Selby Agility 29 Nov 2010 - Including first pass in Excellent agility

Selby Meets the Sheep and Excellent Agility

After finally finishing my teaching prac a couple of weeks ago we headed to Albany for the agility trial there and a weeks holiday. (Thankfully we had the best holiday as the trial is hardly worth mentioning)

All the dogs had the best time as we stayed on a farm with a lovely yard and went for many walks discovering the beaches of Albany and Denmark.

On the way home we stopped off at a friends farm in Kojonup for a night. They had 8 4 week old puppies which were just lovely to play with (I wanted to sneak 1 home with me) They were all so cute!

Selby's highlight of the visit was getting to meet the sheep! She has never seen sheep before so I was curious as to how she would react - as you'll see in the video she had a ball. I totally amazed me that she knew what to do (kind of) purely by natural instinct. I don't know a lot about sheep herding but apparently it was not bad for a first effort. Selby couldn't get enough of it and would have loved to have had another go, but we had a long drive and a trial to get home to and I didn't want her to be exhausted before we got there.

After arriving home via a Boddington to see an old student of mine (so great to catch up with him and his family) we quickly unpacked and then repacked the car and headed off again to a trial. I was amazed at how well Selby ran in both Excellent Agility and Excellent Jumping (the Open Agility was ok but she decided she had done enough contacts for 1 day). The night got off to a great start with our 1st pass in Excellent Agility on just our 3rd attempt Yay Selby! We finished 1st in 500and 2nd overall. In Jumping just 1 bar came down :( but it was such a smooth run and I enjoyed both runs so much.

2010 Royal Show Part 2 - A great day!

Week 2 of the Royal saw our most successful run of the show (after a Snooker effort that doesn't bear mention)

Novice Gamblers was our last 'roll of the dice' for this year's show. Whilst we have had 2 passes in Gamblers before, they have not been the smoothest of runs. So the plan this time was to pick a course and stick to it no matter what happened - I get very confused if I decide to go back and fix obstacles so there would be none of that! As it happens Selby had a fantastic run that didn't require any changes of plan. She got 3 out of 3 contacts (not brilliantly but compared to jumping off miles above the colour the way she has been lately they were great) and even threw in a few jumps of her own to get some extra points! I only planned up until I had completed the weaves a 2nd time thinking that then I would be near the gamble for the closing. Turns out 45 seconds is a really long time!!!! we had plenty of time to do some extra bits whilst we waited for the whistle to go. There was a heart stopping moment as Selby ran towards me after the tunnel in the gamble but thankfully I was expecting that this might happen and had planned to spin her around to get her over the last jump if needed. Yay she went clear and got her Novice Gamblers Title - her 3rd title for the year!!

As games are not played often there are a lot of much more experienced dogs in Novice still so we had to wait to find out if she had placed. Turns out there were 7 qualifiers with my little puppy topping them all!!! What a great way to end our 1st Royal Show.

2010 Royal Show

This weekend saw us compete in the Royal Show for the 1st time - hard to think that this time last year we hadn't started trialling yet!
Saturday was an early start off to the teams event. Looking specky in our new shirts team Xtreme was ready to take on the rest.
Selby joined Maverick, Phoenix and Chuckles to compete in both Jumping and Agility. Phoenix got us off to a great start with a clear round in jumping (no pressure on the rest of us)All the dogs had pretty good runs but sadly not good enough tho place.
In the Agility comp none of the dogs ran clear, but with only 6 faults between them all we were amazed to find we had placed 3rd!! - Not bad for a bunch of newbies taking on far more experienced teams :)
I accidentally entered Open Jumping so we gave that a go in the afternoon. Sadly I did a front cross that just kept crossing (yep - a very dodgy move) This resulted in Selby taking the spread from the side and running through it like a channel. The crowd thought it was really funny, I was just plain embarrassed! Despite my dodgy handling I was really happy with the way Selby ran - she did go where I sent her after all!
Saturday was the Obedience trial so Selby had a day off while I went along to watch and see what obedience was all about - maybe one day we will give it a go (maybe).
Back again yesterday for Agility and Jumping. Novice agility started really well but Selby sadly took a wrong entry into the tunnel and then blew her contacts - something we really need to fix soon. Excellent jumping was also a really good run with just 1 bar and deciding not to take one jump. In both runs Selby had great drive and her run home in the jumping was great so I am really happy with how she is going especially as we nearly had to pull out of the trial as she was lame a couple of weeks ago.Back next Saturday for the games and hopefully a clear round!

