Thanksgiving Agility Weekend

We enjoyed a relaxing agility weekend at "Camp Stargazer" with Sandy and Jim. Arrived on Thursday afternoon after a long slow drive up from Beaverton in the rain and traffic to enjoy way too much of a tasty turkey dinner with all the trimmings. We all kept our eyes open just long enough to watch a movie that Sandy's niece Cari and her fiancee had brought with them and then fell into bed for the night.

Jan and I ran agility with the dogs on Friday and Saturday.

Jan had two really nice runs with Stoker on Friday for their first time out together. They missed a Q in Novice Jumpers with one knocked bar and a Q in Open standard when Stoker fell off the dog walk. Their runs were really nice, so it was a little disappointing that they didn't Q in either. Stoker likes running with Jan.

Chili spent the entire weekend looking for Jan on the course while I was running her. She still had a good Exc Standard run, with an off-course due to my handling. Grrr! Bad handler! Her Jumpers run was a complete and total train wreck and I am not sure there was room on the scribe sheet for all the faults. She even ran up to the judge to ask him if he knew where her "daddy" was. On Saturday, we tried having Jan stand at ringside near the start line so Chili would know where he was. That seemed to work a little better. She had a decent Standard run again but NQd with an off-course early in the run. We kept things together with a nice run in Jumpers in the afternoon for our only Q of the weekend and finished her AXJ title.

Jan and Decker are running better together with every trial. No Qs this weekend, but two nice Excellent runs on Saturday. Decker bailed off the up side of the A-frame and knocked a bar on his standard run and had a refusal in his Jumpers run. They got good weaves in both classes, which has been an issue for them. Learning Decker's signs that he is committed to an obstacle (and/or teaching him to send better) might be this team's next step. Think smoothness and flow....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHILI

Our little PWD princess is eight today. It's so hard to believe that eight years have gone by...

I wrote a sentence for Chili once upon a time when I submitted her for a cover contest and I think it captures her well: "This petite PWD goes from pillow princess to performance powerhouse in the blink of an eye". She truly is a powerhouse in the water and not too shabby in agility and obedience either. She's smart, energetic, playful, sweet, manipulative and co-dependent and has Jan and I wrapped around her little paw. Her prey/chase drive can make her a sharp l'il thing when she is in that mode and she gets in trouble for biting at my leg and anything else in mouth range when we first leave the house to exercise with the bike.

Chili and sister Sydney got a great b-day card from her sister Bella (with the help of owner Mandy's keyboarding skills). Chili, Bella and Syd are the three "performance" girls from the "sweet sensations" litter of eleven and since myself, Mandy and Val are all friends we get to see each others girls from time to time. Their daddy Kilo and mama Sabrina truly graced us with some wonderful companions.

We're looking forward to many more happy years with our Chili-roo and can't even imagine life without her.

Agility Weekend

The photo with this post really should be of Decker and Jan, but this photo of Chili is the only one we were able to get instant gratification on this weekend.

Decker and Jan got their first Q together with a 2nd place finish in their Excellent Jumpers run on Sunday. Jan has been running Decker for such a short time and this is only their second day trialling together, so I am very proud of them. Their jumpers run was really pretty and smooth. Woohoo!

It was a jumpers weekend for our PWDs, apparently, as Stoker Qd in Novice Jumpers with a 3rd place for her 2nd Novice Jumpers leg and Chili Qd in Excellent Jumpers with a 1st place for her 2nd Excellent Jumpers leg. No Qs in standard all weekend...

Chili & Decker Tearin' it Up

Chili and Decker in the Leaves, originally uploaded by Suz&Jan.

After grooming Stoker's sister Maggie in the morning (when it was still nice out) on Saturday, I got together with Darlene and Julie to go for a walk in the afternoon. Ecko, Cooper and Tsuzi were wet to the skin within minutes but had such a blast powering up and down the trail in the fall leaves that Jan and I were motived to take Decker and Chili out for a walk on Sunday. Gotta keep those agility dogs in shape, you know! Ecko and Stoker had to settle for biking that day...

What a weekend for the PWDs!

On Saturday, Chili's daughter JoJo (Lookout's Wind and Rain and Fire) earned her WWD title in Arizona with her owner Val Tangen. Val has done a great job with this spirited girly earning a CD title and assorted agility titles with her as well.

Also on Saturday, Dixie Matson earned a MACH with her girl Jude (CH Bayswater Jubilee Jude CDX MX MXJ CWDX). I got to watcyh Dixie and Jude run several times last spring and they are a smooth and pretty team to watch.

On Sunday, Stoker's cousin Sailor earned her AWD title with her co-owner/breeder Mandy Ford. Sailor really deserved the title as she did an awesome job in training with her owner Martha all summer.

Also on Sunday, Jan and I went to an agility trial in Albany with Decker and Chili. Jan ran Decker for the first time in competition in the Excellent class after having trained with him in classes for only a month. They didn't manage to Q, but had two really nice runs. I don't think Jan really has any idea how quickly he is coming along as a handler. Chili earned her final Q in standard with a first place to earn her AX title (three straight Qs in this class for her!) and earned her first Excellent Jumpers Q too.

The somewhat blurry photos are clipped from a video of Jan's jumpers run with Decker. You can see a video of their run here.