HAPPY HOWL-A-WEEN!

Another great weekend with the ScallyWaggs crew at their 4th annual Halloween-themed NADAC agility trial (known, of course, as their "Howl-a-ween" trial). The Silkies rocked, with Abby scoring 11 Qs and Zack 8. Even little Miss Gemma got in on the act and pulled in her very first Q ever on Sunday morning. She almost had two of 'em, but was just 69/100ths of a second over the course time on one of her runs on Saturday. She finished off her Sunday runs with a spectacularly awful Tunnelers run, in which she decided after going through a few tunnels that she had had enough and went off galavanting around the ring, finally ending up in front of the in-coming dog, doing barrel-rolls in the dirt, much to the amusement of those watching from the stands. Gemma is certainly entertaining, to say the least. But all in all, a very good weekend for all of them.

Brianna worked her magic on a few pumpkins to really jazz up our crating area. They were the icing on the cake, topping off a bunch of our Halloween decorations from last year's crate-decorating competition. Brianna's artistic talents most certainly gave us the win this year. Our little crating area also boasted a small "bar" to "warm up" our coffees, which was freely shared with anyone else who needed a little extra "umphh" or a "relaxation aid" before venturing out on the agility course. A very pleasant and civilized approach to hanging out in a cold barn at the end of October, for hours on end.

The agility season is winding down for the year. One more AVID trial to go to in a couple of weeks, and then that's it for my little gang for the year. Then we'll see what 2011 holds for them!

The pet-cousins are about to arrive from next door, as Martha and Joe head off on their 10th wedding anniversary Caribbean cruise early tomorrow morning. Martha's pets undoubtedly think of my place as boot camp, but all in all, they seem to settle in quite well after the first day.

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!

GEMMA'S FIRST NADAC TRIAL

A few pix from Don of the ScallyWaggs crew, from the August "Summer Meltathon". Apparently Gemma thinks you actually have to jump through the hoops!

OCTOBER ALREADY!

Well, this year seems to be just winging by at breakneck speed. September just went zipping by so fast, it's amazing. You would think, since it was such a soggy month this year, that it would have felt like it dragged on for ages, but no -- I guess there was just a lot going on so there was hardly time to think about time slipping by.

Since I've been a bit remiss in updating the blog in September, I guess there's some catching up to do. First off: Abby got her AADC (Advanced Agility Dog of Canada title) at AVID's September trial. That means she now moves up into Masters for her Standard runs. She's still working away on her Advanced games, so it'll be a little while before she's running in Masters in everything. She's also running in the Veteran category now, which gives her a little more time to complete her runs, which is nice. She was consistently running clean but being just a fraction of a second or a second or two over the time allowed. Now she has that wee bit extra breathing room. Nonetheless, we're still working on speeding her up. The latest tactic in her training sessions is using sardines. She ran like a speeding bullet at her Thursday lesson when given this new incentive. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to translate into speed at the ScallyWaggs fun trial this past weekend. I think she was bogged down a bit by the deep sand that we were running in. Or maybe she was just having an off-day.

However, the footing didn't seem to bother Zack, who ran like a speed demon at the fun trial (but not at the AVID trial). If he carries that speed through to next Saturday's runs at the Capital Comets trial, then he just might pull in some Qs. Running him yesterday at the fun trial was like running him a year ago. He just went hell-bent for leather. I was so happy for him. In the intervening year, he's also gotten better at his obstacle performance, so put the two together, and hopefully he'll be back in the groove again.

Gemma is improving week to week. At the AVID trial, I entered her in three runs. In her first run, she finished about 5 obstacles (and visited a couple of ring crew) before exiting the ring. In her second run, she finished about half of the obstacles (and visited the judge). And in her third run, she completed the course -- her only fault being an off-course she incurred by running by the very last jump. She was only two seconds over time (most of that lost navigating the teeter). All very good. At the fun trial, she improved with each run, staying pretty well focused the entire time. She's getting better at ignoring the judge and ring crew and sticking to the business of running the course. She had a very good tunnelers run to finish the day. All in all, she made me very proud on Saturday.

I'm still waiting for some pix to share on the blog...of the August ScallyWaggs trial, and from the September Roadsters trial. Stay tuned!

On the human side of things, I handed in my notification of the date I've chosen as my retirement date. That would be January 18, 2011. Now it's getting real. Wow. Lots of adjustments coming up in my life. I'll be looking for part-time work, of course. I'd go start raving bananas not doing something. But part-time is a much better approach at this point. Plus, some extra cash beyond the pension is needed...to support my dog habit.

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.