I am starting to understand the AKC herding game . At least enough to not look totally foolish out there !
Saturday , Peak is all wound up for her Advanced a course duck run and can't get out to get her ducks. Not sure why ? Bigger hoop , different set out person, ? I suspect just crazy Peak. I finally convince her to get her ducks but of course have lost way too many points on this section to qualify. But I persevere and the rest of the run is in typical Peak fashion with some running insanely about , although I don't think any screaming from her so that is progress. Anything Peak does is a miricle to me ; < )
Diane Menard runs Fios for me since he usually is in better control with her and her timing is better. They get a 4 th in Intermediate sheep with a decent run and qualify in Intermediate ducks. Everyone loves to watch the big boy outrun and catch those sheep ! He is a stunning looking dog if I do say so myself : < ) They can run but not as far with him as with allot of the other dogs. However he runs tight as well and in the small arena this freaks out the stock. Who knew I needed to teach my dog to slow down. I wonder if I put some agility equipment on the field...LOL he is slow and thoughtful in agility...so backwards..sigh I wonder what could have been if I had started out right with him . I did so have a wonderful time that first year or so watching him catch sheep and run them back to me and past me and back to me and past me..you get the picture. Ah ignorance was bliss !
I run Ava in Intermediate ducks and she is on edge and naughty so no Q . Hmmm I can't run my own dogs and qualify but Diane can .
Sunday goes much better for me. Peak has a much better run and qualifies for her 2 nd Advanced duck leg. While I am running her I hear Diane yelling at Fios in the sheep field..uh oh . He makes her head explode by not taking flanks...after all he knows best and it is more fun to run to and fro . So needless to say I get to run Fios in Intermediate ducks ; < ) By Sunday the ducks are about done playing and many runs are lost with ducks running to the exhaust pen and refusing to come off the fence. Fios outruns in his usual fast style and spilts up the ducks. It takes a bunch of attempts but we fianlly get things under control. The rest of the run is pretty decent and while Fios doesn't exactly STOP he does slow up so we get the panels even the cross drive . I can't wait until I can finesse my handling and make it pretty. Really fun to start to get the timing of all this. At least I know what skills are seriously needed and well I am a dog trainer so will get er done. It was in some doubt for the past several years though . Thankfully Diane believed in my dogs and was willing to stick it out with me. Ha ha she says my dogs and I are going to be good...in what year , Diane ? I do feel like I have made a quantum leap this year though ! I think we have failed on teh lift but to my surprise not only do we qualify we get 3 rd ! Apparently all the futzing around on the lift was like the off course rule in AKC agility..you have points off for the original split but not constant points off until you get them back together . So Fios finished his Intermediate duck title and I got 2 of the 3 legs with him myself . Gulp..I now have two dogs in Advanced !
Ava got excused for running into the exhaust once when I opened the gate for the repen and once when she put the ducks back in....Oops BIG THANK YOU : < ( Thankfully I did not have to buy a duck. So now Ms. Ava will take a break from the excitement of arena trials and just be my USBCHA dog for a few years. Only fair since I made the decision to only do arena trials with Fios for the time being. Again , Diane says I will get both dogs under control and the future is ours : < )
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