NATCH Stewie with Judge Sarah Fix at Act Up Agility trial, September 24, 2011!!

Introducing...NATCH Stewie!

Stewie is now NATCH Stewie. He finished his Championship on Saturday, September 24 with a beautiful and fast Chances Q. Sarah Fix was the judge and the club was Act Up Agility, in North Smithfield, RI.

NAE Dummerston July 8-10

Northeast Agility Enthusiasts had their Dummerston Vt trial at Hidden Acres Campground July 8-10.
Friday night was NADAC Extreme Games Challenge, which we tried for the 1st time!
We did 2 runs each in Extreme Chances, Extreme Tunnelers, and Extreme Hoopers. It was very fun, and we got points in both Chances and both Tunnelers. The Hoop Circle defeated us on our first two attempts, but we will try again the next time Extreme Games comes to the Northeast.

Saturday was our big hope to get the Hoopers Q we need for Champs, and although the run started out well, we got a fault and so did not qualify.
We again trained our start line stay in the other classes, taking eliminations in Regular and Touch and Go.

Chances was a great course and we had a great run! It really flowed and we had connection and it was a beautiful thing. The challenge was an out to the tunnel next to the dog walk, a call in over two jumps, and a turn out to a jump, then the dog walk at a distance and several hoops out!

Sunday we had several good runs. Touch and Go was a great run until I sent Stewie off course to the A-frame, which he performed beautifully!

Chances Sunday had a series of jumps heading to an off course tunnel, instead the dog had to pull in towards you. I was very pleased that Stewie did not take the off course! Then he missed a jump though and ran by the 6 weaves poles that were near the finish. But the run still had good elements to it.
We finished the day with a smoking tunnelers run that was really fast and run. What a good boy to still run at the end of a hot 3 day trial.

Chances course 12/31/2010

This is the Elite Chances course from New Year''s eve 2010 in Smithfield, RI.

We went off course after the # 6 jump. Stewie turned in to me and took the # 4 jump again, going in the wrong direction.It was too bad, I really think he would have gone on and done the hoops if we hadn't blown it there. Only a couple of dogs got it.

Back to Blogging-trial coming up

I have been neglecting the blog lately. Our next trial is Northeast Agility Enthusiast's NADAC trial in Dummerston Vt. on July 10-11. It is a beautiful spot with lots of shades, and good places to walk. I am going early on Friday to take advantage of run thru's being offered by Lynn Smitley right at Hidden Valley camp ground. These should focus on distance training to help us get our last few Chances.

Sunday at NAE Glastonbury, CT

Sunday's classes started with Tunnelers. It was a really nice, flowing course, but we managed to mess it up! After a tunnel, Stewie turned the wrong way, which somehow caused me to trip, and it went downhill from there, since I forgot where to go after that. Oh well, Stewie had fun anyway.

Regular 1 and 2 were next, both were great, flowing courses. Stewie got the weaves first shot again, and weaved very fast and confidently! I am so pleased with his weaves this weekend. This was an almost perfect run, but I pulled him too hard at jump #11 since I was afraid he would take the A-frame, but we recovered and the rest of the run was perfect, but no Q

Regular 2 was an awesome run, he got the weave pole entry again, and he was going fast when he entered them. He got his tunnel/dog walk discrimination with no problems. A Q and a 1st place. Yards per second were 4.79.

Chances was next, and it looked challenging. We got a good start, but Stewie did not turn out to the # 7 jump, and we didn't make it to the # 8 tunnel.

Our last run of the day was Jumpers and it was a fast course! Look at the beginning, it is lucky I can send Stewie on ahead of me, or I would never have made it. Stewie had a great run and made it look easy and ended the weekend with a Q and a 1st place, with a yard per second of 5.07.

Ace-Mt Holyoke Nov 14

Ace's trial in Mt Holyoke started with Elite Chances. Stewie was wired and did not hold his start line. I really need to get serious about this. We were not connected in this run but I did get him into the #7 tunnel and out over the #8 jump, but then he came in and took the jump. Only two Elite dogs Q'ed in this run.

The next run was Elite Touch and Go. It was a fun course, with 2 A-frames, and two contact discriminations. The run was fast and fun, and Stewie got the out to the # 5 tunnel, the only other spot I was worried about was the last tunnel, it was a turn off the A-frame, and I was afraid that if I was too far behind I would not be able to turn him in time. I was able to turn him no problem and it was a Q and a 1st place run.

Elite Regular was next, it was a really nice course, but somehow Stewie ran by jump #5, and then back jumped it, we kept going and the rest of the run was beautiful. I was able to send him out to tunnel # 17 and get running along the dog walk to keep up with him. He had a fabulous entry to the weaves, and weaved beautifully. He also got the discrimination to # 13 perfectly. All in all a great run except for the bobble in the beginning.

Here was the tunnelers course, not as pretty as Regular, I had to call him hard a couple of places, and one wide turn, but we got a Q and a 2nd.

I helped course build and this course looked really crowded, but it walked a lot better than it looked and it ran like a dream! It was a smooth, focused, fast and fun run, and Stewie got a Q and a 1st place win. What a great boy, and he was still raring to go at the end of the day! I wished we could have tried Chances again, once I got the edge off of him.
All in all 4 great runs, 3 Q's, two 1sts, and a 2nd place.

NADAC in Wrentham MA this weekend

Mary, Lexi, Stewie and I are headed to Addicted to Agility's Wrentham trial tomorrow. It starts with tunnelers fun runs on Friday afternoon. Chances is the 1st class each day and Stewie is about the 8th dog to run Saturday morning. Keep your fingers crossed!

Sunday Chances and Jumpers Success!

