Linda's DogBlog

It’s Been One Year….

2012-01-14T21:27:00.002-05:00

…since that painful day that I lost Token. Such a knife to the heart. A punch in the gut.

Getting through the first year is a milestone for me…I’ve gotten past most of the ‘firsts’…First time back at flyball, first agility trial running just one dog, first birthday without him… I trust it gets a bit easier now. Missing him is normal, and is bad enough. The unfairness of losing him way before his time makes me both angry and sad. But on we go… Dandy & Tempo continue to make it all bearable. My little pieces of Token, still with me. I know his spirit is always close by. But I still miss him every day. Sure, it’s nice that the bath towels are no longer pulled off the rack. The stuffed toys in the house last longer than five minutes. He wasn’t perfect, he had his naughty streak. But he was one of the best nevertheless…I miss his nuzzling, his hugs & kisses, his joy for life. His larger-than-life personality. He was special, not for agility or flyball, but for his connection to people. He had an aura about him that was something very special. I’m so lucky that he shared his life, as shortened as it was, with me.

I love you, Token, and miss you every day. Wait for me at the Bridge the way you waited for me to get home one year ago today, so I could be with you at the end. Until then, I hope to see you again in my dreams.

My Little TV Star

2011-11-25T21:02:00.001-05:00

Back in September, Dandy answered a casting call for a part in a State Farm commercial. We ventured into Greenwich Village in New York City for the job, and it was quite an experience to see how things work ‘behind the scenes’. I wondered if Dandy was going to end up on the cutting room floor, knowing how fickle show business is! Well, it is now a reality, the commercial is being aired across the country on the three major networks (ABC, NBC & CBS)! I discovered it first on Youtube on November 22. Then while watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC, I saw Dandy on my TV! It was aired that day during the National Dog Show and a football game as well, I heard from friends & family that they had seen it. It’s a great commercial as it uses the theme song from the old TV show “Cheers”, which is a great song...”where everybody knows your name” Dandy is at the very end (which gives me time to ‘catch’ him when I hear the song!); he is being walked down the city street at night by a young man who waves to his State Farm Agent through the office window. It’s a bit dark, and there is text that obscures the view of Dandy, but he does manage a millisecond of direct face time as he mugs for the camera just before he walks out of frame! I have it saved on my DVR so I can watch it over and over, and a copy is on my computer too. They really didn’t make use of Dandy’s best features; he does a killer head-tilt, and he could have been the one waving to the State Farm agent! But it’s very cool to see him on TV, even if it’s a just a small walk-through part, and I’m very proud of him, once again.

Here is the link to the commercial on youtube….you have to watch to the VERY end, right after the shot of the traffic light.

Dandy in State Farm Commercial

Agility in November

2011-11-25T21:00:00.001-05:00

November gave us two indoor USDAA Agility trials. On November 5 & 6, we headed to BucksMont in Hatfield, PA, to a trial hosted by High Octane Agility. Tempo was in Advanced, needing to qualify in Standard, Pairs & Gamblers to finish his AAD title. That didn’t happen, but he did get his Gamblers Q with his first time in Advanced Gamblers on Saturday. The gamble had 12 weavepoles plus 3 jumps, and he nailed it! His other runs had good portions but something went wrong in each of them. He did however qualify in Steeplechase, with a 3rd place finish in the Finals. This was his second Steeplechase Q, making him eligible to enter USDAA Cynosport (Nationals) in 2012! Dandy had an upside-down weekend; he did not qualify in his ‘best’ classes (Standard, Jumpers & Steeplechase) but DID qualify in those that are hardest for us! He qualified in Master Gamblers with a 1st place; he got a Super Q and 1st place in Snooker; and he qualified with a 3rd place in Grand Prix. This was his 2nd Q in GP for 2012, so he is now qualified for 2012 Cynosport in both Steeplechase & Grand Prix.

We were in Barto, PA, on November 19-20, for KineticDog’s tournament-only trial. Dandy was on a team with very experienced dogs, and although they did well in all the classes, the Team Relay proved to be our downfall…two of us went off-course, and we ended up not qualifying. Individually, Dandy earned 3 Q’s getting 2nd place in Team Gamblers & Jumpers, and 3rd place in Team Standard. But Relay was the game-changer….in many ways. Tempo was on a team for the first time, just for experience and so he would get to play that weekend. He was teamed up with his littermate Quid and another young Border Collie friend named Tag! Individually, they did OK, though not setting the agility world on fire…they were not in position to qualify but we still gave it our all when it came to the Relay. Tempo & I had to do the middle part, running second, and he shocked me when he actually held his ‘stay’ and let me get the head start that was vital in our section. He was awesome! Quid and Tag! each got one refusal but they too rocked it! Amazingly, our Relay boosted our points total enough to qualify! So the baby boys earned their very first Team Q and Tempo is now qualified to run in both Team and Steeplechase in 2012 Cynosport! I also ran both boys in Grand Prix, but neither qualified. Dandy had an awesome run but took a brief detour for an off-course when the dogwalk caught his eye. Tempo had 3 refusals, so he did not qualify either but he did really well on a very tough course. Overall, the weekend was a great experience for both boys, since every course included both the Wall Jump and the Long Jump, which they don’t get to practice outside of trials. Below are links to videos of Dandy in Team Gamblers and Tempo in Team Relay & Grand Prix.

Dandy in Team Gamblers

Tempo in Team Relay with Quid & Tag!

Tempo in Grand Prix

Autumn Agility

2011-10-25T21:18:00.001-04:00

October 22 & 23, 2011 at FDR Park…what a glorious autumn weekend for an agility trial! This was my 4th AKC trial for the year, and will be the last until 2012. Hosted by Skyline Agility Club, the weather was very crisp, mostly sunny, no rain or mud…perfect weather for the dogs!

Saturday was perfect, Dandy qualified in both Excellent B Standard and Jumpers With Weaves for his 3rd Double Q. Tempo qualified in both Novice B Standard and Jumpers With Weaves to finish his Novice Agility and Novice Jumpers titles. I moved Tempo up to Open for Sunday, and though he ran great in Open Standard, we incurred two refusals (run outs at jumps) so we did not qualify. However, he did earn his first leg in Open JWW with one refusal. Dandy did not qualify in his Excellent Standard class as he was a bit wild and I was not focused enough to anticipate his early off-course. But he did qualify in Excellent B JWW to earn his 5th MXJ leg. So overall, each dog was 3 out of 4.

I ran both boys in the 26” class for two reasons. First, they are both jumping 26” in USDAA and I prefer to maintain the same criteria since we run in USDAA most of the time. The second reason is that AKC has a new rule that the tire jump shall be set one jump height lower than the true jump height. In the 24” class, the tire is set at only 20”. The 26” class uses a 24” tire. Since my dogs must jump a 26” tire in USDAA, I feel the 20” tire could be dangerous for them. A 20” tire will encourage a flatter trajectory which makes the tire even more risky. I will eventually have to move one of them to the 24” class, once Tempo gets to the Excellent level, since the 26” class is so small that it’s very difficult to run two dogs in it. Maybe AKC will eventually allow a break-away tire for the safety of all dogs, and then it won’t be so worrisome.

Since Tempo was the only 26” dog in Novice and Open, he easily took 1st place when he qualified. But he was faster than all the 24” dogs, so there is no shame. Dandy took 2nd place in all of his classes; there were only 3 dogs in Excellent B 26”, but the competition was fierce in this tiny group. Had Dandy been in 24”, he would have had a much easier time getting a blue ribbon! But placements do not influence me when making my decision on which height to compete in.

Some VIDEOS from the weekend:

Dandy in Saturday's Excellent B Standard

Dandy in Sunday's Excellent B JWW

Tempo's debut in Open Standard

Tempo's debut in Open JWW with a Q

2011 USDAA Nationals

2011-10-19T20:49:00.001-04:00

The 2011 USDAA Cynosport World Games (a/k/a Nationals) is now history. The event was 6 days long, which is L-O-N-G. But I’m so glad I was a part of it. I drove down to Louisville, KY, on Monday, October 10, and drove home the following Monday. I managed to do the drive in 12 hours with just a few short pit stops. Thankfully the weather was nice and sunny on both of my travel days, which made it more pleasant.

The day before I left for Kentucky, I felt a cold coming on. By Tuesday, it was in full swing, and I was pretty miserable. On Thursday, I felt a little bit better, and by Friday, most of the cold had left my head. I still had an itchy throat, but breathing was much improved. I survived on lots of antihistamines, decongestants, cough drops and tissues.

My experience at Nationals had its share of highs and lows. Tempo was not entered as he is not ready for that level of competition, so it was just Dandy for this event. The warm-up class on Tuesday was just awful…Dandy had not been worked in several days, and after a 12 hour car ride on Monday, he was pretty wild! The course was a Grand Prix-style course, and while he nailed his contacts & weaves, and kept the bars up, he went off-course three times! I was not handling well at ALL, as I was feeling terrible from my head cold, so combine that with a wild Border Collie, and things did not go well. I was terrified that this was a prediction for the next 4 days. I was VERY glad that Tuesday’s class didn’t count for anything, and glad I DID enter it as a practice session. I was just hoping that I could get my act together for the next day… Wednesday through Saturday would be four Team Classes, plus Grand Prix & Steeplechase Quarterfinals. Dandy was teamed up with two other Border Collies for the Team event (3 dogs/handlers, 4 classes plus the Relay for the top 30 teams out of 170 teams.)

On Wednesday, we ran Team Gamblers. I was still off due to my cold, so I’m glad it was Gamblers where I could improvise a bit. We didn’t get the big bonus points as they required distance skills, which are a weakness for me & Dandy. But we managed to get a respectable number of points, placing us in the middle of the pack. On Thursday, we had Team Standard, and that course was chewing ‘em up & spitting ‘em out! I didn’t run until the afternoon so I got to watch a number of runs while scribing that class in the morning. Dandy ran the course clean, held the contacts, and we ended up 17th out of about 120 26” dogs.

Dandy in Team Standard

We also ran in Steeplechase Quarterfinals, which was a heartbreak…I had high hopes of making it to the Semi-Finals as Dandy usually does well in Steeplechase. He ran the course beautifully but he got hung up in the middle of the weavepoles as they were not securely staked; I heard the metal bases clanging, and wasn’t sure what happened until I saw Dandy exit incorrectly. At that point, I knew he missed a pole, so I had to do the weaves over again. Unfortunately, this cost us too much time and we missed the cut-off for the Semi-Finals by less than one second.

On Friday, we ran Team Snooker and Grand Prix Quarterfinals. Team Snooker went well, I went for three 7’s in the opening, which we got, and almost got through #7 in the closing, but with only 48 seconds, we didn’t quite make it; we just missed getting the 7 in the closing, so we ended up with 44 points. Grand Prix was yet another heartbreak. It was another tough course with a particularly gnarly section offering multiple off-course options. I handled well without choking; Dandy was brilliant, doing everything he’s been trained to do. Unfortunately, he was faulted for missing the ascent contact zone of the dogwalk. He has NEVER been faulted for “up contacts”, and whether he actually hit it or missed it, I can’t say for sure. Someone who was watching his run said he did hit it with his rear foot/feet. A few other 26” dogs were faulted for the same thing, so it appears that the judge wanted to see *front* feet in the contact zone. Bottom line is that we incurred 5 faults, and we would not be advancing to the Semi-Finals. Again, a fluke thing…some bad luck…and major disappointment…but it was still a beautiful run and one I’m very proud of.

Dandy in Grand Prix Quarter Final

Without advancing in Steeplechase or Grand Prix, we had just one run on Saturday, Team Jumpers. Once again, a gnarly course! I saw many great teams go off course. Dandy was once again brilliant, we were clean right up until the next-to-last jump when I rushed a rear cross and incurred a refusal, but it was just a little bobble in an otherwise beautiful run. Again, I was SO proud of Dandy.

Dandy in Team Jumpers

Sunday was Team Relay and Grand Prix Finals, so it was a day to relax and watch some of the best agility teams in the US. I ended up working every class, including the GP Finals, and I’m really glad I did. Last year, I watched from up in the stands, and felt that I would NEVER be able to handle that pressure…it just seemed way too scary! But sitting in the ring, setting bars and fixing tunnels, helped me realize that it’s still just agility. It’s you & your dog, doing the thing you love, but with the added excitement of going for gold! It would be amazing to someday be in the finals, but the competition is intense even in quarterfinals at Nationals, and anything can happen to anyone. A missed contact or a dropped bar might mean the end of one’s advancement, but it’s not the end of the world…just look at your dog’s face and he will tell you, it was still a blast!

Overall, Dandy was amazing. In the 4 team classes, he rocked…he got good scores in Gamblers & Snooker, just one refusal in Jumpers, and CLEAN in Standard. Our teammates had a bit of bad luck, so our team did not advance to the Relay but it didn’t matter…Dandy was awesome! In Steeplechase & Grand Prix quarters, it was just bad luck that kept us out of Semi-Finals. Again, Dandy ran beautifully! Throughout the 7 classes over 5 days, Dandy nailed every (down) contact & every weave entry. Not one bar came down, his jumping was stellar. He incurred just one refusal, and his only off-courses were in the one warm-up class. He did not come home with any ribbons or prizes but he truly ran like a champion all week. I could not be any prouder of my special boy.

Tempo was such a good boy all week long…I did take him out one day to the practice jumps when no one was using them, and jumped him for a couple of minutes. He was SO excited to get to play; too bad he couldn’t have played MORE. And a sidenote, he kept the bar up on every jump. He did get to play with his brother Quid, and with Dandy, every night in the motel room. Not a real exciting week for him but he never complained, he was a very good boy.

I did have several moments of tears…it’s just very hard to be at an event such as this and not feel the pain of missing Token. I bought a Rainbow Bridge charm for my bracelet, placed next to my tri-merle Border Collie charm. He is always in my heart…

Next year, USDAA Nationals will be in Colorado. I’m not planning on making that trip…1700 miles, high altitude, trial outdoors where weather can be snow or 80 degrees…but I sure do want to take Dandy to Nationals again someday! And Tempo needs a chance, too, so I’m hoping for another “east of the Mississippi” event someday.

September Addendum

2011-10-04T22:02:00.001-04:00

I must have been really tired when I wrote my last blog entry…I left out my report on Tempo at K9Logix! And it was a very significant trial for him. I only entered him in 2 classes each day. He earned his 2nd Advanced Standard leg with a 1st place on Saturday, and came oh so close on Sunday for his 3rd…but I fell way behind as he drove ahead with all-new confidence, and he hit the A-Frame instead of the seesaw for an off-course fault. On Saturday, he ran in Steeplechase Round 1, and he was spectacular! He ran CLEAN and fast and placed FIRST in Round 1!!! Tempo & Dandy were both in the 26” class; Dandy missed the weave entry and with a miscommunication at the A-Frame, he only finished 6th in Round 1…so Tempo earned his bragging rights, beating his big brother for the first time. In Sunday’s Finals, both boys ran super…both lost a little time at the very last jump as they had to wait for me to catch up, but their times were very close. Dandy’s time was 32.8 and Tempo’s was 34.09 (Tempo wasn’t really sure he was supposed to take that last jump!) Dandy ran clean and finished overall in 2nd place, with Tempo hot on his heels in 3rd place. Tempo had 5 faults added to his score for ticking the Long Jump but he would have finished in 3rd with or without those 5 faults.

