POSING PUPS

A couple of weeks ago, our dog-walking group was asked to bring all our dogs to the bandshell in Sidney as one of the local choirs wanted to promote an upcoming concert with dogs posing with their soloist. The day before the photo shoot: bright sunshine and relatively warm. The day after the photo shoot: ditto. The day OF the photo-shoot: freezing cold, windy and raining. But...the show must go on, so they we all were, with dogs that were feeling a bit miserably cold and not really in the mood to pose. I'm not sure that the photographer got exactly what it was he wanted, but attached is a cropped version of the photo they intend to use. Abby and Gemma got to be held by the Heather, the soloist. It will be interesting to see the final poster.

The weather today was quite brisk as well. Bright sunshine, but quite nippy. So where were we? In a cold barn, running agility courses. We took frequent treks outside to stand around in the sunshine, so I guess we can't complain too much. It was a "fun trial" put on by the Scallywaggs gang, so a very relaxed day with everyone just having fun with their dogs and enjoying the opportunity to be able to do some on-course training without having to worry about whether a run would qualify or not. All three of the Silkies did well, with each of them improving on something in their repertoire. I've decided to move Abby and Zack up to the "Open" level at the next Scallywaggs official trial. They've pretty much proven their proficiency in most of the different classes at the Novice level, with lots of titles earned at that level. So now it's time to take the big leap forward and see how they do with a few more challenges.

ROADSTERS, TAKE 2

Remember I mentioned that I would post some pictures of the Silky gang from the Roadsters agility trial back on the Labour Day weekend, once I got some from the official photographer (Jim Hockley)? Well, they finally arrived today. The Silkies aren't doing anything too spectacular in the pix, but what I get a kick out of some of them is that they show how windy it was that weekend. It may not make a lot of difference to dogs with short hair/fur, but you can see that it creates some wild coiffures for the Silkies! Abby has the definite wind-blown look, while Gemma models the stream-lined wind-tunnel effect.



Meanwhile, Zack shows off some fine form over a jump:

And looks very attentive while he waits through the five-count on the table.

Abby, on the other hand, looks quite serene (even as the wind continues to "ruffle her feathers") as she waits out the count—like the princess she is!

UP-ISLAND

We're back from our trip up-island to Courtenay to take part in the Roadsters' agility trial that was held over the Labour Day weekend. Lorri, Peni and I headed out mid-afternoon on Friday, with the van packed to the roof with 6 dogs, 3 people and a whole lot of human and canine paraphenalia. We arrived at the local exhibition grounds and set up our tent so we wouldn't be in a panic to do it all in the morning when we were trying to get everything else done and getting our dogs ready to run.

We were all very proud of our dogs for accomplishing what they did over the weekend. We didn't have many Qs (Abby had 2, Betty and Switch (!) each had one; I don't think Mylo got a Q, but he did get a second place in one of his runs, and he's finally getting the hang of actually putting his butt down when he does the table obstacle. Switch's Jumpers run was a joy to watch. Peni just kept him moving, and at the end, I don't know which of the two was more surprised by their accomplishment!

Abby's Qs came in Advanced Standard (just one more to go before she's into the Masters level!), and in Starters Snooker -- which had been her one remaining Starters level class. With that Q, she got her Starters Snooker title and her Starters Game Dog of Canada (SGDC) title, the latter requiring a certain number of Qs in three games (Jumpers, Snooker, Gamblers) at the Starters level.

Zack got skunked in the Qs, but had some good runs nonetheless. Despite no Qs, he did finish first in three of his runs, so that was his big accomplishment for the weekend. Gemma's big accomplishment? She actually completed TWO runs, no mean feat considering that the rings had no fences around them -- something that pretty much guaranteed that a dog who is still lacking a lot of focus is going to exit the ring at some point in their runs. Gemma's first complete run was her last one on Saturday, an accomplishment made all the more amazing as there were high winds throughout her run, and a jump blew over just as she was about to take it. She kept her cool and her focus and kept on going. Nobody was more surprised than me! Except maybe the judge who had watched her scamper out of the ring on her previous two runs. He was grinning very broadly when we finished. In the two runs she completed, she chalked up two second places; you can bet that I picked up her second-place ribbons for her!

There was an event photographer on hand, so I hopefully will have some pix of the Silkies to post sometime later. But here are a few of Mylo, Betty and Switch in action (you can see more by clicking on the Flickr photostream on the right-hand side of the blog):

Switch heads for the chute.

Betty rounds the corner.

Mylo shows perfect form on the table.

And here are the Silkies, with their booty from the weekend:

Gemma looks amazed at her two second-place ribbons.

Zack rests on his laurels.

Abby is overwhelmed by her ribbon collection from the weekend.

AGILITY DOGS!

A few pix from the official photographer at the BC/Yukon AAC Regional Championships, Bob Everson of Wild Hare Photography. To see more of his photos from the event, go to: http://www.wildhare.ca/photos/2010-Regionals/2010regionals.php. Just click on the name of the dog, and it'll take you to all of the pix of that dog.