Chances was the 5th run of a extremely hot day, but I was excited, since looking at the course map it looked like it was possible to get this course. I got Stewie wet beforehand, and he rallied and did a great job. It was a very smooth course,and Stewie did it perfectly! He was flying by the time he got on the dogwalk, and Mary said she was holding her breath that he would get his dog walk contact. He got it and we got our 4th Elite Chances Q!. Great job Stewie!
Jumpers was the 6th run of the day, about 3:00 pm, I didn't know if I should scratch or not, but Mary said to give it a try, so we did. Stewie seemed ready to run, it was a great course, and we had a perfect run. I did a lot of sending with him, and also layered jump #19, sending him to 10 and 11, and it worked perfectly. This run was a Q and a blue 1st place to end a fabulous weekend.

Sunday in Stowe, Hot Hot Hot!

Boy was it hot, even hotter than Saturday and less of a breeze. Stewie was hot but he was also a trooper. The first run of the day was Touch and Go. It was fun but we took an off course so we didn't get a Q.




Next was Tunnelers, and it was a great course, not a lot of traps, lots of opportunities to "go on"and we got a Q and a blue.

We even got an Elite Hoopers Q and blue! It was the first Hoopers course that really flowed and it was actually fun.

Regular, oh regular, we can't get a Q in regular. It was a great course, but we just can't get a set of weaves at all in competition. He did get his contacts, and I did a lot of sending and layering, so it was still a good run.

Sat NADAC Courses Stowe Vt

Here is Tunnelers, it was a fun course, Stewie went wide a couple of places, so we got a 2nd and a Q.

This is Saturday's Elite Touch and Go course. Stewie did a fabulous job and got a Q and a 1st place.

Here is the Chances course from Sat at the NADAC trial in Stowe, Vt. Stewie had a great start but after #9 went on the the tunnel, instead of coming in to the #10 jump. My fault, I was afraid to call him in too far. But we are getting closer to success!

Dummerston NADAC Trial

Mary, Lexi, Stewie and I went to Dummerston Vermont this past weekend to a NADAC agility trial . The first course was Elite Chances, and it was a doozy! We only made it to the tunnel and Stewie did not send to the weave poles. They were pretty far out and the next jump after the poles, #9 was over 40 feet from the line! It was way too much for us, and only 1 or 2 out of all the Elite dogs Q'ed.

Club Practice this week

This is the course we set up for club practice this week, at least as close as we could get. I am not a good course builder at all! This was a fun challenge to try. Stewie and I didn't have any trouble with the beginning, and he sent out to 5-7 with no problem. He came in after the dog walk the first try but we got 7-10 the second try. I feel we are getting a bit more consistent and smoother with our distance work.

Sunday at Dummerston! A great day!

Sunday started off drizzly but nice and cool for the dogs to run. Our first run was Touch and Go. I was so worried about Stewie having an off course after the A frame to the #1 Hoop that I pulled him in too far and he missed the #10 hoop, before I could call him, he barrelled into the next tunnel. My mistake, other than that it was a fun run.

Our first regular run was awesome. Stewie did a great start line stay, and we were in sync the whole course. Boy does that feel great. This run was a Q and a 1st place! Here is the course map:
It had the same setup after the A-frame, this time I just stayed laterally away from the A frame and said "Here". The next tricky spot was 18 to 19. Stewie will usually chose the contact over the tunnel for the discrimination, so I had to really run to get there in time to get the out tunnel. When I added the Q to Stewie's NADAC point chart, I found out it was his 200 point Regular Q. Now he has his Outstanding Regular Title! 3 more Q's til his Regular Natch points are done.

In regular 2 we faced the out tunnel discrimination again at 16-17. I just couldn't make it there in time, I called out tunnel, and tried to push, but we went off course, so no Q.

Next was Chances, I started feeling really stressed when I went out to walk the course. Mary came out and walked it with me, even though Lexi had started limping so she wasn't running it. We thought it looked a lot more doable than Saturday's course. Here it is:

Mary was worried about Stewie going off course to the dummy jump after Jump 6 esp after I told her I was doing a front cross. She said to be really careful not to face the dummy jump or he would take it.
Here is my plan, I started on the left so I could back cross after # 3 to turn Stewie into the #4 tunnel and not risk a off course to the dummy tunnel under the A frame. It worked like a charm and he came out of the tunnel and went right out to # 5 and # 6, I did the front cross and called him, while facing #8 and he turned perfectly and sailed over # 7 and went on to 8 and I said tunnel and off he went! I called him in time and we finished and got the Q!!!! Hurray, this finished Stewie's Elite Chances title and also his Elite Versitility Award!!
What a great weekend we had! Our distance practice paid off big time.

Heading to NADAC trial!

Stewie and I and Mary and Lexi are headed to Dummerston, VT. later today for a Northeast Agility Enthusiast's trial.

We are hoping to get an elusive Chances Q!
Rain rain, go away!

Heading to our first NADAC trial this year

Stewie and I are headed to Northeast Agility Enthusiast's NADAC trial in Greenfield Ma this weekend with our best friends, Mary and Lexi! We can't wait to get out on the field and run, and try out Chances after our distance training this winter. We are also going to give it our best shot on getting a Elite Weavers Q to finish our that title.

We'll let you know how we did Sunday evening.

Distance Practice Go On's

Stewie and I practiced at the horse arena yesterday, it was cold but we took our turn often enough to stay warm. We worked on a Elite Chances course with the line down. We were not very successful at first. He was okay going on in a straight line away from me, but not laterally after a 90 degree turn.
I revved him up and ran with me and that helped quite a bit.

We need to practice go on's  more and get him more confident. And one thing I have to work on besides my body language and timing is to be able to sacrifice Q's in order to get better at distance work. That is going to be hard for me. I am more competitive than I had thought I would be when I started agility.