Midland Dog Club - team selection period ends.

Trial #31 August 28th Midland - This was the morning trial of a double header and as is her tendency first up in her runs Raven was in an extreme rush - we had a bar down in Masters Agility and Open Jumping. Open Agility I wasted the run reinforcing her contact behaviour and we managed a CLEAR RUN IN MASTERS JUMPING - it wasn't pretty (8th out of 10 qualifiers) but hey leg #5 of JDM.

Trial #32 August 28th Midland - This is the last trial to count towards points for our State team that is competing in the teams event at the Nationals. I am pleased to announce that after a very nice run we won 1st Place Masters Agility!! We also ran really well (after Judge gave us a quick run down of the course just before we went in due to missing our walk time) and took out 1st PLACE OPEN JUMPING! Raven gained herself a couple more points towards Team Selection today which is great - we shall submit our scores (we gained a total of 96 out of a possible 100 points) and see if we get selected.

Raising money for the Agility Committee

Trial #29 August 21st CAWA Fundraiser - This morning trial was very cold and the ground was very slippery, she did a GREAT run in Masters Agility, I again opened my mouth when I should have kept it closed and sent her off course. I was very pleased with her run though. Masters Jumping we dropped a bar and Open Agility she blew her dogwalk contact -3rd Place in Open Jumping.

Trial #30 August 21st CAWA Fundraiser - We did okay in this one, we have a sublime run in Open Jumping and gained 2nd place, missing out on 1st by point 4 of a second! She kept all her bars up apart from 1 this afternoon so I was very happy with her overall - 7 out of 8 runs we kept our bars up during the day. Some more shots of Raven in Sydney last year:

Raven gains her Agility Dog Master Title!

Trial #26 July 24th Sunday GSDA - we had a ripper run in Open Agility today and a bar down in both OJ and MJ however in one of our most messiest runs ever she managed a 3rd PLACE MASTERS AGILITY and a 1st PLACE OPEN AGILITY! That elusive ADM gets even closer!

Trial #27 August 7th Bunbury - this morning trial was good for us to iron out our kinks - she does a blitzing round for a 1st PLACE OPEN AGILITY! She also does a quite sedate round (for Raven anyway) for a 2nd Place Open Jumping!

Trial #28 August 7th Bunbury - I've always known she goes better in the afternoon and she certainly earned herself some chicken nuggets on the way home today because she won 1st PLACE MASTERS AGILITY and 1st PLACE OPEN AGILITY!!! AND WE GAINED OUR ADM TITLE!!! WOOOHOOO!!! 7 passes - six 1st places and one 3rd place!!!at the age of 5 years and 5 months old - luckily her father Bear did teach me something - he didn't get his until he was about 8 years old!. Hopefully Cypher will be even more accurate than Raven and get his even quicker. So Raven is now officially: Australian Champion Rhonabwy Raven Ov Bear CDX ADM JDX ET. And it all happened so quick compared to that ADX title!

Historic Master Career Moment!

Trial #25 July 17th Geraldton Dog Club - I was happy with yesterday's performance but today absolutely took the cake - and it was a historical moment for the Raven and me - for the 1st time since competing in Masters she went CLEAR in both Agility and Jumping! Woohoo!! 1st PLACE MASTERS AGILITY and 2nd Place MASTERS JUMPING! Fantastic!! I was absolutely over the moon with her! Then she ran a ripper of a course in Open Agility - but had a close call against her on the dogwalk - yet she still managed a 2nd place - what a star! So we are now 5/7 for ADM and 4/7 for JDM...not long to go now :) She is clocking up some decent points for the State team selection at the Nationals.

Rockingham jinx - Geraldton success!

Trial #23 July 10th Rockingham Dog Club - 1 fault (a refusal) in Masters Agility 1 bar down in Masters and Open Jumping and in Open Agility we had an off course...so no luck today unfortunately!

Trial #24 July 16th Geraldton Dog Club - she was a very good girl today and won 2nd Place MASTERS JUMPING That makes leg #3 for JDM. She had only 1 fault in Masters Agility - a refusal (my handling of course!) however still received 2nd place as there was only 1 qualifier - it was a tough course! She had 2 faults in open agility however as there was only 1 qualifier in that she won 2nd Place OPEN AGILITY! So all in all she had a very good day only knocking 1 bar in Open Jumping!

The Open Queen...

Trial #21 July 3rd ANWA Fundraiser - This morning trial was quite successful with just a bit of bad luck - she put one paw on the A Frame out of order in Masters Agility and in Masters Jumping we had one bar down :( But to make up for it we had a 1st Place in Open Jumping PLUS 1st Place in Open Agility! I also got to run Deb Hyde's BC "Jasper" also known as Obedience Champion Brynbank Dangeros Liasion ADX JDX UD...and he and I took out 3rd PLACE OPEN AGILITY

Trial #22 July 3rd ANWA Fundraiser PM Trial Again some hard luck - both Masters being my fault I handled her onto on an off course in both agility and jumping. Open Agility I tried a front cross - unfortunately unsuccessfully! That was our only error and we made up for it with a 1st Place in Open Jumping, good girl! I ran Deb Hyde's BC "Jasper" again...and he and I took out 4th PLACE OPEN AGILITY.
Once again I ponder all these Open passes and what exactly did hold us back those years! Check out the focus in the weaves! This is a photo taken at our first NADAC (National Agility Dog Association) Trial last year in Sydney October. She loved the courses and so did I thankfully they required very little running from me since I had torn my calf muscle the day before!

