Not A Given

If you recall from my post a couple of weeks ago, I decided to chase the last double-Q for my APDT Rally ARCHX title with Marge.  I decided to enter only one day at a local trial, giving my checkbook a break and thinking we'd get it in only one shot.  Part of me wanted the title, and part of me didn't want to completely rob Marge of Rally since she enjoys going to Rally trials so, so, much.

Marge's Rally record is flawless.  She has never NQ'd and has consistently scored above 200 (out of a possible 210).  All we needed was two 195+ runs and we'd earn our next championship title.

We went in to the ring in Level 1B and kicked butt, taking a perfect score and the fastest time for first place in the class.

HOWEVER, when we went in to the ring for our Level 2B run, the should-be last half of the last QQ for the title, Marge was distracted.  The "Offset Figure 8" was one of the obstacles on the course, and that obstacle just happens to use food bowls.  With food inside of them.

Since food is allowed in the APDT Rally ring at specific parts of the course, I fed a distracted Marge a piece of liver treat on the start line, hoping to win back her focus.  We went through the run relatively unscathed, though Marge made me work hard for just about every obstacle.

The judge approached us after the run and explained that my use of food on the start line was considered an "inappropriate use of food."  You see, it wasn't quite luring, because I didn't move the food in front of Marge's face the way you would to teach a dog to sit or down, but it wasn't quite a reward, since I literally had to show Marge the food in order for her to take it... Marge wasn't looking at me as I took it out of my pocket.

She didn't NQ me, but said she'd have to "hit me" for it.  I said that I understood.

Our score is posted on the easel next to the ring.  We scored a 193.  A fine score.

But... guess what?  You need a 195 in all ARCHX runs to earn the title!

So, courtesy of my little mistake, we didn't get the title that I expected to get.  I guess my punishment for being so darn sure of myself will be having to wait until the summer to actually get another shot!

We did, however, pick up our RL2X, a title for which scores do not matter.  So we walked away with something!

Running The Show

January seems to be a month where no matter how hard I try, I always go running back to APDT Rally with Marge.  Marge and I both like Rally, but we like agility better, so it doesn't leave a whole lot of time to train and compete.

I signed on to be trial chairperson for an APDT Rally Trial at my club this past weekend and knew I'd be at the trial practically all weekend, but I was originally unsure whether I'd show Marge or not.  Ultimately, I decided that even if it was going to make for a crazy weekend schedule-wise (since I would then have to take Marge home, only to go back out to school to run my pigeons), I just couldn't leave Marge out of the fun.

Eight runs (and a lot of money) later, we've finished yet another Rally title (RL1X - the Level 1 Championship title) and are one QQ away from our APDT Rally Champion Excellent (ARCHX) title.  Her lowest score out of the eight runs was, I believe, a 207 (210 is perfect).  So, she had a heck of a weekend!

Here she is finishing her RL1X.  She scored a 210 and was first in the class. I have zero nerves going in to the Rally ring, so it makes for a really nice break from agility for us.

She got this awesome purple ribbon for the title.  I've just recently started to get into the habit of donating back my Rally ribbons, but this one I just had to have.  Love the pawprints!

Now that we've got within smelling distance of yet another title, I can't deny Marge the fun of another few Rally runs.  There's another trial going on at my club in a couple weeks, and I decided what the heck - let's go out and get that ARCHX.  I don't care at all about titles, but Marge clearly likes competing in Rally so I just couldn't help but chase that last QQ!

In addition to her success in the ring, Marge had a phenomenal weekend behavior-wise.  Everyone who knew her and remembered how she started out commented on her work ethic and total comfort in the trial atmosphere.  Perhaps most amazingly, she got loved on by two young boys who pet her, held her leash, and fed her treats without her feeling uncomfortable at all.  Not only did she tolerate being handled by them, she actually enjoyed it and sought it out by approaching them first.

My dog? Really? Yep.

Marge Gets ARCH'd

Yes, that's right.  The dog formerly known as Marge is now ARCH Marge!

We had a long two days of APDT Rally trialing this weekend.  On both Saturday and Sunday, Marge had four runs.  That makes for a total of EIGHT runs for the weekend - the most Marge has ever done in a span of two days.

We accumulated two double qualifying scores (QQ's) on Saturday.  Here is one of our runs.

Her effort in this run and an earlier run led to our designation as being the Highest Scoring Dog in Levels 1 and 2 for the morning trials, an honor known as "High Combined."

