Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Birthday Truly!

Truly turns 3 years old today!

From this...

To this.

Champs Trip: Part II

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

Almost Wordless Wednesday

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

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Almost Wordless Wednesday

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

Wordless Wednesday

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

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

WAG NADAC Trial March 27-28, 2010

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

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

Cat Update (Mostly)

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.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Yeah, I think I'll start Wordless(or Almost Wordless) Wednesdays, haha. Here's a preliminary model for a school project. It's in modeling clay, while the finished project will be real clay.

Photos Galore (and a Video, and USDAA trial)

We have been on a couple of non agility trips(and one day of trialing) the past few weeks and that means lots of photos taken. Winter break also gave me some time to go through all my photos and clean them up while taking still more, lol.

Photos of the cats.

Random other photos of the dogs I found from 2009.

We went out to the desert for New Years. The weather was actually really nice.

Some video. My mom said it was boring, lol.

Photos.

We got to camp on a beach at Camp Pendleton. They let the public in on certain weekends after you pay for a permit. You're only supposed to have two dogs, but oh well, lol. They are also supposed to be on leash as well, but we are rule breakers! Truly ran off once to chase a pelican. She loves to watch and chase birds. This time she ran crazy far and wasn't listening and then couldn't hear she was so far away. We had to go really far and actually get her.

Blue and I did our one day of a USDAA trial. Qd 1/3 runs. Standard was really my fault for being a fail close handler. What I am wondering is if the wing jumps have something to do with her back jump. I was a little close for her, I think, but that coupled with the fact that she had to get closer to me because of the wing might be what drove her back over it. Oh, I love when I stop Blue, you can see me talking to her. I am so bad about that, lol. She also had a fast table, which has been something difficult to get out of her recently. She did good in Gamblers, Q and 3rd. That was the only thing I expected Blue to Q in, and she did got it. I walked the Jumpers course planning to run with her, but just stood where there where no jumps at the bottom of the course and realized that it could work for distance, haha. I just was like, I'm doing it, no reason not to. I don't have any goals in USDAA with Blue. I think I might be claustrophobic on the agility course, lol. The wings on those jumps and trying to walk the course where everyone is just a little unnerving. I always feel like I'm gonna trip on a wing. I was waaay more comfortable when I got out of that, lol. We didn't Q, but she did get some good distance work in. For Blue's first time in PIII, she did well.

Next trial is in a couple of weeks. NADAC, yay! It's taken me forever to finish this post, haha. I started it on Jan. 3rd.