And we even have video of Tempo’s Round 1…So very proud of the baby boy!

Tempo's Steeplechase Round 1

September Agility Fun

2011-09-20T21:11:00.001-04:00

How can it be that September is more than half over? We had a super time at The Blackthorne in the Catskills in NY September 9, 10 & 11. It was a very small trial, hosted by Y Agility, but it was stress-free and filled with laughs and good times all around. Making it even better was bringing home some ribbons. Dandy had a rough start to the weekend, having been on R & R with torn pads for the past week, but things improved as we got a bit more in sync. No Snooker for Dandy at this trial as I really wanted to focus on the Gamblers class, and that paid off, he qualified twice in Gamblers, both 1st place, and finished his Gambler Champion title! He also qualified in Masters Standard with a 1st place. My friend Barb and I took advantage of a new rule in USDAA Pairs that allows a host club to offer the option of mixed height pairings. So Barb’s 12” jumping Corgi Olivia ran pairs with 26” jumping Dandy. We ran clean and qualified and took 3rd place in the “big dog” division! Rounding out the weekend, Dandy qualified in Steeplechase taking 1st place in both Round 1 and the Finals.

My goal with Tempo was to qualify in Starters Snooker to finish his Agility Dog title. Thankfully, we accomplished that on the first day. Tempo had a different opening planned than I did, engaging in lower point obstacles than I had wanted, so I had to improvise the entire opening. But we finished the close and he pulled off a Q with 44 points, earning his AD! He also earned a few more legs over the weekend, one each in Advanced Jumpers, Advanced Standard and Advanced Snooker (50 points!), and all blue ribbons. I had not entered Gamblers with him, so that will be our next project, Advanced Gamblers. Tempo also made his debut in Steeplechase. He did not qualify but it wasn’t awful; he knocked 2 bars, and we lost some time when he wasn’t sure where I wanted him to go, but it was a fairly technical course for him. He got to run in Round 2 since so few dogs qualified; he went off-course by popping the weaves and going on to the AFrame before I could fix it. But again, not a bad run for the baby boy.

Tempo’s littermate Quid was there also and had some very nice runs in Advanced, including a great qualifying run in Advanced Snooker.

The following weekend we headed to Massachusetts for the K9Logix trial in Greenfield. What perfect fall weather we had!!! So nice to NOT have heat & humidity!!! Dandy had a great weekend, with a 75% success rate. He qualified in Masters Snooker with a Super Q and 2nd place, and in Masters Pairs to finish his Relay Champion-Bronze title! He qualified in Steeplechase, though only placing 6th in round 1 when he missed his weave entry, and we lost time with an AFrame bobble. But he rallied for Round 2 and finished in 2nd place. Grand Prix was a tough course, there was one spot in particular that offered several options for handling. Unfortunately, Dandy was the very first dog to run and I could not watch others run to see what was working and what wasn’t. So I went with the option that I felt would work best for MY dog. It was dicey but we got through it clean and earned our first Q for 2012. Icing on the cake, Dandy took First Place in 26” and earned a Bye into the Finals of a 2012 Regional! The last class of the weekend was Master Jumpers, and we ran near the end. I watched this course that looked easy on paper just chew ‘em up and spit ‘em out. It was a total speed course, rather than being technical, and lots of bars were coming down, along with some off-courses. Incorporating a blind cross and a couple of rear crosses, Dandy ran clean! I was thrilled as this run finished his Jumpers Champion-Bronze title! Right after our run, however, I learned that the timer malfunctioned. I had the option to either run it again for time, or just take Standard Course Time. I elected to just take Standard Course Time as Dandy had bent his dewclaw and I was worried he would hurt himself. Dandy usually runs about 10 seconds *under* SCT, so he would have surely placed 2nd, or possibly 1st, but we took the 4th place ribbon rather than risk running again with a busted dewclaw.

In addition to a great trial, I also enjoyed some more ‘family reunion’ moments. Dandy, Tempo & I stayed with our friend Janet, and Tempo had his picture taken with his Uncle Rip (Token’s littermate). The black and white boys look so stunning together. Tempo’s littermate Maze was at the trial, and she looked great, bringing home some Q’s and ribbons of her own. Donalee and I took advantage of the day and snapped some photos of the 3 siblings together (L-R: Dandy, Maze & Tempo).

Video Links for August 20, 2011 Trial

2011-08-27T16:26:00.001-04:00

Blogspot wouldn’t let me edit my previous post, so I have to create a new one for the video links…

Dandy in Excellent Standard on Saturday

Tempo in Novice Jumpers With Weaves on Saturday

Agility – A Family Affair

2011-08-26T21:17:00.000-04:00

August 20-21, 2011 – What a very special agility trial! It was the weekend of the only local agility trial here; Monticello Kennel Club hosted an AKC Agility trial at New Hope Farms in Port Jervis, NY. It’s one of my favorite trials since it’s only about 25 minutes from home!

This year was extra special as it was overflowing with friends and family. As usual, many of my fellow club members from Tri-State Dog Obedience Club (most of which are also students) were there competing. It was fabulous to see them have great runs and be so successful. Even the non-qualifying runs were still ‘great’ as everyone was able to learn from ‘what went wrong’. When we can recognize why something went wrong, it’s a great lesson! It’s not unusual to see my students get more ribbons than I get, but I’ve learned to appreciate that as my own positive reinforcement.

However, this weekend was a successful one for me as well. Dandy was entered in the Excellent B classes while Tempo was in Novice B (Tempo did one day of AKC back in May, this was just his 2nd AKC trial). On Saturday, Dandy qualified in Excellent B Standard with a 3rd place, in a very competitive 26” class. He was having a super Jumpers run until I said his name one too many times, and incurred a refusal, so no “Q”. (yes, one of those lessons from ‘what went wrong’!) Tempo earned his first Novice JWW leg, with a score of 95 and a First place. He had a bar down in Novice Standard, so no Q there. The last class on Saturday was AKC’s newest class called Time 2 Beat. I entered both Dandy and Tempo in it, and it was a blast to run! I ran Tempo first, and he was clean and perfect until we were just 2 jumps from the end, I fell behind and he arced back and took an off-course jump. So no Q for him. I ran Dandy next, and since I was able to handle more aggressively with him, I was able to keep him on course at the end. He was clean and perfect through the whole course and earned a Q and First place. OK, so my two boys were the only 26” entries in T2B…but Dandy was faster than the 1st place 24” dog, so he deserved his blue ribbon <g>!

Sunday was a rarity for me…four runs, and four Q’s! Tempo earned his second leg in Novice JWW as well as his 2nd leg in Novice Standard. Both were scores of 95 as I incurred refusals in both (over handling <g>). And both were blue ribbons as he was the only 26” dog in Novice, but I am very proud of his runs, he absolutely deserved to get blue ribbons. He did amazing weave poles all weekend, totally independent and flawless, which most Novice dogs cannot do. And I did two-jump lead-outs with him as well and he was brilliant. In the Excellent rings, Dandy was truly brilliant, qualifying in Standard with another 3rd place, and in JWW, with a 1st place, on an extremely technical course that ate up the small dogs as well as the big dogs. This was Dandy’s second “Double Q” and he earned 54 MACH points. Now I have had no aspirations to go for a MACH as I do AKC so rarely, I prefer USDAA. But who knows, maybe one day we’ll do more AKC….

Great runs with both boys was fantastic. But what truly made the weekend special was the addition of family. For starters, my mom came to watch on Saturday, and got to see both Dandy & Tempo run. This was just the second time she came to a trial to see my dogs, and see what my obsession is all about. I was really glad she was there this year. The other family members that joined us were Token’s kids…Jan and Dandy’s littermate Seeker came all the way from Pittsburgh, running in Excellent; and Lynn and Jenny, also Dandy’s littermate, were there to run in Novice (just their second trial ever). They both did great, walking away with several ribbons. Tempo’s littermate Quid was also entered but he was absent as he had been exposed to kennel cough several weeks prior. A total of five of Token’s kids were entered, four of them actually competed and earned multiple ribbons. This was a proud and bittersweet moment for me, seeing Dandy, Seeker, Jenny & Tempo in the agility rings. Token’s star still shines brightly in his pups.

Dandy’s & Tempo’s breeders, Terri & Ed, were also on the roster of special guest stars, how wonderful that they were able to see so many of their pups! They even stayed until the bitter end of Saturday to see Tempo & Dandy in the T2B class. Since I had to run them back to back, Terri helped me out by holding one while I ran the other. Ed, Lynn & Chris (& Jenny & Bryn) made a grand cheering section!

We even got photos to commemorate the special reunion! Family, Friends & Agility…what a wonderful weekend!

Photo: Seeker, Jenny, Tempo & Dandy with Terri

The Dog Days of Summer 2011

2011-08-10T21:10:00.001-04:00

This summer has been hot, hot, HOT! And that means I have not done much training, but have been taking the dogs swimming at the lake more than ever. They are happy no matter what we do, but a bit more training would have made the summer more productive!

It’s August already and June seems like a very long time ago, when we competed at the USDAA Northeast Regional in Bethlehem, PA. The first day was so hot & humid that I was not my best at all. But the next two days were a bit better and we had some decent runs. Dandy placed 7th in Team Gamblers and 5th in Round 1 of Steeplechase, in some very fierce competition. He had a bye to go into Round 2 of the Grand Prix, so he was in the Finals for both Steeplechase and Grand Prix. Unfortunately, an uncharacteristic missed weave entry in both classes blew our chances of any placements or byes for Nationals. But aside from the weave entries, our runs were super!

The following weekend, we spent 3 days at The Blackthorne in the Catskills in NY for another big USDAA trial. Dandy was on a team with two other Border Collies, and his team won the Team Relay and qualified placing 5th overall. Individually, Dandy placed 5th in Team Standard. He also qualified in Steeplechase placing 2nd in Round 1. The weave poles bit us again to cause an E in Round 2, as he went wide on a turn and passed through the weaves for an off-course. He did well in Masters titling classes, qualifying in Gamblers, Pairs, Standard (2nd place), Snooker (3rd place & Super Q), and Jumpers (3rd place). I ran Tempo in Starters Standard, and he earned his 2nd leg with a First Place.

In July, we attended one day of an indoor USDAA trial at a soccer/sports facility in Rahway, NJ. It was unbearably hot inside. One ring had good footing but the other ring was slippery for dogs, and many, including mine, were unable to get any traction. I was glad I only entered one day. Dandy qualified in Masters Snooker to finish his Snooker Champion title. And he also won Steeplechase (26”) despite the slipping in that ring. Tempo did not manage the footing well in his one run, and he also crashed the tire, but thankfully it was a breakaway tire so he did not get injured.

July 23-25 was spent at KineticDog camp in Barto, PA. The instructors were awesome as usual, but the weather was again far too hot….and then we got hit with pouring rain & lightning on the last day. The camp was Masters level, so I only worked Dandy. I did get Tempo out each day at lunch break to work for a few minutes. I have things to work on from our camp experience, but the weather has not been very helpful in getting me motivated.

We closed out July with another indoor USDAA trial in Hatfield, PA, and thankfully this facility had A/C. Not super cool but it was heavenly compared to the 90+ degrees outside. Another Team event for Dandy, and another Team Q and another Silver Medal!!! After my E in Team Standard, Dandy made up for that by earning a 2nd place in Team Jumpers, and 3rd place in Team Gamblers & Snooker. This team Q earned Dandy his Tournament Master-Silver title! Dandy also qualified in Masters Standard with a 4th place, finishing his SACH-Bronze title. Tempo had a good weekend, qualifying in Starters Standard with a First Place, finishing his Starters Standard Agility (SSA) title. He and his littermate Quid qualified in Starters Pairs with a 2nd place, which finished Quid’s Agility Dog (AD) title! I also had Tempo in Starters Snooker which was all jumps which did not give me hope…but Tempo didn’t knock any bars and was doing wonderful…until I missed a jump in the closing. Great dog, bad handler! So we did not qualify but Tempo was super!

Besides the dog stuff, I went to quite a few Little League games to watch my nephew Aaron play on the Wallenpaupack All Star team. Aaron did a tremendous job with his pitching, very proud of him! I also enjoyed taking hundreds of pictures of the kids throughout their All Star journey. My sister Gail came home to PA (from CA) for a visit in July, and she got to see Aaron play ball, so it was good timing for her visit.

A couple more agility trials are on the calendar before the big event in October, the USDAA Nationals in Louisville, KY. I’m looking forward to running Dandy there, though it saddens me that I won’t be running Token, too. Not a day goes by when I don’t miss him. And every agility event is a reminder to me that he is gone. Dandy & Tempo are my salvation, they are the best dogs ever. But there is still a huge hole in my heart for Token. The healing process is slow going but Dandy & Tempo will get me through it.

Agility Days of May

2011-06-08T21:04:00.001-04:00

We were pretty busy in May. On May 14, we did just one day of an AKC trial hosted by Port Chester OTC, held in FDR Park in Yorktown Heights, NY. Dandy knocked on bar in Excellent JWW and my handler error caused an off-course in Excellent Standard. So no Q’s but he ran really well. Tempo made his AKC debut. He had one bar down in Novice JWW but he qualified in Novice Standard with one refusal and a score of 95 and 2nd place. His brother Quid took 1st!

May 21-22, we were back to USDAA at the Contact Agility Club trial in Dover Plains, NY. In Starters Standard, Tempo had 2 bars down on Saturday, and a wrong course on Sunday. His only other class was Starters Pairs Relay, which he did earn a Q in with a 1st place. On Saturday, Dandy’s only Q was in Master Jumpers, but besides being 1st place in 26”, he also posted the fastest time of ALL jump heights, 149 yards in 22.49 seconds. On Sunday, Dandy went 3 for 3! He qualified in Masters Standard with 2nd place, Masters Snooker with 4th place, and Masters Jumpers with another 1st place. A good day for Dandy

May 28-29, we were in Saratoga Springs, NY, for the Y Agility trial. Tempo was only entered in Starters Standard both days. He qualified on Saturday with a 1st place for his first Standard leg. Sunday was not so successful . My main objective for Dandy this weekend was to qualify in Team for this year’s nationals, which we did, with a Silver Medal to boot! Dandy had great teammates with Jeanne & Zeke, and Terri & Rise, and we won the Team Relay class. Individually, Dandy placed 2nd in Team Snooker, Team Gamblers and Team Standard, and was the highest scoring 26” dog. He also earned another Q and 1st place in Masters Jumpers. Very proud of my Dandy!

Tempo is a work in progress and we still have many skills to work on together. I’m in no hurry to get titles on him, continuing to enter just one class a day, for the most part. A little experience & mileage mixed in with his training, so hopefully next year he’ll be ready for primetime.

Summer weather has arrived and in between trials & training, the boys are enjoying their swims at the lake.

Let May begin!

2011-05-08T18:50:00.002-04:00

After a rainy and snowy April, we hope that May will bring us more pleasant weather!