The excitement didn't stop there.  After four more successful runs on Sunday, Marge earned her APDT Rally Champion title.  Here is the final run.



Though Marge was less precise than normal with her heeling, her fronts and her finishes, she did show great control.  Our transitions in to the ring are getting steadily better and better.  And, normally the Level 2 jump (as shown in the video above) puts her in to crazy agility mode; however, she remained collected throughout the entire course... for all eight runs.

I knew Marge would get her ARCH, but had no idea it would happen this soon.  We did a lot of APDT Rally this January and it all paid off.  I think the trials were great experiences for Marge to get in the ring and have lots of fun.  I think it's clear in the videos that she's enjoying herself. APDT Rally has got to be one of the most welcoming, upbeat organizations I've ever been a part of.  I'm glad to have these opportunities to show with Marge.

Now: on to the ARCHX and Level 3.

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P.S. - Please pay a visit to Sara's blog today, she had to set her beautiful Misty girl free early this morning after a battle with bladder issues and congestive heart failure.  Run free at the bridge, sweet girl.  We'll miss you dearly - we feel as though we've come to know you so well after reading about you for all of this time. 

Surprise, Surprise

Imagine my frustration when I found out that my club's APDT Rally trial had filled.

Imagine my amazement when I found out just a few days ago that a couple of runs opened up and I was able to show.

Imagine my sheer JOY when Marge showed successfully in all three of her runs, boasting two first places and a second place, one perfect score, finishing one title and double qualifying for the first leg of her first championship title!  That's a mouthful!

I had a blast today; Marge was a LOT of fun to play some Rally with.  Unfortunately, I have no video because I went by myself and was paranoid that if I asked someone to record me, I'd jinx myself and we'd NQ.  But, take my word for it: Marge was really phenomenal!

The trial stress stuff that she sometimes experiences was really kept to a minimum.  In fact, I'd say she was more calm in the ring at this Rally trial than any of the others that I've gone to.  She had a couple of spacey moments (her second run of the day probably felt the worst of the three - I did jokingly say "brains! brains!" out loud to her as we heeled between two signs, as a reminder for her to not lose her mind and have some fun), but over all, her eye contact was good, she was responsive to me, and she stayed that way for three runs!

Our recent expeditions in to formal obedience training definitely helped tighten some things up.  Her finishes were much more accurate, and she seemed to be trying hard to find that perfect spot to sit.  To me, that tells me that she was definitely thinking about what she was doing instead of, well, just plain old doing.

I did a couple of things differently than usual.  For one, I brought new treats out for the last couple of runs of the day.  I took a piece of mozzarella from the giant hero sandwich I picked up for the trial, which worked out really well in the last run.  Marge's eyes nearly popped out of her head when she saw a ball of cheese heading for her mouth.

I also ran the course with her physically faster than usual.  Faster times lead to higher placements in the B classes of APDT Rally, so I gave it a try and it seemed to improve Marge's focus and keep her motivated and on her toes.  I have been told that I "babysit" her too much, in both obedience and agility - so I moved a little faster with a little more spark in my stride, and I think that she liked it.

Several people commented on how well Marge did and, more importantly, how happy she looked to be doing it.

One of the judges, who has never met Marge before, called her "dynamite."  What a compliment!

The whole day was super pleasant and super unexpected.  We're going to have another opportunity to trial in APDT at the end of this month, so stay tuned!

Rally On, Pup

We started off our day on Saturday with a nice, familiar, on-leash Level 1 run.  I haven't uploaded the video, but our score was a 209.  We lost one point, probably for a tight leash.  It earned us a 4th place in the competitive Level 1B class and 19 Championship Points (out of 100 necessary for the ARCH title).

Then came our debut in Level 2, which is off leash.  Marge did very well on this run, too.  We scored a 208 - we lost one point for me being too close to the jump, and another point for the sloppy left turn towards the end of the course.

There were two trials offered that day, but I had originally only entered the first one.  When I found out there were still a few runs available, I put in for one more Level 2 run.

It didn't turn out to be such a great run.  Marge was very distracted by the bustle on the sidelines, but didn't seem scared - just uninterested in working.  Couple this with the very exciting jump that was very early in the course, she got really excited and things got sloppy.  That's my take on it, anyway.



What does it look like to you?  Simply goofing off, not wanting to do anymore, stressing out, or too excited after that darn jump?

In retrospect, it might have been worth my while to NQ us and have a "cookie run" instead (which is what I had to do tonight at Rally class), where I feed Marge at every station.  At least, though, she came back to me EVERY single time I called her.  It still earned us a 1st place in the 2A class with a score of 198, our second RL2 leg!

