Adventures of Max, Starlet and Vic

Kate cracked

2008-05-16T21:55:47Z

Kate cracked and started a LJ account (www.drivendogs.livejournal.com).

I'm dying from the heat and am soooooo happy I cancelled the privates scheduled for after classes today. I'm battling a little guilt from scaring someone away from classes today. Friday is a drop in day, but we start setting up at 9:30am and as soon as it's up, we start class. A very nice older gentleman showed up late. He usually runs a few goldens and I didn't say he couldn't play, I just said he couldn't walk, since it wasn't fair to the rest of us to wait on him. He left without a word. The class more than backed me (I think one of the students would literal throw down, if need be) and I know I did the right thing, but my niceitis is pretty far along. I did let another late arriver play, just no walking. It wasn't that hard, you didn't have to walk it and I think it's good to run sequences without walking sometimes. I shouldn't feel bad about it, but I do, I'll feel better after my next cold one (bottled tecate with lime...yummy).

Vic did do the teeter and tire at the park today. I didn't plan on the teeter, but he offered it and ran all the way to the end, perfect 2o/2o on a full-height teeter. :-) The tire was also much improved, no misjudging and even some extension through it. Vic is such a good boy.

Starlet had fun obsessing on Max and Max had fun showing off his gambling skills. The boy has mad skillz. ;-)

There is one dog in my house right now that isn't skeletal. Audrey the attitude-filled Chipin (Chihuahua/Min Pin) is visiting. She's a cool dog, not really my cup of tea, but she did win me over a bit yesterday. She is a lap surfer and since we don't cater to lap dogs around here, she was first kicked off mine, then Mike gave her the boot too. Her next move was to sit on Max's front legs. She totally has figured out that Max is the top dog and the one to buddy up with. She's his shadow and anyone who likes Max is a friend of mine. :-)

Some Vic family on LJ!

2008-05-16T15:38:03Z

The person of Vic's daddy, Dylon, just started up an LJ account and put up some pics of the dogs. Obviously, Dylon is Vic's sire, Woody is a full-brother from the first litter and the two youngest one's are also Dylon kids, so half-sibs to Vic. Such good looking dogs, of course, I'm more than a little biased. ;-)

http://sammiestevens.livejournal.com/

I do feed my dogs!

2008-05-16T06:25:02Z

Okay, I've somehow dieted Max and Starlet into skeletal status. Max was on a diet before he got sick and most of his weight loss is because of that. Max is like me, he can look at something and gain weight, so I was slow to up his food much. Okay, Max's food has been increased. Starlet's food has also been upped. At least with those two, you put more food in their bowls and they happily eat it. I'm beginning to wonder if Vic needs to be fed like foix gras geese. Lord! He's happy to eat, if there's homemade chicken stock over the top (canned just won't do), but he's been back on hunger strike for the past couple days.

Yesterday Vic did the tire in sequence for the first time. Wasn't pretty, a couple misjudged ones, but he was super by the end. He also did the chute in sequence (no worries there) and a low teeter after the chute. He feels more confident going across the dogwalk. Kristi is the only person encouraging me to stay with the see-wood-run until it's a little faster. I take a little pleasure in freaking out some of my other friends. I know Vic is so biddable getting a 2o/2o isn't going to be a big issue. We'll have to pull out the stopwatch next week to see where his times are. I'd like to get him down to at least a 1.5 before adding the stop.

It's supposed to be really hot this weekend. Not Oregon hot, but really hot for us wimpy beachside Californians. Here's hoping it cools down by next weekend's 3-day USDAA and please let it cool down before Kate's trial. While I'd like to buy a floppy hat for that trial (ideally one with a built in misting system), I hate seeing baby dogs scared by what the judge is wearing, so probably no hat for me. :-(

Friend looking for PVP team for Oregon Regionals

2008-05-14T17:10:47Z

I have a friend with a kick-ass young acd that is looking for a teammate for the Oregon Regionals. She does need the leg and it is a young dog, but Kylie and Anne are quite the impressive team (Kylie is the dog). Ideally, we'd be looking for more of a steady eddy type. I was going to team with her, but now that it's in doubt that I'll be going, she's in need. If you know of anyone that would be interested, let me know.

Do I want to take this blog private....