A DIP IN THE LAKE

Beautiful day today. A minor miracle, being that it was a Saturday, and it seems that most weekends the weather decides to be snotty and thereby thwarts your attempts to either (a) have fun or (b) get your yard work done. For the most part, it has been an absolutely glorious day. The kind of spring day that makes every second driveway blossom with heaps of junk -- otherwise known as a yard sale. They were all over the place today. There were probably five houses on my own street that had set up shop for the morning. Of course, it makes for interesting driving as you weave your vehicle around Sidney's streets, dodging eager garage sale aficionados who are zipping across the street at odd locations from between parked cars. You really have to be vigilant.

Today's trail walk with the dogs was at Jennings Lane (Elk Lake). I had four dogs in tow today: my three plus my sister's dog, Kennedy. Once out of the car at the lake, Kennedy decided he really wanted to head out on a trail other than the one we were actually going on, and I had to do some fancy running through the tall grass to head him off and point him in the right direction. On the leash. In case he decided that he wanted to go in the other direction again. He actually motored along pretty well for a dog who isn't used to trail walking, once he got going. But I think he was happy to get home and snooze the rest of the day away.

The regular Trailblazer canine gang enjoyed a brief diversion into the lake to do some serious swimming, stick retrieving and rock balancing. It was amazing the number of dogs who all thought that they needed to stand on this one rock, perhaps the better to get a boost when they leapt into the water in pursuit of the sticks that were being thrown for them to retrieve.



While Kennedy may have been ready to call it a day after his trail walk, the other three still had some energy left to go to agility practice. Abby is getting faster and faster, and much, much better at following direction. Of course, I'm probably also finally getting better at actually telling her what to do. You'd think that would be a simple thing to do, but they read body language with amazing acuity. If your foot is pointed just a smidgeon in one direction (usually the direction in which you don't want the dog to go), then they're off in that direction. They're right, you're wrong. Your foot told them to go that way...and your foot is closer to their line of sight than your arm that is energetically pointing in the other direction (which may or may not accurately aligned with the piece of agility equipment that you are calling out for them to take.) Go figure.

Zack is slowly regaining his speed and enthusiasm. He did very well today, eagerly running around the equipment that was set up. He's definitely gaining confidence on the teeter -- but you still have to really watch him on his contacts...he still likes to leap off before his paws hit that yellow zone. So lots more contact work to do with him. Gemma -- well success for Gemma is getting her to look at me and stay focused. We spent most of her practice time calling her back to me; very little obstacle performance. But that was fine. She's got lots of time to start stringing obstacles together. Right now, we just need to keep those little grey cells in her brain from wandering off quite as often as they do now.

BETTY BOPS THE BARN!

It was a long day at the Fairgrounds, but a great one for our very own Betty Boop! Peni dipped her toes (and Betty's paws) into the AAC agility pool on Sunday, putting into practice all their hard work over the past few years, bolstered by a couple of recent insightful lessons with France Jackson from AVID.

While their first run of the day, a Starters Standard course went well, Peni and Betty took a bit more time to navigate around the obstacles then the course allowed, and Betty ran into her nemesis—the teeter—which gave them a fault when Peni had to finally manually lower the teeter so that Betty could move on to the next obstacle.

Next on their dance card was the Starters Gamblers run. They rocked! Made it look like a walk in the park. See below for Betty's very first Q (qualifying score) in AAC agility, which also earned them a first place ribbon in Betty's jump height division. I shot this on my still camera, so it's not the best video...but you get the idea.

Finally, to end their day, Betty and Peni tackled the Starters Jumpers course and ran a similarly smooth course from start to finish, and again pulled out a Q and another first place in Betty's height division. Way to go, gals!

On the Silky Terrier side of things, Abby ran fast in her Advanced Standard run, but unfortunately decided to make up a couple of variations on the course that the judge hadn't intended, so she notched a few faults. Overall, though, she ran the course very nicely. She then nailed her Advanced Gamblers run, and brought home her first Q ribbon at the Advanced level. She ran a little too slowly (about two seconds worth too slow) on her Advanced Jumpers course, but ran it cleanly. Overall, she seems to be really hitting her stride in terms of confidence and speed. It's great to see her doing so well. Zack continues to struggle; lots of zip...until he hits the start line and then it seems like he's got glue on his paws slowing him down as he makes his way around each course. Will have to discover how to re-motivate him so that he gets back to his winning ways! These past six months have been a bit of a struggle for him, after he hit a peak at the ScallyWaggs "Howlaween" trial last October. He's such a good little dog; I just can't figure out what's going on in his head right now. So we'll just work this through with him.

SPRING FLING

Whew. Another agility trial in the books. Not a bad way to spend a spring weekend; even the weather kind of cooperated, with a very nice day on Saturday, and an intermittently rainy day on Sunday. All in all, not bad days for walking your dog(s) between runs. And yourself to the washrooms in the OTHER building on a repeated basis throughout the day. There's nothing like an upcoming agility run to make you feel that you absolutely HAVE to go pee, now.