We closed out April and welcomed May with a USDAA trial hosted by High Octane in Bethlehem, PA. Dandy qualified in Master Pairs Relay, Master Standard with 3rd place, Master Gamblers with 3rd place and Master Jumpers with 2nd place, which finished his JCH title (Jumpers Champion). He had one bar down in Steeplechase and got hung up in the weaves, so we did not make the cut to qualify. He had a beautiful Grand Prix run but missed his A-Frame contact so we did not qualify. I think that was the first time he actually missed an A-Frame…so it’s summer school for Dandy <g>. He seems to think he should join the trend to do running A-Frames but I disagree

Tempo made his debut in Starters Standard. On Saturday, the dogwalk was the 2nd obstacle and he lost his balance across the top and had to bail. He landed gracefully on his feet, so we continued on and he was fine with the A-Frame and Seesaw, and also did great weaves. Tempo has only been on a full-height dogwalk about 4 times, and he’s never been on one outside. So our running in Standard is primarily to expose him to different equipment and to habituate to new environments. On Sunday, he was fine with the dogwalk as well as everything else, but he knocked one bar, so again we did not qualify. But I was very happy with his focus and how well he acclimated to all the new experiences. He did qualify in Starters Gamblers with a 1st place, he did a beautiful job with that class!

This weekend, we finally got outside to do some training. Next weekend, just one day of an AKC trial…Dandy in Excellent B, and Tempo making his AKC debut in Novice. Then we’ll be back to USDAA for the next several weeks.

So On We Go…

2011-04-25T20:38:00.002-04:00

I have not updated the blog since my post about Token. My heart has a huge hole in it, but I know that every day with Dandy & Tempo is precious. So we are back to competing and honoring Token’s legacy.

February 19-20, we went to Fitchburg, MA, for flyball. It was very hard to be there, Token would have finished his ONYX title there. Tempo raced fulltime and finished his FDCH. The awards ceremony was too emotional, but it was a big hurdle to get past.

March 5-6, we went to York, PA, for more flyball. Tempo earned his FDCH-Silver title, with a personal best time of 4.39 racing in the 2nd position. Dandy continued to race well with the Multi team. But I felt disconnected, I did not feel that my heart was into the racing. I’m not sure when or if we will do flyball again.

March 26-27, we went to our first Agility trial of 2011. The trial was in Barto, where we were for our last trial, back in November…the last place that Token competed, where he qualified for 2011 Nationals Team. Checking in at the gate, the first time I had to check-in Dandy, but not Token also…another difficult ‘first’ to get over. More tears, more baby steps. Dandy ran well but we were a bit rusty & out of sync as far as timing. He did qualify in Steeplechase with a 2nd place, his 2nd Q for 2011 Nationals. Tempo made his debut, running in Starters Gamblers and Jumpers. He didn’t qualify but did fairly well for his first time “away from home”. I had not planned to trial him this year so I have been lax in training him. But it’s time to get him started.

April 9-10, another USDAA Agility trial in High Falls, NY. Dandy qualified in Masters Standard with a 2nd place, finishing his SACH title (Standard Agility Champion). He also qualified in the all-important Grand Prix for his 2nd Q for 2011, so he is now qualified for Nationals in Grand Prix and Steeplechase. His GP run was 1st place which also earned him another bye into the Finals at a Regional event. He qualified in Steeplechase, with a 2nd place in the Finals. Tempo ran in Starters Jumpers both days, qualifying in both.

April 16-17, I entered Dandy only in a local AKC trial. On Saturday, Dandy qualified in Excellent A Standard, 1st place, to finish is AX title. On Sunday, we ran for Token in honor of what would have been his 8th birthday. Dandy ran like a champ, taking 1st place in Excellent B Standard and 4th place in Excellent B JWW earning his very first double Q along with 57 MACH points. A sad day but Dandy made me so very proud…I cherish every run, every moment.

April 23-24, back to USDAA at K9Logix in Greenfield, MA. Saturday was miserable…it was snowing in the morning, ground was slick, contacts were icy, temperatures in the 30s. The snow changed to rain but it was still frigid. Cold, wet, miserable. Dandy managed to qualify in Masters Standard with a 4th place, despite my poor handling. And he qualified in Steeplechase finishing 2nd in Round 1. Tempo’s Gamblers run was in the snow, so I didn’t let him do the dogwalk or seesaw, they were too slick, and he knocked the first bar in the Gamble. Sunday was a much better day, wore a tee shirt instead of 3 layers of fleece! Dandy ran well, but we didn’t manage to run clean. But we did run clean in Steeplechase Finals to take First Place! Tempo ran in Starters Jumpers and ran beautifully, qualifying for his 3rd Q in Jumpers to finish his Starters Jumpers title!

My plan for Tempo is to continue to enter just one class a day at trials, maybe two on occasion. I’m taking it slow as he still needs more training with obstacle performance, and he needs more skills. I’m hoping that we will be able to train outside SOON. This has been the winter that never ends!

I still miss Token every day, but I am so grateful to have Dandy & Tempo in my life. I am determined to enjoy every day I have with them both. Token has given me two beautiful gifts, his legacy lives on.

My Beloved Token

2011-01-17T16:08:00.000-05:00

Merlynn Eclipse – April 17, 2003–January 14, 2011

Friday, January 14th, 2011…my heart was broken. My sweet Token passed away suddenly and unexpectedly.

When I arrived home from work, just before 5pm on Friday, Token welcomed me home as always…I invited him up into my arms for a hug and a kiss, and he gave me his usual sweet greeting. Minutes later, as I was getting prepared to give the dogs their supper, Token was standing still in the kitchen, as if in a daze. I spoke his name but he didn’t look up. He wandered into the bedroom where he laid down and lost continence. He then walked to the living room, laid down with a thud, and I grabbed the phone to call my veterinarian. It was just past 5pm, and I was referred to a 24 hour hospital. I called there to get directions, it was a 45 minute drive. By then Token’s breathing became labored and his gums were white. He could not get up at all, he was totally limp; I clumsily picked him up and placed him in the front seat of my car, where he could be close to me. The drive to the hospital in Newton was excruciating…Friday night traffic, no passing zones, red lights… I stroked Token’s head and spoke to him as I drove…at some point, he seemed to no longer be moving. By the time I arrived at the hospital at 6pm, he was gone. I was certain it was a really bad dream, it just could NOT be real. But it was.

I requested a necropsy and what they found was a mass on his spleen that had ruptured and was bleeding internally. It all happened so fast, it was surreal. My only comfort is that he did not suffer…he went very quickly…and he did not appear to be in pain…he seemed to just go to sleep. But I am devastated and sad and numb, and I miss him terribly.

Token was a very special dog. He was sweet and loving, every person he ever met was his friend, including kids; he was bomb-proof, nothing ever seemed to worry him. He was athletic and talented, though I struggled with learning the proper way to handle him in Agility. He taught me so much as he needed very precise information from me, and if I didn’t give it to him, he would ask me to please be more specific! He was a natural at Flyball and he introduced me to a whole new sport that we had fun with in between agility trials.

He was always fun to run in both Agility and Flyball, he had a presence about him that could not be denied. But there was something special about him that had nothing to do with his performance…it had everything to do with his spirit and his heart. The best things that were ever said about Token came from spectators who knew little about the sport they were watching. Token seemed to get their attention just with his aura. Years ago, a woman who ran a therapy dog program saw him in the waiting room of a veterinary office and she kept looking at him; she finally came up to me and told me that I had to do therapy work with him as he was “special”. Once at a flyball tournament in New Hampshire, a spectator told me he was “the coolest” thing she had seen all day. I replied that there were MANY Border Collies there that were really good, but she saw something unique in Token’s expression. I will never forget running him at an Agility Trial in Saratoga Springs…we didn’t run clean but that didn’t matter…a woman who had been watching came up to me and said “He is really special, isn’t he? I can just tell.” It wasn’t that he was “the best” or “the fastest”. It was something else altogether…and those of us who saw that in Token are all the better for it.

Token would often press his muzzle against my face. It was just one of the ways that he touched me both physically and emotionally. And that is what I’m remembering today. Not all the titles and ribbons that he won, nor the titles and ribbons we never did get…but the heart and soul of a very special dog that I was blessed to have in my life.

It hurts so much, he was taken way too soon. But I am blessed again to have two of Token’s sons. Dandy & Tempo are not carbon copies of Token, there was only ONE Token. But there are pieces of Token to be found in both of them, and they are my pride and joy, my heart and soul.

Thank you, Lynn, for bringing Token to my life. Thank you, Terri, for seeing Token’s aura, and thus bringing Dandy & Tempo into my life through Meg. Thank you, Cindy, for also carrying on Token’s legacy through Cass and Blur.

Dear Token, I adored you from the first moment I saw you and I will adore you forever.

Tempo’s Flyball Debut

2010-12-07T20:27:00.001-05:00

Tempo made his debut in Flyball at the Jet Set tournament in York PA, December 4-5, 2010. At 14 months of age, I am still in shock...he maintained his boxturn all weekend!!! And he never faulted! He only raced 2 heats of 2 races on Saturday (5/5 format). He had ONE warm-up run before his first official heat. In his first heat, he dropped the ball at the box, it rolled all over, but he got it & brought it back over the jumps (no fault)...I was so impressed that he figured out to get back in the lane....and the correct lane, no less!!! His first race was in the Right Lane, which is hardest for him since he turns Left. Tempo was in the Right Lane for most of his races, and he never once crossed over to the other lane.

On Sunday, he ran all 5 heats in 3 of our 4 races. I didn't want to jeopardize the team's "wins" by running Tempo but even with Tempo running, we maintained our times, running in the 18's on Sunday, and were winning races! Tempo averaged 4.8 with the (semi-wide) pass, but he did post one decent time of 4.59. I did early-pass him once (MY fault), when he got a 4.4; but what impressed me was that he stayed in the lane with the early pass, so he wasn't too intimidated. :) He is not yet driving full-speed, he seems to be thinking about it all, but I'm thrilled with his consistency. He only bobbled the ball that ONE time, first heat. And the team he was on jumps 11", so that was another factor in the challenge for a baby dog. He ran anchor so he has yet to have a dog pass him on his way back, but that will be the next thing to try at practice this winter.

Tempo earned his FD (Flyball Dog) and FDX (Flyball Dog Excellent, 100 pts), with 341 points for the whole weekend. And his team placed First in Regular Division 2! A great way to earn his very first ribbons!

Setting the standard for Tempo to aspire to, Dandy raced well all weekend, his only faults being MY early passes. He earned 635 points and he finished his FMX title! (10,000 pts, Flyball Master Excellent). Dandy’s team was undefeated, placing First in Multi-Breed Division 1!

Token raced on our Regular Division 3 team, which placed 2nd out of 9 teams! He earned 675 points, benefiting from the 5/5 format. Dandy covered for him in a few heats as he twice decided to come back without the ball. I don’t know what was going on, but I pulled him and had Dandy finish those 2 races. Token is less than 500 points away from his ONYX title (20,000 points), so hopefully we will finish that title at the next tournament in February.

An exhausting weekend, but lots of fun. No events now until February, time to take a break

Last Agility Trial of the year….

2010-11-23T20:12:00.001-05:00

November 20-21, 2010 – Kinetic Dog USDAA Tournament Only Trial

Dandy & Token both ran in the Team event as well as Grand Prix.

Token E’d with an off-course in Team Standard but he did well in the other classes…always on the edge, but hanging on!!! He took 1st place in Team Jumpers, 5th place in Team Snooker with 47 points, and 4th place in Team Gamblers. He was the 4th highest-scoring 26” dog overall. His team qualified in 7th place, so Token is now qualified for the Team event at the 2011 Nationals.

Dandy's team didn't qualify, but individually Dandy did great...we did suffer 1 off-course in Jumpers, but he took 1st place in Team Standard, 2nd place in Snooker with 50 points, and 2nd place in Gamblers (& just 1 refusal in Relay). Dandy was the highest-scoring 26" dog overall! :-)

We did not qualify in Grand Prix but we’ll try again in the spring!

November 13-14, 2010– Back to Flyball!

2010-11-23T19:58:00.001-05:00

We had a super-fun weekend at Revolution Flyball's tournament in PA! Our club Infurno helped out all weekend by staffing one of the 2 rings with box judges, line judges and score table people. We were non-stop busy but still managed to race our 3 teams nicely.

Dandy raced really well as anchor for Multi 1, which took 2nd pl. Token was start dog for our Reg.3 team which took 4th...he had some good races, but I had to pull him from 2 races on Sunday as he was thinking with his wrong brain...

Tempo did Single Dog Racing on Friday night. His boxturn fell apart as we had to borrow one from another team and it was quite different than what he's been trained on. BUT he completed all 5 heats, last one from 45' back with his best time of 4.59 (with a really bad boxturn). Even when he bobbled the ball & it went rolling, he got it & found his own way back into the lane without missing any jumps. I have no idea how he knew to do that, considering he's only done a 'full run' once before! Hoping to give him a shot in a real race in December.

Game Time Photography took some nice pictures:

http://seegametimephotos.com/p920572607/e210313e0

http://seegametimephotos.com/p633593838/e2f84e002

October 2010–USDAA Nationals, Louisville, KY

2010-10-20T20:41:00.000-04:00

This was my first USDAA Nationals (Agility) since 1999 when it was in Cleveland. It was great to have this National event within driving distance!

The competition was incredible and I am honored to have been a part of it. My first obstacle was my own mental management. Mostly I handled it OK, but did screw up a few times, too. I have to remember to work through the bobbles and don't give up, even if a bar down in Dandy's Grand Prix run obviously meant I would not advance, I should have still worked the course rather than giving up & getting an off-course. Even though my team was not going to be in the top 30, I should have fought harder a couple of times. Overall, I handled the whole event better than I anticipated but also was disappointed in myself with a couple of things. I can't wait til next year :-)

My dogs did better than I expected. Token E'd in European Standard the first day but after that, he hung on in every class. No, we didn't run clean...but no E's, and only ONE bar down all week! He made it to the semi-finals in Steeplechase, and was 14th in Team Snooker out of ~135 dogs. Dandy's best run was European Standard, clean and 17th out of over 100 dogs. He had good runs in Team Gamblers & Snooker but we had off courses in Team Std and Jumpers. I'm disappointed in myself for the E's but Dandy still ran great. He was one bar away from making the Steeplechase Finals. His time was 0.04 slower than the 12th dog to advance, but he lost at least 1/2 second because the bar he knocked was taken again at the end, and with the bar down, he spun wondering where to go. So, I'm encouraged to see that we came so close! I got a number of compliments on my runs (even the off-course runs!), and I am so appreciative to those who took the time to do so :-)

Tempo spent most of the week in the crating area, but on Sunday, when I had a bit of free time, I took him to the Lure Coursing and bought him 2 tickets. He got 3 runs since the timer malfunctioned on his 2nd run. He had a blast and got faster each time and close to being in the top 10. I should have tried it sooner, so he would have had more runs to improve his speed but he had fun and got to run, so that was the important part ;-)

Watching the Grand Prix finals on Sunday was thrilling! I’m glad I chose to stay over Sunday night and head home on Monday so I could savor the moments of the grand finale of the event.

