Sunday, Thunder, No Agility

SUMMARY: Missing Bay Team trial, plus scaredy dogs

Partially from Facebook: May 19, 2019 (expanded here)

All dressed up and ready for another visit to The Bay Team USDAA trial, but Chip is terrified by the thunder today (and Zorro is not too happy either), so I’m not going to take him outside, and I’m not going to leave him alone in the house. Sad face.

Thunder shirt has not helped. On the upside, Chip pointed out that when the dryer is running it muffles the sound nicely. So I can leave it running on air dry for up to 90 minutes while he huddles next to it. I moved a bed in there. Happy face.

Didn't seem like that's the way the day was going to go originally. Woke up early because the sun was shining (6:30 in the morning!? so wrong!) and I hadn't closed my drapes. Lounged in bed for more than an hour, mostly doing nothing. An hour after my wakey-uppy-- Somehow the wild beasts’ instincts kicked in and they had intuited that dark rain clouds would be rolling in?! Because no signs of life still— unusual around here by this time.

But when they do get moving: I start playing footsie with Zorro, who of course wags his tail during. Chip whines, groans, moans… “His tail is touching me when it wags, mommm make him stoooop.“ Such a grump, but such entertaining noises.

Spent midmorning to midafternoon dealing with Chip's issues:

• Moving beds into laundry room for Chip and Zorro,
• Chip not wanting to go outside so I drag him outside (literally the first time) to try to get him to pee and he's terrified of the sound of jets going by in the distance... which they do about every 3 minutes every day, all day, just now he's all sensitive, so he won't pee and just cowers and tries to go back into the house.
• Then he pees on the carpet inside instead.
• And of course when I yell No No No! And jump up from my lunch and try racing down to where he is to grab him and take him outside, Zorro starts to move into Boss Dog mode and so I have to tell them they're both really good dogs and everything is OK so he doesn't attack Chip.
• So I take Chip out again and now it's pouring and he hunches off and hides under a shrub, so I have to get him out from there to take him inside again and I'm soaked through my fleece and shirt and dogs are sopping wet and muddy so I have to wipe them down while Chip trying to get away to go hide somewhere. 
• Then while I'm trying to clean up the carpet pee (meanwhile my lunch is getting cold)... 
• Chip starts ripping apart the doorframe to the garage again. 
• So I get a leash this time and take him out through the garage into the side yard, into bright sunlight, where he does a very wee wee. 
• Walk him up the side of the house and he suddenly realizes that he is actually in the same back yard as always and now he won't do anything but hunker and look scared. 
• I walk  (so to speak) him around for several minutes and he does nothing, so back inside. 

Like that.

Good thing they're cute.

There's been no thunder for a while, and things are at the moment peaceful, and I'm exhausted (such a wimp these days), so I think a late afternoon nap is more in order than household projects and going to a movie as originally expected.

40 years of agility: Two Crufts Videos

SUMMARY: The sport has changed so much.

Video of agility demo at Crufts, 1978.  Take note of the equipment, the speed and athleticism of the dogs (and handlers), how close the handlers are to their dogs, the complexity of the course, the difference in speed between the different dogs.

Video of agility final round at Crufts, 2017.  (the beginning includes a clear graphic video of the dog's path through the course.  After that, I like the run starting at 21:15 as an example)
Compare and contrast: the equipment, the speed and athleticism of the dogs (and handlers), how close the handlers are to their dogs, the complexity of the course, the difference in speed between the different dogs.

And some context for you:

• 1978: Dog agility originated as a fun demo sport at Crufts (or possibly much earlier; see the Wikipedia article).
• 1980: First official agility sport rules definition, by The Kennel Club; first official competition at Crufts that year.
• 1983: First agility-specific organization founded (Agility Club in the UK).
• 1984: First agility-specific organization started in the U.S.
• 1987: First time small dogs could compete at the national level, at Olympia (until then, it was all large/tall dogs).
• 1987: First agility competition in the U.S.
• "In 1988, almost no one had heard of dog agility in the United States, while meanwhile in England it had become an extremely popular sport, drawing hundreds of spectators."
• 1989: with TV exposure, agility started its boom in the U.S.
• 1991: Power Paws Agility (where I've taken most of my training) was founded in San Jose, I believe the only training facility anywhere near the SF Bay Area at that time, so people came to weekly classes from as far as 2 hours away.
• 1992: My agility club, The Bay Team, was founded. I believe at the time there was an dog breed club who held events in Fresno, but that's about it.  BT held their first competition in 1993.
• 1995: I started agility training.
• 1996: January, my first competition, with Remington.
• 2014: late in the year, my last competition, with Boost. (Maybe will be able to do again someday. Who knows.)
• 2018: I still follow agility and occasionally do some backyard training and take classes.

It was the third of July and we survived

SUMMARY: Long, long day at agility trial, and a noisy night.

Friday morning I had awoken feeling beaten down beyond any rationale, head swollen (like, eyes being forced from skull), and thoroughly enheadached. Eventually crawled into work anyway, and it wasn't until I was there that I put 2+2 together: That unreasonable exhaustion and the eyes being forced from their sockets feeling has been a precursor to a migraine. So I went home again and rested a lot. Apparently I was already *in* the migraine by then, because only some of the fatigue and headness lasted into Saturday.

