really come around. She is very vocal and loves to be petty and can be very insistent about it. She is such a cutie.

She likes to sit up on her back legs and have me scratch her head. Dork.

Anybody have tips for photographing black animals?

We did end up entering the trial in Elk Grove this weekend. Wish us luck. Tru could potentially get her S-TN-N, S-NJC, O-NAC, O-NCC, and TG-N! If she gets that TnG Q, she will get her Novice Versatility! Hopefully I can pull through for Blue and nail some bonus lines and maybe some Platinum Regular runs. I watched the videos from the last couple of trials again and it's all my poor timing on the lines. Did I mention that we only got one Platinum Reg in Jan? That leaves us with a need for a final two crazy fast Regular runs. And five 20 point bonus Qs for SS qualification. Pressure!

Next week is spring break as well, yippee! I need to do a post with the two projects I have finished so far in sculpture class.