I'm so happy that we finally had a Nationals east of the Mississippi, and I'm really glad I was a part of it. Looking forward now to 2011!

Happy 1st Birthday to Tempo!

2010-09-22T20:27:00.005-04:00

It's September 22, 2010, and Tempo is one year old today!

It's been a long time since I've updated the Blog...With the popularity of Facebook, the blog has fallen by the wayside. But I'll try to catch up.
Much of July was spent taking the dogs swimming at the lake. Too hot to train, but swimming built up their muscles nicely, and they LOVE the lake!!

July 31, we went to one day of an indoor USDAA agility trial in Hatfield, PA. August 21 & 22 was an indoor AKC agility trial at New Hope Farms, awesome to have a trial so close to home! Dandy did great, qualified both days in Excellent JWW, finishing his AXJ with a 1st place, and he earned his 2nd leg towards his AX with a 1st place in Excellent A Standard. Token qualified in Excellent B Standard with a 3rd place. They both ran really well especially considering they had NO training at all for several days prior.
In August, I spent 4 days travelling to Barto, PA, for Kinetic Dog Agility Camp, which was a Foundation level for puppies & young dogs. So Tempo was enrolled in his very first training camp. He did really well, I was pleased with his attention & focus in a new & highly distracting situation. And we learned tons of stuff!!!
Then over Labor Day weekend, another 3 days back & forth to Barto for the Masters Level Camp, for training with Dandy. We were really challenged and it was a great learning experience. I'm blessed to have such a talented dog as Dandy :-)

September 10-12, our traditional Blackthorne weekend...3 days of USDAA Agility. Token was only entered in a couple of classes each day...he was wild at first, but by day 3, he was running nicely, we missed clean runs by just one error. Dandy ran really well all weekend. Friday was the 5 classes of the team event, he took 1st place in Team Gamblers & 2nd place in Team Standard. His teammates were another Border Collie and a Rat Terrier and their name was "The Flying Monkees". Our team qualified and took 4th place overall! Saturday & Sunday, Dandy qualified in Master Pairs to finish his RCh title, qualified in Master Gamblers with a 2nd place, qualified both days in Master Jumpers with a 2nd place & 1st place, and he won 26" Steeplechase. We didn't enter ALL the classes that were offered, but he Q'd in everything he was in except the two Standard classes. We had unfortunate things happen in both of those, including hitting the tire jump and doing a handstand into a somersault as a result of getting hung up on the tire. Thankfully he was not injured, and I got him to the chiropractor after we got back home, to put him back into alignment.

Hard to believe but in 3 short weeks, we will be in Louisville, Kentucky for the USDAA Nationals! The competition will be of the highest caliber, it should be very exciting! I'm looking forward to having fun and enjoying the experience...it's a honor just to be there competing. I have not been to a National event since 1999, in Cleveland, the last time it was a reasonable distance to drive. (Arizona was just toooooo far!!!)

Tempo is getting sporadically trained...when I find time and when it's not been too hot. He's starting to learn flyball, the boxturn is coming along nicely. Next we have to learn how to run with other dogs running, too ;-) His agility training has been mostly flatwork & foundation. I started his jump training recently. Now that he's a year old, we can start training weaves, too. We have lots of projects for the winter!

Can't believe a year has gone by since I saw Tempo being born...he sure isn't the 'buddha belly puppy' anymore!

Dandy, Agility Dog Champion!

2010-06-22T19:43:00.004-04:00

On May 22, 2010, Dandy qualified in Master Gamblers at the Contact Agility Club USDAA trial in Dover Plains, NY, finishing his Gambler Master title (GM). He also qualified in Steeplechase, and in the Finals was 2nd place (he had the fastest time but a bar down). He ran Pairs with another Border Collie named Skye, and we won the class with a clean fast run.

We had a very rough weekend in extremely hot & humid weather at the Keystone trial June 12-13 in Bethlehem, PA. Dandy did qualify in Master Gamblers but we missed putting it together in our other classes.

We went to the 3-day Y Agility trial at The Blackthorne in the Catskills in NY June 18-20 needing to just qualify in Master Jumpers to finish Dandy's ADCH. We had two shots at it with Jumpers being our first class Friday morning, and also the last class on Sunday. Dandy is often very amped up for his first class, and he often will knock bars in that one. Besides Jumpers being our first class of the weekend, it was also in the hilly ring, with all the bumps & dips. I ran Token first, and my front cross on the take-off side of a jump caused him to get a refusal. So I chose a different strategy when I ran Dandy, just a few minutes later. I went with a landing side front cross, hoping that would not cause him to knock the bar. We managed to execute it very nicely, and Dandy not only qualified but won the class! This finished his Jumpers Master title (JM) as well as his Agility Dog Champion title (ADCH) on June 18, 2010! Token just finished his ADCH at the Blackthorne in August 2009, in Jumpers, in the very same ring. Token was 6 yrs 4 months old at that time. Dandy is just 3 yrs 7 mos old, and he is my "youngest" ADCH title (he is #5, following Robin, Toss, Tripper & Token). Dandy truly is gifted, and I am so very proud of him.

Finishing that title on the first day assured me of having an enjoyable weekend, regardless of how the rest of the trial went. But then Dandy gave me so much more! He qualified with a 2nd place in Grand Prix, finishing his Tournament Master title (TM). He qualified in Steeplechase and took 1st place in the Finals. He qualified in Masters Standard with a 1st place. And for the last run of the weekend, Master Jumpers, he qualified again, with a 2nd place. Even the runs that were not qualifying, he continued to run beautifully. He really gave me his all, he is such a good boy!

Poor Token, I have been focusing so much on Dandy this season that I have not been able to give him 100%. He has only been entered in 2 classes per day for the last few trials since the entry fees really add up with two dogs. Even though he's running well, we still have our little bobbles that keep us from running clean. I hope to be able to give some focus back to Token now that Dandy's ADCH has been achieved.

We did do one run totally for fun at The Blackthorne. In Saturday's Master Pairs, I entered Token & Dandy together! I ran Dandy in the 2nd half while my friend Debbie ran Token in the first half. Dandy was totally out of his mind watching Token run! Both dogs had off-courses, so naturally we didn't qualify, but it was fun to run father & son together on Fathers Day weekend!

Since Dandy qualified in Grand Prix, he is now fully qualified to run in all the classes at the USDAA Nationals in Louisville, KY, in October. He will compete in Grand Prix, Steeplechase and Team. Token is qualified to run in Steeplechase & Team at Nationals, but not Grand Prix. I don't think I can get to enough GP qualifiers between now & September to try to get Token qualified, so that is no longer a goal. But I'm quite content to be running Token in 2 events and Dandy in all 3.

Tempo is now 9 months old, and will be going to Agility Camp in August to get him started. I'm not quite sure how I'll find time to train all three dogs, but I'll do my best! ;-)

We will be taking a break from trials for a few weeks, we have some training issues to address, and we'll continue enjoying the lake during the hot summer.

So...Where IS Spring???

2010-05-12T20:00:00.004-04:00

Pictured: Tempo (R) with his litter-brother Quid (L), 7 1/2 months old.

It's mid-May, and the weather is confused...it feels more like winter than spring. Cold. Wind. Wet. I still have not been able to get my agility equipment set up outside yet. My dog training has been sporadic, at best, as it's hard to get motivated when I can't work them outside.

We did attend 2 outdoor trials recently, in Greenfield, MA. April 24-25 weekend was chilly but dry. The next weekend it was near 90 degrees. (And now I have had to turn the heat back on in my house.) The trials were very enjoyable, it was great to see everyone again! I took some pictures of dogs in action, and was pleased with the results, even though I need to practice alot more. (I've posted a few albums online in Picasa). Token and Dandy did quite well in spite of our lack of preparation/training. Even though most of our runs were not 'qualifying' due to mostly just one error, I was very happy with how Token & Dandy were running. Token's jumping was cleaner than ever, refusals/spins minimal, weaves good. Dandy is running with more confidence than last year, which means I have to ramp up my handling cues since he is a bit faster. With these two trials, he picked up qualifications in Jumpers (1st place), Pairs Relay, Standard (3rd pl), and in Steeplechase (1st place). Token earned a qualification in Steeplechase, so he now has the two he needs to enter Nationals in October.

I'm hoping to go to the USDAA Nationals in Kentucky, since it's the first time in 10 years that Nationals will be on the East Coast. Both Token and Dandy are qualified to enter the Team event, and Token is qualified to enter Steeplechase. Token needs two qualifications in Grand Prix to enter that class. Dandy needs one more Grand Prix and one more Steeplechase. Even if we don't get the GP Q's, we will go anyway and run in everything else.

In between work & dog stuff, I've been taking lots of pictures, including my niece Becca at her horseback riding lessons, and my nephew Aaron at his baseball games. I'm loving the new camera!

http://picasaweb.google.com/barkingadchoo

Winter Wind-Up

2010-03-31T19:16:00.008-04:00

February was a rough month with all the snowstorms, but we did manage a weekend of snow-free fun going to Fitchburg, MA, February 13-14, for a big 2-ring Flyball Tournament. Token & Dandy raced well, and Tempo was a very good boy, just hanging out & socializing. A bonus was seeing two of Token's daughters from his 2009 litters, Maze (Tempo's littersister) and Wicked (from Blur's litter). They are both lovely, and in wonderful homes, getting primed for futures in flyball & agility.

March was very busy, starting with teaching a small Agility seminar on Introduction to USDAA (Games) Classes. I also helped my friend Terri with a presentation for dog owners on Shaping Appropriate Behavior, held at Bunker Hill Veterinary Hospital, with all proceeds going to the Griffin Pond Animal Shelter.

March 20-21, we attended a huge 2-ring Flyball tournament in Gettysburg, PA. Token & Dandy both raced great all weekend, and Tempo again was very well-behaved & not worried about a thing. I have one more flyball tournament on our schedule, which will be April 10-11, and then flyball will go on the back burner as we concentrate on Agility for spring, summer & fall.

On March 28, I went to my first agility trial since November. I just entered one day, to ease back into it. Token and Dandy were both in 26" Grand Prix, Master Gamblers & Master Jumpers. Dandy had an off-course in Grand Prix, and Token just had one refusal, so we didn't qualify. Token also was part of the majority of dogs that did not qualify in Gamblers. But Dandy qualified and took 1st place, for his 4th leg, so he needs one more for his Gambler Master title. The highlight of the day was having both Token and Dandy qualify in Jumpers, since that is my most difficult class to run clean in. Dandy took 1st place & Token placed 3rd. Dandy now needs 2 more Q's in Jumpers for his Jumper Master title. Our next trial will be the end of April.

Tempo is now 6 months old, and he is doing great. We're working on foundation training for agility as well as continuing socialization and exposure to new situations so he can continue to be a happy & confident dog. He loves everyone he meets, so he is off to a super start. :-) He also gets along great with Token & Dandy, making him an easy addition to the pack.

Looking forward to SPRING!

Some Vintage Videos

2010-01-31T14:16:00.003-05:00

September 2002 - Brace Class at USDAA Agility Trial in Maryland
Brace is just for fun and not offered very often at all, but it's a hoot to run and watch! I ran Robin & Chad as one brace team, and Toss & Tripper as another team. The weave poles in this course were 2 sets of 12, the 2 dogs could do the same set of 6, or they could each do one set, and if they did this simultanously, it was worth 5 bonus points. With a time plus faults scoring system, it was not worth the extra 5 points to 'set it up' to have them each do a set of 6 poles, so I was just planning to have them do the same set consecutively. However, when I ran Toss & Tripper, Toss had his own plan to get the 5 bonus points, and he performed the far set of weaves while Tripper did the closer set, and besides wowwing the crowd, they took First Place :-) Toss was always a very creative Border Collie, and this is such a perfect memory of him. I am so thankful to have these runs in my video library:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnbbXZi7zbo

August 2003 - Toss participated in a Dock Dogs event, at age 8, and though he only jumped 10'-12', he had a great time! This was his first practice jump, the only one on film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVw2f2Q5C1A

July 2004 - Robin & Chad have one last run together in Brace at Agiledogs in NY. They were 11 years old at that time, and were able to jump 16" as their Performance height. Those two boys adored each other, this is a very special memory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6Hwm2g4IC8

Toss - 4/16/1995 - 1/20/2010

2010-01-20T21:03:00.003-05:00

I said Good-Bye to Toss today. Suffering from kidney failure, it was time to let him go.
Toss earned lots of titles in Agility, including Agility Dog Champion, and he even earned his Companion Dog title in Obedience. In 1999, he won the 24" division of the PupPeroni Eastern Regional tournament. In 2000, he was part of the winning team in the Dog Agility Masters Team Tournament in Saratoga, NY. His teammates Elan & Quincy have already passed on to the Rainbow Bridge, so maybe they will join forces again :-)
But more important than his accomplishments...he was a very unique & special Border Collie. He was very careful & methodical in the agility ring, but he would dive off the dock at the lake with complete & utter abandon. The lake was one of his favorite places to be.
Toss also had a unique ability to look at photographs of dogs and recognize them as such. He even showed "preferences" towards certain breeds (he would bite the picture if it was a Jack Russell Terrier!) He was also an avid TV watcher, his favorite movie was "Babe", of course :)

So easy to live with, a gentle soul with a real creative streak, he will always hold a very special place in my heart.

January 2010

2010-01-17T20:15:00.000-05:00

Another Year Over...

2009-12-30T20:27:00.004-05:00

...and a new one soon to begin!

2009 brought lots of new titles to Token & Dandy, most significantly Dandy's MAD in April and Token's ADCH in August. I don't trial as much as I did years ago....everything costs money....but we continue to enjoy the journey more than ever!

Token became a daddy again this year, not once but twice! On September 22, Shebaa's Meg gave birth to 7 wonderful pups, 2 boys & 5 girls. This is a repeat breeding of the 2006 event that gave me Dandy. Most of the pups went to performance homes, so it will be exciting to follow their careers!
Token's second litter this year was born on November 9 (Dandy's birthday!), and KEG's Blur gave birth to 4 boys and 2 girls, with things like agility & flyball in their futures.
Pictures of all the pups can be found on my website www.MadAboutBCs.com

Tripper continues to live with Mom, where he is King of the Castle. My mom thinks he is weird, but he's just a Border Collie :-) He may like to howl when the news comes on TV, but he's good company for her, and he's stress-free living the simple life!

Toss is now 14 1/2 years old, and in November was diagnosed with Chronic Renal Failure. He will only eat canned food or meat these days, in several small meals, and he's gotten extremely thin. But despite his bloodwork being pretty dismal, he seems to be feeling OK, and can still act pretty perky. So, one day at a time...

Tempo arrived on the scene in November, and he is now 3 months old. He is much like his dad Token in that he's confident & very full of himself, and has quite the nose for food! He's learning about clicker training, tug toys, the tippy board, ramps & steps, and how to unstuff toys. We could do without that last one.... ;-) I'm looking forward to the new adventure in 2010 known as Tempo!

I continue to take an abnormal amount of pictures, many can be seen online in my Picasa albums.
http://picasaweb.g oogle.com/barkingadchoo

Time to rest up for the New Year!

Flyball: New Record for our Multi Team

2009-12-30T20:03:00.003-05:00

December 5-6, 2009 - Flyball Tournament hosted by Jet Set in York, Pa.

