Agility in Oregon Revisited

I'll avoid beginning this post with "Anne" but Anne did send me an email about an agility fun match that was held this past Sunday. The location was less than half an hour from here and I decided it was a reasonable way to spend an afternoon.

The woman hosting the match, Barb Turner, has a nice dirt-floored barn, about 75 x 100 feet, with concrete along one side for good crating space. The ring is well secured--always something I look for when I go to a new facility since the fox terriers are such wily escape artists. The barn is on her property. She hosts trials, fun matches, and teaches agility classes there.

I thought it would be a good idea to get Mimi out for some more practice. I was kind of hoping to find a place where we could practice once or twice a month and while Barb offers her barn for open practice, you have to be taking a class with her. My budget simply won't allow for classes for Mimi, and to be honest she is on the downward arc of her agility career. We are just playing around at this point. I will continue to enter her in trials, but only for a day or two (nearly all trials up here seem to be three or four days long, which is really surprising), only selecting trials that are an hour or less from my home, and only entering her for a couple of runs a day (not for every class or game that is offered). That keeps things pretty simple!

Anyway, the fun match was the perfect venue to let Mimi have some more practice on the contacts and a full set of weave poles (12). We got two runs, two minutes each, for $10 total. Not a bad deal. She and I had a lot of fun and I thought we really maximized our training time. Barb divided the day into big dogs (26-24-20 inch jumpers) for the morning and little dogs (16-12-8-4 inches) after lunch. The three hours I spent there were entirely in the company of people who had medium and small dogs like Mimi.

And here's the real meat of this story. I watched the other handlers and dogs, many of whom I recognized from the trial a couple of weekends ago, and decided to try again to approach a few people. My angle for a conversational opening: did they take classes from Barb and how was she as a trainer. Most agility handlers like to talk about training and their trainers. I figured it was as safe and as positive a topic as I could come up with.

Without the competition and stress of the trial, everyone was much more relaxed (we could have toys and treats in the ring to train) and I struck gold! I spent almost an hour chatting off and on with three women about terriers and problem dogs (not always the same thing, bless their little terrier hearts). In fact, the first two women I talked to dragged in the third specifically because she had a dog with a tremendous amount of fear aggression. They were quite vigorous in their admiration for how Barb helps them train such dogs. I asked a lot of questions but I listened more than I talked. The three women were pleasant and welcoming without being nosy (it probably helped that Mimi looked pretty darned good during our first run so I didn't come across as some weirdo). In fact, they all three suggested that I visit their class Wednesday night (tomorrow night) just to see how Barb operates. Isn't that funny, that the students proffer the invitation! I took that as a positive sign and will probably drop in (without Mimi, of course!).

As a result, I decided to put Azza on a waiting list for a beginner agility class with Barb. I'm still going to do the obedience class (at a somewhat grotty training facility in Corvallis) and I've still got low (reasonable) expectations for that. With respect to agility, I am not sure Azza will ever get on a teeter. But I have seen it with my own eyes, even helped other handlers achieve it: agility, if offered in a positive and supportive manner, can really help fearful dogs become more confident and focused.

Cleaning House

In a tip o'the fedora to my friend Penny in Dhahran, I have to tell you that I swabbed down my toilet for the third time since I moved into my little rental a month ago.

I already know what you are thinking. Why would I count, and announce, the occurrences of such an activity?

Even before I left KSA, Penny broached the subject of how I might feel about cleaning my own toilets. Upul had only been cleaning my house for a couple of years and he rarely touched the toilet, so it wasn't like this was an entirely forgotten task for me. But Penny has been in KSA for many years, and by her own admission hasn't touched a toilet brush in over a decade. The very idea makes her a bit twitchy.

The Dhahran hovel was so hateful and decrepit that I could hardly muster any desire to keep it up but I feel quite differently about my little rental here in Oregon.

I enjoy cleaning the toilet. And sweeping the floor. And dusting. And mowing the grass and digging up pernicious dandelions. There's some pride to be had in house cleaning as the end result is immediate and obvious. But there's also the emotional break with the stale routines I had in Dhahran.

I have become quite a homebody in the past few years (ironic since I wasn't actually in anything like a home for a good part of that) and now I have a reasonable place to look after. And that includes wiping the toilet down every now and then.

Azza and the Jump

Anne loaned me a PVC jump and six stick-in-the-ground weave poles. There's plenty of room in the backyard for them. I raked and mowed earlier today so the yard is at its best (not saying much, it's lumpy and weedy and the grass is patchy but it's still looks halfway okay after being tidied up).

I had introduced Azza to a jump months ago in my hovel in Dhahran but there was never any room to do much with her there. She displayed a lot of fear of the jump then, particularly if the bar was set to any height.

So I worked her on sends and recalls and front crosses with the bar on the ground to get her used to the idea of interacting with me and this scary thing. She was off lead and while her attention did wander a tiny bit, she stuck with me and gave it all a try. I've also been asking her for more nose touches in other contexts, a behavior she eschewed a few months ago, and she is getting the idea that coming to my hand is highly rewarded.

Then I brought Mimi out to work on weave entries. I left Azza out to see what she would do. Turns out she was very interested in the idea of Mimi getting treats for doing things with that jump. She watched us closely and whenever I lined Mimi up, Azza kept trying to get into the act by getting into her heel position too. I didn't exactly reward this nor did I ignore it or inhibit it. I let Azza do what she felt comfortable doing, and if that involved lining up beside me to face that scary jump, well, that was just a fine thing.

