No excuses

Yesterday I picked up my new four jumps and weaves (that can be made into channels or in-line weaves with the twist of a few poles). They have been added to the tire jump. THANK YOU to Luanne for doing a 'trade' deal for mowing her lawn, she gave me agility equipment in payment! How cool! They are top notch, AKC approved jumps and tire and weaves and they are done with the utmost care and craftsmanship. I just need to get colored tape for the jumps and weaves and tire and we should be set. Now I just need someone to make the contacts for me. :)

So Sadie, Ell and Zoe won't know what hit them and we have no excuses but to practice now at home too!

Agility videos of the girls

**WARNING! Dial up may take forever to show these videos!! I won't haven't had the time to to learn how to edit the videos so what you see is what you get! So Good luck if you try to view them! >:) All of them were taking tonight at class.

The first video is of Merrymoon Ebonwald I'm a Q.T. aka 'Ell'. She has only had 5 weeks of formal training for agility. Her first session was cut by nearly 2/3 as she was in heat for most of her session so we are 'retaking' the foundation class. This is our second week in and I am already able to work her off leash. The A frame is going 'up' next week to the full height but otherwise I'm really REALLY happy with her progress so far! She is a natural! I love working her! (And she isn't as stubborn as Sadie to work!) The course is not that long (7 obstacles) so its really more of a 'sequence' but she loves it and that's why I do it!!


The next video is of Sadie. She is in the 'advanced' agility class (there are only two classes at this training facility). I really wanted a second night during the week of something other than inside training as there are a host of different distractions in an outside setting. In the beginning of this class Sadie would NOT do a rear cross and she kept stopping. This video doesn't show that (on purpose!) I personally think the two jumps are too close together and you can't see the rear cross thanks to the A frame but you get the idea. She did do it this time in the video so I guess she decided not to give me the 'middle finger' the entire night :)


Last week it was down pouring rain and we ran it. Yes the Sadie Princess actually WALKED and RAN and did the course under time in the rain! I was so proud of my spoiled rotten, Miss 'have it your way' independent girl work in the rain! Now I know that rain or shine we can do outside agility runs! WOHOO!

And last but not least we have Bendi Ebonwald Smthing 2 Prove aka 'Zoe'. She filled in for Ell for two weeks while Ell was in season. This is her fourth night of classes and is currently being handled by my sister. I thought they could learn together :) My sister had a little problem with the leash and it getting in the way of Zoe going down the A frame but it was resolved! Zoe LOVES this agility stuff and I can't wait to have all my girls competing shortly!

GO TIRE!

With my sister working Mac at agility, and Ell and Zoe both now in their second sessions of agility I thought it fitting to get a tire. Well mostly because Sadie is going NEXT to the tire now instead of THROUGH it.

She just needed inspiration!!

I made her down stay and then she HAD TO WATCH Ell, Mac and Zoe and I have so much fun running up to the tire and me saying "GO TIRE" and the three of them (sometimes two at a time) would jump through the tire.

I nearly thought Sadie would have a seizure she was all worked up. Needless to say our down stay didn't work for very long and every time I'd ask Ell or maybe Zoe to "go tire" Sadie would break from her 'wait' or 'down stay' and follow them through the tire and then she'd growl at them as if she was saying "how dare you jump through MY tire!"

She hasn't gone next to the tire since then in our 1-on-1's so I'm hoping that that is all she needed was some incentive :)

Oh and its much easier to run the dogs through the course at home when there IS only one dog jumping through at a time LOL

And NO I will NOT youtube it!

Mitcham Tuesday and Zoe at agility

t night was my monday night agility class with Ell. Since Ell is STILL in season, I've been alternating Sadie and Zoe in the class. Zoe absolutely LOVES it!! Well, so does Sadie ;)

Zoe last night, it was her second night and she really loves the chute and the table. Odd combination I know! Her least favorite right now is the tunnel, but why does she run full bore to the chute? She is so funny. Her eyes light up and she barks and barks and barks the entire time waiting for our turn. I guess I know I'll be keeping Zoe in the class instead of Ell and next session put Ell in the beginners class and Zoe in the next level :)

Mitcham and Justice also went along as there was conformation training outside as well. A good warm up for Cambridge. Justice was first and I must say, since the National he has come together much better (not the wobbly puppy walk) and is moving really lovely. The other three people in the class commented on his lovely movement. I also took him to Fargo on Sunday to be at the show and let people see how he is maturing and everyone was very complimentary. Barb Peterson even said Mick's days are numbered as Justice grows up! So that was a good feeling.

