More Weave Work by Cedar

As always....turn down your speakers!

Cedar Practicing His Weave Poles

First....

Happy St. Paddy's Day!!!

The weather has finally improved enough to dry my yard. Cedar has actually been able to practice weaving. He's not perfect yet, but his footwork is coming along nicely.

Before watching, turn down your speakers. Jimmy is loudly protesting that Cedar is getting to train.

Tunnel Zoomies!

The Weekend Report: More Puppy Play!

Jimmy and I were back at the farm again for another agility trial. It was a gorgeous day to be out in the country! Alas, our luck is still AWOL. Jimmy took a bar in each run. Of course we still had fun!

Like last time, there were other puppies in attendance besides just Cedar. This time Cedar got to play with a five month old Border Collie. She was quite a bit bigger/taller but they still played together well. It was a warmer day than the previous weekend so they tired out a bit more quickly, but I still got plenty of photos! I could watch puppies play all day!

The Weekend Report - An Agility Trial at Long Last!

It has been a very long while indeed since my last agility trial...all the way back to October when Jimmy and I earned our PACH2 title. I usually sign up for a lot less trials in the winter, but I was also staying home with Wilson. Fortunately, he's been doing so well, I felt comfortable signing up for a trial and taking him along. This trial was given by the Charlottesville Kennel Club and was held at that farm I love so much. It was still a winter day with chilly temps and a wind, but the sun was shining! And of course Cedar got to come along as well!

I won't spend much time talking about our runs. Jimmy and I are both out of practice and a bit out of shape as well. Jimmy knocked a bar on both of our runs so we did not get any Qs. We did have a lot of fun and that's what really counts. Jimmy got to be the center of attention, something he's been missing since Cedar came along. Plus he got peanut butter! MMMM! That's his post run treat.

I had lots of fun seeing my friends again and showing off Cedar. Most people had seen him on FaceBook, but real life is a lot more fun when it comes to a puppy! Cedar took the agility scene in stride. He enjoyed meeting people and oh, so many dogs of all shapes and sizes. But the best thing that happened for him was a cute little Pembroke Corgi girl who was 10 months old. She wasn't a whole lot bigger than Cedar so they were a good match. They wrestled, they ran, they chased, and just had an all around blast. He definitely couldn't catch her with his still clumsy puppy stride, but he gave it his all. And of course I took photos....Lots of them!

I did *try* to get a picture of all three boys with a mountain background. Wilson wasn't up to walking way back in the hills so I tried near where the cars were parked. It's very hard to get a good shot when you have a puppy with no "stay".....Cedar is in the process of trying to run off with the poop bag holder attached to Wilson's leash. Just about anything is fair game to a pup!

I have a few more trials lined up so stay tuned!

14 Weeks!

Here are a few shots of Cedar from this week. He turned 14 weeks on Monday.....Hard to believe we are in the fifth week of living with this little guy already!

And then we have Cedar under a Cedar!

Juniperus virginiana with Canis virginiana

And finally....Cedar's first time seeing the agility tunnel close up. In the very first five minutes, he was running through it with no effort or thought at all!

Wilson's Winnings on Wordless Wednesday

Jimmy is usually the recipient of my performance praises. He is a high drive boy who loves to work. But before I even had Jimmy, there was Wilson doing his best! He may not have had Jimmy's love of agility, but he loved to please and earned plenty of ribbons himself......

On the left, Agility. Top right three, Herding, and lower right, Rally.

Jimmy's thinking "Just wait til she does MY post like this!!!"

The Weekend Report: A Premier Q

This weekend was another three day trial where I opted for just  doing Friday. I signed up for four runs, the usual Standard and Jumpers, and also the trickier Premier Standard and Premier Jumpers. (Premier runs contain more challenges that need to be completed in less time.)

So first up was Premier Standard and I have video! Here are both Premier maps, Standard on the left....

The first challenge and something Jimmy has not seen at a trial ever, but practiced once or twice in his lessons, is the #3 tunnel. Notice how the tunnel entrance faces away from the bottom of the #2 dogwalk bottom. If you watch in the video, Jimmy wasn't sure where he was going and did hesitate a bit before going into the tunnel. The judge could have called that a refusal, but kindly did not. I did a lot of shouting to keep Jimmy heading toward the correct obstacles. He expects more flow so I have watch him closely so he doesn't take what "he thinks" is next. He stayed with me pretty well but alas he knocked down the bar after the weaves. I was still very happy with our run. These are difficult courses and he ran it completely in the correct order. Such a good boy! Here is the video....




I don't have any more videos so feel free to move on. LOL! This stuff can be a tad dry, I know.

