bsbeamer

 Been hectic lately.  I can't write much.  NYC and the cruise was a BLAST!  Then, the Chicago regionals were a lot of fun.  That surface is amazing.  I wish we could run on it more often.  Kody ended up 2nd in Team Snooker and 4th in Team Gamblers...pretty cool.

When I returned from Chicago, I then realized that I had a 4-day AKC show in Hattiesburg.  So that was a lot of fun too.  Ran Zip and Kody there. 

Here are a few videos.  I hope to post more when I get a chance.  Oh, I start LSU on Monday.  Woo!

Here's Kody in Masters Jumpers from the Chicago regional.  I clapped over a bar, which caused it to fall, but otherwise a smokin' run.  He did have the fastest time in the 22 and 26" class...



Here's Kody at the 4-day Hattiesburg show.  Only 3 runs:



And Zip at the AKC Hattiesburg show.  I really feel like we're coming together as a team.  She's been great, and those last two JWW runs felt very nice when I was running them.  I was able to cue each jump like I wanted, and she responded appropriately (APHS is a wonderful thing).  Great job Zip!

I must be completely crazy. 

I am going to NYC with my family for a couple of days (leaving this Thursday morning), followed by a cruise up to Nova Scotia and back next week.  We get back into NYC next Thursday.  After this weekend, and after a judging assignment fell through, I decided to attend the Chicago regional with Kody.  So, I reworked my flights...I go straight from NYC to Chicago, run at the regional, and come home that Sunday night.  Renee has graciously accepted the transportation responsibility for Kody to and from IL, so I won't have to fly him.  I'll buy her a few drinks and dinner while there.   I do hate to leave *my* dogs for that long (1.5 weeks), but I think they'll be OK.

Kody and I felt pretty good this weekend, which is why I want to try our luck at the regional.  I plan on attending the Ft Worth regional as well, but I figured this would give us another opportunity at the semi-final byes that are oh-so-important.

If you're going, we'll see you there! 

Plan:  New Orleans to NYC to Canada to Nova Scotia back to NYC to Chicago to Crystal Lake back to Chicago back to New Orleans.  Exhilarating!

 Boring title, I know.

Anyway, day three.  I can remember each run now.  :)

First was Gamblers.  Zip did very well.  She popped a pole in the first set of weaves, which caught me off guard.  Otherwise, she did it nicely.  Kody didn't really have the skill needed to push out to get the last jump, which is OK.  His lead out push on the opening was not so hot...I need to work those when I get him.

Second, Standard.  Zip did nicely, except for a missed A-Frame contact.  Naughty girl.  Kody did wonderfully.  Again, my direction of motion following the forward send was NOT what I walked, nor correct.  I think if I keep repeating this I might do it right one day.  ;)  I did do a double FC that was decent.  And I do think that the turn out of the chute, cued with no motion, resulted in one of the tightest turns.  Good run.

Third, Pairs.  Zip had a fantastic run.  Q'd

Fourth, Snooker.  It was a tight course.  Zip knocked the 5 in the opening, then the 7 in the closing, so no Q.  Kody put his head into a tunnel that was an incorrect obstacle (I was supposed to call him between two tunnels - tough much?  So, no Q's

Fifth, Jumpers.  I was thrilled with both dogs.  Zip ran great.  My landing side FC between 3 and 4 could've been potentially nicer.  I am trying to use more forward cues with her to keep her from adding a bunch of strides.  Kody had a fantastic run.  He won the class by 0.9 seconds, beating out a bunch of dogs.  Handling was pretty good, however I really didn't give any collection/turning cues for the second and third FC's of either dog.  Zip probably doesn't need them, but Kody could've used a little more info, especially at the ending FC.

Here are a few of the runs:
 

 

 Just finished day 2 of the 4-day Dog Gone Fun show in MS.  There are a ton of dogs here!!

I'm not going to attempt to go over each and every run, as I'm running 2.5 dogs (one I run occasionally).  I believe I've run about 24 runs thus far.  Yikes! 

The show is going well.  Both dogs made it into the Steeplechase finals for tomorrow, so I'm going for the big bucks!  

Here are a couple of runs from the show: 
 

First is Masters Jumpers with Kody.  He ran this so nicely, and it was a fun course (if you set your lines of motion appropriately).  He won the class by over a second.  I was not so happy with my direction of motion following the forward send in the pinwheel (I moved right when I should've moved more towards the tunnel).  But, he read it, so I'm happy with it.  Good boy Kody!  Scottsdale here we come!