The judge absolutely adored her.  She said "I'd love to take this home", called Marge a "really nice dog," and offered Marge some cookies while the courses were being changed.  We spoke a little bit and she agreed with me that Marge's silliness during the second Level 2 run might have been her way of saying she had had enough for the day! What a nice woman, and I really love how laid-back and friendly the APDT Rally atmosphere is.

And Marge was SUCH an attention hog, too - by the time the trial was over, I think every one knew her name.  No one was a stranger to her!   Between that, the ribbons, and just plain having fun in the ring, it was a very enjoyable day.

Now, we switch our focus back to agility (if the weather cooperates) - unbelievably, September is around the corner, and we have a trial just a few weeks away!

Technical Difficulties

Once again, my internet is on the fritz. Once again, Verizon insists on running the same unnecessary tests over and over again, all of which are coming back inconclusive.

This, of course, is making school work, blogging, and lots of other stuff extremely frustrating. So, if we're around less than usual over the next couple of weeks, don't worry and please forgive us.

A couple of things..

• A few of you commented on my treat-giving during my Rally competition. The Rally we ran was APDT Rally (Association of Pet Dog Trainers). They allow handlers to reward their dogs at specific points on course. The courses in APDT are longer than AKC courses and many (including myself) argue that they are harder as well.
• Agility class was last night. Unfortunately, once again, I have no pictures or videos, since I went alone. Marge's agility was fantastic, but her behavior left a little bit to be desired (just a little).
• My next AKC trial is a week from this Saturday and Sunday. I'm currently in the process of buying a canopy/tent for it so we can hang out in the shade. (I got the trial schedule, and Marge's runs are nearly 6 hours apart! I think we'll be going home in between.)
• Oh, and it looks like we're going to get some press. The local newspaper is, indeed, doing a story about mixed breeds in AKC competition, and I believe Marge and I are going to be a large part of it.

That's about it. Not much going on around here - just figured I'd update, since it's rare that I go this long without writing on here. Hopefully, just hopefully, this internet nonsense doesn't drag on forever like it did last time.

In the meantime, enjoy this photo of Marge noshing on a beef trachea last week.

Level Up!

What a long weekend! We had Rally trials scheduled at the club on both Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday was a small trial, which was good. Louie came to my house at 8 or so and after a brief stint of what I like to call intestinal revolt (I thought I was going to die), the Pepto Bismol kicked in and we headed to the training hall. She stayed in her crate with Louie while I walked the course. There were literally only 10 or 15 dogs in the class, so we didn't have to wait around long at all.

Here is our run Saturday. It was good enough for a 209/210, a qualifying score and first place in the Novice A class.

They offered a second trial on Saturday, but I didn't want to push it. So, Louie and I spent the rest of the day together, mostly sleeping (who knew Rally could be so tiring?).

Today, I wound up having to go to the trial by myself. As it turns out, the club decided to offer a second trial that day, too, under a different judge. (You need to have 3 Q's under at least 2 different judges to get your RL1 title.) So, after running the course successfully in the morning - a perfect 210 and another first place! - I decided that I may as well go for the title.

Marge and I went home for a while. I wasn't about to keep her there for hours waiting for the other levels to finish up. She played with the toy that she had won as a prize in her first run.

A little while later, we headed back. Marge had to wait around for about two hours before she went back in the ring. She did REALLY well with this - didn't give a peep out of her crate about it, and was very sociable when I had her out on her leash. I could tell she was starting to get antsy/tired, so I was really surprised at how well she held it together.

Before we ran, I was warming Marge up in the room adjacent to the main room, and went over near the doorway. A dog was in the ring and saw Marge (who was just looking around, not making noise), and he started growling and got all upset. I felt SO bad. They still wound up Q'ing, and I don't think I really did anything wrong, but since Marge can be kind of funny with that kind of stuff, too, I felt bad.

The third run was just the same course as in the morning. This run was actually pretty good in terms of attention. She looked like she was enjoying herself. Her turns were nice (she doesn't always like to do nice right turns) and she seemed to be paying attention to me. We hit some trouble when she decided that she wanted to go straight to heel position when I called her front on one of the signs. We had to re-do that one twice. I thought we NQ'ed, but we managed a score of 201. We got our Rally Level 1 title! We were first place again, but that was only because we were the lone team in the Level 1 A class.

