"Yee Haw for Nee Haw"
Comes in Sixth!
NW Agility League - Winter 2005
London looking like a true Oregonian
London's first try at agility league had it's ups and downs, some weeks were definitely better than others for us. Therefore I was pretty darn surprised to see that his team up there in sixth place out of 40+ teams at the end of the seven weeks. Good thing you can throw out one score each week, eh? London actually did a pretty fabulous job for the young guy that he is. It was a great experience for both of us and just the sort of practice we needed - smoothing out the glitches in a competition atmosphere, proofing contacts and weaves, and experimenting with all sorts of new games (I've realized that London, much like Fenwick, doesn't like it when I'm 'making it up'!). London also spent a lot of time practicing his barking technique, he'll be up to Fenwick's standards in no time. I feel like we're ready for our first trial of the year now in February, I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do.
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Agility London Redeems Himself
(Sort of)
Fleet Feet CPE Trial
Turner, OR- November 5-6, 2005
London kept his dorky side mostly under control this weekend. Suddenly, he could weave and do contacts again - and even, occasionally, check in with me! It was like running a whole new dog - One that wasn't a big dork! London ended up qualifying in seven out of eight runs, and even did SNOOKER. He was loud, he was saucy ... but that's all good when he's actually PAYING ATTENTION! So big points to London this weekend, he may really be growing up after all ...
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Flyball London Breaks 4 Seconds!
Cascade Comet's "South of the Boo!der" Flyball Tournament
Auburn, WA - October 29-10th, 2005
Division 4: 2nd place, 3rd Place
London was super excited to go to his third flyball tournament, this is just the ultimate border collie sport! He had never run flyball on a dirt surface before, but it really appeared to suit him as his times were much faster than I expected! We still have work to do on his box turn, but even with his somewhat crazy turn London was running at 4 seconds and below. He was even humoring me and coming back and trading his ball for his tug, but only for a split second, as soon as he grabbed the tug from my hand he would spit it out to go get his ball back. London would just shake in anticipation at the start line, he's such a nut! We're going to keep working on that box turn and I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do then!
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The 'Wheeee-ner' Dog Strikes Again!
CAT Black Cat USDAA Trial
October 15-16, 2005
Just when you think you're safe and your big silly puppy is growing up, suddenly the 'wheee-ner' dog is back in full force! London was just a wild man this weekend, he definitely had his own idea about how the equipment should be done and where we were going! Our first blown contact (CHUTE, CHUTE!) and our first blatant ignoring me to go take another obstacle (CHUTE, CHUTE!). I never knew what he was going to do next, he was a very creative puppy this weekend! For all of that, London had a FABULOUS time, he was just so happy to be there whether he was just hanging out or getting to run. He just wanted to play, no matter what we were doing!
The most impressive run of the weekend for my little whee-ner puppy was actually the Halloween fun run. London had a perfect run, ignoring all costumed children running around, thrown toys and even a KIDDIE POOL! Decorated equipment and costumed judges didn't phase him at all, it's all agility to him. I really thought he was going to just be a total maniac, so I was completely surprised when he didn't even glance at the child blowing bubbles! There's hope for that little 'wheee-ner' yet ...
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FOUR DAYS OF AGILITY ACTION!
PAC Vancouver AKC Trial/Briard National Specialty Agility Trial
September 24-27th, 2005
After spending a good part of the summer recovering from running into one another at agility practice (I would strongly recommend against running into your dog - trust me), London and I were back in action for four days of agility action. So much fun to be able to play again! London was one happy dog, and one happy WEAVING dog, the 'wheee-ner' dog that showed up for our previous agility trial appeared to have grown up some, and London's weaves looked great. We're really enjoying the Open AKC courses and London is learning to generalize to all these new locations and equipment. And he's learning to BARK! (I wonder who taught him that?)
Some really fun runs this weekend, London picked up that final leg for his novice agility title, and we ended up qualifying with first place in four out of eight runs! We're getting better, little by little we're learning to work with one another, and it's really fun when it occasionally all 'comes together'. Of course, sometimes it just goes totally wrong, but I'm not complaining - we were both having a great time, either way. Four days of agility and London is ready for more, he loves the trial environment more at every trial!