The bar was set at 12 inches, a height that Azza would have never attempted previously (she looks at the bar, drops her head and shoulders, and slinks around the jump). When I finished with Mimi, I had a few treats left so I asked Azza to approach and jump. Mimi of course followed my motion and jumped...and Azza followed her! They even jumped it side by side going back the other way.

I've never had the luxury of doing this experiment with Azza, letting the green, anxious dog observe and even mimic the more experienced one. I've not had a training space where I could let Azza choose to go over or go around. This was a very positive experience for her. It was hard to make myself stop but it was best to end on that happy note.

I managed to get her enrolled in a beginning obedience class that starts in a couple of weeks. She already has most of the behaviors--what she lacks is any focus or calmness when other people and dogs are around. If the only thing she does by the end of six weeks is manage to take a treat in class and sit quietly with me, I'll consider it a success.

Being able to reward her for doing more playful things at home, such as running and jumping, should also help build her confidence.

Nesting 2

Anne asked me how I spend my days since I am not working and classes won't start until mid-June.

Embarrassingly I fumbled to give her an answer. I feel like I get things done every day but they are a collection of small activities, mostly related to settling in, that seem to fill each day. I've been spending time in the yard almost every day, weeding, mowing, tidying. I didn't realize how much I missed doing those that.

The weather has been glorious for over a week--blue sky, clear and sunny. It reached 80F two days ago! Anne assures me this is entirely anomalous for this time of year.

The morning sun floods into the front room of my little rental house. It is so bright that I've been tempted to wear sunglasses. Soaking up the sun has become a firm part of our morning routine.

After I walk the dogs, which usually takes 45 minutes to an hour, I make myself a bit of breakfast then sit on my couchlet in the front room reading. The dogs, being part plant, gravitate to the sunny spots and the strategically arranged dog beds and engage in some heavy napping. It takes almost two hours for the sun to move past the windows.




You can just see Harry on the bed below the couchlet. Princess Mimi of course takes the best spot next to me. I brought the dog beds and blankets with me when I flew from KSA, sucked into space bags then crammed into a dish pack box.




Yes, I know, decorating the living room with dog crates won't put us in Architectural Digest but it works for us.

Happy Birthday 2

Here's the video of our Open Preferred Standard run. We didn't Q because we got a refusal at the tunnel and another at the weaves and you are only allowed one refusal in this class.

But consider that Mimi and I haven't been in an agility ring since August 2009. She hasn't been on contact obstacles since then either--and neither of our errors were on the contacts!

I did run her over the contacts in Anne's backyard a couple of weekends ago but that was in the backyard, not the ring, and it was just three or four times each and that was it.

I am so incredibly pleased with her performance. She hit all of her contacts (a bit slow but the performance was good), we got the weaves on the second try, and she read that rear cross on the jump before the Aframe perfectly.

Today I felt so much better going into the ring. Without any need to collect titles or ribbons, my only goal was to have a good time with Mimi. And we managed to do that all day today!

Here's the link to the video. I'm not going to bother to try to embed it in the post.

Happy Birthday To Me

Mimi earned a Q today in our Open Preferred JWW run. Preferred means she jumps at 12 inches instead of her measured 16.

I never really thought that I'd use the "agility" tag on a post again.

If you turn up the volume, you can hear my friend Anne's commentary!

Today also happens to be my birthday. Happy birthday to me!

If the embedded video doesn't work, try this.

Agility in Oregon

Mimi and I are here at an agility trial after over four years absence from the ring. Money (the lack of it, to be precise) and injury and personal crisis (a loudspeaker feedback incident at a USDAA trial set Mimi back almost a year) prevented Mimi from showing a lot before we went to KSA.

Distance gives perspective, as they say. Now that we are back, I realize that while this is fun, there are many more important things in life. I hope that Mimi has a good time during our single run today. We are only doing Jumpers, which has weaves but no contacts.

If she doesn't enjoy herself, if she tells me that this competition thing is too much, then that's okay too.

It's always hard moving into a new area and going to a trial. There are established cliques and local norms of behavior that can be difficult to negotiate. I helped unload equipment at the arena yesterday for an hour. Not a single person greeted or thanked me even though I was clearly a new face.

Today I've tried to start casual conversations with a few people but was rebuffed every time. Wrong clique? Not a thing that's done here? Who knows what will happen if I ask someone to film us today. Hamdallilah, my friend Anne from Portland will be here all day tomorrow.

I did volunteer to work the timer for two classes this morning so perhaps that will help as an intro.

I will NEVER criticize a handler's handling or their dog--we all take different paths to this weird game. Unless we own that dog and live that handler's life, we are in no position to say a thing. Still, even with the strange rules, there are still some constants, the stereotypical types that you can see at any agility trial.

There are the owners who bring every dog and puppy they own with them, taking up tons of space in a very small arena. There are the clinically obsessed who live in mobile homes and do nothing but drive around from trial to trial. There are the lesbian couples, the handful of male handlers, the elderly, the obese, the damaged/bandaged/braced (I'm wearing my knee brace of course). There is a preponderance of shelties and BCs, and the smattering of unusual breed owners who act like they are the only people on the planet who have ever run a fucking Norwich terrier or a Rhodesian.

No matter where you do agility, you'll always see these folks.