# Agility Brag & report



## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Faelan won his Novice Std (24 inch) class today. It was a stunningly beautiful day at a nice park and that Q just made my day. And, his co-owner & breeder was there to see it - how great is that? Worth the vacation day for sure 

The courses today were surprisingly technical to me with the STD course really inviting large striding dogs to take off course obstacles, but both Towhee & Faelan stuck to the game plan (both knocked 1 bar around corners - I just moved them to their full heights so its really my bad) for JWW and Towhee, well I am really grateful for how well she did this morning in JWW. Her STD run started off great but rounding the 2nd pinwheel had a bar setter sprawled out in a corner with an open invitation Towhee took him up on - twice - we thanked the judge LOL

No agility trials for several weeks so we'll have time to work on full heights.


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## Jige (Mar 17, 2011)

WOOHOO!!! Congrats. Did you get any pictures?


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

I am hoping the photographer has a website - I sent an email to her. If not maybe his co-owner can swing by for me since she's only about 2 minutes away. I cannot wait!


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

wooooo hoooooo great job!!!!


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## Stretchdrive (Mar 12, 2011)

Congrats!! Sounds like it was lots of fun!! I hope they did get pics!!


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## Titan1 (Jan 19, 2010)

Congrats again! Kiss them both from me!


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

Great job Faelan. Towhee...you turkey!  You know my biggest fear keeping me out of novice obedience is someone catching Flip's eye while we're in the ring and him deciding to go greet them! I am having my dad come with me Saturday and my mom is coming Sunday because I want him to think it's normal for them to be there (while we are going to be on leash most of the time!)


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Loisiana said:


> Great job Faelan. Towhee...you turkey!  You know my biggest fear keeping me out of novice obedience is someone catching Flip's eye while we're in the ring and him deciding to go greet them! I am having my dad come with me Saturday and my mom is coming Sunday because I want him to think it's normal for them to be there (while we are going to be on leash most of the time!)


Well I'd say its the Sunfire genes, but Casey (little Red) is the most visiting prone golden I know and he's not Sunfire LOL

And of course Towhee laid down and rolled over when I went to get her - she wanted to stay in the game and thinks passive resistance is worth a good college try :doh::doh:


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Stretchdrive said:


> Congrats!! Sounds like it was lots of fun!! I hope they did get pics!!


Grins, I heard back from the photographer. She was taking pictures of Novice Std yesterday so hopefully she got Faelan. Towhee may not have been in the ring long enough:no::no:

Her site will be updated early next week so here's hoping I'll have a good picture or two....


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

Congrats! Sounds like a fun day. Even when things don't "always go as planned" you can still enjoy yourself. 

Do you mind if I ask who the judges were? I kind of keep track in my mind. You mentioned technical, I like those kind of courses so I would be curious. 

My next trial is next weekend. I don't even know who is judging... usually I know that stuff. Must look at my premium.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Grins - yes I do!! I have the course maps right here since I meant to be in an obedience trial but messed up on entering and so have the day off to work on the technical areas where I might have handled smoother   

Scott Chamberlain was the judge of the STD course which had many off-course opportunities. 

Carol S Mount had a fun and fast JWW course with a nice combination of extension and collection required.


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

Don't think I have ever run in front of either of them. 

I love courses like you described Carol's. Of course I run Belle.... my steady eddie. However the challenge of the extension and collection to me is a handler training challenge. I don't care for courses that 'trap' a dog. 

I have heard of courses where the chute is under the dog walk... Ok how the heck are you to handle that? To me that is unfair. I have had it under an A frame.... that was hard enough, and I saw some dogs hit the chain going through the chute. But I digress....

Thanks for sharing!


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Yes, I loved the JWW course  Too bad Towhee & Faelan each took down a different bar <sigh> A few folks I was talking to mentioned they kept their dogs in collection until the final few jumps; I let my dogs run all out through more of it and it was a wind in your hair kind of course  Fun is.


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## sammydog (Aug 23, 2008)

Woo hoo! Congrats! I consider a nice run with one bar down a success!  I also think Goldens are prone to visiting! If I am jump setting and I know the Golden running (in novice/open) I try not to look or watch, which is hard.

I am sure that practicing more with full height jumps will help a lot with the bars!


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## DNL2448 (Feb 13, 2009)

Woo Hoo! Congratulations.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

sammydog said:


> Woo hoo! Congrats! I consider a nice run with one bar down a success!  I also think Goldens are prone to visiting! If I am jump setting and I know the Golden running (in novice/open) I try not to look or watch, which is hard.
> 
> I am sure that practicing more with full height jumps will help a lot with the bars!


