Kili also finished her Challenge title at our last trial, saving herself only slight embarrassment. You see, Kili has been running agility for about 5 years now... and Kenna for just over a year. But well, they're two very different dogs who got two very different handlers during their formative years!
In typical Kili fashion, we had a couple of complete throw away runs in Standard and Steeplechase and we had two very nice runs in Challenge and Snooker. With Kili you just often don't know exactly what dog you've got on the line until you get going.
But in all seriousness, Kili has accomplished the goals I set for her and then some. She is working on her Silver titles in AAC right now which is nothing to sneeze at for any dog, and especially for a sighthound. Hopefully we will have many more years to run together and many more titles to finish. She can be a bit of a kamikaze, but I love her and she loves to play this sport with me... you really can't ask for much more.
We were at another local trial recently where both girls ran fabulously. All of the errors were mine - I messed each dog up once with my handling... Kenna on her Masters Standard run (not videoed) and Kili on her Challenge.
Kili was a very good girl but the entire day I felt like she was a bit slow. At first I wondered if she is just getting older and needs to be dropped down to Specials. She's also had a bunch of time off for that toe injury, but I did run her at the CKC trial last month and she was wickedly fast. Finally after the final run of the day, as I was running her back to her kennel my trainer noticed that she was limping on her back left leg. I couldn't find anything significant with it and she is right back to normal again, so she must have just tweaked something.
Kenna finished her Master Jumpers Dog of Canada title as well on this final run. Good girl. We really need more Gamble and Snooker runs to enter as we're falling behind on those. She still needs one of each to get out of Advanced... we just haven't entered any trials offering them lately!
A few weeks ago the girls went to their first CKC trial of 2018. It's a local trial, and one of the few times we go for a full weekend. I was especially glad we managed to attend both days since we will be missing most of the other CKC trials this summer due to my Ultimate frisbee touring schedule.
Kili was a true rock star. She had already completed all of her Jumpers with Weaves (JWW) that she needed so I did not enter her in any JWW runs. CKC is notoriously expensive, and so I had decided awhile ago that once she completed her championship I would no longer enter her in Standard or JWW, only in games (Steeplechase, PAD, Jumps and Tunnels). Unfortunately, only the Standard and JWW runs count of top dogs placements, so she will not be very high up the standings this year. However, since she was the #1 hound this year, I'm okay to let her slide a little in the standings and give that a rest.
She only needed 3 more Standard runs, and there were only 3 offered at this trial. Knowing Kili's Q rate is usually around 50-75%, I figured it would probably take 2 trials. However, she was a very good little girly and had a 100% Q rate for the weekend and completed her CKC Championship. She is now a dual agility champion in both AAC and CKC. Time to move on to UKI for the trifecta!
Last weekend the girls attended a local agility trial and both did really well.
Kenna had a bit of bad luck in her Gamble. She had a beautiful opening, but the course time for the closing gamble was very tight and even though she did it, she had a little bobble that cost enough time that we were a split second over time... so no Q. :( She also had a really beautiful Challenge run that I didn't get recorded.
Kili ran really well and had a perfect trial. She completed her Master Team Relay Dog of Canada and got her 10th Masters Jumpers which completed her Expert Bronze Jumpers. Unfortunately, I didn't get either of those runs on tape.
Both girls ran a really nice Master Standard course and I have video of both girls. So I thought it would be really fun to split screen the runs and watch them run it against each other. It really highlights the differences in their running styles. Kenna is so compact and can turn nice and tight, and she collects nicely over jumps when asked. Kili has no clue how to collect and takes pretty much every jump in extension no matter how hard I try to convey to her that she needs to shorten up her landing. The result is that Kenna is WAY faster, even though their actual ground speed is probably fairly similar. Kenna saves strides by turning tight.
I have been nursing a couple of injuries recently so the dogs have not been doing much agility the past couple of months. We have been focusing on obedience and some of our SuperDogs behaviours as we have a show coming up in March. However, the girls did have a half day trial this weekend where they had a lot of fun.
