The Wonder Dogs

UD Leg Number 2!!

2011-03-16T15:17:00.000-07:00

That's right!! Kaylie got her second UD leg this past weekend! She did a fabulous job on each individual exercise, but unfortunately she sure had to do some sass talking during and in between the exercises - so much sass talking that we about didn't qualify. Not sure why she feels the need to say all that she does during a trial - during practice she never barks. Once we get that last leg, I'll have to decide if it's worth going on and seeing if I can get her qualified for the ASCA Finals next year. I also showed Conor just for fun in Open, and he ended up getting High in Trial and High Scoring Aussie. What a good little boy dog. He also earned 2 more points towards his Championship this weekend too. On Sunday we did agility at the DOCNA trial. Not sure if it was me or them, but whatever it was - it wasn't our best agility day - Conor just qualified in Trigility and Kaylie just qualified in Trigility and Jumpers. The Gamblers course had a distance discrimination challenge - and of course neither dog is so great at distance, so I didn't really expect to qualify in that anyway. We've got a weekend to relax and regroup and get ready for our ASCA agility trial next weekend. Can't wait!

It Finally Happened!!

2011-02-17T09:35:00.000-08:00

Kaylie FINALLY got her first UD leg. For those who don't do obedience, there are three levels of obedience - Novice, Open and Utility. In Utility, there are so many places where the dog can go wrong, and for us, that's happened many, many times. I've lost track as to how many times I've shown Kaylie in Utility. But it finally all came together on Saturday. I actually thought we had blown it at the first excercise - the hand signals. She did her down, she did her sit, and she came, but she started barking. She got to me, and just stood in front of me barking. I told her to sit. I thought right there using my voice, blew it for us. The judge just took a boatload of points off for it - whew!! The rest of the exercises went well, although with both of the scent articles, she went out to the pile, found the correct article, but then put it down, and sniffed around again. Luckily both times she re-picked up the correct article. Then we came to the directed jumping/go-outs. This is were we've had the most trouble. I was absolutely amazed when she went straight out across the ring - I almost forgot to tell her to sit! I did eventually get my brain back, and told her to sit. Judge told me to do the high jump - and she did it beautifully. Then to the second go-out. I'm so glad I had thought we had blown it, because I think if I had known, I probably would have been wanting to puke. So, I sent her out, and once again, it was a beautiful go out - nice and straight. Told her to sit, which she did, and then told her to do the bar jump. She did the jump, and of course she was barking the whole time. It was all pretty much a blur, but once I got her leashed up, the judge told me we had qualified!!! I was SHOCKED to say the least!!! Absolutely amazing. Now, just two more to go. Now that I know IT CAN BE DONE, hopefully the next two legs will come a little easier.

I showed both Kaylie and Conor in the afternoon show in conformation. Conor placed 2nd in his class, but didn't get anything after that, and Kaylie was pulled out for consideration for Best of Breed. But nothing more came of that. Sunday morning I showed them both again in conformation. I almost didn't make the show, because Brandon had a bike race. The race was supposed to start at 7:15, which would give me plenty of time to get to the show. Well, the race didn't start on time. It was finally 8:15, and still the race hadn't started. I debated waiting for the race to start, or leave and go to the show. I decided to go to the show, because there was some talk that the race might even be cancelled. I would have kicked myself if I had missed a race AND a dog show! And boy and I glad I got to the show! Conor ended up going Winners Dog, for 2 more points, and Kaylie went Best of Breed. Conor also got Best of Opposite Sex! Wooo hooo!! Just 10 more little points to go. :)

Agility and Staying Verticle

2011-02-03T08:09:00.000-08:00

This is the fabric glue I used, and these are the pants I used it on.
You can see where the glue came undone.
Apparently this glue does not work on this type of fabric.

I learned a very important lesson this past weekend -- DON'T rely on permanent fabric glue to keep a hem up on your pants!!! I learned this lesson the hard way, by flying through the air and landing flat on my stomach. The weather people were talking about an incredible cold front coming through, but I couldn't remember if it was Sunday or Monday. I HATE being cold, so I decided to wear longer pants instead of my usual capris. Unfortunately I hadn't had time to do the laundry, so the only clean pair of pants I had were pretty long. No fear - I pulled out my permanent fabric glue and hemmed up my pants. What a great idea, right?? NOT!!!! Kaylie and I stepped up to the line of a particularly tricky course. I felt pretty confident that Kaylie would do okay (it was Conor who I pictured going off course at several points in the course). Anyway, we started out great, she hit her dog walk contact, then we had a jump to the teeter to a tunnel, which was under the A-frame. She hit her teeter contact and she was off to the tunnel. All of a sudden I felt my foot get caught in my pants and then I was FLAT on the ground. Kaylie then came back to see what the heck I was doing laying on the ground, of course barking at me to get up. I got up as fast as I could, sent her into the tunnel, then we had 2-180 jumps to one of the tricky parts of the course - they could either go back into the tunnel (wrong course) or up the A-frame (right course). Unfortunately I just wasn't in the right position to get her up the A-frame because I was laughing so hard over the fall, so of course she went into the tunnel. BUMMER! No chance of a double Q. We did finish the rest of the course clean, so that was good. Conor actually stayed on course too - he just missed the weave entry (it was a tricky entrance), and then he paused in front of the table. But other than those two little mistakes, he ran it very well. His Jumpers run on the other hand didn't go so well. He took a jump where he was supposed to take the weaves, and then he completely obliterated another jump - wing panels and bars went flying everywhere. Crazy dog. He just tries to go too fast sometimes and misjudges the jumps. Kaylie did Q in this Jumpers run though. Next trial is in a few weeks - DOCNA agility. Gotta get Conor qualified for the Championships!

Shows and Stuff

2011-01-26T15:20:00.000-08:00

I've already messed up my New Year's Resolution - to update this blog more frequently! I've just been so incredibly busy - I need to find a way to either clone myself or find a way to stop time so I can get things done. Luckily it's still January, so I guess I'm really not THAT far behind, right? Anyway, one of the things that has kept me busy is working with Kaylie in Utility and Conor in Open. I've been getting together with a friend every Tuesday afternoon to work with the dogs. For once I'm actually practicing, and believe it or not, it does work! We had an ASCA obedience trial a couple of weeks ago, and the hard work paid off. Well, it did for Conor anyway. Kaylie actually figured out a way to fail every exercise in Utility, except one. We came away with a whopping 27 points. BUT she did do her go-outs. She failed the jumping part (she took the wrong jump plus knocked the bar down), but she did go out to the far end of the ring. So that was a huge improvement. Next I showed Conor in Open. I begged him to show the judge that I do actually train my dogs. And he didn't disappoint. Although he had a couple of crooked sits on the fronts, the rest of the exercises were just about perfect, and he finished his CDX. I was very proud of my little man. So that finished his ASCA CDX. Now we'll have to get entered in some AKC trials.

This past weekend we had a DOCNA agility trial. Kaylie had a fabulous weekend, qualifying in 9 out of 11 runs. And Conor had fun making up his own courses. Little goof man. Hopefully next trial he'll do a little better, and get qualified for the Championships.

Here are the results from the trial:

Conor

Jumper 1 - Q/1st Place
Jumper 2 - NQ
Jumper 3 - NQ
Snakes N' Ladders - NQ
Standard 1 - NQ
Standard 2 - NQ
Standard 3 - Q/1st Place
Strategic Time Gamble - Q/3rd Place
North America Challenge - NQ
Traditional Gambler - NQ
Trigility - Q/2nd Place

Kaylie

Jumper 1 - Q/3rd Place
Jumper 2 - Q/4th Place
Jumper 3 - Q/ 2nd Place
Snakes N' Ladders - Q/3rd Place
Standard 1 - NQ
Standard 2 - Q/3rd Place
Standard 3 - Q/3rd Place
Strategic Time Gamble - Q/1st Place
North America Challenge - Q/1st Place
Traditional Gambler - NQ
Trigility - Q/3rd Place

Kaylie needs just 6 more Standard runs and 2 Gamble runs to finish her Gold MEX, and Conor just needs 8 Standard runs for his first MEX. So check back to see our progress!

We're Going to the Championships!

2010-12-21T06:16:00.000-08:00

Well, Kaylie is anyway! Last weekend we had the last agility trial of the year. Both dogs did fantastic and Q'd in almost every run. The most important run, the North America Challenge, was a super fun course. Kaylie had a beautiful run - she made it look so easy. She ended up running clean, qualified and gave us a ticket to the Championships to be held in Grand Junction, Colorado in September. Conor's run on the other hand didn't go quite as well. It really wasn't that bad - he just took an extra jump somewhere along the line. He's always the over achiever. Silly boy. Luckily we've got more chances to get qualified.

My New Year's Resolution for 2011 is to try to keep this updated weekly. It should be an exciting year too, as Kaylie is so close to getting her MACH and her Gold Merit of Excellence, and we're shooting for Conor's first Merit of Excellence. If all goes well, both dogs should finish their respective Merit of Excellence titles on the same weekend. :)

AKC Agility

2010-11-13T10:25:00.000-08:00

I got a new toy and I'm loving it! I got an iPad a couple months ago and just recently got Internet access for it. I've just realized I can update things while I'm actually doing them! Perhaps now this will help me keep more up to date on things! We'll see. Anyway, this weekend I'm in Queen Creek for an AKC agility trial. So far it's been a fabulous weekend! Yesterday Kaylie got Double Q #13, getting 2nd place in her Standard run. Conor also Qd in Jumpers, getting 3rd place. Today Kaylie got Double Q #14, with a 3rd place in Jumpers. Just 6 more to go!!! Conor also Qd in his Excellent A Standard run, finishing his title. Yay!

ASCA Conformation and Obedience Trial

2010-11-12T10:15:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we showed at an ASCA conformation and obedience trial. I showed Kaylie in Utility and I showed Conor in Open and then also in conformation. Saturday was quite interesting. Some day I swear Kaylie will get a Utility leg. She had a very difficult time with the scent articles -- the grass was very tall. She did eventually get the first article but just couldn't find the second one. Bummer. She did do everything else beautifully though. And although she didn't get the first go-out, she did do the second one. And then the judge let me try it again, and she actually did a second go-out. That was huge. So she CAN do it! Conor's Open run was very nice, until we got to the retrieves. I had to double command him on both retrieves. Weird. Oh well. No chance of finishing this weekend. Then I showed him in the afternoon conformation show. He actually won his class, but that was the extent of the winning. On Sunday, once again no Q for Kaylie in Utility. She somehow missed signal to come, and then the go-outs were non-existent. Everything in between was beautiful though! Conor's Open run was pretty nice, although he stopped during the heeling to scratch and had no sits on the Figure 8. Then he finished in grand style on the Broad Jump. Instead of doing a front in front of me, he decided to go around me and come from behind to in between my legs, looking up at me so proud of himself. He was absolutely precious! Goofballs. Then in conformation he did nothing. Perhaps he should have tried running between my legs to get the judge to look at him! LOL! His sister Nikki finshed her championship, so now Conor just needs to finish his. Someday!

ASCA Nationals 2010

2010-10-28T20:16:00.000-07:00

Well, I tried to update this every night, but most nights I didn't get back to the hotel until after 7 p.m., then I'd have to eat dinner and feed the dogs, etc. So anyway, here's how it went to the best of my memory!

Kaylie with her ribbons.

The Agility Finals was a blast. I had no idea what to expect, especially when I found out that Kaylie was definitely one of the older dogs in the competition. For an "old" gal, she sure gave it her all. Our first round was Jumpers. She ran clean and fast, and ended up in 20th place (out of 60 dogs). At first I thought, 20th??? Really? But there was less than 3 seconds between her time and the 1st place time. There were just a lot of very fast dogs out there! Our next round was Gamblers. I knew we'd have problems with this run, as Gamblers is just one one of our strongest classes. I think we got just 6 points in the gamble. After Gamblers, we were in 35th place. Ugh! Then we had our two Standard runs. She ran clean in the first round, and that got us back up to 22nd place. Then she missed her dog walk contact on the second round. Luckily a lot of people had other problems with the second round, so over all she ended up in 21st place, out of 60 super fast Aussies. Not too bad!

On Sunday I had the Conformation Finals and an agility pretrial. Off hand I can't remember exactly what we did in agility, but I don't think Conor got any Q's, and Kaylie may have Q'd in a couple of runs. The Conformation Finals was really where my focus was anyway. The top 30 dogs in the country were invited to compete in the Finals. So all 30 of us went into the ring. After that, we all got judge individually by three different judges. After all that, we all got called back into the ring, and they announced the top 10. I soooooo wanted to hear my number announced. The second I heard #286, I just burst into tears. Mind you, I was on the verge of tears the first time we had to run around the ring. I so wanted to make the top 10. It was a dream come true to make the top 10. Later that afternoon we had to go back into the ring to find out exactly where we got placed. We ended up finishing at #9. Pretty darn exciting.

Monday was my super crazy day. Got to the show site at 6:45 a.m. and left the show site at 9:30 p.m. LONG day! For agility, we just had two rounds of Gamblers with both dogs. Both runs were a bust. Then we had Rally. Both dogs did fantastic - Kaylie got a 198 to finish her Novice Rally X title, and Conor got a 197 for his Novice Rally X title. I then showed Kaylie in Utility. She's such a good little worker and really enjoys doing the Utility exercises. But the darned go-outs got us again. Drats. I showed Conor in Open, and man oh man, he was awesome!! His drop on recall does need some work though, as he finally dropped practically right in front of me. Then his actual "front" was at my left side. He got 7 points deducted for that. And then his front on the broad jump was a little crooked. He ended up with a 190, and we got 3rd place. Then we did Brace obedience. This is when the two dogs are connected at the collar, and they have to do the Novice exercises together. They're so adorable when they do this. I had planned to practice more with them, but I just never had the time. So for having had no practice, they did a fine job, getting a 191.5 and 3rd place. I also showed Kaylie in conformation for Best of Breed. I doubted she would get Best of Breed, but I did hope for a Premier award. She showed like a pro, and the judge did like her - so we did end up with a Premier! Wooo hooooo!! I've always wanted a Premier award at a Nationals! We got a cool ribbon and a blanket.

Conor with his ribbons.

Tuesday I just had two Standard runs with both dogs and on Wednesday I had 3 Jumpers runs with both dogs. Conor only got one Q in Jumpers, and Kaylie got a Standard Q and 2 Jumpers Q's.

I think that's it for the Nationals! It was such a fun week. I wish I could go next year, but Milwaukee is a bit too far. So we're looking forward to Bakersfield in 2012.

Aussie Nationals - Day #1

2010-10-22T03:54:00.000-07:00

The ASCA Nationals in Waco, Texas began today. I showed both Kaylie and Conor in Rally, and Kaylie in conformation. Kaylie was basically dumped in conformation. The judge didn't care for the missing teeth. Oh well! But both dogs shined in Rally. Kaylie's first run was about perfect but we had to redo an exercise. And it was an exercise she could do in her sleep! She ended up with a 197. Her second run was also very nice although she had a slow sit on one of her sits for one point off and I'm not sure where the other point came from. So she ended up with a 198. Conor had two absolutely gorgeous runs, earning a 199 on both runs. He finished 2nd Place on the first run and 3rd Place on the second run. What a great way to start the 2010 Aussie Nationals!

Agility Season Has Started

2010-09-09T08:58:00.000-07:00

The dogs and I headed north this weekend for a DOCNA agility trial in Pinetop. We had perfect weather, which is a first for a Pinetop trial! We left somewhat early Friday morning and stopped off at Willow Springs Lake to walk around. Kaylie really, really wanted to jump in and go swimming, but I didn't want to travel with a wet dog. Pablo also came along too - this was his first big outing. One thing about this little guy - he just fits right in and goes with the flow. He was no trouble at all, and got to meet lots of new people and new dogs. Everyone just loved the little guy.

