Downsizing: Agility Equipment

SUMMARY: A-frame and Chute are free to good homes, maybe triple jump, maybe more, hard decisions 
(scroll down to "What am I not planning on taking with me when I move?")

Ooops, thought I posted this on Friday (the 16th). Guess I'm posting it now, and just backdating it.)

When I bought my current home, nearly 2 decades ago, my Agility Gung-ho-ness expressed itself dramatically by taking my money. And I don't mean classes or competitions or travel (although those were also true). I mean: Equipment! Full set! Here in my yard! To train fabulous world-class agility champions!

... we didn't get to world-class because I'm honestly too lazy to be that dedicated to training and improving our skills.  But it did help in achieving speed, accuracy, and championships of various sorts and quantities for Remington, Jake, Tika, and Boost.

What I had before moving here

• A teeter, gift of my then-husband less than a year before we split up.  It's not that he wasn't usually a kind and thoughtful guy, because he was. But--life happens. (1998, $400)

• A tunnel, a short 10-foot yellow one for which my agility instructor arranged group pricing, for her students and other agility folks. (1996, $100)

• Cheap weave poles, as in, I bought white stick-in-the-ground fence posts and tried using them (the little tabs all the way up them, however, were not an ideal surface).

• Cheap weave poles #2, as in, I bought a long metal strip from Home Depot and drilled holes in it and used very long bolts over which I dropped PVC piping of the correct size for agility. BUT turns out that that solid-seeming metal strip became astonishingly flexible when dogs raced through the poles.

• Cheap PVC jumps that I made using PVC for the bases and uprights, drilled holes through them, put a longish bolt through the holes, forming places on which to balance the crossbars.  This didn't work well for several reasons (e.g., in one direction, if the dog crashed the bar, the whole jump came down).

• Tire jump, made with an actual motorcycle tire and heavy-duty huge PVC frame and base.

What I splurged on in 2001/2002

• Table: Wood top with PVC base--to change heights, had to change out the PVC legs, which wasn't speedy, but it was lightweight. (2001, $100)
• Weaves: purple powder-coat w/adjustable offsets (screw in pole supports), 20" spacing, 2 folding 6-foot sections for easy transport (2001, $197)
• A-Frame:  From Duncan at Action K-9, one of the earlier makers of high-quality sturdy competition equipment. (2002, $865)
• Broad jump: 5-pc metal and wood, (2 short, 2 medium, one tall), flat tops --all of which made this obsolete for at least USDAA and CPE several years later, if it wasn't already that way because I think it was designed for AKC purposes. (2002, $174)
• Dogwalk: See Aframe. (2002, $752)
• Jumps!: Finally. Four official metal-frame with screw-on metal jump cups (2002, $170 total)
• Teeter base, adjustable height, heavy-duty metal base: Also Action K-9 (2002, $2.75)
• Tunnel: 20' heavy-duty double-walled teal & gray with 4" pitch--totally competition level. (2002, $360)
• Chute (aka closed tunnel): Competition quality plastic barrel with metal stand, 8' blue/purple/white sexy chute fabric! (2002, $251)
• Triple jump, whooo, big time! Purple powder-coated metal, 2 pieces (2002, $127.50)
• PVC for jump bars -- as needed, bought fancy tape and shelf paper to decorate them all with, ditto for the weaves. (Ongoing--minor costs)

Over time, added more jumps, more tunnels; retired jumps and tunnels as they rusted or wore out in the sun, replaced the table top once. The screw threads in my weaves rusted away, so that was useless, so replaced once with someone's no-longer-using 20" spaced official weaves, also eventually had issues, so replaced with someone's no-longer-using 22" spaced official weaves (of course at that time, USDAA had moved to 24" spaced weaves, so really they were no longer official). Resurfaced the teeter. A friend borrowed and resurfaced some of the Aframe.

What am I not planning on taking with me when I move?