MUSIC VIDEOS!
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LONDON'S FIRST USDAA TRIAL
NW Super Regional - Vancouver, WA
July 15th-17th, 2005
London has been, in general, a little bit more laid back at previous trials as opposed to practice or class. And apparently this has worked well, because London decided to really just go nuts at his first USDAA trial. Gone was the calm and controlled puppy of a couple months ago, now it's all about the teenage crackmonkey making up his own courses, darting out of the weaves to take other (apparently more interesting) obstacles, and creeping on his contacts. Sigh.
This weekend was pretty much about damage control as we would fumble from one trainwreck to another around the course. I must say, London certainly had a lot of ENTHUSIASM anyway. And the cause of the creeping contacts was revealed on Sunday when I noticed he had torn a big chunk off his stop pad, possibly on his first rather enthusiastic aframe of the weekend.
Still, perhaps by accident, London managed to qualify in Snooker and Gamblers (he was ALL ABOUT making up his own courses this weekend!). He was also but a weavepole away from qualifying with his standard run (10th pole pop outs - another new and exciting development from this weekend!), and a dropped bar away from qualifying in jumpers (and he only dropped two bars all weekend!). His jumpers run was going great until his directionally challenged handler told him 'right' instead of 'left' and despite my body language to the left, he did a lovely right! I was pretty impressed with that!
Our DAM team, "The Young and Dangerous", finished second to last, I believe. I like to think that our just-for-fun entry helped some poor other hopeful team to qualify!
My baby dog felt VERY babylike this weekend and we have LOTS of things to work on, that's for sure. What a fabulous experience for him though!
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LONDON'S FIRST NADAC TRIAL
(And Second Flyball Tournament!)
July 9-10th, 2005
London had a marathon weekend of dog sports, starting with a flyball tournament on Saturday and his first NADAC trial in Sunday. Things got complicated right from the start when the height dog for the X-Fidos Agents flyball team got sick and suddenly the team was jumping 16 inches - which they'd never even seen before, much less practiced! Yikes! London pulled through, though he still wasn't entirely comfortable with the spacing and the height of the jumps. He was having a great time anyway - who needs to slow down? He was even driving back for his tug!
I was worried that London would be too tired for agility after his flyball tournament, but London never missed a beat and was totally in the game for the trial on Sunday. Not unexpectedly, London had issues with the dogwalk/teeter discrimination with the slatless equipment that continued to worsen through the weekend. Despite that London still did a fabulous job, and the best part of the weekend was his flawless Weavers run! Who would have guessed the dog that had such an issue with weaving in competition would do so well? London loves to surprise me, that's for sure ...
All in all, a fabulous weekend and London was always ready for action and having a great time. Traveling, new venues, new places, new equipment ... he just took it all in stride - what a trooper!
And this weekend London's first USDAA trial - three days! I think we're going to have a lot of fun ...
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LONDON'S FIRST OPEN RUNS!
Giant Schnauzer Club AKC Trial
Vancouver, OR
June 25-26th, 2005
London's first outdoor trial and his first try at Open JWW this weekend. It was a rocky start as our first JWW run of the weekend quickly deteriorated into the Worst Run Ever with some absurd number of faults, and a quirky teeter in the standard ring was causing all sorts of headaches as pretty much every dog was flying off with no concept it was a teeter. BUT, for all our issues on Saturday London had beautiful weaves, and that was one of our big goals for this weekend!
A new teeter and a newly focused London brought a much improved Sunday where London not only qualified in Open JWW but with a perfect run and first place! Our best run yet, and he hit his weaves like a total pro. Coupled with a clean 1st place Novice standard run (once again with NO WEAVE ISSUES) our weekend was complete. This was London's 3rd Novice standard leg, but upon checking my records I realized all his legs are under the same judge - go figure! So we won' t be moving up to Open standard yet, maybe next time ...
