Agility & the Holidays!

We have been keeping busy between agility trials and getting ready for the Holidays  :)
We just finished a weekend at 1 of my favorite trials of the year, Hounds for the Holidays.  We were just there 2 days, but I think Rumor and I had 1 of our best JWW runs to date!  It was a very fun, competitive 26" class and less than 0.5 or 1 sec separated 1st through 4th place!  Rumor got 2nd by a couple hundredths of a second. 

It feels as though we are working together and finally a team.  It is nice going to the line and feeling confident that we can get through the entire course, and in good style  :)  We are done with agility trials until 2011 so now it is time for some R&R!

DockDog Nationals!

Wow, what a fantastic weekend!  We had the DockDogs National Championship in Dubuque, IA this weekend.  We only jumped in the Super Elite Big Air waves as that is the top level to jump so it is against all of the best dogs (mostly Malinois and Labs) in the World... I was very proud of Rumor!  My 37 lb peanut did a very good job... he pulled out a great jump of 25' 2" on Saturday with a huge crowd and that got him into the Super Elite Big Air Finals on Sunday!  3 years that Rumor has been to Nationals and 3 years he has made it to his divisional finals -- I was thrilled!  We ended up 7th in the Finals... we really had a wonderful weekend and I couldn't be prouder of my little boy!

In addition to jumping well this weekend, Rumor also won 2 awards at the banquet on Saturday night:
Most Improved Dog (People's Choice Awards)
Top Ranked Border Collie for 2010!

I think it's Fall...

We had our annual agility trial in Michigan where we play some agility in the morning and the dogs get to play on the beach in the afternoon... what more could you want?!?!  It was definitely very chilly this weekend, but Rumor still had no problem swimming and running on the sand  .

Rumor had 2 really nice Jumpers runs where he knocked the double in the 1st run and I pulled him off a jump in our 2nd run.  We had a clean Standard run on Saturday and I pulled him from Sunday b/c the dogwalk approach was really scary to a slick dogwalk... not worth the risk.

2010 STIHL Dogs & Logs World Championships

Rumor and I just returned from Salem, OR yesterday from the STIHL Dogs & Logs World Championships!  It was quite an event and just an honor to be invited. 

We competed in the Big Air division against the top jumping dogs in World and the competition was tough.  Little Rumor (about half the size of all the other dogs) held his own and had at least a 24' jump in each of the waves... unfortunately, that wasn't enough to move onto the Quarter Finals... but we still had a blast and he definitely had quite the fans! 

I'm glad we made the trip out West and it was a great experience... the toughest competition I have seen at a World Championship yet!

Our 1st QQs!

Rumor had an amazing agility weekend!  We have been struggling a little in JWWs, but this weekend it felt like we worked as a great team!  I couldn't have been happier with him.

On Saturday Rumor had a nice Standard Q to finish his MX title!  To top off the day, we Qd in JWW for our 1st QQ!  He blew me away on Sunday when he was clean on both courses again and got his 2nd QQ!  All 4 scores counted towards World Team Tryouts scores as well... so it was a fantastic weekend!

The thought of maybe getting 4 more QQs before the end of November to qualify for AKC Nationals seems within reach!  It'll be a lot of work, but we're going to give it a shot  :)

Summer... busy, busy!

Wow, I can't believe how quickly this Summer has flown by!  Rumor and I have been keeping busy, but taking little breaks from competition... we have been enjoying the heat!

Rumor *did* qualify for USDAA Nationals... Steeplechase 26", Grand Prix 26" and DAM Team 22".  Unfortunately, Cynosports is the same weekend as DockDog Nationals and it has been a very difficult decision, but I'm going to go to DockDog Nationals this year.  Hopefully, next year Rumor will qualify for both USDAA Nationals and AKC Nationals.

Other than that, we haven't been doing much agility (training or trialing), but we have recently started to go to Michigan a bit and enjoy being right on the beach!  Rumor has been loving that 

Our next big event will be the DockDog World Championships over Labor Day weekend in Salem, OR.  I'm looking forward to that.  So, until then... I think we will spend some more time in Michigan relaxing and swimming - gotta love Summer!!!

Summer Agility

Rumor and I had a wonderful, busy weekend this past weekend. We were at a great, new facility that was indoors with the a/c pumping all weekend... which was greatly appreciated with all the heat and humidity.

This trial was fun because both of my parents saw Rumor run for the 1st time.  They thought it was great and were very impressed with his speed and his enthusiasm.