Next came regular Standard. You can see it has a few similarities to the Premier course, the tunnel facing the right way of course. Here are the Standard and Jumpers maps...

This was still a pretty tricky course and Jimmy did a great job. We qualified and earned 2nd place. Jimmy's corgi friend Twist smoked him, coming in several seconds faster! Of course now I had hope for a double-Q but it was not to be. Jimmy did not read my turn between #2 and #3 and ran right past the #3 jump, earning a refusal and a disqualified run. He made a couple of other errors as well, but after the first one, the rest don't matter since we are already out.

And finally Premier Jumpers (map in first image on right), another tricky course.  #1 to the backside of  #2, around the corner to the backside of #3, to the backside of #4, to a tough weave pole entry...whew! A few more manuevers to a tunnel facing away again, and a bunch of jumps to make it through. It wasn't easy and I was constantly calling Jimmy off of what he thought was right, but we made it through clean! Woohoo! It was a long but fun day and we were all pooped and ready to go home!

Tracking Jimmy's PACH 2 progress:
Very 1st Double-Q: Sunday 5/1/2016

QQ#20: 
Masters JWW legs: 61...MJP Title 01/25/15 MJPB 10/11/15 MJPS Title
Masters STD legs: 56...MXP Title!10/24/14 MXPB 04/30/17 MXPS Title
Double Q's: 17(out of 20 needed)
PACH Points: Way more than we need! I have lost count!

FOURTEEN!!!!!

Wilson's birthday comes quickly on the heels of Jimmy's!  Today my sweet old man turns 14!
Hard to believe how quickly the years have rolled by! All birthdays are sweet, but as our dogs begin to get old, the birthdays are so precious! They cannot be taken for granted when the teen years hit.

Here is a birthday portrait. He is still a beautiful dog! (Wish I was aging so gracefully!)

Tuesdays are often agility lesson days for Jimmy. I made sure Wilson got to play as well!




And a nice posed photo with a perfect prop!

Fourteen, Schmorteen....Just give me some more treats!

When Wilson got home, the mail arrived. Guess what? He received a birthday card from Anne, just like Jimmy did!

Is it time to eat yet?!

And of course there was cake...well, cupcakes at any rate! What do you think he was wishing for?

Wilson's Wish: I'd like to have a hotdog the size of this balloon!

And a gift!

This better be something edible!

Drat! A rat!  I can't eat a rat!

After a day of many, many, many treats, I can hear Wilson's stomach gurgling away! Hopefully it all settles in and he can get a good night's sleep without an upset belly!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the SWEETEST BOY EVER!

Wilson's Glory Run

So when last we met, before Wilson's Wordless Wednesday and Jimmy's 10th birthday,  we were talking about the agility trial held as part of the National Specialty. At the end of the agility trial,  eight senior dogs were going to try their hands (paws!) at a modified agility course. An easier course would be set up and as each dog ran, a bio would be read. Well, as they say, the best laid plans of corgis and women (to paraphrase a well known expression!).....The trial was held at an indoor soccer building, which the club had rented until 6PM. But for some unknown reason, the building management rented it out to someone else starting at 5:30! You can see where this is going. We needed that last half hour for the Glory Runs! Things got a bit tense,  and the management actually kicked us out! That's right! Despite having the building for another 30 minutes, we were unceremoniously sent packing. Things went from tense to ugly pretty quickly. There were a lot of emotions involved as people had waited all day for their oldsters to play! We had all been looking forward to this part of the day and now it was not going to happen. I would be lying if I said I didn't hear a few FU's thrown about as well as see some one finger salutes. The manager did not back down and we were out in the parking lot in short order!

Of course if you saw this week's Wordless Wednesday, you may be thinking, Wait! I just saw a bunch of photos of Wilson playing at agility! What we did was re-group back at the host hotel, borrow some agility equipment, and set up our course in the ballroom! I have to admit the carpet makes for some very interesting photo shots! Not your everyday soccer turf!

This didn't have quite the feel of a true agility run, but I don't think the dogs minded. Wilson certainly had lots of happy expressions in the photos. I know he felt special because Jimmy was left behind in the room!

Here is a video of his run! I certainly wouldn't miss catching that on camera!





And just as special, maybe even more, the CWCCA had gorgeous ribbons made up. Each one was printed with the dog's name and the Specialty information.

Close-ups....

And finally a group shot of all the participants! Look at the size of the smiles on our faces! This was a very happy group. All's well that ends well!

I still have one more post to do on the Specialty just to wrap up a few loose ends. I don't mean to drag it out, but I want to cover it all. I am hoping to make a Shutterfly book as well, but in case that doesn't happen, my posts will help me remember it all!