2008-05-12T18:36:27Z

I am thinking I'll start keeping some of my more opinionated posts private. So, for those of you not on Live Journal, you can open an account, add me as a friend, then I'll add you and you can see them. It's free to open an account and you don't have to do anything with it. Somewhere Terra is saying "I told you so". ;-)

Please let this work...

2008-05-12T00:19:10Z

I'm recording the Power/Vic video to a dvd right now. I'm hoping that I can then put it on the computer/edit it and get a puppy video up. They were so adorable! Normally, when I'm at my computer, Vic is behind me making sounds, but right now, he's barking at the tv. He used to love Power so much, but nowadays he's intimidated by all her energy. Fingers-crossed it's going to work. :-)

Did Vic grow again?

2008-05-10T16:39:58Z

Lazy day down this way. :-) I'm setting jumps (or maybe it's just a jump) for our APDT Rally trial this afternoon. After that I'm thinking cupcake baking is in order. Max has been desperate to have a supportive cupcake for BigMellon's Kate. I know it's just an excuse for his sugar junkie ways (he loves sweet things, Starlet loves creamy things and Vic is happiest to eat steak), but I don't tell Max I know his motives are more selfish than he pretends. ;-)

I am thinking Vic has grown again. It hit me that this may be why his striding seems a bit different on the frames. I'm going to revisit some of the grid work, since that seems to clean up the performance. Here's hoping Vic is still under 21", he had a 1/4" to spare the last time we measured him. According to the approx. 10% more height after 6 months, Vic should be around 20.9", making my list of judges that will not be measuring Vic, quite long. ;-) I'm also thinking I'll start entry training for his weaves and some teeter work while the cupcakes are baking this afternoon....

Here's some video from last Wednesday practice. I left in some of Kristi's more supportive feedback/commentary. :-)

Some more Vic family photos

2008-05-10T07:26:57Z

Since I will undoubtably get someone mixed up, I'm just taking Karen's description of the picture. Beggars can't be picky, especially since I realize my documentation of the dogs is kind of extreme, but Vic's sister Dot is the dot in the background. ;-)

Dot is the spec eyeing everyone in the distance! :-)

Mum Bliss is at the back, half sister Skye (sire is Ari) is sitting in the middle, Ari is to the left of her, Flo is to the right, grandmother Breeze (16 in May) is out to the side, Ski (an Ari x Flo pup) is next to the sheltie, and Star the sheltie is running round everyone! :-)

Kristi just posted these pics, but I'm doing it too. She let me play with her super duper camera. :-) The dogs were all a bit serious, but they're always good-looking. :-)

Day 1 video from IFCS

2008-05-10T06:19:51Z

Tough tough course.... Good luck to Kate, Rachel and the IFCS team the rest of this weekend!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh4fMHhrDLI

Sick day

2008-05-07T00:36:48Z

I can't tell if it's allergies or a cold, but I've been sat down today with something. So, figured I'd get some video done from yesterday at Kristi's (frames and weaves) and put in Vic's run at his first demo from the day before. He was a good boy, I didn't tell him to turn, so that's why he nearly goes to the off-course tunnel. Despite his love of tunnels, he's not really a tunnel sucker, they just help point out when I'm not good with my cues. :-)

Washing Day

2008-05-06T19:33:26Z

I'm not feeling super good today, so a good excuse to get caught up on videos...

LJ friends have probably already seen this, but for the rest of you, here's some video Kristi and I did of the dogs having a bath day. It took HOURS, but thankfully we had good wine. :-)

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

2008-05-05T22:20:18Z

I'm way behind on LJ, it was a crazy week and I'm still running behind. I'm hoping to get caught up tonight... Here's a little video with appropriate music from today when we worked on the teeter. Vic really surprised me, it's WAY higher than it's ever been before, but I figured I should try it, since I have the stuff in my backyard. :-)

Okay, maybe margaritas aren't like mimosa's in the morning... ;-) Here's the video!

Brain-fry

2008-04-30T21:48:18Z

I've been wiped out with allergies for days and am in the middle of designing 14 courses for Kate's trial. At least Saturday (Starters/Adv. Gamblers, Standard, Pairs and Snooker) is almost done. Sunday is just Standard, Gamblers and Jumpers, so that will be easier. Very glad that Scott L. gave me the advice to make my Standard courses first, makes everything lots easier. :-) Classes this afternoon, then more course designing tonight. Whew!

What we did at Kristi's...