Dandy ran anchor on our Multi team in Division 1, and we took First Place while setting a new team record of 17.341!

Token ran as start dog on our Regular Division 4 team and we placed 2nd in a field of 6 teams. It was my first tournament since May, so I felt a bit rusty, and my dogs were passing dogs they had not ever passed before, but it all worked out pretty well! Plus I finally got some nice flyball pictures of Dandy by Swift-Bennett Photography!

Another milestone in Tempo's babyhood, he stayed in a motel for the first time (with no accidents ) and attended his first flyball event. At only 10 weeks old, he was very good! He was quiet all day in his crate at the tournament, he wasn't worried about anything at all, and there were many NEW things to encounter. He met a ton of new people and loved everyone. And he even pottied on lead like a big boy :-)

A fun weekend for all!

Meet "Tempo"

2009-12-01T19:41:00.004-05:00

The new puppy came home on November 10, 2009, at 7 weeks of age. His name is "Tempo" as I have a real fondness for music :-) His registered name will be Shebaa's Heart And Soul. I've had him for 3 weeks now, and he's doing great. I've lost count of how many 'new people' he has met but it is way over 100 by 10 weeks of age, so he's getting well socialized during the critical time. He is experiencing many different things to prepare him for an active life of agility & flyball, as well as simply being a well-adjusted and confident companion. He's a very good puppy and I look forward to the journey ahead of us!

Dandy with his baby brother Tempo...

Tempo tries out the agility tunnel!

Agility Season Wrapped Up

2009-12-01T19:31:00.002-05:00

We just finished our last two Agility trials for 2009. Token earned a Team Qualifier for 2010, also finishing his Tournament Master title.
Dandy also earned a Team Qualifier for 2010, with his team placing 3rd in the tournament!
Both Token & Dandy earned multiple placements in the team classes.

Dandy has also earned a Grand Prix qualifier for 2010.

Overall, 2009 was a good year, both dogs made progress as all three of us are learning new & improved ways of handling. It will be a work in progress for quite some time, but we are enjoying the journey in spite of the not-quite-perfect runs! Regardless of "Q's" and ribbons won or lost, I am grateful to have happy healthy dogs who truly enjoy playing this game with me.

The Chosen One

2009-10-28T13:28:00.003-04:00

Meg & Token's pups are only 5 weeks old, but I have made my choice. Since I want another boy, and there are only two in this litter, both black/white, both marked very similar, the choice was narrowed down right from the start! They are both lovely pups, but for some reason, I've been drawn to one in particular from the beginning. He was the last one born, and the biggest (yikes...) and I still don't know that much about personalites. But... each time I've visited the pups over the last 2-3 weeks, I seem to only have eyes for him, so I can't fight it, I must succumb to his spell and claim him as mine.
He'll be coming home with me in two weeks...the hard part will be coming up with a name!

Dandy's Adventure In The Big Apple

2009-10-20T19:31:00.006-04:00

On Sunday, October 18, 2009, Dandy and I ventured into New York City, to the Javits Center. The event was AKC's Meet The Breeds, which was a 2-day extravaganza that invited the general public to meet many different breeds of dogs and to watch demonstrations such as Obedience, Agility, Police Dogs, Earthdog and Flyball. My flyball club, Infurno, was invited to present the Flyball demo. I was not about to attempt driving into Manhattan by myself, so I only went on Sunday when I was able to ride in with Valerie from my obedience club. Knowing we'd have to walk a couple of blocks from the parking lot to the Javits Center, I brought just one dog. And I was glad I made that decision! For Dandy's crate, I used a little pup tent that stores in a small duffle bag...that plus a bag for all of our "stuff" was enough to deal with while walking one Border Collie who decided that every square inch of the streets and sidewalks needed to be sniffed!

Once inside the Javits Center, we were met with thousands of people. Wall-to-wall people. Trying to get through the crowds was painstakingly slow. And everyone wanted to reach out and touch the dogs...and they did!

Eventually we made it to the crating area, which was nice & quiet, behind curtains, away from the crowds. Prior to our demo in the main ring, we had a bit of a Meet & Greet in one of the small demo rings. The dogs showed how they trigger the flyball box, grab the ball, and run back to get their reward, which is a game of tug for Dandy. In between, the dogs were constantly being petted by children & adults alike, with many of them pulling out their camera phones to snap pictures.

Dandy was awesome...he was a wonderful ambassador for his breed, so I had my work cut out for me in convincing people that a Border Collie is NOT the best choice for a family pet! Dandy is cute, he's sweet, and let the kids pet him over & over without any objections at all; he was a model citizen! But I let people know that Border Collies need not only physical exercise but mental exercise as well, every day. And many are not as good with kids as Dandy is. Fortunately, there were over 130 other breeds there for people to investigate.

(And if a dog didn't suit them, there was also a huge section of the exhibit devoted to cats, sponsored by the CFA.)

The most interesting question I got regarding Dandy was when a man asked, "Is that a Bernese Mountain Dog?" Ummmm....not quite.... Well, maybe he was a cat person ;-)

Our Flyball demo in the main ring was lots of fun, and Dandy didn't miss a beat, even though he has not done any flyball at all since May. But what I'm most proud of is how he handled himself in a very overwhelming and stressful environment. He IS my Pride and Joy :-)

Token's a Daddy again!

2009-10-04T18:21:00.006-04:00

The Meg/Token breeding that produced Dandy in 2006 has been repeated, and on September 22, 2009, Meg gave birth to 7 healthy puppies (5 girls and 2 boys). Three of the girls are blue merles, one is a classic black & white, and one is a black/white tri. Both of the boys are traditionally-marked black & white.

The pups are 11 days old in the photos posted here.

And I have oodles of pictures of the pups in Picasa albums (online):

http://picasaweb.google.com/barkingadchoo

I'm looking forward to seeing our baby Border Collies develop over the next few weeks!

Agility Videos from August

2009-09-13T20:42:00.003-04:00

Finally got a few videos uploaded to youtube, from Agility trials in August. It's always hit or miss if I get any decent runs on tape!

Dandy in Masters Standard 8/23/09

Dandy in Masters Jumpers 8/28/09

Dandy wins Steeplechase 8/30/09

Token finished his ADCH on 8/29/09, by qualifying in Masters Jumpers but that run did not get on video....THIS video is not a perfect run...it was pouring rain, I slipped in the mud, I did an ugly unplanned Rear Cross, and Token zipped into the weaves after the seesaw for an off-course and an "E"...but it's the only one I have to commemorate his day!

Token in Masters Standard 8/29/09

Agility Dog Champion TOKEN!

2009-09-01T18:50:00.003-04:00

On August 29, 2009, at the Y Agility Trial at the infamous Blackthorne Resort in East Durham, NY, Token earned his USDAA Agility Dog Champion title!

We had one of those weekends where, in most classes, we just missed qualifying by one error...but Token qualified in the one class that meant the most to us at this point: Master Jumpers. He needed one more leg to finish the requirements for his ADCH, and he did just that, qualifying with a 2nd place on a very tricky course, in the pouring rain. Running the 117 yard course very conservatively, he finished it cleanly in 21.41 seconds. This also finished his Jumper Master title, too.

I was delighted to finish this landmark title under Judge Lynn Sigman, who is one of the coolest of great people I've come to know through this sport.

Dandy had his moment of glory as well. Besides qualifying in Friday's Master Jumpers class with a 2nd place, he ran fast & clean in Round 1 of Steeplechase to earn a qualification with the top score in the 26" class. And in Round 2/Finals, he continued his fast & clean streak to take the Blue Ribbon for 1st place!

So, not alot of ribbons this weekend, but we got the ones that count the most!

New Title for Token

2009-07-21T22:55:00.002-04:00

July 18-19, 2009 - AKC Agility Trial hosted by the Non-Sporting Dog Club of the Garden State, held at New Hope Farms in Port Jervis, NY.

Token earned his 3rd leg in AKC Excellent A FAST on July 18, 2009, to finish his Excellent FAST title.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_GlJl636J4

Dandy qualified in Excellent A Jumpers With Weaves (24") with a First Place.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WymkUNnvHg

We had a few nice runs that were not clean, but overall both Token & Dandy ran really well. Dandy had a lovely Excellent Standard run with just one error:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Igz_TnXj4A

And it was nice to have a trial so close to home!

Blackthorne June 2009

2009-06-24T19:47:00.003-04:00

Another weekend at the Blackthorne in the Irish Catskills of NY...many good runs with just one or two bobbles...a couple with multiple bobbles...and several Q's for both Token and Dandy.

Token earned his 10th leg in Master Gamblers to finish his Gambler Champion title, and his 15th leg in Master Snooker for his Snooker Champion-Bronze title. He also qualified in one Masters Standard class and in Master Pairs.

Dandy earned his 5th leg in Masters Standard for his Standard Agility Master title. He ran Master Pairs on Friday with fellow Border Collie "Freddie", and they qualified with a clean, fast run and a 2nd place! In Saturday's Pairs class, Dandy was paired with Jefferson, a sweet 13 yr old mixed-breed dog who just won't quit... he's fighting cancer yet living life to the fullest. He is Ann Marie's soulmate and it was an honor to run with them. So it was indeed special as Dandy and Jefferson qualified for Dandy's 5th leg and his Relay Master title. Thank you, Jefferson!

Dandy needed two Super Q's in Master Snooker to finish that title, and we had two chances to run Snooker over the weekend. (3 of the 5 legs for this title must be scores in the top 15% of the class, so we not only had to qualify but we had to beat almost every other dog in the 26" class; the top 3 dogs earned Super Q's this weekend.) In Saturday's Snooker, we went for the high points with the 7-pt weaves, and we finished with 51 pts and 2nd place and a Super Q! Sunday's Snooker gave us a tunnel for the 7-pt obstacle but 4 reds that made getting there difficult at times...we had to improvise after our 4th red as Dandy decided to do the 5-pt jump combo instead of the tunnel....but we made it thru to the end, and finished with 57 pts and First Place and our final Super Q to earn Dandy's Snooker Master title!

Our next USDAA trial is not until August, which seems so far away. But we do have a local AKC trial in July to keep us "in gear".

Our room at the Blackthorne was actually renovated...old dark paneling & carpet are gone, room is bright with pretty area rugs, new drapes rather than the vertical blinds with every other one missing, a new lamp (with the plastic still on the shade ), and the biggest improvement of all, a Remote Control for the TV!!! Woo Hoo!!!!

USDAA Northeast Regional

2009-06-16T20:34:00.007-04:00

On June 12-14, we attended the USDAA Northeast Regional in Bethlehem, PA, hosted by Keystone Agility Club. I have not been to a Regional event in several years, and this was the first one for both Token and Dandy. They were both qualified to run in the Grand Prix and Steeplechase. We did not advance to Round 2 in either due to one error in each run that kept us from having the clean runs necessary for advancement. But I'm very proud of the boys nevertheless!
We also competed in the Team competition (3 dogs/handlers per team, running 5 classes with cumulative scoring). There were 67 teams entered, with the top 33 earning a "qualification". With the intense competition at a Regional event, I didn't have high expectations to qualify.
Token did well on his team, managing to get scores in all 5 of his events (in other words, he didn't get any "Eliminations"). However, his teammates (two other Border Collies) had a bit of bad luck with some off-course Eliminations, so Token's team ended up in 45th place with no "Q". My teammates were fun & supportive of one another, so we still enjoyed the competition.
Dandy was teamed up with a mini-poodle named Beau, run by Lynn S., a long-time agility friend whom I teamed with several times in past years, mostly when I was running Toss. We were unable to find a 3rd so we entered as a Draw, and were matched up with a cool Sheltie named Logan, run by Mary A. With these three boys, we named our team "Sharp Dressed Men" (thanks for the idea, Carole!) All 3 'Sharp Dressed Men' ran well, without incurring any "Eliminations" at all. After the final class of the Relay, we were thrilled to end up in 4th place overall! Of course, they only gave awards for 1st through 3rd....so we just missed the virtual podium. But I could not be more proud of 2-yr-old Dandy at his very first big event, he did a tremendous job! And thanks to my great teammates for helping us earn a Team "Q" as well.
Click Dandy in the Team Relay for a photo of Dandy.
And here is Token in the Team Relay

Lake Days

2009-06-07T18:05:00.005-04:00

Finally, a weekend free with nice weather! I got some quality training sessions in with Token and Dandy, and also got to take them to the lake. Toss got to enjoy the lake, too! (see video!)

Agility Update

2009-06-04T20:51:00.010-04:00

Over the Memorial Day holiday, we spent 3 days at Agility Camp in Ohio. It was a great learning experience! For the sake of consistency & focus, I worked only Token in the camp sessions. (Dandy will get his turn at another camp in July!) Overall, it was very worthwhile. Token ran well the following weekend at the Contact Agility Club's USDAA trial May 30-31, in Wingdale, NY. We still have alot to learn and much to finesse but I see much improvement. Token qualified in 4 out of 7 classes, with placements: 3rd place in Masters Snooker, 2nd place in Masters Standard, 1st place in Master Pairs, and a nice clean run to take 1st place in Round 1 of Steeplechase. Round 2 was not as pretty, we ended up 3rd place. But overall, I was pleased with our runs.

Dandy only got one Q out of the weekend, in Master Pairs, where he ran clean & fast! We earned 5-10 faults in other runs, but I did not do any training with Dandy while at camp nor over the past couple weeks. So, we have this coming weekend off, and I plan to work on skills & drills to get me & Dandy back in sync!

Here is a video of Dandy's Steeplechase run, faults and all...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CHyl9ynDoY

Here is Token's Steeplechase run, 1st place in Round 1...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5GAc-lxtNo

(If the links don't work, go to youtube and search for barkingadchoo)
And I don't know why these can't be viewed in HQ
when my other videos could....

New Flyball Titles

2009-05-12T23:25:00.005-04:00

Flyball at the Fairgrounds, in Greenfield, MA, May 9-10, 2009
Dandy ran as Start Dog on our Multi Division 1 team, which took 2nd place and set a new record for our Best Time of 17.624! Dandy continued his speedy streak by running 3.9s nine times over the weekend. His best time for this tournament was 3.93, and his average was 4.05. And he has officially earned his Flyball Master (FM) title of 5,000 points. (According to NAFA, he hit 5,000 points at the last tournament, Buffalo Wings, but my records showed he needed 20 more points, so we officially celebrated the title in Greenfield.)

See video of Dandy's team on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqjai351gxU

Token ran as Start Dog on our Regular Division 2 team, which placed 2nd with a best time for the weekend of 18.3. Token's best time was 4.04, with an average of 4.12. Token hit 15,000 points to earn his Flyball Master Champion (FMCH) title! AND....the highlight for me in one of Sunday's races was getting a 0.000 start with Token!!!

No more flyball on our calendar for a while, we are going deep into Agility mode for the next 2 months.