Saturday I went to see The BFG with a friend, did a few things quietly around the house, and packed up for an agility trial! It has been a while since I've taken dogs to anything like this, although I have worked at a few competitions over the last several months. Of course we weren't competing since these Boys know nuthin' about no agility, but I signed up to work full time. Decided to take them with me to give them a chance to be around the hubbub and dogs and people of such events, and also to keep Chip with me for the evening when I expected there to be noise but I'd still be down in Prunedale.  Which meant ensuring that I packed everything I'd need for me and them, and I haven't done that in so long!

Then I tried to sleep with all the fireworks and poppers and bangs going off until the wee-est of wee hours of the morning (has been bad for a least a couple of weeks, worse that night after we got home).  I tried mitigating the shocks and jabs of noise by keeping windows closed (even on a hot night) and running a loud fan in one window.  It helped, but poor Chip-- and poor me, some of them thar things loud enough to wake the dead. And I don't mean Jerry Garcia.  ...Oh, wait, I guess I do mean him.

As a result, when my radio alarm went off, it barely registered as being not a dream, and when I finally opened my eyes, discovered it had been playing for half an hour! So much for a head start.

BUT I got stretched out and dressed and dogs pottied and still arrived at Prunedale in time to walk the dogs for additional potty-work before going to work.

I scribed all day, which gave me a chance to see familiar people and their new dogs, and unfamiliar people and their unfamiliar dogs. And in between, I got the dogs out for exercise and experience and practice paying attention to me and doing tricks (including sits and downs); Zorro was surprisingly excellent and Chip surprisingly not. The rest of the time, they rested in MUTT MVR off to one side of the field.

(You like how I've left on some of Tika's and Boost's last ribbons to make us look like official agility beasts? But, oops, I still haven't replaced their emergency info with the new dogs'.)

And I wandered around snapping candids or semicandids or not candids at all. For some reason, people knew when I was "sneaking" around taking photos (click-click-click).

The sky remained overcast all day, although bright at times. And refreshingly cool after the heat of San Jose recently.  OK, cold.

And in the evening, we had our Bay Team club meeting, complete with occasional puppies and, yay, pizza. It was still cold and getting colder. (You can tell because Dustin, although still in short sleeves, conceded to the chill and donned long pants.)

(Below, Lonny fetching himself more pizza and all of us keeping warm and pondering equipment purchases.)

Headed for home around 8:30 (and it was still light then! Love summer!), home maybe 9:30, went to bed.

So, last night, it was again hot here in San Jose, and "we" again ran a noisy fan, but I slept well despite the trouble staying in sleep because of the firestorm in my neighborhood (It's only the 3rd, people, AND it's illegal in this county! (Chip ran away on the 3rd 2 years ago)), but catnapped until Luke--excuse me, Zorro-- woke me with desperation to go out at 1:30. I let him out briefly (Chip would have nothing to do with going out there with the noise), and then I went right back to sleep until...yep, Zorro...woke me around 7:30 desperate to go out, so I staggered downstairs, put the doggie door in, and went back to bed and right to sleep.  The miracle is that (a) the dogs then let me sleep until 10...—unheard of! likely due to their level of stress (good or bad) over 14 hours of travel and being at the agility thing— …when my sister called.

(She said, oh, so you're the second sister I've woken up this morning?  Then I officially named her Linda Sisterwaker.)

Then I catnapped for another 2 hours. And  (b) the dogs left me alone and dozed with me. Amazing. 

If you've followed all that, you're doing better than I am.  

Not looking forward to tonight's insane night of noise and flash-bangs and all that. Sigh. But we'll survive again, with noisy fan and probably leaving the radio on until the wee-wee-hours again, and then glorious sleep. 

New Member

SUMMARY: A brief bio.

I've been a member of The Bay Team since not long after I started agility lessons, without ever really intending to become an active member (ha! we know how that turned out!). I joined SMART when that club formed, although I consider myself more a supporting member. I attend several other clubs' events regularly but never joined; finally decided that I really ought to join more of them both as a sign of general support and to keep up on the news.

So I joined more clubs (aren't we lucky to have so many with members located nearby?). And one asked for a photo and a new member bio. Well, I hardly think I'm new to most of their members, but OK, I'll indulge:

My obedience instructor suggested agility to me as I was running out of other things to try with my smart and energetic rescue Squirrelhünd, Remington (competitive obedience, tracking, tricks). I fell in love with the sport from the instant that I saw the brilliantly colored obstacles on the emerald green lawn with dogs doing unbelievable feats before my very eyes. I signed up for classes at Power Paws Agility (except back then, in 1995, they hadn't come up with that name yet). My instructors finally convinced me to try a competition, and I did, at a mudful NADAC trial in January 1996 in San Martin. And we got some Qs and some ribbons! And you know what happened next: More agility, and more and more and more! I had to keep my day job as a technical writer to pay for the agility entry fees, the agility training, the agility shoes, the agility videos, the agility gear bags, the agility team shirts, the agility canopy, the agility obstacles for the yard, the agility minivan MUTT MVR, and, of course, the agility house Taj Mutthall in San Jose.

