News
July 2007
July 2007
We took the rest of July off. It's usually way too hot to be running or showing or trying to
train. A couple of weeks off is just what we need.
July 18, 2007 - I activated the Blog that comes free with my web hosting, so I expect to be
posting more day to day stuff there.
July 15, 2007 - The Jersey Rag Racers had a race practice today, and I was very pleased
with the way everyone ran. We started off putting Derby through the open starting box a
couple of times ending with him running the entire 200 yards of the track. I want to be sure
he really has the idea that the only way he can get the lure is to go through the box. Next
practice we'll start closing the box on him. Then we did a 'stampede' for Avery, since she
didn't really come out of the box the last time. She ran with four other dogs, and she broke
right out of the box, WITH her muzzle still on & did a nice run down the track. She's now
ready to enter, yea! David & Amy Cabrera were there with Rebel, Jasmine and Naughty.
We ran Rebel about 100 yards towards David and he came off the lure once but the lure
operator managed to get him back on the lure, so that was a step in the right direction for
Rebel. I'd had Kate out watching the dogs run every chance I got & she seemed more
interested than last time, so when Pat got there we tried her on about a 50 yard run and
she did it pretty well, so we did about a 75 yard run and she did that one pretty well too.
After that Pat kept her where she could see what was going on and I understand she was
screaming and making lunges for the lure when it was running. Still needs some more
focus and some more interest in the lure, but we're moving in the right direction with her.
Then we set up a partial oval track. While the track was being set up Bagel got to do a 25
yard straight run by herself and then Parker got to do one too. I consider that to be his
birthday gift from me, and there isn't anything I can get him that he'd enjoy more. Aren got
to be the first dog to 'train' going to the rail on the oval track. Each dog got to run three
times in a row, with the first run starting just before the last pulley and the second run a
little further back and the third run a little farther than that. It seemed to work, as Aren was
hugging that rail better on each run. We'll do it again at the next practice and hope that it
carries over into race meets when there are other dogs in his way. Then Avery got to do
three partial oval runs in the hopes that I can get her trained to hug the rail before she
actually starts running in meets. Lastly we tried Rebel on the oval. First run was short &
he went wide at the end and went to David instead of the lure, but he did the whole run, so
we did a second one from a little farther back. This time David laid down on the ground &
Rebel still went to him instead of the lure. Third time's the charm, right? I told David to
straddle the line & let the lure run between his legs. Wouldn't you know - this time Rebel
ran AROUND David to get to the lure! Hot diggity dog! We're gonna get that boy running yet.
July 11, 2007 - Today is Parker's 16th birthday, never in my wildest dreams could I have
imagined how this boy would change my life when he come home with me nearly 10 years
ago. Happy Birthday, old man.
July 8, 2007 - George Evans called & let me know that Ripley finished 2nd in the CWA
meet today, giving him 4 ARX points AND two National Points (That's a BIG Deal!!!) We're
all SO proud of that boy (and his wonderful owners!) Now he only needs two more points
to complete his ARX title.
Meanwhile, I was showing in conformation. I showed Aren and Greyhound Ruby. I was
told that I handled Aren just perfectly, but the judge was looking for dogs with more
substance than he has, so we were left at the end of the line, 9th out of 10 in the class. I
did almost as good a job with Ruby (just need to keep her head up on the 'go around' ) but
this judge was looking for smaller and more refined dogs than Ruby. We ended up third of
three.
July 7, 2007 - Got word that Ripley finished third in the CWA race meet today at Ft. Mott, NJ
for 2 more ARX points, bringing his total to 9. WOW is all I can say.
Kira and I spent the day at a tracking and obedience seminar, and I got myself corrected
on our article indication in the tracking segment! I need to teach her a consistent article
indication (such as a sit or a down) BEFORE I put articles on an actual track. Thankfully
I've not done that often and I won't do it again until we're ready. In the obedience segment
of the seminar the presenter confirmed what I had thought going into the day. I have to go
back and start from scratch an re-train her heeling. I figured as much as in obedience
there really are NO quick fixes. So we'll be starting over with that in the weeks to come.
July 4, 2007 - Day four of the versatility - the ASFA trial. Again small, only 25 entries Aren
had a good first run and after the prelims he was tied for first with half the stake, the other
half of the stake also being tied but one point down. Aren's second run was not as good
and he ended up in a tie for NBQ (Next Best Qualified or 5th place) with another Versatility
contestant, so we ran it off & Aren won the runoff. However, the dog that won Best of Breed
was also a Versatility entrant, so Aren ended up in 2nd place by a half a point. I guess it's
cosmic justice for winning it last year by an even smaller margin than that.
