Random Updates

SUMMARY: Boost, Tika

Last week in class, Boost and I did not get through a single exercise without knocking one or more bars. Usually more. Haven't really been practicing. That could have something to do with it. Started doing some jumps again today.

On the other hand, today she carried her frisbee all the way to the park, 2/3 of a mile. That's a record for her.

No class this past week due to rain.

Tika is doing fine. Seems deafer and has less stamina all the time, but ohhhhh so gradually. Still can leap straight into the air with all four feet when I get the leashes for Walkies, and run full speed after a frisbee.

She's taking 3 different meds. Found that I could get her a pet prescription card at Walgreens for $20 and get one of the meds there at less than from the vet. Just ordered more meds from KVVet.com, about half the price of the vet's office. As he said, i can probably get better prices from companies that buy huge quantities of these things at a time than from their office, which buys small amounts at a time. (Small practice.)

That all helps immensely. Closer to $100 a month than the $200/month I'd been worried about. Still--that adds up over the year.

Tika didn't make Top Ten in anything this year, no surprise--competed less often and not as fast as she'd been. But still #16 in Jumpers and I think still around 26th in Standard and Snooker (Gamblers we stopped competing in at all).

Just sent in my entry for our first agility trial since November. Very very weird to fill out an entry for only one dog. I've competed in 273 trials through the years, and these are the only ones for which I entered only one dog:

• 1996/97, had only Remington: 11 trials.
• 2005, tried to retire Jake so running only Tika: 3 trials.
• 2006, only Tika for some random trials, not sure why I ran Jake in some and not others: 6 trials
• 2006, only Tika--Jake died and Boost not ready: 1 trial
• 2007, USDAA nationals, only Tika, Boost not qualified: 1 trial
• 2009, Boost out with sore abdominals so only Tika, 2 trials
• 2009, Tika swollen toe so only Boost, 1 trial

That was over 50 trials ago. And all of those I considered to be simply temporary. This time--there's no one else in the lineup. Just feels weird.


But still not sure what my future agility plans are. Still fermenting.

More Trials? Or Different Ones? Or None?

SUMMARY: What to do for me and Boost? CPE? Nothing? More of everything?

I've been pondering what to do about Boost's performance at trials. Well--chyah--there's always, like, practicing the things we're weak on. But I mean other than that.

Bear with me while I think out loud.

I've been talking about whether doing more CPE would be beneficial for us as a team. I like CPE because it's a real trial but yet I'm more relaxed. And my dogs seem to do better there (in part because you can Q with faults). Which might build confidence for us as a team in a trial situation. I can tell you that fun matches don't help. Everyone involved knows it's not a real trial, no matter how much I try to emulate the real process (same warm-up routine, same collar off before running, try to convince myself this is the National Finals and it's do or die)--no, everyone's happy happy with perfect contacts and tables.

But CPE. I dunno, I don't know that many people in the CPE circuit any more. And they're farther away (no "local" ones any more; have to stay overnight). And they're more expensive because I'm not in the loop for the free-entry trial positions for most of them.

I'd hate to give up the USDAA trials and everyone I know. But if I added CPE, that would be more trials and I'm still trying to do less. (Plus there's always an off chance that Tika could make Top Ten again...)

(Oh--huh--out of 3 days of 2011 trialing, tika has placed 1st in 3 Gamblers, for 15 points, taking us halfway to Top Ten already--but no points in anything else at all! Well, OK, we could be top ten in gambling and nothing else. That's hardly worth getting my tights in a knot for.)

Because I've also been thinking: Tika earned her ADCH with her 3rd Super-Q the week before she turned 6, and it seemed like FOREVER between the 2nd and 3rd SQs. And yet-- Boost has now turned 6 and hasn't a single SQ to her name.

But at that point, Tika had competed in 89 trials: 49 USDAA (55%), 28 CPE (33%), and 12 (13%) NADAC/ASCA. Boost so far has competed in 68 trials: 56 USDAA (82%), 11 CPE (16%), and 1 ASCA (2%).

In the year leading up to her ADCH, Tika did 18 trials; Boost has done 13 in the last year.

The differences aren't huge, and yet I wonder whether it's enough to make a difference in experience and confidence? And since we're doing more USDAA and less CPE, the trials are harder on both of us? When Boost competes in CPE, she tends to come home with a lot of ribbons, including Qs and placements, which is more gratifying to me, which might make me generally a happier and less stress-inducing teammate for Boost. When we compete in USDAA--well--yeah, you know. Maybe a couple of Qs here and there.

Soooooooooooooo I'm just thinking maybe we need to do a bunch of CPEs instead of USDAA, just blow off any chance of Top Ten for Tika this year in the hopes of improving Boost's agility career. It's like hyped-up fun matches as part of our training regimen.

Or, yeah, give it up altogether.

I'm just sayin', it's an alternative.