Anyway, Kaylie and Conor did fantastic at this trial. It was a great warm up for the Championships, which will be in a couple of weeks. Here are the results from the trial:

Kaylie

Saturday
Snakes N Ladders         Q   3rd Place
Standard 1                     NQ (missed dog walk contact)
Strategic Time Gambler   Q   1st Place
Traditional Gambler        NQ

Sunday
Standard 2                     Q 2nd Place
Standard 3                     Q 2nd Place
Strategic Time Gambler   Q 4th Place
Trigility                            Q 2nd Place

Conor

Saturday
Jumpers                        Q 1st Place
Snakes N Ladders         Q 1st Place
Standard 1                   NQ
Strategic Time Gamble NQ
Traditional Gamble       NQ

Sunday
Standard 2                   Q   1st Place
Strategic Time Gamble Q 2nd Place
Trigility                         Q 1st Place

Summertime with the Wonder Dogs

2010-08-20T06:46:00.000-07:00

We've had a very busy summer, and I can't believe it's almost over. And that means that it's almost dog show season! Kaylie, Conor and I headed to Utah a few weeks ago for an AKC agility trial up there. The whole family was supposed to go up, but Brandon ended up being chosen for the President's Cup All Star team, so he had to stay home for that. The dogs and I just went up for the weekend to compete in the trial and then came home.

Kaylie had an almost perfect weekend by qualifying in 5 of her 6 runs. We've never had an AKC weekend that good! She just dropped a bar in her last Jumpers run of the weekend. It was still very exciting to get two Double Q's in one weekend. That puts us at 12 Double Q's and 677 points. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter!

Conor had a fantastic weekend too. Although he Q'd in just 3 of his 6 runs, the runs he did Q in, he placed 1st. He now has two Excellent Jumpers legs and one Excellent Standard leg. The three runs he didn't Q in he just made a small mistake in each one. There was no running around like a dog on crack. It was two years ago that he made his AKC debut at this particular show. I'll never forget that feeling of pure craziness in the agility ring. Boy has he come a long way!

We're heading to Pinetop over Labor Day weekend for a DOCNA agility trial. Can't wait!

A New Wonder Dog in the Making?

2010-06-18T09:21:00.000-07:00

I've been hesitant to post about the new puppy in our household, as I just didn't know if he was going to become a permanent addition. It's now looking like he will be staying with us. Long story short, I found this little guy under a car while taking Takara for a walk last week. He was so excited to see me, gave me tons of kisses and had absolutely no fear of Takara. I've been looking for his owners but have had no luck at all. I think he was just dumped in the neighborhood. I don't know why, because he's the sweetest little thing, and for a Chihuahua, he's pretty smart. In the week that we've had him, he's learned how to walk on a leash, he's learned he needs to sit before he gets let out of his crate, he sits for his food (although the wait part is a little hard for him at this point, but he's learning), and he's learning to retrieve toys and bring them back, and learning how to play tug (with the cutest little growls!!). Perhaps someday he'll be doing agility like the big dogs!

Conor, Conor, Conor

2010-06-03T17:16:00.001-07:00

Oh my crazy boy Conor. We had a 3-day DOCNA agility trial this past weekend, with a possibility of 13 Q's. We got 5. Major boo hoo. Mostly bummed about the 100% failure rate in our Standard runs. What am I going to do with this little speed demon? Guess we'll just keep on practicing.

On a happier note, Kaylie went up to Prescott this same weekend with her breeder for a conformation show. She is currently ranked #22 in the country in conformation. Never, ever in my wildest dreams did I ever think she would be nationally ranked in conformation. Earlier this year I decided to show her a few times just for fun. She just isn't ready to show in Utility, so I figured I'd show her in conformation. Then she started winning! Wow! So to solidify her standings in the Top 30, her breeder said she would show her in Prescott. I could make it up on Sunday to show her and then bring her back home. Well, on Saturday, she got Best of Breed! It was a pretty large entry, so she'll get plenty of points for that win. And then the two shows that I showed her in, she won Best Opposite Sex in both!! What a thrill! So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that these wins will keep Kaylie in the Top 30, and she'll be invited to the Conformation Finals at the ASCA Nationals this year. What a thrill that will be. Last year I was waiting on pins and needles to see if Conor qualified for the Obedience Finals, and now this year it's Kaylie in conformation. July 1 can't come soon enough!!

Another Blustery Agility Day

2010-05-10T11:25:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, we headed up to Pinetop for a DOCNA agility trial. Couldn't think of a better way to spend my Mother's Day than doing agility with the Wonder Dogs! Despite the incredible winds once again,both Kaylie & Conor did fantastic. Kaylie Q'd in 4 out of 5 of her runs. The only run she didn't qualify in was Trigility. The gamble portion of the run included the dog walk. Kaylie and contacts, especially at a distance, don't generally go together. But my teammates didn't seem to mind - they didn't want to even try it, so . . . Kaylie almost got the contact, but not quite. But she did Q in both of her Standard runs, her Strategic Time Gambler run and her Jumpers run. Every trial is getting better and better with Conor. Although he only Q'd in 2 of his 5 runs, all of his runs were beautiful. In Trigility, our team had too many faults (including one off course from Conor) - but that was to be Conor's ONLY off course for the weekend. Yay! In Strategic Time Gambles, we were just .94 seconds over time, and then in his second Standard run, he barely missed the dog walk contact. But other than those little mistakes, Conor had some great runs! He placed 2nd in both runs he Q'd in, placing ahead of Kaylie!

We have one more agility trial in a couple of weeks, and then that's it for a while. Hoping to go to Utah for an AKC trial in July!

ASCA Agility Trial - Chino Valley, AZ

2010-05-04T15:42:00.001-07:00

One word to describe this trial . . . WINDY! It was actually beyond windy. I can't think of a word to describe just how windy it was. We couldn't have our canopies up, so we were just left out to brave the flying tumbleweeds, sand and dirt. Yuck. The tumbleweeds were so bad, I couldn't even get into my van to leave at the end of the trial on Sunday. What a mess. Well, enough of how windy it was. Kaylie and Conor did pretty good despite the bad weather. On Saturday Kaylie qualified in her Elite Jumpers run, one of her Elite Gambler runs and one of her Elite Standard runs, and on Sunday, she qualified in both of her Jumpers runs and one of her Standard runs. I couldn't keep track of the placements of everything because of the weather, but she got all 1st and 2nd places. Conor only qualified in 3 of his Elite Standard runs, but he did get 1st place in all of those. What a good boy. He had a blast in his Jumpers run on Saturday - I think he took 10 extra jumps along the way. He was so enjoying himself taking jumps here and there. But that was his only really crazy run. The rest of his runs he did great but just had a small mistake here and there. Kaylie ended up finishing her Outstanding Elite Jumpers title, and Conor finished his Elite Regular title.

Poor little Conor getting attacked by the tumbleweeds!

Although the clouds looked really scary, we actually only got a few little sprinkles and a few little snow flakes.

Here are Kaylie and Conor posing in front of a beautiful tumbleweed back drop.

Wonder Dogs Update

2010-04-29T15:39:00.000-07:00

It was brought to my attention that I hadn't updated my blog lately. Where is the time going??!! I'm not working . . . one would think I had a ton of time to keep this updated. I just don't have an explanation, other than I've been too busy playing with my dogs!

I won't go into all the details of all the shows, but here's a brief summary since the Fiesta Cluster:

ASCA Cactus Cluster -- Kaylie took Best of Breed at two of the three shows I showed her at. I really should show her more often in conformation. She loves it and she just shines.

ASCA Agility Trial -- this was our Aussie club's first trial ever. Kaylie did fantastic, qualifying in most of her runs, placing 1st in all of her runs. Conor did pretty well too, but didn't always qualify.

DOCNA Agility Trial -- Kaylie earned her Silver Merit of Excellence title at the April DOCNA trial in Payson. She just needed one Gambler leg to earn the title, and she did it with a whirlwind of a Strategic Timed Gamble run. I couldn't remember the course I had planned out, as the map we got wasn't quite how the course actually looked. I had to run Conor first, and I completely messed up his run. Kaylie's run was just as insane, but the important thing is is that we qualified, got 2nd place, and earned our Silver MEX. Yay Kaylie!!

I think that about sums it all up. This weekend we'll be in Chino for an ASCA agility trial. I promise to post how we do. :)

Double Q #10!

2010-03-10T18:33:00.000-08:00

Kaylie and I are finally half way to our MACH! We got Double Q #10 this past weekend at the Fiesta Cluster. On Friday she only Q'd in Jumpers. Saturday we got to start with Jumpers, my favorite. She ran great, but she had actually slipped after the 3rd jump, so she ran a little tentatively. She actually finished just 3 seconds under time, so that was close! Next was our Standard run. I was glad to see that the grounds had dried up so there was less of a chance of her slipping. We were running along, doing great, hitting all the contacts, hit the weave poles, stayed in the weave poles, and then finally crossed the final jump - a Q!! Yay! Double Q #10. I was on Cloud 9 the rest of the day. I even celebrated with a delicious peach smoothie with whipped cream on top! YUM! Sunday was a very dreary wet day. It was drizzling when we got there, and it didn't let up. Once again we had to do our Standard run first. We got to the dog walk, and right in front of the end of the dog walk was the tunnel with the wrong end right in front of the dog. You had to pull the dog off to the left to get the right end of the tunnel, and if you pulled too soon you'd probably pull the dog off the dog walk, missing the contact. Well, Kaylie got the contact, along with the wrong end of the tunnel. Bummer. No chance of a Double Q today. It was raining pretty good during our Jumpers run, but she did great and qualified in that. Good doggie! Conor didn't qualify in any of his runs the entire weekend, but each day we did improve. The trial ended up being cancelled on Monday because of all the rain. We got so much rain on Sunday - our set up was completely under water. I was running my friend Terri's dog Chase on Sunday because she had to stay home with her older dog who wasn't feeling well. When we got back to our set up, we were surprised to see that everything was under water!!!! OMG!! What a mess. I had no idea we'd have lake front property! Our next AKC trial is in April at the Cardinals' Stadium in Glendale. And this weekend is a DOCNA trial. Kaylie is very close to getting her Silver MEX. We won't finish it this weekend, but perhaps the next DOCNA trial.

New RAE

2010-02-20T15:21:00.000-08:00

Conor finished his RAE today in grand style. To earn the RAE (Rally Advanced Excellent), you must earn qualifying scores in both Advanced and Excellent on the same day, at 10 different shows. It takes a long time! Of course we had to have a great story behind his last leg. The weather at the beginning of the week was calling for a slight chance of rain - like 10%. It was a weak storm, so the chances of rain were slim. By Friday morning though, they were saying perhaps a 30% chance of rain, but even if it did rain, it wouldn't be much. Well, not sure what they were predicting on the news, but at the show site it was 100%. Ugh. Actually the morning started out beautiful - I just set out my chair and Conor's crate - I figured I was only going to be there for 2 runs on Saturday - I didn't see the need to set up my tent. But by the time the Excellent class had ended, it had started to sprinkle. And then by the time the Advanced class started, it was pouring. Thankfully the gal set up next to me let me hang out under her tent. It was so incredibly cold and we were all drenched. One by one, dogs were dropping - they were either running out of the ring or just wouldn't work. Conor was the last dog in the line up. It was absolutely pouring, and I had NO idea how he was going to handle it. But he's such a trooper and did everything absolutely perfect. It was incredible. We ended up with a perfect score of 100, 1st Place and our RAE title. Yay!!! What a way to end.

Catching Up

2010-02-20T15:03:00.000-08:00

I'm a little behind in my show updates. Just about every weekend I've had something going on! The weekend of February 6th, 7th, & 8th, Conor was entered in Rally at the Sahuaro State & Lost Dutchman Kennel Club shows at the Arizona State Fairground. Our first run on Saturday was the worst run I've ever had in Rally. The show was indoors, and it was pretty loud and echo-y (is that a word?). Conor was holding his ears weird and I could tell he wasn't comfortable. The run just didn't go well. It was so bad that I thought for sure we didn't even qualify. When I saw a score of 75, I was actually very thankful! By the time the Advanced class started, he was accustomed to the sounds, and got a 99 and 1st place. Yay! Sunday and Monday also went well and we got RAE legs #8 and #9 with scores between 96 and 98. Just one more leg to go!

The following weekend the Wonderdogs and I headed south to Las Cruces, New Mexico for an ASCA agility trial. What a great little trial! The people down there were so incredibly nice and very welcoming. Kaylie and Conor had some incredible runs. We qualified in almost every run we did, placing either 1st or 2nd. Kaylie finished all of her Elite titles and Conor finished his Elite Jumpers title and his Open Regular and Open Gamblers titles! I accomplished every goal I had set for this trial - something that usually doesn't happen. So now Kaylie has met the very minimum qualifications to qualify for the Agility Finals at Nationals. Now we just have to start racking up more Q's to get ranked. I had planned to go to quite a few more out-of-state trials, but I found out I'm losing my job. My bosses decided they needed someone 5 days a week instead of the 4 I'm currently doing. Since I have entered shows on quite a few Mondays, I couldn't start right away. They said they needed someone NOW, so alas, they're letting me go, after almost 14 years. So much for loyalty! So, although I probably won't have the extra money to go to out-of-state trials, I will have more time to train. Will be focusing on obedience - Open for Conor and Utility for Kaylie. No more excuses! Just gotta get out there and do it.

Conor Gets His First Points!

2010-01-18T15:07:00.000-08:00

We had a fantastic weekend at the ASCA conformation/obedience trial. Since I hadn't had time to work with Kaylie & Conor in obedience, and people were trying to make majors in the Altered class, I decided to enter Conor to help build that major. I hadn't shown him in conformation in well over a year, as we'd been busy over the past year working towards qualifying for the obedience Finals. But he's such a good little doggie, doing exactly what is asked of him. I don't know how he knows things, but he just does. Amazing. Anyway, we had two shows each day. In the first show on Saturday, in a class of 4, he placed 4th. That's where I expected to be all weekend, to be honest. But at the second show on Saturday, he actually placed 2nd! I was pretty excited about that - as we then would have had a chance to go back in for Reserve if the Open Blue dog went Winners Dog. But another dog won, so no second chance. Oh well. As I was leaving for the show Sunday morning, Kaylie just looked so sad that I was leaving her home again. I couldn't stand it, so I decided to bring her along and then enter her in the afternoon show just for fun. I always enjoy showing her in conformation - she knows how to bring it on. Sunday morning, Conor placed 3rd in his class. I started thinking about it, and he had placed 2nd, 3rd & 4th. All he needed was 1st. I decided to show him a little differently, kind of like I would show Kaylie - let him stand on his own and do his own stuff instead of trying to micromanage everything. Well, it paid off, because he actually won his class!! Yay! A 1st place! I was pretty happy with that. But then we had to go back in for Winners Dog. Again - I just let him do his own thing. I know his down and backs aren't the greatest, but he's got a beautiful side gait, so I made sure I used the full back side of the ring to show off the side gait, and what do you know - the judge must have noticed and pulled him up to the second position, behind a nice red dog. She had us go around again, and again, I used that full length of the back of the ring. The judge then put is in the front and had us go around one more time, and this time she left it at that, giving us Winners Dog!! I was in shock! His first points. But then I had to make a really hard decision. Since Kaylie was entered as a Special for Best of Breed, I had to find someone to take either Kaylie in or Conor back into the ring. I asked Clarissa, Kaylie & Conor's breeder, and she agreed she'd take whoever I chose, if she didn't win Winners Bitch. I then found someone as a backup to Clarissa. Luckily Clarissa's dog didn't win, so I handed Kaylie to her. I figured Conor was too new and such a momma's boy, he wouldn't show well for someone else, especially with me being in the ring with him, and plus Kaylie loves Clarissa. So we all went around the ring a few times, did the down and back, and then the judge pulled Kaylie to the front. Way cool!!! I was so excited to see her up there, but really wished it was me. But then the judge pulled Conor to the second position!!! Wow!!! I didn't know exactly what it all meant, but I knew it had to be good. Kaylie ended up winning Best of Breed, and Conor won Best Opposite Sex and Best of Winners. The major actually broke for the dogs, because one of the dogs finished, and then one of the other people didn't enter their dog, because they found out it was a major in Bitches. So by winning Best of Winners, Conor also got a major! Woo hooo!! His first points, with a major to boot! I was so very proud of my puppies. A really funny part of all this was having to borrow a conformation lead and chain, because I only have one!! Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I'd have two dogs in the ring at the same time.