I've competed with four very different dogs and we've earned Qs in NADAC, ASCA, CPE, and USDAA. My second dog, Jake the Semidachshund, earned Championships in all four, but now there are so many trials available that I've concentrated on USDAA with some CPE; my third dog, Tika the rescue Craussie, has Championships in both of those. My fourth dog, Boost the nonrescue Border Collie (littermate to locals Bette, Beck, and Derby and Top Ten dog Gina (sibling envy? what sibling envy?))--well, let's say that she loves to do agility, or any other active and interesting job. She particularly excels at bringing in the newspaper every morning so I don't have to step outside no matter the weather.

I've watched the sport and my own skills change. I'm delighted (in retrospect) how I went from huddling in a dark corner many years ago, cursing the dog gods and myself because we couldn't get even the easiest gambles, to thrilling about Tika's position as the #2 Gambling dog in USDAA Performance 22" for the year 2011. Having great instructors and, yes, sigh, practicing really helped with that.

Tika turns 11, Boost turns 7, and I turn [mumblety-mum] at the end of January; and I'm still shaping up my thoughts on what's next for all of us. I know that photography fits in there somewhere, and hiking, and yeah, sure, someday I'll get back to that budding fiction-writing career that I abandoned 16 years ago for the slings and arrows of dogwalk contacts.

I blog about all this at TajMutthall.org.

20 Years Already!

SUMMARY: Bay Team celebrates

I love my new Bay Team 20th anniversary mug! You, too, can own one of these three beautiful drinkware options--but, first, a little history.

The Bay Team's first-ever meeting (before it had decided on a name) was held on August 22, 1992, long before I had ever heard of agility. Fifteen people attended. They finally hosted their first fun match at the end of 1993 to become certified to hold real trials, and their first real trial came in January 1994 (NADAC).

We held our first USDAA that May--a one-ring trial with 20 dogs competing.

The club bought/built its first Aframe, out of wood, for $450.

When I joined The Bay Team in July of 1995, I did so only because I thought maybe I'd get some useful info from time to time and also sometimes a free practice along with the meetings. But then I studiously avoided going to meetings because, thank you very much, I had plenty of other things to occupy my time and I really didn't need to get involved in this, especially since I wasn't ever planning on actually competing with my dog Remington; we were just in it for something to do on Wednesday evenings and had been taking classes for only about 3 months.

The Bay Team and I were both still so new to agility. In September of 1995, I dropped by the club's 5th-ever trial for a couple of hours, a USDAA event in Daly City, to see what it looked like. It actually looked pretty cool. I recognized a few people from class, and was amazed at the feats they achieved in actual competition. Plus ribbons!

I also spent some time talking to a nice woman (Debby Stein) and her shepherd mix, who not only did very well in agility but wowed me with a bunch of tricks, which I rushed home and worked on teaching to Remington. I learned much later that she was one of the founding members of the Bay Team. (I followed them and their tricks and obedience career for a while and they were sort of my role model for Remington, maybe because of the tricks and maybe because he was also a shepherd mix, dang I can't remember his name.)

My first competition was a Bay Team NADAC trial in January 1996, the horrific mudfest, which that Saturday almost made me give up agility--except that we earned a Q in, of all thing, gamblers, and that's all it took to make me come back the next day, where the weather cleared up to a bright and sunny day and we earned another Q, in Jumpers, and then I was nearly hooked.

I attended 6 whole trials that first year, four of them Bay Team trials (2 NADAC, 2 USDAA).

Fast forward to 2012...well, we're anticipating a bit, but we're planning on celebrating our 20th anniversary all year.

As of our 20th anniversary, the Bay Team will have hosted (best guess) 100 trials (22 NADAC, 21 CPE, the rest USDAA); we have nearly 300 members; our annual Regional trials have 5 rings with nearly 500 dogs competing.

Our current Aframes are metal, rubber-coated, professionally built and costing around $1500 each.

As of last weekend, I've now run 4 dogs in agility at 245 trials--that's 3,898 runs. (That's 52 NADAC--some dual-sanctioned with ASCA, 46 CPE, a couple of ASCA, and the rest USDAA.)

And I have served on the club board as member at large and President; acted as webmaster since 1998; I've chaired, secretaried, crew chiefed, and score tabled innumerable trials; attended many seminars and fun matches, chose my dogs, my car, and my house specifically with agility in mind--and here we are.

So, now, YOU, TOO, can own one or more of these etched glass items. Bay Team members get one FREE; they can also order more, as can nonmembers. However, you must order by October 15, because we're only ordering enough to fulfill people's requests. After that, allllll gonnnnnne. Just download the PDF order form from the Bay Team site (http://www.bayteam.org).

(Photo credits: Glassware--Mike Scannell; mudfest--Bill Newcomb)

Thanks, Thanks, and More Thanks

SUMMARY: So many people who made this trial a success.

I posted this to my club, but want to spread the word a bit more.

And everyone else cooperated with each other. What a great group of people to work with and compete with!

Before I crawl off to sleep for a hundred years, I wanted to thank a whole lot of people who helped to make this weekend a success. I got lots of nice comments from people about how good the trial was, how nice we all are, and how bay team always does great trials.

I know this is long, but I wanted to say it all, so people can appreciate how much goes into making a trial work.

