Manhattan Bound

Wow.  Been a while, hasn't it?

I've opened up this window several times since the last time I posted, but I sort of never really knew where to begin.  So much has happened, both in my life and in Marge's, that finding a clear topic to post about was a struggle I just didn't want to have.

So what better way to pick up than to bring up a brand spankin' new endeavor for both Marge and I?

Marge's entry was accepted in to the Westminster Kennel Club's 2nd Annual Masters Agility Championship.  A big deal for our team.  A VERY big deal.

Let me preface this by saying that Marge was not hand picked or specifically selected for this competition.  Something that drove me off the wall last year was the incorrect notion, being circulated intentionally or unintentionally, that dogs were hand picked for this.  Nope.  Marge's entry got there before some other dogs' entries, and therefore, we are entered in the trial.  She is no better than any other dog out there.

Anyway.

It's a big deal for us because...

1. We've never competed in a tournament of any kind
2. We need to travel to Manhattan, the busiest, most bustling borough of New York City (read: holy crap we're leaving our mostly-suburban Staten Island paradise)
3. We have a shot at being on national television - which is just freakin' cool.  

When Marge's bid for Nationals last year was cut short by too few points and an injury, I decided we needed a different "big" agility goal to work on.  It seems that Marge may not have the mental or physical stamina to be on a rigorous trial schedule, and I certainly neither have the enthusiasm nor the wallet, either. Maybe it was just going to be getting titles.  Or maybe it could be Westminster.

And that's about all I'll say about that.  I could go in to all of deliberating I did in deciding to enter, but that's boring and excessive so I won't. Don't worry.  If I get on some sort of posting schedule again, I am not going to sit here and continually write about how starry-eyed I am about this competition because that would be annoying, childish and hypocritical.  But like I said, bringing this up gives me a place to start.

What I do intend to write about is Marge's agility progress, as I do think we need to kick things up a notch for the next 8 weeks or so.

A short, dirty list of things we need to work on most are:

1. Wraps
2. Backsides
3. Across the box
4. Front crosses of every size, shape and kind
5. Nasty weave entrances

We had our first agility practice in quite a few weeks last night.  I think we ran really, really well.  Marge always runs well when we move indoors for the winter, so I'm hoping that further practice will help to tighten things up.

I also may venture from the comfort of AKC to try UKI, a new, different flavor of agility with an international flair.

So, that's where we're at.  There's lots of other exciting things that have happened, like Marge performing at public demos, making equine friends, and adjusting to apartment life.  Some not so exciting things have happened, too, some relevant to this blog and some not. Hopefully, I'll be able to hit a couple of those topics, too, at some point.

Handling, Handling

Tuesday's class was a handling class in every sense of the word.

My instructor told me that I prefer not to handle, but to do one thing by myself, then have Marge do something else, then do something again, etc.  That's why I'm so good at rear crosses. I don't disagree with her.  The idea of actively handling around an entire course is something I'm still trying to do, especially at trials.

Course 1 (Black Circles)

By far, the hardest of the two.  The beginning, surprisingly, was not bad.  After the Dog Walk is when it got tricky.

I believe I front crossed between 9 and 10 to break up the threadle.  The 12,13,14,15 sequence was pretty nighmarish.  I did a front between 13 and 14, but it was easier said than done.  That said, I definitely appreciate all of the front cross practice, despite the fact that I'd much rather handle everything with rears.

Course 2 (White Circles)

Much more relaxed.  I don't think we really flunked on any part of it.  I handled the pinwheel with a front cross after 9 and then another between 11 and the A-Frame.  Worked wonderfully.

I'm excited for my trial this weekend and hoping I'll pick up some Q's in either of the Excellent classes.  I was so excited to be hanging out with Amy & Layla on Sunday, but it turns out that they can't make it. :(

Spring Agility Commences

So, after a rain delay last week, we had our first outdoor agility class of the season this past Tuesday.

The set up:

The longer course (white circle numbers) was our first course and was all about using the off-arm to either 1) cue a front cross or 2) act as a "barrier" of sorts so that a dog would not pass the arm to take an obstacle.  The premise was to get the dog to learn to not pass the arm under any circumstances (which would, theoretically, prevent off-courses from front crosses gone awry).  Apparently the idea came from a Jen Crank seminar that my instructor attended.

It was an interesting concept and Marge and I did pretty well with it.  I don't think I can isolate one really super hard part of this course - the whole thing was pretty tough.  The 2-3-4 sequence was pretty tricky, but by using that offside arm and stringing Marge around to the far side of jump 3, we managed it quite well.

The A-Frame/tunnel discriminations were not as bad as they looked.  The first one (5-6-7-8) was definitely the hardest, but Marge had it fine until I started completely over-handling and screwed her up.  I need to just rely on my shoulders and dog-side arm position (high or low, held out away or close to my body) to cue her.. but instead I was bringing up my off arm which was pointing my shoulders AWAY from the correct tunnel entrance. I've got to be careful of that in competition, because I definitely know I do kooky stuff like that at trials, too.

The second course (black circles) was really just something thrown together because we didn't have a lot of time left. The only place I flubbed was a front cross between the weaves and the tire.  It definitely worked better for me on the landing side of the tire.  A rear cross worked just fine, but I was really trying to work on my weaknesses (and front crosses are one of them).

We'll be competing in a couple of weeks, a three-day (!!) trial on May 6, 7, and 8.

As a side, here's my absolute favorite picture from our last agility trial at the beginning of this month.  This was after she, um, refused the dog walk twice and later proceeded to jump the contact zone, spoiling our beautiful and qualifying Excellent Standard run.  Despite that, I'll be ordering this once I get some money together... because it's just too cute and such a great shot.

Tuesday Training 43

So much for more regular posting and updates.