2008-04-29T01:45:49Z

While Kristi was off pulling muscles in unpleasant places, I went over to do a few frames and let the doggies swim. Vic was good about the frames, definitely not too keen on me being static and closer to the box. Definitely something we'll continue to work on and otherwise he was super solid. After I'd put the frame back up to the height Kat is working on, I thought, "well, the box is still on it..." and did one with me in motion. He was perfect. :-) Of course, I didn't film that one. Here's some video of the dog's having fun. I'll put together one of the frames later.

It's HOT!

2008-04-28T03:22:34Z

Seriously, way too hot for me, it was in the 90's today. I felt like I was melting, definitely glad I wasn't trialing this weekend. :-) I was going to drive down to watch the P-Wow's debut, but traffic and the heat kept me home. Then, I was going to go over to Kristi's to let the dogs swim, but was too lazy for that too. I'm using Max's recovery as my formal excuse, but really pure laziness, since it's 3 minutes away and Max didn't have to go. I will be going over there tomorrow morning, since Vic must do some frames if a late July Perf. Speed Jumping debut is in his future (not Championship, because I'd like to avoid the spread jumps and a lower frame would be better, since it already feels like a greedy goal to try and be able to run him in Scottsdale). My lazy solution to everyone's heat misery was to water the lawn, so Vic and Starlet had some sprinkler fun. Max wasn't too into it, but he's definitely seems to be feeling better. :-) I don't let Vic play with the sprinkler too much, because of his super man leaps and Starlet spends her time psyching herself up to try and bite it. They did have a good time with it today. :-)

It's Vic's Dark Side!

Starlet getting down and dirty...

Type your cut contents here.

I love this pic...

Puppy Fun!

2008-04-26T03:17:06Z

Aside from my unpleasant reminder of Max's mortality today, I did have some fun with Starlet and Vic. Okay mostly with Vic, since Starlet was unfilmed and most of it was spent reminding her that 12 weaves poles in a row, means she has to do 12 weave poles, 10 isn't close enough.... Kate came up with the very-soon-to-debut Power. I'm planning on driving down Sunday to watch her at her debut show. Powwow is so cute! Vic still holds his breath when I say Power or any variation of her name. Face to face, he's a bit shy around her, all that energy is intimidating. ;-) One of these days (I'm hoping next weekend), I'll figure out how to download the old video I have of Vic and Power at 8 and 7 weeks. It's ADORABLE!!!! Power's sister Fly, (aka Whitey or The White Puppy aka The Puppy That Could Have Been) made her debut last weekend and won both her classes! Yay to the White Puppy!

Having Kate around has been very fun! I'm going to try and start going to Somis early on Tuesdays, so we can get together for puppy training. Between Kristi and Kate, I may be the luckiest person ever for training buddies!

Vic was super once again. He's so easy to run, aside from weave entries (which haven't been trained at all), all the mistakes are mine and inevitably come back to over-handling. He doesn't need nearly as much help as I want to offer. :-)  So here's some lazily put together video from today. :-)

Max update

2008-04-25T23:54:02Z

Thankfully, I had small classes today and no privates (though Kate came up and we had some fun with the puppies...). I was able to pick Max up at 3:30. The good news is all the tests came back normal. The bad news is he is full of diarhhea and gas (I now know what that looks like on an x-ray) and I had a fun $500 vet bill to pay. So, it's chicken and rice for Max with some Pepto for the next 5 days and a couple different types of meds. No unsupervised time outside and lots of rest. I'm relieved they didn't find something massively wrong, but I do wish I knew what exactly was going on with the old guy. I guess this falls under the no news is good news category. Thanks to everyone for their positive thoughts!

What's wrong with Max...

2008-04-25T16:08:02Z

I just dropped Max off at the vet's. He's been off his food for a couple days and just isn't right. I'm fighting the urge to assume the fetal position or going back to stay with him at the vet's office, but I have to teach classes and I'm sure my freaked out energy would just fuel Max's belief that the vet's is a VERY bad place (let's just say, I tell them to muzzle him). They're going to do a full blood panel (which he was due for anyway), plus some abdominal x-rays. It was those x-rays that let us know about Roxanne's hemangiosarcoma... let's just say, I'm not my best right now. Here's hoping for a simple diagnosis.