LOL - me too. I'll sit with my back really straight, facing off at an angle with arms crossed, knees and ankles away from the dog and kind of watch from the corner of my eyes  Ahh, the man obviously didn't read the memo that a visiting golden was in town 

You know, I really do consider those JWW runs successful - Faelan did a great job and Towhee was focused and responsive to me; she rarely takes a bar down so I have to think I did not travel a good path.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

I just checked the results from Thursday and Faelan was the ONLY dog who qualified in STD for the 20, 24 or 26 inches. Those off course possibilities took their toll on the bigger dogs ...... what a good boy he was 




Sunrise said:


> Grins - yes I do!! I have the course maps right here since I meant to be in an obedience trial but messed up on entering and so have the day off to work on the technical areas where I might have handled smoother
> 
> Scott Chamberlain was the judge of the STD course which had many off-course opportunities.
> 
> Carol S Mount had a fun and fast JWW course with a nice combination of extension and collection required.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

Go Faelan! Go Sunfire genes! LOL

Speaking of sunfire genes, I found it funny how many people (including many non-golden people) this weekend asked me if Flip was a Sunsplash dog. We don't have many Sunfire dogs in this area, but quite a few Sunsplash dogs since that breeder lives near Houston, and the Dam of all the Sunsplash dogs that people know is a Sunfire bitch, so they were close. I find it cool that even people who aren't into goldens can recognize his "look" and it also tells me I'm not crazy when I thought he looked like them too LOL

Of course I also had someone ask me if Conner was out of Breakwater lines because he reminded her so much of Dave Gannon's Skater and said he had "a Breakwater head." I had to inform her no, he is from backyard lines...

Anyway, I just took this thread way off topic - sorry!


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

*The STD course map*

that Faelan earned his first Q on


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

thanks for posting that Sharon, I'm interested in seeing what Tito will be up against if and when he's ready for novice. 
I thought that #7 was the teeter, was trying to figure out how they got a tunnel under it, DUH....


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

*Novice Courses*

Here are a few more courses (JWW & STD) that are from this year to help those preparing for Novice Agility; I did not run these courses since Faelan got sick and I brought both Casey & him home but they looked fun - Faelan was fine by the afternoon, but you never know and better safe than sorry.


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## Stretchdrive (Mar 12, 2011)

Seeing these makes me want to start back up agility training. My Rivet loves agility!! I just can't afford to do both agility and obedience I have been thinking about giving CPE a try though, they are a lot cheaper than AKC.


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

Stretchdrive said:


> I have been thinking about giving CPE a try though, they are a lot cheaper than AKC.


At first glance I agree. But $10 a class, and 5 classes per day that get expensive fast. Of course I only do jumpers and standard in AKC, I don't play in fast or time to beat.


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## Stretchdrive (Mar 12, 2011)

Rivet was training really well last year, but I wanted him to get 12 poles down before I entered him in novice. Then this winter I had to choose between obedience and agility, and chose obedience because I liked the people so much I suppose I could throw him in Novice this summer though.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

*Novice Courses from May 28 2011 LEAP*

Very nice courses today although we had our challenges ... for instance I found neither Faelan nor Towhee objects to running in the thunder (no lightning tho) and rain - but I do 
I need to work on my timing, both Faelan and Towhee took #2 bar down on STD but other than the Table they each had beautiful STD runs - with Faelan I set him up in a rear cross (he is fast & long strided) while Towhee I ran with her on my right with a push to the AFrame; I should probably start taping my runs to help me work on timing. Most, possibly all, of the large dogs running lost bar #2. Faelan could not hang on to the table he was going so fast, came off the table and I said 'oh no, what happened' in my best play correction voice which he took to mean jump back on the table and take a leap to nip my nose , while Miss Towhee was absolutely delighted at the man in the middle of the ring who not only knew her name but called her right off that table!! As in 5 and 4 and 3 and 2 and.......her name is pronounced 2E, the pronunciation Barb used LOL Should have thought about the need to proof that.

For their JWW runs, Faelan slipped on the wet grass (it started pouring as we stepped into the gate area), while Towhee lost her focus - either too long of a day or the effects of the thunder? Plus that nice man who knew her name was back  One thing a friend and I were commenting on is the idea that for the JWW run, for the big dogs, many of the jumps were spaced as bounce jumps - so perhaps it is time to reset up the jumping grids in my yard? I just didn't remember Novice courses as needing these skills so was concentrating on training other aspects -


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## Stretchdrive (Mar 12, 2011)

I love how you are including the coursemaps!!