I've been sick as a dog for the past three days or so.  Horrible headaches, body aches, stuffy nose, swollen glands, aching ears, fever.  NOT fun.  I've cancelled a whole lot of plans in the past 72 hours (because for some reason, this "winter break" really hasn't been much of a break at all).  As such, I've had absolutely no desire to blog or do anything other than sleep.

I did, however, go to agility class on Sunday night.  I'm too tired to post much more than this, but here's one of the courses we ran:

My plan:

- Led out past 2 with Marge on my right to get her in to tunnel.
- Send her up the A-Frame, she's on my left until after Jump 8.
- Front crossed on the landing side of 8, as well as the landing side of 10 (of course, I put the number on the wrong side of the obstacle in Course Designer.. tire 9 - jump 10 should be a 180, not a threadle).
- Straight forward until the weave entrance.. and what a wicked entrance it was!  But, Marge and I nailed it on the first try.
- Then, the course ended the same way that it started.

Though this was not officially a class -- it was actually a group lesson that I organized with my teacher and some fellow students -- this was our first time training at the Excellent level (that is, with other Excellent level dogs).  We've moved on up!

Brighter than the Moon

We had a NICE little agility class last night.  Marge was on fire!

We ran two courses - in the first, our biggest problem was a threadle.  Otherwise, the courses were pretty straightforward.

Here's the second.  I ran the closing three different ways, hence the three different runs shown.  Thanks, Louie, for recording :)

(sort of ironic that I'd use a song entitled "Firework" for a video of my sound-sensitive dog... but there you go.)

I'm doing a lot more jackpotting after runs, while trying to not keep the treats in my hand as much (I'm probably about 50:50 now with that).

I'm already thinking ahead to our trials.  I looked back at videos from all of our runs this Fall, and I'm really hoping that our connectedness at class is going to keep up and carry into the trial season.

Classes with my normal instructor just ended last night until January, when we move indoors, but I really don't want to wait until then to take classes.  There are still supposed to be outdoor classes at the field on Monday nights because that class isn't finished yet due to rainouts, so I'm hoping to drop in there next week. I think that having Marge work among different people in a familiar environment would be a good thing.

I also found out about other outdoor classes in my area.  They're totally unadvertised and semi-private, but drop-ins are allowed for certain people.  When speaking with the instructor about it, I initially had the impression that I shouldn't know about it, but she seemed receptive enough and talked to me more about the format, price, etc. I'm still thinking about that one.

In terms of the Dream Park trialing discussion, I'm thinking of doing two Saturdays in February.  The first time, I will enter Jumpers only, to avoid the table, teeter, and exciting contact equipment.  The second time, I'll enter both classes, but will scratch from Standard if I'm not confident about it.

After that, we'll be just about ready for the outdoor season.  In terms of that, I'd really like to do some Friday/Sunday weekends (skipping Saturday gives us enough time so that neither of us gets burnt out, physically or mentally, yet allows us to get more days of trialing in).  I'm keeping my goals low for now - most of all, I really want connected, nice runs.  I know that once we achieve that, the Q's will come.

Tuesday Training 40

Whoa, it's been a long time since I've had a Tuesday Training post!

For the first time in a long time, I have some video from agility class.

We ran two mini courses.  The first, I don't have recorded.  But it was straightforward, except for a 5-jump modified serpentine (yes, 5 jumps!).  It took us once or twice to figure that out, but we eventually were able to run the whole thing clean.  It's been a long time since we practiced all of that sending out-calling in type stuff, which I am sure we will spend some time on once we move indoors for the winter.

The second course, I have on my camera, thanks to Louie.

It was hard!  We did the opening pretty well, but Marge bailed on the last pole (it has everything to do with the set of poles, and nothing to do with her.. they are 22" spacing and as you can see, constantly falling over), so we lost a bit of momentum there.  THEN it took a bit to get the handling down pat for the pull-through and threadle.  The second run, also included in the video, is much better.

And, would you look at all of that table offering?!  She jumped on the table several times tonight unprompted, plopped right down and wiggly-waggled her little tail. I was VERY happy about that.

Going to keep this post short and sweet for tonight.  I'm likely going to have some more agility stuff to ponder about over the weekend, so stay tuned until then.

Inhale, Exhale

I'm trying my best to calm down about this whole agility trial thing.  I know that I'm overdramatic about it.  I think I'm just so afraid of screwing up Marge's agility career as a new dog owner and new agility handler that I overanalyze every little thing that goes on.

The suggestions I've gotten are all across the board.  I've had one or two people that told me to stop trialing altogether for an extended period of time.  I think that's kind of on the extreme side.  Most responses are within the range of "keep doing what you're doing."  Some cite me and my limited trial schedule as being responsible for Marge's apparent (and yes, slight) discomfort in the ring.

Ultimately, we ARE going to stop trialing for an extended period, just because of the winter, after our last outdoor trial on November 6th and 7th.  I can't bring myself to trial her indoors right now.  The noises are different, they may be louder because the sounds are contained.  It looks different, and it probably smells different, too. I think that trialing through the winter in places that neither Marge nor I are comfortable at would be more injurious than stopping for a while and picking up where we left off in the Spring.

I do think that part of the problem is that we haven't had a lot of class time this fall.  Between the heat, the rain, and whatever else, class has literally been cancelled every other week.  This past week, we barely had any running time in class at all - the class was full with 7 or 8 dogs, which meant we all got very limited time to work. Maybe I should set up some ring time again at the club to work on agility with Marge.  I'm planning on having a private lesson before the next trial, but not this week - this week is reserved for a massage for Marge.

I'm trying very hard to get to a run-through this coming Saturday at another training facility.  So far, I've sent 2 e-mails, but haven't heard anything back.  It'll be a smallish group - 25 dogs or less - and it will be outdoors.  I feel horrible for asking Louie to go with me, even though he's more than happy to.  I'll have two minutes in the ring to do what ever I want.  Someone gave me the good idea of breaking it in half - doing one minute, then having the next dog run, then doing another minute.  I'm not sure if that'll be allowed, but I definitely want to keep things short, fun, and motivational, and I want to surprise Marge with rewards at problem areas (the table and the teeter, mostly).  We'll see if I'm able to go.