This was Kenna's first trial running some courses at the Masters level. She has moved up in both Standard and Jumpers, so she got to try a Masters Jumpers course and a Challenge. Challenge is a Masters Standard class that adds some extra degree of difficulty. There are usually some extra "challenges" on the course compared to a typical Standard course. We had a couple of small bobbles that we were able to save on this course, and overall I thought she handled it very well! In fact, she was 2nd across all heights, and if I hadn't made her hold her contacts and wasted an extra second or two she would have been first (but contact criteria is really important to me right now, it's well worth the extra time it takes).
Kili got a Q in Masters Snooker, but sadly no video... although she was a bit wild and there was a fair bit of yelling involved to keep her on track... similar to her Masters Jumpers run. She didn't qualify in Jumpers but I was quite happy with how she handled the course as it was very tricky. Kenna had baby dog brain and couldn't quite get her act together on the Jumpers run, but it was her very first Masters run so I forgave her. ;) Kenna is 23 months old now and I'm just tickled pink with how she's coming along. She's really something special.
Kili also had a very successful weekend at the Dogs At Large trial over the Thanksgiving weekend. She completed her Expert Snooker Bronze and her Bronze Award of Merit titles. The Expert Snooker Bronze requires 10 Q's in Snooker at the Master level. The Bronze Award of Merit requires 10 Q's of combined Standard and/or Challenge, and 25 Games (Jumpers, Snooker, Gamble, Steeplechase, or Team Relay).
Sadly I only got 2 of her runs on video, neither of which were particularly good. In her Master Standard run, she made an unusual error of popping at pole number 10. Her biggest weave pole issue is typically hitting entries... once in she rarely pops. Her Challenge run was really nice, but unfortunately that big, long stride was a bit difficult to manage on a tight portion of the course and resulted in an off course.
Kili also attended the PACE trial and ran very well, though we continue to struggle with what just generally seems to be bad luck! On this weekend most of our errors were handler induced, but I was still really happy with my handling. I felt like I made really great decisions for our team and executed some of the hardest stuff very well. Unfortunately we would then have a small bobble or oversight (I called her too hard in one spot and cause her to take the wrong end of the tunnel, I got tongue tied and couldn't get "weave" out of my mouth quick enough, I didn't think I needed to call her in the tunnel and got an off course jump, etc) that was generally my fault.
Kili is not quite as "honest" as Kenna is. An honest dog is one that generally always looks to her handler for direction, rather than just taking what she thinks is correct and checking later. Coming out of a blind obstacle like the tunnel, Kenna generally looks to see where I am and what I am cuing next... whereas Kili will just launch over whatever is in front of her unless I call for her attention. The benefit of an honest dog is that you sometimes don't see every trap while you're walking the course. An honest dog will either just follow you regardless, or at least give you a split second to see that they are looking at a different option on course. With a dog like Kili, if you don't foresee the trap... it's usually too late by the time you realize she's seen something else!
Kili and I participated in the 2017 AAC Alberta/Northwest Territories Regionals in June. You will remember that last year at her very first Regionals she blew me away and placed 3rd. This year we stepped it up a notch... literally! Right into second place!
We started with warm up day on Thursday. This is when we all arrive and get our tents set up. This year the competition was in Edmonton, so we didn't have to drive or stay at a hotel which was nice. You can also do warm up runs where you just get to do whatever you want with the equipment, and can use a toy reward. And there's also 2 rounds of Steeplechase. The Steeplechase runs are normal AAC sanctioned runs, so you can count them towards your titles if you Q. Kili Q'd both of her rounds, finishing her Master Steeplechase title (requires 10 Q's) and was also one of the fastest combined times so she qualified for the Steeplechase final on Sunday afternoon. Keep an eye out for the bird that made an appearance in our first Steeplechase! That was exciting... but not for me! The Steeplechase final was the very last event to be run on Sunday, and everyone (human and dogs) was exhausted. Poor Kili was SO tired. It was her 10th run over 4 hot days and she was not really on the ball. However, she gave me everything she had left and she finished third!