USDAA May 2-3, 2009

2009-05-05T13:05:00.003-04:00

The ACE Agility trial in Granby, MA, was much smaller than usual this year. The bad part for me personally was that there were so few dogs in the 26" Masters classes. With both Token & Dandy in the same classes, I often had only 3 dogs (less than 3 minutes) in between my runs. A few of my runs were not good as a direct result of this...but we managed a have some good runs, too. Not many Q's but overall not too bad considering the circumstances.
Token qualified both days in Snooker, including a 1st place and Super Q in Saturday's Snooker. Most other classes we were just one fault away from a Q.
Dandy qualified with a 4th place in Sunday's Snooker...had he not knocked the very last bar, it would have been 1st place and a Super Q :-(
He also qualified in Gamblers, with a 1st place, and in Pairs with a 2nd place.
It was a nice trial with nice weather, and lots of great company. I also got to enjoy a visit with Janet & Token's brother Rippy (and Princess Kelly, too!) as I was graciously invited to stay there for the weekend. :-)

Our next USDAA trial will be the end of May.

This coming weekend, it's back to Massachusettes for Flyball. I was nuts to plan 4 weekends in a row....

New Title for Token

2009-04-28T15:58:00.002-04:00

Token earned his 3rd leg to finish his AKC Open JWW title at the Mid-Hudson Agility trial on April 25, 2009. Jumpers courses have been tough for us, but changing handling systems and retraining his jumping are paying off. He ran a 141 yd course cleanly in 25.1 seconds. The next day he missed qualifying in his Excellent JWW debut as I caused a refusal by not taking one more step that was needed & pulling him off a jump. But Token did his part beautifully, jumping cleanly (even with convergence!), and doing awesome independent weaves. So much improvement since a year ago!
Token also earned his 2nd leg in Excellent A Standard finishing the 179 yd course in 38.22 seconds. I would have preferred that he held his contacts and gotten a slower time...but he was pretty high!

Dandy earned his first leg in Excellent A JWW finishing the 160 yd course in 26.21 seconds, winning the 24" class!

Nice sunny skies, but did it have to be so HOT??? It felt like July, not April!

New Personal Best for Dandy

2009-04-21T19:43:00.004-04:00

Dandy ran as the Start dog on our Multi team at the Buffalo Wings Flyball Tournament in Hamburg, NY, on April 18 & 19, 2009, and set a new Best Time for himself by running a 3.92! He ran consistently at 4.0 for nearly every heat, and also hit the 3.9s eight times. This is the overall fastest he's run to date. His team took First Place in Multi Div 1 with a Best Time of 17.896 .

Token ran on our Regular Division 2 team, which placed 2nd. He ran in the 2nd spot, which he's never done before, and had to pass a dog he's never passed before...so he was not at his best. He prefers to be lead dog :)

A highlight of the weekend was getting to see Token's two pups from last summer's breeding. These girls are now 9 months old.

A couple more pics are on my website:

http://www.geocities.com/barkingadchoo/Cass_Token_Pups.html

Happy Birthday to Token!

2009-04-17T08:30:00.005-04:00

Token is 6 years old today, April 17, 2009. Where does the time go? Thanks, Lynn, for letting me have this very special boy, he is my heart and soul.
Also Happy Birthday to Token's brother Rip!

Happy Birthday to Tripper & Toss

2009-04-16T16:13:00.003-04:00

Happy Birthday to Tripper and Toss!
Tripper turned 10 years old on April 15 and Toss is celebrating his 14th birthday today on April 16.

Videos - Agility Trial April 5, 2009

2009-04-07T22:19:00.004-04:00

Token & Dandy in Masters Standard
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSletivuGQs

Token in Steeplechase Finals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcVBJBJFjJg

Dandy earns his MAD in Master Jumpers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwNnAOsW_TA

Videos are best viewed in HQ

Dandy goes MAD!

2009-04-06T17:15:00.006-04:00

At not-quite 2 yrs 5 mos old, and after a grand total of 11 USDAA Agility Trials, Dandy finished his Master Agility Dog (MAD) title at the Y Agility trial in CT on April 5, 2009. He needed a Jumpers leg to complete the MAD requirements and he did it in first-rate style, qualifying and winning the 26" class by completing a 148 yard course (SCT: 35 seconds) in 22.64 seconds.

I am in awe of this dog and I could not be any prouder. Thank you, Terri, for breeding such a wonderful pup. He's da bomb! And thank you, Lynn, for Token, without whom Dandy would not be!

Token did his part, too, by winning the 26" Steeplechase!

Sunday's Masters Standard course belonged to my boys in the 26" division as they both qualified and placed...A 162 yard course, Standard Course Time 52 seconds: First Place went to Dandy with a time of 38.47 seconds while 2nd place went to Token with 39.2 seconds!

Other highlights: Token qualified in Masters Gamblers with a 1st place, and Dandy qualified in Master Snooker with a 3rd place. We had a couple of disasterous runs, too, but the good runs made up for it. Our next USDAA trial will be in May...let's hope for a real spring-like weekend!

USDAA Agility Trial - March 21-22, 2009

2009-03-23T21:40:00.009-04:00

USDAA Dog Agility Masters Team Tournament - All Dogs Gym, Manchester, NH - 03/21-22/09
Team Gamblers - Both Token & Dandy had nice openings & both earned 25 pts but neither got the bonus points in the gamble portion due to an indecisive handler (that would be ME).
Team Standard - Both Token and Dandy ran clean! Token took 1st place and Dandy took 2nd! (Both ran in the 26" division)
Team Jumpers - Dandy ran clean and took 2nd place. Token had one handler-induced refusal and got 6th place.
Team Snooker - Token earned 47 points and 2nd place. Dandy & I had some miscommunication and only earned 19 points.
Team Relay - Dandy had one bar down & one refusal; Token ran clean, and his team ended up qualifying! (A 'team' qualification is one of the requirements for a Championship in USDAA, so I was very glad to get this accomplished!)
Steeplechase - Token qualified in 2nd place in Round 1 & took 3rd place in the Finals (he hit the last board of the Long Jump). Dandy & I had a couple of bobbles and missed qualifying by 0.7 seconds.

Thanks to my teammates Deirdre, Jody & Helen for taping some of my runs so I can post some videos here!

I have also posted them on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaBbTsAqT4g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4s3__VJQt6E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLFVvS9eZfs

Bestest Friends

2009-02-17T20:09:00.005-05:00

Jessica is a member of our Flyball Team. She is 8 years old, and runs a neat little mixed-breed dog named "Kit" as start dog on one of our Regular teams. Jessica loves dogs, and Token and Dandy are two of her best buds!

Flyball - Mardi Gras Madness!

2009-02-17T18:00:00.004-05:00

Weston Whirlwinds hosted a huge 2-ring Flyball Tournament in Fitchburg, MA, this past weekend, February 14-15, 2009, with a Mardi Gras theme and nearly 12 hours of racing on Saturday.

My club had 4 teams racing; Dandy was on one and Token was on TWO teams. With Token running as Start Dog fulltime on 2 teams, he had 14 races on Saturday, and 10 on Sunday, running over 100 heats in the two days. He bobbled the ball twice near the end of the day on Saturday, as he was getting tired, but other than that, he ran clean & flawless in every race. His individual best time for the weekend was 4.09 seconds. His Regular team had a Best Time of 19.003, and placed 3rd out of 7 teams in a highly competitive Division 2. Token's other team was our Division 2 Multi team; we broke out twice so we had to be careful not to do it a third time if we wanted to place. It was hard to push but not push too much, especially with this line-up that we never ran before and included two very green dogs. This team ended up in 3rd place after some really tight races.

Dandy was only (?) on one team, so he had 7 races on Satuday, and 5 on Sunday, running anchor on Division 1 Multi-Breed team. His individual Best Time was 4.1, and his team posted a new record for a Best Time of 17.779, finishing in 2nd Place.
Dandy earned 925 points, and with Token's double-running, he came home with 1,635 points! No more tournaments on the calendar until April. In the meantime, we have an agility trial in March in NH, so it's time to switch gears again.

Jump Training

2009-01-25T16:00:00.003-05:00

I continue to work on jump training for Agility. Token is being retrained for jumping skills, and a year ago, when doing this exercise, he would have just launched & landed behind me. We've made alot of progress, but it's an ongoing project. I see that I've gotten sloppy, I should be feeding lower to keep his head down.

The Agony & The Ecstasy of Flyball

2009-01-06T19:53:00.003-05:00

My plan for the weekend of January 3-4, 2009, was to combine Flyball & Agility for the first time...a one-day Flyball tournament in Manchester, NH, on Saturday, and then the last day of a 3-day Agility Trial in Hampstead, NH, on Sunday. I drove up to NH on Friday, the weather was fine, no snowstorms to stress over. For Flyball, Dandy would be racing on Wild Fire, our Multi team, seeded 2nd in the Multi division. Token was racing on our Rapid Fire team, seeded 3rd in Regular 1. This was the first time we raced this particular lineup for Wild Fire, so we have some fine-tuning to do, but we ran well. Running Dandy as anchor is a totally new position for me, and I need to gradually tighten up my passes, with Dandy following Bailey, the big Golden Retriever, so we will be working on that in practice.
All was going well until Wild Fire's 4th race of the day....when I had a very unfortunate collision with Bailey, the Golden. Bailey had missed grabbing his tug toy, and while Dandy was racing back to me and I was looking at him and starting to step backwards, Bailey had come back to grab his tug & slammed into the side of my right knee with full Golden-power force! I lost my balance & fell, but the fall was not an issue...it was the impact on the side of my knee and then the twisting of the knee. I sat on the floor for quite a while, trying to be a big girl and not cry. They helped me up & to a chair. A fellow competitor, Shannon, stepped in to run Dandy for me as we had 2 more heats in that race. He ran for her for one heat, but he left on the last one, looking for me. I guess he's more of a mommy's boy than I realized!
After sitting for a few minutes, I was able to walk but it was slow & painful. I had 3 more races with Token, and 2 more with Dandy. Keeping the walking parts to a minimum, I continued to race my dogs, though I could not run up & back with them, like normal.
Even with all the drama....Dandy's team of Wild Fire WON the Multi division! This was a huge accomplishment for us. We broke 18.0 seconds twice, with our best time being 17.87! For a brand new multi team, with a less than perfect day, we are very proud to have won. Token's team placed 4th with a best time of 18.22, so we did a respectable job. (we will not ever win Regular 1, racing against 16 second teams, so we just strive for our personal bests).
Token's best time was 4.09, racing in the 3rd position, so I was thrilled with his performance. Dandy's best time was 4.15, and I know we can improve. Our next tourney will be in February, in Massachusettes.
Sunday was a big disappointment for me as I could not go to the Agility trial. Since I could barely walk, I surely could not do agility. My knee became very swollen. I stayed overnight in NH Saturday night as planned (which was a good plan since it was 8:00pm by the time I left the flyball tourney). But instead of going to the trial, I drove home. I then went to Urgent Care, got the knee xrayed, no fractures, no evidence of torn ligaments, so my Rx was rest & ice & ibuprofen, and see if it gets better. It's now Tuesday, and it's much better, the swelling has gone done, and I have more range of motion. So I'm confident that it's nothing serious & will heal quickly. Considering how it felt on Sunday, I'm suprised at how much better it is today...but also very relieved!!!!
It may still be a while before I can run in agility, but I have no trials lined up until maybe March.
Looks like it's going to be a long winter....

Fun Agility Weekend Dec 13-14, 2008

2008-12-15T21:08:00.006-05:00

Another weekend of USDAA Agility, this time in Dillsburg, PA, hosted by TNT Canines, who did a great job with their first USDAA trial. A huge barn with dirt flooring held two rings, plus plenty of room for crating & hanging out. We had lots of good runs over the two days, even if not alot of Q's. Most runs had just one error, so overall I was very pleased with the progress we are making.

Making the whole trip worthwhile was Token getting another leg in Master Jumpers on Saturday, with a 2nd place! We came SO close to that 5th leg & title on Sunday, but one refusal in a tricky spot resulted in 5 faults....but Token did HIS job perfectly, I was very proud of him. Token also qualified in Sunday's Snooker, with a 4th place.

Dandy came home with two ribbons as well. On Saturday, he qualified in Master Gamblers with a 1st place. And on Sunday, he qualified in Master Snooker with a 1st place and Super Q! Most of his other runs were just one error away from qualifying; he is handling these Master courses better & better. The footing was new for him as the dirt was deep & soft in many spots, but as the weekend wore on, he got more sure-footed. Right now we are "getting mileage" and he is really benefiting from the experience.

Another fun part of the weekend was meeting up with Dandy's brother Seeker, and his mom Jan! Seeker is a very handsome tri, just getting started in agility competition. I snapped a few pics of him, as well as Dandy & Token. What a lovely snow-free December day :-)

Good News from OFA

2008-12-09T21:04:00.003-05:00

Dandy turned 2 years old last month, so I had his hips xrayed to be certified by OFA. I just received the results in the mail, and it's great news! Dandy's hips were evaluated as EXCELLENT!

Photo shows Dandy's hips at 8 weeks ;-)

USDAA Agility Trial Nov.29-30, 2008

2008-12-02T20:01:00.004-05:00

Token and Dandy had a good weekend at the Y USDAA Agility Trial in Poughkeepsie, NY. With both dogs in Masters, and both in the 26" class, I didn't have alot of time in between running them, but sometimes that can be good, less time to obsess :-) However, I also sometimes find that whoever runs first is the sacrificial lamb...and the one who runs second benefits from my experience running the course, and therefore can adjust my handling for the pitfalls. I also have a second chance to handle properly and not mess up twice!

I am very pleased that both Token & Dandy ran clean in the Grand Prix to qualify them both for the Northeast Regional Championship which will be held in June 2009, in Bethlehem, PA. Since it's a commutable distance for me, I really wanted to get them qualified for this, and now they are! And the pressure is off for any other Grand Prix Qualifiers that we enter over the next few months. Yeah!

Dandy also qualified in Masters Standard on Sunday, with a 1st place as he was the only 26" dog to run clean. That is his 3rd standard leg, woo hoo! Not too shabby considering he's been in Masters Standard a total of six times...that's a 50% Q rate! I hope it's not just beginners luck ;-)

Token qualifed in Saturday's Master Standard with a 2nd place, and he qualified in Masters Snooker to finish a new title, Snooker Champion. Best of all, he qualified with a 3rd place in Master Jumpers! Jumpers is SO hard for us, it's been the toughest class by far. So I was thrilled to run that one clean!!!

Our next USDAA trial is December 13-14....and that will be the last one for a while.
Winter is on our doorstep...

Dandy's Birthday

2008-11-09T19:00:00.006-05:00

Happy Birthday to Dandy, 2 years old today!

October 18-19, 2008 - AKC Agility Trial

2008-10-24T22:23:00.007-04:00

Skyline Agility Club - FDR Park, Yorktown Heights, NY
A lovely dry autumn weekend!

Token earned two legs in Excellent FAST, and his second leg in Open JWW, all First placements.
Dandy earned two legs in Open FAST, a 2nd place and a 1st place, which finished his OF (Open FAST) title. He also earned his first leg in Excellent A Standard with a First Place.

Toss got to relax at home, snoozing away in his new favorite spot atop all the pillows!