One thing I did do recently is cut back on Marge's L-Theanine.  I dropped her from 50 mg to 25 mg, because she has been doing SO well.   I'm going to bump it back up for the next two weeks, and perhaps give her 75 mg the day of a trial.

And that's about all that I can do.  I know that my stress might be adding to things, so I have to really work to change that.  I'm trying.

Better

I definitely think it's a good sign that Marge was ten times better at agility class last night than she was at the trial.  She certainly had no qualms about being at the agility field (except for the smell of pee near the start line - I hate when dogs go on the course - and the smell of 8 week old GSD puppies).

I wouldn't say she was 100%, but she was happy to work with me and seemed excited to be there.

The first time I ran, Marisa told me to break things down in to little tiny pieces - I think I ran 1 to 4 and then 5 to 8 (and the second half of the course was separate altogether).  I used a toy my first run to see if maybe that would amp her up some.  It initially did catch her interest, but after a couple of short play reward sessions she decided the toy wasn't worth it anymore (perfectly normal for her).

Marisa had me throw the toy after the dog walk and then again after the weaves.  When running the second half (8 to 19), I didn't have her do a start line stay, I just ran her up to the tunnel and started the course.

Our only problems were in the corner near the tire.  Dogs had peed over there and she wasn't happy about having to do those obstacles.  BUT, she did down on the table, which earned her an enormous jackpot.

I also am no longer going to run with food in my hand during class, and, although it's going to be in my pocket, I am going to give her her biggest rewards AFTER the run.  In other words, I am going to train the same way that I trial.

My classmates had a lot of constructive things to say, particularly the nice lady with the PWD (a dog who is usually Marge's friend, but last night Marge snarked at the poor girl - not sure if it was stress or resource guarding).   Marisa, too, said that yes, she's stressing, but she's a dog and it happens, and to just try not to worry about it too much because worrying will make it worse.

So I am going to make some changes for the upcoming trial.  I am not going to take any long lead outs - if I can, I don't want to lead out at all (for once, I am praying for tunnel openings!).  I am also going to cut down on the number of treats that she gets before she goes in to the ring and bring something super high value to show her and get her interested in and reward her with after the run (I'm thinking meatballs).

I am going to be more motivational (she seems to like when I clap my hands to get her to move toward me) and use her name less and use my usual agility commands (i.e. "here", "go" etc.) more. I feel like I over used both her name and her whiplash recall word ("come") WAY too much at this trial.

I am also going to try really hard to be the most interesting thing at the trial, which means I am not going to let any one besides me give her high-value food.  HOWEVER, I am going to let her say hello to all her favorite people (I did less of this at this trial than at other trials - perhaps she felt like she didn't know any one there).

Here's some pictures from the trial.  I'm not sure if I'm going to order any just because of my own feelings about the trial, but I think they came out great.

Oh, and my internet appears to be fixed, so you'll hear from me in the coming days (though I do have a HUGE test on Friday - ahhhh).

Getting Ready for the Ring Again

I'm not going to be able to make it to agility class next week, so this Tuesday was our last chance to practice with instruction before our trial on September 18 and 19.

I ran two courses - one during class, one during a short lesson that I had with Marisa after class.

Course 1 (White Circle Numbers)
I led out past 2, called her and pushed her through the last two jumps of the serpentine.  Straightforward from there, 'til a rear cross over 7 to get her up the A-Frame.  Then a front cross in front of the A-Frame, dog on right through the weaves, rear cross over 12 to the table.

Led out halfway from the table and did a moving front cross between 14 and 15.  Dog on left to start the serpentine, then a front cross on the landing side of 19 and dog on right 'til the end.

Fun course.  I didn't run in to much trouble at all. Marge goofed off a bit on the hard rear cross to the table, and had a little bit of weave issues (but it's really a horrible set of poles - I almost want to stop training weave poles until my club gets a better set - preferably, a 24" set).

Course 2 (Black Circle Numbers)
 Led out past 2 and pushed out over 3.  Front cross between 4 and 5.  Rear cross over 7.  We ran in to some trouble on the teeter/A-Frame thing .. I was pushing her too far out and she took the tunnel.  She was starting to stress about doing the teeter a million times, so Marisa told me to move on from there.

Back cross to the table, dog on left in to weaves.  She took the 15 tunnel without a problem, to my surprise.  Had to push push push to get her over 16, and I'm pretty sure she stayed on my right through the end.

This was definitely a tougher course.  But, with the exception of my miscommunication with Marge at the tunnel, we did well.

Marisa says she looked great and that we really had nothing else to work on after running these two courses.  I tried to hang out with Marge while she ran her own dog, but Marge heard some noise in the distance that freaked her out, so I put her in the car and smooched on some adorable GSD puppies instead.

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I'm excited and nervous for this upcoming trial.  I'm excited that we're finally getting back in the ring, excited that there's a very good chance that Marge will finish her OA title.  I'm nervous because it's a new trial site, that, as far as I know, has never been used for a dog show before.  It's a park near the water, so I guess my biggest concern is boats making noise or something like that.  Oh well - I guess I'll go in to it with the same mindset that I have for my last trials.  Hope for the best, pull Marge out if something doesn't seem right.  Usually, the sounds and sights and smells of the trial block out everything else, so this likely won't be any different.. at least I hope it won't.

We'll have several of our friends and former classmates either tenting with us or next to us, which is a comfort to me, and I think to Marge, too.

We're at a really good place in terms of agility, and we'll spend the next three months trialing in the cool weather.  If not for school, this would definitely be my favorite time of year.

Taken May 2010; never posted it!

