Westminster July 23 and 24

Saturday I ran Winston and we got our last Q needed for his NAJ! Whoo Hoo. We also managed to get a second Q in open STD. He's such a good boy. Our only "R" was at the weaves, baby dog lack of collecting stuff. His 2on2off dog walk was spot on!!! Click, treat.
Sunday was the Z-man's turn. We Q'd in STD!!! Hip hip hooray. He dropped a bar in JWW, but otherwise it was a great run!
Westminster has old, and very worn turf that for Zedd and Winston is very slippery.
My guess it was why Zedd dropped the bar and was very wide turning. I had used water to wet his pads, but that seemed to make things worse. I ordered some Firm Grip and the next time I'm entered at Westminster I'll try it and see if it helps. If it doesn't help then I'll need to make a decision if I want to continue to show at this site.
Well, on to the cheer leading. I started out every one's run quiet and thinking about being focused. Well, everyone started out slow. I began to panic. Then I thought, "Cheer lead, keep the connection." So I did and winston and Zedd both began to pick up speed. I especially need to remember to cheer lead Winston. He is just learning and needs to know when he is doing great, even when I'm training. I did realize that I need to do a better job at judging when to bring my dogs ringside. That is something I really need to pay attention to.
On Sunday I watched the T2B runs, and cheered all my friends on. What fun. It was an open flowing course. It was a balls-to-the-wall run with your dog kind of course. What a change from all the tight, her key jerky, call your dog off obstacles that seems to be the norm for AKC courses. My dogs , being that they compete in the 16" class may not "set the time to beat", but it still would be nice to just full out run and push myself and dogs for speed. What a confidence builder for both of us!
Some things that I would recommend for the T2B class; allow, and strongly encourage cheering from the crowd, have the "hot seat" outrageously decorated.
I would gladly volunteer to make the above suggestions happen.
Till next time, trust your handling and trust your dog!

Bucksmount-Winston

Well, what a good boy Winston was today. we started our day out with his first open STD run. He was happy and fast and eager to please. I was worried about the off course chute. Not a problem, I got him to check in and he didn't venture off into the chute. I was worried about the A-frame back to the tunnel. Not a problem, he nailed it. I caused a wrong course, because I stopped rotating out of my front cross which made me flat footed, and put me behind, which sent him over the wrong jump. He did what my motion told him to do! Good Boy!!! More dogwalk training is in our future. I told him to touch which means, 2 on 2 off. I gave the command I believe a little too harsh because he just stopped on the yellow and sat. I moved forward, but he came off the end. More training to reinforce the 2 on 2 off behavior and a little less of a harsh command. We Q'd with a second place. WHOO HOO!
Our Novice JWW was a smokin run. It was a fun, great course. We could full out run. He kept all the bars up, read my blind cross out of the chute, read my rear cross towards the weaves. I stopped him to look for the entrance which he needs some work on, but once he was in, he did all 12 and I even moved slightly laterally away from the polls. We Q'd with 1st place. He was a lot of fun to run.
I had a wonderful weekend and talked with some great people.

Bucksmount Zeddicus

I ran Zedd today in regular 16in class. We started the day out with a rockin JWW course. I decided before I went in the ring that I would do a little cheer leading only when I needed him to check in and when he did something very well. I was loud and happy, like a drunk, obnoxious sports fan!!!!! It worked beautifully. We stayed connected, he stayed focused and we ran the course in 30 seconds and that time put us in 5th place. YIPPEE!!! I'll take it. When I came out of the ring someone made fun of me for being so loud. I'm very sensitive, so I thought maybe I was being too loud and people thought I was stupid for acting that way. I let the comment affect me in our STD run. I was quieter and more rigid. The result........drum roll please, less connection with my border terrier. Surprise. He was still focused but I made a handling error that caused him to take an off course chute. My bad. The great parts of our run were that he hit all his contacts, a little wide when reading my turning cues, but I got him to go in the right direction, I lead out from the table and did a nice blended front cross to the A-frame.
My borders want a paycheck, whether it's happy praise, toy, treats, or just to be told what good dogs they are. Yes, sometimes I have to be stern with them, they are terriers and sometimes do very naughty terrier things. If I'm consistently too stern with them, they will go on strike and start picketing the agility ring. What a site that would be. Morale of this blog, do what works for my dogs, trust myself, and trust my dogs. In the end, a fun day was had by all.