• First and foremost, my co-chair, Mary Marquez, in only her second time co-chairing, who easily did more than half the chairing work before and during the trial AND took on responsibility for judges' travel, judges' hospitality, and vendor management. I'd be a whole lot more tired if it weren't for her and her can-do attitude. 
  
• Also, Secretary Donna Sprouse who reminded us of many things that we'd have otherwise forgotten, did a lot of work that I had expected that we'd have to do without even being asked, AND took on the job of RV chief, and kept her sense of humor through the process of learning how bay team does things vs. NAF/VAST and the oddities of the site. And volunteered to arrange for us to borrow NAF's teeter for the weekend.
  
• Karey Krauter, at always, was the endless font of knowledge, experience, and money (via the bay team checking & charge accounts) who was indispensable in helping us make sure the right things happened, worked full time at the trial, drove to turlock before the trial to pick up a teeter for us, drove to san jose during the trial to pick up two tunnels for us, and probably a whole lot more that I'm not thinking of.
  
• Katrina Parkinson, as always, was a tireless worker, took on score table work as well as her usual half-equipment-manager, set-up and tear-down management, substitute course builder, Ubercart stocker beforehand, and I don't know what all, as well as volunteering her valuable skills as a Registered Vet Tech with no recompense.
  
• Paulette Czech let me talk her into being Volunteer Coordinator when all she really wanted to do was crew chief, which we turned into a new job of not only scheduling workers in advance, but also serving as mentor, assistant, advice-giver, and errand runner for our actual crew chiefs and for me and Mary as well, and she worked her legs off, kept a great attitude, and was much appreciated by all of us.
  
• Our crew chiefs Lloya French, Loni Cummings, Milli Conover, and Carol Bowers, our wonderful crew chiefs, who kept the rings staffed (a challenging job indeed with SO many groups to run and such small groups, too), filled in themselves where needed, offered advice when we needed to make scheduling decisions, and never said a cross word about anything. How about those white boards filling up so nicely on Sunday! (photos: Loni, Lloyda, Carol, and Milli--I wish I'd gotten better photos)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Our score table czars Diane Blackman and Katrina Parkinson kept the scribe sheets filled out and flowing to the computer through 7 different classes, 5 different levels, 6 different heights, and 3 different programs, AND trained new people on how to do it at the same time, without their brains or tempers ever exploding. (Diane photo here; Katrina above)
  
• Gwen Jones did a fabulous job as our grounds chief; I think she had a grin on her face every time I saw her. Before and during the trial, at every request from us, she went right to work to get it done, handled all the trash and restroom issues herself, and even made an extra trip midday to get more, er, restroom supplies when we ran low.
  
• Her significant other, Dustin Kerwin, served as chief course builder in one ring and apprentice equipment chief before and during the trial--the two of them are made for each other, as he also looked like he was the happiest man on earth even when working his buns off to get our rings built, equipment moved, and all the rest of it.
  
  
• Terri Prince, our other chief course builder, came in from New York at 2:30 in the morning Saturday morning and yet was still up and at 'em and working her own buns off to get course changes done quickly and cheerfully, and both she and Dustin helped in each other's rings to make things go even faster.
  
• Joni Grace let us talk her into being the food and worker hospitality person for her first time ever (I believe); she plunged right in, enlisted her son's/grandson's boy scout Troop 41 to do breakfasts and lunches as a fundraiser and to earn merit badges, made sure there were treats at the score tables, answered our endless questions about what was happening and what we thought we should do, and always kept a cheery demeanor.
  
• Mardee Jang ran an amazing raffle on a shoestring budget and, as always, made the raffle area look like a high-end tropical resort, a truly fun place to hang out, and she and husband Raymond set the whole thing up, managed it, made sure workers got their tickets in, AND also worked THEIR buns off doing other jobs all weekend, again without ever blinking an eyelid at the workload. Plus they let us borrow their tunnels at no charge.
  
• Paulette Czech and Lisa Maynard also were talked into splitting the Awards job, one day each, and as first timers, they plunged into it all, made sure the awards were counted before and after, and seemed to enjoy the process. (Lisa in pink)
  
• Nancy Ketrick decided she wanted to learn to do the CPE secretary computer software and spent most of the weekend at the computers helping Donna get things done.
  
• Maggie Guthrie, as PASA's representative, came out on friday and made extra trips to give us access to the dogwalk and teeter that we rented, and also brought the good news that PASA had decided not to charge us rent after all--thanks to you and PASA, what great friends!
  

And almost all of these people were also running dogs! What I remember most all weekend is how many smiles and grins I saw from all these people, over and over.

We had a nice turnout on full-time workers, too; these people gave up entire days of their weekend to work without running a dog and helped us to make the trial run beautifully efficiently--I don't have the full list and I apologize for not knowing all the names--so I'll have to list them all tomorrow when I get the list of names. Linda Knowles came down for half a day and worked so she could schmooze with other agility people and declined to take even a small certificate for it.

And THANK YOU to All the other club members and competitors who filled in the white board with their names and so set poles, ran leashes, ran scribe sheets, helped build courses, ran errands for me when I looked around and grabbed someone passing by, and all the rest.

I hope I haven't forgotten anyone--you were all superb this weekend!

Thank you all again for a great weekend.