I was really happy with how we ran overall. We had some missteps, and Kili was Kili, which is always interesting, but I felt like we were really on as a team for pretty much the entire weekend. She was listening and I was hopefully being a good handler for her. I struggled a bit this year with expectations. Last year was very stress free because I didn't expect us to do much except hopefully have some good runs... and she went and placed 3rd! I had anxiety about "what if we don't do as well this year?" and I found it affecting my enjoyment of the trial. I reminded myself that Kili has already proven herself, and no one really cares where she places, so neither should I. And although I had to give myself that pep talk before every run (I'm a competitive person, what can I say?), and I wasn't completely without nerves, it did help and I found myself much more free to enjoy myself. Side benefit: I run better when I'm not nervous!
One of my goals from last year was to do better in Gamble. I think we did achieve that goal, but I was still a bit disappointed as I think we could have done better. The first Gamble was our very first run of Regionals on Friday and she came out absolutely wild. When she's wild she can't hit weave pole entries. If she'd been a bit more settled, we definitely would have had that Gamble. Oh well. More stuff to work on!
Sadly, I made a last minute decision not to attend Nationals again this year, despite it being close by in BC. I am also playing competitive Ultimate Frisbee this year and I have several trips to attend for that, as well as a trip home. Nationals ended up being at the bottom of the totem pole and I decided to cut it to conserve money. Also, I found out that it was being run on sand, and Kili can be such a princess about sand. I was concerned about spending the time and money to go and her not running properly because of the footing. It is sad though, because this is the last year for Kili to be competitive as the jump heights are changing as of January 1st and she'll be competing against large border collies. I'm okay with that though. This dog has absolutely nothing left to prove to me. She has attained all of the career goals I set, and shattered any other expectations I had of her. I'm happy to just go along for the ride and see what else she plans to achieve!
Here's Kili with all of her swag! Where will I put it all!?
Kili also attended the UKI trial last weekend. We struggled a bit with the footing in the barn. We do trial at this barn a lot and generally don't have any trouble, however sometimes the footing can be a bit softer and fluffier, and Kili absolutely hates this. I have no idea why, but it's very demotivating for her and she'll be slow, she'll pop her weave poles, etc. It is incredibly annoying, especially since there doesn't seem to be any way to train through it. I also find it particularly annoying because she LOVES to run in sand otherwise. If you take her to the beach she'll run like a demon. At our one practice barn that is VERY sandy, she'll muddle through practice, but then when we turn the dogs loose to run while we clean up... she will gallop around like mad. I have just come to accept that she is a princess and there's not much I can do about it except try to cheer lead her through, so you can hear me talking and yelling a lot more than usual in these runs.
All said though, she came away with 2 Q's (her Jumpers run wasn't videoed), so not a bad day.
Another Northern Alberta Canine Association (NACA) dog show is behind us. This is a large, local show that we attend every year for agility, and this year Kenna also showed in conformation. The show also hosts Rally and Obedience competitions.
I was so pleased with how Kili ran. She was listening and controlled all weekend long, but we just couldn't seem to find our lucky charms. On some very tough courses we handled all the hard stuff but struggled with minor 5-fault errors and only ended up Q'ing 2 out of 9 runs. It's almost more disappointing when we run well but can't Q. Still, I was very pleased with Kili's performance, and I got a couple of nice comments on how well she was running.
Kenna showed 3 days in a row, and sadly I can tell that her interest and comfort with showing are dwindling. She was absolutely fabulous the first day, stacking well, beautiful free stacking, super interested and attentive. There were no other greyhounds entered that day so she went to the group ring automatically. She made the first cut in group but not the second for placements. Still, that's the best we have done in the group ring! Later that day we were entered in Juvenile Sweepstakes and Kenna won Best of Opposite Sex! To get there she had to beat out 4 other 12-18 month females of various breeds, then she went into the ring with the winners of the 6-9 month and 9-12 month categories and the male winner of the 12-18 month. The 12-18 month male won the sweepstakes, and Kenna was second. Unfortunately, in sweepstakes there are no championship points awarded, however you win a portion of the entry fees. Her total earnings for the day was $91, which basically paid her full 3 days of entry fees. Yay! Unfortunately, she was not too happy about having to go back into the ring the next two days. She was a good girl and did her job, but she just lacked that happy spark that I like to see. We will go to some more handling classes and try to get her more comfortable again.