Selby AD

Selby turned 3 on Saturday and celebrated by finally achieving the 3rd leg of her Novice Agility Title at yesterday's Midland trial. It was a nice flowing course for her so I was just worried about her contacts- she got them both! Yay! There's a few things that need working on but not going to worry about them today - just going to celebrate my clever puppy no longer being a novice dog :)

Selby's 1st run in Excellent Jumping

Mikeshe

A Day of Highs and Lows

Last Sunday was a day of emotional highs and lows with my beloved pets.
We set of early for the days trial in Rockingham and as it was raining hard I wasn't too concerned when Mikeshe (my cat) wasn't waiting on the front porch for breakfast - if she's not there it normally means she is in the roof taking cover, she's certainly never far away. Anyway - car packed ready for trial and a road trip with friends to Margaret River, dogs loaded, no Amos this weekend as he wasn't coming away with me but I did have Maverick in tow as he had been staying with us and was off to Jules' place for a few days.

It was a wet and wild morning but managed to stay fairly nice during the trial. Selby's day got off to a brilliant start when in her 1st run of the day she got her Novice Jumping Title!!!! WOOOHOOO!!! I thought she had been called for a refusal early on and lost a bit of touch with her coming through the tunnel so was surprised to hear 'clear' called at the end, but hey, we got there and I was stoked! (and she came 1st Yippee)

Contacts remain a problem in the ring so we blew both agility rounds but gave Excellent Jumping a go in the afternoon. This was probably one of the best courses I have run with Selby and she just got one refusal and dropped the last bar so I was really happy. In the Open it was just 1 refusal! Overall a really good day....

And then it got bad ....

Just after my last run I picked up a missed call from my flatmate. Sadly it was to tell me that Mikeshe had been run over and killed. I just couldn't believe it. She is the world's most timid cat and never ventures more than a few feet from the front door - I have certainly never seen her near a road!! I was absolutely gutted. I have had Miki for 10 years and whilst she was shy around other people she has been just the loveliest cat with me (and she could fetch better than any dog I have ever owned)It was really hard to continue on my trip south for the week and having to rely on my flatmate to bury her was really difficult.

I have just arrived home from my trip and it's going to take a long time to get used to not being greeted at the door by my beautiful kitty :( I have Maverick back for a few days and between him and Selby am sure to get plenty of cuddles but I'm just really going to miss my favourite putty cat

Selby Learns the Seesaw

With 2 passes in Novice Agility it is time to learn the seesaw. I was a bit worried about teaching this to Selby as I didn't know if she would like it. No need to have worried - she LOVES it! This video is of only the 3rd time I have had her on it and so far I am really happy with how it is going. If the seesaw is set up and I am not paying attention Selby runs out and just does it on her own!! As much as I don't want her taking off and doing her own thing, I am stoked that she likes it so much :)
So far we just have it on 1/2 height and it will stay there until I am really happy with her speed and end, then we'll start raising the level. Will be quite happy if she stays in Novice just a while longer so we can perfect it, I don't want to rush what is looking like being a great piece of equipment for us.

Crash Tackle.avi

Don't pay too much attention to Selby's run - it wasn't very good. Watch the bottom right of the screen for the great crash tackle of the 4 yr old pitch invader! This was taken when we traveled up to Geraldton recently

Agility Selby Novice Agility Leg - 13 June 2010

Agility Amos 19 June 10 - Title

Happenings Since Nationals - and Amos' Jumping Title!