Heat Wave Agility

We had a rather hot agility class last night.  The summer wouldn't let us escape without one more heat wave.  Even at 8:30 at night, the heat and humidity were still affecting us substantially.  There were only three of us in class, so we got to do two short courses each.

Light Circles (course starting with Dog Walk)


Tough little course!  Started out with Marge on my left, rear crossed between 2 and 3 so she was on my right for the pinwheel.

Had to push out to the tunnel (which, of course, took me a few tries, since I much preferred watching Marge hop over 5 and 6 rather than leaving her back there and moving diagonally forward!  The weave entrance was tough, but she got it.

Did the "backy-uppy" thing between 9 and 10, and front crossed to the table.  Marge on my left up to the tire, then I front crossed to get her over the last jump.

Dark Circles (starting with Jump - Tire)


Louie came along tonight, so for the first time in a long time, I have some video.




We ran this course once before this video was taken (with the bars accidentally at 24", too.. and she didn't knock a single one). She (and I) was pretty tired, but we squeezed out another speedy little run.

I muted the sound because I am just so amazed at how terrible my front cross is after the table.  We practiced a few times, and each time I think I got a tiny bit better. Watching it without the sound really is telling.. body cues are everything.  My arm is not coming up soon enough at all, and Marge doesn't know where to go!  It's definitely my biggest handling issue.

We had a good night, agility wise, but it was kind of a weird night for me, personally.  My handling in my first two runs was really poor, and I almost felt like I wasn't enjoying it.  I think it was a combination of the heat and the stress and fatigue from going back to school.  I also think I'm anxious to start trialing again...

Skills and Drills Agility

I love doing full courses in agility class, but surprisingly, I think our skills-filled class last night was one of the most fun classes I've ever had.

The first sequence (light-circled numbers) was a rear cross exercise.  We weren't allowed to talk to our dogs (except at the start and between 5 and 6) and instead had to rely on body movement alone.

I led out just past 1, post-turned around 2 and 3 (but made sure she avoided the tempting off course 6) , and rear crossed over 4.  Moved as soon as she committed to 4, up the line to 5.  After 5, I ran with my shoulders pointed almost towards the A-Frame, asked her to rear cross on the flat.  Reared again over 8, reared again over 9, held position to make sure she came back in for the threadle-ish 10.

Super fun sequence.  It was supposed to be hard.. but honestly, it wasn't that bad at all.  My rear crosses are just too good.

Second sequence (dark circled numbers) was an offside tunnel entry with a choice of either a front or rear cross between 5 and 6.  I went with the front... and I'm glad I did, because Marge and I both really need work.  My positioning is wrong and she doesn't read it at all.  I led out past 3 and used a lead out pivot to get her in to the tunnel.  I tried to do a landing side front after 5 but it took me quite a few tries to get it.  Rest of the sequence was pretty easy.

Due to the limited number of obstacles, I can definitely set this up at the training hall.. which is exciting, because I'm running out of ideas since we have a very limited number of jumps available there.

At the end of class, I worked my A-Frame contact a bit.  She hit it every single time and seems to be doing it more quickly rather than creeping.  Also, for the first time ever, I tried sending her away from me in to the tunnel under the A-Frame.  I see stuff like that a lot in AKC Excellent Standard.. so it's good to know that she was able to do it.

Didn't get any pictures or video, but I do have these shots from her zoomies episode on Monday night while I taught the Pet Agility class.

EDIT: Please e-mail me or leave a comment if you are having issues viewing my blog.  It appears to be being temperamental today..

Tuesday Training 37

Rally and Manners
Here's Marge hanging out in the car before we went in to class.

I was completely determined on Sunday at Rally to keep Marge from barking at our Golden Retriever classmate.  So, we waited waaaay back away from the door as he came in, to prevent Marge from being right in the line of Golden-happiness fire.  It worked!  We enjoyed a very peaceful class and I rewarded Marge every time she showed interest in him (she even snuck in a few sniffs).  Marge gave a lip curl to one of our other classmates, but it was my fault for putting her in the situation, any way.  She "redeemed" herself later on, by sneaking away from me when she was offleash to go over to him and play bow.  Silly girl.

We also had one really huge moment.. Marge was in a down-stay across the room while I was helping to clean up the Rally equipment with the rest of the class.  One of the handlers' significant others (a man) walks in to the room, and Marge begins to growl and her hackles raise.  But, she did not budge.  She was obviously threatened by the situation and may have felt even more restrained by the fact that she was in a stay, so I quickly went over to her, fed treats, and released her.  She had no problem after that.  Despite the growl, I think she handled herself very well, and I think I handled the situation correctly, too.

The Rally itself was very good - her best so far in the class.  She is doing pretty well with being offleash.  We've learned a lot of new signs, and nothing's stopped her so far.  We'll be back in the APDT Rally ring on August 14, in hopes of accumulating some points in the 1B class and debuting in the 2A class (which is off leash).

Training, But Not Marge
We began our second session of the Pet Agility class this week, which I am assisting in.  Because we've got a full house of dogs (seven) of different sizes, we split the room in two.  I had three big dogs that I was working with - a Gordon Setter, the fearful Mix from last time (who has absolutely blossomed), and a reactive Shepherd Mix.

It's a lot of fun teaching people new skills and showing them ways to bond with their dog.  Marge stayed home this time, because I didn't think the excitement of a brand new class of dogs (new to both her AND me) would be a very good thing.

We did have one incident where the Shepherd Mix suddenly broke from his handler and went off to the other side of the room, which really scared the hell out of a poor Dachshund, but thankfully a scuffle was avoided.  His owner was really upset, but I told her that I'd been down the reactivity road before.  I'm going to help her out and teach her some clicker/conditioning games so that we can curb this behavior using positive methods.  He seems to have a bit of a chase drive, and doesn't have much tolerance for rudeness from other dogs. But he is also very in-tune to his mommy, and has a superb recall. Honestly, he's a bit like Marge (I say that a lot, don't I?).