As a special treat for being so good, and having to go in the show ring while Kili got all the fun of playing agility, I convinced the hosting club to let me run Kenna for fun at the very end of the trial. The last class was Novice Jumpers, so that's the course we ran. Kenna was tired and pent up from a long day in the show ring and in her crate, and at first I don't think she knew what to make of being brought into an agility ring. She was so excited! This was also the first time she's gotten to play outdoors since last fall. And she's never seen this ring before. What a good baby dog!
A few years ago I took a seminar with Dr. Christine Zink, a sports and rehabilitation specialist. I learned all sorts of great stuff there, including a discussion on how to identify lameness using jumps and weave poles. A colleague of mine just recently attended the same seminar, and she asked me to get some slow motion videos of dogs doing weave poles for her to analyze, so I took a video camera to practice a couple of times and got some footage of my own dogs, as well as one of my trainer's dogs. Basically you can look at what the dog is doing with footwork to help identify front leg lameness. Dogs do weave poles one of two ways: single foot or double foot. Most large dogs use a single foot technique, while small dogs use the double foot, however some large dogs will also use the double foot technique. Deviation in how a dog performs on one side of the poles vs the others can be an indication of lameness.
Aside from lameness studies, weaves poles are just really neat to check out in slow motion.
Here is Kili who is quite proficient with the single foot technique and shows a very clean and consistent footwork pattern on both sides of the poles:
And here is Kenna at 14 months who has been doing a full set of 12 poles for only about 3 weeks now. She is very fast and looks great, however you can see that her footwork is not 100% consistent yet. In this video she tends to use one foot on the right side but two feet on the left. If I were to video her over several different sessions we would see that she sometimes uses the single foot technique the whole way through, and she sometimes throws a couple of double feet in. She's young and very green on the weave poles so this is just her figuring out the footwork that works best for her, and I imagine that as she gains more experience she will settle into being a single footer. On an experienced dog who typically uses the one foot technique, however, a video like this might indicate that the dog is experiencing pain or discomfort, most likely on the left front leg.
Kili once again made the top dogs listing for 2016 in CKC agility. She retained her spot as the #3 hound in Canada, despite missing a trial and having a poor showing at another. So proud of her!
As part of our "March Madness" we went to a full weekend CKC agility trial.
This trial was super special because Kili and Kenna's breeder was in Edmonton to judge a UKC Rally/Obedience trial. Unfortunately, we were unable to enter that because of the conflict with agility (and come on, agility always comes first!), so I invited her out on Friday night to watch us. The girls were so excited to be reunited with the original momma! It has been less than a year since Kenna left her first home, but Kili has not seen her breeder in 4.5 years.
Kili had a pretty awesome trial. She listened really well for most of it and ended up coming away with 25 points toward the 2017 Top Dog placements. That's more than half of what she earned last year. Partly that's what a good trial with a good Q rate will do for you (she was over 50% at this trial) and partly that's because last year she was only in the Master Excellent class for about half of the year, the first part of the year she was still in Excellent. You get 5 points for every Standard and JWW Q in Master Excellent, but only 4 in Excellent (and 3 in Intermediate and 2 in Novice).
If we keep this pace Kili will have the highest score she's ever achieved, and maybe even place 1st of all the hounds. We're really just there to have fun, but scoring points never hurts!
The Top 5 dogs in every breed qualify for the CKC Invitational in July. Last year was the first year for the Invitational and it was in Ontario so we did not attend. This year it is being held in Ontario again. My trainer is talking about going so I am considering it, as it would be really nice to have an experienced agility friend with me the first time I fly a dog.
Kili and I were at an agility trial last weekend and this weekend, kicking off the start of an insane month of trials and dog shows. Last weekend Kili ran absolutely amazing on some really tough courses, and she wasn't too shabby this weekend either. I was really pleased with her effort in Gamble even though she didn't Q. The final gamble was pretty tough, and I was impressed with her focus and listening. She tried really hard to figure out what I wanted.