Mitcham is such a goof! He was much better outside (ears were up all the time then!) and he was trying to play with the Toller and the Golden in the class with us most of the time. He was also very interested in the agility going on in the next fenced in area and I told them that I really want to do agility with him after we are done showing him (and he is older, like 18 months) as Briards are just a riot to watch in the agility ring and very good at it. As if I didn't have enough going on :)

Mitcham was much better with the 'judges' that went over him and I had over a dozen people go up to him and check bite. No real problems. I guess it WAS just me, or that particular judge. Tonight he's going with to Sadie's class to have more people go over him. It can't hurt!

*edit* A few photos to tide Sarah over :)



Well las

Sadie's middle finger

What happened to my finger? Well I was working and got my finger in a place it should not have been.....between the tongue of the trailer and the jack holding it up :) It wasn't quite on the ball of the hitch and i went to move it over and it did go on, but unfortunately i didn't lower the jack low enough and my finger got smashed/cut/chopped/squished/compressed/squeezed in there. I didn't hardly yell, but I did start to profusely sweat. I did end up going home to get aspirin and a band aid and went back to work. The next day i could hardly move it. I'll probably lose the nail, it looks hideously blue and black with the nail cracked in half. Not a pretty sight. That night Sadie jumped up and bit it as she though it was a 'treat' in my hand. I fell to the floor in pain and she high tailed it outta there only to come back and lick my face....she just knows when you need a good face lick ;)

So Sadie's middle finger....Ah yes. Well she didn't hurt it but she sure showed it to me at the Agility trial!

The Fargo-Moorhead Kennel Club had an AKC agility trial last weekend. I only entered one day as I thought Sunday was Mother's Day when I entered ( I was off by a week and was notified by my sister that i had two days to prepare a Mother's Day gift lol)

So Saturday I get up at 5:30am, out the door by 6;15. I figured it started at 8 and I'd get there just in time to help with pole setting. I looked at the schedule and noticed jumpers was first and they were doing tall to small. I race there and realize that they didn't start until NINE AM on Saturday. UGH!

We help during Excellent and Sadie is entered in Open, so we go potty, do some stretching and head to the entrance. We start the course beautifully and Sadie is RIGHT with me the whole way...watching which way I turn, moving where she needed to be, going 'out', and turning when I asked her. Just beautiful. The last two obstacles were a jump and the tunnel was the last obstacle. As she jumps the final jump and I yell "GO TUNNEL" i hear the pole hit the ground. Sadie came out of the tire with that "Corgi Smile" like she was thinking 'HA HA UP YOURS'. I couldn't do anything but laugh. Shoot. Sooooo close!

After our run an older gentleman approached us as we were getting water for Sadie Princess and he said that every agility even there is usually one dog that stands out as a good listener, jumper and just plain all around good dog for agility. He said she (meaning Sadie Princess) was that one dog at this trial. I thanked him and listened to him gush about how she watched me and turned with just the slightest movement from me. Gosh I think I need him to come with and give me pep talks prior to running!

We then braked for lunch after Novice and then got the course out for Standard. I helped again with Excellent and Open Standard and then it was our turn for Novice. Please Sadie let's do this! In our run throughs the week before she went through the tire on the way around the course but on the way back she went under it. repeatedly. Until we moved it back down to 8 inches. then she zoomed right through it.

So obviously I was nervous. I brought her to the tire and made her look at it and told everyone to think happy thoughts about the tire and Sadie going through it and to send good vibes and say 'go tire! over!' when she got to it.