The dogs got to practice recalling over 8" jumps and running alongside their handlers.  They also learned  how to go through a short tunnel and picked their legs up through my agility ladder.

Back on the Field
We finally had agility tonight.  Marge was just as happy as I was to get back out there.  The time off was really good for her - she was definitely a bit worn out from agility after our last trial (Marisa even said the same tonight).

Nice little course.  Very flowy (probably what we needed to get back in to it)...

• Started with Marge on my left, pushed out to 2 and then ran down the line to 5.
• Front cross 5-6, ran ran ran to the tunnel.
• Up and over the A-Frame just fine.  Hit her contact BEAUTIFULLY (and didn't creep too much, either)
• No problem out to the double, and hit her weave entrances each time.  She did weave a little bit slowly, though, and popped out once when I got too far ahead.  Weaves are something we'll work on during our next private lesson.  My hunch is that Marge is not liking having to switch back from 24" weaves at trials to 22" weaves while practicing.
• No other problems what so ever on course.  Lots of pulling.  The 18 tunnel wasn't bad at all.. she only missed it once when I changed direction before she committed.

She was a little speed ball tonight.  Didn't sniff, didn't wander off or make up her own course.  I think it helped a lot that there were only two other people there (her PWD friend, and Spirit, a Golden who I walk a couple of days a week, who Marge is mostly tolerant of). I got to run Spirit, too, and we did really well together.  She's such a neat dog!  

And I will now end this post with a picture of my dear cat checking out a foot-long zucchini that we grew in our backyard.  It was tasty, and we've got more of them on the way.  Notice she is sans cone - finally, the nose has healed!

Tuesday Training 35

I didn't get a chance to update last week about our agility class. Unfortunately, I don't remember the whole course so I can't post a map, but it was an Excellent Jumpers course and definitely one of the harder courses I've seen

We didn't do a horrible job at it, but it wasn't one of our best nights, either.  Though she was running quite fast, I didn't feel like Marge was really in to it, and I didn't feel like we were working as a team.  She made up her own course a couple of times, and sniffed a couple of others.  She also popped out of her weaves 10 zillion times (which I was a bit concerned about, especially thinking back to our doomed Open Jumpers run last Sunday at the trial when she did the same).

Things got better by the end of the night - I made sure to end the weaves on a high-note will all 12 done and we worked the A-Frame contact a bit.  She seemed MUCH better.  Marisa speculated that the cool temperatures - the first in quite some time - might have been partially to blame for her spaceyness.  Marge was in a great mood - able to sit calmly next to her least favorite dog at class (a great opportunity for playing "Look at That Dog" with her) and completely social with everyone.

So, it didn't seem like her issues were caused by stress - a big relief.  Instead, I think it's highly likely that she was simply all-agilitied-out.  After two days of trialing in the extreme heat, I can't really say I blame her.

Today, the temperature is near 100 degrees.  It's extremely likely that agility will be cancelled tonight (last night's classes were), but, if it's not, we're going to take a self-imposed holiday.  It's really hard for me to make the decision to stay home from class, since I like going so much and I paid for it.  But, between the heat and the threat of the last illegal fireworks from the 4th, it just seems like the smart thing to do.  Besides, my hope is that she'll be raring to go next week at class after this short hiatus.  Agility is supposed to be fun, after all.

Speaking of the 4th...

We managed, I guess.  All in all, it was one of the quietest Independence Days I can ever remember, but that doesn't mean Marge wasn't affected.  We got caught by some July 3rd fireworks on an afternoon walk ($#^&#@ -- couldn't you wait until the next day?), and then I knew that the walks had to be put on hold.  We also got caught outside around 5PM on the 4th in the yard.  Things got pretty bad around 9 PM, and Marge just could NOT settle down.  I had music on quite loud, but it didn't completely mask the noise. At one point, she paced throughout the whole basement, looking for a place to hide.   On the positive side, there wasn't really any time where she refused all food - so, I kept chicken breast, roast beef, and cheese cold-cuts on hand and threw them at her every time a blast went off.

Eventually, she went in her crate, which I covered in blankets in an attempt to make it as snuggly and sound-proof as possible.  I zipped up the door about halfway, leaving a section open so that I could continue to toss treats to her.

I made use of the NYPD's e-mail hotline to report illegal fireworks, and was really pleased when I looked out my window to see them in my neighborhood.  I have absolutely no problem being a snitch or a rat or a tattletale.  I will NOT just sit there doing nothing as my dog panics, and I sincerely hope that they caught people in my area.  It is completely unfair that other people (and animals) must be disrupted by these individuals' unlawful behavior.

We walked for about 10 minutes this afternoon, but it's really too hot for anything else.  Perhaps we'll do some training indoors later on.  Stay cool, everyone.

Yesterday's Agility

Quick Layla Update: things are kind of the same.  I'm hesitant to say it, but her nose looks a TINY bit better than it did yesterday.  Vet had me bump up the dose of Prednisone to .4 cc for yesterday and today.  I can't believe it's already been a week; all I want, really, is for her nose to heal.  Keep sending her good vibes and thoughts.  My poor little cone head!

Yesterday's agility class came with an unexpected treat: only two people besides me were there, which meant we got a lot more time on course.  (Seriously, why do people pay for classes and then don't come?  I mean, it's fine with me, I certainly like the extra time, but I can't imagine spending that much money and then not using it!)