Qualifying for the DOCNA Championships

2010-01-11T12:49:00.000-08:00

Spent this past weekend in Queen Creek for a beautiful weekend of DOCNA agility. The weather couldn't have been better. It was very cold in the mornings, and thankfully I was able to find one of those little portable propane heaters. It was perfect and kept me warm when I wasn't walking a course or waiting for my turn. But by 10 a.m. the sun was out and the temps were perfect. We had some fantastic runs this weekend, except for the one where I completely forgot the course. I watched one of my friends go, and she forgot part of the course (and didn't even realize it), and then I watched the gal that ran before me, and she completely forgot the course. Lesson learned - just don't watch anyone ahead of you. But most of the runs the rest of the weekend went pretty well. Best of all, Kaylie qualified in the North America Challenge, got 1st place, and is now set to go to the Championships in Grand Junction, Colorado. Unfortunately, Conor did not qualify. There was a dog walk/tunnel discrimination challenge - they were to take the dog walk. As we were walking the course, one of my friends was so worried about her dog taking the tunnel. I was so confident, and said as long as you're pulling to the left the dog won't even see the tunnel. The thought of Conor going through that tunnel never even entered my mind. Well, my friend's dog took the dog walk, and Conor took the tunnel. Lesson 2 learned - never assume your dog is going to do the right course. LOL! My teacher is always telling me to trust my dog. Well . . . not sure what to think about that anymore!

Anyway, here's how the Wonder Doggies did this weekend:

Kaylie:
Specialist Standard Run 1: NQ
Specialist Standard Run 2: Q - 3rd Place
Specialist Standard Run 3: Q - 2nd Place
Specialist Jumpers Run 1: Q - 4th Place
Specialist Jumpers Run 2: Q - 1st Place
Specialist Snakes & Ladders: Q - 4th Place
Specialist Trigility: Q - 1st Place (with Kaylie doing the Gamble portion)
Specialist Traditional Gamble: NQ
Specialist Strategic Timed
Gamblers: Q - 2nd Place
Specialist North America
Challenge Q - 1st Place

Conor:
Intern Standard Run 1: NQ
Intern Standard Run 2: NQ
Intern Standard Run 3: NQ
Intern Jumpers Run 1: Q - 1st Place
Intern Jumpers Run 2: Q - 1st Place
Specialist Traditional Gamble: NQ
Specialist Strategic Timed
Gamblers: Q - 3rd Place
Intern Snakes & Ladders: NQ
Specialist Trigility: NQ
Intern North America
Challenge : NQ

2010 Arizona Wags for Wishes

2010-01-03T20:53:00.001-08:00

The 2010 Arizona Wags for Wishes has come and gone. What a great time we had though. The show started on Thursday, New Year's Eve. We started at 6 p.m. and I was finished by 9:30 p.m., in time to get home, take a little nap and then wake up to bring the new year in. Kaylie Q'd in her Excellent Jumpers run and Conor Q'd and got 1st Place in his Open Jumpers run. Conor Q'd in his Open Standard run and Kaylie NQ'd in her Excellent Standard run. On Friday, New Year's Day, Kaylie didn't Q in either run, and Conor Q'd in his Open Jumpers run, finishing his Open Jumpers title. I decided to move him up to Excellent for the remainder of the trial. Saturday and Sunday were absolutely crazy, because I also had Conor in Rally. We're working on his RAE, so he had to do both an Excellent and an Advanced run. I was constantly running back and forth between the agility rings and the rally ring, trying to keep track of where things were. Conor ended up Q'ing in his Open Standard run with a 4th place on Saturday, but didn't Q in his Excellent Jumpers run. In Rally, he got 2nd place in Excellent B and 1st place in Advanced B, earning his 5th RAE leg. Kaylie didn't Q in anything on Saturday, although both her runs were awesome - just stupid small mistakes. Sunday started off with Excellent Standard. It was nice to have both dogs in the same class finally. Conor was the very first dog up in the Standard run. For his first time in Excellent, he didn't do too bad. He knocked a bar and ran past a jump and flew off the teeter (he was going so darned fast!), but overall I was pleased with the run. Kaylie's Standard run was absolutely gorgeous, and she finally got a Standard Q, and actually placed 4th!! Woooo hoooo!! I was most happy with that Q, because very rarely do we place in the Excellent B classes, especially not at large shows like this one. Unfortunately neither dog Q'd in their Excellent Jumpers runs. Bummer - no Double Q's for Kaylie this weekend. Conor's Rally runs were awesome on Sunday - he got 1st place in Excellent B with a score of 99 and 2nd place in Advanced B with a 99. That makes RAE leg #6. Just 4 more to go.

ASCA Nationals Team Obedience

2009-12-21T19:49:00.001-08:00

I'm finally getting around to getting this photo posted - it's been sitting in a pile on the counter, waiting to be scanned. Just been too busy to get around to it. Anyway, aren't we all just too adorable??!! Pictured left to right is me and Kaylie, Patti & Sophie, Karen & Maggie and Barbara & Shasta. Kaylie & Maggie are sisters and Sophie and Shasta are sister. We had so much fun, and we all just laugh when we look at this picture. Great times, great friends.

Conor's 4th RAE Leg

2009-12-07T10:23:00.000-08:00

Conor and I attended the Grand Canyon German Shepherd Club's obedience/rally trial yesterday. Brandon had his taekwondo testing Saturday morning, so I just showed Sunday. Wasn't sure how he was going to do because the ground was covered in this nasty dead weedy "grass." I'm not even sure it was ever grass - it may have just been weeds. A lot of dogs were having problems walking through the stuff, and apparently several dogs that showed on Saturday didn't come back on Sunday. But Conor, being the good little dog that he is, had no problems - it didn't even phase him. He got a 97 in Excellent B, and got 1st Place, and then he got a 98 in Advanced B, and also got 1st Place. So that was RAE leg #4. Woo hooo! Just 6 more to go to get his RAE!

Another Double Q!

2009-11-17T16:13:00.000-08:00

The Wonder Dogs and I headed south this past weekend to Tucson for the Saguaro Scramblers agility trial. I really didn't want to go to this trial, as every year I've gone the wind is absolutely incredible and it makes the trial unbearable. I decided though to check the rates for my favorite Tucson hotel (the La Quinta by the airport), and saw their rates were just $39 a night, I couldn't NOT go - what a screaming deal for a nice hotel room! Boy oh boy am I glad I decided to go because Kaylie got her 9th Double Q!!! Sunday started off great with Kaylie's Excellent Jumpers run - she ran fast and clean - so far so good!! Then to our Standard run. It was a really fun course with several challenges. In the middle of the course, we had to pass through a tunnel, then pull to the right to get the teeter (to the left were the weave poles). We did that perfectly. Our second pass through that same tunnel, we had to enter the opposite end of the tunnel which actually lead directly to the weaves. I figured she'd have no problem taking the weaves as it was a straight shot. I should know better - the second I let my guard down she decided to head to the teeter again. She put a paw on the teeter and that was it. I did get her to the weaves and we finished the rest of the course perfectly. Oh well.

On Sunday Kaylie and I started with the Standard run. It was another very fun course with several chances for off courses. This particular judge had the greatest courses that were fun and flowy, but yet still very challenging. A lot of AKC courses tend to have lots of sharp turns and don't flow very well, but the courses this weekend were awesome. Anyway, we got through the Standard run clean - yay!! Now to the Jumpers run. Again, very flowy but several challenges - we ran clean once again for Double Q #9! AWESOME!!

Conor also did great this weekend. He's now in Open for both Standard and Jumpers. On Saturday, he got his first Open Standard Q with a 1st place and his first Open Jumpers Q with a 2nd place. What a good little doggie! He's so much fun to run - definitely keeps me on my toes. His runs on Sunday were okay, but no Q's. He's so stinkin' fast that I was behind him most of the time - he went off course on both runs. Oh well. Next time! Our next AKC trial will be at Wags for Wishes starting New Years Eve.

Two Double Q's in One Weekend!!

2009-11-08T15:40:00.000-08:00

Kaylie and I had a fantastic agility weekend this weekend. We started off Saturday morning with a devilish Excellent Jumpers run. I'm not even sure how I got through it, but it was a great run. Our Standard run was a little shaky in some spots - there were lots of opportunities for off courses. I only had to scream twice, but she stayed on course and we finished clean. Two great runs for Double Q #7.

Sunday we started off with the Standard run. I kept focused with each obstacle and she followed perfectly. Wooo hooo - another clean run!! Then came our Jumpers run. It wasn't a particularly difficult course, but there were several places where you had to be very careful not to send the dog to the wrong jump. It was a course where one could easily get lost. We made it through though with no problems, and voila! Our second Double Q for the weekend. That brings our total to 8 now. Just 12 more to go. But I'm not counting. :)

Conor did just as well this weekend too. He finished his Novice Standard title on Saturday, with a 2nd place. His Jumpers run Saturday was fantastic, but there was a "trap" jump set up in the corner of the course - Conor figured if it's out there it must be taken! Oh well. Even with taking that extra jump he was still way under the time of the dog that got 1st place. I moved him up to Open Standard for Sunday, but that didn't go all that well. Not that it was a mess, but he took the wrong end of the tunnel at the beginning of the run, then he knocked a bar and he popped out of the weave poles. His Jumpers run Sunday was insanely crazy. He ran it in 19 seconds - I was far behind him just trying to guide him as best I could. He knew what he was supposed to do though and qualified, finishing his Novice Jumpers title, with a 1st place. Wooo hooo!!

Next weekend we'll be in Tucson for another AKC agility trial. Looking forward to getting out of town for a couple of days for more agility!

Videos from the DOCNA Agility Championships

2009-10-12T10:25:00.000-07:00

Here are Kaylie's and Conor's Strategic Timed Gamblers runs from the Championships.

These are Kaylie's and Conors Finals Jumpers Runs. Kaylie is at the Specialist level and Conor is at the Intern level. Kaylie finished 3rd in Finals and Conor finished 2nd.

2009 DOCNA Championships

2009-10-11T20:55:00.001-07:00

The DOCNA Agility Championships were this weekend. They began on Thursday with a warm up trial, and then the actual Championships began on Friday. These were VERY LONG days, beginning with getting up 5 a.m. and then finishing up at the trial around 7 p.m., getting dinner and getting back to the hotel after 8 p.m. The pups and I are exhausted! But we had such a great time. Here's how it all panned out:

Thursday - Warm Up Trial
Kaylie - 1st Place in Standard
Conor - 1st Place in Jumpers

Conor definitely lived up to his "dog on crack" title in his Standard run. It was probably one of our worst runs ever!!! He was just nuts. And Kaylie took a wrong jump on her Jumpers run, but otherwise it was a very nice run.

Friday - Day 1 of the Championships
Kaylie:
Standard: I think she placed 9th
Jumpers: 6th Place
Traditional Gamblers: Can't remember where she placed, but she did get the gamble - YAY!
Snakes & Ladders: Can't remember where she placed.

Conor:
Standard: 4th Place
Jumpers: 1st Place
Traditional Gamblers: Can't remember where he placed.
Snakes & Ladders: Can't remember where he placed.

Saturday - Day 2 of the Championships
Kaylie:
Standard: 7th Place
Jumpers: 6th Place
Trigility: Not sure where we placed. Kaylie had to do the gamble portion, and she did get it!
North American Challenge: I think she placed 7th.

Conor:
Standard: 3rd Place
Jumpers: 2nd Place
Trigility: 2nd Place
North American Challenge: 1st Place - Western Region

Saturday they announced who made it to the Finals for Standard and Jumpers. I knew it was going to be close with Kaylie in Jumpers, as she placed 6th in both of her runs, but the dogs that finished ahead of her were not the same both days. The way they figure out who will make Finals is they take your times for both days, add them together and then they take the top 25% of each class. There were 20 dogs in Kaylie's class, so 5 got to go to Finals. Since the top 5 in her class were inconsistent (meaning the top 5 from Friday were different from the top 5 from Saturday), and Kaylie stayed consistent right at #6, she was able to squeak in and was actually in 4th place. YAY!! She didn't make it into the Finals for Standard though. Conor made it to Finals for Jumpers, but also did not make it for Standard. He had a small mistake on Friday's run (he didn't jump through the tire jump - he ran under it). Oh well - I was VERY excited to have them both in the Jumpers Finals. Jumpers is my favorite class anyway.

I was also very, very excited that Conor placed 1st in the North American Challenge. In this class, there is a Regional winner (West coast and East coast), and then they combine all the results from the West coast and the East coast to come up with National winners for each class. Since we had finished so late Saturday, and the east coast people had already gone to bed, they couldn't announce the National winners - we had to wait until Sunday. Ugh!!! I so wanted to know how we fared against the East. I didn't think I'd be able to sleep, but I should have known better - the minute my head hit the pillow, I was out. Guess it wasn't on my mind THAT much! LOL!

Sunday - Day 3 of the Championships
Kaylie:
Jumpers Finals - 3rd place. If we were going to place, I knew this was going to be the highest we could place, unless the other teams totall messed up. I didn't watch any other runs of the dogs in my class, so I didn't know how other teams did. Apparently though we actually finished 2nd place in this run. They don't give out ribbons for this run, but this time is added to the other two times from Friday & Saturday. It all worked out that we finished 3rd! Pretty darn cool for not even placing in the semi-finals. This happened to us last year too, but last year we were able to squeak through with a 2nd place. I just have to remember to not count myself out - I was so sure we weren't even going to make it - the competition was VERY tough!! Darn Border Collies! :)

Conor:
Jumpers Finals - 2nd place. I knew I was going to have to run clean to finish in 1st. We were doing fantastic until at one point I turned a second to fast and I pulled him off a jump, and then he went over the next jump before I could call him off. Oh well.

Then they finally announced the National winners for the North American Challenge. I couldn't believe it when I heard Conor's name announced as the 20-inch Competition Intern level winner!!!! I was so incredibly shocked. I knew he ran well, and we couldn't have done any better. And best of all, his entire class was just Border Collies -- that's right -- all Border Collies and he was the lone Aussie. Very, very, very cool!!!! I do have the Wonder Dogs!

2009 ASCA Nationals Photos

2009-10-07T15:43:00.000-07:00

As promised, here are the photos from the Nationals.

http://picasaweb.google.com/cdxaussie/NationalsPhotos?feat=directlink

And here are the photos from the show photographers.

Here is Conor with his Obedience Finals ribbon.

Conor LOVES doing agility!

Day 7 - ASCA Nationals

2009-10-02T21:39:00.001-07:00

Today was our last day at Nationals, and I'm very sad. I've had a great time up here with all the doggies and great friends. Today I just had Gamblers runs with Kaylie & Conor. Even though Kaylie had finished her Open Gamblers title earlier in the week, I decided to keep her in Open to help make my schedule a little easier. Our first Gamble course was pretty tricky in that all the high point value obstacles were at the back of the course and the gamble was at the front of the course. So I had to plan it so that I was heading back towards the front of the ring before the first buzzer rang. With both dogs this actually worked fairly well. Conor then got the gamble, but unfortunately Ms. Kaylie did not. Oh well. Our second Gamblers course was extremely difficult. I knew for sure Kaylie wouldn't get it, but wasn't sure about Conor. The gamble included the A-frame, which at a far distance is real hard for my doggies to make the contact. Both of them flew off and missed the contact, and then they both went into the wrong end of the tunnel. Oh well. No Q's for us on that last run. But they both still ran well and had fun, which is all that is important.

We start heading home tomorrow morning. :( I'll get home Sunday, get unpacked, laundry done and then repack for the DOCNA Championships that start on Thursday! Wooo hooo!

And, we'll start getting ready for the 2010 Nationals in Waco, Texas - watch out Texas - here we come!

Days 5 & 6 - ASCA Nationals

2009-10-02T05:12:00.000-07:00

I've had some technical difficulties the past couple of days so I haven't been able to keep up - I think I've got it worked out now though! So here goes the past couple of days:

Wednesday
I showed Kaylie in obedience first. She did a pretty good job, but didn't qualify. They ended up moving the obedience to a different building - this building smelled bad (it was called the Livestock building - I'm guessing they put cows and other farm animals in there for various events). And it was loud and everything echoed. Our ring was right next to the Open ring where they were throwing dumbells. The dumbells definitely caught Kaylie's attention, so she wasn't focused 100% on me. Her signals were good, she got both of the correct scent articles, she got the right glove, but on the moving stand, she didn't stay - she kept walking with me. That ended it. Bummer! And then the go-outs were non-existent. She ran to the jump closest to the Open ring, barking the whole way - I thought for sure she was going to jump the baby gates to go get the dumbells! Crazy girl. Oh well - there's always next time!