• Aframe: Just too heavy for me these days. I haven't used it in several years, plus there is an important bit of damage that I can't fix myself. AND it's the old style textured surface, where now everyone uses rubberized. And it needs one critical bit of work.

• Chute: No one will want this, probably: All agility organizations canned them a couple of years back. Such a crowd pleaser (and I loved watching it), but they added too much time on the course (adjusting the fabric before each dog), and posed a risk to dogs who got tangled which BTW I also thought was unfair because that often added time to the dog's run and, really, there's only so much you can control with a fast dog through a floppy piece of fabric.  I ended up never using it except with each new/young dog or as a refresher once a year or so. So it's in excellent condition.

• Triple Jump: Sigh. Lovely purple thang. I think no organizations do this any more, either.

• Dogwalk: Erk. At the moment, I *am* planning on taking it, but it needs some rehab and repainting and it's the sort of equipment that (because of its weight) I'd likely just set up in one place and leave it there, which reduces a bit its usefulness for anything beyond the contacts themselves (complex sequencing with the walk in the same place always is a little predictable for the dogs...)  Still pondering. (And ditto on the rubberizing like the A-frame.)  

And... really... how much agility training will I ever want or be able to do in the future?  It is just a FUN thing, though!

What I AM planning on taking

• Jumps that are in reasonably good condition. This is maybe only half a dozen...

• Tunnels that are in reasonably good condition.  This might be only one or two... [frowny face]

• Table (... oh, and the tabletop needs cleaning and repainting)

• Teeter with both bases

• Tire jump--TBD?   Dunno--that motorcycle tire is heavy and needs to be retaped and is definitely not competition legal, and the big-old-PVC frame is broken in 2 places (works Oooookayyyyy just in the yard for basic use) that would require sawing and buying more pieces and measuring fit and gluing...  ugh. But the PVC is lighter than metal frames...   
  
  ... oh, also much cheaper, so I could build myself another one for not much other than time and effort. But how much would a real one cost me? Checking online--from inexpensive PVC-framed (but looks better made than mine) or used ones (quality TBD) to top-quality competition: $150 to $625 [really, J&J?!?!? REALLY?! -- I mean, Clean Run has one for $350-$525...]

• OK, tire jump NOT TBD, just talked myself out of taking it.

• Weaves. Even if they are only 22" span.

• Broad jump. I guess. It's not standard by far any more... but it's what I have and would probably work for basic training.

• PVC jump bumps for training (look up Susan Salo jump bumps).

• Tunnel bags - I have only 2 good pairs right now, and they fold flat once the sand/gravel is removed. ;-)

• Misc small other random stuff

Gallery of equipment fame and shame

Dogwalk when only a few years old. Glory days.

Dogwalk is about 30' long. 

Dogwalk needs... um... TLC?

A-frame in its younger age.

A-frame in my back yard. (Go straight across to the right from the green arrow.)
Takes up a lot of visual space and all in one large chunk. 

Aframe now. Mostly usable condition.

But this is a problem (bent pipe).

My teeter gets a lot of unauthorized use.

Why teeter needed resurfacing 10 years back. Replaced with fiberglass.
Currently, the metal parts are rusting and some of those surfaces are peeling away.
But I think it'll be OK.

Old tire parts I dragged out from behind the compost bins. Needs work.
But OK for occasional gentle use at the moment.

When expensive metal jump bases rust away... out they go.

Same model chute as mine. Beautiful colors! Mine has no duct tape.

When tunnels (purple) and tunnel bags (teal) are new and beautiful.

When Good Tunnels Go Bad...
and should really have been disposed of much earlier.

This is what USDAA broad jumps should look like.
Mine are flat across the top and form an upside down arc
instead of an ascending format.

My current weaves (except I've removed all the colored tape).
Weaves also take up a lot of space: 12 poles with 22" between.
(And modern poles have 24" between. So, yep, 22 feet long.)

Previous weaves. The pegs had screw bases so they could be put in line as usual
or you could move them out onto the tab to one side or the other for training.
Those little screw bases' threads rusted away, sometimes the entire screw base.