Zack, alas, still seems to be stuck in first gear, although he did manage to pull out four Qs from the weekend. His Sunday was a complete bust, and he seemed to slow down throughout the day on Saturday. Still haven't quite figured out what's going on in his mind, as he's bouncy going in, and bouncy coming off the course, but he's just stuck in slo-mo in between. I'm sure we'll work our way through this eventually.

Abby seemed to be able to find over-drive off and on throughout the weekend, and sauntered away with eight Qs, including a rip-snortingly fast Tunneler's run at the end of Sunday. Much, much faster than her Tunnelers run on Saturday. Maybe she knew it was the last run of the day, so she put her all into it. I think her speed was something like 4.5 yards per second on that final run.

Poor little Gemma continues to have to sit it out, waiting in the X-pen with Abby and Zack until she's old enough to compete. She was very patient, and got lots of pets and cuddles from everyone, so I'm sure she didn't feel totally left out. Just a few more months before she can hit those courses herself!

As always, the ScallyWaggs were consumate hosts for the event, and everyone had tons of fun. We missed having Lorri and Mylo there for the weekend (Lorri was doing some volunteer work on Saturday, and woke up with a migraine on Sunday, so we didn't get to see Mylo bounce around the course with his usual happy smile on his face). And Peni was there on Saturday, running both Betty and Switch. Switch keeps improving, through Peni's hard work. Switch spent more time headed forwards and less time looking backwards and giving Peni's legs the evil-eye; he's still a challenge, to be sure, but he's so, so much improved.

Pecos was much more adept at his weaves this weekend, making Ann quite happy. And Ann succeeded in not sending any rabbits to bunny heaven on the way to the trial, so no "bad bunny karma" to combat this weekend (although she did mention something about a dead otter from earlier in the week....but its demise didn't seem to have had any nasty after-effects on their runs).

Cindy and Joe joined us for Sunday, and Joe was his usual, happy little self, bounding around the courses. You wouldn't think that a dachshund could run that fast, but he's just a joy to watch as he whips his way up, over and around all the obstacles.

Swift and Emma had some good runs, and some not-so-good runs. Swift had a blisteringly fast run on Saturday (I can't remember which one it was—possibly a tunnelers run—in which she ran something like 6.7 yards per second. Ya gotta wonder if her feet even touch the ground on runs like that!). We also got into a discussion about the finer points of when is going fast through the weave poles NOT a good thing, and sought some clarification from Eric about this. Faults have been called on dogs who appear to be pushing the poles aside, rather than actually weaving. Eric explained that now what the judges are looking for when the dogs are weaving is that their body actually is going around the poles. It's a safety issue. They don't want dogs to get hurt running into the poles. So I video-ed Swift in the weaves, to see if we could see exactly what it is that she does:

We've all decided that Swift does indeed weave.

SHE'S THE TOPS!

Abby scored her own Olympics success, achieving her Agility Dog of Canada (ADC) title on Saturday at the AVID "Do You Believe" trial. It's taken Abby two years to reach this milestone, mostly because she will periodically 'stall out' while running a course — i.e. just stopping dead in her tracks. It's taken her as well as me realizing that there's no need to panic when she does this; I just need to either go back and make it clear where we're going, or run ahead and show her the next obstacle. Either way, she gets back in gear. And now usually that gear is overdrive — another reason not to fret about the stalls, because she now runs the courses a lot faster than she used to, making up for the time she loses in the stalls. As a result, she's managing to come in under the time allowed rather than over it, for the most part. Hence, her improved success. (I also thought that karma might have something to do with her success on Saturday, as I discovered that her picture was featured on the front of the trial catalogue. I figured that had to bode well for something. But I'll put Abby's success down to skill development over the past year instead. Nonetheless, that karma almost won me a teeter in the reverse draw: mine was the second-to-last ticket drawn, meaning that like Maxwell Smart, I missed it by that much. However, I got a lovely fleece blanket as a consolation prize, an acquisition that is being much enjoyed by the dogs when they're sleeping on my bed. It is quite cozy for all of us.)

Because we were at the trial, we of course didn't get to watch the gold medal hockey game between Canada and the US on the final day of the Vancouver Olympics. But competitors in the stands would sit there repeatedly refreshing their Iphones in order to give us the latest score. When Canada won in overtime and the news was relayed to everyone, a great cheer went up in the barn. Say what you will about the Olympics being held in Vancouver, it was indeed a major boost to Canadian patriotism. We all got soppy on Saturday morning when it was suggested that we sing O Canada to start off the day. Everyone was looking at the walls, the floor, the ceiling — anywhere but at each other — as we sang: no one dared look at anyone else as we were all getting teary-eyed. What a bunch of softies we are, eh?

SUPER SILKIES!

I'm a bit late getting this update out...where did last week go? For the matter, where did OCTOBER go?? Or 2009, for that matter. This year has just whizzed by, it seems.