Again, no video.  I do promise to have video on Friday from the trial, though.  Here is the course map:

And, how I ran it:

• Led out between 1 and 2 and continued running down the line to get to the dog walk.
• Her dog walk contacts were extremely strange tonight.  My hunch is that someone peed in the grass near the base of it or something, because instead of doing a 2o2o, she was stoppping with all four legs in the yellow part of the contact area.  She usually does stuff like that when the grass is wet or smelly or something.
• Sent her on to the jump and the tunnel; tunnel entrance was not difficult, and it was literally right in their path as they came over the jump.
• The pinwheel-type thing was extremely tricky.  You had to decelerate so that the dog didn't take the dog walk again, BUT, if you decelerated too much, you pulled them off from the jump.  I think that's really the only thing I had trouble with.
• Back cross to the weaves was fine; I was initially confused as to how my instructor wanted me to handle it, but once I figured out what she meant, it was a piece o'cake.
• Front crossed the weaves and then front crossed again after the jump.  Marge could have just sliced the jump and then take off from there for the A-Frame, but Marisa said she wanted us to practice this.
• !!!!! SHE DID HER A-FRAME CONTACT BEAUTIFULLY EVERY SINGLE TIME!  Oh, it was totally awesome.  Really hoping that she holds it at the trial.  I think she will.  She is totally getting it now.
• Front crossed the A-Frame (mostly to proof her holding her contact), sent her over the jump and in to the tunnel, back crossed over the jump and then pushed/backed over the final jump.

Nice course.  It might have been the trickiest that we've seen at class so far this season, but it worked a lot of different skills and it was fun to run.

We had a visitor to class who is thinking about joining up.  Marge absolutely LOVED her and her smooth coated Border Collie.  I'm hoping they do join - perhaps for a selfish reason.. they passed the "Marge Seal of Approval" test with flying colors and it'd be nice to have another classmate who Marge gets along with!

Late-Breaking News

I intended on writing a full training update yesterday, but life got in the way.  My cat, Layla, suddenly started going to her litter box every few minutes, only passing small amounts of urine each time.  I know that urinary/bladder/kidney issues are something you really can't screw around with in cats, so I took the first appointment at the vet that was available (which involved waiting in the waiting room with someone who was euthanizing their dog, UGH, so sad) so I could try to figure this out.

Fortunately, according to my vet, my kitty likely just has an infection.  The vet said that the sudden onset implies this.  She was not concerned about kidney disease or anything like that.  She said stones/crystals are possible, but she felt around and didn't feel anything (and Layla didn't seem to be in much pain when she was doing so). Today's urinalysis results showed no crystals or stones, thank goodness.  They gave her sub-cutaneous fluids to flush out her system (some of which she still hasn't absorbed, so she's looking like a football player with big puffy shoulders) and a 10-day antibiotic.  She seemed to go to the box less almost immediately after the first dose, so hopefully, hopefully, hopefully, we caught what ever it is and it'll go away and never come back.

On a happy note, my vet said it'd be alright to start giving my cat some canned food again.  She is only on a dry prescription allergy food, the food that really saved her after her very bad illness in 2005.  Though, ideally, I'd like to switch off of that and find something different, I don't want to mess around with her system too much.  So, I'm going to leave it and supplement with some canned food a few times a week.  Layla got a taste of wet food for the first time in probably about five years today - Wellness CORE Grain-Free Salmon, Whitefish and Herring.  So far, she's kept it down with no problems.  Yay!

------------------------------------------

As for Marge..

Demonstration Monday
Okay, so she wasn't a really demo dog, but she did something pretty big on Monday.  She accompanied me to the Pet Agility class that I teach and did really, really well.  She hung out in a crate for the duration of the class - she didn't LOVE it (evidenced by the peanut-butter stuffed Kong that she left uneaten), but she didn't make a fuss, either.  Her one grumble of the night came when the other teacher stood near the door to the crating room and told her dog to shush.  Marge gave her the stink eye from her crate, but when I went over to make sure she was okay, she settled down.

At the end of class, Marge got to come out for a few minutes.  She met the fearful dog that I've been working with and really liked her.  (Which reminds me - that doggy's been doing pretty well.  She's still kind of "my responsibility" in the class. She can go through the tunnel now and we're just beginning to extend it!  And, with my help, she put three paws on the A-Frame.  This was all using no force.. just positive reinforcement and patience.)  I let Marge run around loose for a few minutes when everyone had left; she worked her A-Frame contact with me a couple of times, and that was it.  But, I thought that this was a big step for her.

Tuesday Agility
Marge has been ON FIRE at agility class.  Last night was not an exception. No videos, because I was by myself, but here's the course map:

I led out to the broad jump with Marge on my right.  Used my inside arm to wrap her around jump three and front crossed simultaneously to get to the dog walk.  Her contacts were FANTASTIC, including the A-Frame.  The offside tunnel entry didn't screw us up, either - just ran like hell diagonally to it - and her teeter was both quick and somewhat independent.  No problems getting to the A-Frame, and then the rest of the course was just a pinwheel with an easy weave entrance and one final jump. 

I wish I could move up to the Excellent class, which runs two courses each night instead of just one.  But, the time is inconvenient for me, and there isn't enough room in the class.  Oh well.

Our next trial is a week from Friday.  It's at a new site that neither of us have been to before. I'm just hoping for cool temps and no noise.

As for my last post, thanks for your thoughts and ideas.  Nothing has happened since then, so I'll just try to stay diligent and hopefully make more progress on the issue.

Tuesday Training 33

FINALLY, A TRAINING UPDATE! I think I could just gush forever about tonight's agility class. Really. Her performance was awesome and her behavior was even better.

Louie tagged along, so there is video to go along with my elation. This is actually a video of Marge and me running the whole course after class during my private lesson. On a totally unrelated side note, I love the sounds of the crickets chirping at the beginning of the video. Watch the video for that, if for nothing else!

