Our New Friend

Wow, I can't believe it's Friday already! It's been a very busy week and I'm excited to be working on some really fun projects that I'll hopefully be sharing soon. In the meantime I thought I would post a few more pics of our stalking tree frog who seems to enjoy making his nighly appearance. Isn't he cool?? :)

Puppy Envy

There's something about this time of year that always seems gives me a case of puppy fever, but this year is really bad since so many of my friends are getting puppies. It also doesn't help that I've been following several dalmatian puppy blogs and (IMO) there just isn't anything cuter than spotty puppies! *Sigh* I can't have a puppy. I can't have a puppy. But oh how do I looooove puppies. :)

I only took a few pictures at the trial this weekend, and of course they were of Finn, an uber-cute fluffly golden puppy. Isn't he just adorable?







And so he doesn't feel left out, here's a shot of Riley who is Finn's big brother (technically uncle) and Peyton's BFF, on an Excellent JWW course...



I can't have a puppy. I can't have a puppy. I can't have a puppy. I can't have a puppy...

A Perfect Day!

Our first weekend of AKC trialing ended on a great note - Today Peyton qualified in novice standard with 1st place and novice JWW with a 2nd place! I am so, so, so proud of how well he did this weekend...he ran so hard and I really think that he was having a blast out there!

Our first run was novice standard and I was so happy with this run. We only had one refusal at the table, but he came back around and did it on the second try. After yesterday's table incident, I was thrilled! I also loved how well he handled this opening...even with me running about a jump behind him, he nailed the weaves like a pro. What a good boy!



Novice JWW was a little messy, but he did really well considering my less than stellar job of handling. I have to admit, I spend a little too much time watching him run when I really need to be showing him where we need to go next. :)



So we ended up qualifying in 4 out of 7 runs this weekend, with 2 of our NQs being in novice fast...obviously not *my* strength at the moment! And again, I'm just so insanely proud of my spotty boy! He handled himself very well in what I know was a very challenging environment for him. I think this weekend was a great learning experience for both of us, and I'm really looking forward to our next trial which will likely be sometime in July...at the moment I'm still debating between a couple of good options. Yay Peyton! :)

AKC Day 2

So proud of my spotty boy! I really think he's starting to get the hang of this trialing stuff...we had some really great moments today and although we had a few little issues, I'm just really happy to see him running a little more like he does in class!

I'm going to start with novice jumpers because I was so pleased with this run. He ended up qualifying with only one refusal and took 2nd place. He had so much speed and I even heard him make some little growl-like noises as he was going through the weaves...he was very intense and his focus was great.



We actually started the day with novice fast and it was kind of a train-wreck from the start. I'm not very good at thinking on my feet and when my plan went out the window, I just couldn't recover. It wasn't a terrible effort, but I think Peyton ended up handling me more than I handled him. :) He also didn't hold his contacts, and I should have worked harder to make sure he did, but I think I must have been running in la-la land!



Our final run was novice standard and even though we had a few bigger issues during this run, he handled the majority of the course well. On the opening he didn't hold his contact (naughty spotty), but he responded to me quickly and we got back on track. THEN came the table. We clearly have some table issues, which isn't too surprising since it's our weakest obstacle - he did get on it after a little hesitation, but as I was trying to get a sit the judge stepped in and Peyton hopped off barking. I tried to get him back on, but with no success. He was clearly very uncomfortable and I should have moved on a little earlier than I did, but I was hoping we could work through it. No such luck. I see a lot more table work in our future, but honestly I think it's just going to take some more experience to work through. Hopefully once he realizes the judges are NOT out to eat him, he'll become more comfortable. On a good note, the second half of the course rocked, and he had a very nice teeter contact.



On the handling front, I think I too made some good progress today. Our fast run was a great reminder that I really need to be more aggressive with my handling. Not aggressive in a negative way, but I just can't be a weenie. :) Not that Indy is a slow dog, but with Peyton there is very little room for errors on my part...especially when he is taking long jump lines with just one stride in between.

What a long, but fun day! We'll be back at it tomorrow with novice standard first thing in the morning. :)

AKC Day 1

It was a pretty good day! Overall, Peyton seemed a little more comfortable than yesterday...he still isn't very impressed with some of the dogs that want to stare at him or invade his space, but I'm trying to do the best I can to limit those encounters. My first big brag is that he did get measured and other than being just a little nervous, he held still long enough to get the one and only measurement we should need for AKC - yay! I know it sounds silly, but this was pretty exciting for me. :)

Our first run was novice FAST and other than a few little run-arounds he did pretty good. We thought that he might have qualified, but I guess the judge called a refusal on the second jump of the send bonus, so no Q - but a good warm-up run.

Our next run was novice standard and we ended up qualifying and taking 2nd place! I was really happy with how he did on this run, and other than a little confusion when we got to the tunnel, he seemed pretty happy and his focus was pretty decent.

