Apparently it takes a holiday weekend to get my mom to sit down and do some video editing with me and type my barktating. I have some great news to share!! I also have some awesome videos that I will be sharing as well! I have gotten my "Summer Do" and it has been cooler weather so that has been an interesting adjustment. The one good thing is my little sister, PennyLou doesn't have as much hair to pull and tug on. I have decided to take on the role as Mentor to her after much hesitation. After I stepped up to be Yoda to her Luke Skywalker she has made quicker progress in her Obedience training at My school. Mom took a video of her during her last evaluation in March. I have decided to share it on my blog so that you can see the improvements she is making. She is trainable. Don't get me wrong she is still obnoxious and acts like a spoiled brat, but I'm working on it. I even went to her graduation ceremony to be a supportive big brother. I can remember when learning all of the obedience skills was very hard for me. She is lucky to have such a great role model/Mentor like myself.
Here is a link to PennyLou's Evaluation at the conclusion of her Advanced Beginner's class:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XaqZYcHR5A
Now, back to me and my accomplishments and activities. I have been taking a school break during this session while coaching PennyLou on how to get through the Novice I course she is enrolled in.
However, my mom bought me a special set of weave poles to have in the backyard to practice and see all the time so I wouldn't be so panicked about them when I went to compete. We worked on them one to two times per week. I was glad that I still had regular time with my mom. I was always a little jealous on Tuesdays when mom and Penny left to go to school. It meant dad and I got "boy" time together, but I really like going to school.
Turns out mom signed me up for a trial that was put on by the Miniature Australian Shepard Club of the United States. What a long name huh? Well it was an all-breed show. It was the weekend of May 16th and 17th. Mom only entered me in Jumps with Weaves. It was an American Kennel Club Show. I only needed 1 more qualifying run in the Open Class to get my OJP title (Open Jumpers Preferred). Mom has me run at a preferred height instead of my standard height for a couple of reasons. The first is it is safer for my joints, I don't have to push off as hard which means I don't have as far to land either. The second reason is many AKC competitions are on dirt, I have a tendency to let my back feet slip on dirt which causes me to "drop bars". If a bar drops during a run it is an automatic non-qualifying run due to a "fault". This running of AKC agility and even UKC agility is serious business. The show that I was in was actually taking place indoors. I was excited about that, until I got there. It was quite warm inside of the ring. There was a thermometer and mom said it read 80 degrees. Thank goodness I had my summer haircut already or I think the heat might have really gotten to me. I was the only dog jumping at my height at all, and I was first dog in the ring for the Open class so it was all up to my mom to know the way.
I am really glad that my mom understands how all these trials work since she is Director of Agility Trials for my school. The Trial Secretary for this trial didn't want to put out course maps for the next group until there were about 40-50 dogs left in the class before. My mom took a picture of the one that was posted on the wall and looked at it. Then it was time for her to walk the course. While she was walking the course and getting in the "zone", Christine and Adam got some cool Slow-Motion videos of some dogs that were competing in the Standard Excellent class. I had mom put them together. I hope we can get more videos like this..they are just plain fun to watch:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b-ntjIsPDU
My dad wasn't able to make it on Saturday because he had chores at home to take care of. Here was my best attempt on Saturday. The poles in the middle of the ring and the heat really got to me, that and I may have just been a little too confident when i got started:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP4PRbbdoiA
On Sunday I went back for my second attempt to try to get my title. My mom and dad were both there. My gramma and granddad came to. I had a whole cheering section! I didn't get a picture of my gramma and granddad I was too busy trying to stay focused and in the zone. I wasn't going to let confidence and arrogance take over this time. I was going to get the job done today!
My mom had me hang out in my room a little bit longer as it was in a different part of the building that was a little cooler. The room where the course was showed it was over 80 degrees again by the time it was my turn on the course. Mom told me to forget about the temperatures that I only had to run one time and then I could get in the air conditioned car. I stayed super focused and went as fast as my legs would let me go. I listened to mom on the first try and here is how the course went on Sunday:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWGAwPnNCLk
I did great! Mom did a great job of navigating me around the course. I got a perfect score of 100 and was under the standard course time by 4 seconds! I took first place (they were out of first place ribbons by the time I went, but said they would mail one to me). I was so proud of myself and my whole cheering crowd hipped and hoorayed!
Mom made sure to get a picture of my perfect score. Overall I would say it was a great weekend. My next adventure will be working towards my United Agility Champion Excellent. And Helping PennyLou get ready for her first Obedience Trial. She is a little bit like me in that she doesn't really like to do the stays. She gets a little bored sticking in one spot for too long, and she is a little paranoid when other dogs look at her for a little too long. I am doing my best to help her overcome those things.Until my next entry...keep those tails waggin'
Boca