• One of the biggest lead-outs I've done to date. I did this for a reason. I could have handled this with a simple back cross through the 180, but our back crosses are so solid that it made more sense to practice something different (especially since it's this sort of thing that ALWAYS throws me off in Jumpers). Had a little trouble the first time because I didn't turn my shoulders enough so she went for the table.
• She had a couple of times where she got up while on the table. I think it's my fault. I haven't proofed me walking away from her while she's on the table enough. Something to work on in our spare time. Her sends to the table were nice, though, and I'm happy she's doing her automatic down after we had two table sits during our last trial.
• The A-Frame I'll talk more about later, as we dedicated 5 or 10 minutes to working on the contact for it alone.
• I was pretty happy with the jump-tire-tunnel bit. The front cross after the tire wasn't hard, but it was tricky to get yourself in the right spot so that the dog took the tunnel.
• AWESOME weaves tonight. Really. Gorgeous entrances and I faded back a bit as she finished up so I could put myself in a better position for the offside tunnel entry. She pulled out of the weaves once towards the end when I was just fooling around with her, but a) she was a little unconfident because we had just finished up working on the frame contact b) she was tired and c) I turned my body to face her after running all the way to the end and that threw her off. So, no concern there.
• I blind crossed after the tunnel purposely. I never blind cross, but I think it can be a useful tool after tunnels instead of spinning all the way in a circle like a post turn.
• The angle to the tire was tricky but she did it. She knocked the jump before the teeter on one run, but Marisa said I was over handling it by yelling out to her too much. It was probably something I did. I NEVER get upset over knocked bars, anyway, since I know Marge really wants to keep them up.
• Nice teeter tonight. I tried not to babysit it as much and the results were good. I did do some babysitting of it just for fun to really motivate her in between runs. I'm still not requiring a 2o2o contact on the teeter.. I think that I might not at all. The jump after the teeter was the end of the course.

As usual, please, agility friends, critique all you want!

Marge has been doing so well in class. Tonight, her behavior matched the agility, too. She played a bit with Papillon friend Holly and PWD friend Star. She sniffed big Max, the super-sweet Cane Corso, but then proceeded to mount him so I pulled her away. Not one single snark the whole night, though, so I really was thrilled.

Like I said, we worked on making the A-Frame contact more independent. I think we actually got somewhere. By the end, I was able to run past her and she'd stay on the frame. She was creeping a bit, but Marisa said that it's likely due to the fact that she's still figuring out exactly what I want for her to do (since usually when I move forward, that means she should move forward, too). She got a bit stressy when I told her to try again after she broke from her contact, but we did it one more time and ended on a good note.

Afterwards, Marge got a fully body massage. It was finally warm enough for it. She handled it much better than last time, standing in place instead of wriggling all over. We're going to do it once a month. Marisa said her neck felt good and there wasn't anything other than normal tightness any where else. The hip flexor that bugged her last month is still slightly inflamed, but apparently it's nothing to be concerned over. Still, I think that's my cue to really pick it up with some strengthening/stretching exercises.

She's pooped, now, asleep on the couch. I'm pooped, too, but really wanted to finally get back to my Tuesday Training. Off now to play catch-up with my favorite blogs.

Back on Schedule

It feels like for ever since I've written about the individual for which this blog is named! After a week long stray from that topic, I do have a little bit of news about Marge.

We went back to agility class on Tuesday! I was SO excited. Though I didn't mind the indoor classes and think I learned a lot of good handling skills for tight courses, I couldn't wait to get back outdoors under the stadium lights. You can kind of consider this a late Tuesday Training post.

Our class is full. We've got a Rottweiler, a Golden, a Vizsla, a Cane Corso, a Portuguese Water Dog, a Lhasa Apso, and a Papillon with us. Only one of these dogs is one that Marge has a real issue with, but so far it looks like it will be okay. Only half the class was there this week, so it meant extra time for those who showed up.

The course was a bit easier than the courses we typically saw last year - still probably above the Novice level, but it just didn't feel like the Excellent level stuff we did last year. Some of the dogs are a bit greener than Marge is (can you believe we've been doing this a YEAR already?) so I think that might be why. I'm planning on having several private lessons with my instructor to begin to get ready for Open Standard (I forsee us flying through the rest of Novice Standard) and working on our Jumpers With Weaves skills (which I think are lacking - I feel like we might be in Novice for a long time).

The course (we ran each half twice, here's the better of each half):

The breakdown of the course:

• I led out to jump 2, just so I could be there for her to go over the teeter. I was happy to see that she wasn't really spooky about the teeter after her last sloppy one at the trial. She's still waiting at the pivot point, but I'm kind of letting her get used to it on her own - I know it will add seconds on to our time, but I'd rather that than make the teeter scary for her.
• Down the line to the triple - I sent to the triple and then front crossed as she came back to me. Her contacts were OK - I didn't use the post-it and she did some freaky stuff at first (like targeting the contact zone itself), but looked better each time.
• Back crossed before the jump to get to the weaves - the stupid Weave-O-Matics kept moving around and made it so that the poles bent the wrong way, which explains her issues tonight. Her entries looked good. She did pop out a couple of times at the 10th pole, though. Need to work on these for sure. I want to make them more independent.
• Really beautiful through the 180 to the tire. And an AWESOME send to the table. She did spin back towards me on this run but I don't think I cued it enough. I was shocked at how far out she went in front of me to get there.
• A-Frame/tunnel discrimination went crappy, as usual... took the Frame the first couple of tries. I adjusted my handling a little bit on the last run, using my off arm to guide her back in toward me, and she did take the tunnel, but she looked at the Frame first. She's even worse with the dog walk (always chooses the contact obstacle even if I'm shoving her in the tunnel and then gets stressy when we repeat it).

So, over all, we ran this pretty clean. She was so fast that night, I think it was cold and I hadn't walked her much during the day, so she was really feeling good. She took a couple of faceplants, too, just from being such a crazy girl and speeding around her turns.

No behavior problems, either. Friendly towards all people and indifferent towards most of the dogs. She's warming up slowly but surely to the Cane Corso, who has been so generous to provide his rear end for her to sniff, and the Golden Retriever, who she's gotten snarky with in the past.