After the trial was finished and while the final versatility standings were being calculated
we all had birthday cake that I'd brought in honor of Parker's 16th birthday next week. As I
brought him up to the table where the cake was everyone sang happy birthday to him, and
he then proceeded to beg bites of cake from everyone. He'll probably be sick to his
stomach tomorrow, but he enjoyed himself and so did I.
July 3, 2007 - Day three of the Versatility - Obedience and conformation matches. For the
first time in quite a few years, I didn't have Kira entered in the obedience match and it was
just as well after yesterday's performance so I got to be the obedience steward. I was very
nervous as I'd never done it before, so I guess I was VERY lucky that there were only 7
entries.
The conformation match was also small, due to the versatility being spread out over 5
days because of the 4th falling on a Wednesday. Aren won his class, but because the
overall match winner was also part of the versatility, Aren dropped to second place.
July 2, 2007 - Kira and I made the 3 hour trip to Southern Maryland today for her Novice
obedience entry. We should have stayed home. While she was not QUITE as bad as she
was last time, it was still bad enough to fail. On the way home I seriously considered just
giving up on doing obedience with her and trying again with a different dog. But the idea of
throwing away all the years of training that I've put into this project just didn't sit well at all,
so I've put a call in to a local trainer to see if we can't get some private lessons to go along
with our classes at the kennel club. Maybe that's the answer.
July 1, 2007 - Day two of the Jersey Rag Racers 2007 Versatility event. Today was the
NOTRA meet and there were 34 dogs entered. Aren is graded as a B dog but I think he's
really more of a High Grade C running dog. Anyway, he got to run with some pretty fast
dogs in the first program and came in last place. (no surprise) That result dropped him
down to run with dogs that were mostly slower and he came in second in the second
program. He then proceeded to win his third and fourth races to finish 10th in the meet.
That leaves him still in first place in the Versatility. This is the 22nd running of the
Versatility weekend, and in all that time only ONE dog has won it twice therefore it's very
unlikely that Aren would do a repeat of last year's win.
train. A couple of weeks off is just what we need.
July 18, 2007 - I activated the Blog that comes free with my web hosting, so I expect to be
posting more day to day stuff there.
July 15, 2007 - The Jersey Rag Racers had a race practice today, and I was very pleased
with the way everyone ran. We started off putting Derby through the open starting box a
couple of times ending with him running the entire 200 yards of the track. I want to be sure
he really has the idea that the only way he can get the lure is to go through the box. Next
practice we'll start closing the box on him. Then we did a 'stampede' for Avery, since she
didn't really come out of the box the last time. She ran with four other dogs, and she broke
right out of the box, WITH her muzzle still on & did a nice run down the track. She's now
ready to enter, yea! David & Amy Cabrera were there with Rebel, Jasmine and Naughty.
We ran Rebel about 100 yards towards David and he came off the lure once but the lure
operator managed to get him back on the lure, so that was a step in the right direction for
Rebel. I'd had Kate out watching the dogs run every chance I got & she seemed more
interested than last time, so when Pat got there we tried her on about a 50 yard run and
she did it pretty well, so we did about a 75 yard run and she did that one pretty well too.
After that Pat kept her where she could see what was going on and I understand she was
screaming and making lunges for the lure when it was running. Still needs some more
focus and some more interest in the lure, but we're moving in the right direction with her.
Then we set up a partial oval track. While the track was being set up Bagel got to do a 25
yard straight run by herself and then Parker got to do one too. I consider that to be his
birthday gift from me, and there isn't anything I can get him that he'd enjoy more. Aren got
to be the first dog to 'train' going to the rail on the oval track. Each dog got to run three
times in a row, with the first run starting just before the last pulley and the second run a
little further back and the third run a little farther than that. It seemed to work, as Aren was
hugging that rail better on each run. We'll do it again at the next practice and hope that it
carries over into race meets when there are other dogs in his way. Then Avery got to do
three partial oval runs in the hopes that I can get her trained to hug the rail before she
actually starts running in meets. Lastly we tried Rebel on the oval. First run was short &
he went wide at the end and went to David instead of the lure, but he did the whole run, so
we did a second one from a little farther back. This time David laid down on the ground &
Rebel still went to him instead of the lure. Third time's the charm, right? I told David to
straddle the line & let the lure run between his legs. Wouldn't you know - this time Rebel
ran AROUND David to get to the lure! Hot diggity dog! We're gonna get that boy running yet.
