This past weekend was our first outdoor trial of the year and, as such, was full of the ups & downs that come with that sort of thing.

Our last trial was monumental in that Luke got every single contact the entire weekend.  I had hoped that we'd finally crossed a bridge in that respect, but everything changed when we got outside (and on rubber contacts, no less!).  It started Friday night when we got there early for a fun match -- a great opportunity to give the dog's a warm-up in the show ring and on the equipment we'd be seeing all weekend!

Luke was a freak during both of our fun runs, so I figured it didn't bode well for our weekend and I was right.

Our first class on Saturday was Regular 1.  Luke wasn't listening at all, so when he flew off the dog walk I took him back to re-do it (he still barely made it, but you can only school once) and then took him off the course to "think about things" in his crate.  Regular 2 wasn't much better.  He didn't get either contact and he also flubbed the weaves, but since he'd already NQ'd I just kept going -- so, 40 faults for that class.

Our first stab at Elite Chances was up next and frankly, this class is going to be a big joke for us for a while.  I know Luke isn't prepared for the distance required in elite, but I figured we may as well give it a shot.  He actually, believe it or not, came really close to getting it.  It was my fault when he cut in at a distance because I was SO not expecting him to actually get the DW that I stood there with my mouth gaping and forgot to tell him where to go next!

In weavers I got the usual arguement at the first set of poles.  I don't know if he's just so hyped up to do tunnels that he wants to blow the weaves or what.  Once he gets it in his head that we're doing that he's fine.  After the first set he did well and by the last set he started to find his stride.  We still came in 14 seconds over time because of that first flub.

We came VERY close to having an off course jump in Jumpers, but Luke saved it at the last minute.  He was less than a tenth of a second under time -- it was a CLOSE ONE, but he Q'd!

With our horrid contact performance, I didn't hold out much hope for Touch-n-Go.  Luke blew the dog walk immediately, but he did get the frame two times on course.  But still, 10 faults and NQ.

We got to take our first stab at Open Hoopers at this trial and to my delight, there were HOOP WEAVES on the course!  Previously they were only available to the elite runners, but they're now letting everyone try them.  I desperately wanted to see what Luke would do when faced with that new challenge, so I picked a course that would incorporate that test.  He did it flawlessly, which was especially exciting considering we've never practiced such a thing!  This ended up being our best class of the weekend, finishing second (although the results that were e-mailed to me listed him in first....).

The trial wrapped up early on Saturday and we were out of there around 1:30/2:00.  We all went back to the hotel room to crash, as being outside all day takes a lot out of you!  I started to feel a little off around 5:00 when we left for dinner and by the time we got back I was just awful.  I was in bed with the chills and just couldn't get warm.  I hoped a night of sleep would help, but not so much.  I could barely stand up for my shower the next morning, so it didn't bode well for running...

Our day started in the Jumper ring, which I've taken to liking first thing in the morning.  The course was very twisty-turny, though, and I thought for sure I'd get lost out there in my foggy state of mind.  I very nearly did at least twice and a bad front cross almost send Luke to an off-course jump.  We finished the course clear, though, and I thought that would be our Elite Proficient Jumpers title!  Imagine my disappointment, then, when the results came in and we were 1.48 seconds over time.  *sigh*  My fault, completely, I know.

Touch-n-Go was dismal.  Luke blew the dog walk twice and took an off course tunnel (which accumulated time faults), so we had 29.41 faults.  If it's any consolation, he did get the frame again...

I doubted my ability to be able to make time in our tunnelers course because I was barely staying on my feet.  I really tried to push Luke hard to make up for my shortcomings -- and very nearly fell on my face on the line coming home!  Luke took some really wide turns on that course and I had my doubts that we would make time for a Q, but he ended up just over one second under time.  This ended up being our only Q of the day and the 3rd of the weekend.

In Regular 1, Luke totally blew his start line, which caused him to completely miss his weave entrance (which he then argued about).  He jumped the dog walk like usual, but he did do an amazing line of 12 weaves at the end of the course.  We also had time faults (odd for us in regular), so this shows just how off I was that day.

Regular 2 was just as bad, if not worse.  I caused a dropped bar with a horrible cross and totally threw Luke off his path.  Again we got the frame, but jumped the dog walk.  We got all the way up to 25.4 faults in that round.  Weee.

Our day ended with the most difficult Chances class that we've ever seen.  I thought Luke might get the weaves at a distance, as they weren't too far out (the actual test was discrimination between the weaves and the tunnel).  He started to get it, but then entered at the second pole.  I tried to bring him back and send him out a few times but it just wasn't working, so I gave up and moved on to the next (hardest) part -- that was a turn away and out from the handler to a pinwheel and Luke didn't even TRY it.  So we ran for the finish without even completing one of the tests.  lol  We were both sooooo done.  Running when you're sick is just awful and I'm sure it was confusing to Luke because I was so spacey.

Kaiser did really well at his first away trial.  He seemed to like the outdoor environment more than the indoor trial.  He also did superb in the hotel room and kept quiet AND didn't have any accidents.

This weekend we head to Zumbro Falls, MN for another outdoor trial.  This one is only one ring, though, and should be a bit more relaxed.  I'm just hoping not to be ill.

I have pictures!

http://s185.photobucket.com/albums/x139/SarMoniet/Dogs%205-17-08/?start=all

And a video of the boys playing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcVTuwAk2fQ

I did get videos of Luke doing a few runs, but haven't pulled them off the camera yet.

Whoops!  I didn't realize that it had been THAT long since my last update/post!!  I brought my new puppy, Kaiser, home on the 1st of April and I guess things have just been nuts since then.

This weekend was our only trial of the month and our first trial since Kaiser came along.  I didn't think that Luke would suffer any jealousy issues over the puppy since he's had all month to get used to him (everything is super!).  My only worry was that Kaiser would have a complete meltdown from the noise & stimulation and that I would be completely stressed because of it.  As it turned out, I had nothing to worry about!

Luke started out at his usual crazy self Saturday morning.  The day started with Regular 1.  This was Luke's first time doing the 20+ Proficient courses with jumps.  Long story short, his zooming crazy speed caused him to jump flat and bring down three jumps.  He also took an off course jump on the way to the dog walk, but the judge must not have noticed because we didn't get marked off for that.  Luke was so fast that he came in 10 seconds under Elite time, but with 15 faults for a NQ and fourth place.

For some reason the Regular 2 class wasn't just a reverse of the first class and, IMO, the second course just did not flow well.  Luke and I were totally not in sync and I ended up throwing in the towel halfway through and making up our own course to the end.  Obviously we were eliminated in this class.

We were SO CLOSE to getting our final open Chances Q on Saturday!!  Luke was doing great with the distance and even -- get this -- got the frame contact at a distance!  He then had to go take an "out" jump, but he started to come in to take the nearer jump to me.  When I tried to pull him back to push out to the correct jump he backjumped it, so there went our Q for that class.  I was still so proud of him for that lovely frame performance.