Since the Nationals we have had a few trials - both in and out of the ring! Selby continues to knock just 1 bar in most jumping courses but has really found some drive which is exciting. Her jumping at Northern Suburbs was oh so close - just went round the broad as she was travelling so fast. Sadly in her Agility runs she has decided that she doesn't like contacts and regularly jumps off of them. This doesn't happen in training so is quite hard to fix. We have been working really hard and with some extra training on Monday nights she is starting to get it again.
The ACWA trial saw her get her 2nd pass in Novice Agility and 1st place YAY - her morning run was a lot better, she just missed the contact. The pass was a bit shaky but she got it so I am stoked :) Now we just need 1 more in Jumping and Agility to get titles
Unfortunately a mishap in the newly paved and supposedly safer backyard led to a cracked claw. She spent a day at the vet sedated where they cut it off and she once again became a buckethead! Poor thing did not take kindly to the forced rest that was imposed. Sadly she has had to miss the last 2 trials but thankfully we were able to get her entries refunded which helped a lot with the vet bills. No trial this weekend so she will have to wait an extra weekend - can't wait to see how she goes at Rockingham - possibly will have to deal with a loopy excitable dog but should be fun. We go on from there to a few days in Margaret River which will be great.
Amos - Amos' owner Andrea is working offshore for a few months so he is on a little 'holiday' with friends and loving it! I get visitation rights for training and trials which is great - I miss having him around (except for the snoring)
He is such a great little dog to run but struggles with Double Header trials and tends to sleep most of the afternoon. At Northern Suburbs he took out 1st place in the morning Novice Jumping - a great trial to win as he came away with a massive bag of dog food which will keep both dogs going for quite some time. We thought he got his title when he went clear in the afternoon. Sadly (and my fault for kicking him in the head as he came through the tunnel) he missed out by 0.4 seconds.
We made up for it at Gosnells the next week with a fantastic run to get his Novice Jumping Title, backed up with another clear round in the afternoon just to prove it wasn't a fluke.
So Amos won the 'which dog will get a title first' race and will now have to start tackling the Excellent courses - not sure about him but will be interesting to see if I'm ready for that! Hopefully Selby will join him there soon.
Videos coming soon

Nationals 2010 Selby Novice Snooker

Amos 2nd Place Novice Jumping 2010 Nationals

Nationals 2010

Well it's been a while and I haven't written about the Nationals - here's the 'what I remember recount'
Selby 1st - Selby had some lovely runs and I was really happy with her overall. Sadly we did not qualify for any finals, many times by just one bar! Her best runs came in the games with qualifiers in both Novice Gamblers and Snooker. She finished midway up the field for both which is pretty goos seeing as there are many Masters level dogs still in Novice for the games. Looking at her times she was really quick, just didn't get the high scores.
Amos - Our success story of the Nationals. Day 1, 1st run and Amos goes clear in Novice jumping - what a little legend! He came away with ribbons, trophy and a brand new bed. That was to be his only pass in the heats with a few shockers over the following days including running out of the ring a couple of times and basically running around like a loon! The final was another story. Poor thing was exhausted and barely walking let alone running by the time the Novice Jumping started! He was a star though - I ran conservatively, lining him up nice and straight for the tunnels, then totally threw myself by putting in a front cross one jump too soon - woops! Amos surprised us all and went clear Yippee!! However he wasn't very fast and was beaten by 4 seconds. Oh well can't be disappointed with 2nd place in the Nationals!
Loved watching the other fantastic dogs compete - was a joy to see Epic and Diva take out the Strat Pairs and Diva's amazing run in Masters Jumping was great to watch.
This was a fantastic event to be a part of and really well run by WA, can't wait til the next one in Sydney in a couple of years when we are slightly better prepared and used to competing - Bring it on :)

Nationals 2010

Will post more on this later, but for now here is an awesome run by Megan and Jules with Epic and Diva in the Masters Strat Pairs

Amos' finals - Novice Agility State Titles

Selby's finals run - Novice Agility State Titles

State Titles Novice Agility Qualifying Run (and 1st Novice Agility Pass)

State Titles 2010

This weekend saw our 1st attempt at a State Agility Trial. I must admit that after the last few weeks I was REALLY nervous about running Selby.

We got there to find that Amos was only entered for Saturday - so he would be spectator for the evening.

Selby's 1st run was in Novice jumping. It looked like it was going to be a really hard course and I was worried about her taking the ring rope. Turns out she had a fantastic run and got round the really tricky bits well. Just one bar down (the only one for the whole weekend!) and that was my fault for crossing too close and making her shorten up.

Open Jumping - a bit tough for us but good for the extra run. Selby took the tunnel at distance but was surprised to find me so far away when she came out and got pretty flustered.

Last run of the night - Novice Agility. First Agility pass WooHoo!!!! What a time to do it :) Not the smoothest run but you can't argue with a pass!

After a long night it was back to the trial at 7am, this time with Amos ready to run.