Next came our Brace obedience with both Kaylie and Conor. Brace is when both dogs are connected by a coupler and you do the Novice exercises. They actually did pretty good, although we had a couple of no sits on our halts. But overall it was a good performance and we ended up placing 3rd.

Next came our Team obedience. What a crack up!! Team obedience consists of 4 people with their dogs. Again we perform the Novice exercises. The only difference is for the recall, we have to drop our dogs in the middle of the ring. First one person calls their dog, tells them to down, and then it goes down the line, meanwhile the first dogs have to stay in the down position. The perfect performance would have all the dogs lined up in the down position in the middle of the ring. Of course that didn't happen with us, but we did pretty good. The twist we threw in this year was that we all dressed up as sheep. We each made our own sheep costumes. Boy were we ever the hit of the show!! We were like movie stars - everyone wanted to take pictures of us. We ended up placing 3rd.

Conor also did agility today. Today was just the Open Jumpers runs. He placed 1st in his first Jumpers run, but NQ'd on the second run. He was a little crazy and I had to really work to keep him on course. He ended up 1.13 seconds over course time. BUMMER! So close. But his first run was absolutely beautiful!

Thursday
Thursday I just had agility. I had both dogs in Open Standard and Kaylie was in Elite Jumpers. I'm very proud to say that we qualified in all of our runs! I can't remember the last time I've Q'd in everything. Kaylie got 1st place in her first Standard run and then 2nd Place in her second Standard run. Conor got 5th place in his first Standard run and 3rd place in his second Standard run. Kaylie qualified in both of her Elite Jumpers runs, and placed 13th in the first run and 17th in the second run. This is still pretty good because there are well over 100 dogs in this class. And that also finished her Elite Jumpers title. Wooo hooo!!

We have just one more day to go. I'm hoping the weather is better for Friday. Thursday it was EXTREMELY cold and EXTREMELY windy. I'm guessing the highs were in the 40's. NOT good for this Phoenix girl!

Day 4 - ASCA Nationals

2009-09-30T04:28:00.000-07:00

What a LONG day but wonderful day! Today was the Obedience Finals with Conor. He did very well for a young dog. I found out that most of the dogs he was competing against were much older and more seasoned. Guess some people just keep their dogs at the Novice level to keep competing in the Finals! The top 5 dogs had scores in the 198-200 range - there was no way I could compete with that with Conor, so I was very pleased that we ended up at #7. His second run didn't go quite as well - he stopped to scratch on the Figure 8, and then he had a couple of crooked sits. NOT good things at the Finals. It was interesting on our first run - as I entered the ring, the judge asked if she could pet Conor. No judge has ever asked me that before, so it kind of took me by surprise. She didn't do that with any other dog. Later on in the day when I took pictures with the judge, that judge told me she absolutely loved Conor and thought he was just the cutest thing. She really loved up on him while we were trying to set up for pictures. Conor got a real nice ribbon - I think it's as big as Kaylie's Premier ribbon. COOL!! I've been trying to upload pictures for the blog, but for some reason every time I do, I lose my connection. I'll post pictures later. I'm leaving the hotel Wednesday to stay at a friend of a friend's house - hopefully I'll be able to get a better connection.

Today was also the Finals for conformation. Kaylie's brother Ziggy placed 10th in Altered Conformation and Conor's brother Jackson placed 6th in Intact Conformation. Our friend Laura's dog Princess placed 10th in Intact Conformation, Conor's other brother Oz was also in the Finals, but didn't place. It was an honor for him to just be there though. It was definitely a great day for the Arizona dogs! It was all very exciting - everyone was just in tears!

Tomorrow will be more agility, team obedience, brace obedience and then Kaylie will be doing regular obedience. I'm crossing my fingers for two good go-outs!

Day 3 - ASCA Nationals

2009-09-29T06:09:00.001-07:00

Today was just Kaylie's day -- obedience and conformation. First was our obedience run. She did absolutely fantastic. Her signals were perfect, she got both correct scent articles, her stand for exam was perfect, but then she got the wrong glove on the directed retrieve - bummer! We even had glove #1, which is probably the easiest to get. For whatever reason, she retrieved glove #2. Oh well. Then came the go-outs. She actually did the first go out!!!!! I about broke into tears. She then took the correct jump and did a perfect front and finish -- woo hoo!! What a girl. But of course, the second go-out didn't go as well. She didn't go out on the first command, so I sent her out again - she decided to play agility and started barking, jumped the bar jump and just had a great time. Goofy girl. It was a great run though. Then came the conformation. She flew around that ring, stacked like a pro and acted like she'd been in the breed ring all her life. I couldn't believe it when the judge pulled us for the first cut. We got to run around the ring a few more times, and she didn't miss a beat. The judge then made her Best of Breed, Best Opposite and Best of Winners choices, and at that point it was a little confusing. Some people started leaving the ring, but then a friend told me to stay in because we had won a Premier award. I was so psyched!!! We got a beautiful ribbon, which is really all I wanted!

Day 2 - ASCA Nationals

2009-09-27T19:15:00.000-07:00

Today went much better than yesterday. Yay!! Here's how it went:

Kaylie:
Open Standard 1 - Q and 1st Place
Open Standard 2 - Q and 1st Place
Open Gamblers 1 - NQ
Open Gamblers 2 - Q and 6th Place
Open Jumpers 1 - NQ (I tripped and almost fell - made her take a wrong jump)
Open Jumpers 2 - NQ (I got totally lost but ran a fabulous course - the judge really liked it and said he may use it next time!)

Conor:
Novice Standard 1 - Q and 4th Place
Novice Standard 2 - Q and 2nd Place
Novice Gamblers 1 - Q and 7th Place
Novice Gamblers 2 - Q and 6th Place
Novice Jumpers 1 - NQ
Novice Jumpers 2 - NQ (I again tripped and he ended up dropping a bar)

I was very pleased with how well we all did today, despite my tripping or getting lost! Kaylie ended up finishing her Open Standard title and Open Gamblers title and Conor finished his Novice Standard title and Novice Gamblers title.

Tomorrow I'm just doing obedience and conformation with Kaylie, so it should be a much quieter day. Conor gets the day off to rest for his big Finals day on Tuesday.

Day 1 - ASCA Nationals

2009-09-26T20:25:00.000-07:00

It was a very long and actually pretty warm day, so this will be short (I'm exhausted!!). Although Kaylie had great runs, she didn't qualify in anything today. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day! Conor qualified in 3 of his 6 runs. He Q'd and got 1st place in one of his Jumpers runs, and Q'd and got 1st place in one of his Gamblers runs, finishing his Novice Gamblers title. Yay!! He also qualified in one of his Standard runs, but didn't place.

Tomorrow is starting even earlier than today. Hopefully this means we'll get done sooner.

We Made it to Colorado

2009-09-25T20:59:00.001-07:00

We left for Colorado on Thursday. We stopped off in Albuquerque to spend the night. Look what was right outside my door! I've never had a Denny's right outside my door before!Despite being very tempted to have my traditional country fried steak for dinner, I decided to order the tilapia with a lemon cream sauce. Country fried steak is best after a day of agility afterall.

We left Albuquerque this morning and headed north to Greeley. We were making very good time until we hit Denver at rush hour. Yuck! I thought Phoenix rush hour was bad. I will try to never complain again about our traffic! We stopped first at Island Grove to set up my tent and get all checked in. Then we headed to our home for the week. Of course, Kaylie & Conor have made themselves very comfortable.

Off to bed - gotta get rested for the beginning of a very busy week!

The Big Day is Getting Closer!

2009-09-23T06:26:00.000-07:00

It's been a crazy few months! I've been working basically full time lately, so trying to keep up with things has been difficult. But I've made it a priority to still work the dogs every Tuesday night, plus most Saturday mornings to practice for Team Obedience. I think we are indeed ready! A few weeks ago I attended a Show-N-Go with Kaylie to see how we were coming along in Utility. I was VERY excited because it was the first time ever that we did a whole run through clean - if it had been a real trial, we would have qualified! YAY!!! So I'm very hopeful that it will go as well at the Nationals.

Over Labor Day weekend, I drove up to Prescott for an ASCA conformation show to get some practice doing conformation. It's been a while since I've done any conformation with Kaylie. She showed beautifully at the first show, and that's all I could ask for. Just before the first show ended, it started raining. By the end of the first show, it was REALLY raining. Here's what it looked like.

It rained like this for about 30 minutes. I was actually in the ring with a friend's dog when the rain started. My tent ended up being destroyed, and poor Kaylie was getting drenched. The judge finally made her Best of Breed pick, I dropped off the dog I was handling to her owner, and I made a beeline to get Kaylie out of the pouring rain. She was absolutely drenched. I grabbed as much of my stuff as I could and ran to my van where Kaylie and I sat for what seemed like forever. It was freezing and miserable. The rain finally slowed down a bit, so they did hold the second show. Kaylie didn't show quite as well at this show - she was wet and frisky so when she ran around the ring she was more bouncing around - just having fun. Oh well. Shortly after that, we left Prescott to head on down to Tucson for an agility trial. I wanted to get some competition agility runs in before I left for Nationals, so the timing of this trial worked out perfectly. And of course, the rain followed me from up north to down south. Yes, we had MORE rain at the agility trial. Luckily the agility was under a covered arena, so it didn't really affect us too much.

The dogs did much better than I expected at this trial, as we hadn't really done much agility over the summer. Kaylie got 1st in Elite Jumpers and 3rd in one of her Elite Standard runs. She missed a contact on her other Standard run. Conor got 1st in Novice Jumpers, missed in contact in his first Standard run and then took the A-frame instead of a tunnel. Most dogs would take the tunnel in a discrimination set up like that, but not Conor - he LOVES the A-frame. At least he hit is contact. :)

I think we're ready for Nationals now. Check back for Nationals updates.

We Did It!!! We Did It!!!! We Did It!!!!!

2009-07-25T14:58:00.000-07:00

I just found out that Conor made it into the Obedience Finals at the ASCA Nationals!!!! I got the e-mail and had to read it over, and over, and over, and over! I looked at every single letter to make sure I saw this: Vickie,
You and your dog did make it in. Congrats and see you in CO! There is not a "not" in that first sentance, and there is a "Congrats" in the second sentance!!!!! YAY!!!!! I've been wanting this since I made the decision to accomplish this goal since January. All the practicing and praying paid off. This goes to show if you want something bad enough and go for it with all your heart, you can accomplish anything. Now I have to wait for the end of September. But at least this will be a fun wait - not the waiting for the unknown I've been doing since our last trial back in May. Colorado watch out - here we come!

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-04T18:22:00.000-07:00

The Wonderdogs wish everyone a wonderful 4th of July. Aren't they just precious as they pose for this patriotic photo?!

Disappointed but Still Hopeful!

2009-06-29T13:45:00.000-07:00

The rankings came out for the ASCA obedience standings, and Conor finished #13, which actually is very good, and I'm so proud of how well he did. But only the top 10 get invited to Finals. Conor is now an alternate, so now the only way we can get into the Finals is if 3 other dogs can't make it. Sooooooo, since I am the Queen of Optimism, I do truly believe there is still a chance we can make it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!!! I believe I will find out by July 15 if we're a go or not. So everyone -- cross your fingers and toes and pray that we get into that #10 position!!

New Bronze Merit of Excellence ("MEX")

2009-05-26T17:45:00.001-07:00

I accomplished another goal of mine a month early -- getting Kaylie's Bronze MEX!!!!! To finish this title, all I needed were three more Gamble legs (in DOCNA, there are two different types of gambles - Traditional and Strategic Time Gambles, and you can get any combination to complete the requirements). At the trial this weekend, three Gamble runs were offered - one Traditional Gamble and two Strategic Time Gamble. Kaylie sucks at the Traditional Gambles, so I didn't even enter her. My plan was to get the two Strategic Time Gambles this weekend, and then enter the trial in June to get that third Gamble leg and finish there. Jim Mills, our judge, decided to throw in two more Standard runs and a Gamble run, because we were actually finishing up the trial "early" (it was close to 7 p.m.). One other gal had hoped to finish her regular MEX with one of her dogs and her Gold MEX with her other, but she didn't get the two Standard legs she needed. I'm sure this is why he decided to do the extra Standard runs too. But we weren't going to complain!!! I think it makes him so proud to see his students accomplish their goals. So if he wanted to throw in some extra runs for us, cool!! Here is me and Kaylie with our friends who also got MEX's last night.

DOCNA Championships - Here We Come!!

2009-05-23T18:13:00.000-07:00

Yay!! I finally got one of my goals for the summer completed -- getting Conor qualified for the DOCNA Championships. We had a trial this morning where we got two chances to qualify. Our first round was going fantastic until the second to last obstacle. We had a 12-set of weave poles then the finishing jump. Just before the end of the weaves, Conor popped out and then flew over the jump before I could get him back to re-try the weaves. BUMMER!!! I didn't realize we would get a second chance today, as I was also signed up for tomorrow. But instead of having to come back tomorrow, we were given the chance to just do it today. A new course was set with new challenges. This course had a couple of tunnel/A-frame discrimination challenges, and after our last trial in Pinetop, I was a little concerned he'd fly into the tunnel again. But he was a good little man this time and his only mistake this time was a knocked bar. YAY!!! So now he gets to go to his first Championships. I MUST work on my sprinting skills this summer so I can keep up with that little silver bullet.

Now All I Can Do is Sit and Wait . . .

2009-05-18T08:41:00.000-07:00

I'm not very good at waiting, so this is going to be a LONG 2 months. Ugh. I competed at our last ASCA obedience trial this past weekend, and my Conor didn't let me down. First I have to mention that this was a very competitive Novice B group this weekend, as everyone did really well. Conor was the first dog in the group, so I had a very long wait to find out how we actually did. The group finally finished up by around 9:45 p.m. with all but one dog qualifying (a little Dachshund just couldn't handle the sits & downs). As we all headed back into the ring to get our ribbons, I had to keep reminding myself that it's the score, not the placement, that matters. All I wanted was something over 195, which I felt we had. But as the judge called out dog #8 for 1st Place, I was SHOCKED!!! That was my little Conor!! Woooo hooooo!!! And even better was our score of 196! YAY!!!! We finally broke that 193 streak. I don't really remember much more after that, as I had been in an obedience seminar all day long, and right after that I headed straight to the trial. I didn't even have a chance to have dinner, so not only was I tired, I was extremely hungry. Then came time to award the other special awards. My friend Leslie finally finished her UDX, and once again got High in Trial, High Combined and High Score - Other Breed. Then Conor was called into the ring for winning High Score - Australian Shepherd. YAY!!! Kaylie also did very well Saturday night in Utility. She had completed every exercise - up until the directed jumping. As we got set up to do the go out, a huge bird landed just outside the ring. Kaylie's eyes just lit up and were as huge as baseballs. Kaylie loves to chase birds. Many times on our walks around the neighborhood, we'll come across a huge flock of birds eating bird seed that someone leaves on the sidewalk. I always take her off leash and let her go chase the birds. When I saw that bird, I thought this could either go really well, or go really bad. Of course, it went really bad. On the first go-out, she ran half way down the ring, turned around to look at me and then took the high jump. BUMMER!!! As we got set up for the next go-out, I figured I had nothing to lose, so I was telling her to go get the bird. She was so excited when I told her to go, she just bounded out there, took the jump on the way out and was bouncing and barking all around the ring, looking at the bird - I actually thought she was going to jump over the baby gates to go get the bird. Luckily she didn't do that. I was laughing though, and the judge didn't quite understand why I could take things so lightly and wasn't more upset with not qualifying. I thought it was rather funny seeing my little clown girl just having a great time running and bouncing around an obedience ring. Obedience people are just too uptight.