Up next was Touch-n-Go.  Luke took an off course tunnel that was totally my fault.  We ended up with time faults because of that, for a total of 14.71 penalties and 6th place.  I feel this is as good a place as any, though, to brag that Luke GOT EVERY SINGLE CONTACT THIS ENTIRE WEEKEND!!!!!  I am so, so, so proud of him for that.

Saturday was our chance to test out Weavers on the home turf.  I am desperate to see if Luke can make time on a set that he's familiar with.  Unfortunately Luke popped out of the 10th pole on the very first set, so we ended up with 16.73 time faults.  The rest of the course ran just fine for him, though, so I still wonder about ever coming close to making time...

Elite Jumpers was our sixth class of the day.  To this point we hadn't managed to Q in any class this day, so my expectations weren't too terribly high for this one.  Can you believe it, but Luke jumped flawlessly!  I even managed to squeak in two front crosses while sending him out at a distance.  Luke came in four seconds under time and earned first place in a very competitive class!!

The day ended with Hoopers.  I figured this was a given Q for Luke considering that he ran it so well at the last trial.  Well, my brain was fairly fried by class number seven and I got a bit lost on the course.  We ended up coming in 4.82 seconds over time, so no Q for us.  Who would have thought that an elite Jumpers class would be our only Q of the day?!

Sunday ended up being a really good day for us.  It was a reverse order of classes, so we started out with Hoopers.  Luke was insanely crazy for this first class, as ususal, and he came VERY close to bypassing many hoops, only to catch himself at the last minute for the correction.  I have to admit that this impressed me -- he obviously has a clear understanding of the hoop obstacle!  We came in 14 seconds under time and had the fastest of all of the Hooper runs of the day!  This Q earned Luke his Novice Hoopers Title.

Luke put in another fabulous Elite Jumpers run, but unfortunately he hit a bad take-off spot coming out of the tunnel and he brought down one bar.  The course flowed really nicely otherwise and had excellent speed.  These Elite Jumper courses are wicked to remember, but they are fun to run!

We had a flawless tunnelers run again.  Considering how nice (and FAST) the run felt, I was again amazed that he came in less than 1.5 seconds under time and finished in 3rd place.  This was the final Q needed for our Elite Proficient Tunnelers title.  This is Luke's first Elite Proficient title and the first big step towards his Versatility NATCH.

Chances was up next and it was the perfect course for us, provided that Luke could manage to leave all of the bars up.  Luke was absolutely flawless, getting a solid contact on the a-frame and then sending out with a switch to a line of jumps at a distance AND avoiding the tunnel discrimination test.  This beautiful run earned Luke his Open Chances Title -- but more importantly, his OPEN VERSATILITY AWARD!!!!  Yes, Luke earned his Open Versatility on his one year anniversary of trialing.  Yay!!

They decided to run the Regular classes before Touch-n-Go, so Elite Regular 1 was up next for us.  Luke and I were a little out of sync for that whole run.  He brought down a bar on a tight twisty maneuver and then surprised me by taking off up the dog walk totally unexpectedly in the middle of the course.  This gave us time faults for a total of 44.1 penalties.

We clicked for the Regular 2 run.  Luke was definitely starting to get tired, so it wasn't the fastest run, but it was really smooth & flowing.  We came in seven seconds under time for 3rd place.  This was Luke's first Q at the Elite Proficient 20"+ regular level.

Touch-n-Go was the 7th run of the day and the 14th of the weekend.  I think Luke was just done.  Luke took an off-course tunnel straight away in the beginning and then argued with me about a few tunnel entrances on course.  With the off course and time faults, we ended up with 16.69 faults and 5th place.  I couldn't blame Luke; I was done, too!  It was a very long weekend for everyone.

So to summarize, Luke ended up with a total of five Q's for the weekend -- one on Saturday and four on Sunday.  He finished his Novice Hoopers Title, his Open Chances Title and his Elite Proficient Tunnelers title PLUS earned his Open Versatility Award!  He is now an entirely Elite dog only one year into trialing.  This is an amazing accomplishment.

I'm also very proud of how well Kaiser handled the weekend.  I was so worried that the noise and atmosphere would cause him to have a meltdown, but he settled right into things and wasn't bothered by it at all.  We played pass the puppy all weekend long, so he got a ton of socialization with new people.  Kaiser also made many new dog friends and started to get so bold as to start approaching & playing with new dogs on his own!  This was a great experience for him and I feel a lot more confident about how he will handle trials in the future.

Our next trial is in Savage, MN on May 18 followed immediately the next weekend in Zumbro Falls.  Training classes start up on May 5th for Kaiser (puppy preschool!) and May 7th for Luke (competition agility).  It should be a lot of fun!!

This weekend Luke and I traveled to Madison for an all-games trial hosted by Paws-4-Fun agility club at MadCity Dog Training.  It was a weekend full of firsts for us!  First time at an all games trial, first time at MadCity, first time going all by ourselves and first time running at Elite Proficient 20+.

Saturday was a late start day with only three classes offered, so Luke and I got to stay at home and be lazy until about noon or so.  We arrived in Madison shortly before 2:00 and had plenty of time to set up and settle in before the 3:00 start time.

Tunnelers was the first class of the day and this was a great way to start our weekend.  Luke ran a really nice course and surprised me with a nice start line stay.  I had a HUGE wake-up call when I got the results back at the end of the class -- even with his beautiful run, Luke only came in one second under the elite 20+ time and was way down in 6th place.  Basically, the times are WAY faster now and we have a lot more competition!!

Weavers was up next and I was dismayed to see that the poles at this club were the same design as last weekend in Crystal Lake.  To our benefit, the poles were spaced further apart this time, but Luke still had to deal with the big fat base at the bottom.  By the third set of poles he went through on the first try, but the first sets caused problems.  We ended up almost 24 seconds over time.  *sigh*

Touch-n-go was an interesting experience in that they had rubber contacts at this club.  We haven't seen rubber contacts since the Agile Canines show last July.  Let me say that I LOVE rubber and I think Luke does, too, but it took him by surprise at first.  He slammed on the brakes coming up the dog walk, as if he just didn't know what to think about it.  I have to say that this was kind of nice because it slowed him down and made him get that first contact.  We didn't have a problem with the frame all weekend, but Luke did jump the dog walk on the second pass of that run, so we got 10 faults for that plus we ended up 3.65 seconds over time!  Again with those wicked hard times...

It was 8:00 by the time we got checked into the hotel, got food and settled in for the night.  Since I was by myself I got Luke and I a nice king-sized bed to crash on and it was heaven!  Luke didn't much care for our ground floor room that faced to the outside world, though.  He was a bit unsettled about noises going on outside our room until I switched spots with him and took the spot on the bed nearest the door.  Then we were both finally able to get some sleep.

For some reason I had it in my head that the trial started at 7:45 on Sunday, so I planned my morning to arrive at 7:30, giving me *just* enough time to walk the course before the first run.  Oops, first dog on line was at 7:30, so I completely missed the walk-through for the first run of touch-n-go.  Thankfully, Luke was nearly dead last in the elite line-up, so I had plenty of time to watch and learn the course before we were up.  Perhaps this was to our advantage, as Luke got all of his contacts, came in three seconds under time and placed 2nd in our huge class!!