So, what was the news from last weekend? Well, it's the absolutely stupendous job that Abby and Zack did at the last NADAC agility trial of the year. It was the ScallyWaggs' infamous annual "Howl-a-ween" agility trial, where half the fun revolves around taking advantage of this ghoulish time of year to create a very fun atmosphere for the weekend. Between costumed people and dogs, and a rip-snorting competitive crate decorating contest, it was sometimes difficult to get our minds back in the groove of actually running agility courses.

Island Dog Sports created a great crating area for our canine contingent, duded up to look like a graveyard. We thought we had the crate-decorating prize in the bag...until we saw the Washington State contingent busily carting in an amazing number of bits and pieces which, when finally cobbled together, created a wonderful pirate ship around their crates. We were sweating bullets as the judging took place...and were relieved when the decision was that it was a dead heat between the ship and the graveyard. We split the prize.

On Friday evening, Abby and Zack each posted a Q, in different events. Not a bad start, I thought. Saturday morning, things kind of sputtered...we did not have an auspicious start to the day. Zack, for some reason, took exception to the judge on the course, and stopped and stared at her whenever we passed close to her position. Not sure what that was all about. I thought we might still pull out a good time, until Zack spotted France Jackson sitting in the far corner as ring crew, and off he went, full speed, for a very enthusiastic visit—which France did her level best to ignore. He finally came back to finish the course, but my thoughts were that he just wasn't going to be on the ball this weekend.

Wrong. After that run, he was pretty much right on the money for the rest of the weekend. By the end of Sunday afternoon, he had racked up an amazing eight Qs! And Abby was right in there behind him, with seven. They both appeared to finally have found "overdrive" on their internal gear shifts. Abby would have had eight Qs too, if I hadn't had a brain fart and removed her leash too early at the start line on one of our runs and got us disqualified from that run as a result. We still ran that course, but it was a very relaxed run because I wasn't worried about whether or not she would Q. And she ran it beautifully. (Just to see how far they've come in the last year, I checked back in my files to see what their results were for the Howl-a-ween trial last year. Zack had 4 Qs last year and Abby had, well, none. So Zack did twice as well as last year and Abby went right off the scale of exponential improvement.)

The icing on the cake? At the end of the trial, much to my surprise, Zack was awarded the "Novice High in Trial" trophy. We were tickled pink. I hadn't even thought of that as a possibility. In fact, I had totally forgotten that there was such an award. So I'm sure I was beaming from ear to ear when I heard our names called. The trophy now has pride-of-place in the den, by the bulletin boards with all their Q ribbons.

FALL IS FULL OF FUN!

It's been a busy few weeks! Work all week, then weekends seemingly chock-full of stuff to do to. On September 19th, there was the Brazilian Night at Stuart's—a fundraiser for our Rotary Foundation project in, where else, Brazil. An excellent evening! I had volunteered to bring a dessert as part of my contribution to the potluck part of the meal, and then got wondering what on earth to bring. I finally decided to bring two batches of cookies, one that seemed very Canadian—molasses crinkles—but then I got kind of stumped, as I wanted to bring something Brazilian to make the connection between the two countries. I finally Googled "Brazil" plus "dessert", and after much poking around here and there, I finally found a recipe for some "Brazilian Coffee Cookies". It met the criteria I had set for myself for this dessert—it had to be Brazilian, and it had to use ingredients I already had in the house. And voilà! A new recipe in my repertoire. They're really quite excellent. So much so that I took the leftover cookies on the next day's expedition, and to another event the following weekend. Yum. I tottered home at a respectable hour, in order to be up bright and early for the wine tour in the Cowichan Valley (see post below).

On to the next weekend. Saturday was a fun agility trial, hosted by our good pirate friends at ScallyWaggs. As always, lots of fun. And, as usual, Island Dog Sports set up our little "compound". We're way too organized, let me tell you. We're like a well-oiled machine. There's always everything anybody needs. AND we hatched a plot for what the IDS compound might be like for the ScallyWaggs Howlaween trial at the end of October. That should be tons of fun. The day's runs went pretty well for everyone. It's such a relaxing atmosphere to run your dogs in that they all seem to do especially well. Lorri was a bit late arriving; she needed to be sure that Randy—who has got to be the luckiest man on the planet for surviving that head-on collision between his motorcycle and that car with nary a broken bone—was alright to be left on his own. I entered Gemma in the last run of the day, Hoopers. After saying to Eric, "Be ready for plenty of off-courses...", Gemma suprised me by going exactly where I told her. She did great. I was very proud of her. An excellent introduction to a BIG agility course for her. I think she's pretty used to the sounds and atmosphere of agility trials by now; she's been hauled along to quite a few since she arrived, but this was the first one where she actually got to run. She can't enter "real" trials until she's 18 months old. Only eight and a half months to go! Let's see now, that would be around June 15th, 2010, give or take.