Tika demonstrates an unauthorized use of weave poles. 
Rules prohibit dogs from lying on their sides and
pulling themselves along the weaves by hooking paws over the poles. 
Such a rebel.

Agility Photo Album

SUMMARY: Photos from last weekend, and the thoughts that go with them.

A friend loves dogs (doesn't have one of her own at the moment), loves to take photos of them, and will go out of her way on occasion to take zillions of photos of dogs at agility trials and then upload them to my photo site so all my agility friends can get copies for no fee. How cool is that? Probably annoys the pro photographers who can take gorgeous photos and spend hours sorting and color correcting them and then charge $19 for a 4x6 print (!), but very many of hers are lovely, too.

Tika's start line stay: I started with a "sit" and used that for several years. Maybe one out of 7 or 8 times she took off early, maybe one out of 3 or 4 she stood up and took steps foward. Maybe a third of the time she lay down instead. I decided to just move her back a bit and start out with a down. She seems to "stay" a bit better that way. Still not perfect, but better.

Could anyone ever think that Tika isn't having a great time running out there on course? I love how bright her eyes get, how alert her ears.

You'd think from this that Tika has a super-fast dogwalk. Well--she does, in class, but in competition, she slows to a lope (?) on the down ramp, then to a walk, then LEAPS off the end and I just hope she's in the yellow zone when she does so.

People talk about tunnels being dog missile launchers. Never doubt it for a minute!

Tika runs onto the teeter, waits just before the yellow zone for it to get past the horizontal point, then runs off the end just as it hits the ground. It's not super-fast, but pretty fast. That's not how I trained it, but that's how it ended up working. I haven't used two-on/two-off or any other kind of hold for her on the teeter for years, and she never gets called for flyoffs. I can leave her there and run far afield, because she's developed her method and it's very consistent and I can rely on her completing it properly while I get into position for the next bit.

Boost is one of those toy-focused beasties who will tug on almost anything almost forever. Our competition ritual has her on the Purple Riot Tug until the dog before us runs, then I set that aside and we switch to tugging on the leashie. That excites her even more, having learned the ritual. When I tell her that's all for the leashie, she releases it and starts scoping out the field--she knows we're going into the ring and she gets to RUN RUN RUN! Just before that, I'm scoping out the field to be sure I remember the course.

Boost has an excellent start-line stay in a sit. Once in a while she can't bear it and takes off early, but not nearly as often as Tika did or still does. But I may have worked harder at it with Boost--in class and at home, I still try to remember at least once a session, maybe more, to reward her by returning to her and playing at the start line, or by tossing the toy behind her and releasing her to go get it there. But it's also true that, in all things, Boost's impulse control is much stronger than Tika's. (Note that I'm wearing my semifinalist polo from the Grand Prix national championships in 2000 or 2001, a memory with Jake.)

Boost does NOT slow down on the dogwalk until the very end. The only reason I'm even with her here at the beginning of the down ramp is because I was able to get a huge lead-out ahead of her.

Boost's teeter varies from darned fast to astonishing. The latter is when she runs to the end full tilt so it smashes to the ground and her front feet hit the ground right about the same time it does. She tends to be a little more cautious as time goes on, though; that kind of performance must be pretty jarring although it is also tremendously exciting to watch. I've had people tell me that they want a dog who does teeters like Boost does. That's usually after one of those spectacular teeter displays. But I CANNOT leave her while I run off to do something else; she may well fly off to catch up to me. We have worked on this. Sometimes life is just too exciting to want to come to a stop, however briefly.

Smaller dogs might be able to run or bounce through the weaves, but bigger dogs really do weave their bodies through there. Every organization in the agility universe that I know of has gone to 24"-spaced weaves (instead of the 20"/21" that USDAA still uses), and you can see why it's better to give the dogs' bodies more space, so they're not wrapped quite so tightly. I'll bet USDAA will go to 24" soon despite everything--the only possible reason any more to stick with the narrower spacing is sheer stubbornness. Oh--and just had a discussion on another blog that NADAC doesn't stake their weaves because they want to prove that the dog is actually weaving, not pushing the poles aside. I have many things to say about the safety issue of that, but you can see clearly that, with these staked poles, this large, fast dog definitely cannot push the poles aside.