Alas, the second running of touch-n-go was not so much in our favor.  Luke wasn't really listening very well and went straight into a tunnel when he was supposed to go up the walk and then to top it all off he then jumped the contact!  I decided to reschool the dog walk (which calls for an elimination) and then ran Luke out of the ring -- at which time he decided to take the frame on his own and did a NAUGHTY jump off it, but you are only allowed to school one thing in the ring so I couldn't go back and correct that.  It was the last contact of the day, so I figured I'd just have to let it go.  Luke didn't get love & treats back at the crate for that performance, though.

Our two runs of weavers were next in line and my hope was that Luke would continue to improve on the new poles.  In our first run he managed to do the second two sets without problem but had to be corrected in the first -- that run was 11 seconds over time with a 5th place finish.  During the second run we only really had one issue in the poles, but Luke was STILL 9.5 seconds over time.  This tells me that he is going to have to have a flawless weavers performance to make time at this level.  I am waiting to see what happens at our home trial with the poles that he knows well.

Figuring that tunnelers is a given for Luke, I was hopeful to pick up his elite proficient tunnelers title this weekend.  The first run was flawless and beautiful, coming in two seconds under time and in 2nd place in a very competitive class.  My brain absolutely shut down in the second run, though, and before I knew it I had sent Luke into an off course tunnel and didn't realize it until it was too late to call him back.  I totally blew that one and we ended up with 2.59 time faults on top of the 10 point off course for ninth place.

In summary, we ended up qualifying in only 1/3 of our classes this weekend.  I had been hopeful for a much better Q rate at an all games trial, but the move up to elite proficient 20+ was a huge eye-opening experience.  This is not going to be as easy as I'd anticipated and we are going to have to work for our NATCH for sure!  Luke totally crashed all the way home from Madison.

Our next trial isn't until the one in La Crosse at the end of April.  It will be a nice, much-needed break for us -- especially since tomorrow is the day I fly out to pick up my new puppy!!!! 

This past weekend we traveled through a lovely snow storm to Crystal Lake, IL to attend the RACE Agility trial.  All told, the roads weren't really that bad and we got to our hotel in just over four hours.

I decided to get Luke and I a room of our own, knowing that nobody would get any sleep if we tried to have Luke & Belle in the same room along with myself, Kristi & Derrick!  While it would have been nice to split the expense, knowing that I would actually get to sleep was well worth it.

When we got to the venue Saturday morning I was very pleased to see that it was almost exactly like Soccer Blast in Burnsville, MN.  Actually, it was *bigger,* so there was more than enough space for crates.  I was a little iffy about the footing at first because it looked a little worn out, but it actually ended up being very nice (if you could ignore the little rubber pellets getting in your shoes!).

Our first run of the day was Elite Regular 1.  Luke was his usual nutzo self first thing in the morning and he put in his usual crazy run.  Actually, it flowed very nicely and was a very nice run right up until the second to last obstacle.  You guessed it -- the dog walk.  And yes, he lept off it.  *sigh*  10pt fault and 1st place.

Elite Regular 2 was second of the day and I was determined that Luke would get his contacts!  He did, but it took three times to get through the weave poles.  Those weave poles would be our downfall for the entire weekend, as Luke HATED them.  They were spaced closer together and had the world's worst-designed base (double-supports and really wide).  Because of the weave problems we came in 2.96 seconds over time.  I was running Luke in skilled yet this weekend, so that was a 5pt Q and 1st place again.

We had to run straight from ring one to ring two for our tunneler run.  The gate steward let us sit and catch our breath for about five minutes before sending us into the ring.  Luke was definitely slower than normal, but came in under time for a Q and 5th place.  He cut his paw pad on Thursday and I have to think that this probably slowed him down over the weekend as well.

Weavers was a disaster.  Luke normally loves his poles and it was sad to watch him struggle so badly with the weaves at this trial.  He didn't complete a single set of poles in this class -- For some reason the results said that we were eliminated, but I didn't see that on the video and he should have ended up with 60 faults.  Not that it matters!!

Luke was starting to shut down a little by the time jumpers came around.  He was pretty slow, plus we used up a lot of time when I had to call him back to a missed jump.  He brought down one jump when I called a little too tight on a turn.  We ended up with 16.17 faults, total, and a 1st place (the elite skilled class is pretty small!).

Our day ended with chances and as soon as I saw that we had to do weaves at a distance I knew that was going to be an issue for us.  Actually, I was very happy with how Luke performed the distance portion and he had a perfect entrance to the weaves, but he completely shut down when he got there.  I wanted to keep things on a happy note so I just kept running and finished the course with him.

Both of the dogs crashed at the hotel that night.  We hung out in Derrick & Kristi's room until around 9:00 before going back to our own room and passing out for the night.  Luke must have slept well, because he was raring to go again by Sunday morning!

Our day on Sunday started with chances and I was very happy to see that there were no weaves OR contacts!  While walking the course, I figured our biggest danger would be if Luke brought down a jump because of his wildness.  The distance portion of the course was to send out to a line of jumps while layering with a tunnel.  Belle sucked right into the tunnel during her run, but Luke surprised me and did the course beautifully.  Now we only need one more open chances Q to get that title!

Luke was a little spacy during our jumpers run, unfortunately.  He blew his first and only start line of the weekend (he did REALLY well with those!!), so we got off to a sketchy start.  He brought down a jump on a turn and then took an off course at the end that I didn't bother going back to correct.  We ended up with 35 faults for that run (and 1st place).

He got 35 faults in Elite Regular 1.  He brought down the first jump thanks to me positioning him poorly, and then he BLATANTLY jumped off the dog walk in spite of me being RIGHT THERE to babysit the contact!!  The weave poles also gave us problems again, but we did manage to come in just under time.

Luke got his contacts in Elite Regular 2, but those stupid weaves got the best of us.  I finally had to get serious with him and yell at him to listen to me.  I don't care if he has to walk slowly through the pattern, but he HAD to do his weaves.  We ended up with 5.78 time faults, putting us just 0.78 seconds past getting a 5pt Q.  Darn it.

I didn't have high hopes for weavers, but I knew that I had to make Luke do his poles.  The first two sets took repeated tries to get through (mostly just had issues with the entries because he didn't want to do them) but by the third set of 12 he conceded and decided just to get it over with.  We ended up with a dismal 22.53 time faults, but dang it, we finished the course!  lol

Touch-n-go was the final class of the weekend and I really, really wanted that Q.  We've been working so long on getting our open touch-n-go title because Luke has been having such issues with his contacts.  I hoped that having it at the end of such a long weekend would be in our favor by slowing him down and getting Luke to listen.  He only came in three seconds under open time (sad by normal standards) but dang it, he got his contacts! 

So with that, I e-mailed the trial secretary for this next weekend and bumped Luke up to Elite Proficient 20+ for every class.  I know that we're going to have a real wake-up call with the new times that we have to make.  There won't be any room for slouching.