We were the second to last dog to run, so we left pretty quickly thereafter. Here, Marge poses with her loot from the weekend (we're missing a first place ribbon because my club ran out).

Over all, I'm totally happy with our success this weekend. I'm glad I waited as long as I did to be absolutely sure that she'd excel at Rally when we got in to the ring. Our next Rally trial is in July, but we'll be practicing before then, too. I think we're going to go ahead with Level 2, which is off leash!

Tuesday Training 31

We were tagged by Sammie to play the photo game. The rules are to go to your first photo folder and find the tenth picture. Here is ours (from our first folder on Photobucket):

It's the picture from our Novice Regular run in NADAC in November. I posted it on the blog back then, but it's a good enough picture to re-post it. That trial will always be special, since it was the first one. (Though, I must admit, this recent one was more special - it took more hard work to get there, and we had the added bonus of qualifying!)

I'm supposed to tag 5 more people, so I'll tag Nubs (a great new blog!), Tula (a fellow behavior-mod buddy), AC & Kona (fellow fearful dog buddies), The Teacher's Pets (a blog we just started reading), and Walter & Lucy (since their mom takes some AWESOME photos). Don't feel obligated to play if you don't want to - half the time I don't even get around to posting when I'm tagged - just think of this as an excuse for me to shout out some blogs!

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We went to the training hall on Monday for some practice. Though I originally intended to stay for agility class, I decided against it. It was hot, Marge was coming off a weird day on Sunday (not sure what was bothering her, but she just didn't seem "right"), and we're moving back out to the field next week, so there wasn't much of a reason for us to go.

We did get in some Rally practice, though. I set up a pretty long APDT Level 1 course and ran Marge through it. Here it is. (I zoomed in on each half of the course using video editing, but we ran the whole thing continuously.)

I think she did well. It was pretty warm in the building, which may have made her a little bit lackluster compared to other days. But, that tail was still wagging. Our trial is in a couple of weeks - we're doing both days. It should be a small trial, but it will be Marge's first indoor trial. I'm only doing it because it's on our home turf - otherwise, indoor trials are off-limits right now.

The photos from this past weekend's agility trial have been posted. The photographer took a lot of pictures - probably at least 15 or 20 of Marge. I'm going to order at least two or three of them. I'd like to blog more about the trial and especially my (good) feelings about the AKC Canine Partners program now that I've experienced it, but I simply haven't had the time. Spring Break ended this week, and all of a sudden I feel as though I've been hit with a ton of school work.

Later in the week, or possibly next week, I'm probably going to begin a series of posts about a very dear four-legged friend of mine. The third anniversary of his death is coming up, and I think sharing some of the many stories of he and I together will be a good way to remember him.

Tuesday Training 28

We had an great and productive lesson with Marisa yesterday.


This was the bulk of our work. In the black sequence, Marge had to "go out," and in the white sequence, she had to come in to my hand. We handled the go outs much, much better than the come ins, but the handling did start to click towards the end.

We also did some work on front crosses. I am very, very late with my fronts, and that problem is exacerbated by the fact that Marge's stride over the jump is pretty big and she isn't reading the fronts that well yet. To counter this, Marisa put a gate alongside one of the jumps so that Marge had to adjust herself as I front crossed.

We're going to have another lesson next week. I think we're going to put out more standard course equipment and less jumps. It's been a couple of weeks since Marge has seen contact equipment.

We're roughly a month away from the trial now. The plan is to keep training with Marisa privately, and drop into class one or two times. I might have the opportunity to go back out to train in New Jersey, but I'm not holding my breath.

Our first APDT Rally trial of the year will be on April 24 and/or 25, indoors at my club's training building. It will be a small trial, probably less than 100 entries per day, and Level 1 (Marge's class) will most likely run first. I'm unsure if I want to do both days with her. I probably will send in my entry for both, and then play it by ear the weekend of the trial. To prepare for that, I'm going to keep training with my friend and her Westie on AKC courses, and also train privately a couple of times to run APDT style courses, too. After that, we'll possibly have another Rally trial in July. By then, I'd like to be ready to run her in Level 2 - we're starting to work on the exercises now for that class.

I'm sorry I've neglected the blog this week. My absence will probably continue for another couple of days, or maybe until the weekend. For a couple of reasons, I am physically and emotionally tired.

Tuesday Training 23

Holy cow.

Talk about a LOT of training!

We were at the training hall Monday for three straight hours. First was totally private practice, then was semi-private practice (a lesson with my instructor and another handler), and third was regular class.

