I took the day off today to go to a dog show. Big surprise, I know. Pie got her MAD. Which is the USDAA title- Master Agility Dog. You need three master standard legs and one leg in each of the games- jumpers, gamblers, snooker and relay. The only leg she was missing was relay, where you pair with another dog. In the past our partners have had mistakes and in one run Pie did too. Our partner today was our instructor with her great young dog. We both had no mistakes and got our last leg and now Pie is MAD. With capital letters because Pie is never mad. She also got a masters gamblers leg and masters jumpers. She was 2 points off in snooker (36 out of 38 needed) because she knocked a red and one of my reds was only a 2 and while we got through 6, it just wasn't enough. If you don't play snooker don't worry about understanding that. In standard I should have called her COME climb but instead she took the tunnel in an a frame/ tunnel discrimination. I should have she shirt- "Praise the dog- smack the handler." Of course, Pie likes to be smacked (it gets her excited), so maybe that shirt wouldn't make sense for us.
Fancy Qed in everything (Standard, Gamblers, Snooker, Jumpers and Relay.) Poor Fancy. She was perfect so I can't talk about our mistakes and give her more blog time. Fancy was paired with our friend and HER super young dog. That is a young dog who is super, not a really young dog. Stir and Fancy got second because Stir is really fast. One of those dogs that you wonder if a dog could possibly be any faster. It is noteworthy they got second because in USDAA even more than AKC placements for Fancy are few and far between.
Pie is going for her first MACH tomorrow and if it doesn't happen then, we have another chance on Sunday. Her first agility show was the Terv Club trial 2 years ago. Not too bad going from her first show to her Mach in just under 2 years, with showing in obedience and USDAA agility at the same time.
I probably should not have entered Pie in that trial, because she wasn't fully trained. I think she had only been training for two or three months. But it was such a great trial, I couldn't pass it up. She wasn't perfect, but out of four days, she got some Qs.
Here are some pictures from that very first trial in February 2008. Looks like she got a lot of blue ribbons. 4? I seem to recall we had some trouble with the dog walk. She kept thinking it was the teeter and when it didn't tip she jumped off the side of the up plank. That is one thing that can happen if you enter your dog before they have had a lot of experience.
Pie was not cooperating for our pictures. She wanted to look at the ducks, but I wanted her to look at the camera. I am so mean.
Still staring at the ducks. She hadn't quite mastered the "hold it" command yet either, so this picture took a while to get. Asking her to look at me and hold the ribbon was to much... So instead we went with a profile shot. And what a pretty profile it is.
I'm not the type of person to never brag about my dogs, but I also try not to over do it. But, I was thinking the other day how Pie got her UD (Utility Dog, it goes- Companion Dog, Companion Dog Excellent, Utility Dog) before she was three years old. She was like two and a half- and she got it from novice to UD in 6 months. What kind of dog does that? Plus, it's not like I had her from a puppy and was training her the whole time. What got me thinking about that was the Terv trial, which I am going to again this year. It is at a great private park and you can camp! This year I will only be there on Friday and Saturday because I have to work Sunday and don't want to drive back down for Monday. We will also be doing obedience on Saturday. It is only offered on the weekend.
Anyway, at that trial, Pie got her CGC (Canine Good Citizen). For the CGC you don't have to "heel" but you have to walk nicely on a leash. You can heel, but don't have to. Pie didn't know how to heel and to this day she can't walk on a loose leash. So I practiced before we went in and rewarded with the leash (meaning I let her play with it) to keep her focused on me. I had to work hard to keep her with me. (We did pass, although she really, really wanted to meet the Min Pin they used as the neutral dog. That was Feb, then that June she entered her first novice trial and had her UD in Dec. And I didn't train from Feb to June. What happened was I decided to enter Pie because I suddenly got in the obedience mood. So I took her to the Home Depot parking lot the day before the entries closed to see how much work she needed. She did ok so I entered her then trained every day for the two or three weeks before the show and she Qed. Then we started training some open and utility stuff. Yes. I think Pie is the best Malinois ever. Dottie has a lot to live up to. (That was quite a bit of bragging. So much for not overdoing it.)