Flyball at the Fairgrounds October 4-5, 2008

2008-10-07T19:53:00.002-04:00

Flyball Tournament - Greenfield, MA
Token's team Infurno Rapid Fire took 1st place in Regular Division 1.
Dandy's team Infurno Wild Fire took 2nd place in Multi Division 1.
Dandy also finished his FDCH-G title (Flyball Dog Champion-Gold, 2500 points)

No more flyball tournies on the calendar for us until 2009....

September 27-28, 2008 USDAA Agility Trial

2008-10-07T19:40:00.003-04:00

Just a quick rundown of our results at the Contact Agility Trial in Carmel, NY, Sept. 27-28.
Token only qualified in one class but it was in Master Jumpers, which is what we really need the most! So I was very happy with that one. And it was a First Place, too.
Dandy had a great debut in Master Gamblers...and the gamble portion was a tough one, a series of 4 jumps requiring a call-back and re-send (Token only got thru 3/4 of it). Much to my surprise, Dandy took my direction without question and executed the gamble like a pro to earn his first Q in Master Gamblers, with a 2nd place! Dandy earned his 2nd Q in Masters Standard with a 4th place, and qualified in Steeplechase as well.

Autumn Is Upon Us...

2008-09-21T20:10:00.007-04:00

Just a few pics of the last days of summer 2008....
Toss is now 13 years old, Token is 5, and Dandy is 22 months old.

Dandy Joins Token in Masters!

2008-09-16T18:22:00.004-04:00

On Sunday, September 14, 2008, we went to a USDAA trial in Honey Brook, PA, hosted by Flexible Flyers. It turned out to be about THE hottest day of the year...in the 90's and so humid...I no sooner got there at 7:45 am (after leaving the house at 5am) and I started to think I should have stayed home. But this was a moment in personal history...it was the first time for me running both Token and his son Dandy in Masters in USDAA. They were both entered in the 26" class so I only had a handful of dogs in between. Token ran first so Dandy had the benefit of my working out the glitches on Token's run. First class was Masters Standard, and it was a tough one. Again, maybe I should have stayed home There were multiple handling options in several spots on the course so I was having a tough time deciding how to handle it.
Token was up first, and he really did a wonderful job...we didn't qualify due to one refusal at a jump that I should have supported just a little bit more...but he did his job beautifully, and with 5 faults he still managed a 4th place. Several dogs later, and I'm up with Dandy. I knew what worked with Token, so I kept my plan the same except to make sure I supported that one jump enough. I also had Dandy hold his contacts and I kept the run conservative. Over the last jump, and we were clean! Dandy's first time in Masters, and he qualified in Standard!!! I was so proud of him!!! And the icing on the cake: Dandy took 1st place in 26"! Even with our conservative approach, he was 10 seconds under standard course time.
My first time running Dandy & Token in the same class, and even though I only got the Q with Dandy, both father & son were in the placements :-)
Next was Master Pairs. Dandy broke his stay for the first time, to my shock & surprise ;-) and we got a refusal...But we had a very experienced partner who ran clean, and Dandy earned a Q in Pairs with a 3rd place! Token's run is one we're not talking about ;-)
Jumpers was the last class of the day, and we were all fried from the heat & humidity. I sent Dandy off course (my brain was VERY fried!), and Token knocked just one bar. So close yet so far ;-)
Next trial...USDAA September 27-28...I can't wait! These two dogs are such fun to run!

September 5-7, 2008 - New USDAA Titles!

2008-09-09T20:54:00.006-04:00

September brought us another 3-day 3-ring USDAA Agility Trial at the Blackthorne in East Durham, NY, hosted by Y Agility. Despite some heat & humidity, rain & wind, we managed to have a rather successful weekend.

Token did some nice work in his Masters classes, though not without the usual glitches & bobbles. He did qualify in Friday's Master Gamblers with a 3rd place. And in Sunday's Masters Standard class, he qualified with a 2nd place in a large competive 26" class. The 186 yard course had a standard course time of 58 seconds, and Token ran it cleanly in 41.39 seconds. This was his 5th Q in Masters Standard, finishing his SAM (Standard Agility Master) title.

Dandy had a very busy weekend in the Advanced classes, and did an amazing job. He was in 4 classes on Friday, 5 on Saturday & 3 on Sunday. That's asking alot of a young dog who just turned 22 months old today! But he rose to the occassion. We didn't qualify in Advanced Gamblers or Jumpers due to one or two errors in each. But he qualified in both Advanced Snooker classes, earning a 1st place & a 2nd place, and finished his AS (Advanced Snooker) title. We ran Advanced Pairs with a fellow flyball enthusiast, a Dutch Shepherd named Brink, and we qualified with a 2nd place (missed 1st place by 0.03 seconds ). I entered Dandy in his first ever Grand Prix, just to see how he'd do on a more difficult course, and while he did not qualify, he only had 10 faults (missed weave entry, and one bar down). Other than those 2 errors, he ran beautifully, and I was very pleased with his run!

Dandy's big news of the weekend is that he qualified all 3 days in Advanced Standard, all First Places, to finish his AAD (Advanced Agility Dog) title!

So Dandy will now be running in Masters along with his dad Token! I have no great expectations and will not be putting pressure on him to qualify, we are just ready to take our training to the next level and continue our journey. The building of skills is just beginning with Dandy, and it is a work in progress with Token; between training the dogs and improving MY handling skills, we always have things to work on...but that's what keeps it interesting! :-)

Four New Titles - AKC Agility Aug.16-17, 2008

2008-08-17T19:26:00.003-04:00

Another AKC Agility trial at New Hope Farms in Port Jervis, NY, this time hosted by Monticello Kennel Club...my favorite site, 19 miles from home :-)

Token & Dandy both did well, with Dandy bringing home the most ribbons. Token qualified both days in Open FAST to finish his Open FAST title! We had a couple of rough runs & a couple of good ones with minor errors in Open JWW & Excellent Standard. So he came home with 2 Q's and 2 Blue ribbons.
Dandy qualified in 5 out of his 6 classes, and finished 3 titles. He finished his Open Standard title with a 3rd place on Saturday (we had a wrong course, but still qualified) and made his debut in Excellent Standard on Sunday...a wrong course at a dogwalk/tunnel discrimination, but the rest was beautiful! I was already at the next obstacle by the time he finished the weaves, and also while he completed the Aframe, it was so cool to be able to handle him with the independent obstacle performance.
He finished his Novice FAST title with a 2nd place on Saturday, and got his first leg in Open FAST with a 1st place on Sunday! He qualified both days in Open JWW, with a 3rd place (a refusal since I momentarily forgot the course) and a 1st place, and finished his Open JWW title!

It's tough running the two of them, I either have ring conflicts, or just a few dogs in between them...but all in all, a good weekend with a few Q's, a few titles, and lots of fun runs.

Dandy Makes His Debut in USDAA Advanced

2008-08-10T15:00:00.000-04:00

On August 2-3, 2008, we attended a USDAA Agility Trial in Westfield, MA, hosted by All Dogs LEAP Into Fun Agility. The trial site was a fairgrounds, which worked out really well as I just parked my car in one of the open-sided barns and was sheltered from both sun & rain...which was nice considering we had thunder storms on Saturday afternoon. The trial ended up having 3 rings instead of 2, with the 3rd being quite a hike from the others. So running 2 dogs in 3 rings, with 10 runs on Saturday & 8 runs on Sunday, I had alot of conflicts & found myself unprepared more than once. To further complicate matters, I turned my ankle in Dandy's Advanced Gamblers run on Sunday morning, and besides spending a good part of my run on the ground, I had a hard time running the rest of the day. Just a minor sprain but not good for agility...
Dandy had some very nice runs, earning legs in Advanced Gamblers (2nd pl), Advanced Jumpers (1st pl) and two legs in Advanced Snooker (a 2nd and a 1st pl). He had a bar down in each Standard class. He ran clean in Pairs but our partner had some faults so no Q. I'm very pleased with how Dandy is progressing, he is young & still learning to 'find his stride' in competitions. But considering he just turned 21 months old yesterday, I could not ask for any more than he's been giving me :-)
Token came home with one Q, in Sunday's Master Gamblers, with a 2nd place. The gamble was 4 jumps, including a spread (triple), and an off-course tunnel calling him, yet he executed it beautifully & smoothly. He had some very nice runs with just one error. Contacts remained solid but for one AFrame (his front feet hit the ground and THEN his back feet hit the zone, so we were faulted); he had just one weave error all weekend, in Saturday's gamble. All of his runs on Sunday were affected by my sprained ankle, so we did the best we could.
I'm still working on getting my ankle back into shape, hoping I can run at the trial next weekend!

July 18-20, 2008 - AKC Agility Trial

2008-07-22T20:05:00.002-04:00

Having an agility trial 25 minutes from home is a real luxury...so I am thrilled that two AKC clubs have been hosting trials at New Hope Farms in Port Jervis, NY. This past weekend was a 3-day trial hosted by the Non-Sporting Group Club of the Garden State. They had 3 rings running simultaneously inside the huge horse arena with packed dirt providing an excellent surface for the dogs. It was extremely hot & humid all 3 days, and had we been outside in the sun, it would have been unbearable. But being inside was tolerable, and the dogs were able to rest comfortably in between their runs.
Running 2 dogs in multiple levels in 3 rings resulted in my having ring conflicts every day, but we did the best we could. Memorizing 3 courses at once can be a challenge :-)
Overall, Token (in 26") & Dandy (in 24") did great. Between the two of them, I had 6 runs per day. On Friday, we earned 4 Q's, and Saturday & Sunday brought us 3 Q's per day, along with 2 new titles: Token earned his Novice FAST title on Saturday, and Dandy finished his Novice JWW title on Friday.
Here is the recap--
Friday: Token qualified in Excellent A Standard with a 1st place, Score 100, Time 40.89 (SCT: 61, 173 yds) Token also qualified in Open JWW with a 1st place and a score of 95 (one refusal), Time 26.47 (SCT: 38, 132 yds)
Dandy qualified in Open Standard with a 1st place and a score of 95, Time 41.81 (SCT: 71, 174 yds). Dandy also qualified in Novice JWW with a score of 95 (one refusal), Time 20.04 (SCT: 37, 100 yds) He placed 4th because of the refusal but he still had the fastest time in the class. And this finished his NAJ title, so he moved up to Open JWW for Saturday & Sunday.
Saturday: Token qualified in Novice FAST with a 2nd place, 68 points, Time 24.79 (SCT:32), which finished his NF title. Dandy also qualified in Novice FAST, also 68 pts, Time 26.62 . No placement for Dandy as I'm still getting the feel of the new FAST class; I had lots of time left over to garner more points but I played it conservatively.
Dandy earned his 2nd leg in Open Standard with another 1st place, Score 100, Time 47.8 (SCT: 63, 181 yds).
I incurred faults with both boys in Open JWW so no Q's for us in that class. Token ran an awesome Excellent Standard course, but had one bar down, so no Q there either.
Sunday: Token qualified in Open FAST with a 2nd place, 76 pts, Time 28.11 (SCT:32). He had a great run going in Excellent Standard but we got a refusal when I moved too soon & pulled him past a jump. I also blew the Open JWW run when I had a badly executed Front Cross that crowded him and caused him to knock a bar...other than that, he was awesome. So had I done MY job better, we might have had a couple more Q's....
I ran Dandy on the same Open JWW course. His first time in Open JWW and he qualified with a score of 95 (a "refusal" due to another poorly executed Front Cross on my part!). Even with the refusal, he WON the class and posted a time of 23.56 (SCT: 35, 123 yds). Dandy's time, by the way, was 0.52 seconds *faster* than Token's time on this course.
Dandy was a bit jazzed up in his Open Standard course, and knocked a bar so no Q for us there. But he did qualify in Novice FAST with a 1st place! 79 pts, Time 29.43 (I planned to use my whole 32 seconds and still ended too early but I'm getting the hang of it!)

I am very happy with our overall results. Token & I are getting more in sync and he is running really nicely this year. Learning a new "handling system" is a work in progress, but I see much improvement in Token's jumping because of it. And baby-dog Dandy continues to amaze me with his focus & ability, and we are having a blast!

One More Video

2008-07-16T20:28:00.003-04:00

Here is one more video from a recent USDAA Agility trial, held in Carmel, NY, May 31-June 1, 2008. It is Token in Masters Standard, in the ring that's on that darn hill. Apparently I was having a senior moment when I walked the course...because as I was watching the team before me, and I was getting ready to enter the ring, I noticed that they did the red tunnel after the A-Frame...oh, is THAT part of the course? Duh... So I made a last-second mental note that the tunnel came after the A-Frame, which meant handling the A-Frame with my dog on my LEFT instead of my Right, as I had planned to do before realizing the tunnel was a part of the equation. So, the end of the course was a bit of an ad lib. Well, we not only got through it clean for a Q, but we won the class! Good boy, Token!

Videos from June 20-22, 2008 USDAA Agility Trial

2008-07-16T00:04:00.007-04:00

Some Agility Videos of Dandy and Token at the Y Agility Trial held June 20-22, 2008, at The Blackthorne in East Durham, NY. Dandy was in Starters classes, Token in Masters. Not too many of our runs got recorded, but here are a few.

Dandy, AD!

2008-06-25T21:00:00.002-04:00

Dandy had a very successful weekend at the USDAA Agility trial held at The Blackthorne in East Durham, NY, June 20-22, 2008. He only needed to qualify in Starters Standard one more time to finish his Agility Dog title (AD) and he did that the first day, so we could relax and just have fun for the rest of the weekend. He was entered in 7 Starters classes over the 3 days, and he qualified in 5 of them, all with First Places. And he still got 2nd Place in the two classes we did not qualify in. I also entered him in Steeplechase, for the experience, and to my surprise, he qualified in Round 1 in the 26" division. He did not place in Round 2 as we had an off-course, but I was very proud of my baby dog who did a great job "running with the big dogs". There were 11 qualifiers in the 26" class, and Dandy was 9th, with a time of 34.87 (which included fixing a weave pole entry) plus 5 faults added for one knocked bar.

Stats for his First Place qualifying runs in Starters (26") :

Friday - Standard - Time: 42.51 seconds - SCT: 69 sec, 155 yards

Friday - Jumpers - Time: 18.56 seconds - SCT: 34 sec, 123 yards

Friday - Gamblers - 51 points, Time: 40.06 sec - Max Time: 46 sec

--Note: This was also his 3rd leg in Starters Gamblers, finishing his Starter Gambler title (SG)

Saturday - Standard - Time: 36.14 seconds - SCT: 55 sec, 122 yards

Sunday - Standard - Time: 36.35 seconds - SCT: 64 sec, 142 yards

Over the 3 days, he nailed every contact, only had one weave pole error, and had a total of 3 dropped bars. I did not enter him in *every* class available as this was his first 3-day trial and I didn't want to overface him (and I wanted to reduce the number of ring conflicts as Token was entered as well). I am in awe of how well he did, especially considering he is only 19 months old. Our next USDAA trial will be in August, where he will be entered in the Advanced classes. It's nice to have a few weeks to prepare for the next level.

I also ran Token, in 3 classes per day over the 3 days. He had many great *parts* but also some glitches in nearly every class. He qualified in Master Gamblers with a 4th place, for his sole ribbon of the weekend. For the most part, he ran really well, he nailed every contact, only had one missed weave entry, and only 2 bars down. We did have our share of refusals which cost us some Q's but I also learned what skills we need to work on more at home. And the good parts were really NICE, so the "new & improved handling system" is coming together, little by little.