Almost *7 hours* later, we had our final run which was novice jumpers. He was a little less focused during this run, but we were working through it until we got to the very end and after he came out of the tunnel he knocked a bar and then ran over and barked at the judge. I'm not sure what he was thinking, but this was a bark that I only hear when Peyton is in a total state of panic so something about her must have caught his eye. Honestly, I'm a little disappointed to have ended our day with that display, but I guess it's all part of the learning experience.

Another long day tomorrow, but I think we might try to go home in between our fast run in the morning and our other runs that should be later in the afternoon. For the most part, Peyton seemed pretty relaxed hanging out in his crate, but I think it might be better for him if he is able to take a little break away from the endless barking and trial activity and has a chance to really relax.

Here's our video from today - thanks for all of the good vibes! :)

AKC Match

Our AKC match this afternoon went pretty well...Peyton didn't seem to be as comfortable as I would have liked, but I think we got in a few good training runs and hopefully he'll relax a little more over the weekend.

They started about a 1/2 hour early today and since we were in the first group to run I didn't have as much time as I would have liked to really let Peyton get settled. And in the 10 minutes we did have, we managed to encounter a few rude dogs...he handled them pretty well, but I think it stressed him out a little. Ah, welcome to big trials - I have a feeling I'm going to have to work really hard to find ways to manage our space. Peyton isn't too keen on having a strange dog run up and sniff his rear - not that I can blame him! :)

Our first run was standard and it seemed like Peyton was running with his head in the clouds. It wasn't terrible, but I could tell his spotty brain was in overdrive - you can really see by the time we get to the table...it just looked like his eyeballs were about to pop out. :) Our next run was jumpers - I lost him pretty good at first, but we managed to work it out. When reviewing the video, I noticed that he just didn't seem physically comfortable during this run - he was adding strides before many of the jumps and slipping in a few places. I'm hoping that it's just a matter of him getting used to the surface - his next jumpers run looked much better.

Tomorrow we start with novice FAST and as much as I hate coming up with my own plan (yes, I like numbers), it should be a good little warm-up. I think I'm going to have to experiment a little to see how much time I need to have him out before we run - I need enough time to get him focusing on me, but not so much that he has time to worry about all of the other dogs.

Here's a little video from today...more updates to come!

Our AKC Debut

Is less than 2 days away! Well actually, it's only 1 day if you count the B match that we're entered in tomorrow afternoon. I'm really excited and looking forward to 4 days (yikes!) of agility and hanging out with good friends. Ok, so now I think I'm a little exhausted just thinking about it! :)

Oddly enough I'm not really nervous, which I'm sure is a surprise for those of you who know me. :) I realize that it will be a really challenging environment for us, but I think that Peyton is ready. My only teeny-weeny concern is getting measured. I know Peyton is going to have to jump 24", but unfortunately he still has to get an official measurement...I don't think that he's going to be very happy about that! Once he knows you he loves you, but he can be a little wary of strangers...AND he's very squirmy. He did *not* like the wicket the first time we tried to measure him, but after a month of practicing with a makeshift PVC contraption I put together, I think he's gotten much better. Fingers and paws crossed that he'll cooperate!

Here are my goals for this trial:
1. To keep Peyton as relaxed as possible - this is always important, but even more so since this will be a much larger trial than what we're used to.
2. RUN more THINK less! I've got to stop over analyzing during our runs and well, just RUN. :)
3. Think forward forward forward - Our last trial was a reminder that at this point Peyton needs lots of forward cues and I shouldn't be worried about getting nice, tight turns. He needs to be able to trust my forward motion first.
4. To relax and have FUN and to do my best to keep Peyton happy. Having a happy and confident dog in the ring is so much more important to me than a qualifying run.

I think that's about all for now! Here are a few pictures of my spotty boy looking rather sad since we've had a week of RAIN and he's been stuck inside for most of it - hmmm, we could really have a wild spotty this weekend! :)

More Buster Cuteness

I just couldn't resist posting a few more pictures of Buster and one of his kitty friends - *so* cute! I'm especially in love with his ears...they seem to have a mind of their own! :)

Meet Buster!

This weekend I had the pleasure of photographing Buster, an 8 month old Jack Russell Terrier. He was so much fun and just incredibly sweet. In true JRT fashion, he was also full of boings(!) - I'm pretty much convinced that they have springs in those back legs! :)

Here's Buster...and even though he's still a baby, I think he'll always have a baby face!








More pictures of Buster coming soon...and a few of his kitty friends too!

Rhymes With Dogs

FROGS! Just thought I would share a few pictures of a cute little tree frog that I found hanging out in my courtyard this week...

And here's another little guy from a few weeks ago...I guess it could be the same one, but I'm not so great at frog identification. :)

This last one makes me smile...I think he was posing. Love that froggie smile! :)

Indy's Night Out

Indy got to go out for a little stroll around St. Armand's Circle this weekend. She was pretty impressed - first, we did a little window shopping...

Then we stopped in Wet Noses where Indy got a yummy cookie and made some new friends. She thought that had to be one of the coolest places ever!



She humored me with some posing in between people stopping by to ooh and aah over her...she always gets a lot of attention when we go out (which she loves, of course!)