So we start the standard course and things are going well. The 9th obstacle was the table and it was a down. Great! we have no problem with this, we know how to down. we do it everywhere. I said Sadie table! and Down! and she stood there like she knew nothing. Her mind went blank. Like hell it did! Corgi smile and all she TURNED away from me and faced the judge. After a good 15 seconds of embarrassing "Sadie come ON! DOWN" the judge finally said "you can continue on" and I was like "HEY! this is novice! I can!" So we barrel onto the rest of the course and on the VERY last obstacle it was the tire! I figure I can get two refusals and still qualify so we WILL go through the tire! I yelled "Sadie! Go! TIRE! OVER!" and she went ZZZZZZZZZZOOOOOOOOOOOOOM right underneath it. CRAP! I went back and made her look through it and said "Sadie! OVER! TIRE!" and she went under again. SO now I KNOW we NQ'ed and she struts up to me, smiling, like she had just told the funniest joke at the bar! (or showing me her middle finger) Oh you LITTLE .....I trailed off as I kissed her head. "WHAT A STINKER!"

I told her the sooner we complete the titles the sooner we can do other fun things like herding!

I guess we'll be going to MORE agility events :)

My little Sadie Princess. *sigh* what will I do with her? :) :)

Sadie Princess

Ever tried typing with one finger missing from your left hand? Its harder than you think! And lots of backspacing :) :)

Sadie Girl and I will be going to Fargo for an AKC agility trial. I entered only one day as I thought Mother's Day was this coming weekend when I entered. Oh well I did have work that needed to be done!!

Hopefully good results tomorrow night!

Ell Bell

Well my little Ell Bell Miester Girl is a riot in our Beginner's agility class that we are taking along with Mac and my sister. On Monday we did the jumps again and the tunnel (which she was way better at this week) and then we did the A frame again but were introduced to the table and the weaves. Ell was never really taught to sit (as per dog showing you want them to STAND and WAIT all the time) but she learned really quickly that if she sat, she got some cheeseburger from McDonald's which I think is a bargain for .89 cents for an hour of treats!

However today marks her official 2nd heat, about 3 weeks after I expected her to come in. I wasn't surprised she took a bit longer as her first heat wasn't until her 1 year birthday (literally on her birthday she started her first season) and I didn't know if she'd be one to only cycle once a year or if she would do it every six months after her first time. So now I have to call the training facility and see if she can still be brought to class there or not. I know at FMKC she cannot be in training while she is in season in case there would be males fighting or trying to breed her or something. I may have to take Zoe instead for the next few weeks just to be safe. And since we started just a few weeks ago, I figured Zoe wouldn't be TOO far behind if we started her!

Today I made an exciting new contact with a black/white male for Zoe that would have somewhat of a line breeding, but just over 5% line breeding coefficient. I've asked that he be DM tested. If he is a carrier or clear/normal I will probably use him so we shall see. I will keep you posted. Zoe 'should' be in season sometime in August, which would make for October babies if she comes in when she should and whelps when she should.

Now comes the part where I have to start saving newspapers and towels and such and get all the dog supplies ready for the pups and whelping. I'm going to have to check Jinnie's blog again to see where she got her whelping box from.

Any suggestions on what i should be preparing for what always comes in handy? Its better to be TOO prepared than not enough (if you dno't believe me, check out my farm blog about the supplies i had for my lambing...I didn't a single thing out of it except the ear tags!)

Monday

Well there was no Mitcham Monday as per Sarah's pointing out due to a long day at work and then I had Ell's first night of foundation agility in Detroit Lakes. Mac and my sister Lindsay also are in the class and it was really fun to see Mac out and doing something. he was so excited to be doing something and with other dogs! He slept all the way home and once he got to his home with Grandpa and Grandma he slept the entire rest of the night and ALL night long until my dad's alarm went off in the morning! My dad asked if we could take Mac every night ;)

It was so fun to see Ell doing agility...she really is a natural. Although the tunnel she didn't really like when it was fully extended as the tunnel itself is kinda spongy and soft and she didn't know about that....but it was only her first day.