Rainy day girl...

Trial #20 June 12th Cloverdale Canine Companions - A Morning trial in the very wet weather. I could blame the wet grass I suppose but we had three runs where she took a bar down - only on one run (Masters Jumping) did I make an error before she did! She did go clear in one though and won 1st Place in Open Jumping, good girl, it just amazes me how easily the clear runs in Open come now that we struggled for 3 years getting our Open titles. Not sure what it is but I think most would attribute it to me not being so hung up on getting qualifications anymore. I'd like to say well maybe I've just become a better handler - you do hope that after a certain amount of time in the sport you could show some improvement!

Northern Suburbs hoodoo!

Trial #19 June 5th Sunday - An afternoon trial at Northern Suburbs Dog Club in Carine. We never seem to crack any clears at these grounds and today unfortunately maintained our lack of success. Masters Agility was a great run for us, she just seemed to lose her rhythm slightly in the weaves and missed one but still came out the right side! So one fault there, all other runs we stopped due to bar down and the Open Jumping course which I thought we'd cleared, turned out a bar had dropped on a jump 8 meters from us as we were completing the spread jump quite weird! Oh well there's always next week's trial!

Raising more money...still having fun!!

Trial #17 & #18 May 29th - Back to back trials again today for the 2nd day of ANWA fundraising. In the morning she did a lovely run in Masters Agility - but we had a refusal. Open Agility we got called on a contact that was quite a tricky one to judge but it was a great run anyway, Masters Jumping and Open Jumping were all going well till she knocked a bar! In the afternoon we went better - 3 out of 4 runs keeping all bars up for 3rd Place MASTERS JUMPING and 1st Place OPEN AGILITY! So was very happy with her!

Raising money for the Nationals and having fun!!!

Trial #15 & #16 May 28th - Back to back trials today for ANWA fundraising. In the morning she did two very nice runs which I stuffed her up on causing a refusal and an off course however she did a bar in both Masters Jumping and Open Agility. She gained a 4th NQ in Masters Agility.
The afternoon trial went better - 1st PLACE MASTERS AGILITY and 2nd Place OPEN JUMPING! What a good girl! I was very proud of her and thought we worked well...Masters Jumping was very tough - and she had an off course before I could blink! Open agility she took the 2nd last bar down but other than that I was extremely pleased!
That ADM inches ever closer - 3 legs down 4 to go...

JDM Here we come...

Trial #14: May 22nd GSDA - Another FANTASTIC DAY today for different reasons though. She just tapped the last bar in Open Jumping and was in a rush over a jump in Masters Agility however she did finish off the day with her very FIRST Q IN MASTERS JUMPING with a 1st PLACE as well! As if this was not enough she also won 1st PLACE OPEN AGILITY! I was extremely happy with her efforts and pleased with our results!JDM by the way stands for Jumping Dog Master and requires 7 clear rounds. Given her jump issues I'm thinking this one could take a while LOL!!

Raven's EVERY BAR UP DAY!

Trial #13: May 15th Geraldton - A FANTASTIC DAY in my mind despite non qualifying in both Masters Agility and Masters Jumping. WHY? Today for the first time since competing in four classes we finished EVERY SINGLE RUN as she kept EVERY SINGLE BAR UP!!! Hooray!!! I was very pleased with her and to top it all off we took 1st PLACE OPEN AGILITY and 3rd PLACE OPEN JUMPING. I also got to run Deb Hyde's BC "Jasper" also known as Obedience Champion Brynbank Dangeros Liasion ADX JD UD...and he and I took out 2nd PLACE OPEN AGILITY (0.67 secs behind Raven) and 3rd PLACE OPEN JUMPING (0.25 secs in front of Raven!). A good day all round as that meant Jasper finished his JDX title off! Deb was very happy and I had great fun running him!

Training Day in Geraldton

Trial #12: May 14th Geraldton - today was a training day, she managed to keep all bars up in the Open Agility class and came 2nd despite a fault due to there only being 1 clear round. However the other 3 runs we used to work on her bar issues and we left the ring after knocking a bar in each. This time I kept it as neutral as possible - I got her to drop as soon as she hit one, I replaced the bar and we left the ring. Then before the next run I warmed her up over a jump making a huge fuss out of her when she kept her bar up, we got to the startline as if it was our first startline of the day.

Not a complete bust at Bunbury

Trial #11: May 8th Bunbury Agility Jumping Trial. Well we slightly improved on our last Bunbury performance, we managed a 3rd Place in Open Jumping. 1 bar down in all the other runs. Fingers crossed next weekend at Geraldton sees more success.

Mastering success!