There are roughly three weeks until our next agility trial, a local AKC trial that we're doing both days of. I will use my time well to get her prepared for it!

Back to School

..the good kind of school!

Our day today went pretty well. We had a very short lesson with Marisa, which was honestly less about Marge doing agility and more about me staying calm and handling her effectively with our trial looming just a few days away. We didn't do any contact obstacles other than the teeter and table. She didn't massage Marge, but she felt her hip and said it felt a whole lot less tight than last week. In fact, she didn't remember which rear leg it was and couldn't tell, either, since Marge was standing square, moving fine and not giving any clues as to where the injury was.

Since I essentially got the A-OK on Marge's leg, we hung around for class. Marge waited in a crate while the main room was being used by other people getting a lesson. She did pretty well. She did puff up and grumble when another club member came in with her enormous (and loud, if I dare say) Rottweiler, but I was not surprised by that. I covered her crate to give her more privacy and there was no problem.

When it was time for class to begin, I took her into another section of the building and ran her around a little bit to get her warmed up. I'm trying to really be vigilant about not running her cold. We went through our small repertoire of stretches several times, too.

This was the set up, and we worked on some of this during our lesson as well.

Sequence One (White Circles)

• Led out to in front of the tire, kind of pushed her through the serpentine and then pulled her to the teeter.
• I front crossed the teeter; I could have front crossed before it, but front crossing after it gives Marge more courage (since the teeter is still scary sometimes).
• Used my inside arm to guide her over 5 and 6 and then pulled her back to the table.
• Had some trouble with the weaves tonight but I think it was my fault. I led out too far from the table and I think I crammed her space, so she entered at the second pole a couple of times. Once I gave her room, we had no problems (even though she was weaving into a corner!).
• I faded from the end of the weaves a bit. Getting into the tunnel was no problem, nor was taking the triple and swinging back through the tunnel down the line.

Sequence Two (Black Circles)

• Had Marge on my right up until the table. No real problems there.
• Led out over jump 6 from the table and got her in the tunnel. Once she committed to the tunnel, I did a landing-side front and then kept her on my right up until the teeter.
• Front crossed the teeter (again), pushed out to broad jump, pulled to the final jump.

Neither course was all that hard. I kind of liked that there were less obstacles out, which made for more room in between obstacles.

Sorry about no pics or video - I was all by myself. I am sure Friday will make up for it, with (hopefully) two videos and a lot of photos from the trial. It was a good day, though -- we didn't do too much, left out the hard stuff (contacts), and Marge's leg seems fine so far.

So now, no more agility until Friday at the trial. I can't believe it - our AKC debut is just days away!

Tuesday Training 26

Monday was quite a full day, with two trips to the training hall in one afternoon.

First, we went for Rally run-thrus. It was stressful. There were a lot of strange dogs and people for Marge to contend with - and for ME to contend with. I don't want to elaborate too much, but I extremely dislike being spoken down to, especially by someone who doesn't know anything about me or my dog. I extremely dislike when someone tells me that they're a "professional" and that they know what they're doing with my fearful dog when I'm obviously not interested in their methods. If I wanted advice, I would ask for it, and, if I did ask for it, I would hope to receive a helpful and polite response rather than a condescending one.

The Rally itself was alright - nothing stellar. Her heeling wasn't bad, and perhaps my biggest complaint would be crooked fronts and finishes. It's AKC Rally, so, if I dare say, it was easier than its APDT cousin. Her attentiveness wasn't bad considering the number of people around. I used treats, but sparingly.

Despite the commotion, she was able to settle in a corner and even get pets from another (very nice) club member, who happens to share her name!

We went home for a few hours and then headed back out for agility class. What an awesome class in every single respect. There were 5 other teams - all either classmates or Excellent level dogs. Not one dog or person made Marge feel scared. Not one bark or one snark out of her. It was unbelievable! She even got to run around with a Border Terrier friend of hers when we were moving equipment.

No photos or video, but here is the course map:

This course was loads of fun.

• The opening was tough. I had to send Marge into the tunnel and then get into position for the next jump. Finding that position was tricky - the best thing to do was to stand so that Marge would come out of the tunnel and approach me, fully facing her, and then send her on to the second jump.
• Her weaves were a little funky tonight but not terrible. She missed the entry once and then skipped a pole another time. They got better as the night went on, so I think maybe we were both rushing a bit in the beginning.
• Her A-Frame was beautiful. I think we did it 3 or 4 times and she hit her contact every single time. I had the post-it target there for her to mark, but I think we're going to make it smaller next time we train.
• I front crossed the A-Frame and used to wall to help me guide Marge straight to the table. No issues there.
• Her teeter was a little slow, but she did it. She actually went off course at one point to go do it. Teeter suck, if you will.
• After tunnel 8 it was a back cross over 9, and then another back from 11 to 12, and then a back into the tunnel.
• No problems with 14 and 15 - I tried having her come around 15 both ways, and it seemed like pulling her through the middle was the better option.
• I HAD to front cross after jump 17 to get her into the correct tunnel entrance. I tried pushing and it just didn't work.

It was a very quick course - a lot of twists and turns, but we managed pretty well.

At the very end, Marisa, Karen and I took out the wicket. Turns out I did set it up right last time and just didn't know how to read it. By using treats, we were able to measure Marge with no problem. She's right around 21", so she's at least an inch under the 22" cut off for agility jump heights. Marisa's only concern is that some wickets are more squeaky than this one - so I should really try to clank this one around and make sure she's solid with it. She also told me that treats can be used when she's measured. If that's the case, we're likely not going to have a big problem with measuring.

Over all, Marge and I have been doing a lot lately and having a lot of fun. At the end of the day, it's nice to have a cuddle buddy.. I can think of no one better suited to the job.

(I know I was MIA this weekend. I've begun catching up, but have a lot more blogs to read!)

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!