July 11, 2007 - Today is Parker's 16th birthday, never in my wildest dreams could I have
imagined how this boy would change my life when he come home with me nearly 10 years
ago. Happy Birthday, old man.
July 8, 2007 - George Evans called & let me know that Ripley finished 2nd in the CWA
meet today, giving him 4 ARX points AND two National Points (That's a BIG Deal!!!) We're
all SO proud of that boy (and his wonderful owners!) Now he only needs two more points
to complete his ARX title.
Meanwhile, I was showing in conformation. I showed Aren and Greyhound Ruby. I was
told that I handled Aren just perfectly, but the judge was looking for dogs with more
substance than he has, so we were left at the end of the line, 9th out of 10 in the class. I
did almost as good a job with Ruby (just need to keep her head up on the 'go around' ) but
this judge was looking for smaller and more refined dogs than Ruby. We ended up third of
three.
July 7, 2007 - Got word that Ripley finished third in the CWA race meet today at Ft. Mott, NJ
for 2 more ARX points, bringing his total to 9. WOW is all I can say.
Kira and I spent the day at a tracking and obedience seminar, and I got myself corrected
on our article indication in the tracking segment! I need to teach her a consistent article
indication (such as a sit or a down) BEFORE I put articles on an actual track. Thankfully
I've not done that often and I won't do it again until we're ready. In the obedience segment
of the seminar the presenter confirmed what I had thought going into the day. I have to go
back and start from scratch an re-train her heeling. I figured as much as in obedience
there really are NO quick fixes. So we'll be starting over with that in the weeks to come.
July 4, 2007 - Day four of the versatility - the ASFA trial. Again small, only 25 entries Aren
had a good first run and after the prelims he was tied for first with half the stake, the other
half of the stake also being tied but one point down. Aren's second run was not as good
and he ended up in a tie for NBQ (Next Best Qualified or 5th place) with another Versatility
contestant, so we ran it off & Aren won the runoff. However, the dog that won Best of Breed
was also a Versatility entrant, so Aren ended up in 2nd place by a half a point. I guess it's
cosmic justice for winning it last year by an even smaller margin than that.
After the trial was finished and while the final versatility standings were being calculated
we all had birthday cake that I'd brought in honor of Parker's 16th birthday next week. As I
brought him up to the table where the cake was everyone sang happy birthday to him, and
he then proceeded to beg bites of cake from everyone. He'll probably be sick to his
stomach tomorrow, but he enjoyed himself and so did I.
July 3, 2007 - Day three of the Versatility - Obedience and conformation matches. For the
first time in quite a few years, I didn't have Kira entered in the obedience match and it was
just as well after yesterday's performance so I got to be the obedience steward. I was very
nervous as I'd never done it before, so I guess I was VERY lucky that there were only 7
entries.
The conformation match was also small, due to the versatility being spread out over 5
days because of the 4th falling on a Wednesday. Aren won his class, but because the
overall match winner was also part of the versatility, Aren dropped to second place.
July 2, 2007 - Kira and I made the 3 hour trip to Southern Maryland today for her Novice
obedience entry. We should have stayed home. While she was not QUITE as bad as she
was last time, it was still bad enough to fail. On the way home I seriously considered just
giving up on doing obedience with her and trying again with a different dog. But the idea of
throwing away all the years of training that I've put into this project just didn't sit well at all,
so I've put a call in to a local trainer to see if we can't get some private lessons to go along
with our classes at the kennel club. Maybe that's the answer.
July 1, 2007 - Day two of the Jersey Rag Racers 2007 Versatility event. Today was the
NOTRA meet and there were 34 dogs entered. Aren is graded as a B dog but I think he's
really more of a High Grade C running dog. Anyway, he got to run with some pretty fast
dogs in the first program and came in last place. (no surprise) That result dropped him
down to run with dogs that were mostly slower and he came in second in the second
program. He then proceeded to win his third and fourth races to finish 10th in the meet.
That leaves him still in first place in the Versatility. This is the 22nd running of the
Versatility weekend, and in all that time only ONE dog has won it twice therefore it's very
unlikely that Aren would do a repeat of last year's win.
| Aren's win photo from the 2006 JRRWA Versatility |
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