How People At Bay Team Parties Really See Me

SUMMARY: Wordless Wednesday

Thanks, Ellen C and Barbara S!

It's All About Whom You Know

SUMMARY: Watching the USDAA Nationals live.

I gave in and subscribed to the live feed for $20. Cheapest way to watch the national championship finals, for sure! I wasn't going to, but I've been hanging on every facebook post of people who are there and the usdaa facebook page, and I've dreamed about it the last 2 nights. I've seen the final rounds every year since 2000 except the 2 years they were in Texas; I'd really miss seeing them.

Especially since people I know will be competing.

I've found that agility really is more interesting when there are people I know involved. And I don't mean just people that I know who they are. I mean, Marcus Topps and Joe Lavalley and so many other familiar names are perennial top competitors, but I've never actually spoken to them.

And Jen Pinder, Susan Garrett, Karen Holik, and so many additional other names are people I've taken seminars from or been in Power Paws Camp sessions with, but I don't actually *know* them, you know? Like, as in, would they remember *me*?

No, it's all the folks I see weekend after weekend, year after year, who make it all particularly interesting for me. These aren't even "close personal friends," as celebrity hosts are fond of saying; just people I know and talk to and interact with and, yes, even like, because they're wonderful folk.

There's Otterpop and Laura Hartwick, who attended their first nationals ever this year. I knew and watched Otterpop long before I knew anything about Laura or Team Small Dog (one of the most entertaining agility blog reads around)--I mean, who couldn't love a feisty little black mixed-breed named Otterpop? Since then, I've had a lot of email and in-person conversations with Laura, and keep up to date on TSD. They qualified for semis in both Grand Prix and Steeplechase, and had clean runs in both, but (frowny face here) not quite fast enough to make the cuts for the finals.

There's the amazing border collie Cassidy and Diana Wilson, whom I got to know a bit better the year we traveled to scottsdale together and shared a hotel room, back when the amazing border collie Cassidy and Boost were still puppies not even a year old. Cassidy, when she runs clean, blows away the times of everyone else in the universe. Sadly, they had an offcourse this afternoon in Grand Prix semis, so won't be in the finals this year. Don't know what happened in Steeplechase.

And belgian tervuren Wings and Rob Michalski, who won Steeplechase last year with a fabulous run. I've known Rob since he was running an Aussie, long before Hobbes the Border Collie and Wings the Terv. He was one of the founding members of The Bay Team, and I've talked with him about so many things (casually) through the years, from Bay Team business to photography to just anything on the sidelines. Sigh, just found out that they Eed in Grand Prix semis, but they will be running in Steeplechase finals tonight.

And B.C. Heath and Terry LeClair in performance. Heath is another one of those most-fast dogs that you've never heard of, and Terry is one of the most amazing handlers particularly considering the size of the body that he moves around the ring--he *always* gets to where he needs to be, putting me to shame. We chitchat at almost every trial, seems like. We've been DAM team partners. They had tiny bobbles on their courses this year, just enough to drop them about a second below qualifying times, so we won't see them in the finals, either, but I loved watching their progress.

Of course there's B.C. Icon and Channan Fosty, whom I first talked to several years back when she was running her Beauceron, because it was (yeah) an unusual breed to begin with, let alone in agility. I've stalked her (and every other bay teamer) at trials and nationals for ages, taking candid photos, and see her almost every weekend.

The supersonic Papillon Tantrum and J.D. Dunn, another Bay Teamer, is also a vet and she's helped me from time to time over the last few years with issues with my dogs at trials, like the first couple of times that Tika came up sore and I didn't know what was going on. She was there and watching this past summer when Tika took off and swallowed a sandwich and its plastic wrap from someone's canopy, and reassured me about Tika's health.

Not to mention Luka and Ashley Deacon. Besides Luke being another unusual breed (Pyrenean Shepherd), which always attracts me, we were in class together for a 2 or 3 years from when he was still basically a beginner and I was watching them from the sidelines in their advanced runs. I was one of maybe a dozen people at the entire Scottsdale site who knew who he was when he and Luka first appeared from nowhere in the Steeplechase finals and won. I doubt that I was as excited as he was, but it was pretty darned exciting.

B.C. Kir and Katie Tolve I've known casually for several years. Katie was in class with me before she had her B.C.; she was running a Bernese Mountain Dog who was amazingly fast for what you expected from the breed, and Katie did a fantastic job with training and handling. And she's done the same with Kir; I think this is the 2nd time they've made it to the USDAA finals, which speaks volumes.

And one more: Dave Grubel, who is not only judging, but is judging the premier event tomorrow evening, the Grand Prix finals! I've never known him well--he's kind of reserved (yeah, true, or at least when I'm around)--but we've been pairs relay partners off and on, hmm, in looking at my notes, maybe more than any other partner (that's a surprise to me). Lately his B.C. Killy and my Boost have been teaming up repeatedly, with a Q rate that's not too bad. They're both really fast, which is good and usually makes up for one or the other of them also usually having a fault on course.

There aren't a lot of Bay Teamers out there this year; not surprisingly, since it's such a long, involved trip. Have I left anyone out?

OK, they're now announcing Elicia Calhoun with her annual presentation for canine cancer prevention, which kicks off the evenings Steeplechase (performance and championship) finals, so here I go, to watch, and cheer on my friends and everyone else.