We had class last night, which I could have totally done without, but Luke was happy to go!  Actually, we did some really nice jumping drills that were good for both of us.  Luke jumped 20" all night and handled it just fine.  After class, Kristi and I both worked our dogs through the set of 12 weaves.  Luke actually single-tracked them and seemed so much happier.  I did have to get after him when he sassed me for correcting his missed entrance.  Barking at me like that really needs to stop.

This week we will be working on weaves & contacts after work.  Our trial in Madison this weekend is nothing but games -- tunnelers, weavers & touch-n-go.  I look forward to hopefully earning our first points towards our NATCH!

Oh my stars, I didn't realize that I hadn't written since our last trial!!  We've been pretty busy since then and have been enjoying FINALLY being able to participate in classes again.

We've been working hard on our contact performances since the trial, using a method suggested to me by a friend.  Basically we're targeting the bottom of the contacts with treats and shooting for a two on/two off performance.  Luke does spectacular with the bait at the bottom, but he hasn't really connected the 20/20 idea without food yet.  Regardless, he's still adjusting his stride and hitting the contacts, so it is an improvement!  I'm really hoping that I've gotten through to him enough to be able to have a higher Q rate at our trial this weekend.

Our trial this weekend is a big one -- we're traveling to Crystal Lake, IL for a two-ring indoor trial at a soccer facility.  It's going to be about a four hour drive or so; by far the longest distance we've traveled for a trial to date.

Luke is entered in 16" skilled all weekend, but I think this may be the last trial I run him at this height.  We've started working at 20" again and Luke is handling it very well.  It will take a little time for him to learn to adjust his take-off spot accordingly, but he isn't backing off the added height at all.  Currently the plan is to go ahead and put him in 20" Proficient at our La Crosse trial at the end of April.  We have plenty of time to practice until then!  We'll finally be able to work towards our NATCH!

The other big news is that I've been working at adding another member to our family.  I've been in contact with Eileen Gregory of Klee Kai Kennelettes in Colorado and I think I may have finally chosen our puppy.  In a shocking turn of events, it's a female!  I thought I had my heart set on a male, but the more I think about it, the more I believe that Luke might be happier with a girl.  All of his dog friends are girls, after all.  The girls also tend to be smaller and this way I can feed my PINK obsession!!!  I am awaiting a response from Eileen to confirm whether or not my chosen puppy has been spoken for.  If not, she should be mine on April 1st.

Luke has a chiropractor appointment tomorrow per his pre-trial ritual.  Dr. Schilling was actually at the center this past Thursday, but I didn't want to "mess with success" and change up our schedule.  We have the Collie Nationals going on at the dog center this week, so our ability to practice is limited.  We'll be able to do a run-through on Thursday night and that's it.  You can bet that we'll be doing contact work!!

Right now the plan is to leave around 2:00 on Friday so that we have plenty of time to settle in down in Chicago.  Luke and I have our own room so that we can hopefully get a lot of SLEEP.  We both need it!

We had another trial at Family Dog Center this weekend and I am really happy with Luke's performance!  At the last few trials he's been just nuts and fairly unpredictable, but this time he was focused and listening (for the most part!).

Added to that, he had to deal with me running Belle all day on Saturday.  I wasn't sure how he was going to react to sharing my attention all day, especially considering that Belle & Luke were running in many of the same classes.  It worked out well, though, because we had more dogs at this trial and I was able to space them out enough to give me time to tend to them between runs.  My friend, Derrick, was also super helpful by taking Belle out to potty during my course walks.  I don't think I could have managed otherwise!

Neither Luke nor I got much sleep on the Friday night before the trial (for reasons that I won't go into on this blog!), but considering the way he ran his first elite regular class, I think this may have been a good thing!  He did a great stay at the start, fully got his contacts and listened really well.  It's his first full Q in elite regular!

The "old" Luke came back for the second run, though.  He was a bit nuts and dropped a few bars, jumped the dog walk contact and took a wrong obstacle.  We ended up with 45 faults in that round.

I know that I was on the tense side going into chances because I'm starting to feel that we are plagued by this class even more than we were in jumpers at the novice level!  Luke ran the course absolutely perfectly -- His distance and directional skills were spot on.  Then we got to the second to last obstacle -- the dog walk.  I totally botched it up and stayed way, way behind him and the result was that he hopped off the side right before the contact zone because he was wondering where I was!  So much for that class.

Touch and go has become our nemisis as well, and this weekend was no different.  I think I am making things worse because I know we only need one more Q in open before we can move up to elite in this class.  Luke actually got his frame contact twice in this class, but jumped his dog walk and took an off course tunnel.

Weavers was picture-perfect!  Luke hit his entrances like magic each time and weaved very fast.  His time was 33.96 with a standard course time of 53.1!  This was the last Q that he needed for his open weavers title, so he will be moving up to elite for the Crystal Lake trial later this month.

Jumpers was so close, but yet so far.  Luke was just "off" for the entire course and never really found his stride.  He rubbed many bars, but thankfully they were staying up as we made our way through the course.  The last sequence was a tunnel to a straight line out and again, his stride just wasn't working for this course.  He brought down the very last jump and we got a 5 pt penalty.

The day ended with our very first official running of hoopers.  I swear this class was made for Luke!  He does extraordinarily well in it, especially considering that it's something that we never practice.  The run went exactly as planned and Luke finished with a blazing fast time of 19.35 -- the fastest run of the day was done by my friend, Rich, and his Corgi, Tazer, with a time of 19.27.  We were SO CLOSE!  I still laugh that those little Corgi legs beat out my 27" dog.  Truth be told, their course was just more efficient!

Luke got some much needed rest Saturday night and came out like lightening on Sunday.  We did a reverse order of classes that day, which meant that we started with hoopers.  I knew that Luke was nuts and I wasn't sure how much control I'd have over him.  He was absolutely amazing!  Even though he got so far ahead of me that I had no hope of catching up, I was able to call him back and direct him from a distance.  He sailed through the four loop serpentine like it was something we did every day.  Then back to the outside and then a call-back to the three test hoops and out!  His time for this run was 22.81 and he was first out of his large division.  I failed to check the times for the other groups, but I'd be surprised if his wasn't one of the fastest again.

Our open jumper run was almost magical.  Luke took off a lot faster than I expected and I ended up doing the first sequence much further away than planned.  Luke never even turned his head in the wrong direction.  Where I sent, he went!  His stride was perfectly on for this course from start to finish.  I had many people tell me that it was a beautiful run to watch.  I rejoiced as Luke sailed over the last jump!  After our difficulties with novice jumpers, who would have thought that jumpers would be his third open title?

Tunnelers was up next, which (even in elite) I figure is pretty much a given for Luke.  I quite nearly pulled him off course with a stupid error of my own, but we recovered and finished well under time for another Q.