Sunday night went well, but not quite as well. Conor had a couple of crooked sits and lagged a little on his figure 8, so once again we got our favorite score of 193. He ended up getting 2nd Place this time, but still won the High Score - Aussie award. Kaylie's Utility run didn't really go all that well though. She missed the sit signal, she got one of the wrong articles, she didn't go out on the first command to get the glove, and of course the go-outs just didn't happen. She still worked well though, despite making mistakes. I figure as long as she's having fun and not dragging like a lot of the Utility dogs, we're good. Even this judge commented on how well she works and is such a joy to watch because she does show with such enthusiasm. I'll take the mistakes Kaylie makes over a dog who begrudgingly does the exercises correctly.

Now I have to wait until July 15 to see if we made it into the Nationals Finals. I figure we did as well as we could do, so now it's in the paws of the other dogs around the country. One great thing though is I learned a ton of new stuff at an obedience seminar this past weekend, so I'll be using these new techniques all through the summer to improve on our skills, and to get Kaylie ready to compete in Utility and Conor ready for Open at the Nationals. And if Conor makes it into Finals, we'll be so ready to take on the competition with my new found knowledge.

Pinetop DOCNA Agility Trial

2009-05-14T19:40:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we were up in beautiful Pinetop, AZ for a DOCNA agility trial. As always, we had a great time - some great runs, some not so great runs, and lots of laughs. I will probably remember this trial as the weekend Kaylie couldn't hit an A-frame contact to save her life! The only A-frame contact she hit was on her last run. Guess we have a new problem to work on. She did hit every dog walk contact though! One day we will get it all worked out where she hits every single contact on every single run!

Here is a recap of how Kaylie & Conor did this weekend:

Kaylie

Specialist Jumper 1 - Q - 4th Place
Specialist Jumper 2 - Q/2nd Place
Specialist Jumper 3 - NQ
Specialist Snakes N' Ladders - NQ
Specialist Standard 1 - NQ
Specialist Standard 2 - NQ
Specialist Standard 3 - NQ
Specialist Traditional Gamble - NQ
Specialist Strategic Time Gamble - Q - 1st Place
Specialist Trigility - NQ

Conor

Intern Jumper 1 - NQ
Intern Jumper 2 - Q - 1st Place
Intern Jumper 3 - NQ
Beginner Snakes N' Ladders - Q - 1st Place
Intern Standard 1 - NQ
Intern Standard 2 - Q - 1st Place
Intern Standard 3 - NQ
Specialist Traditional Gamble - NQ
Specialist Strategic Time Gamble - Q - 2nd Place
Intern North America Challenge - NQ
Intern Trigility - NQ

Conor finally finished his Beginner Snakes N' Ladders title in grand style with a 1st place, so I was happy with that. Perhaps the most exciting part of the trial was being able to compete with both Kaylie and Conor in the same level for the Gamble classes. Neither one qualified on Saturday in the Traditional Gamble class. The gamble was extremely difficult. It consisted of a jump to a curved tunnel to the weave poles then to a jump. Only 3 dogs in the whole class got the gamble - it was pretty tricky. But both Kaylie and Conor did qualify in the Strategic Time Gamble on Sunday, with Kaylie getting 1st place and then Conor getting 2nd place. Very cool! Sadly, Conor did not qualify in the North America Challenge though. He was doing so well until the very end where we had a dog walk/tunnel discrimination. He was supposed to take the dog walk, but he ended up taking the tunnel instead. The dog is just so fast - he was in that tunnel before I knew it, despite my many pre-cues to take the dog walk. Oh well. Luckily there is a mini trial next weekend where I will have two chances to get Conor qualified for the Championships. And then if it doesn't happen there, we'll go to Prescott and try there.

This weekend we will be shifting gears and doing an obedience trial. This will be Conor's last chance to get those elusive 195+ scores that I know he can get.

Arizona's First Ever ASCA Agility Trial

2009-05-04T08:27:00.000-07:00

This weekend was Arizona's first ASCA-only agility trial. For a little history, there is an agility venue called NADAC. Way back in the day, NADAC and ASCA basically had the same rules and used the same types of equipment, so most clubs would hold dual sanctioned trials, where you could earn titles in both NADAC and ASCA. With these dual sanctioned trials though, the trials were held by the NADAC rules. Then NADAC started changing its rules and created different classes, and it basically became too difficult for ASCA to deal with, so the two agility organizations decided to go their separate ways. It worked out for ASCA exhibitors in some parts of the country where ASCA agility was firmly established, but here in Arizona, the club that held the dual sanctioned trials decided to just do NADAC trials. That basically left it up to our local Aussie club to hold ASCA agility trials. Unfortunately, most of the people in our Aussie club do not do agility, so there just hasn't been the support needed to hold a trial.

After a 4-year hiatus, the Northern Arizona Australian Shepherd Association (NAASA) and Top Dog Performance Club put together a fantastic ASCA agility trial up in Chino Valley, Arizona. I had such a great time - great friends, great courses, great dogs, and did I say great friends?? Man, if people don't get involved in agility to have fun with their dogs, they need to just do it for the camaraderie and hanging out with friends.

Kaylie and Conor did absolutely fantastic - I couldn't have asked for anything more from them. I'm sure though they would probably ask for a better handler -- especially Conor. Since I had never done an ASCA agility trial, I didn't realize how spread out courses typically are, which means you are RUNNING (or with Conor -- it means sprinting like an Olympian!) And then combine that with the higher altitude, I'm amazed I made it through the weekend without having a heart attack! After every run I felt like puking. I'm glad I didn't eat a whole lot, or I'm sure I would have.

Here is how the Wonder Dogs did this weekend. Kaylie was entered in Open Standard and Open Jumpers, because I had done a couple of the NADAC/ASCA trials where she finished her Novice titles before the ASCA/NADAC split.

Kaylie

Open Standard Round 1 Q = 1st Place
Open Standard Round 2 NQ
Open Standard Round 3 NQ
Open Standard Round 4 Q = 1st Place

Open Jumpers Round 1 Q = 1st Place
Open Jumpers Round 2 Q = 1st Place
Open Jumpers Round 3 NQ

Novice Gamblers Round 1 Q = 2nd Place
Novice Gamblers Round 2 Q = 7th Place

Open Gamblers Round 3 Q = 1st Place

Since the first two rounds of Gamblers were on Saturday, and Kaylie qualified in both runs, I moved her up to Open on Sunday. For a dog that’s not so great at distance, she was awesome in Gamblers this weekend, and qualified in all three rounds.

Conor

Novice Standard Round 1 NQ
Novice Standard Round 2 Q = 3rd Place
Novice Standard Round 3 Q = 2nd Place
Novice Standard Round 4 NQ

Novice Jumpers Round 1 Q = 2nd Place
Novice Jumpers Round 2 NQ
Novice Jumpers Round 3 Q = 3rd Place

Novice Gamblers Round 1 Q = 1st Place
Novice Gamblers Round 2 NQ
Novice Gamblers Round 3 NQ

I was so disappointed in Conor's Round 2 Gamblers run. We had racked up something like 50 points - the dog was on absolute fire. Then we got to the gamble portion. It started with the A-frame, and then had 3 off set jumps - it looked pretty easy. Unfortunately he missed the A-frame contact. I was really surprised, because he typically doesn't miss his contacts, but alas, it happened. Bummer. His Gamblers run on Sunday was almost as good - he was running like a maniac, racking up the points. The gamble on this run was basically just a serpentine - four jumps off set that they basically just zig-zag over - very easy. Unfortunately by the time we got to the gamble portion, I was so out of breath and not in the best position, so he missed the first jump. I tried to get him back over that first jump, but I just hit a wall - my legs wouldn't work, my brain wouldn't work, and my body wouldn't work. And he just stood there barking at me trying to get me to give him CLEAR directions. I just had to laugh - poor dog! He did finish his Novice Jumpers title though this weekend.

I'm so looking forward to the next ASCA agility trial. I've gotta start really working on sprinting so I can keep up with my Conor baby!

Oh So Close

2009-04-12T05:37:00.000-07:00

Kaylie is getting closer and closer to pulling it all together to get that first UD leg. We had an obedience trial yesterday in the pouring rain, and Kaylie gave it her all (as she always does). We started off with the signal exercises -- her heeling was very nice, but then she missed the down signal. I'm guessing it was because of the rain in her eyes. Oh well. The rest of the run was awesome though. She got both correct scent articles, getting a 29 out of 30 on both of those, she got a 29 out of 30 on her directed retrieve, she got a 30 out of 30 on her stand for exam, and then came the directed jumping (the "go-outs"). The dreaded go-outs. We had been working really, really hard on these go-outs, so I was actually feeling pretty good about them. Unfortunately on her first go-out, she went to the jump stantion, turned and sat. Bummer. I then sent her out for her second go-out, and IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!!! She actually did it, and did it really, really nice. She went to the end of the ring, I told her to sit -- she turned and sat. The judge told me to send her over the high jump, and she did it! Wooo hooo! The judge then let me do one more go-out, just to see what would happen. How nice was that. Most judges would not allow that. So I sent her out again, and what do you know? She did a second beautiful go-out. YAY!!! So she got in two beautiful go-outs in a show!! It didn't matter that she didn't Q - it was a great run, and that's all that really matters. Next I showed Conor, trying to get a great score. He actually heeled beautifully. I was very, very pleased with the whole performance. There was a bump on the figure 8, and he did sit a little crooked on one of the sits, but other than that, it was really nice. I was a little surprised when we got our score, and again, it was only a 192.5. Hmmmm. This was WAY better than the other 192.5's we've gotten. Perhaps the rain had distorted my perception, and I was just happy to get out of the rain? I don't know. But amazingly, only 2 out of 12 Novice B dogs qualified, which is really unheard of in a Novice B class. Usually most of the dogs qualify. But Conor did get 1st Place, and ended up winning High Scoring Aussie. So that was pretty exciting. I did find out that one of our club members is going to hold two more obedience trials, so we now have two more chances. What a lucky gal I am! All of the obedience competitors hung out in their cars. We knew it was going to be a fairly short day, so it didn't make sense to set up our tents, and plus it was pretty cold. So this was my view for the morning -- a nice rainy window. And here are me, Conor and Kaylie, hanging out in the van. Luckily I had blankets and a scarf to wrap up in to keep warm. I knew there was a reason I keep all this extra stuff in my car - I just never know what kind of weather we're going to have.

Agility and More

2009-04-08T17:05:00.000-07:00

We had another DOCNA agility trial last weekend. Kaylie again was entered in just a few runs, while I concentrated more on working on the teamwork between me and Conor. Conor actually ended up doing very well, and finished a couple more titles. And of course Ms. Kaylie had some great runs too.

Here are the results from that DOCNA trial:

Kaylie:

Standard #1 - 4th Place

Standard #2 - 4th Place

Gamblers - 5th Place

Conor:

Standard #1 - 1st Place -- Finished Beginner Standard title

Jumpers - 1st Place

Traditional Gamblers - 2nd Place

Strategic Timed Gamblers - 1st Place - Finished Intern Gamblers title

Trigility - 2nd Place - Finished Beginners Trigility title

Overall it was a very good trial, and Conor is doing great.

This weekend Kaylie & Conor are entered in an ASCA obedience trial. Kaylie will be in Utility and Conor has one more chance to get a great score in Novice to secure a spot in the Obedience Finals. We've been working real hard, and we're ready. Yesterday we were at the park with my friend Terri and her doggie Chase to practice. After all the hard work, the doggies let loose and got to run and have fun.

Conor playing keep away from Chase.

What a great looking group of dogs!

Obedience Finals Bound??

2009-03-23T19:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I just found out Conor is ranked right at #10, along with 3 other teams. The top 10 teams will be invited to compete in the Obedience Finals, so right now we're in the running. Unfortunately, there are still 2 months left before the time for qualifying is over, so there is plenty of time for other dogs to get qualified. This is the end of our show season, whereas other areas around the country are just starting their show seasons. I do have one more show to try to get one more great score, so Conor and I will be very busy perfecting our heeling. If only I could switch my AKC obedience scores with my ASCA scores -- we're ranked at #5 in AKC!

March DOCNA Agility Trial

2009-03-09T16:29:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful weekend for a DOCNA agility trial out in Queen Creek at Club Doggie. My main goal for the weekend was to get the doggies qualified for the Championships. Anything extra was just icing, and we got lots of icing! Kaylie did qualify, but Conor did not. He just took the wrong end of the tunnel, but other than that he did quite well. I'm sure he'll get it next time. I'm just so happy that I'm going to the Championships with at least one dog. Here's the low down on how the Wonder Dogs did:

I entered Kaylie in just a few runs this weekend -- she's getting close to her Bronze MEX, so I just entered her in classes that would count towards that.

Kaylie:

Standard 1 - 2nd Place

Standard 3 - 4th Place

Trigility - 1st Place

North America Challenge - 4th Place

Conor:

Jumpers 1 - 3rd Place

Standard 1 - 1st Place

Gamblers - 2nd Place

Jumpers 2 - 2nd Place

Gamblers - 1st Place

Kaylie ended up finishing her Bronze Specialist Standard Merit Award and her Silver Specialist Trigility Merit Award. YAY!! And Conor finished his Beginner Jumpers Award and his Beginner Gamblers Award. More YAYS!!

We had a couple of very scary incidents this weekend though. On Conor's Snakes & Ladders run, when we got to the dog walk, he hit the up ramp with such force that it caused him to lose his balance. He tried his very, very hardest to stay on, but he ended up falling off. He scraped up his belly pretty good, cut a pad and one of his nails started to bleed. Poor little guy. Unfortunately, this fall has caused an issue on the teeter -- he's jumping off too early now. Hopefully it was just an issue on Sunday, and he'll get over it quickly. It turns out that the dog walk wasn't set up correctly, so that's why when he hit it, it bounced him up way too high. All his other runs were in the other ring, and this was the first time he was in that ring with that particular dog walk. I had noticed a lot of other dogs were also bouncing up that dog walk, but didn't realize why. And then in Conor's second Standard run, he totally busted through the tire jump. He tried to take the tire jump (the first jump) from his sit position without taking a couple steps before hand, and he just busted through it. The photographer even got a photo of it. The interesting thing about this photo is that he looks like he's 3 months old! Very bizarre. He may now become the poster boy for this new displaceable tire.

Conor's 1st and 2nd RAE Legs

2009-03-01T03:45:00.000-08:00

I'm about a week behind -- with the start of baseball season, plus dog show season really ramping up -- there just aren't enough hours in a day! Anyway, last weekend was PFOC's (Phoenix Field & Obedience Club's) big obedience trial. I always love this show -- it's just obedience -- no floofy goofy dogs in the way -- just the smart ones are at this trial, and it's so much fun to watch. Conor was entered in Advanced B and Excellent B to earn legs for his RAE. To earn the RAE, you must compete in both Advanced B and Excellent B on the same day, qualify in both on the same day, and you must do this 10 times. Last weekend we did just that for our first and second legs. Conor's first run of the day was his Excellent run. It didn't go so well, but we did qualify. My friend Barb had her dog Shasta in the area, and when Shasta is around, Conor's brain goes down the drain. He just loves her. It had been a while since the two had seen each other, and I thought maybe now that he was neutered, he wouldn't be so bonkers over her. But I guess even getting neutered doesn't stop this boy from loving his first girlfriend. He'll always love Shasta. So we kept the two of them away from each other the rest of the weekend, and Conor did much better. He got a 99 out of 100 on his Advanced run later that day, which was good enough for 1st Place. YAY!! Sunday things were really a mess. Our Rally judge couldn't make it because she was sick, so they decided to split things up and have one judge for each Novice, Advanced and Excellent, which meant they had to wait for all the judges to finish their original judging assignments and then judge Rally. And then they neglected to tell us this on Saturday. So all the Excellent dogs showed up at 7 a.m. to get settled in, as we believed our class would start at 8 a.m. It wasn't until we got there that we found out our classes wouldn't start until 11 a.m. We had to sit around for 4 hours and just wait. And even then I don't think we really started until closer to 12 p.m. We finally got our runs in, and Conor's Advanced run was pretty nice, but I did have to repeat a station because he didn't do it quite right. We got a 94, which put us out of the ribbons, but still a pretty decent score. Then we got a 99 on our Excellent run. YAY! There was one perfect score, and then two other 99's who finished the course faster than we did, so we ended up getting 4th Place. So we're on our way -- just 8 more legs to go!