I feel like Rumor and I are really starting to become a team and it feels great. On Saturday he was flying around the jumpers course and, unfortunately, I didn't support 1 jump enough so he missed that, but the rest was fantastic He also had a lovely standard run so I was happy with that. On Sunday he had another smokin' JWW run and dropped the 2nd to last bar, but I was still thrilled with it. And our standard run was going really well until I got impatient and rear crossed too soon and pulled him off a jump.

Overall, I was THRILLED with Rumor... I pulled him off of jumps in 2 of our runs and he only knocked 1 bar in our 3rd run... the rest of his running was great so I'm looking forward to our next trial!

Aloha Hawaii

Rumor and I were lucky enough to be 1 of 5 dogs invited to introduce DockDogs to Hawaii with 2 National events just outside of Honolulu.  They were very long weekends, but we had a blast!  The people we met there were great and I hope they have success with their new club... Aloha DockDogs.  In between events we had 4 days off so Rumor got to do plenty of playing on beaches, hiking and enjoying all of the scenery.

Rumor had trouble the 1st weekend in Hawaii because we haven't ever competed at night under lights before and it didn't occur to me, but he wasn't able to see his toy in the water, since I do place and send with him.  The glare from the lights made it quite difficult.  We didn't start off strong, but we ended the 2nd weekend really well.  I found toys that Rumor could see under the glare of the lights at night and it made a huge difference.  I was so excited when Rumor finished his Super Elite title since he's the 1st Border Collie to ever earn this National title!  In addition to that, he was consistently jumping over 25', which just blew me away.  He even set a new personal best of 26'... which, I believe, is the farthest jump in DockDogs for any Border Collie as well -- he just keeps getting better and better!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1egw1D350E

Rumor AXJ!

Woohoo!  Rumor finally finished his AXJ after struggling with JWW for a while.  He had some nice Standard runs too... I feel those QQs getting within reach  :-)

More Agility :-)

It finally feels like Rumor and I are running as a team again.  I have to admit, it was nice being indoors, on turf this weekend... definitely helped both of us out.

We are still chasing our last ExA JWW Q... but had 2 gorgeous runs this weekend with just 1 error each.  We did get another World Team Tryouts score in standard, so I was happy with that.  Eventhough we had 3 nq runs, I was still thrilled with how he was running... definitely improving all the time still!

Back to some AKC Agility... 1st WT Score!

We went to an AKC Agility trial at a fantastic, new facility in Barrington, IL.  I loved it and hope that there are many more events at this location in the future. 

Rumor and I are still trying to get our last ExA JWW score to finish our AXJ title... we had a fantastic run on Saturday, but I screwed the poor boy up going into the weaves.  Oh well, it will come soon enough.

Rumor *did* have a gorgeous Std run on Sunday and it is, officially, our 1st score to qualify for World Team Tryouts.  I'm going to see if we can qualify for Tryouts in May 2011.  He had a nice Std run at 26" and ran 4.99 yps, so I was happy with that.

I'm definitely looking forward to another weekend of agility next weekend... trying to fit in as many trials as we can before heading to Hawaii! 

A fun weekend away...

"I got my toes in the water, ass in the sand - not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand - life is good today.  Life is good today."

It was a wonderful weekend away for a mini-vacation.  I was in Michigan... playing on the beach with my family with the dogs as well as going to a small agility trial that was close by.  Rumor had a very difficult time with the footing at the trial and the courses were certainly a bit unfair/dangerous for fast dogs... so we didn't have as much success as I would have liked... BUT we had a wonderful time hanging with friends and playing on the beach!

I'm looking forward to my next few agility trials, but I'm REALLY looking forward to our Hawaii trip!  Rumor is going to turn 3 on June 14th (can you believe it??  3!) - not a bad birthday present for the 3 year old .  I haven't ever been to Hawaii before and I'm really looking forward to playing on the beach as well as introducing (and competing) DockDogs over there.  It should be a great couple of weeks... can't wait!

Rumor's hat trick...

Rumor had his 1st 'hat trick'... he has won each of his last 3 DockDog events. 

He really has been coming into his own and had a lot of fun this weekend.  We were in Berwyn, IL for the Chicagoland DockDogs event and it was our 1st outdoor event of the season.  SO NICE to be jumping outside!  Since I am Vice President of the CLDD club I tried to volunteer as much as possible so Rumor didn't get to compete in that many waves.  He jumped a couple 25' 5" jumps and was 1 of 3 dogs in the Super Elite Finals.  I was impressed that we had 3 dogs jumping that far... the other 2 were very good WI dogs... both Labs.