I was also really happy that she managed to Q this Steeplechase run. It was the very last run of the day and I could tell she was tired. She didn't even try to make the weave pole entry, which is usually the first piece of equipment that starts to suffer. Also, this was the 6th set of weave poles I asked her to do. There were the 2 sets in Gamble (see the video above), then there was a set in Standard (no video, she ran very well, just got a refusal on a jump which was partly my fault), and then 2 more in Snooker (which she Q'd). Luckily weave poles are judged at a Starter level in Steeplechase, which means there are no faults unless you fail to complete them, they just eat up time which is precious in this event. Then she had a refusal at the A-frame, but there are no faults for that in Steeplechase, again it just eats up precious time. The allowed time in Steeplechase is generally quite tight. We have frequently found that if we have a bobble at the weave poles, we cannot make time. However, despite 2 errors, Kili was still 3 seconds under time. She absolutely FLEW on this course.
I do want to point something out though for those of you at home. The minimum spacing in AAC is 15 feet. When I walked the course, I had already identified that the space between the two yellow jumps after/before the A-frame was very short (the minimum 15ft allowed). I considered that the first pass might be alright since speed would be reduced by the stopped contact of the A-frame, however I had a strong suspicion that on the way back this would be a bounce jump. A bounce jump is when the dog does not take a stride between landing and take off... the landing of one jump IS the take off for the next jump. This is very difficult for the dog in terms of timing, and requires a great athletic effort. I do believe that part of the reason she missed the A-frame is because that too would have technically been a bounce jump. A very seasoned competitor came up to me afterwards and told me she didn't think my dog had any chance of making that A-frame safely, and kudos to my dog for having the sense to bail out.
You will see in a lot of the other jumps, that although she doesn't bounce them, she is unable to take a full stride, she is basically throwing in a half stride or a stutter step. I'm a little concerned to see what is going to happen when the jump heights change and Kili goes up to 24", because I think a few more of these jumps might turn into bounces at a higher height. I'm going to start doing some work with Kili on her striding and recognizing that she can decel and throw an extra step in.
Today may be forever the most memorable moment in my life as a dog owner. Today, it is my pride and joy to announce the first ever greyhound Agility Trial Champion of Canada (ATChC). As is her way, Kili finished in true style by running 4/4 to earn not one, not two, but three titles. She completed her final master gamble and jumpers Q's, giving us her Master Gamble Dog of Canada and Master Jumpers Dog of Canada titles, which, in combination with her other Masters titles, completed her ATChC. As my very first performance dog, my career goal was to put an ATChC on Kili, but of course it is now clear that there will be many more titles to come for us. However, this will always be special as the first big title that we earned together. I am very excited to see what is still to come for Kili, and also for Kenna to start her career. And, while I do have a sneaking suspicion that Kenna is going to outpace Kili's career, the really memorable thing is that though there will be many more ATChC greyhounds to come (mine, and I hope others!), Kili will always and forever have been the first, and that can never change.
There is always so much to learn (and teach to your dogs) in agility. It is truly never ending!
My most recent project has been threadles. Threadles have many forms, but the classic (and the simplest to explain) is two parallel jumps, where you want the dog to take both jumps from the same side. In the really classic example, you want them to take both jumps from the side you are on, which means the dog has to come back to the handler before she can take the second jump (hard to explain in words, I've set up the "classic" in the video below).
Kili can sometimes struggle with threadles, particularly when she's fresh and lacking a bit in impulse control, as she tends to be carried far out by her long stride, and when she turns she's got a jump sitting right in front of her... why bother to take the long way around? However, even when she's listening well we still have an issue. Currently our threadle involves me calling Kili in to me, and then sending her out over the second jump. In other words, she looks at me, she comes to me, and then I have to show her the next obstacle. When you watch some of the best teams running, you will see that the dog instinctively seems to know what to do. The handler gives them the threadle cue, and the dog cuts close around the wing of the jump and takes it... seemingly without actually being told. Well, it's not instinctive... it's training! And I decided I want my dogs to have that skill.