Last Thursday, I was madly baking for the bake sale part of our United Way fundraiser at work: a ball hockey tournament that was held on Friday. This is the second year we've put on the "Harbour Road Classic", trying to involve the other businesses on the street where our office is located in some good clean fun while raising money for United Way. It went very well, raising $1200 of our overall campaign goal of $5,000. I was on a vacation day on Friday, but I dropped by anyway, between errands, and took some pictures. They're posted on my Flickr site, but here are a couple to give you an idea of the action.

From ball hockey, it was on to the AVID agility trial at the Saanich Fairgrounds. I got set up that evening, but had decided not to enter any of the runs: they were essentially primarily speed classes, and my dogs are definitely not of the speedy variety. At least not yet. They're getting better at it, but there is definitely absolutely no greyhound in their genetics! Saturday and Sunday, we did our best out on the agility courses, with lovely walks in the autumn sunshine in between runs. Abby brought home one Q (qualifying score), and Zack brought home two. Peni dropped in on Sunday afternoon to watch us run, which was wonderful of her to do. She and some of the gals had already had a busy day themselves, walking in the CIBC Run for the Cure with the dogs earlier on in the day. Good on ya, ladies!

Zack had a good last run, but I had glanced at the whiteboard with the required course times that the dogs had to run under to qualify, and it said "46 seconds" — and when Zack and I finished the course, I looked at the timer and it said "46:12". Dang. Missed it by THAT much, as Maxwell Smart was prone to say. Still, it had been a great run. I was very pleased with how well he had motored around the course. Peni helped me pack up all our things and put them in the car, but then I went back in to see if they would post the final results before I left for the day. I glanced at the computer screen, which just happened to be on a part of the results table that had Zack's name on it, and there was a Q checked off. I was very confused. So I hung around for a little while longer, to see if that Q actually appeared on the printed results. It did. Along with the required course time—which was 52 seconds, not 46. So he was in well under the time allowed. I guess no one had changed the whiteboard from the previous class, so that was where the confusion stemmed from. Off to the ribbon bin I hustled, to pick up Zack's second Q ribbon of the day.

Back home to cram in the household chores for the week...and back to work on Monday. But hey, it's a long weekend coming up. Hope the weather holds up for that. It looks like it's going to be gorgeous all week...sunny and relatively warm for Autumn. Perfect.

MORE PAWS

Lest you think it was only Abby, Zack, Gemma and me at the agility trial on the weekend, Cindy was also there with Joe, and Lorri joined us on Saturday with Mylo. Joe added some more Qs to his collection, and Mylo got himself at least one Q too. Maybe more. Lorri will have to fill you in on those.

DOGS WEEKEND

So much happening this past weekend! The Dog Paddlers paddling their hearts out at the Victoria Dragon Boat Festival, and my four-footed dogs working away at the Scallywaggs agility trial. Where to start?

Let's start with the Dog Paddlers. Way to go, Dawgs!! They did us proud once again. I'll have to get more of the details from folks at the paddler wrap-up party next weekend. When I got home Saturday night, I hit the computer first thing. How had the Dog Paddlers done on Day 1 of the festival? Click on the results. Yippee! They're in Diamond again. Fingers crossed all day Sunday, but I'm incommunicado, so have no idea about what's happening. The runs at the agility trial are not going in the order anticipated, and I'm watching the clock trying to figure out whether I can make it down to the Inner Harbour or not (break down the tent, break down and stow all the gear, race home, drop off the dogs, dump all the gear out of the car, get changed, blast down the Pat Bay to Victoria, find parking, walk down to the Inner Harbour...). I finally had to admit that it wasn't going to happen. It was a very difficult decision to make.

When I got home...first thing, once again....head to the computer. I deliberately opened Round 3 results first instead of going immediately to the final standings. I wanted to experience it a bit the way the team would. Wow. First place in the semi-final. Alright! Close that file. Open the final results file. My gosh....how much tighter could that race have been??? Itsy-bitsy hundredths of a second between teams. The Dog Paddlers bring home the Bronze medal in the Diamond division. Sweet. A wonderful way to end the season.

Now, how about the pawed-dogs? How did they do? Well, I've discovered one thing. They DON'T like to do runs in the middle of the day. At least not when it's hot out. They just totally lose their drive and just dawdle around the course. Break-neck speed it ain't! But in the morning they're quite zippy, and in the late afternoon and evening, they're zippy. It may also have to do with conditioning. Some more walks and maybe a little treadmill time to up their stamina might be in their future.

That said, they did very respectably. Little Miss Abby showed up her big brother Zack by bringing home FIVE Qs. Imagine. Who'd have thought that would ever happen? But Zack was no slouch either. He finished strongly, by pulling out a Q in his very favourite event, Tunnelers, at the end of the day. That brought his total up to FOUR Qs for the weekend (and his second title in Novice Tunnelers). Oh...and you know that "hundredths of a second" thing that the Dog Paddlers contended with on the water? Well, Zack missed out on a Q on Saturday by TWO one-hundredths of a second. Argghhh.