(Preceding photos by Sarah Hitzeman.)

At the end of every run, Tika burns off the last of her adrenaline by letting out a growl-bark and dive-bombing my foot; she grabs the shoe and tugs and shakes furiously, growling intensely until I manage to gimp out of the ring and detach the dogmouth. I've told the story before of how she had never done it before until the middle of competition during her first year, and it took forever to extinguish it during the run. I tried for a while to redirect that energy to a toy or leash, but since the only place it happens is real trials, that's the only place I can work on it, and I've just given up. As long as we're past the finish line, we seem to be legal.

(Preceding photo by Richard Todd; very low-rez, partial photo screen capture. Will have to buy this photo, I guess, even at $19, because it's such an iconic Tika thing and it's really a nice photo of it.)

Good News/Bad News

SUMMARY: To start the year running, I've got good news and bad news. And more good news. Etc.

Gratuitous dog photo: Dogs love riding in the car around the neighborhood when they don't have to be in crates.

• Good news: My house appraised for much more than I thought it might in this market.
• Bad news: That means my property taxes will keep going up, not down like so many other people's.
• Good news: That might mean that it's a shoo-in for my refi application to go through. Just waiting to hear when closing should be--I think--

• Good news: Paid off the last 73 cents on MUTT MVR last week!
• Bad news: It's wayyyy overdue for its xxx,000 mile check-up.
• Good news: Passed its smog check again.

• Good news: Tika has been running around like a lunatic without her bootie and no signs of a sore foot. Ran her two runs (jumpers courses with weaves) and she was fine. Haven't tried contacts again yet.
  
• Bad news: She continues to look, every once in a while, like she's sore for a few minutes or more.
• Good news: It goes away again. But I wish I knew--our next trial is in just under 2 weeks, and she's signed up for a day of agility.

• Good news: Boost loves doing agility.
• Bad news: In class last week, after we've done virtually no agility for 3 weeks, she popped out of the weaves EVERY time at the 10th pole as I moved away from her. Instructor said, well, I had to support in in N following ways, and I was maybe rude and said, no, I don't have to, this is why we practice weave distractions down to the bone at home until I can't get her to pop for any reason.
• Good news: When I finally just picked her up, carried her off the field, and put her away until the next run--then the next time, she did the weaves all the way through.

• Bad news: Shattered tooth down into the root. Happy New Year! The dental surgeon I had to go to to get it excavated said I didn't *quite* win the prize for the most pieces of tooth to be dug out.
• Good news: Didn't hurt before, hurt afterward more than I had hoped but less than I had feared, and only for that first evening, and it's been fine ever since.
• Bad news: I dread finding out how much an implant is going to cost. No dental insurance.

• Good news: Doctor says, Those things? They're harmless. They're called ruby spots (cherry angiomas).
• Bad news: Yeah, you'll probably keep getting more. Yeah, they can get bigger.
• Good news: Can burn them off with liquid nitrogen. [Like warts, I guess.]
• Bad news: THAT's not a fun procedure. And it can scar. Either way, I'm going to end up looking like a giant polkadot by the time I'm 100.
• Good news: Remind myself: they're harmless.
  

Tika sees another dog while on leash:

Obstacle Speed Standards--Part Deux

SUMMARY: Some Clean Run stats.

Found a Clean Run article from the October 2002 issue by Kathy Keats ("Tips for Timing Obstacle Performances"). These numbers were based on 3 years of research prior to the article's publication. I wonder whether three years of research now would reveal similar numbers. (Also see comments posted by readers on my previous post.)