I was also playing with audio editing, so please excuse the music.

 

The other video is of Zip running Masters Snooker.  She ran a 59 point plan on one of Kula's weird Snookers.  My handling pretty much sucked throughout the course (I get a bit frantic when I'm running Snooker, and she's getting higher and higher), but she knew what I wanted and got through it.  She ended up 3rd with a Super Q, which she needed.  She would've been 2nd had she not run around the A-Frame, but such is luck.  I said "Climb", which is Kody's command for the A-Frame, instead of "Scramble".  Now normally this would not matter, but in a discrimination, she was relying totally on my verbal, which was WRONG.  Ah well!  Good girl Zip!  Tulsa, here we come!  ;)

 

 

Looking forward to the next two days with these brilliant dogs!  

 

 On Friday - Wikked and I QQ'd.  She was an excellent girl.
On Saturday - not so much.  I was pulled over on the 610 loop for speeding (I talked my way out of a ticket!!), so Brittany graciously ran Wikked in JWW (I missed the walkthrough).  She had an R at one jump, but was otherwise a good dog.  I ran her in Standard.  She came off the A-Frame before I was ready, and ended up blasting past the table which was next.  Otherwise, clean.
Today - I took it easy.  Had brunch, shopped, watched some conformation, and drove home.

A fun weekend.  Looking forward to this coming one - 4 days of USDAA.  Oh my.

Got home and trained Beamer a bit.  His 2x2's are coming...I'm very pleased with his progress.

Didn't run any dogs today = slept in 'til 11:30.  Tomorrow I get to run Wikked (sheltie) in Excellent Standard and JWW = sleep in 'til 6:15.  Other than that, it's shopping and watching for me.  The dog I was going to show in conformation was shipped off to Illinois to be bred, so that's a no-go.  

Looking forward to being able to run.  The surface is worse than I've seen in a while, including dogs that plainly slid into the wings of jumps knocking them over.  This is where, in my opinion, cueing the dog in a manner similar to the Awesome Paws system is truly beneficial (versus other systems of handling).  They need to know how to take the jump and where the are going before they commit to it, or they will slide all over the place (unsafely I might add).

Ah well, more challenge for me... :)

 Okay - entry numero dos for my blog.  This could become addicting.  Or it could fizzle out.  Who knows...

Trained Beamer today after work.  It's is so hot outside, it's forcing me to keep my training sessions short.  Now, I do believe in short training sessions - I think the quality of the work begins to deteriorate after too long.  However, in actuality I have a hard time quitting.  So the heat is giving me good reason to stop...the tongue rolling back into the mouth is a good indicator that it might be time to take a break.  :)  

Worked on the 2x2's some more.  He's got two sets that are about 5 feet apart, and successful about 90% of the time.  He tends to have failures when I have a lot of motion...so I need to work that.  And, it's really only on one side.  He hasn't missed the first set in a while (and every few reps I reward the entry before allowing him to continue to set #2), it's only the second set that he tends to run by.  And it's only on my right.  You can bet which side I'll be working tonight.  By the end of the two sessions I did today, I was moving a lot more than when I started.  Progress!

I had the triple jump set up in the 'training room', and he learned about that last week.  He had no problems with that.  I set up the tire today, and he immediately offered the behavior I wanted.  Awesome.  So I got the tire up to about 22" before I quit.  I'll probably go the rest of the way up this evening/tonight.

I'm getting very excited about this weekend.  I have to have immunizations done for LSU tomorrow (feels like a vet visit...lol), then I'm off to Houston on Wednesday.  I'm showing a friend's sheltie in conformation.  I'm happy about that - every once in a while I miss that sport.  Then I have a fantastic agility run and remember why I gave it up.  ;)  Maybe Beamer will magically grow coat and be ready for the breed ring.  Not holding my breath...

Here's my first blog posting.  Exciting!  Beamer's just turned a year (June 18), and he is turning out marvelously.  Currently, we are working on the 2x2 weaves (our main focus right now), jumping through the Developing Jumping Skills book, and nose touches in preparation for his dogwalk training.  So there is plenty on our plate.

Here are some updated pictures of Beamer:
 

I've also managed to purchase a new video camera that takes decent still shots (the pics above are all from the video camera).  Here's a YouTube of some more pics of Beamer:  

Enjoy!  Hopefully I'll be back to write more.