Oh its outside too! I think that is great as there are WAY more distractions outside and with all the smells and birds and noises and other dogs it really is a good way to start out the dogs. Its in a 6ft high chain link fenced in area so no fear of the dogs getting away. If it rains they do move it inside.

Not much else new on the doggie front. I have Sadie entered in the Fargo agility trial just one day on the 16th hoping for that 3rd leg at Novice Standard and maybe a leg in Open JWW if she doesn't give me the middle finger and go off course again :)

Mitcham photos soon...he doesn't change much any more ;) >:)

I am officially crazy

I have entered Ell in Foundation Agility at the Lucky Dog training/boarding/grooming building in Detroit Lakes, MN. They also do gundog events, herding events, obedience, rally, conformation and do CGC tests, CERF clinics etc. A great place to be had and only 30 miles from my house! That is about a THIRD of the distance that the FMKC is. Ell would be on a lengthy waiting list in Fargo and would have had to of been on a different day than Sadie's. Something I cannot afford to do ...drive two nights a week in a row to Fargo. So DL should be much closer and will give me a different approach to training....Ell is ready....but am I? :)

National Recap Day 2 and Day 3

Day 2 and 3 (monday and tuesday) were "performance" days. Agility, Rally and Obedience were held during these days and I was a busy guy! I had entered Sadie in Novice Standard, Open Jumpers and Rally Novice. Oliver was also in Rally Advanced.

As you know from our other blog post on the ramsayfarms.blogspot.com blog Sadie did not Qualify in Novice Standard or Open Jumpers on monday, but she did get her first Rally Novice leg her first day out with no training! She earned a 95 point out of 100 and a 2nd place ribbon!

Below are videos of sadie and i attempting to do the agility. She just did NOT want to teeter and I look a fool :) You'd think with three years of training we'd be better...... LAST night we did three jumpers courses under time and with clean runs at practice..where was my video camera THEN!




And then came time for the jumpers.....she did wonderfully up until a certain jump where she came around and back over the jump the wrong way. that's "OFF COURSE" and is a NQ (non qualifying) score. Bummer. Watch below:




After agility I had to quickly potty dogs and prepare Oliver for Rally Advanced. I didn't ever think we'd Qualify, but wanted him to come with and have something to do with his Dad. I thought perhaps it would be fun bonding times between us. WRONG!!! We got into the ring and he took off sniffing and wagging that tail and happily running off course, around me and then he'd be like "oh crap! Heel! Right!" and then i could see his nose get the better of him and away he went again. We suffered through it on Monday and of course got an NQ.

Sadie did get her first RN leg and I was very happy about that

Tuesday morning JoAnne did NOT see me run my Novice Standard and therefore did not video tape it. She was too busy looking for a stir stick for her coffee. Priorities. We got a 2nd place finish with a score of 95 out of 100 for Sadie's second NA leg. I was very happy she did the teeter that time! She went off course again on Jumpers was basically giving me the middle finger when I tried to front cross her and she totally ignored me and ran BEHIND me and over the wrong jump. We suffered from there as I was so mad and frustrated with her and she knew it. Weaves were terrible...after just having done them in Novice standard beautifully. UGH.

Oliver again went to Rally Advance after JoAnne forbid me to scratch him and after he refused to down or sit I asked the judge if I could just be excused. He agreed and I think too quickly :) LOL

Sadie went in and I was ready for the judge to be awed by her expertise (I"m kidding) and she qualified again...no placing but a green ribbon is a green ribbon! And a big one at that! :)


Tuesday evening was the Competition of Champion only dogs and bitches, called the Megan. There are three judges and the classes are dividied into 4 color classes and then split by sex, for a total of 8 classes (red/sable, blue, brindle, black in both dog and bitch classes). We had three judges from three different continents and it was apparent by their choices in dogs :) the eventual winner was Lisa Phillips with her brindle bitch! Congrats again Lisa!

I did have a few blurry photos of the Megan competition but there are better ones out there on other people's blogs (aka Emily) :)

Two very long, very fun, event packed days!!