Speaking of the Dot. Dottie was so great today! At the show I played with a jump sending around the upright. (No bar on the jump because it isn't good to jump a young puppy.) The first 2 times she pulled off and didn't go through the uprights. The third time she released herself and but she had figured out what I wanted and went around the upright so I gave her a pat and took her back to where she was supposed to be sitting. But she already understood! So we did it maybe two times each direction and she GOT it. Really understood the game. I was so excited! She also held her down stay the whole time I packed up at the set up and at the car while I was loading. She played with some dogs she doesn't know in the river. Two of them lifted their lips at her and she backed down a bit. Then one of the border collies and her chased each other around the river.
Later all of the dogs played with the ball in the river. Actually, Pie and Fancy played with the ball and Dottie chased Fancy. We lost the ball. Very sad.
It was a great show. Beautiful weather (cold at first- Fillmore) and got to see lots of my friends. The only bad part was it is held on a ranch so it is all dirt and no grass. It is impossible to go there and not get filthy. My shirt may never recover. A scalding hot shower fixed me up. Getting filthy notwithstanding, I do like this site because of the river and because it is fairly close to me.
Now we are all relaxing and recovering, resting up for our AKC trial the next 2 days in Ventura. Fancy is curled up on the throw I use to cover the blue bed by the TV. Pie is in the round bed with her head in the other tiny round bed. And Dottie is mostly on the afghan that has fallen off the couch. I wish I had my camera! Because if I get up so will they.
Anyway, at that trial, Pie got her CGC (Canine Good Citizen). For the CGC you don't have to "heel" but you have to walk nicely on a leash. You can heel, but don't have to. Pie didn't know how to heel and to this day she can't walk on a loose leash. So I practiced before we went in and rewarded with the leash (meaning I let her play with it) to keep her focused on me. I had to work hard to keep her with me. (We did pass, although she really, really wanted to meet the Min Pin they used as the neutral dog. That was Feb, then that June she entered her first novice trial and had her UD in Dec. And I didn't train from Feb to June. What happened was I decided to enter Pie because I suddenly got in the obedience mood. So I took her to the Home Depot parking lot the day before the entries closed to see how much work she needed. She did ok so I entered her then trained every day for the two or three weeks before the show and she Qed. Then we started training some open and utility stuff. Yes. I think Pie is the best Malinois ever. Dottie has a lot to live up to. (That was quite a bit of bragging. So much for not overdoing it.)
Speaking of the Dot. Dottie was so great today! At the show I played with a jump sending around the upright. (No bar on the jump because it isn't good to jump a young puppy.) The first 2 times she pulled off and didn't go through the uprights. The third time she released herself and but she had figured out what I wanted and went around the upright so I gave her a pat and took her back to where she was supposed to be sitting. But she already understood! So we did it maybe two times each direction and she GOT it. Really understood the game. I was so excited! She also held her down stay the whole time I packed up at the set up and at the car while I was loading. She played with some dogs she doesn't know in the river. Two of them lifted their lips at her and she backed down a bit. Then one of the border collies and her chased each other around the river.
Later all of the dogs played with the ball in the river. Actually, Pie and Fancy played with the ball and Dottie chased Fancy. We lost the ball. Very sad.
It was a great show. Beautiful weather (cold at first- Fillmore) and got to see lots of my friends. The only bad part was it is held on a ranch so it is all dirt and no grass. It is impossible to go there and not get filthy. My shirt may never recover. A scalding hot shower fixed me up. Getting filthy notwithstanding, I do like this site because of the river and because it is fairly close to me.
Now we are all relaxing and recovering, resting up for our AKC trial the next 2 days in Ventura. Fancy is curled up on the throw I use to cover the blue bed by the TV. Pie is in the round bed with her head in the other tiny round bed. And Dottie is mostly on the afghan that has fallen off the couch. I wish I had my camera! Because if I get up so will they.
Think MACH thoughts for us! Report to follow.
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