There is Some Joy in Muttville

SUMMARY: Sunday at the Bay Team trial.

I love driving in the early dawn, as the shape of the world is gradually revealed in the growing light, as the wisps of clouds in the sky change through ranges of pastel colors, and as tendrils of tule fog loiter in the fields and hills. It piques my wanderlust, makes me want to keep on driving to newer horizons.

But nooo--I take the exit for the agility trial and once again find myself surrounded by the same canopies, dogs, people, and agility paraphernalia.

Like these typical agility judges. (Karen, Rich, Lisa.)

Like this typical gorgeous tie-dye agility bra that a friend made for me because she could. It will match my assorted purple-and-blue tie dye shirts! Thanks, Wendy Wear!

The day started with Steeplechase Round 2. Tika didn't Q yesterday, but she made it in as 4th-seeded wildcard entry (thanks, Ashley's finger) because they always take a minimum of 4 if there are viable candidates.

We pushed it as hard as we could, and Lo, Tika won. Our time was 31.57 and 2nd place Chaps the Wonder Aussie was 31.93, so we didn't win by much. And Trinity the amazing German Shepherd had a brilliant run--a time of 30.98--but popped the Aframe on the next to last obstacle. So we won. No ribbons, dang, but a check that paid for some of our entry into Steeplechase.

A bit startled to find out that the 3rd place 12" champion dog, whose class was less than half the size of ours (in Round 1 anyway) got the same amount of $ as we did, winning our larger class.

The rest of the morning followed Saturday's pattern, and I was becoming kind of numb to it all.

Grand Prix: Tika had another gorgeous run but had it in mind that the Aframe was inconsequential and had a pretty major fly-off, so no Q, and placing 6th out of 8 dogs. Boost had a really amazingly lovely run--time was slow because she didn't stick her teeter, so I had to figure out how to get around her for a front cross--and we were in great danger of actually earning a Q until she knocked the next to the last bar.

Gamblers: Thought I had a pretty good opening course, and thought that the Gamble was a gimmee for Tika. But I ran out of opening obstacles for Tika before the whistle blew, so I was improvising when it blew, and suddenly found myself blasting forward with my toes EXACTLY at the gamble line, so when I needed to give her one little push out, instead I was flailing my arms trying not to fall forward on my face past the gamble line, and bleah she did not get the gamble. And there were plenty of others who did, so we were 4th place but no Q, no top 10 points again.

So I planned for more obstacles for Boost, who then did NOT send out to ANY of the obstacles that Tika did manage to take, and again no gamble. Her opening points would've been good for 4th place of 51 dogs had she managed it. But no.

Then, after the morning sessions, Tika ruined our perfect non-Q weekend by Qing in the last 3 classes of the weekend: Jumpers (very nice but could manage only 2nd place for I think 3 top ten points, .6 seconds behind 1st place), Standard (another one where I don't know how I could have gotten any faster time but still managed only 3rd for 1 mere Top Ten point), and Pairs, where she knocked her first bar so took our 2nd fastest time and turned it into a 4th place.

Boost's Jumpers run was also truly beautiful, except where I assumed she'd take a jump and raced ahead of her, so she raced *with* me. Her Standard run--

Oh, man, what a heartbreaker on this one! (I don't know how many times my heart cracked this weekend.) The first half was flawless. She even went down immediately on the table. At the end of the table count, I released her, she started to move, I looked forward at the next jump, and I heard a really weird noise and no Boost coming my way. Turned back, and she's standing next to the table, one foot slightly up, looking dazed. I think the judge is asking if she's OK. I'm looking just at her; ;I have no idea what happened. She walked slowly over to me where I was standing by the next jump while I asked her if she was OK (you always have to ask your dog, as if she'd answer), and then she started focusing on the jump like she wanted to take it. So I went ahead and told her to HUP, but of course she was too close to it and ran by it for a runout fault. And then the rest of the course was absolutely flawless!

Crap crap crap! Not clear how it happened exactly, but turns out that she somehow lost her footing leaving the table and whacked the side of her head against it as she took off. She has seemed fine since then; I found a vet competitor who said she'd look at Boost, but then I was so busy the rest of the day that I never followed through.  Looks OK to me--

In Pairs Relay, she missed her weave entry for the first time this weekend (I think), for a fault, but in this class, it's time plus faults, and she and her partner were plenty fast enough to Q, ruining her perfect non-Q weekend with the last run of the whole weekend.

Tika also ran in the California Cup. The top 30% in each height who competed in Grand Prix both last weekend and this weekend got to run in it. It was just for fun plus for really nice ribbons and a trophy for 1st place. Like another Grand Prix run, but no Qs involved. Once again, really pushed it, and we were clean, but came in 2nd (33.88 time, just behind Chaps' 33.27-- the dog we beat in the Steeplechase by less than half a second). So we got a really lovely ribbon and posed with our arch nemesis Chaps.

Also, for simply being eligible for California Cup competition (entering Grand Prix both weekends), we got these cool collapsible travel water bowls.

Most of the courses this weekend were really nice--flowing and yet still challenging. It was a real shame to miss Qing because of stupid handler tricks or simple knocked bars (or danged Aframes). Both dogs mostly ran very well. I'm very lucky to have the two of them, for all the frustration they sometimes give me.