Obstacle	Average	Very good	Excellent
Teeter	1.7	<1.4	1.0
A-frame	2.4	<1.7	1.3
Dogwalk	3.4	<2.5	<2.0
Weaves	3.2	<2.8	<2.3
Table down	2.8	<1.5	<1.0

Photos, Weather, and Jump Bar Miracle

SUMMARY: Photos from previous weekend, weather variations, and Tika might have achieved a first--

Every day brings new doggie data. And weather, too, apparently.

Weather

Amazing San Jose weather. This past weekend was idyllic agility weather. On Saturday it might have made it to the low 70s; probably only high 60s on Saturday, with a slight cool breeze in the morning that got fairly chilly but not killingly so in the late afternoon. Sun was out most of the time, with just a few light clouds and morning overcast on Sunday.

Thank goodness for that--yesterday it rained most of the day here, and today it is cold COLD COLD!!! An icy wind all day that just won't quit, and it's supposed to be back down around freezing overnight.

Photos

Tika's standard jumping form. Every jump photo I have of her shows her tucked like this, I'm pretty sure. She gets around at a good speed, but her whole body has that upright Aussie thing going.	All three photos by topflightphotography.com
Boost's jumping form? Everything is directed forward for speed--head is lowered, neck stretched, legs straight out behind. I don't know whether this is typical; don't have that many photos yet and she moves too fast for me to see with my naked eyes.
Boost riding the teeter to the ground at full speed. I've seen photos of other dogs riding it with this kind of skidding-to-a-halt right at the very tippy end of the board, so if she always does it here, she's missing a fraction of the momentum that they'll have. But she's got super teeters, much better than any of my other dogs have ever had. Sometimes even skids to the end/bottom. Exciting.

And Then A Miracle Occurred

OK, here's one for you--and you'd think I'd have noticed before driving home this evening for once at the speed limit most of the way: I don't think that Tika knocked any bars this weekend. I know for sure that she didn't in 9 of her 10 classes, but the last one was the chaotic Jackpot round where she was grabbing my feet and I was panicking about getting her around the ring and it's POSSIBLE that a bar came down, but I didn't see it or notice it if it did. If so--(drum roll please)--I believe that this would be the first time in history that Tika made it through a weekend without knocking a bar. That would be absolutely FABULOUS, no other word for it!

Of course, she jumps 24" in CPE, and 26" in USDAA, where she knocked plenty of bars the previous weekend, thank you very much. I've debating before whether I should jump her regularly in practice at 28", but most jumps nowadays stop at 26"; we're so far beyond the days when USDAA's top height was 30" and not a few jumps went up in 2" increments.

Another Good Day

SUMMARY: Knee good, dogs good, yard good, good good good.

Part of my yard with leaves begging to be gathered.

Hard to believe that, by the time I went to bed last night, I could barely walk without pain again. Had to ice my knee a couple of times when it woke me up around 11 and 1 or so. And then--today--I feel great! Except for a few twinges on the sides, and having to be careful about twisting kinds of movements, I'm walking normally, going up and down stairs, having just a fine old time with no aching or difficulty. I'm really not sure what the difference is. Today I went to Longs, the Post Office, OSH for lamp-repair parts, the gas station, and home again. Played with dogs in yard and sent them to some agility obstacles. Got out the leaf blower and cleared my lawn (it's SO hard to find dog messes to avoid stepping in when there are little round yellow and brown leaves all over the grass). And I still feel fine.

Living with dogs does force one to do certain things. I wouldn't have felt obligated to clean up the lawn leaves if it weren't for the dog-mess thing. (And there are a ton more leaves on the mulched parts of the yards that I still need to get to.) And, funny thing, in the doctor's office yesterday, when I went to change back into my pants to go home, I grabbed them wrong and spilled dog treats from my pocket all over the floor. Normal people don't have that kind of issue...

Boost's weave entries are looking better and better. But her nose touches as she blasts down the teeter are veering way off to the side when I'm behind her. I spent several minutes working on convincing her to use the target on the ground in front of the teeter rather than inventing her own spot on which to touch. I hate clever dogs.