Trial #9 & #10: April 24th Southern River Double Header Trial. Back to success!! In the morning she won 1st Place Open Jumping. In the afternoon even better Raven wins 1st Place Masters Agility! This time there were alot more clear rounds and so her time was a very competitive 35 seconds on a SCT of 50 seconds under Victorian Judge Mr T Moore. I must admit we did not have the ideal start to this one - we have been having start line issues - I say wait and she says "Make me" - her whole body is leaning forward on her front toenails her eyes are riveted to the first obstacle - I could have whole chickens hanging off the end of each hand and she would still pretend like I don't exist. So at the startline for Masters today I have her on my left and I take a couple of steps after the judge has said you can go - I go to turn back to her to repeat my rather strong "wait" command and she's off! She'd done two jumps and was on the seesaw before I had the presence of mind to yell WAIT!!! which she luckily did so that she did her contact - the rest of the course was done completely with me behind her and by thye seat of my pants since her start had blown my carefully thought of plan out the water! She's a little lunatic this one!

Perth Training Trial

Trial #8: April 9th Perth Training Club - This one was also not great - slightly improved on Bunbury though with a great run Open Agility apart from a missed down dogwalk contact. Masters Agility she dropped a bar and we left and the same went for Open Jumping and Masters Jumping.

Bunbury a bust!

Trial #7: April 3rd Bunbury Dog Club - well we are just going to pretend we didn't even enter this one! Her first run was Masters agility and it was going well untill the 3rd last bar which came down. Bad handler (me!) didn't stop her and I'm pretty sure this set the tone for the rest of her runs - where she took down the first bar in each just about! So just over 3 hours driving and NO legs today :-((( But I must admit I learnt a valuable lesson today. We have been working very intensively on her jumping - and targeting the dropping of bars. I have sought advice and I am sticking to a very clear, concise and stringent criteria for her jumping behaviour. And I have been noticing a steady but slow improvement - today it felt like she wasn't even bothering in her first few runs. My mood with her got progressively worse after each of those runs and I actually wondered why her efforts were so so slow and lazy off the start lines. Then I realised - as hardnails as I feel Raven is (she is not soft in any way shape or form) she certainly is affected by my moods. I put her over a couple of jumps before our last run and just kind of 'made up' with her as if we'd been arguing. I let her know that she was still my best friend and we were going to have fun. She still knocked a bar on that last run but we got through most of the course and she was her usual grinning speed freaky self. Mental note to self - if shitty with her about a run then I leave it on that course (my shittyness with her I mean) She knows why we've stopped - she gets it, not finishing the run is what she hates most, her 2nd most hated thing is me getting shitty with her - but that has a more lasting (and far more negative) effect than leaving the ring. Once I've clipped that lead back on I'm looking forward to our next run as the first of the day. So whilst the day was a total waste in terms of qualifications it was a very valuable day in terms of me figuring out a very important lesson about us.

Our 2nd Masters Pass!

Trial #6: April 2nd Cloverdale Canine Companions. This evening's trial was a historic one for this team of two. Raven and I finally got it all together on a rather tough Masters Agility course (only 2 qualified) amongst the best dogs in the state to go clear and win 1st Place Masters Agility! and if that wasn't enough she ran clear in Open Agility for another 1st Place Open Agility. This was one happy handler! Leg #2 down - 5 to go!

Disconnection...

After a 2 week break from trialling we headed out to Lumen Christi grounds in Gosnells for the first Gosnells Agility and Jumping trial of the year. After rolling her ankle spectacularly at the last event of the Classic her handler held her back today not being able to run flat out. Open Jumping 1 bar down, Open Agility she misses the down on the dog walk contact, in Masters Agility she took the dogwalk at too shallow and angle and came off the side of the up ramp, Masters Jumping she was a bit disconnected and took a wrong jump. No luck today and we won't tell my physio who told me no agility for 6 to 8 weeks. All my right ankle ligaments and muscle tendons were completely torn and overstretched and I needed x rays and muscle anti inflammatories to get it sorted - I will now probably have a weak right anke for the rest of my life....*sigh*...this better not be a sign of me getting old!!!

The Western Classic

Monday March 5th - Western Classic weekend. The Western Classic is one of the two biggest shows on the WA Calendar being 2nd only to the Perth Royal Show in October. We have Eastern States judges come over and judge our obedience and agility trials and International Judges for the breed ring. I put Cypher in both the All Breed Championship shows over the four days and asked Robyn to show him as I would be busy in the Obedience and Agility rings. He was quite well behaved for such little training and won best Baby of Breed over a number of other very cute just on 3 months baby Border Collies. He was a very good boy and not fazed at all by the bright lights and big crowds, in fact I don't think he missed me at all - little traitor! *g*
Raven had a great time over in the Agility and we had two sad luck stories with 1 bar down in both Master Agility and Master Jumping - it was a shame because her runs are always blitzing! We held it together for a win in Open Agility - so we got a nice trophy, sash and bags of biccies. She held her own in the Obedience Ring too after winning a spot in the Novice Invitational Challenge - she qualified and came 5th overall after doing the longest amount of slow pace heelwork we'd ever seen! We sure didn't train for that heel routine.
All in all a good weekend was had by all - and our team Threes A Crowd didn't do too badly either in the teams events.