Then it was time for our day to deflate a little!  lol  Touch and go was up next and I begged Luke to PLEASE just give me one more Q.  Well, it was nuts and he was a contact jumping fool.  We ended up with 30 penalties.  *sigh* 

I did a little dance of joy when I saw that our chances class was free of contacts!  Just jumps, tunnels & weaves with a very doable distance and discrimination test.  I went into that class feeling very confident and sure of my dog and it paid off.  I very nearly lost my way and crossed into the "no-go" zone, but I yanked myself back in time and thank heavens Luke kept going forward!!  We got our very FIRST Q in open chances.  I don't know if I'm in a hurry to move up to elite in chances yet, though -- there were some wicked distance lines in elite this weekend!!!

It's a bit odd to end the day running regular, but I hoped that Luke would be nicely settled and maybe slow down a little.  Nope, not yet!  Actually, the first run was pretty nice.  He listened well and he got the a-frame twice on course, but he jumped the darn dog walk again.  So again, a 10 point penalty.

Regular 2 was the seventh run of the day and the 14th of the weekend.  There was a news crew on hand (which probably affected ME!) and Luke was just *done*.  He totally took off at the start, blasted the first jump down, flew sideways off the frame (basically in to me), absolutely did not want to complete his weaves (got through 10 three times before I gave up), etc.  The POSTIVE note to this class is that he GOT THE DOG WALK.  I called him to wait right before he got on it and we *walked* over the dog walk together.  He crept slowly, inch by inch, into the contact zone and then I released him.  I probably should have just ended the run right there and gone nuts with him, but the last obstacles were just a few jumps and a tunnel and I thought he might enjoy that more.

There was still quite a bit of the trial left, so he got to rest in his crate while I worked the remaining classes.  We got out at a very reasonable 2:45 and just crashed the rest of the day.  We're both beat today, but tonight is the first night of our competition agility class at the dog center.  It's been so long since we've taken a class and I'm really looking forward to it -- just not immediately following a trial!

I have to e-mail the Crystal Lake trial secretary today to inform her of our move-ups.  Luke will be running elite in every class but chances and touch and go!  We haven't even hit our one-year anniversary of trialing yet.  I am so proud of my dog!!

Luke was quite the popular fellow yesterday at the Family Fun Fest, held at the La Crosse Center!  Family Dog Center had a booth at the fest and we also participated in a couple of demonstrations.

We got to the center a little after 10 a.m. and I have to say that there's something kind of fun about walking into a normally "no dogs allowed" place with your dog!  Luke attracted much attention as we made our way into the hall and many people wanted to stop and pet him.

Our agility demonstration was at 11 a.m. and we just had to laugh at the antics of our dogs.  We were doing a relay race in teams of four, but our two "courses" were only about 10' apart due to space restraints on the stage.  All of the dogs were extremely distracted and had a hard time focusing on the obstacles in front of them.  We did three or four run-throughs and Luke only had one perfect run -- most of the time he wanted to blow past the weaves and go straight to the tunnel.  The first time, though, he was running against Belle and he just wanted to run and play with her!!

After our demonstration, Laurie asked Kristi and I if we would mind sitting in our booth with the dogs.  Our previously empty booth was soon swarming with people!  Luke surprised me and was incredibly social yesterday (you never know with him).  He eagerly soaked up the petting and even offered many kisses.  All of the activity was draining and by 1:00 or so both Luke & Belle started to crash.  The dog center did an obedience demo (Luke was not in that!) around 2:00 and we left shortly thereafter.

I did chores at the barn last night and brought Luke along, even though he should have stayed home and taken a nap after his full day.  I don't know where he finds the energy, but he went completely nuts the entire time we were there.  Even as we were leaving, he still had it in him to get a case of the zoomies (quite entertaining on the icy ground!).

We were only home long enough for Luke to eat his dinner before leaving for the laundromat so that I could wash my comforter (that started smelling like a DOG now that Luke gets to sleep on the bed!).  The laundromat has this great dog wash attached to it, so I took advantage of that and took Luke in for a bath while the laundry was running.  I can't even remember the last time he got a bath, but it's been a long time!  I really need to try to get him in more often because he is SO beautiful and shiney today!  Everyone is remarking on how nice he looks and feels.

Tomorrow we have an appointment with Dr. Schilling, as we have an agility trial in La Crosse this weekend.  I'm really crossing my fingers for a clean run in touch-n-go, jumpers & weavers so that we can move up to Elite for Crystal Lake!

Gah!  Sometimes I just want to strangle my dog.    Well okay, not for real, but I came close this weekend!

We had another trial at Family Dog Center this weekend, only two weeks after the last!  I figured, if anything, that Luke might do a little better since he hasn't had too much of a break.  I even worked on his contact performance a couple of times in the week prior and thought that I might be getting through to him.

Luke's first run of the day was his first time ever going in elite regular.  It was absolutely wild and crazy.  My notes say, "Absolutely nuts.  Lots of barking, did not want to wait at the start line.  Jumped contacts and generally did his own thing."  And yes, that's it in a nut shell!  I'm used to be being awful for the first run of the day, but this was classic.  That run netted us 50 faults.  Wee!

He was still sassy for the second run but behaved much better.  He just BARELY hit his contacts -- I wasn't sure if the judge was going to give us the dog walk or not until I got the results back.  Unfortunately he brought down a bar on a tight rear cross (my fault!), but since I'm still running him in skilled, he got a 5 point Q!  His first ever in elite!

Touch-n-go was another nightmare run.  He took a tunnel out of turn and jumped both the dog walk and the a-frame for 30 faults.  It was getting less amusing as the day wore on!

The chances class (which we have yet to Q in at the open level!) had a very difficult distance test, but it didn't really matter since Luke had already leapt off the dog walk and gotten disqualified.

He redeamed himself with an absolutely beautiful jumper run, though!  It flowed so nicely and he actually did a start line stay for me.  He followed this up with a qualifying weavers run, but just barely!  He had an issue with the first set of six poles -- he wanted to just blast past them and I had a difficult time getting him in.  We did it, though, and he came in under time by only one second!

We did a non-scored Hoopers run at the end of the day so that everyone could give it a go before we add it to the next trial.  Luke and I have done phase one hoopers that runs like a jumpers course, but have never seen phase three.  It was a lot of fun and Luke actually came in SECOND above dogs who've actually done it before!  It was great and I'm really looking forward to adding that class in March.

Everyone went out to Carlos O'Kelly's after the trial and stayed there a bit too long.  Luke was fine in the car wearing his blanket, but I'm sure he was wondering what the heck was wrong with Mom when I got back in the car.  I was just a little giggle-y! 

We switched things around and started with jumpers on Sunday.  I was a little worried since Luke is a maniac first thing in the morning, but he actually was superb.  I got really good distance work (since there was no way I could keep up with him first thing!), but he pulled down one jump.  Darn it, we only need one more jumper Q to move up to elite!

Tunnelers was an absolutely picture perfect run in every way possible.  He didn't make even one bobble on course and he STAYED in front of the first tunnel until I released him!  His time was 19.62 and the elite Q time was 25.3!  I think we'll have our elite tunnelers title in no time at all!