For the second weekend in a row, I was able to set up in the shade of the big trees, so didn't have to wrestle with that huge and heavy canopy, which made setup and teardown SO much easier on my poor aching shoulders. I just set up a screen to prevent Boost from being able to see the running dogs to prevent massive crate thrashing.

 For some reason, people think I like purple

And now, maybe a couple of months off of weekend agility again? I think I'm really looking forward to that. I can't take many weekends like this one, no matter how many I have like the preceding 2.  3 Qs of 10 runs for Tika, 1 Q of 10 runs for Boost.

But Wait, There's More--Agility!

SUMMARY: USDAA third weekend in a row.

Bay Team's spring USDAA is this weekend.

Along with the usual suspects (regular classes and GP and Steeplechase), we're resurrecting the California Cup with a new format. For several years, it was a Bay Team NADAC thing: Best combined score of four rounds of Standard in a weekend, in each level, I believe. (Back in the way good old days where there WERE only Standard, Jumps, and Gamblers, so it was 2 Standard each day.)

Now, it's based on the combined scores from last weekend's and this weekend's Grand Prix runs. The top 30% get to run a free final round this weekend for glory. Tika did well in the Grand Prix last weekend (2nd of 9 in her height), so if we can hold it together again this weekend, contacts and all, we could run in that. Boost Eed--but it's still a score, so if we do well this weekend and lot of other crap out, we could still have a chance. Slim, but ya never know.

Other than that--well, weather should be beautiful again. We have been *very* lucky in this sequence. It poured a few days before our 4-day event 2 weeks ago, then was gorgeous all 4 days. It rained the following week (raining out my agility class), then was lovely all last weekend. It rained again this week (raining out my agility class), but the forecast for this weekend is again for perfect agility weather. So glad it hasn't been the other way round!

We've been doing some practicing in the yard. For Boost, most just running around a big loop, just getting her thinking about going forward and doing obstacles. Some entering from the back side of a tunnel. A bit of dogwalking and a bit of weaving and a bit of working at a distance (for gamblers) but that's about it.

So--of course we're completely ready!

Day 2 at Haute TRACS

SUMMARY: Friday

Tika: 3 Qs (including one super-Q) of 6 runs, 2nd in Team Gamblers, 2nd in team standard, 1st in Snooker, winner of Performance DAM team.

Boost: 3 Qs of 6 runs, 3rd in Team Gamblers.

I was SO tired Thursday night and I slept SO well! (I seldom have trouble sleeping at trials, I'm so tired, and this was particularly true this time.) The back of my van was plenty comfy with just my down comforter wrapped around me (lying on chaise lounge pads). I feel considerably perkier in the morning than I did the whole previous day. Amazing what actual sleep will do for one.

The day started off with a hint that great things were on the way: Way back before Easter, I posted on Facebook that I couldn't find my absolute favorite Easter candy and could anyone find some for me. Well, G.J., whom I've barely met before and I don't know that we've ever talked much at all, handed me a bag that she'd been saving for me! I fell to my knees and genuflected several times. Yum yum YUM! What better way to start the day?

Grand Prix

The day started with Grand Prix, and it didn't start well.

Tika Grand Prix: Tika continued to run with amazing speed and energy. She ran Performance GP beautifully, but I tried for an aggressive front cross and was late late late, pushing her right to an off-course jump. Crapola.

Boost Grand Prix: knocked one bar pretty quickly, which meant no Q for us, either. So we turned the run into a contact practice, holding and praising on each contact. She knocked another bar but mostly the run was smooth and master-dog-looking. Still--2 bars. Sigh.

Team Gamble

This was a typical team gamble: Accrue points as usual during the opening, but then a special gamble in which you can accrue as many points as you can according to the rules, but if you don't cross the finish line before the gamble time is up, you can't keep the gamble points. In this case, you could do the obstacle(s) up close for regular points or from behind the line for double points. This was basically back-to-back tunnels.

I figured that I could do 5 tunnels in 14 seconds (depending on which end we started and how close we were at the beginning) for 15 points plus one point for the finish jump--or I could try it from a distance, because 3 tunnels and the finish jump doubled would be 20 points. Anything more would be a bonus.

Tika Perf Team Gamble: Excellent in the opening, but I let her drift as we approached the gamble, so when the whistle blew, she was far afield, and then mayhem ensued. Instead of getting 3 or more tunnels, I got 2 tunnels and 2 jumps, but it was doubled, so not as bad as it could have been. We ended with 49 points in 2nd place, but the winning dog got 55, way ahead of us. Still--for team, not a bad score at all. And partner Brenn--well, guess who that dang winning dog with 55 points was? So we cleaned up on that event.

Boost Team Gamble: Ran past a dang tunnel in the opening, forfeiting 3 points, but did a bit better in the closing with 3 tunnels and a jump, ending with 51 points, good enough for 3rd place among the 42 22" dogs. Very cool! (1st place had 54, less than the performance 1st place in tika's group! Don't let anyone tell you that Performance is an easy place to beat the competition!)