And then there was little Miss Gemma. She, of course, got carted along for the duration of the weekend. Did a lot of snoozing. A lot of people-watching. A lot of flirting with new dogs. I wasn't anticipating that she would get to do the Tunnelers fun run at the end of the day on Sunday, as I wasn't expecting to still be there for that event, but...since we ended up being there later on Sunday, I signed her up. She runs like snot. I think I have a speed dog. She followed directions moving from tunnel to tunnel, and just got distracted once. After I went and picked her up and pointed her in the right direction for the second half of the course, she was off and running again. You could hear her banking off the inside of the tunnels as she went through them. I think she's been hanging around the border collies too much!!

NICELY DONE AT NADEN

Island Dog Sports headed out to the navy base at Esquimalt for our fourth year providing agility demos at the military families fun day. Once again, we were at Naden, but this time we were much closer to the action instead of down on the field, far away from the main attractions. Our neighbours were the folks from the base fire department, who had a number of popular activities for the kids going on—like getting to shoot the fire hose at a mock "house-on-fire", or taking a ride in a fire truck. We finally convinced Brianna and Ann to take Landon on the truck ride...so that Landon could have fun, and the gals could scope out the firemen. ;-)

This was Shirley and Maggie's very first agility demo, and they did just great. You'd think that they'd been doing this for years, instead of just 6 months. Shirley and Maggie have come a long way in a short time, and it's always wonderful to welcome new faces to the demonstration team.

Mylo came along with Lorri and Randy for the first of our two demos, and got to have the bandage removed from his tail in our own impromptu M*A*S*H tent as Peni and Lorri stuffed him with treats at his front end while Pia cut the bandage off at his hind end. He hardly noticed what was going on in his nether regions!

There were some strange characters walking around the site, and one dropped by to watch the dogs in action (I mean the character on the right, not the fireman!). We put on two shows for the folks to enjoy, one around 1 p.m. and the other at 2:45 p.m. We had a bit of musical competition during the first show, as there was a live band playing on the stage just below our location. Luckily, we managed to get our second show in before they started another set. Then we cooled our heels, sitting around in the tent, shooting the breeze for another hour, as we couldn't bring the truck and trailer back up to load until the fire trucks had finished their tours—at 4 p.m. Then we all headed home, exhausted. Both people AND dogs. You'd have thought we'd all run a marathon. But it was just a day of fresh air and sunshine—and very good company—working its magic.

SOLSTICE SUCCESS

The stars aligned for Abby on the weekend, at AVID's AAC agility trial. It was perfect weather for the event—not too hot, a bit of a breeze, and equal helpings of sun and cloud. There was one downpour on Sunday afternoon to help cool things off and wet things down, but for the most part, any threatening weather seemed to nibble around the edges of the fairgrounds but not actually come directly overhead.

Both Abby and Zack did five runs this weekend, with Abby pulling off two Qs, one on Saturday in Starters Snooker, and one on Sunday, in Starters Jumpers. She almost had a third one on Saturday...she was just under time in her Standard run, but she missed her contact on the second to last obstacle. In general, though, she had an excellent weekend. She had none of those "stalls" that she normally throws in, where she just stops dead for no apparent reason. She stayed focused and on-course. Zack still seems to be struggling with finding his 'second gear'; he's motoring around the course, but not quickly. And I'm assuming that he's committed to obstacles when he hasn't, which gives us refusal faults. On the plus side, he's taking less time to get over the teeter, which is great. It's still not his favourite obstacle, but at least he's getting more confident about doing it.

Gemma was along for the ride, and had a great time meeting all the different dogs and their people as we walked around the grounds. We had set up the pop-up shelter for the weekend, and the dogs had both their wire crate and the x-pen to lounge around in. I kept the crate there as Zack will just pop out of the pen if he decides he has some motive for doing so. The girls seemed quite content to have the option of the crate, with the extra space of the pen to move around in, if the spirit moved them. It was nice and cool in the tent, with the shade-cloths hung up on two sides. We were set up in a great location with an excellent vantage point from which to relax in my chair and watch the goings-on in the ring. I'd occasionally pop up to take some pictures; you can find a selection of them at my Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26205675@N07/ .

Q-LESS IN SAANICHTON

Well, that was the case for Zack, anyway. Maybe he was just tired out from last weekend's agility trial. Or maybe he had one too many M&M's Italian meatballs before he ran his courses. Who knows. He just couldn't seem to find his second and third gears this weekend. Most of his course faults were time faults. But he seemed happy enough all weekend. Full of enthusiasm doing the practice jumps. It just didn't carry on into the ring. Ah well.

It seemed like we were going to go home totally Q-less when Abby, the little darling, DID find her second and third gears and smoked through the Jumpers course. Well 'smoked' it for her—in that she made her way around it a second and a half under the course time limit. This is the first AAC trial in which she is running in the "Specials" category, where she jumps lower than her height would normally require, which I think helped her out. Way to go, Abby!

Two full agility trials in two successive weekends is not something I think I'll be doing on a regular basis. It's just too exhausting. Not to mention that all the chores you normally would do on the weekend get left undone, and you're playing catch-up all week to compensate. Thank goodness I have tomorrow off as a stat holiday.