Yesterday was the start of the Fiesta Cluster at Westworld. I'm just showing Kaylie in agility this time around. We had two pretty decent runs but just a small mistake in both, so no Q's. Hopefully Sunday and Monday will be a little better!

My First Ever High in Trial!

2009-02-16T13:10:00.000-08:00

I've been doing competitive obedience now for about 12 years, and have never come close to getting High in Trial. Well, maybe a little close -- I've earned High Score Aussie many times with both Kaylie and Conor, but there are so many fantastic dogs around here, I just never thought it would ever be possible to get High in Trial. I finally did it -- I got my first ever High in Trial, and not with the most incredible dog ever Kaylie, but with Conor. I would describe Conor as a dog with not a whole lot of spark in the obedience ring, but he is very consistent. He knows his job and he does it. And to think I almost didn't go to this trial! I decided to go because I made the decision last week to try to get Conor qualified for the Obedience Finals at the ASCA Nationals, which will be held the end of September of this year. I had originally tried to think of ways to get Kaylie qualified for the Agility Finals (because she is the most incredible dog ever, and I always think of her first), but it was going to take a lot of traveling and a lot of money. I really, really want to compete in Finals, but just couldn't figure out a way to do it with my meager salary. Then it dawned on me that I could possibly make it with Conor in obedience. So I figured I'd better get showing him to get those high scores. They invite the top 10 dogs in the country to compete in the Finals. And to be in the top 10, you have to have three very high scores. So, so far, we're on our way! I know there are at at least three more obedience trials before the end of May (the deadline), so I'm keeping my fingers crossed! As for my winning picture, unfortunately, they forgot the ribbons, so my ribbons will be sent to me. As soon as I get the ribbons, Conor will have his picture taken with his High in Trial and High Score Aussie ribbons.

My Annual Fall with the Dogs

2009-02-03T16:05:00.000-08:00

I've noticed a trend that seems to be happening once a year with my dogs -- I fall flat on my belly. And this morning was this year's annual belly fall. I don't remember all the years' falls, but I do remember the one when I was rollerblading with my Chow Barley. I was rolling along, and then all of a sudden Barley saw a cat. He took off and pulled me down, flat on my belly. Then there was the time when I was pregnant and some how as I was going out the door with Takara, I ended up flat on my stomach going down the steps from the front door. Then there was the time a few years ago that I twisted my ankle and fell to the ground as I was going out the door for a walk with the dogs. This time though I didn't land on my belly, just on my butt with a twisted ankle. This was just two days before an agility trial, and I could barely walk. I wasn't going to let a hurt ankle stop me from going though!! I made it through the trial, gimping along, but at least I stayed up on my feet! Then three years ago at a DOCNA trial, I fell flat on my stomach once again. We were doing a Trigility run. The ground was very icy and slippery. My first teammate did her run, although she had some problems negotiating around the course, and ate up quite a bit of time. Then the next teammate did her run, then it was our turn. I thought for sure we could make up the lost time. I took my first step and my feet just slipped out from underneath me and once again, I was flat on my stomach. Kaylie was awesome though -- taking the first two jumps like she was supposed to. Then she started back to me to see why the heck I was flat on the ground. I told her to keep going, and by golly she did. I finally got on my feet and we finished the course perfectly, and even got the gamble. My only real concern was if we made time. We didn't. Oh well. Then last year, Conor was the cause of my belly fall. We were at the kids' bus stop, and he was with the boys playing ball with them. I knew the bus was coming, so I called him to me. He came running as fast as he could, body slammed into my knees and knocked my legs right from underneath me. I ended up once again flat on my stomach, and my chin. I had not a scrape on my knees or hands or anything, just a big scrape on my chin. It was lovely. Then this morning was this years' belly fall. I was running with the dogs this morning. I actually took a different route this morning (big mistake!) We were starting to go around a corner, and apparently part of the sidewalk was raised -- not sure if it was because of tree roots or what, but for whatever reason, it was raised and I didn't see it, and I ended up once again flat on my belly. Luckily my doggies have a good recall, because I ended up dropping the leash as I fell, and there was a car coming. I was afraid the dogs were going to keep going straight instead of rounding the corner -- so I yelled "doggies come!" and they came running back to me. Whew!! This time I ended up with a scraped up left knee and a scraped up right elbow, and the upper part of my left arm hurts when I push on it. Wonder what next year's fall will be like!

It's Hiking Time!

2009-01-29T19:21:00.000-08:00

January in Phoenix is such an awesome time of year. Although it is a bit cold for me, it's actually the perfect temperature to go hiking. I couldn't pass up the chance to be outside on such a beautiful day, so I decided to take the dogs out to Thunderbird Park for a little hike. There are several trails in the area, and I usually do the same one. The day before I did the trail that I usually do, so this time I thought I'd try a different trail. I had NO idea what to expect, and had no idea how long the trail was. It was 10 a.m., so I figured I had a good 5 hours to make it home in time for Brandon to get home from school. The dogs and I started out, and I thought to myself what a great trail! It wasn't too rocky or too steep. I thought how great it would be to bring some friends next time. Then all of a sudden, the trail got much steeper. There goes the idea of bringing friends along!! They'd think I was trying to kill them! Guess I'll just keep hiking by myself and the dogs. It was a great hike though, and it took just under 2 hours. And that included stopping a few times for water, and of course picture taking. Now that I know what to expect, I think I can do it faster next time. Sounds like a challenge for another hike! I do need to let my knees recover though -- they are a little achy today! I'm sure by Monday, my next day off, I'll be back to 100% and we'll try the hike again.

Double Q, Where are You??

2009-01-25T16:46:00.000-08:00

Another AKC agility trial weekend has come to an end, and Kaylie and I are still at 6 Double Q's. Saturday we started off with Jumpers. It was a really nice course, until we got to the double jump into the weaves. I just didn't handle it right, she jumped too big and missed the weave entrance. The rest of the run went perfect. Our Standard run was perfect, hitting all the contacts, weave pole entrance, and kept all the bars up. YAY!!! We ended up finishing 18 seconds under course time! I think that's one of our fastest Standard runs ever. Sunday we had our Standard run first. After Saturday's Standard run, I was feeling very confident about our contacts. We were going along just perfect, we hit the dog walk contact no problem, hit the weave pole entrance with no problems, hit the teeter contact with no problem, then the second to last obstacle was the A-Frame. After that I knew we were home free! We hit the A-frame contact (or so I thought), jumped the last jump, and I was psyched. Our first run of the day and we were on the road to a Double Q. But then a friend walked over to me all bummed and said the judge called our A-frame contact as a fault! WHAT????? I know she hit it -- I was right there. But I guess the judge didn't see it that way. This is the first time I've ever felt a judge made a bad call on my run. I actually felt tears start welling up, I was so sure Kaylie hit that contact. Hopefully somewhere down the road when Kaylie really flies off the A-frame or dog walk, the judge won't call it! I actually half considered just going home and scratching from our Jumpers run. The Double Q was out of the picture, and I just wanted a big bowl of Birthday Cake Remix from Coldstone. But then the competitive side of me took back over and made me want to do that Jumpers run. It was a pretty tricky course -- lots of possibilities for off courses. But we ran clean and got a Q -- 13 seconds under time. Wooo hooo! We did have a great weekend, great runs, and lots of fun. Next agility trial is the Fiesta Cluster at the end of February. Kaylie and I will be spending the next month working on perfecting our Utility exercises, and working on Open with Conor.

3rd Day at Wags for Wishes

2009-01-19T16:00:00.000-08:00

What a day! Conor and I are finally starting to work as a team, and I'm getting a good feel for his timing. I still need to step it up a bit, as he is one fast little bugger, but I'm getting there! We started off with his FAST class, and it went just as planned. He got all the necessary points as well as the send bonus, so he qualified, finished in 3rd place and finished his title -- his first agility title!!! His Jumpers run was going along nicely, and then came the weaves. He'd missed all the entrances on all the previous runs throughout the weekend, so I fully expected him to miss the entrance again. I hung back a bit so I could call him back and re-send him, but by golly he hit the entrance perfectly, went through them in the blink of an eye and was off to the next couple of jumps before I could even realize what had just happened. He left me in the dust!! I tried to salvage the run, as by that point he hadn't gone off course, but I was just too far back and couldn't get where I needed to get to in time -- he was just way too fast. He eventually took a wrong jump, and I could hear the judge sigh. And in my head I heard my teacher Jim say "trust your dog." I should have trusted that he would have hit the pole entrance and not popped out. Next time I will! Then we ran his Standard course. Of course the tire jump was the first obstacle AGAIN! First day I tried placing him right in front of the tire . . . that didn't work. Second day I tried running from start line with him . . . that didn't work. This time I placed him pretty far back, did a nice lead out and bent down so he could see me through the tire hole and told him to jump, and by golly THAT WORKED -- he jumped THROUGH the tire instead of going under it!!! So far we're running clean. We made it through obstacle by obstacle, hitting everything perfectly, and hitting all his contacts. We get to the weave poles, and he does miss the entry, but in Novice Standard, refusals at the weaves aren't counted. I quickly get him back in, and he finishes them without popping out. We're getting pretty close to the end, and then comes the broad jump. It was at a very weird angle, so I was worried that he'd cut the corner again, but he made it over with no problems. Just 3 more obstacles, and we'd be done. I had to concentrate on each obstacle as they came, because I know if I think too far ahead, I mess up. And I didn't want to push him too hard over the teeter, as he does have a tendancy to fly off that if he's going too fast, so I kept cool, he hit the teeter contact, then over the last two jumps, and woooo hooo!! He ran clean!!! Conor got his first Novice Standard leg. And placed 3rd place to boot. It was so very exciting.

Kaylie's Jumpers run was very, very tricky, but lots of fun, and she ran clean and Q'd. No placements though -- it's pretty hard to place when some of the top people in the country are running against you with them darned Border Collies. But she was 11 seconds under time, so we got more points added towards our MACH speed points. Her Standard run was going along very nicely, but by golly that darned dog walk contact got us again. I swear they put poison down on those contacts. It was a great run otherwise, so I'm still very happy about that.

We're looking forward to next weekend for another AKC agility trial. I'm only showing Kaylie, so it shouldn't be so exhausting.

2nd Day of Wags for Wishes

2009-01-17T19:52:00.001-08:00

Today was a much better day, although again between the two dogs and 5 runs, we only got 1 Q. Conor's Jumpers run was very nice and he did everything very well, but he kept popping out at the 5th pole. After about 5 attempts, I decided to go on, so no Q. He did the rest of the course very nicely though. His Standard run was also very nice, but the first obstacle again was that darned tire jump. He ran under it, and before I could call him back to re-try it, he was already in the tunnel, which was the second obstacle. The rest of the run was beautiful, so I feel we're getting close. If only they would get rid of that tire jump! Kaylie's Standard run was also beautiful, but she missed the contact on the dog walk. There was a tunnel sticking out on both ends under the dog walk, so I had no other choice but to go around it, which was just too much distance for Kaylie and that down contact. Kaylie's Jumpers run was perfect, so at least we got one Q, and 6 points towards our MACH. That makes 358 points out of 750. We're more than half way there in speed points at least! Conor's FAST run didn't quite go as planned, so we didn't get a Q in that either.

I took Conor to the herding instinct test after we were done with the agility. He had so much fun, and did a very nice job herding the sheep, and keeping them together. He didn't have the same crazy excitement he did when I took him a couple of years ago (he was pretty young then), but the tester said he did a very good job keeping the sheep together and getting them moved around the ring. It was fun to see that instinct just kick in. My friend Terri also took her pup Chase in. Chase is just a year old, so he had that crazy spirit out there. He had a great time chasing the sheep around. Here are some pictures:

Here's Conor

And here's Chase

Here's our two cutie pies after their herding test:

First Day of Wags for Wishes

2009-01-16T16:24:00.000-08:00

Well, today definitely wasn't one of our best agility days. My first run of the day was Conor's FAST class. It actually was a very good run, and he ended up qualifying, with a 3rd place. But unfortunately it went down hill from there. Next was Conor's Jumpers run, which actually wasn't all that bad, but there were enough small mistakes to not qualify. Next was Kaylie's Standard run. I'm not sure where this dog came from -- it definitely wasn't Kaylie. First she took a wrong jump, then she popped out of the weaves and then she jumped off the teeter. After that was Kaylie's Jumper's run. It started off great, everything was going as planned, and then I got in her way -- it was a tricky exit out of the weave poles to the next jump, and I just got in her way, which caused a refusal. That's all it took to NQ. Last but not least was Conor's Standard run. The first obstacle was the tire jump, which we've been having issues with. I thought I'd try setting him up right in front of it, but alas, he still went under it. He was actually doing quite well after that, but for some reason just couldn't get the weave poles. Oh well. The funniest part of this run was the broad jump. He's never seen a broad jump in an agility run, so I wasn't even sure how he was going to handle it. He ended up jumping so high and so far over the jump, that he practically landed right next to the last jump of the run. He ended up going past that last jump and then back jumped it, so that was all it took to NQ on that. He did have lots of fun though!! He's definitely one dog that thoroughly enjoys doing agility. The pups are pooped now -- and so am I! I think I will go take a nap before dinner time, like Kaylie is.

Arizona Wags for Wishes - Here We Come

2009-01-16T05:20:00.000-08:00

We're heading off to our first appearance at the Arizona Wags for Wishes in Glendale, Arizona!! This is the second time Arizona has held the Wags for Wishes event, benefiting the Make-A-Wish Foundation. We've always gone over to Del Mar, California for the Wags for Wishes, but last year when they changed the agility venue from AKC over to NADAC, we stopped going. We're hoping this can be at least half as fun. We'll be missing the wonderful California weather, but heck, Phoenix in January (at least THIS weekend) -- we'll have PERFECT weather! Check back later to see how the Wonderdogs did in agility! This will be Conor's first full AKC agility trial, so not real sure how it's going to go. We did a few runs earlier this week for practice, and he did pretty well, so there is hope.

If you're interested in coming to watch, not only will you see agility, but you'll see fun events like this:

And this:

And this:

This event is being held at Sahauro Ranch Park in Glendale, Arizona. For more information, check out www.azwags4wishes.com.

Kaylie's "Re-Debut" in Utility

2009-01-12T20:33:00.000-08:00

After a 2-year break from obedience and training in Utility, Kaylie re-entered the Utility ring yesterday morning at our local ASCA trial. We didn't qualify, but I was quite happy with her performance. On the Signal exercise, we got a 35 out of 40, for the Scent Discrimination Article #1, she got a 29 out of 30, we NQ'd on the #2 Scent Discrimination Article, she got a 28 out of 30 on the Directed Retrieve, she got a 29 out of 30 on the Stand for Exam, and then we NQ'd on the Directed Jumping. For her first go-out, she took the high jump on the way out, and then for the second go-out, she took the bar jump on the way out. But I was pleased that she at least ran away from me with no hesitation, which is the first time she'd ever done that. She would usually take a step away, then stop and look at me to make sure that she really is supposed to run away. And even then, she'd only go a few feet away. So we're making progress. I've decided to hold off showing her in any AKC trials, and wait for our ASCA Cactus Cluster trial in March. She had great enthusiasm in everything she did, so that's 90% of the battle. Must work on that "running away from mommy" is a good thing idea!

This weekend is the Arizona Wags for Wishes trial, so now we have to switch gears and get back into agility mode.

Practicing Does Actually Work!!