In the below video I'm working with Kili and Kenna in the beginning stages of learning what the threadle cue actually means. It doesn't just mean "come over this way", it means "come and take this side of the next jump" so that they find the next obstacle independently. I can't take credit for the training on this, as one of my trainers told me what to do! But it's perfect. This video is of our second session. The girls are doing great with just the single jump, but are still learning to collect after the first jump. However, when they do it right you can see that they aren't even really looking at me for direction. They glance at me, they see the cue, and they immediately look for the appropriate side of the jump and take it. Now it's just practice, practice, practice... and that's how you get a greyhound to run like a border collie... sort of. ;)
Kili is back from her 1 month agility hiatus. We had 2 trials in the month of December. The first one was a full weekend, and we had the added excitement of getting to trial for our first agility instructor who came out from Ontario to judge. He hadn't seen us in 2.5 years, back when Kili was just beginning to trial. She finished her Master Snooker title under him which was very special for us.
We did a single day at a trial the following weekend. Kili is turning out to be quite the Snooker dog, which is surprising given her penchant for taking off course equipment. In Snooker most mistakes result in being excused, whereas in other events you're allowed to finish the run. However, Kili racked up her 5th Master Snooker run. 5 more to go for her Expert Bronze Snooker title. At this rate it might be her first Expert title. Unfortunately, Snooker is probably my least favourite event!
Kili also got a Master Jumpers Q, so now the count down to her ATChC is only 1 Jumpers and 1 Gamble!
We have had no luck in Standard runs recently. We can't seem to get out of the 5 fault club. On our last 2 Standards and 2 Challenges we've had 5 faults. Better luck at our next trial I guess! Here is Kili's last Challenge run. Challenge is basically a harder version of Standard. All the equipment is in, but there are some extra handling challenges that are thrown in to make the courses more difficult. Kili handled it pretty well, but had a weird moment of trying to duck behind me between the last two tunnels. No idea what was going through her head! Turn your volume down... there's a bit of yelling because sometimes I'm not sure if Kili is listening or about to duck into the wrong tunnel! And with Kili by the time you know for sure she's headed to the wrong obstacle it's too late, so better to yell earlier!
Kili completed her Master Agility Dog of Canada (MADC) title at a trial over the Thanksgiving weekend. She is the first greyhound to ever accomplish this. It requires 3 qualifying runs (no errors) in the Master Standard class, under 2 different judges. Kili actually got her 3rd Q last month, but then I discovered that all 3 were under the same judge, so we had to get a fourth, which is okay because the third Q will still count towards her next title.
This was also her second or third trial in a row with a Q rate above 50%, which had been her average Q rate in the past. Could just be coincidence/luck, but hopefully it actually means that she's reaching another level. Today she Q'd 4 out of 5 runs. She needs a few more runs in each of the games classes (Jumpers, Snooker, Gamble) to complete her Masters titles in each of those. When she completes the last of those Masters titles she will also be awarded her Agility Trial Champion of Canada (ATChC), which is awarded to a dog who achieves all of their Masters titles in each of the games as well as Standard (the MADC). For those that have followed more of the AKC agility (perhaps through Jen Bachelor's dogs), the ATChC is kind of like the Canadian version of the MACH as far as importance/significance. That said, it's not really the top title you can get, as there are lots of titles beyond it. Instead of just adding numbers (MACH 2, MACH 3, etc) they can go on to earn their Lifetime award (100 qualifying runs in Standard) and their Bronze, Silver, and Gold awards in each of the games (requiring I think 25, 50, and 100 qualifying runs respectively). There's also a Versatility award, which I believe is for accumulating large numbers of runs in both Standard and Games classes (again, probably 25, 50, 100).
She is currently 2/3 of the way to her ATChC, so I hope to have that completed within the next 12 months.
Kili and Kenna both got to attend a fun match. We had just got home from our west coast trip, and we had nothing planned for the weekend when I saw a post pop up on my facebook feed for a fun match. I figured, it would be fun for the girls as I haven't been able to get them to class in 2 weeks, and I also thought it might be a nice introduction to a more trial-like atmosphere for Kenna. She has, of course, attended trials with Kili, but only to hang out. Dogs can become ring-wise and some have ring stress, so I thought it would be a nice in between for her - not quite like class, not quite a trial.