The Super Elite Finals were quite exciting... Rumor came into the Finals in 2nd place.  After all 3 of our dogs jumped we were still in 2nd.  Callie jumped a big 25' 8" jump before us and so Rumor had to give it his all and hat a tie... 25' 8" too for the little Rumz!  That was a new personal best for him.  We ended up winning b/c our other jump was slightly longer than Callie's other jump.  For a relatively small event, it really was an exciting Fials! 

Now, Rumor is taking a little break from dock diving until next month... when we head to Hawaii!!!

Our 1st National Agility Event!

Rumor is now, officially, qualified for USDAA Nationals!  This is the 1st National Agility event we have qualified for and I'm very excited.  We finished our last Steeplechase Q this past weekend so now we are qualified for Steeplechase, Grand Prix & DAM Team.  Should be a lot of fun... now, to wait until Mid-October  :)

Almost Qualified for USDAA Nationals...

Rumor had a very successful weekend at a USDAA trial.  Although he didn't seem to want to get a Q in Advanced Standard, he did Q in both Steeplechase and Grand Prix this weekend.  I was thrilled and so proud of him.  For USDAA Nationals (2010) he already has his DAM Team Q and he earned his 2nd Grand Prix Q so he's qualified for those 2 events.  We only need 1 more Steeplechase Q and we will be good to go in all events!  This will be the 1st time he has qualified for a national championship in agility... very exciting!

Busy weekend... USDAA & AKC... Happy Easter!

Rumor and I participated on our 1st DAM Team ever in USDAA.  We had a good team (Abby/Grant & Temi/Anne) and Rumor was definitely the 'baby dog' of the group. W e had some really nice runs and some runs that certainly didn't help out our team... but, overall, we ended up in 7th place and earned a DAM Q!  I was thrilled with that since this was the only opportunity this year I was going to be able to have to try and earn the Q which qualifies us for Team at Nationals.

The 2nd day of the USDAA trial was another long day.  Rumor had descent runs in the morning, but with a few mistakes.  I was thrilled when we had a solid (but cautious) run in Grand Prix and earned our 1st Q there -- only 1 more to go for Nationals in that tourney!  Our Steeplechase run had a couple of errors, but he was still a very good boy.

We also packed in 1 day at an AKC trial... 2 great judges were there so I couldn't miss it.  Rumor had a fantastic Standard runs with a dropped bar at the end... we are still fighting for our last ExA JWW Q... didn't get it this weekend, but hope to next weekend!

Louisville, KY

We attended our 1st ever Louisville, KY agility trial... what a fun weekend. I have heard so many great things about this 3 ring trial on dirt... and it really was a fun weekend. Lots of friends were there not to mention lots of amazing agility handlers...

Thursday: Rumor ran 26" this entire weekend and he didn't seem to have problems with it. Our 1st Std run was fantastic... just 1 dropped bar right at the end. Unfortunately, I really mishandled the opening of our JWW course and sent him into the wrong end of the tunnel. I just want to get out of ExA JWW... we only need 1 more Q!

Friday: Rumor had another great Std run with just 1 error at the weaves. He didn't hold his a-frame contact and I was all flustered and really needed to hustle from a-frame to tunnel to weaves so I was much farther behind than I planned on being... but the rest of his run was just what I wanted so no complaints. Another JWW Q that was so close, but so far... a knocked bar and then I got all flustered... bummer! We also got to do our 1st ever ISC Jumpers class... how fun! Rumor did pretty well for a baby dog... only 1 refusal and the rest was clean!

Saturday:  Rumor's Std run was kind of a mess... it seemed like the wheels fell off a bit today. After the beginning we pulled it together, but it wasn't very pretty... neither was our JWW run. Oh well. We ran the ISC Std class Saturday night... a couple more errors than the ISC JWW class, but it was definitely our best run of the day so I was happy to end on a high note.

Sunday: Another Std run that was so close... totally clean except he missed the weave entrance - I over handled it and I think that was the problem... sorry Rumz! Our JWW run... we got all of the difficult parts and had a refusal at an easy 180... bummer! Oh well, hopefully we will finish our AXJ in April.

Great trial... the footing was a little hard, but I definitely want to go back next year!

Rumor is going to Worlds!