Vic, The World's Easiest Dog

2008-04-24T04:42:18Z

Seriously, if this is what a border collie is, well, I have less respect for some of the trainers who only have bcs. Vic is amazing! Yes, we need to get him more confident about running across the dogwalk, his teeter is virtually unstarted, the weaves still need entry work/experience and his A-frame is an experiment in motion, but he has been so simple. He is easy. I have put more focused time into his foundation than any of my other dogs and I'm sure that's part of it. Still, I think the biggest factor is it's just who Vic is. All this power and speed, but he never feels out of control and I can feel what a good time he has. Agility just seems to be a part of him, he's so different than any other dog I've trained. I believe in fate and am just enjoying the ride. :-)

Here's some video from today at a VERY windy park. I cancelled classes after my list of things that couldn't be used included all the contacts and most shapes of the tunnel... It was just starting to pick up while we were there, but was bad enough that I only did the 4 dogwalks (which is the main reason I go early and I think he has to do quite a few, so only doing 4 isn't what my plan was...). He's still figuring out the weaves, but I was thrilled with his efforts. He felt wide to me, when I was running him, but he really is giving great efforts. He is so much fun to run! I've only edited out extended play sessions...

Off for puppy training!

2008-04-23T20:04:40Z

After a morning that of inspiring debates that have me really thinking about how I want to run Vic. I'm off to the park this afternoon with Kristi and Kate for some puppy training. Last time Vic saw the dogwalk he took a pretty good spill, so it will be interesting to see how he rebounds from that. I really need to get going on his teeter too... In the meantime, here's some video of some mindless sprinkler fun the dogs had last week.

Video from DART

2008-04-21T22:19:05Z

Vic's not that big :-)

2008-04-21T18:37:49Z

Vic was a super boy (aside from barking whenever I was running and rolling his soft crate one of the times...) this weekend. Lots of nice compliments about his good looks and structure, plus a couple offers to take him off my hands. ;-) I had a lot of inquiries about how big he is and Kate measured him for me. He's not standing as tall at the wicket as he used to (good thing), but she said he was 20.75". That's my perfect size for a boy. :-) I think he'll still end up a little bigger, but staying under 21" is really looking like it's going to happen. Woohoo! I'm in the middle of a downloading to YouTube marathon, so videos from this weekend soon. :-)

DART DAM weekend

2008-04-21T03:33:12Z

Quick post, since I'm sorting out the video right now... First, what a fun weekend! I've realized that it's mainly the weather of Rancho Cuca-wanna know what menopause feels like?-monga that I don't enjoy (and in fairness, I am somewhat spoiled here in Santa Barbara). The hotel is great, the food options plentiful and the trials are alway really well run. Okay, the drive also doesn't appeal and I'm probably a lot less traumatized by the challenge of getting your stuff in and out of the site, because Kristi was with me this time, but still, I really do have fun at these shows.

Okay, I'm multi-tasking, so it's going to be a long post...

I was thrilled with all of my teammates, Kristi and I paired up Max and Cinder (for the final time...makes me a little weepy to think about, but more on that later...), Starlet was with our Nationals teammates from last year and this year, Tammy and Tryst. We were hoping to help Kelly and Riley get qualified for Nationals. Kelly is seriously one of the greatest energies I know and if anything ever happens to her and I end up with Riley.... I'll probably have to leave the cournty. ;-) I love that dog.  Finn's team was set up by Kristi (THANK YOU KRISTI!!!!), in a quest to finish his TM-Platinum. I'll admit to being intimidated, probably even more than when Starlet did a last minute injury replacement team with Susan and Aiko and Moe with Jammer at last year's Regionals (they both needed the leg and we ended up taking 2nd :-)). Who were the teammates? Stephanie with Rage and Geri with Focus. They ended up being great teammates. Very supportive and positive, but definitely competitive spirits (something I enjoy). It was also fun to have an excuse to watch them. I've always followed Rage, it's been incredibly inspiring watching him develop, he's incredibly talented and remarkably well-trained. Focus has never really interested me. They're one of those "o-hum, another wonderful, incredibly effiicient fast run. He and Geri are one impressive team and I will be making a point to watch more of their runs in the future.

All the dogs were on teams that had motivation to Q. Starlet's mainly for Kelly, but who doesn't want a DAM leg. ;-) Finn and Focus both needed the leg. Focus had qualified at a lower height, so needed one at 26", Finn for the title and neither Max nor Cinder had done a PVP for 2008.