London was looking really good, growing up, and we've definitely made some great improvements. Onwards and upwards! He has his first NADAC and USDAA trials next month - I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do!
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LONDON'S FIRST AKC TITLE
MHDPC AKC Trial
Salem, OR
May 14-15, 2005
London's second AKC trial, at another completely new location for London. Once again London proved extremely comfortable with the trial atmosphere, relaxed in his crate and happy and focused on course. We had some good runs! His weaves have definitely improved, and we only had one incident like the last trial where he needed to really calm down before he could weave properly. But he eventually got all his weaves this weekend, and on one awesome JWW run even nailed his weaves the first time through!
We ended up qualifying with first place on both a standard and JWW course, but all the runs had their good points. We have much to work on before his next trial, which won't be for at least another month and half, so we'll keep busy until then. Baby London is growing up fast and is our first dog to ever get an AKC title, his novice jumpers title! Good job, London!
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LONDON: FLYBALL DOG CHAMPION!
Muddy Paws a-Flyin' Flyball Tournament
Portland, OR
April 16-17, 2005
London achieved in first ever tournament what took Fenwick 2 years to accomplish - his FDCH! Poco still isn't even close to that! London was showing off in style this weekend, super fast and totally consistent. This dog was born to play flyball! He was having way too much fun, and not only that, he was a perfect gentleman in-between races, quietly napping in his crate and totally relaxed in the chaotic atmosphere. No issues for this guy! In fact, he was too damn fast, as we broke out twice on Saturday. Slowing him down just was NOT happening, so we had to switch him out to keep us in the game.
London ended up running pretty consistently around 4.3 seconds in all positions. He was still enjoying quite a bit of sight seeing on the run back, and his recalls could definitely be improved. No luck getting him to trade that ball for a tug either ...
The X-Fidos 'Agents' brought home a second place finish on Saturday and a first place win on Sunday. They also achieved what we think is the fastest team time ever with the X-Fidos at 21.43 seconds. Great job guys!
Who knows when London's next tournament will be? Flyball is scarce in our area, but I know that London will be MORE than ready for the next one! In the meantime we'll be working on tightening up that box turn and speeding up that recall ...
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LONDON DOES IT CPE STYLE
CAT CPE Trial
Turner, OR
April 2-3rd, 2005
London proved just as excited for his second agility trial as he was for his first, letting the world know he was ready at the startline, sassing away. Another great trial for the Londonbuns, we experimented with all the new games, did our first snooker run (it was longer than I expected!) and qualified in our first gamble type run, all the while keeping up the good work with the more classic agility runs.
At the end of the weekend baby London qualified 6 out of 7 runs (oh, that pesky Snooker!) with four first place wins! To keep things interesting, London decided to switch from super handler focused to super obstacle focused this weekend, always keeping me on my toes. Always happy and rearing to go, London and I had a blast the whole time and I feel these last couple weekends have been a great trial introduction for him. London even earned his first ever title, his CPE Level 2 standard title! Now it's back to training for London's next trial in May, we'll see how much we can improve by then!
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LONDON TAKES 1st PLACE
The Destructopuppy's First Agility Trial
PAC AKC Trial
McMinnville, OR - March 26-27th, 2005
It seems only yesterday that London was just a little puppy who would scream his head off if he ever saw another dog doing agility. Now that crazy puppy is all grown up and going to his first trial! We had low expectations for our 15 month old baby dog, the goal was to have fun and build a good foundation for future trials. London proved he was more than ready for the big time, however, with lots of speed, enthusiasm and even FOCUS!
London loved the trial atmosphere, and he was totally ready for his turn on the line when the time came. Surprisingly instead of losing focus in the ring he became MORE focused, much more than I was used to! After adjusting our timing a bit London even managed to pull off a first and second place in JWW. We had a blast! His standard runs were lovely too, he nailed all his contacts and didn't have any issues with the new equipment or new environment.
I couldn't have been more pleased with the results of our first trial. I had one happy, confident dog that walked into the trial environment like he did it all the time. He impressed the heck out of me, and I'm really looking forward to future trials with my Londonbuns!
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