Luke decided that contacts were for sissies in touch-n-go.  He took a flying leap off the dog walk and then did the same when we came around to the a-frame.  I decided that was it and that it wasn't amusing anymore.  I stopped, thanked the judge and took him off the course.  He got zero treats and put back into his kennel without any fuss.  I know he was wondering what the heck that was all about!

I made it distinctly clear that I wanted him to get his contact on the dog walk for chances and he managed, but we just couldn't get the distance!  I thought it was a sure thing since it was just sending out to a line of jumps about 20' away into a tunnel, but I pulled back too quickly and drew him away from the tunnel.  I had to cross the line to get him to go back, so yet again we can't get that elusive open chances Q!

I pulled Luke out of the Regular 1 class because yet again he was not listening in the least on the dog walk.  I reschooled it, got eliminated and then just had him take the a-frame on the way out.

It must have made somewhat of an impression on him.  Our regular 2 run was really, really nice and felt so good!  He got the dog walk, but I think we lost our connection when I did a rear cross at the a-frame -- he took a flying leap off it as I came up behind him and unfortunately it was right in front of the judge.  It was 11 seconds under the elite time, but with 10 penalties we missed a Q.

The next trial is back at FDC March 1 & 2.  I sent in my entry yesterday for the Crystal Lake, IL trial over Easter weekend.  It's going to be a busy spring!

Nobody can tell me that dogs don't experience emotions such as jealousy.  Luke has been proving this for the last few days and voicing his opinion loud and clear.

We lost Cody on Wednesday.  I spent the morning at the barn nursing Norman through gas colic and my mother called shortly after I got to my car.  She shared the news that we lost Cody that morning.  Apparently he wasn't doing well at all when they got up and my dad was planning on taking him to the vet later in the day (likely to say the final farewell).  Cody finally decided that his time here was done and passed on his own.  We all miss him....

Buddy was a bit freaked out by Cody's passing, so my dad brought him down to work with him Wednesday morning after tending to Cody.  Buddy has never had to be an "only dog" and isn't used to having to be alone, so we've decided it would be better for him to be around us.  He's taking quite fondly to his new position as assistant office mascott!

Luke has something to say about that, though.  While he's being very polite to Buddy and sharing his things, Luke is definitely sulking around the office these days.  He's been acting very needy as well, asking for petting & attention when he normally wouldn't.  I think he'll get over it soon enough, though.  He's actually doing better than I would have expected.  Maybe he understands the circumstances.

We have a trial this weekend and hopefully Luke will enjoy being the ONLY dog (with me) and decide to listen a bit better.  We are entering Elite for the first time in Regular & Tunnelers -- and will hopefully be able to do a move-up in Touch-n-Go on Sunday (crossing fingers!).  The motto of the weekend will have to be, "GET THOSE CONTACTS!"

Hmmm.  I didn't know that it could be done, but Luke did it.

Right now, the big thing at work that everyone is buying is these raw bones from a local butcher.  They sell huge ham bones and what I call "soup" bones for next to nothing and now that the dog folks found out about them the butcher can't keep his "by-products" on the shelf!

Someone at work gave one to Luke the other night, which he happily gnawed on in his crate while I helped out the beginner obedience class.  He continued to play with it afterwards and we took it home with us.  It's still sitting in the living room (in other words, intact!).

This morning I brought a fresh one into the office to keep him occupied for what I assumed would be the entire day.  I was sitting at my computer when all of the sudden I heard a big, "crunch."  Hmm, that was odd.  Then a bit later another, "crunch."  I got up to go see what Luke was up to and OMG, nearly the entire bone was gone.  Eeek!  He's not supposed to EAT it, is he??  I didn't think that kind of bone came apart!

I took the meger little leftover fragments away from Luke and he followed me all the way to the garbage can with a disdainful look in his eye.  He has continued to periodically come over and stand over my trash can sniffing longingly (come on, the piece is not that big!).

I've been sitting here all day watching him, hoping that I will be able to "see" if something happens with him.  You hear all the time about dogs eating bones that end up getting stuck or rupturing their bowels.  *sigh*  I'm sure he'll be fine (fingers crossed) but I'm still kicking myself for not supervising him closer while he had the bone.  It was a good sized one, too -- I'm still shocked that he was able to chew it into pieces.  Now I'm concerned about the rest of them in the bag and may end up throwing it out.

Here's to hoping that my strong-jawed pooch makes it through the weekend.  *wink* 

In other news, I actually squeaked in some practice with Luke last night.  The competition agility class was held last night because their group was canceled Tuesday due to weather.  This meant that there was a nice course set up for me in the back when I went to lock up.  I put Luke on a down/stay outside the ring while I walked the course -- I figured this way he'd be more amped up about my return rather than just bored from walking around the ring with me.  It worked!  He was just as nutzo as he is at the trials.

He flew over the dog walk and I yelled at him to WAIT.  He did -- he stopped right above the yellow, looked at me and LEPT off the plank.  I said nothing and just walked back to the other end and told him to walk it.  Then I was *very* firm about telling him to stop.  He actually laid down on the DW, which is fine by me!  It seemed to get the point through his head.  When we ran the course the second time it was just lovely.  I had no idea that my dog would have so much energy yet at 8:00 p.m.  I wish I could say the same for myself! 

PS -- Chiropractor appointment on Tuesday and another trial coming up next weekend!

I have been absent in my posting, but for the most part there hasn't been much out of the ordinary going on.  Just lots of work, work & more work!  Luke went to the chiropractor last week for his "pre-show" adjustment.  I figure I'll just make it part of our showing routine to ensure that he's able to give his best effort during a trial weekend.

This was not a normal trial weekend for Luke and I by any stretch of the imagination.  My family's 13 year old Scottish Terrier, Cody, was in and out of the vet's office all week last week battling heart problems and dealing with his Syncope.  My mother was on vacation with her sisters and my father was planning on going out of town this past weekend.  Because I had Luke's trial, the plan was to board Buddy & Cody for the weekend at a local kennel.  Due to Cody's health problems, my dad decided to have him stay at the vet's office under observation all weekend.  I didn't want Buddy to have to go to the kennel by himself, so I opted to keep him with me for the weekend.  I took his crate to work with me Thursday night and got it set up next to Luke's so that we'd be all set for the weekend.

My dad left Friday afternoon and I thought it would be easier on Buddy if we stayed at my parent's house.  That was bad idea number one!  Nobody got much sleep that night -- every time I woke up Luke was awake and usually looking into the mirrors that cover the closet doors in the bedroom.

His lack of sleep was probably partly to blame for his ornery attitude on Saturday, but I know that Luke was very upset that Buddy was on HIS turf at the show.  Buddy did exceptionally well in his crate amidst all of the activity, but it was obvious that Luke did not want to share his "special" time with another dog.  He was generally uncooperative all day long.  In our first regular class he got 45 faults!  The second wasn't much better, with 25 faults.

I have to take the blame for chances as I know I cued the tunnel too early, so he took the closer one.  In touch-n-go he didn't hit a SINGLE contact that I can recall.  I thought that weavers would be our saving grace of the day as he loves that game, but he side-passed a tunnel and then went in the wrong end when I called him back to me.