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## Rainheart (Nov 28, 2010)

It may be a late congratulations, but better late than never! Great news!


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

*Excellent Courses from May 28*

These classes are massive in my area now; so much so that 2 rings were running for Excellent while a 3rd ring was handling the Novice & Open entries;
I am certainly a ways from running these courses with my current agility dogs but they were making my friends & mentors think ... I did bring Casey (his hardest task was enjoying his massage  ) and we spent a lot of time over in the EXC area and there were maps left at the end of the day, so enjoy


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

wow Sharon, thanks so much for the course maps. It's really helpful to see where we're heading. 
Now if they would do a JWOW (jumpers withOUT weaves) class we'd be all set! Heck, if they'd do a standard without weaves, we'd be all set.
I had to laugh about Towhee liking the nice man that called her name while she was on the table....when Tito was just a wee pup we took some fun agility classes and he had a real problem every time someone yelled out "teeter". Thought they were calling him!


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

I love hearing about Faelan and Towhee  Silly little 2E girl. I keep trying to convince Flip that not everyone wants to have him in their space but he doesn't believe me. At least I shouldn't have anyone calling out anything that sounds like his name!


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Loisiana said:


> I love hearing about Faelan and Towhee  Silly little 2E girl. I keep trying to convince Flip that not everyone wants to have him in their space but he doesn't believe me. At least I shouldn't have anyone calling out anything that sounds like his name!


Well okay, here's another one - we were going to go to a match today - obedience & agility so we took our hike early. Well it is now after 12:30 and I just finished 2 emergency groomings and while I was at it, well Casey you could use some prettying up too! I did have a few visitors (human) who stopped by and they were a bit taken aback at how one dog can _still _smell pretty bad (Faelan) after bathing, conditioning and being almost dry - no match for us today!! Yuckers, I could smell both Faelan and Towhee 30 feet away and they were not even allowed in the house; whatever they found so delightful obviously had diarrhea Blech:doh: Tomorrow, weather permitting, we have agility again ... not quite your weekend but it is setting up for positive results in their futures I think -


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

LOL, maybe there are some benefits to not being able to take hikes with my dogs. YUCK! :


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Loisiana said:


> LOL, maybe there are some benefits to not being able to take hikes with my dogs. YUCK! :


Ahh, but she was looking so well groomed this morning at the vets !! I brought her in since her ears just won't stay clean (plus she knocked a bar) and sure enough, ear infection. But they admired how well she is groomed 

I did not go to the trials today since I was at the vets plus it started POURING, with thunder & lightening oh my. Glad to be inside dry.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

*A few pictures*

taken by the photographer Penny J Wills (www,pennyjwillisphotography.com) that I purchased of Faelan and Towhee exiting the chute - Towhee is blowing her coat but is still cute  

Faelan is the first picture while Towhee is in the second picture.


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## Stretchdrive (Mar 12, 2011)

Cute pics!! I love agility action shots!!


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

Wonderful! I love action shots. Wish we got more in obedience. I am very excited that there will be an action photographer at the National!


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## Cowtown (Sep 23, 2009)

Congrats, that is just awesome!


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## Mighty Casey and Samson's Mom (Jul 16, 2008)

Hope that you had a great time. Congrats!


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

wow, stunning photos!!!


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## sammydog (Aug 23, 2008)

Great pictures!! Chute pictures are always my favorite!


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## MaddieMagoo (Aug 14, 2007)

Awesome photos!!! Congrats again to you and the dogs! =]


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

*More pictures*

Pictures taken by Penny J Wills Photography (Penny J Wills Photography), cropped by yours truly.

Looking at Ms Towhee's shot has me wondering if the occasional knocked bar is from her tail hmmmm

It was raining when these shots were taken - a thunderstorm (no lightening) started just as I stepped in the ring with Faelan and continued on and off while I warmed Ms Towhee up, the sun came out as I was getting her ready to go in the ring so we ran.


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

Nice pics!!! 

The last bar Belle dropped in a trial was her tail. Hers however sticks out straight behind her. Since her embolism, she jumps with it rigid. So she was not far enough on the landing and her tail took down the jump. It does happen.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Maxs Mom said:


> Nice pics!!!
> 
> The last bar Belle dropped in a trial was her tail. Hers however sticks out straight behind her. Since her embolism, she jumps with it rigid. So she was not far enough on the landing and her tail took down the jump. It does happen.


My instructor mentions Faelan's tail hitting the bar sometimes - do you think there is a way to train them to land further from the jump? 

Darned bars


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