Beadle had trouble with this one, so points were low, but Chaps had a great run with 13 gamble points that should've been  doubled to 26, probably the highest in the show. But did we learn our lesson about checking the sheets early? No! Sure enough, the double wasn't marked, so we lost even more points.

So mine were good runs but with visible flaws.

Jumpers

Tika Jumpers: I missed my run, so they had to reset all the bars to our height for one dog. I needed to lead out 3 jumps for my best approach. I took about 3 steps and she whipped right by me and immediately off course. So I took her off (sorry, pole setters) and put her back into her crate without me running a step. Gah.

Boost Jumpers: And here's the first of Boost's 3 chances to pick up that Jumpers Q for her MAD after 40 NQs in a row. Gah. It's not an easy course, I think about half the dogs Eed. So you might have been as surprised as I was to get to the point in the course where there are just 4 jumps left in an arc to the finish line and we are CLEAN and I'm trying not to get my hopes up, and trying not to let my brain freeze and do something stupid, and trying to relax and just work every jump, and, WOOOOOOWWWWWEEEEE she's over the last jump and it's a Q and her MAD! I am very very very happy as in yelling and jumping and crying and hugging and Boost clearly thinks I've gone off the deep end.

It wasn't a great run--there were several places where she looked back at me or hesitated before taking a jump as if trying to decide whether to turn back to me or go around it, but she did it. 3 and a half seconds slower than the winning dog, and really with her speed capability that's very slow, but it was CLEAN!!!! Yow!

I told everyone in sight. Some of my dearie friends picked up on it and made an announcement about the 40 NQs and now MAD. I kept getting congratulations all weekend. For one dumb Jumpers Q and a mere MAD!

Team Relay

  The relay course was a tough one. Boost's team was pretty much writing it off ahead of time (well, at least for Boost and Beadle, those manic super-powered Border Collies on a tight and challenging course). Eing in Team Relay costs you humongous numbers of points and one dog on a team Eing can drop a first place team out of the qualifying list, depending on how everything else goes.

We checked the #2 and #3 team scores (behind Brenn & Tika after the 1st 3 rounds), saw that #2 had combined scores quite a bit less than ours, and one dog from #3 was injured and was out of the competition. So all we had to do was to not E in the team relay and we'd keep our winning position.

Tika Relay: There was that one pesky tunnel out in the far corner. Tika ALMOST went into it, giving me a heart attack, but called off it (meant my timing was bad). Brenn came so close to going into the tunnel that the judge jammed the whistle into his mouth, but she also called off. Woo-hoo, and we won!

Boost Relay: Well, I'll tell ya, it wasn't pretty, but the underdog team came through. We had a lot of faults among us--can't tell you how many because I never was able to find the accumulator sheet for this run. But apparently lots of teams crapped out, and it proved to be the great equalizer: I think that all but 5 or 6 teams ended up Qing, including The BBC! Yay for us! Would've been interesting to know how high we'd have placed if not for the scoring errors.

And so, that was it, I was ecstatic and ready to just wrap it up and go home! Won the DAM tournament with Tika, Qed unexpectedly with Boost in same, and BOOOOOOST'S MAAAADDDDDD! But of course who wants to quit when things are going so well?

Standard

Tika Standard: So here comes Tika's 2nd attempt to earn that 3rd Q for her Performance MAD. Wouldn't it be cool if she were to get it the same day that Boost got hers? But nooo--Popped the dogwalk AND the aframe and my calls were all late, so got lots of wide turns. Apparently it was a tough course, though, because we still placed 2nd! For top 10 points! Go figure. But no Q.

Boost Standard: Three bars, two big bobbles, so mostly practiced contacts again. Still, funny, placed 20th of 43 dogs with 15 faults! Yeah, tough course.

Snooker

Last class of the day. Four reds optional, but in timing it out, I realized that four reds would be required for Super-Qing (or placing). There was no way I could do all four 7s in the opening on this course, but I thought that I had a reasonable chance with 4/7/7/7 for Tika and 6/7/7/7 for Boost.

Boost Snooker: Aaaaaand she knocked the first red. So then, instead of doing a fast blast through #6, we had to threadle our way across the field carefully (wasting time) to get to the next red. She did the red+7 perfectly, then I caught my toe in a hunk of grass and crashed. I pulled myself up as quickly as possible after determining that I hadn't broken either knee, but that wasn't really all that quick. Boost then successfully and beautifully completed the rest of the opening and 2 thru 4 in the closing before we ran out of time. Curses. Not even a regular Q, let alone super.

Tika Snooker: To make up for it, Tika was absolutely spot on perfect in her run, winning her height and actually having the 2nd highest of *all* performance dogs all heights, beaten only by one 16" Border Collie. Yowza, I like that!

End of day

As co-chief course builder, we were supposed to set the Steeplechase ring for the following morning, but the judge forgot her course map back at the hotel. Then got lost going back to the hotel and disappeared for an hour or so. We finally split, but it gave us a chance to sit and chat and joke a bit.

Then Agility Angel Mary S, who had a 2+-hour drive home ahead of her, waited with me for the judge, then took me to the Safeway so that I could pick up a big sugary cake to share the following morning. Thank you, Mary, you really rounded out my wonderful day nicely!

And then, of course, dinner  with KK and the laugh-a-minute Turlock crew once again, celebrating our successes.