Go figure that the only class he Q'd in all day was open JUMPERS.  It was our first time trying jumpers at the open level and I think Luke liked it much better than the novice courses.  He finally started to listen to me in that class and seemed to enjoy himself.  Thank heavens we got that, as I was starting to think it would be our first time to go all day without a single Q.

I opted to try to keep Buddy at my apartment Saturday night in the hopes that we'd all get a little more sleep.  It actually went much better than I anticipated.  I woke up when Buddy jumped off the bed at 12:30, so I took him outside and he poo'd, which allowed all of us to go back to bed until the alarm went off at 6:00 a.m.  Luke seemed in much better spirits that morning and was wild & raring to go when we went outside.

Our first regular class was night and day from the prior morning.  Luke did very well, nailed his contacts (barely!!) and only ticked one bar down on a turn.  Because we run in the skilled division, this meant that we got a 5 point Q for that class.  I was happy about this because it evens up the other 5 point Q we got during our first time running open!  :o)

The second regular class ran absolutely perfect.  Luke did some beautiful crosses for me and even held a start line stay.  He slowed down nicely for me on the a-frame and I hoped for the same as we approached the dog walk as the second-to-last obstacle.  He trotted down the decent, looked at me as I told him to wait and then LEPT off right above the yellow and sailed over the last jump.  The whole crowd groaned as they felt my pain.

I made a poor decision on setting Luke up for the opening sequence in chances.  I falsely assumed that he would target the tunnel (the correct obstacle) after the first jump, but he looked at it and went straight for the dog walk.  I should have attempted a start line stay and led out a bit to more successfully push him out to the tunnel.  Because this is a pass/fail class and we'd already failed, I made Luke re-do his contact on the a-frame when he blew it later on in the course.  I hoped that this would make an impression on him for the next class, touch-n-go.

Once again we came VERY close to a Q, but it all came down to the very end.  This time the last sequence was the dog walk into the tunnel.  Luke was way out in front of me as he went up and over the dog walk, so I did a pretty harsh STOP to try to get him to slow down.  He did, but once again he got right above the contact and then sailed off to the next obstacle.  One of the elite competitors spoke to me after that class and said that I am inadvertantly cueing Luke to leap off like that by pushing him forward before he has actually entered the contact zone.  I need to be much more aware of my body language on the contact equipment!

Luke ran a picture perfect tunnelers course that had a pretty high level of difficulty.  The course had repeated call-offs and tight turns and Luke never bobbled once.  I was very proud of his performance during this run.  He came in nine seconds under time and earned his Open Tunnelers title with this run.  I don't see any reason not to move him up to elite in this class.

I got a little lost on the jumpers course (the open jumpers has a lot more turns than novice!) and I'm quite sure that this contributed to Luke bringing down a bar on one of the turns.  It was a very nice run otherwise, though, and I'm happy that Luke really seems to be enjoying the jumpers class now.

It was a very emotional weekend for everyone at the dog center.  My trainer's youngest dog, Rocky, had surgery on Thursday to repair what we believed was a partially torn ACL.  It turned out that he had a bony growth on the joint that was causing him pain, so that was actually good news!  Laurie has been on an emotional rollercoaster with the whole Rocky deal for weeks and was doing well dealing with his recovery -- then, Saturday morning her oldest GSD, Cassie, suffered what was believed to be a stroke.

Laurie left the trial right away Saturday morning to take Cassie to the local vet.  They did what they could to stabalize her, but suggested that Laurie take Cassie to the University of Minnesota for more specialized treatment.  Jim left the trial to help Laurie on the drive, and the rest of us were left to run the show.  Around 11:00 a.m. or so we got the news that Cassie had passed away on the drive to the University.  This was very sad news for everyone and it made for quite a somber trial the rest of the day.  We were all running in slow motion with no energy and the relatively small trial ran until after 5:00 p.m. that day.  The news of Cassie's passing was hard on me because I worry that we'll be going through the same with Cody soon.

Laurie and Jim were back at the trial Sunday morning, despite the fact that we all told them to take the day off and let us handle things.  Everyone was a bit teary in the early hours as we gave our condolences to Laurie & Jim, but we were able to shift our attention to our dogs and enjoy the day.  When the day was done, a bunch of us went to Carlos O'Kelly's for our normal Saturday routine that had been skipped and enjoyed listening to Laurie share fond memories of Cassie.  It was a nice time for everyone to be able to share.  This weekend served as a hard reminder of how wonderful our canine companions are and how hard it hits us when they leave us suddenly.

We have a short two weeks until our next trial, again at Family Dog Center in La Crosse.  I very quickly need to decide what classes to enter with Luke.  He is eligible to enter Elite regular & tunnelers at this point.  I am torn about the proficient/skilled NATCH/medal issue still, but after talking with another competitor this weekend I have to admit that the medal is every bit as important as the NATCH.  And really, earning points towards a medal is more useful than having them go towards nothing at the open level, right?  Hmm, I may have just answered my own question in this post!

Luke still needs all three of his open chances Q's, two more in jumpers, one more in touch-n-go and two more in weavers.  I'm starting to feel like the open chances is going to plague us like the novice jumpers!!

When I signed Luke up for his next agility trial (January 26 & 27), I was quite certain that he'd be comfortable at 20" by that time.  I admit that I haven't been working him at that height yet, so thus I haven't really been HELPING the cause at all.  I have felt much more comfortable working him over 16" & 12" jumps in practice, mostly for fear of "breaking" him again.

We saw Dr. Schilling on Thursday at the dog center.  Luke was VERY messed up again.  He was tighter than ever in his atlas!  I'm not really sure what I can do to help that, but I will admit that I have not been giving him regular massage sessions these days.  I really have to be better about that, because I do believe that it helps.  Luke had a fairly big reaction to one of her adjustments to his neck, but he didn't seem to mind the lower body manipulations as much this time.  He definitely wasn't going for the accupuncture again, though, and bent a couple of needles quite badly in his discontent.

On Saturday we had a big 4-H instructor's conference at the dog center.  They were there to learn how to teach agility to their students, as some of them were completely new to the sport.  I was scheduled to work retail that day, but Laurie asked if I'd also be willing to use Luke as a demo dog and to teach the table to the group.

We had an Excellent AKC course set up and I didn't get a chance to walk it, much less practice it with Luke before our first run.  It was....  interesting, to say the least.  I ran him at 16" since neither of us were prepared and he was leaping off contacts, bringing bars down, taking wrong obstacles, etc.  It was a good example of what NOT to do!

For our second run we were supposed to make mistakes on purpose.  I decided to run Luke at 20" since two of the other dogs wanted to go at that height and I thought it would be good practice for him.  Luke wanted nothing of it.  He refused the first (winged) jump twice and I decided to just go on.  I pushed him WAY too hard on the A-frame and he flew off it a good foot above the contact zone.  He went around another jump, jumped off the dog walk before the contact, went around another jump and then didn't go through the final tire.  That run definitely gave the 4-H folks a scoring challenge and maybe a hand cramp or two.  I decided that Luke wouldn't be doing any more demo runs that day because he just didn't seem into it.

