Congratulations Chudleigh!

We received the following news from Christy:

Saturday Chudleigh competed in agility for the very first time at the Vizsla trial up in Santa Rosa. He took an off course in jumpers, but managed a 95 and a first place in standard! There were 6 dogs in 24" novice B, and Chuds was the only qualifier. He had a great attitude and actually listened to me, unlike what Zorro tends to do.

Blue Sky & Matching Quiz

Looks like more rain in the forecast, so here's a photo of blue sky to remind you what it looks like.

Seems like no one but Helen Marie read the blog this past week! She was the only one that took a stab at the mix and match quiz that Donna posted. The quiz made you think and HM took up the challenge. The three of us had a good exchange of e-mails. Helen Marie will be rewarded for her effort. She should enjoy the visual prize!

Matching - have fun

Greg Derrett is the system we use in class, can you match these up?? Send us am email with your answers and we'll let you know how you did. Don't be chicken give it a try.


Derrett System Matching


1. Flick

2. Front Cross

3. arm-change

4. Send (deceleration)

5. primary cue

6. Rear Cross



A. Inside arm until commitment then outside arm.

B. Cue always means to turn towards the handler

C. Inside Arm

D. Arm-change

E. dog turning away from reinforcement zone

Who Is That Little Guy? - Girl!

Saturday Weather

It's hard to say what the weather will do for the 10:15 class. You can call Sydney's house if you are in doubt.

Saturday Class Exercise

If in doubt about the weather, you can check this blog or call the house. A decision will be made by 7 a.m. Rain during the night won't be an issue because the field has been draining nicely.

1st Exercise:

There will be a "set jump" at the barn under the trees. It is the same exercise that we did last class but using a double. Please review the description that was posted the 5th. The double should be ascending (first bar lower than the back one). Don't worry if the jump bar is not level because of the slope.

When pottying your dog, be courteous of those working on the set jump. Come up by way of the driveway.

New Title!

Helen Marie had a late day at the Santa Rosa trial but it was worth it. Merlot earned her Open Standard Title with a CLEAN RUN for a beautiful blue ribbon plus toy. HM reports that Merlot earned those three legs in a row with placements. CONGRATULATIONS on a job well done! Welcome to Excellent!

This Weekend

Good Luck to those attending the trials in Santa Rosa this weekend. If you find a particularly tricky sequence bring us the course map. Stay warm and dry and have fun with your dogs.

New Puppy - Guess Whose!

10 week old Zelda

Class January 9th

This weeks focus will be on getting the dogs back to jumping. We will be doing Susan Salo jump grids. When you get to class, please start by warming your dog up with a set jump exercise. We have done this many times in class so you should be able to do it on your own. But here is a reminder and also a video of what you should to:
1. Know your dog's jump height; place your target on the ground. Remember the target should be slightly raised.
2. Rep. 1 - Set the jump ar 4 inches below the dog's jump height, dog does jump
3. Rep. 2 - Raise the bar two inches, dog does jump
4. Rep. 3 - Reais the bar two inches, should be at the dogs jump height now, dog does jump.
5. Rep. 4 lower the bar to the height you started with, dog does jump
6. Done

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Thanks to Donna's creative design, we start the year with a fresh new look to the blog!

New Year's Eve

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Moon and Sizzle look like they are dressing up for

New Year's Eve.

Coffee and Ube

Looking forward to the New Year.

Cricket & Pei

sister & brother

Pei, Cricket, Echo, Holly, Jet

2004

Kiwi and Zuni

Zuni and the Bears

1995

She was Donna's very Special Girl

Ube in the Tree!

Echo under the tree!

1993 - Kelly A Fetching Yellow Rose CDX

Christy's 1st Obedience dog

Derby & Zuni

Andy & Mollie (Jennifer's) with Caly (Stephanie's)

Spending Christmas at the Rainbow Bridge

with many of our own dogs who live on

in memories.

E.J. and Kiwi

1994

Striker

Puppy Joy!

Cricket

1999

Indy

He lit up everything he was around!

Chichi

one of Sydney's Shar-Pei

Kerry's

First Christmas!

Cricket 2004

Moon, Sizzle

& Gem

with Santa

2007

E.J. & Kiwi

1992

Merlot

&

Magnum

Santa's Helpers

Derby, Cricket, Zuni

Indy

In The Hat!

Rose, Pei & Grizzli

Santa

&

Lea

Tripper was Mike Golemon's camping buddy.

Maddy, Niska, Moon

Yes,

they were all mine.

Zuni

&

Kiwi

Our first agility dogs.

This photo is real!

Zuni jumped through the wreath AND over Kiwi AND Kiwi didn't move!