We had a lot of fun. Each dog ran 2 standards and 2 jumpers, with a maximum of 2 minutes in the ring. Food and toys were encouraged. Kili of course ran the Master level courses and then had some time left over to run some gambles.
enna can't run full courses yet because she can't do all the equipment. I kept her off the teeter as she's still learning that one and is doing really well with it, so I didn't want her to jump on it herself and get a scare. She also can't do weave poles until her growth plates close. We were still able to do a lot of great stuff though! She is working on sequencing multiple obstacles, and we are working on some of her directions such as "go" and "out". She is also still learning some of the equipment and gaining confidence on others. I was really pleased with how she did, and was so touched by the wonderful comments I got on her from others. Most people were really surprised to find out she is only 6 months old, and thought she was much older based on how well she is running already. Kenna is 6.5 months old and weighed in this week at 18.9 kg.
Our local adoption group hosts an annual picnic every year in September, and it is so much fun! There's usually around 200 people and 100 hounds. There are collar and coat vendors, raffle prizes, games, and a live auction.
This year we offered to do an agility and disc demo, and I also decided to sell my homemade dog treats. I have been making treats for my own dogs for a little while now, mostly dehydrated, and more recently I have taken to baking fish fudge and liver brownies for them. I also made a couple batches of apple pupcakes for the event which were a huge hit. I had planned to offer some crash courses in obedience but with so many events it became very difficult to make that work. Being tied to my own booth meant that I didn't really get to enjoy all the events and festivities, but it also kept me from spending too much money! I managed to escape only buying 2 things, both for Kenna. She got a new collar and an adult sized rain coat.
And then of course there was the demo. I had quite a bit planned for the demo but ran into a lot of unexpected complications. For one thing the radar gun runs took place in the same fenced agility area, which makes sense so they didn't have to set up two fences. They were also concerned about space with all the people they were expecting though, and as a result the area we were given for agility was incredibly small. Timing/scheduling was also a bit of an issue since there were so many events to be fit into only a couple of hours. I had both of my girls to run, and then I asked another local family that has just started in agility with their two greyhounds to join us. I had planned for each dog to run a couple of courses that my instructor had designed for the event, and then I wanted to do some simple gambles (because distance work is pretty impressive!), followed by a little disc demonstration. However, with all the events we ended up only getting about 15 minutes for our demo, which meant running each dog once (I ran Kili twice) but not getting to do anything else. I was a little disappointed as I'd really been looking forward to the demo, but everyone told me how much they enjoyed it so mission accomplished! If I were to do it again in future though I think I'd need to have an idea of the schedule ahead of time so I could be sure that we'd have enough time to put on a full demo to make it worth the effort of hauling the equipment! This was a first for both parties, and I don't think we really planned it out as well as we could have! But that's to be expected the first time around.
Here's some footage of each of the dogs. The aww and amazement when Kili does the first set of weave poles makes me smile. I'm always happy when she impresses people, but I'm so used to seeing dogs doing so much more than just a simple set of weave poles that I forget that it's a pretty cool behaviour for the general public!
Prior to the demo I did have one person remark, "Oh! I know you! You're the one with the magic greyhound that can do agility!" I suppose to most of the greyhound community it must seem like magic, but I assure you there's no magic... just lots of training! :)
The weekend before SuperDogs, Kili and I traveled to Calgary for a big CKC trial hosted by the Alberta Kennel Club. This show is held at Spruce Meadows and is one of the largest that we attend. It boasts conformation, rally, obedience, and agility.
Kili was entered in 2.5 days of agility, and Kenna was entered in 2 days of conformation. I was lucky that I only ended up having one conflict which was easily worked around.
This photo makes me laugh. I guess that's what third eyelids are for!
Kili did not have her best trial. Although she ran reasonably well there always seemed to be something off in each of our runs. I had some handling problems in a few that messed us up, she had a few moments of "what the heck just happened there?" (running past the chute for no reason, running past a jump for no reason, etc), and then we had a problem on Sunday with the rain and the rings being so slick that I fell a couple of times resulting in refusals on otherwise beautiful runs. Very frustrating. She came away with only 2 Q's for the entire weekend. However, she ran pretty well and she didn't get injured... it's important to recognize the important things!