He did help me with my table demo, though.  It didn't require much effort on his part and he most enjoyed getting to play tug while waiting for our second group to reach us.  We were short one dog for the final demo of the day -- a fun relay race that consisted of a jump (12"), a set of six weave poles and the tunnel.  I knew that it was something that Luke would enjoy and he really revved up for it!  The first team had a bit of an unfair advantage by having two super speedy Elite dogs, but we actually pulled our own and came in really close.  We demanded a re-match, but got smoked on the second run because our lead dog ran off to visit someone in the corner!  Oh well, I still pushed Luke really hard and he flew!  It was a nice way to end the day for him and he had a lot of fun.

I did make the decision to move him back down to the 16" skilled division at the next show, though.  I left a note in the secretary's office requesting the change.  In the mean time we will have to PRACTICE at 20" to get Luke comfortable at that height again.

Tonight is week two of my beginner agility class (teaching) and I've decided to leave Luke at home this week.  He doesn't enjoy spending that much time in his kennel and with as tired as he's been lately, I believe he'd be better off sleeping on the couch at home.  Hopefully he can rest up and catch up on his sleep!  Now if only I could do the same...

Luke got to be my "demo dog" last night during the first night of beginner agility and he didn't let me down!  I thought it would be helpful to show the students what a "finished" dog looks like going through the weave poles, so I had Luke crated next to the ring and I brought him out for the demo.  I just had a set of six poles set up and he flew through them!  He definitely didn't want to go straight back into his crate, though.  Regardless, he did, and he behaved himself very well.

Last night was my very first night of teaching agility!  I had my lesson plan all ready to go for the four, possibly five students that I was expecting.  Imagine my surprise, then, when the class list had NINE people on it when I arrived to set up.  Ack!  Instant changes.  I was really looking forward to having a nice little intimate group for my first class and I didn't know if I was prepared to handle such a crowd.

It was a good group, though, with just a couple of wild dogs.  I believe most everyone will end up staying on leash throughout the entire session, but there are a couple that may be able to do without it.  The majority of the dogs were larger breeds, but we did have a few smaller dogs that I could stick together -- one is a teeny tiny toy poodle that is very well behaved and he was a joy to watch.  I can also tell that the female GSD will fast become a favorite of mine.

Everyone did very well with the three obstacles that were introduced -- jumps, weaves & tunnel.  Using the 2x2 method of weaving, we got up to four poles without a problem, so I expect we should be doing all six by the end of the next class.

While Luke was definitely a super demo dog, I think I may end up leaving him at home on future Monday nights.  I think he'd rather sleep on the couch for a few hours rather than be locked in his crate.  I'm also helping out with the puppy kindergarten class following beginner agility and Luke has to stay crated for that as well.

I had so much fun in the puppy class!  It definitely helped to feed my puppy craze that I've been feeling lately.  We had about seven dogs in the class of all types -- from a Puggle to a Labradoodle.  What's with the "designer" breeds, anyhow?  A few of the students had obviously already began training at home, as they found the sit exercise quite simple.  Assisting this class is an eye-opening experience and takes more knowledge & expertise than I had originally imagined!

I will also be helping with the beginner obedience class on Wednesday night, so as to hopefully be able to help Laurie out by teaching these classes one day.  Originally I'd thought it would be no big deal, but there is a lot to learn!

Dr. Schilling is coming to the dog center on Thursday for some chiropractic appointments and I have Luke signed up to see her at 1:00.  I definitely think he's due for an adjustment and may even take him to see her once more before our trial at the end of the month just to make sure he's in tip-top shape.

Luke is four years old now!  It's hard to believe that his birthday is actually January 1st, but considering he was surrendered to the Humane Society as a puppy by the people who bred him, you wouldn't think they'd lie.  If it's true, it's pretty cool to have a New Years puppy!  Plus it makes remembering his birthday really easy. 

We've been busy since I last posted!  Luke is enjoying the added exercise in his life!  We've been playing lots of frisbee in the snow, which he LOVES -- but he gets upset when I throw it low and duff it in the snow so that he can't jump up and catch it.  Maybe some day I'll let him go back to his spectacular leaps, but I'd like to keep him in one piece for a bit longer.  I'm hoping to get him in for a chiropractic appointment soon to see how things are going.

Luke spent New Years Eve at Grandma & Grandpa's, as I didn't know when/if I'd be coming home.  It turns out that G&G were party animals this year and Luke had to ring in the new year alone (although he enjoyed sleeping on their couch!), as they didn't get home until 2 a.m.

He had a fun birthday morning of sledding with his "cousins" (my nephews) and by the time I got up to my parent's house he was wiped out!  We just hung out there for a few hours and then Luke got to come to the barn to help out with chores.  It was a pretty fun birthday for him and by the time we got home at 5:30 he was pretty tired and ended up crashing on the couch for the remainder of the night.

Life returns to normal now that the holidays are done.  Agility classes start up again next week and I imagine that I'll run Luke through some of the exercises.  I'm teaching the beginner class at 6:00 and then there is a "fun agility" class that follows it -- the fun agility is supposed to just be course running, so that will give us some nice practice time.

Our next trial is at the end of this month and I've got Luke entered in Open Proficient 20" in everything, so we need to start practicing the 20" jumps again!  If Luke seems comfortable at this next trial we'll be able to move up to Elite in some of our classes and start working towards our NATCH.

Luke and I stopped by the vet's office yesterday to get his kennel cough booster.  The first thing we always do when we get there is step on the scale.  Imagine my surprise, then, when Luke sat down and it showed that he had gained just over FOUR POUNDS since we were last there in the beginning of November.  That's four pounds in less than two months!  Oh my goodness.  Now, I know that I may have been a little too "giving" to him lately because he had dropped all the way down to 88 pounds, but I don't need him carrying around 93 pounds when he's having structural problems.  It's diet time.

Really, though, I know that the main problem is not his diet, but rather his lack of exercise these days.  He hasn't been able to get out and run nearly enough since we got all of the ice & snow.  The snow that is out there now isn't too bad, but it's still very hard to play in it since he's not allowed to catch the frisbee.  I believe I may have to start bringing him to the barn with me every time I go in order to get him moving a bit more!

Luke was very good at the vet -- he didn't even get a shot like I thought he would!  The kennel cough booster was a nasal vaccination and Luke didn't react to it at all.  His reward was to come to the barn with me, where he proceeded to run around like a loon having fun.  It was my night to do chores, so he got to run around in the pasture with the four wheeler and then I took him into the indoor for some sprints.  By the time we got home he was tired and ready for bed!

It's time for me to confess that Luke has made the move into my bed on a nightly basis.  It's gotten to the point where now I feel guilty if I don't let him up -- I know, I know!  Who's in charge here?  lol  It's kept me from having to bring out the electric blanket and I definitely appreciate the warmth that he throws off.  It will be a hard transition this summer, though, when I kick him out for being too hot!