When we were done she stopped to roll in some nice grass - note: our grass does not look like this at home. :)



And finally, on our way home we stopped to admire the sunset - gorgeous!

Run-Thrus!

Peyton and I had a little run-thru opportunity at Palmetto tonight. It went okay, but unfortunately my head just wasn't in the game and I didn't feel like we accomplished as much as we could have. Too bad since we have our *first* AKC trial there in two weeks!

I always feel bad whenever I can't give Peyton 100% when running because I know at this point he really needs and deserves it. I provided very little in the way of handling support tonight and it really showed...poor spotty didn't know where to go. But enough dwelling(!) here are some *good* moments...

1. Managed two really nice long lead-outs - I probably won't attempt one this long in an actual trial anytime soon, but I wanted to get an idea of his comfort level. He was a little antsy, but I don't think he was stressed.
2. All obstacles and contacts look pretty good. He's dropping bars (which is unusual for him), but I think it's likely an excitement issue at this point.
3. His table was pretty decent! On our first attempt, he had an itchy face, but managed to stay in a down. :) The second attempt wasn't as great, but no worse than what I sometimes get in class.
4. Despite lots of kids running around (he thinks they can be pretty scary), he seemed fairly comfortable with the environment. Near the end of our second run he didn't hold his teeter and looked a little worried, but when I reviewed the video I noticed motorcycle noise, which always tends to unnerve him a bit.

Here's a little video...Peyton has added his comments. :)

MIA

The spotties and I are looking for the month of April...we're not really sure what happened to it. I guess the good news is that we're all keeping busy and staying out of trouble (well except for Peyton - but that wouldn't be much fun, would it?) :)

Inspired

Sometimes you just need to stop and take the time to admire the natural beauty which surrounds you...

Night Trial Adventures

Well, after 10 hours of sleep I'm starting to feel slightly human again...night trials are very exhausting! Overall, it was a decent trial - not great Q-wise, but I think we had enough good moments to make up for some ugly ones. :)

Since it was her birthday, I'll start with Indy - she had a pretty good night. We started with weavers and she had a great run with a Q and first place. Since she's been popping out at the 10th pole in trials, I babysat the weaves a little more than usual, but no popping on Friday night. Her chances run was good, but she took the a-frame instead of the tunnel (very typical for her) and she was clean in jumpers, but a few wide turns caused us to be less than a second over time. Darn! Her regular run was also good up until the dog-walk at the very end, but she decided to take the tunnel instead (again, no surprise here).

So even though we only had one Q, again I'm really happy to see Indy running with some enthusiasm. I really wish that she would be as confident with the dog-walk in trials as she is in class, but I'm not sure if that will ever happen. In the meantime, I'm just trying to keep her happy and hope that at some point the confidence will come.



Now for Peyton...where to start!? He was just wild-wild-wild all night...it was like he was running on about 10 cups of coffee! We started with weavers and after a wild start he did very well, but took an off-course tunnel near the end so no Q. Our first run was probably our best run...I think it went downhill from there!

Our chances run was wild, our jumpers run was wild, and both rounds of regular were pretty wild too. Hey, at least we were consistent. :)

Compared to our last trial, I think our biggest problem this weekend was that I just couldn't get Peyton to relax. He was high as a kite all night and way too overstimulated to be able to *think* when we were running. I'm not sure if it was because we were at a new location, or maybe because we were crated next to one of the rings, but in hindsight I think I probably should have moved him to a more quiet area. I also think that our next night trial I should probably just take Peyton so I have more time to work with him...at this point, it's just too much to try to run Indy too and make sure that both of them get the attention they need.

On the handling front, *I* was a disaster. I just couldn't get where I needed to be to give him direction and as a result, I lost him in a lot of places that I don't think I would have if I was in the right position. I know he requires a lot more handling support in trials than in class, but I couldn't figure out how to get where I needed to be. I've also decided that I start to lose my sense of humor after around 11 pm, and since we didn't finish until almost 3 am, there were several runs where my frustration didn't help much. :)

I've always enjoyed night trials with Indy, but I'm not sold on the idea yet with Peyton. He requires a lot more thinking and work that I'm not sure I'm capable of giving so late at night (or early in the morning!).

On a good note, I did decide to work on some short lead-outs with him, and with the exception of the very last run, he held his stay pretty well. And with the exception of his first a-frame, he stopped on all of the other contacts.

After reviewing his videos, I don't think we were quite as bad as it felt at the time, but I definitely had more spotty dog than I could handle!

Another Birthday!

Today my crazy little spotted girl is 5 years old! And how are we celebrating?? A trip up to Ocala for the first NADAC night trial of the season! I'm not sure her idea of a great birthday party is a night of trialing followed by a hotel stay with her bratty brother Peyton, but hopefully we'll all have a fun time. :)

Here's Indy when we found her at Animal Services in Sarasota - she's around 8 weeks here and was giving us our first dose of "Inditude"!



Happy birthday to my very special spotty girl! First dog on the line at 8 pm tonight - wish us luck! :)