Peanut and Sue attended their first agility trial over the weekend. Sue found out she had a social butterfly at her feet! Peanut visited the pole setter, workers at the table and the dogs in line. She completed all 4 tunnels correctly! Unfortunately the clock ran out before she got to the last three obstacles. Peanut obviously enjoyed her self and it sounds like Sue did to.

Novice Standard Title!

Blue Ribbon!

Congratulations

Jennifer and Kerry

Have fun in Open/Open!

Remembering those we lost

Every Day In Some Small Way

Memories of You Come Our Way

Though Absent, You are Ever Near,

Still Missed, Still Loved and Ever Dear

Indy was the most affectionate dog ever; an absolute lover. – Sue

China was one special girl, and I loved her so. – Christy

Mindy was the LoveBug that everyone called her. She had a smile and big tail wag for all. – Helen Marie

+++++

A big hug to Donna and Christy who lost their mother's this past year. It will be a difficult month for them.

Tribute to Indy

photos by Jennifer Burns

I remember how great Indy looked in the weaves last month. He lowered his head, threw his legs to the side and completed the weaves like a pro! He was always so happy to be working/playing with Sue.

He’ll be waiting with our other dogs (playing agility?) at the rainbow bridge.

Sydney

++++++

"INDY: I loved to watch his running and jumping. When I first came to classes with him he was so uncoordinated and gangly looking and recently he had come into his own and was elegant to watch during his agility runs."

Our sympathy, hugs and tears to Sue and family for the loss.

Helen Marie, Magnum & Merlot & Striker

+++++

I always loved to watch Indy jumping. He had such athleticism and pure joy when he jumped. He had fun out there and it was all over his face.

Jennifer

++++++

My Indy memory is being amazed at how fast and effortlessly he took those 24' jumps. He was sheer poetry when he was "on".

Life sure isn't fair, and we will all miss Indy.

Christy

+++++++

This is SAD news indeed. Such a young dog and so FULL of life. I will miss Indy and all the entertainment he provided so freely.

He had the makings of a very fine agility dog. Even though things didn't always go according to plan he always tried to do the best he could.

Our thoughts are with Sue as we all pay tribute to Indy.

Maggie & the KBTS

+++++++

Indy, means great dog, full of life and loves to have fun. Indy, loved working with Sue, was always willing and more then able to perform the task asked, and was always willing to keep trying. Indy loved working for Sue you could see it in his eyes. I will remember him with others who have left us.................................. Indy would rank with Pei and am "E ticket"...........

Donna

Those of you who missed the posting deadline can write in the comment section.

Striker

Thanks for sharing him today!

photos by Jennifer Burns

Guess Who Has A Puppy!

His name is Striker.

Dogwood Hollow Strike the Gold

You can smell his puppy breath on Saturday!

Proposed AKC Agility Rule Changes

I was recently crusing AKC site, and found a listing of the proposed agility changes. Below is a summary of them. Remember these are proposed, and not put into place yet.



- Point multipliers shall no longer be used in calculating MACH Championship points for dogs placing first or second in their class (Rats!!!)

- Silver, Gold, Platinum and Century titles shall be awarded to any dog achieving 25, 50, 75, and 100 Q's from the Excellent B (STD<>


- Preferred Agility Championship (PACH) title shall be awarded to all dogs competing in the STD Excellent B Preferred and MWW Excellent B Preferred classes who have obtained 750 Preferred Championship points and 20 double Q's.


- A-frame shall be set to 5 foot 0 inches for the 4 and 8 inch jump heights.


- Spacing between weave poles must be 24" measured center to center with a +/- 1/2 tolerance.


- no double lining shall be allowed on open tunnels. A rib pitch of 4 inches is required.


- The table top must be light in color, no dark colors(s) are allowed.


- Tire height definations - the tire heights will drop 4" inches less then the normal jump height of the dog


- Novice - weave poles need to be completed in three(3) appempts or less, or a failure to perform fault will be called. Same applies to Open and you have to restart the poles at the start


- Position-less table - count/time starts once all four paws have touched the table (and the dog remains on the table top),neither a sit nor a down position is required.


- The 8" and 24" standard course times will change giving them more time

These are the ones I found most exciting, and may require more skills before entering the ring.


Your thoughts????????

BEST PHOTO & MOST PHOTOGENIC!

Christy & Zorro

Christy and Zorro had a busy weekend. After their Halloween fun day they got down to serious business on Sunday. Good thing the obedience trial was held in Vallejo since they were gone 12 hours. There was a morning trial and another in the afternoon. This allowed them to compete in Novice Obedience and Rally Advanced and Excellent twice in one day. It was worth it - they came home with 5 qualifying ribbons! AND a perfect score of 100 in Rally Excellent!

CONGRATULATIONS!