Novice Jumping - A good 1st attempt for Amos, he just popped out the wrong end of the tunnel, but all else was good. Selby just got a refusal on 1 jump - soo close :(

Open Jumping - Another tricky course and not such good handling but good for the weave practice.

Novice Agility - YAY Amos! Who would have thought it! 1st trial and he weaves AND passes AND comes 4th!!! Both dogs now against each other in the finals. Selby popped out of the weaves.

Finals - WOW so nervous. They only ran 1 ring at a time so everyone was watching which was really intimidating.

Amos got to go 1st and sadly ran around jump no 2 and took it from the back. He also ran off after something at the back of the ring and missed the weaves. But overall pretty stoked at his 1st trial :)

Was SOOOO nervous running Selby. After being concerned about her going out of the ring on the 1st night, it never occurred to me she would do it on this course, but she did! just kept running and took the rope instead of the jump :( She also found the back of the ring interesting and came off the table. Best part of the whole weekend was her weaves though. It was a really hard entry off the A-Frame on an angle - and she NAILED it!!!!! was stoked with her.

Overall I was really happy with our 1st attempt at a major competition with heats and finals. A great prep and confidence boost for the Nationals coming up in a few weeks

Big thanks to Robyn Evans for the great pics :)

Amos

Amos belongs to my flatmate Andrea. She has been training him here as well as up in Geraldton where they lived for a few months last year. For now I will be running him at trials which is SOO much fun. He is a joy to run and so eager to please and do whatever you want of him. When Andrea started training him Amos was the class clown. And boy he made up laugh. His favourite pasttime was running laps of the training grounds!!

Lately he has settled more with training and has really become clued in to what is expected and just loves agility. I hope that Andrea will take over running him at trials soon, but in the meantime I am having a ball

Ok - haven't added anything for a while. We have been in a few trials and started in ADAA for the 1st time. Unfortunately I entered classes that were way too hard for us and it all went a bit wrong. As a result I got stressed, Selby got stressed and the combined effort was a complete loss of confidence. I won't post the videos, although they weren't all dreadful.

Decided to take a step back and refocus on a few things. We had been doing so much work on weaves that Selby decided that that was all she had to do! Start lines and contacts went completely out the window so have left the weaves and gone back to those for a bit (she is weaving really well, although still only if I am on her right)

Pulled out of Cloverdale which I think was a good decision, I went down to watch and it's really close to the road so the extra stress of that probably wouldn't have helped. Also pulled out of 1 night of the ADAA trial so that I could go down to training. What a good decision. It was sooo much better than the last few - and Selby did the most amazing A-Frame ever!

The Saturday at ADAA was better than the previous trial and far more positive. It was also the 1st time I ran Amos - my flatmates KC Cav. Left early and found out 2 weeks later that Amos got a 2nd and Selby a 3rd at this trial (although neither with clear rounds). Things were starting to look up :)

ACWA Fundraising Trial Feb 17

Ok so there was a trial Jan 29th but it was pretty disastrous so I won't put those videos up! (Who puts weaves at the start line anyway!!)

Last Wednesday was another ACWA fundraiser - this time Agility. Whilst we didn't go clear I was pretty pleased with Selby's run. I got the best lead-out I have had in a really long time and was happy with the middle of the course. Selby got a bit excited and came off the table and I pushed her too far over after the A-frame which pushed her into the wrong side of the weaves. As a result I stopped her, which she hates, and she snapped at me so after 1 attempt at weaving I pulled her off the course. WEAVES WEAVES WEAVES :( Got to work on them.

WooHoo Selby's a star!!

Just got back on Tuesday morning from 4 weeks overseas. Jet lag and the heat meant it was a very short training session Tuesday night so we went into Wednesday's jumping trial with very low expectations. Well I did anyway, Selby had other ideas. I was sure she knocked the 3rd bar but we got a surprise at the presentations to find out that she had not only gone clear for her 2nd pass, but had also gained 1st place again. What a star.
Best thing was how well Selby was running with me, following my lead, not even looking like biting my hand and running a beautiful smooth course. Pity I had such low expectations I didn't get it filmed :(
Now for the next trial Friday night - Agility and Jumping this time - will be interesting to see how we go at weaving, who knows maybe the time off has helped with them too! (Can only hope)
One more pass in Jumping and Selby will have her 1st title. That would be fantastic except then I'd have to try to negotiate excellent courses!