Our next event will be a local AKC trial July 18-20, so we'll be spending the next few weeks combining training with swimming at the lake...improving skills and conditioning, and having fun :-)

Too Darn Hot

2008-06-08T22:43:00.009-04:00

Dandy

Toss (13 yrs old)

Dandy (1 1/2 yrs old)

Token (5 yrs old)

Dandy and Token

Toss, Dandy & Token enjoying the lake.

With temps around 90, it was too hot to do anything but swim!

Cirque de Dogue

2008-06-03T22:00:00.001-04:00

My agility weekend was preceeded by a trip to the Ringling Brothers Circus on Friday night, to see my friend Gail perform. Gail Mirabella is my first flyball instructor and team captain, and she is responsible for unleashing Token into the world of Flyball. Gail has been with the circus for over 2 years now, performing with her Aussies, Border Collies, Rat Terriers, and little terrier mix Cricket, showcasing their skills with flying discs as well as some agility. It was great fun to see Gail & the dogs again, and to watch them perform in "The Greatest Show on Earth"!

So...I was a bit tired on Saturday morning but on we went for another busy weekend of USDAA Agility, this time in Carmel, NY.

The successes (as well as the not-quites) this weekend were more evenly distributed between Token and Dandy. Dandy earned his second leg in Starters Gamblers with a First Place. And he qualified in Starters Jumpers, with a 3rd place...he missed one jump that we had to "fix", which took some time, but the rest of the course was lovely! Just minor glitches in the other classes that prevented qualifying. I ran him in Steeplechase just for kicks, since it's Time plus Faults scoring, and he actually did great! He didn't qualify as he missed the Broad Jump (twice!) and we had to fix that, which took too much time, but the rest of his run was awesome! I was extremely proud of the baby-dog, only 18 months old!

Token also had some minor glitches in some of the classes, but he did qualify in Masters Standard on Saturday and WON the 26" class! Sunday morning, we had Master Gamblers, which is a challenge for us with Token being quite handler-focused, but this one worked for us, and he got the gamble to earn his fifth leg and his Gambler Master title! And for icing on the cake, he WON that class, too! (First time he's ever won a Master Gamblers class)

Once again, both boys were a blast to run, and they made me proud. :-)

Dandy's USDAA debut!

2008-05-26T17:08:00.003-04:00

May 24-25, 2008
Dandy made his debut in USDAA Agility in Saratoga Springs, NY. I entered him in the 26" class as that's what I've prepared him for in case he measures over 21" and has to jump 26". (His first measurement came in UNDER 21", so we'll see!) Oddly, this trial had a huge 26" Starters class compared to 22"...the 26" class was 50% larger than the 22", which is extremely unusual.
He exceeded my expectations by qualifying in 5 of his 6 Starters classes. His first class was Snooker, something totally new for him, and my goal was not to earn the most points but to practice obstacles of my choice in the opening (the tunnel was worth more points than the seesaw, but I wanted to get him on that seesaw for the experience). He finished the course in plenty of time with 44 points to earn a Q and a 3rd place.
Second class was Pairs, Dandy never ran agility with another dog in the ring, but we were paired up with someone I've known for years and we put no pressure at all on one another. Dandy ran the 2nd half, and each of us had to restart weaves plus each of us had 5 faults but we still managed to qualify with less than 1/2 second to spare!
Last class of the day was Starters Standard, but because I was concentrating on the other 2 rings where I had to run Token in Masters classes, I not only missed my walk-thru for Dandy's class but almost missed my run! Someone told me they were calling me to go to the ring (I was working in another ring at the time), so I ran out to the car to get Dandy, quickly looked at one dog running the course, and went in the ring. I did not handle him well at all since I didn't really know the course, but I winged it. We were 2 paws away from an off-course, but we held on & managed to finish the course without faults, and Dandy earned his first Standard leg with a 3rd place.
Sunday, our first class was Gamblers. We earned 22 points in the opening (11 pts required to qualify), and he successfully completed the gamble for a total of 42 points, a Q and a First Place!
Second class of the day was Starters Standard, which I actually got to walk this time ;-) Dandy was awesome, finishing the course cleanly in 37.01 seconds (Standard Course Time was 60 seconds, 130 yards). He won the class easily (the 2nd place dog was 10 seconds behind him) for another Blue ribbon and his 2nd leg in Standard.
Last class of the weekend was Jumpers, and he kicked it up a gear for that one (he was flying!!!), which resulted in going off-course and knocking a bar. So no Q in Jumpers, but I'm still thrilled with everything he accomplished for his first USDAA trial.

Unfortunately, all of my focus going into Dandy, and all of the ring conflicts I had all weekend, resulted in my short-changing Token. I simply was not able to focus enough on his runs, and he really needs 100% from me. So no Q's for Token. But he still made me proud, especially when we came out of the ring after his final class of the weekend, and a spectator was taking pictures of him. She told me he really stood out from the others with his intensity and speed and enthusiasm, and she told me she could tell that he was a very special dog. That was just as good as getting a ribbon :-D

May 10-11 Flyball Tournament

2008-05-26T16:44:00.002-04:00

On May 10-11, we went to Greenfield, Massachusettes for New England TrailBlazers' Flyball tournament. Token raced fulltime on our Regular Division 1 team which took 3rd place. And he raced halftime, sharing a spot with another Border Collie, on our Multi Division 2 team which took First place.
Dandy raced fulltime as start dog on our Multi Division 1 team which took 3rd place. He broke 4.0 THREE times on Sunday, twice being in his last race of the weekend, so being tired didn't slow him down! He set a new personal best time of 3.962!
Dandy also was back-up for our Regular Division 4 team, and he was called upon to pinch-hit several times when one of the dogs needed a break. He was needed in their very first race of the weekend, replacing the anchor dog in the 5th heat. Apparently he caught the eye of a dog on the opposing team who decided to cross over to our lane and go after Dandy. When the chaos ended & I had Dandy back to me, I checked him for possible injuries. His neck was completely wet, so I know he was grabbed. But there were no indications of an actual bite, and he seemed to be OK. (The dog that chased him did not run again for the entire weekend, so we didn't have to worry about a repeat of the incident.) The judge was very concerned, and she allowed Dandy to run down by himself to retrieve his ball & bring it back, which he did without hesitation. And he continued to race all weekend without any issues at all, so we were very lucky on many accounts. I found this to be an incredible testament to Dandy, who is just 18 months old, and to his drive and "work ethic" as well as his trust in me, just like his dad Token. They both continue to make me very proud.

Since we are heading full steam into Agility season, we have no flyball on the calendar for the next couple of months.

Token goes MAD!

2008-05-04T21:41:00.002-04:00

May 3-4, 2008 - USDAA Agility Trial - ACE Agility Club, Granby, MA

Token qualified Saturday in Masters Standard with a 2nd place, and on Sunday, he qualified again in Masters Standard, this time with a First place, to finish his Master Agility Dog title (MAD)! He had an awesome run on Karen Gloor's course...173 yards, SCT: 56 seconds, and Token finished clean in 40.6 seconds to win the 26" class.

Ten years ago, Robin & Toss both finished their MAD titles under Karen Gloor, on the same weekend (Robin on Saturday & Toss on Sunday, in the pouring rain in New Hampshire in May 1998). So it was extra special that Token finished his MAD in Karen's ring.

Token also finished his Snooker Master title today! He needed one more Super Q, and he earned 57 points (4 reds) by nailing SIX sets of weaves in this course (4 sets in the opening, and TWO in the closing as #6 & #7 were both the 12 weaves, in opposite directions). We finished our closing & crossed the finish line at 51.37 (SCT was 51). After all the 26" dogs had run, Token came away with First place, and a Super Q to finish his SM!

In addition....Token qualifed in Master Pairs and also in the Grand Prix with a 3rd place. So we ended up with 5 Q's out of 7 classes (we blew Gamblers & Jumpers). I am so very proud of Token, and running him is a blast!

April AKC Agility Trials

2008-04-30T20:35:00.002-04:00

Our first outdoor Agility trials of the year!
April 26-27, 2008 - Mid Hudson Kennel Assoc - Dutchess Co. Fairgrounds, Rhinebeck, NY
Brisk weather but we were spared the predicted showers, for which I'm grateful :-)

Dandy qualified both days in Novice B Standard, 24", for his first two Q's in Standard.
Saturday: Score 95 (1 Refusal), Time 42.33 (SCT:73, 153 yards) - 1st Place
Sunday: Score 100, Time 41.05 (SCT:69, 143 yards) - 2nd Place

Token had 2 very nice runs in Excellent A Standard although not qualifying...just one refusal on Saturday, and one refusal & one bar down on Sunday. Overall I was very pleased with our runs.

April 28, 2008 - Clumber Spaniel Club of America - Shawnee, PA - RAIN all day!!!
Dandy shook off the rain & qualified in Novice B Standard, 24", for his 3rd leg finishing his Novice Agility title (NA)
Score 100, Time 39.75 (SCT: 69, 143 yards) - 1st Place

Novice B Jumpers With Weaves was the last class of the day, as the rains started to come down harder, and both boys were running in the same class. Dandy ran in 24" and Token in 26", and I only had 4 dogs in between. The SCT was 39 seconds, 118 yards. They BOTH ran clean, qualifying with scores of 100, and Dandy was right on the heels of his papa! Token's time was 20.18 and Dandy's time was 20.56! This is Dandy's second leg in Novice JWW, and finally, it's Token's 3rd leg for his NAJ!

April 2008 Flyball

2008-04-23T20:28:00.002-04:00

April 5-6, 2008 - Flyball tournament in Dover, NH. (An extra bonus to our NH trip was we got to see Lynn & Fran this time!) Both Token & Dandy raced fulltime, and Dandy also raced a few extra heats as a backup on our Regular Division 5 team.
Token & I are getting better at passing (running "3rd" position, as opposed to start dog), but it's still a work in progress. His team placed 3rd in Regular 1 Division, and Token earned his FMX (Flyball Master Excellent) title by hitting 10,000 points!
Dandy races as the Start dog our our Multi Division 1 team, who placed 3rd. Dandy earned his FDCH-Silver title (Flyball Dog Champion-Silver) and now has over 1,000 points.

March 2008 - Dandy's Agility Debut

2008-04-23T20:10:00.002-04:00

March 20-21, 2008 - Dandy made his official debut in Agility competition at an AKC Trial hosted by the Hudson Valley Golden Retriever Club. It was a nice, small one-ring trial, indoors at the Sullivan County Community College. The surface was Max Trax, a type of indoor carpeting designed for dog agility. But it is sometimes a difficult surface for the big, fast dogs to run on, as it can be slippery. Neither Token nor Dandy had ever run on this surface, so I was pleased that they both did pretty well on it. Dandy was jumping 24" while Token was entered in the 26" division.
In the Novice Standard class, Dandy did great, he nailed everything except the collapsed tunnel...he would start to go in, then turn around & come out...he just didn't trust this in a "new location". So he didn't qualify either day since he never completed that obstacle.
In Novice Jumpers With Weaves, he knocked one bar the first day. But the 2nd day, he ran clean & got his very first "Q" and a First Place.
Token didn't bring home any ribbons, but he had some really awesome runs; just one bar down in Jumpers both days, and in one standard run, I caused a refusal...otherwise, he did great, nailing his contacts & weaves just beautifully.
To commemorate Dandy's debut, I bought a lovely big print from the show photographer, Dog House Arts. It's a great shot of Dandy coming over the double jump, a wonderful memento!

In Memory of Robin

2008-03-22T19:00:00.006-04:00

Merlynn's Running On Faith

LAA-Bronze, ADCH-Bronze, SACH-Gold, TM-Gold, JCH-Silver, SCH-Silver, MX, MXJ, CD

April 19, 1993 - March 22, 2008

Robin turned out to be one of my greatest teachers. He was not an easy dog to train, but that is why he taught me so much. He introduced me to sheep herding, which was his greatest desire. He convinced me to leave competitive obedience and focus on agility instead. And he was my portal to so many life lessons. He made an indelible impact on my life and he will always be with me in spirit.

I love you, Dinky Doody.

Flyball Tournament March 1-2, 2008

2008-03-03T15:26:00.002-05:00

We trekked to New Hampshire for another Flyball tournament, and both Token & Dandy did great. Token ran full time on our Division 1 Regular team and we took 2nd place. Token ran half-time on our Division 1 Multi team, which also took a 2nd place. Token earned a total of 865 points over the weekend, inching closer to hitting 10,000 points for the FMX title. Less than 600 more points are needed, so maybe next month! Token continues to have an amazing boxturn, especially for such a big boy....a talent which he seems to have passed on to Dandy :-)

Dandy raced full-time for 2 days for the first time. This was just his 3rd tournament. He had 4 races per day, with a 3/5 format, and he was the start dog on our Division 3 Regular team, so he got plenty of racing time without being overfaced. This team of young, green dogs took a few races to get in sync but we got it together and pulled off a 2nd place!
Dandy earned a total of 462 points over the weekend, finishing his FDCH title, and he now needs just 48 points for the FDCH-Silver (1,000 pts).
And best of all, Dandy hit a new personal best time for himself with a 3.996! Again he's made me very proud!

Our next Flyball tournament will be in Dover, NH, in April.

Dandy's First Agility Match

2008-02-24T18:38:00.000-05:00

February 24, 2008 - Today I took Dandy to his first Agility Match. I ran him on the Excellent course even though he's just a Novice. We need work on tunnel/contact discriminations but everything else was good! (Training issues edited out of video!) But he did a great job, I'm very very pleased!

February 2008 - Flyball

2008-02-06T19:29:00.000-05:00

Pictured here is Dandy at practice.

February 2, 2008 - At a one-day Flyball tournament at All Dogs Gym in Manchester, NH, Dandy raced fulltime on our Regular Division 4 team, which took a 1st place. Dandy raced start position for the first time and he loved it! He raced equally well in both left and right lanes, with no issues. Other than just one bobbled ball, he raced like a seasoned dog. He averaged 4.18 and he posted a new personal-best time of 4.01 !
Token raced on both our Regular Division 2 and our Multi Division 1 teams. (A total of 9 races for the day) Our Regular team set a new record of 17.397 in our first heat of the day. However, since the break-out time was 17.4, we had to hold back a little for the rest of the day, but we did still take First Place in our division. Token raced the Start position on Multi & there he averaged a 4.18, with a best-time of 4.08 .
More Flyball to come in March!

January 2008

2008-02-06T19:23:00.000-05:00

January 5-6, 2008 - Dandy made his official debut in Flyball at Fur Fun's tournament at Y2K9s in Pennsylvania. He shared a spot on our Regular Division 1 team with his papa Token. Dandy raced in 2 races on Saturday, and in one on Sunday, keeping him in the left lane as he had trouble switching to the right lane. But he did great in his comfortable left lane and earned his FD & FDX!And this team placed 2nd in Division 1 with a new team record of 17.6 .

This video shows Dandy (13 months old) learning his boxturn, with Token coaching in the background!