It's pet hotel time here as well, with Martha and Joe off on a week's vacation in Washington State. The Empress, Clio, has taken up residence in the guest room. She occasionally comes stomping out of her throne room and down the hallway (and I truly mean stomping—it's truly impressive to hear and see her come thumping along), meowing in a demanding way for a maidservant (presumably me) to do her bidding. Unfortunately, I'm only a one-star establishment and she's discovering that room service is not available. On the canine side of the guest list, poor Kennedy had to go to the agility trial with us on Saturday and Sunday. I'm not sure how impressed he was with this notion. However, he did curl up seemingly contentedly in the kennel with Abby and Zack for the duration, and seemed to enjoy his walks around the fairgrounds—although maybe not so much in the rain on Sunday.

PROUD PUPPIES

Not to be outdone by Abby and Zack's be-ribbonned pix, Switch and Mylo want you to know that they're pretty darn proud of themselves too for finishing their weekend with some booty.


Switch poses with his very first Q ribbon...along with the jumps that Peni puts him over...and over...and over....

Mylo takes a well-deserved rest in the recliner after notching his very first Qualilfying run in his very first official trial.

Way to go, boys!

SCALLYWAGGING FOR REAL

It's been a loooonnngg weekend for the Island Dog Sports canines and their handlers. We spent Friday evening through Sunday afternoon out at the Saanich Fairgrounds having a ball at ScallyWaggs' Spring Fling NADAC agility trial.

There were some big FIRSTs for IDS: this was Lorri and Mylo's first real trial...and on the last run of the weekend (Tunnelers), they got their very first Q. Way to go, Lorri and Mylo! And remember the Howl-a-ween NADAC trial, where we had Switch wishing wistfully for a Q while his sister Betty ran off with a bucket of them? Well...Peni and Switch hit the jackpot in that same Tunnelers run. A bright shiny Q for Switch. Peni has worked long and hard with Switch to get him to this point. It's a major accomplishment for both of them. What a difference we've seen in Switch over the past six months. And in each run this weekend, he got better and better.

Another first? Abby. She got her first NADAC Qs this weekend. In fact, she reeled in FOUR of them. We're very pleased for our little girl. She'd been skunked at NADAC trials for the past year, so this was definitely her break-out weekend. We've been working hard on her motivation and concentration over the past few months, so it's great to see her making progress. She's sneaking up on her little brother Zack, who also racked up four Qs over the course of the weekend. One of them landed him his second NADAC title, this one in Novice Touch-and-Go.

And well, then there's Ann and Pecos. They battled bad-bunny-karma all weekend, after Ann 'smoked' a rabbit on the road on the way to the trial Saturday morning. She said she could see bunny-fur wafting about in her car's slipstream when she looked in her rear-view mirror after she hit the unfortunate creature. She knew then that the gods might not smile upon her and Pecos at this trial. But the karma finally turned good on that last Tunnelers run, and a Q floated through the air and into Ann's hand in the form of a black-and-purple Q ribbon. We think she also got good karma points for bringing the world's best Parmesan popcorn on the planet to help us snack our way through the weekend. Good karma points also go to Lorri for the chocolate chip cookies. And to Cindy and to the Horels for the illicit Bailey's Irish Cream that wended its way into our mid-day coffees.

Cindy and Joe did their usual good work and racked up some more Qs for the most popular wonder-wiener in the trial. Joe's got so much personality that he absolutely "owns" the trial ring.

Pia and Meredith nursed their aches and pains through the weekend. Swift swiftly erased hopes of Qs with her enthusiastic approach to any and all obstacles on the course. However, she did save some enthusiasm for smoking through all the tunnels on the Tunnelers course at the end of the weekend. The judge had to re-position a bunch of 'em after Swift's artful rearrangement of them as she banked off their interiors enroute to her Q. Brianna and Emma had an on-again, off-again relationship with the Q-ribbon-bin, as did George and Betty. And while George may not have left the fairgrounds with as many Q ribbons as from our last ScallyWaggs outing, he did leave with a bottle of scotch tucked under his arm—a lucky break from the "Screw-the-Q, Pass the Flask" consolation draw.

The good thing? We all know what we need to work on. The bad thing? We all know what we need to work on.

Zack sacks out on Saturday night...a pooped puppy indeed!

Abby too hits the hay, barely making it onto the green fleece before tumbling into slumber.

The hard work was worth it...Zack shows off his Q ribbons.

Abby does her share of showing off too. The ribbons are almost bigger than she is!

Missed it—by THAT much!

Ah, Abby. My little blonde girlie dog.

All in all, she had a pretty good day at the AVID agility trial, running in Starters Gamblers, Starters Standard and Starters Snooker.