Hour 1

Because I knew we'd be there a long time, I didn't want to overdo it in the beginning. So, I set up an APDT Rally Level 1 course from my club's last trial and ran it two or three times with Marge.

I don't think she was as enthused as she was at our Rally practice a couple of weeks ago, and certainly not as enthused as when she does agility (but that's a given). She lagged a bit and wasn't as tight as she normally is on her turns. It was pretty warm in the building, though - I was absolutely dying in that sweatshirt I was wearing - so that may have been a factor. Looking back at the video, she did better than I first thought she did.

What you can't see in the far right corner are three "married" signs - Halt/90 Degree Pivot Left - Sit/Walkaround - Down/Walkaround.

After that, I cleaned up the Rally equipment while Marge practiced sit and down stays. No problem with either other than the fact that she loves to slide into a down after sitting for a little bit. I have no aspirations for obedience competition any time in the future, but it's not a bad skill for her to have.

I then dragged out the teeter, and we did a little bit of work on it with the table underneath. It was the fastest I've ever seen her do the teeter; she slowed at the pivot point (which I actually want so that she doesn't spook herself flying off of it or anything), but had so much less hesitation. A few reps with the table, and then I removed it and she did it full height. Still looked very nice. I put the treats right on the teeter rather than feed them from my hand, so maybe she makes the connection that it's not a scary thing.

Hour 2

Next was my semi-private lesson. Marge did not take very kindly to the other dog who was with us, a young, adorable Golden. I tried introducing him to her before we started and she gave him nasty growls and a couple of snaps. Probably my mistake. We kept our distance the rest of the time and she was eventually more comfortable with his presence. If we have a lesson together a few more times, I think she'll feel better about him.

We worked the A-Frame mostly (sorry, no video). We've incorporated a nose touch to our 2o2o criteria and it seems to be helping tremendously. She hit her contact almost every single time with the help of our temporary target, a simple piece of paper. She's still not doing it as smoothly as I like, but she wasn't thudding into it like she did so many times in the last video.

She did do one silly thing.. I forgot to put the target on the descending side of the A-Frame (we were obviously switching which way we ran it) and she ran half way up, turned around, and performed her contact on the target. Marisa was hysterical.

She said to leave the target for a while, at least a month or two, and gradually make it smaller. Sounds like a plan to me. I'm not using a target on the dog walk.

Only other things we did were some bounce jumping, the dog walk and table to solidify criteria for those two obstacles, and a small sequence to practice using either a front or a back cross between two jumps.

Hour 3

Then, finally, we had class. Marge had to hang out in a crate while I helped set up and walked the course. I gave her a Kong and covered her crate with a sheet so no one would disturb her, but she whined for a good portion of the time. Almost every other dog in the crate room was whining, though, and I think it may have added to the stress.

(Later on, when I walked the second half of the course, I put her in a down stay and she didn't move. GOOD GIRL!)

Here was the course:

• Opening was simple enough; lead out to jump two (on the non-wall side of the jumps), and ran completely straight to get her in the right tunnel entrance.
• Back crossed over 5 and 6. Marisa told me to try to front the second time around, but I was already in back cross position and I got screwed up. Marge, I believe, spun in a circle, but then when I sent her on to 6 and told her to weave (I was way behind her), she did it beautifully. Way to make up for my mistake!
• Jump to dog walk to table was simple. Her dog walk looked great today. Didn't miss any contacts and had lots of speed.
• Still having some table sticky issues.. I don't think I'm clear enough to her that she is to DOWN and stay DOWN until I release her.. she gets her cookie and then gets up. I suppose I could try delaying the reward to really proof it first.
• Used my inside arm to get her over jump 11, front crossed, front crossed again after 12. No problem.
• The tunnel to A-Frame was pretty disastrous.. the tunnel was too short, which made it really hard for all of the dogs to find it. Both Marge and I were exhausted at this point and we kind of bombed it, but Marisa said to leave it alone, so I just told Marge to tunnel and sent her over the A-Frame without doing the obstacles before it.
• Closing wasn't bad.. just, again, had to basically run into the triple to make sure she took the right tunnel entrance.

This will be our last agility class until probably the middle of February, maybe longer. In the meantime, I'm going to practice during my ring time and take some more lessons. We're pretty much going full steam ahead for an early April AKC trial. I don't plan to trial heavily this year, but I want to make the most out of the trials that we DO do. I was told today that we'll breeze through Novice.. I really hope it's true!