2009-01-05T20:23:00.000-08:00

My poor dogs -- they are always subjected to the pressures of the show ring with very little work. I've been very fortunate with my Wonder Dogs that they seem to have been born knowing what to do. Both dogs sailed through Novice in ASCA and AKC very easily, and then Kaylie made it through Open with very little practice. She had her CDX in both ASCA and AKC by the time she was two years old. I then tried to rush Kaylie through Utility training, and tried showing her a few times just after her 3rd birthday. I quickly learned that Utility actually requires WORK -- and not just a week before the trial!!! I would sometimes go gung-ho for a week or so with the training, but then things would just come up, and although I would go through the exercises in my head, and think about how I would train Kaylie to do them, osmossis just didn't work!! I don't understand why! I ended up focusing more on agility over the next couple of years and didn't think much of Utility. This past fall though, I figured that Kaylie wasn't getting any younger, and I really want to get my first Utility Dog ("UD") title with her. Some other friends wanted to really get serious about training their dogs too, so we decided to meet every Monday morning at the park to train. I'd show up every Monday to work my dogs, and at first my friends showed up too. But as the weeks past, fewer and fewer of them showed up, and eventually just one other friend would show up (and I think that's only because I'm making her show up!) But I kept practicing with Ms. Kaylie. My goal was to be ready by our January ASCA trial, and I think we're actually there!! I went to a fun match yesterday, and I was amazed how well she did. She did get one of the wrong scent articles, but she was in such a hurry to get back to me, she just grabbed any article -- we'll work on that. And then her go-outs were a little shaky, but I think with hard work over this next week, we'll be there. I'm looking forward to this Sunday to see how it all comes together in a real show situation!!! I'm thrilled to see that our hard work has actually paid off!

December DOCNA Agility Trial

2008-12-31T20:16:00.000-08:00

We had our last agility trial of the year this past weekend out in Queen Creek, AZ. This was Conor's first full agility trial -- he was entered in 10 runs for the weekend. We've had a lot of rain lately, so classes had been cancelled and we weren't able to get in much practice, so I had no idea how things were going to go with my little silver bullet. Saturday actually didn't go very well with either dog. It was incredibly cold, especially in the morning (the low was 33 degrees Saturday morning and there was thick frost on the grass). The pants I wore did keep me pretty warm, but they were very heavy and very hard to run in. I felt like I was running with lead boots on. Kaylie only Q'd in one of her Standard runs and her Snakes N' Ladders run, and Conor only Q'd in Traditional Gamblers. I was pretty miserable, and really wished I had a pair of shorts or something in my van to change in to. I learned that being able to run and move is WAY more important than being warm!! On my way home that evening, I stopped by Dick's Sporting Goods and found some warm, fuzzy, stretchable pants to wear on Sunday. I was able to wear long johns under these fuzzy pants, which kept me perfectly comfortable on Sunday. I was able to run and move, so I was a happy camper again on Sunday. Conor only Q'd in his Jumpers run on Sunday, but the NQ's were basically due to poor handling on my part. Kaylie Q'd in both Standard runs (getting 2nd Place in both), and then Q'd in Jumpers, with a 3rd Place. This definitely wasn't our best trial. We have an AKC trial in a couple of weeks, so we've got some work ahead of us. At least now I have some warm fuzzy pants to wear!!

Fetch at Chase Field

2008-12-17T05:47:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, Chase Field was opened up to the dogs and was turned into a huge dog park. It was only appropriate that I bring Conor. His litter's registered name was to be a movie theme, so we went with baseball, as Brandon loves to play baseball. We chose Field of Dreams, and then picked the name Conor, named after Conor Jackson, one of Brandon's favorite players, and a good dog name. Anyway, back to the ball park. Conor and Brandon had a fantastic time -- I'm not real sure who had more fun -- Brandon loved running and jumping into the wall, just like Luis Gonzales or Eric Byrnes would do.

And then Conor loved playing fetch with his flingy ball. We also participated in the best trick contest, and Brandon got to be one of the judges. Why he didn't chose Conor to win, I'll never know (except that our trick was pretty lame). We thought our friend Jill and Frankie should have won with Frankie's "are you a girl or boy" trick, (that's who Brandon picked). But someone else won -- a dog that had an even lamer trick than Conor! After the contests, Conor just ran and fetched his ball for about another hour. I think I finally wore him out -- that dog can go forever!! We hope to do it again next year!

The Wonder Dogs Visit Santa

2008-12-16T05:47:00.000-08:00

Kaylie and Conor wanted to go visit Santa to let him know what they wanted for Christmas. Those silly dogs! As we showed up at the local Petsmart, they were greeted by lots of people who were amazed at how well they behaved. I'm always surprised that people are surprised that dogs could behave well out in public. After all the greeting and talking about what kind of dogs they were (I'm also amazed that most people have never seen an Australian Shepherd -- don't they ever go to agility trials???), we got to see Santa. They jumped up on the bench, sat next to Santa, told him what they wanted, and then got their picture taken. The photographer again was amazed that it took about a minute to get them set up and a picture taken. Again, she'd not seen many dogs that that behaved so well. Santa wished the Wonder Dogs a Merry Christmas, and promised that if they keep behaving, they will get what they want. Well, I'm not so sure about that! This is how they'd like their backyard to look!! Those silly dogs!

2008-11-25T05:16:00.000-08:00

Trials are over for now until the end of December. Whew!!! The Wonder Dogs have been very busy racking up those titles over the past few weeks!! Kaylie competed in the AKC trial hosted by American Belgian Tervuren Club and the Superstition Kennel Club the second week of November. This was a 4-day trial -- we competed in 3 of those days. Do you know what WFWWFW means? It means a lot of fun in AKC agility terms! Kaylie went wild on her Jumpers run on Saturday, deciding to just make up her own course. She doesn't normally go that off course, but I guess she just decided her course was much more fun. Then we missed the weave pole entrance in the Standard run, so no Q's on Saturday. :( On Sunday, Kaylie's Jumpers run was beautiful, and she Q'd, but the Standard course was insane. I don't know how anyone qualified, but some did. We actually only had one small mistake -- there was a portion where the dog had a choice between a tunnel and the A-frame (they had to take the tunnel), but the way it was set up, it was VERY difficult to direct them to the tunnel, because a jump with wings was in the way -- darn wings! But other than that small mistake, it was a good run. On Monday, the courses were still VERY difficult. Everyone thought the judges would have given us a break and made the courses at least a little less challenging, but alas, them were some evil little judges. As I sat waiting for my turn, I saw no one was making it through clean. Finally, our turn -- we ran it CLEAN!! Woooo hoooo!! Kaylie finally finished her Master Standard title!! And the most amazing part is that only 2 dogs in her class qualified, and she got 1st place!! What a way to finish a title. Then on to our Jumpers run. Man it was tricky. Unfortunately we made just one little mistake, and that's all it takes for no Q. So no double Q's for the weekend. These were by far the most challenging courses I've come across though, so I'm thrilled with the Q's I did get!

The following weekend we went down to Tucson for the AKC trials down there. I was showing Kaylie in agility and Conor in obedience. I left the house at 4:30 a.m. Saturday, figuring that would give me plenty of time to get down there by 7 a.m. Of course there was an accident on the way down there, and I ended up having to sit in traffic for 1.5 hours. I was getting really stressed, as I had no idea how long we were going to just be sitting there. Finally, we started moving! YAY!! So I drove as fast as I possibly could (I stayed right at the speed limit, as there were police EVERYWHERE!!!) I was really starting to stress though because it was getting closer and closer to 8 a.m. -- the start of my first class!!! I finally saw the sign for the Pima County Fairgrounds was about 10 miles away, and it was about 7:20 a.m. I was really starting to panic because I didn't want to miss my run, especially after sitting in traffic forever. I'm a firm believer of the calming effects music has, so I always listen to my favorite music on the way to trials. I was feeling the stress to the max this time, so I set my Ipod on continuous play of one of my favorite singers, Jason Castro. I just love his voice!!

I just kept thinking to myself, relax, relax, relax! I finally pulled into the parking lot at 7:45 a.m., and saw they were walking the course. Out of the van I jumped and ran over and walked the course. Little did I know that there were hurricane force winds too!!!!! Oh my gosh!!!!! Then I found out that Kaylie was the first 20-inch dog. There were a few 24-inch dogs, so I had a few minutes at least to get checked in and get my armband sticker, get Kaylie pottied and warmed up and then try not to blow away. We ran clean, and as I went to get my scribe sheet, the scribe told me that the timer didn't go off, so I needed to talk to the judge to figure out what I wanted to do. I was like, WHAT???!!!! I didn't want to have to do it again. I spoke with the judge, and he said no matter what, I will still Q, even if we knock a bar the second time, or if we have any other fault. I really didn't have anything to lose. So we ran it again, and it actually was a little better -- we ended up getting 2nd Place! YAY!! Unfortunately she took an extra jump on her Standard run, so no Double Q. :(

Sunday, the wind was even more incredible, and it was COLD!!!!! I was so sick of the wind, I just wanted to leave. But, I'm a sucker for punishment, and I stuck around. Our Jumpers run was awesome -- I think the wind and the cold really helped Kaylie -- it made her just fly! She ended up placing 1st in Jumpers!! YAY!!! Then on to our Standard run -- like I said, that wind was making her just fly. She was flying so fast, that she ended up flying right over her contacts on the dog walk AND A-frame. So, another weekend with some great runs, but no Double Q's.

Then there's the Conor. I showed him in obedience at the Tucson shows. This little dog is so awesome. He had 2 legs towards his CD going in on Saturday, so I was hoping out of the 2 days, we could Q in at least one of them to finish his CD. I wasn't sure how he was going to handle all the wind, especially on the sits & downs. That 1-minute sit on Saturday was the LONGEST minute of my life, as I knew if he could make it through that, then the down shouldn't be a problem. HE DID IT!! YAY!!!! And best of all -- he ended up getting 1st Place. Wow. And then he did the same thing on Sunday -- he just didn't miss a beat, and got 1st Place again. What a good little boy!!

Double Q #6 and Rally News

2008-11-02T17:07:00.000-08:00

I'm a little behind in keeping up with the Wonder Dogs! Things get pretty busy this time of year. Anyway -- Kaylie and I competed at the Valle Del Sol Golden Retriever Club AKC agility trial last weekend, and earned our 6th Double Q!! On Saturday, we missed the weave pole entrance on our Jumpers run, so we NQ'd on that, but we did Q in our Standard Run. And then on Sunday we Q'd in both Jumpers and Standard! YAY!!

Today Conor and I competed in an APDT Rally trial at the World Cynosport Games. Conor did great, and got 1st Place and finished his Rally Level 1 title. Since we finished that title, we were allowed to enter Rally Level 2. I had NO idea we could do that, so I really wasn't prepared. But I figured what the heck. We were there -- we had nothing to lose. We did so-so -- there were some exercises that I had NEVER even practiced with him before, like angled recalls and doing a down from a distance. But he did qualify, and ended up in 4th Place. Not too bad for the little man!! Conor also earned a special award for being the Youngest Highest Scoring Dog.

The 2nd DOCNA Championships Have Come to an End

2008-10-05T18:56:00.001-07:00

It's so sad when all the fun has to end. What an incredible weekend we had though. Today started off with Trigility and the Sassy Trio. We all ran clean, I got to do the gamble portion, which we successfully completed, and our team ended up in 4th Place. Go Sassy Trio!! Next was the Finals Standard run. It was a VERY tricky course, with a lot of challenges. Every team in my class made mistakes, including us (we took a wrong jump), so there was no way I was able to even guess how everyone fared. Overall we had a great run, so it was just up to how the numbers were going to add up. Then we ran our Finals Jumpers run. I love Jumpers courses, and this one was a lot of fun. Lots of challenges, and I had to do some handling moves I'm not real comfortable doing. It was a great run, and I knew we ran it as well as we could have. I saw one team knock some bars, but I didn't watch anyone else, so again, it was an agonizing wait to see how it all ended up. Finally all the runs were done, scores were added up and it was time for the Finals ribbons to be handed out. I'm still in shock, and I don't think I'll ever come out of it. We ended up placing 3rd in the Standard Finals and 2nd in Jumpers Finals. The Jumpers is the one I'm most surprised about. We didn't place at all in either run on Friday or Saturday, but we were consistent enough to end up 2nd overall. What a great partner I have in Kaylie the Wonder Dog!! Looking forward to next year now, where hopefully I'll be competing with Conor too!

Finals Here We Come!!

2008-10-04T22:29:00.000-07:00

What an amazing day we had today. I'm still in shock, as we accomplished what I thought was impossible. We had a great run in Standard yesterday but not good enough to place, and then we knocked a bar in Jumpers, so I thought Finals was out of the picture. But man, Kaylie kicked it up today and we had a FANTASTIC run in Standard today, and actually placed 3rd, and our Jumpers run was clean and pretty fast, but not fast enough to place. I was absolutely amazed when they not only called Kaylie's name for Standard Finals, but also Jumpers Finals. I start to tear up even as I type this, I'm just still so surprised. I guess consistency pays off -- the dogs that did well on Friday couldn't pull it off today, while I stayed right there in the middle. Woooo hoooo!!

Today was also the North America Challenge run. This course is typically longer than a regular Standard course, and has more challenges. Again, we are up against some very tough competition. Today I decided not to watch the other dogs in my class. I didn't want to know how the competition was doing, so I could just focus on Kaylie. We ran clean, and I felt we ran it as well as we could have. It was a very long wait until we got the results, and man, when they announced Kaylie getting 3rd place, the tear fest began. I was absolutely amazed. And then other friends were placing with their dogs, and everyone was in tears. It was so much fun. DOCNA is the absolute best venue -- I've made such wonderful friends, and the support everyone gives to each other is awesome.

Now for tomorrow! We have Trigility, which is a team event. I'm part of the "Sassy Trio" with my friends Cindi S. and Taz & Terri S. and Shayna. And then Standard and Jumpers Finals. I can't wait!

DOCNA Championships

2008-10-03T20:41:00.000-07:00

The DOCNA Championships started yesterday with "warm up" Standard and Jumpers runs. Kaylie took a wrong jump in her Standard run, but had a fantastic Jumpers run, and got 2nd Place. Yay! Today was the start of the actual Championships. We had Traditional Gamblers, Snakes 'N Ladders, and then the first round of Jumpers and Standard runs. Finals will be on Sunday, and to make it to Finals, our scores from Friday and Saturday will be added together, and the top 25% of each class will go on to compete in the Finals on Sunday. Well, we had great runs in everything. Unfortunately, Kaylie knocked a bar in her Jumpers run (it's been FOREVER since she's knocked a bar -- why did she have to do it at the Championships??) Her Standard run and Snakes 'N Ladders run were very nice, but there were just too many faster dogs -- those darn Border Collies!!! We actually ended up in 8th Place in both Jumpers and Standard, and I think 9th Place in Snakes 'N Ladders. It's not very often that we finish out of the ribbons, but the competition here is tough, so we're about in the middle of the pack. Now for the real kicker -- our Traditional Gamblers run. Traditional Gamblers is definitely NOT our forte. We've only Q'd in Traditional Gamblers 3 other times. But Kaylie did it -- she did the gamble, and did it very well. I was shocked. And to top it off, we got 3rd Place. Wooo hooo!

We're not out of the Finals quite yet. We still have tomorrow. It'll probably take some mistakes to be made by those top teams, and then us having super fantastic runs, but anything is possible!

Conor's First APDT Rally Trial

2008-10-01T06:49:00.000-07:00

We did our first ever APDT Rally trial this weekend. APDT Rally is a little different than AKC Rally -- APDT rules are a little more strict on how you can use your hands (i.e., you can't look like you're luring the dog), and you can only give one command. Well, I use my hands A LOT in Rally, and I talk A LOT in Rally, so I really had to concentrate on what I was doing and saying, so it didn't appear like I was giving extra commands. Our first run wasn't great, but we did qualify and we got 4th Place with a score of 198 (out of 200). Our second run was a little better, and we got 3rd Place, with a score of 204. In APDT, they have a bonus exercise at the end that you have the option of doing for extra points. So, that's how we ended up with more than 200 points. There were a couple of REALLY good teams out there -- they were a lot of fun to watch. Now I have to learn all the titles in this venue -- I'm not sure what title we're going for at this point! I do know we need one more qualifying score for that title, so hopefully by November I'll know what I'm working towards!

Conor Earns His Rally Excellent Title

2008-09-15T05:03:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, Conor earned his Rally Excellent title at the Prescott Arizona Kennel Club! YAY! On Saturday, he earned his second leg, with a 1st Place, and then on Sunday he earned his third leg to complete his title, with a 2nd Place. He also earned his second leg towards his CD on Saturday with a 1st Place. After a beautiful run on Sunday, he went down on his long sit. DRATS!!! The saying for the day from a lot of people was, "Guess I'm going to Tucson in November!" (that's where the next obedience trials are). So, guess I'm going to Tucson too! I also showed Kaylie for fun in Rally on Sunday. Her Excellent run was actually not very good, but she did qualify. Her Advanced run was very nice though, and she got 2nd Place.