Starlet was wonderful. Again her Q rate, doesn't do justice to her efforts. First, our only mistake was a SCARY refusal/near off-course in Standard. Otherwise, she was perfect and it was the second show in a row where there were no Sad Star moments. I had several moments where I could feel myself smiling big, whle trying to keep her on course (it was a little bit of a wild ride at times, but always a fun ride). I'm very happy with her. Her teammates had some E's and we just finished out of the Q's, but I could care less. Starlet was Super Star. :-) We had an off-course in Masters Jumpers, I lost control in after 4 in the closing of Masters Snooker and she missed in A-frame contact in the gamble of Masters Gamblers and I wouldn't trade any of it for a more controlled Q. I loved every minute on course with her. :-) I think we both had a really good time. I will be working on training a more specific behavior on her frame. I'm not sure what method I'm going to use, but I'll ponder that later.

Finn was so solid. Light training and light showing is really suiting us. I enjoyed his company more than I can remember in recent times (bark collar helped) and we felt like a team. He completely held his own on the team. We had an issue with the weave entry in the closing of Snooker, but it's our weakest entry. I knew it was less than 50/50 when I went in the ring, so I wasn't surprised. He also knocked a bar in Relay, but considering he hadn't jumped 26", since November, I'm REALLY happy with that. In PIII he won Jumpers to finish his Performance MAD and took 2nd in Snooker today with my wimpy tired handler plan. :-) Again, I just had a ton of fun running him this weekend. Our deceleration cues are really coming along and he just felt so solid. I'm really torn about skipping Oregon Regionals because of him and this weekend made my decision much tougher (Kate is probably flying, just taking one dog and I totally understand, so I'm looking at a solo drive...).

Max, what can I say, he's my heart and soul boy. I love that dog more than words can say and Kristi is a permanent teammate for me, just an awesome teammate. Max and Cinder were National teammates together and before this weekend, I think we were both thinking maybe we'd repeat the team this year for a final hurrah for Max. We did great. Twice we finished 1st and 2nd (Standard Max 1st, Cinder 2nd, Snooker, Cinder 1st, Max 2nd) and both dogs ran great. Max and I did give a scare in Relay, but at least it wasn't anything major (and we've blown Relay many, many different ways ;-)). Max is no longer as easy for me to run, since I've changed my style quite a bit, since we started, but he is such fun and I try to appreciate every run with him as completely as possible. He won today's PIII Gamblers with yet another super effort, I wish I had that run on tape, just was too tired to remember to get it filmed.

I was thinking on Saturday night, that I felt like it was time for Max to stop doing PVP. I really want to make a point of stopping, before my dogs HAVE to. I felt that way about Finn doing 26" as well. He did it quite easily in the DAM, but I know it's harder than it used to be, same for Max. I had several moments where I remember thinking how beautiful Finn looks over 26" jumps and appreciated with both dogs that I knew we could do whatever was needed of us for the team. Max has been such an amazing team dog. Cinder and Max took the PVP lead after today's Snooker and I declared at that point, if we win, I'm retiring him from PVP.   I've never been part of a winning DAM or PVP team at any show, plenty of placements, but never a win. Max and Cinder won, as did Finn, Rage and Focus! Woohoo! Way too cool and incredible ways for both dogs to move on to their next stage. :-) For Max, that's Veteran's at this year's Nationals, which will be his last. For Finn, he's off to do damage in PIII and PVP. I'm a little sad, very proud and I feel super priviledged to be their teammate.

Off to download video...

wimper

2008-04-19T13:22:04Z

I'm in the car with Kristi as I type. We left at 430am and are praying for fault limits. There are 549 runs today with one judge. Rumor has it they're bringing in another one for a couple classes. One can only hope. The show is starting around 730 and I'm mentally preparing myself for the nightmare that will be getting our stuff into the site. Pray for us. At least the sun finally came up.

On the road again...

2008-04-15T22:28:02Z

Off to Somis shortly and it's just hit me that I'll basically be on the go, until next Monday. Topped off by this weekend's DAM in...I can't even think about it yet...sigh. Poor hubby is getting ditched on our anniversary for a trip to...okay, done thinking about it.

Today, I did do a little weaving with Vic. He was two-stepping through his poles at Rachel's, which I don't think she really loved. I think he'll be a one-footer in the end, but I can't say it really bothers me how he chooses to weave. Obsessive reviewing of today, show's he's still sorting it out, sometimes one-footing, sometimes 2-footing, always looking faster than any of my previous agility dogs. :-)