I was so proud of Rumor this weekend.  We went to Cedar Falls, IA for another DockDogs Zone Qualifier.  I was feeling very under the weather all week and Rumor pulled us through it and had a fantastic weekend at the event!  Not only did he win "crowd favorite" each day he also won the entire Pro Finals!  Winning this Zone Qualifier earned him an invitation to the World Championships in July for Big Air.  I'm very excited... that was 1 of our goals this year and we got it!  Rumor's best jump of the weekend was a 25' 2" jump and I couldn't be more proud of the little man... he just keeps impressing me every time we go out!

Indianapolis Zone Qualifier

Rumor and I went to Indianapolis, IN for a Zone Qualifier for the World Championships.  We had 2 Big Air waves on Saturday and Rumor blew me away... he had a new personal best of a huge 25' 1" jump (his previous personal best was 23' 3") and a 23' 11".  This had Rumor qualified for the Pro Finals.  Unfortunately, we didn't jump as strongly in the Finals as we did in the prior Big Air waves, but I was still thrilled with how he did over the weekend. 

Rumor finished his Elite Jumping title at this event, which is 5 Big Air jumps of 23' - 24' 11" and he earned his 1st Super Elite jump when he jumped 25'+!  There is a relatively small handful of dogs (I believe less than 40 dogs) who have earned a Super Elite title so if we could ever do that, I would be so excited!

I was debating about going to another Zone Qualifier, but I think we might have to make the trip to IA and try again  :)

A great Agility weekend... Rumor's 24" debut

Rumor did a wonderful job this weekend... his 1st trial jumping 24" and he really did a fantastic job all weekend.

Saturday:
Rumor dropped 1 bar before a tunnel in ExcA JWW when I opened up my big mouth -- oops!  The rest of the run he did quite nicely.  His ExcB Std run he ran beautifully.  He has become much better reading lead-out pushes.  This was the first 1st place he has received in ExcB!  I was so proud of him.

Sunday:
Little Rumz had a rockin' ExcA JWW run.  I was being very careful and made sure to take my time b/c I just want to get him into ExcB so we can start working on QQs  :-)  He ended up in 2nd place by less than 2/10ths of a second so I was happy with that.  He only needs 1 more JWW Q and then we can move up wiht the big dogs

I gained so much confidence in Rumor this weekend.  His weaves were fantastic and we were working as a team each and every run... I couldn't have been more proud of the little man.  He gave me the perfect Valentine's Day gift... being a blast to run!

Agility in Iowa

We went to a brand new facility in Davenport, IA this weekend for an AKC Agility trial.  It was indoor and on turf... a very nice facility and I would definitely go back.

Rumor started the weekend off with a bang!  He had a beautiful Standard run to begin our weekend with a Q in ExB.  His JWW run had a few more "puppy moments" but he came back with another gorgeous Standard run and was having a wonderful JWW run on Sunday until mom messed him up!  Ooops  :)  I was thrilled with his performance this weekend and it is so fun to see him improve with every single trial we go to.  It really has been a great ride so far... I look forward to every single run with him.

It has been interesting to see Rumor's fan base.  With his enthusiasm and excitement, he *makes* people watch him on the course... and he definitely gained a few more fans this weekend!

Rumor's 1st QQ... kinda...

It has been quite a while since we actually trained agility (at least, that's how it feels)... Rumor did great this weekend!

Saturday:
Rumor got his 1st ExcA JWW Q and he was a very good boy during the run. He had great weaves and he even would have placed 2nd in the ExcB division vs. the 'big dogs', so I was pleased with that. The little man also Qd in ExcB Std! I couldn't believe it... he got 2nd in that class. I know it isn't a *real* QQ, but he at least Qd 2x in the same day so I know we can do it... now, just gotta get INTO B for JWW.

Sunday:
Rumor had another really nice JWW run. He knocked the double on the line out, but the rest of the run was clean... a bit loopy/wide in spots, but overall I was still very proud of him. Our Std run was a bit more baby-like in a couple parts... Crazy boy started out by doing a couple extra tunnels, but he had a few very nice parts including a big fade from the dogwalk into a serpentine into the weaves... good boy Rumz!
I'm really looking forward to our trial this coming weekend in Davenport, IA. I'm hoping to get at least 1 (maybe 2) more JWW Qs and get him into B... starting in Feb, we do 24" for a couple trial and then 26" until Louisville... can't wait for the ISC classes!!!