Saturday night we had a big doggie slumber party. We stayed with our friends Terri and Cindi, and their doggies Chase and Mozart. The dogs had an absolute blast, jumping from bed to bed and wrestling non-stop. And we all had so much fun watching these goof balls, and laughing at the silly antics of our fur kids.

Kaylie's Journey for her Merit of Excellence - DOCNA Agility

2008-09-01T20:33:00.000-07:00

We did it!!! Kaylie and I became the first team to start at the Beginner level in DOCNA to earn the Merit of Excellence (“MEX”). It sure wasn’t easy, but gosh it has been a blast. The trials we've been to, the friends we've made -- all the laughs and all the tears. It's been quite a journey.

Kaylie’s agility career began in 2005. I showed her in a few trials through 2005, but at that time, my focus was on Takara, my Akita. I just entered Kaylie in a couple of runs at each show to get some experience. Then DOCNA had its first trial on February 19, 2006 in Phoenix. Kaylie Q’d in all her runs but the Gamblers run. Through 2006, Kaylie and I were coming together as a team and I was getting used to running a pretty fast dog (I was so used to running an older Akita -- so I had to starting thinking and cueing much faster!) But we were doing pretty good, earning lots of Q's. In early 2007, we hit our first road block. All of a sudden, we couldn’t buy a Q to save our life. I hadn’t been feeling well, but I kept going, showing in agility, obedience, rally obedience and conformation – I had shows almost every weekend for about 3 months straight. I was worn down and exhausted. It turned out I had pneumonia. I took some time off from showing to recuperate. The fall shows started up, and Kaylie and I were back! Woooo hoooooo!! Then my mom got real sick towards the end of the year. There was a DOCNA trial the weekend of December 29 & 30, 2007. My mom was in the hospital, and Friday, December 28, my mom had a really bad day. I was at the hospital the entire day, because the doctors didn't think she was going to make it through the day. I was torn whether or not to go to the trial, or be with my mom at the hospital. I decided to go to the trial – figuring my mom would want me to be doing something I enjoy doing. Our first run that weekend of course was Traditional Gamblers. We didn’t Q – I don’t even think we got over 10 points – it was a disaster of a run. One of my friends told me that it was probably because I was preoccupied with my mom, and I should probably leave the show and go to the hospital. I’m pretty stubborn when it comes down to it, and I wasn’t going to give up and leave, even though in the back of my mind I did keep wondering if I really should be there. I did stay. We ended up Q-ing in most of our runs that weekend. I couldn’t wait to see my mom on Monday to let her know how we did. My mom actually had a “good” weekend, and her health started to improve. I saw her that Monday and told her that we had done well. She was heavily sedated, but I’m sure she heard me. Unfortunately, that Wednesday, her health deteriorated quickly, and she lost her battle with diabetes the next day. I know she’s there watching us at every trial, although she never has helped us with those darned Traditional Gamblers Qs!!! Mom!!! :)

Fast forward to May 2008. There was a trial in Prescott – all we needed to finish the MEX was 2 Standard runs and 2 Gamblers runs. Of course the first run Saturday was Traditional Gamblers. We didn’t get it. BUMMER!!! At that point I knew I had to go to the Pinetop trial over Labor Day weekend. We did end up getting the two Standard legs we needed, and we got 1 of the 2 Gamblers legs we needed, by qualifying in the Strategic Timed Gamblers class. Now I had to fill out the entry form for the Pinetop trial. All I need to earn the MEX was ONE Gamblers leg – it could be either a Traditional Gamblers leg or a Strategic Gamblers leg. I had to decide if it was worth spending the money on a hotel room Friday night, take off work early Friday so I could get to Pinetop at a decent time, and take a chance on that Traditional Gamblers run on Saturday morning. Money is a little tight right now, so I decided to forego that Traditional Gamblers run (we've only Q'd in 3 Traditional Gamblers classes in 2.5 years anyway), drive up Saturday morning, do a couple of runs Saturday, and focus on the Strategic Time Gamblers on Sunday. Everyone thought I was crazy to put everything on the line for that Strategic Time Gamblers run. But I had faith we could do it. We got to the show site at about 8:30 a.m. on Saturday. Kaylie was just entered in the two Jumpers runs, and Conor was entered in a Standard run and a Jumpers run on Saturday. All of a sudden it started raining. And it rained, and rained and rained. It would stop for a bit, then rained some more. The show did go on though. Kaylie ended up doing awesome in her two Jumpers runs – she didn’t miss a beat – no wide turns or anything – they were perfect runs, and she got 1st Place in both runs, finishing her Specialist Silver Jumpers Merit Award. Yay! Conor did well in his two runs, although he didn’t Q. He was under much better control than he was in Utah at his first trial – he looked like he had actually had some training! Finally Sunday came, and it was sunny, but there were dark clouds all around. We got through Trigility and most of the Specialist level of the North America Challenge and then it started raining – it was pouring. Jim Mills (DOCNA's fearless leader, and my great agility trainer) decided to stop the trial for about 30 minutes to see if things would let up. It was now pouring. I was so sure that Jim was going to come to me to tell me that the trial was going to be cancelled – I kept trying to prepare myself on how I was going to react – I wanted that MEX so bad!!! I didn’t want to have to wait for the next trial (I’m NOT good at waiting). The rain wasn’t letting up, so Jim decided to stop things for a couple hours, see how things looked, and if there was a break, he would finish up the North America Challenge runs, and then instead of doing the scheduled Standard runs, we would do Strategic Timed Gamblers runs instead. A few people mentioned to me that the show was going on just so I could get my chance at that MEX. Oh my!!! The pressure!!! What if we didn’t get it?????

We ended up going to my friend Jill’s cabin during the break, because we didn’t want to hang out in the cold rain for two hours. She cranked up the heat in the cabin and we sat and chatted, and I agonized the whole time about not being able to qualify in that Gamblers run. At about 12:00 we noticed blue skies and we headed back to the show site . Things started back up pretty close to 12:30 or so. The North America Challenge classes finshed up, and it was finally time for Strategic Timed Gamblers. For those that don’t know how this class works, you get 30 seconds to run a course that you make up. Each obstacle is worth a set amount of points, and at the Specialist level you have to get at least 19 points. You plan your course so you can rack up as many points as you can in 30 seconds. At 30 seconds, a horn blows. At the sound of the horn, you get 15 more seconds to get some more points and then cross the finish line. BUT, it’s not quite that easy. You actually have 12.5 to 15 seconds to cross that line. If you cross the line before 12.5 seconds, or if you cross after the 15 seconds, you don’t qualify. So you really have to know your dog, know where you are on the course, and know how long it takes your dog to complete the obstacles you choose on your path to the finish line. It sounds crazy, but it’s a very fun challenge. As I was planning my course, my stomach was turning, and I could feel the pressure mounting (I don’t normally get nervous – this was a new thing for me). I finished my walk through, made sure I was checked in, then went to get Kaylie. We did our normal routine, playing catch and tug and we did some heeling and fun stuff. It was finally our turn – we walked into the ring, and all of a sudden everything seemed very calm and all I could see was Kaylie and the course ahead of us. I couldn’t even tell you at this point if it was raining or not, I was so focused on our run. We ran everything perfectly – she was right where she was supposed to be at that 30-second horn. We did what we needed to to get out and cross the finish line. I looked over to the right, and there was Jim with the MEX medal!! Woooo hoooo!!! We made it!!! We got our medal, and then ran a victory lap for us, and for my mom. It was very cool. Turns out it wasn't raining during our run -- I think mom stopped that rain for at least those 45 seconds we were in the ring.

So that’s Kaylie’s journey to her MEX. She’s a one-in-a-million dog, and I’m so blessed she fell into my life. I knew the minute I saw her that she was a very special dog, and that as a team, we were destined for great things.

As for Conor’s runs on Sunday – he qualified in his Strategic Time Gamblers run (despite my totally forgetting about him and not planning a course he could run!!) AND -- he got 1st place in that Gamblers run. He also qualified in his Standard run, with 1st place!! WOW!!!!! I’m always just stunned what this little boy does. Hopefully in a couple of years we’ll be earning Conor’s MEX!!!

Conor Finishes 2007 #9 in the Country!

2008-08-05T21:43:00.000-07:00

Surprises of all surprises -- the other day I got in the mail a certificate from the United States Australian Shepherd Association for Conor finishing #9 for Novice Rally for 2007! I really do need to stop underestimating that little dog. He sure has a big heart for such a little man -- giving it his all any time he's in the ring. He may not always be perfect, but he really does give each performance everything he can give.

And right now, he is ranked #3 for Advanced A Rally and #3 for Excellent A Rally. Of course I can't do a post without mentioning the awesome Ms. Kaylie. She is ranked #1 for Advanced B Rally and #7 for Excellent B Rally.

Results from Saturday & Sunday's Trials

2008-07-14T19:31:00.000-07:00

Agility Rule #10: For every great day of agility is an equally not so good day of agility. Not that we really had a bad day, just not a Q day. Kaylie had a wrong tunnel entrance on her Standard run (she did take the tunnel entrance that the teeter was pointing RIGHT at!) But alas, that was the wrong end. And then on her Jumpers run, I just turned a nano second too soon and pulled her off a jump. Both runs were awesome despite these 2 mistakes. And then Conor's FAST run was just that -- F A S T. And just wrong. But he had fun.

Agility Rule #11: Never let negative random thoughts pop into your head regarding your agility abilities. I got to the show site a little early Saturday. I got set up, sat down to look at the course maps, and for some reason a thought popped into my head: It had been a long time since we had NOT Q'd in Jumpers. We've Q'd in just about every Jumpers run we've done this year -- for some reason I thought to myself that all good things do have to come to an end. WHY did I think that??? I don't know. And of course what happens? We didn't Q. Hmmmm.

On Sunday, Kaylie's Standard run was pretty darn awesome. There were several traps, and we made it through them up until the end. The weave poles were in a corner that wasn't really used all weekend, and were pretty close to the ring gates. We had to do a tight wrap from the weaves to the A-frame, then to the right of the A-frame was a curved tunnel. I ended up kind of tripping right at the end of the weave poles because the ground was pretty lumpy, which pulled her out of the weave poles. This actually happened to a lot of teams. So not sure if it was the uneven ground, or the fact that the weave poles were really close to the ring gate or that too many people turned towards the A-frame before the dog finished the weaves. If the weaves didn't get people, it was the tunnel entrance -- most dogs headed straight to the jump that was right in front of the A-frame. But we had a great run despite the mess up at the weaves. Then came our Jumpers run. I knew my mistake from the day before was thinking my run on Jumpers Q's had to run out, so I knew I HAD to Q on this one. And we did. There were several traps which I handled very conservatively to make sure we did it right, so that did cause us to run a little slower (we were only 10 seconds under time), but at least it was a Q, and good enough for 3rd place. YAY! Then on to Conor's first ever Standard run. Boy oh boy. Instead of going through the tire jump, he ran under it. He flew across the dog walk, but at least he did hit the contacts. Next was a tunnel to the teeter. I crossed at the far end of the tunnel to direct him to the teeter, but I swear, I didn't see him come out of the tunnel. I looked up and saw him flying in the air off the teeter!!!!! He was just this big ball of fluff flying through the air. Goof ball. I think he missed the next few obstacles -- he was going so darn fast, I just don't know. Then we got to the table. Whew -- we got 5 seconds to catch our breath!! Then he actually finished the rest of the course perfectly. So he can do it!! His next trial will be the end of August, so we have some time to work on that team work concept. :)

We headed home super early Monday morning. It was a beautiful morning, and I just had to stop and take some pictures at Lake Powell. I found a scenic spot where we could stop. Here are Kaylie and Conor enjoying the view of the lake.

We even saw a cute little bunny hanging out by a bush. He didn't seem phased at all by the wonder doggies.

Kaylie's Double Q #5 and Conor's First Agility Ribbons

2008-07-11T16:11:00.000-07:00

It was an incredible day!! The day started off with the FAST class. The object of the FAST class is to collect as many points as you can (each obstacle has a flag with a point value), as well as doing a distance challenge. I'm so thankful I didn't enter Kaylie in the Excellent FAST class. There would have been NO way she could have done it. Here is a picture of the portion of the course with the distance challenge. There must have been 30 feet from the tape line to the tunnel. The challenge was to go from the green jump to the tunnel to the white winged jump. There were just a few dogs who succesfully completed that distance challenge. Anyway, we finally got to the Novice FAST class that Conor was entered in. He didn't do everything I expected him to, but it was enough to qualify and got FIRST PLACE!!! I was quite amazed. He had such a great time too, but we definitely need to work on the team work idea. :) Here is Conor with his first agility ribbons. Next was Kaylie's Excellent Jumpers run. Man it was a tricky course -- lots of traps, and it was set up so we almost HAD to do on-side weaves. Most people would prefer on-side weaves, but for some reason all of a sudden, we've been having problems with them. I walked the course probably 30 times, and every time I did it running towards the weaves so I could do off-side. It was all going to depend on how fast Kaylie was going if I was going to be able to pull it off. Well, she was flying, and there was no way I could get in position to do the off-side weaves, so I held my breath and tried not to move any part of my body to get those on-side weaves, and WHEW!! She did it. So we Q'd, and ended up getting 3rd place!!!! I was very amazed, because there were lots of very fast Border Collies out there. The 2nd place dog was exactly 1 second faster than Kaylie, and the 1st place dog was just like 10/100's of a second faster. So way cool!!! Then on to our Standard run. Oh man was it tough. There was a very tight boxy pinwheel section with weird angles in one portion, and then a very tough weave pole entrance. Again, that weave pole entrance favored those on-side weaves. I walked it both ways, but I just had a bad feeling with those on-side weaves. I just didn't trust that we could do 2 in a row, so I ran as fast as I possibly could to front cross in front of the weave poles to get off-side. It worked!! Whew!!! Next came the pinwheel portion, and again, I was holding my breath -- I thought for sure she was going to knock a bar -- she's never been a real tight jumper, and there were a couple of very severe tight wrap jumps in that pinwheel. But oh my -- she did it!!!! After that was just the dog walk and one more jump. I was still holding my breath, praying she didn't miss that dog walk contact. SHE MADE IT!!!!!! I thought for sure I was going to throw up after that -- I didn't breath for over 25 seconds!! And then it turns out we got 2nd PLACE!!!!! That meant we got 1.5 times our points, which turned out to be 27 points in our Standard run. WOOO HOOOOOO!!!!! We got 12 points from our Jumpers run, so we ended the day with 39 MACH points. I think we need around 500 more points, and 15 more double Q's. Oh boy!!! We can't wait to see what happens tomorrow!

We Made it to Utah!!

2008-07-11T04:48:00.001-07:00

After 13 hours on the road, we FINALLY made it to our hotel. We passed 4 major accidents, one car fire and one semi truck fire and tons of construction. I believe there are more roads under construction in Utah than in Phoenix!!! The semi fire even made the news last night. Our hotel is wonderful though, and Kaylie and Conor are making themselves very comfortable in the king size bed, couch and chairs. We're off to the agility trial where Conor will be making his agility debut. Not sure what to expect but will post later how it all went.

Hiking with the Wonder Dogs

2008-07-05T09:48:00.000-07:00

Arizona has some of the most beautiful sunrises! Here is what my new hiking buddies missed this morning. After just one hike, I think they decided that it's much nicer to stay in bed rather than get up at 4 a.m. to meet by 5 a.m. for a nice hike. Or, perhaps I need to bribe them with Hostess donuts or Ding Dongs (see A Little Diamond's blog about things she needs to be embarrassed about below). One friend did show up though, so we had a great hike up the mountain -- without the help of Hostess!

Patriotic Pooches

2008-07-04T11:58:00.000-07:00

Kaylie, Takara and Conor (and Brandon - the non-furry kid) wish you a Happy 4th of July! We're looking forward to fish tacos at Rubio's and watching the fireworks !