She ran a fine Gamblers run (actually beating her brother Zack in terms of the number of points she racked up before the final gamble), but alas she missed that final gamble. But a good run, nonetheless. In her Standard run, she had two of those "stop and stall" moments — i.e. she just stops dead in her tracks and looks at you like you're from another planet when you try to get her moving again. She did it the first time just after completing an excellent set of weave poles. I got her revved up and moving again (and when she's in gear, she can really fly!) and she did fine until she brought the teeter down to the ground. Then she just stood there on the end of the teeter and wouldn't budge...oh my. I backtracked to get her to follow me, she kicked it back in gear and flew through the remaining course elements. Her time: just 0.74 seconds over the time allowed. We've got to figure out why she stalls like that. (The judge later told me that that last manouver—Abby's just standing at the end of the teeter—made her laugh.)

And then there was Abby's last run of the day (and she was the last dog of the day, for that matter). This was her very first Snooker run. She took the first red jump, then her first obstacle of choice (the tunnel), then I sent her out over the second red jump...and that was that. She wouldn't come back around it to go to the next obstacle of choice. Just stared me down. Took a few stutter steps as if to go around the jump, then scooted back the other way, stood and considered her options for a while, and then came back over the same jump. Whistle blows...and we're done! Mind you, while she's making her mind up and just standing there, I say to her "having a blonde moment, are we?"— with the judge (a blonde) standing right there. Brilliant.

As for brother Zack...well, he had a pretty good Advanced Gamblers run but, like his sister, missed the final gamble. His Advanced Standard run...he was doing just great—and then he popped out of a tunnel for no apparent reason. He had a great run time-wise though. His final run of the day: his first go at Snooker. And he nailed it. Atta boy, Zack! Now we just have to get one more Q in Snooker, and Zack will have his AGDC title to go along with his ADC title. Of couse the bad news in all this is that it means that we have to keep moving up to the Advanced level of competition...which, of course, is harder. Be careful what you wish for, eh?

ScallyWagging 2009

Thanks to all the good folks at ScallyWaggs for once again starting off our Pirate new year with a very enjoyable fun trial out at Shannick Farm. All the Island Dog Sports folks had a great day, with each run getting a little bit better than the last.

Lorri and Mylo made their competitive agility debut, and did it with style. We're very, very proud of them for doing so well in their first trial. Also a big thanks to Lorri for making the cookies—they sure hit the spot after the pizza at lunch. And thanks to Ann for making the pizza run (with Lorri riding shotgun). They navigated to the pizza place and back again without getting lost. George's directions must have been impeccable.

Abby, by virtue of her name beginning with "A" and my having dropped her down a height level, got to go first out on the course every time we did a Novice class. She did just fine, finishing all of the courses with only a few "I think I'll just stand here and stare at you and not move a muscle while you try and figure out how to motivate me..." kind of moments. On the last run of the day, I just waited HER out when she had a couple of those moments, and she finally came running. I guess it's just a matter of who is going to be more stubborn!

Zack went four for four: he got mythical Qs (mythical as in they're not real because this was a fun trial) in all of the events today. Way to go Zack!

Pia put in an appearance later in the afternoon, with her Mom and Dad chaperoning her to make sure she didn't go too far astray. Thanks, Pia, for coming out to cheer everyone on. We know you're going crazy at home, not being allowed to do too much after your surgery.

All in all, a great way to spend a Sunday in February. The ScallyWaggs gang were, as usual, consummate hosts. A special thanks to Eric for joining us around our 'campfire' and providing some insights into what makes our dogs tick out on the agility course. Thanks too, to Petra and Gillian for advice given to various members of our little IDS family.

ISLAND DOG SPORTS ROCKS!

The IDS crew put on a very credible showing at the ScallyWaggs agility trial this weekend. As mentioned in the previous blog posting from yesterday, Zack and Emma had earned titles on Saturday. Well—by end of day Sunday, Swift had racked up FOUR titles. And Miss Betty had racked up at least one, plus lots of Qs and First Place ribbons. Emma is now having to look in her rear view mirror as Swift and Betty vie for her Q-ing crown. Pecos also racked up a bunch more purple-and-black Q ribbons for Ann to decorate her office with.

Zack picked up 3 Qs on Sunday—one in Touch and Go, and two more in Tunnelers. Abby continues to get better and better, running clean more often than not now, but still can't make it around the course in the time allowed. But as mentioned in the last posting, success for Abby is completing the course. Ditto for Switch....who is still dreaming of a Q, and getting closer to it with each run he does.

Lorri came out to support us today...and we even talked her into running Mylo in the free tunnelers run at the end of the day (for dogs that weren't registered for the trial). She and Mylo did just great. A tunnelers course was just the thing for Mylo...tunnels are something he likes to do, and he got to run fast. The course kept Lorri on her toes, thinking ahead to the next tunnel. They made a great team. Maybe by the next ScallyWaggs fun trial, we'll be able to coax them to sign up for some runs.

Thanks again to the great folks from ScallyWaggs who put on such great NADAC events. We're truly blessed to have them organizing these here in Victoria. They picked another wonderful and encouraging judge—Jeff can come back out here from Wisconsin anytime!

Oh...and Brianna's decorating efforts (see picture below) paid off. She won the best-decorated crate prize!