Monday, April 22, 2013

Lhasa's at On the Run: April 19-21, 2013

Friday: 4/19/13
Excellent Standard: http://youtu.be/wzv0O56yMns
NQ - Went around teeter near end

Not good speed, especially through weaves.  It was a course with a very tough opening and a number of other tough spots as well and she handled them all good.  Got off aframe without 2o2o and almost got back on.  Then just went around teeter late in course.  It was by door and someone was coming in door and by the "short wall" but it was just as likely because of wanting to "head to exit".  Came back willingly and finished.

Open Jumpers:  No run, excellent only runs

Saturday: 4/20/13
Open Jumpers: http://youtu.be/kpa1DTuJa9c
100 - 2nd place - AXJ Title

Good, solid run.  Slow first half of weaves, fast second half.  Mis-timed a few jumps, leaving early, but kept all the bars up.  Handled finishing rear crosses, both take off an landing side, very nicely.

Excellent Standard: http://youtu.be/VMgFr6d-mTE
NQ - Around jump late in course

Started with decent speed.  Got "stuck" on top of aframe for a bit again, did do a nice 2o2o when she came down.  Popped off dogwalk 2o2o before the release.  Took off very early on tire but made it, then went around next jump.  Distracted, I think, due to it being the "exit area" but not certain, may have been because of poor tire jump that worried her.  Finished with a nicely done pinwheel.

Sunday: 4/21/13
Excellent Jumpers: http://youtu.be/HTxTzbw58vU
NQ - Around late jump, dropped bar on double

Had difficult front cross/tight turn to 180 at beginning that she handled nicely.  Made a tough weave entry and still had decent speed on weaves.  But then went around late jump that was definite distraction due to being in the "exit area" of the course.  Dropped a bar on the double.  All-in-all a nice excellent jumpers debut.

Excellent Standard: http://youtu.be/31tXPqKoljY
NQ - Messy. 

Did not stick 2o2o on dogwalk.  Handled a late front cross to the teeter nicely, with me partially in her way.  Turned tight off a jump in a pinwheel.   Not sure why, then got distracted, maybe because of scribe group, maybe because of missing the jump.  Nice lateral distance to blind cross when she did take the triple.  Missed easy turn to a tunnel to take wrong course dogwalk.  Terrible of me not to go with her, she still did it to a great 2o2o on her own.  She didn't get stuck on top of aframe but didn't do her 2o2o either.  Missed weave entry but kept up attitude as I brought her back to do them.  Big speed in weaves, probably because she was "heading home".  Missed last jump due to "heading home-itis."

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

SPDTC: 4/12/13 - 4/14/13

Friday: 4/12/13

As was the case all weekend, Shast's speed really picked up, including this run.  A great early aframe, no signs of the confusion and avoidance of last week.  Good speed on release from all three contacts.  A wrong course coming out of the tunnel, fully my "fault".  Because of her running slower, I've been holding back at tunnel exits so I can run with her for motivation.  But she was already running fairly fast and she came out of the tunnel much faster than I was expecting.  She kept good attitude even after bringing her back to get back on course.

Technical ending that we handled fairly well.  Really fast coming out of tunnel but she did miss her weave entry.  Called her off of table and she kept attitude up.
Open Jumpers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwWzTapmv4w
NQ

Great speed again.  Jumped a little early on a couple of early jumps but kept the bars up.  A little distracted by opening to ring early.  Missed weave entry again, disappointing.  Again left early, this time on triple, took down the bar.  I think her speed is messing up her jump timing for now.
Saturday: 4/13/13

Excellent Standard: http://youtu.be/zf3ASX2G6_g
First AX Leg – Second Place
A very nice, solid run.  Handled turn from tunnel to dogwalk really well.  Another confident, fast aframe as well.  Nice send to jump on closing sequence.

Open Jumpers: http://youtu.be/Kj6j_5zcBMI
NQ
Very nice job on opening pinwheel.  Then had a very tough, slight zig-zag run from one corner of the ring to the other.  I couldn't decide which side to run it on, the other side was the "correct" side but I was concerned about distraction at rear cross at end of line toward the opening/crowd.  Figured I could outrun her on side I did use.  I figured wrong and she missed a jump.  Got her back on course without a wrong course but officially failed with late bar on a jump she totally mis-timed.

Sunday: 4/14/13
Excellent Standard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHhiwQ6OHx0
NQ

I got a little distance from dogwalk and speed off the release was slower.  Incurred a wrong course on a wrap as I stupidly went for a front cross that I never walked or planned.  A tiny distraction on way to teeter.  Very nice job on a serp-style 180.  But she popped weaves, I was getting a bit ahead but she needs to be able to handle that.  Also missed initial attempt at wrap after the weaves.
Open Jumpers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvAjC93qtAk

Opening pinwheel with very little movement by me, she did ok keeping speed up but could have been better.  Unfortunately that led me to think I had plenty of time for front cross out of tunnel but she came out of the tunnel with very good speed and got a wrong course on my late front cross.  Another spot where I couldn't decide which option to go with.  Again, missed weave entry.

Cavaliers at On The Run: 4/5/13 - 4/7/13

Friday: 4/5/13
Open Standard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqHy3PrppjY
Leg #2 - 100 - Second Place
Overall, a great run.  Good early crosses, including coming in nice from the chute by the crowd.  Good turn on the jump after the table.  She did self-release on the aframe but I know there is confusion on the aframe right now.  Weaves were a tad slow but the dogwalk was very good speed for her at this stage.  Just a nice, solid run with decent speed, especially for standard.

Open Jumpers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wSqQka140M
Leg #1 - 100 - First Place
She didn't break off start line on first command.  Handled early cross well but then slowed down as I tried to set up rear cross.  Good speed on line after rear cross.  Slight distraction after line toward crowd, took a jump and then stopped in the middle of course.  I do not know reason for stop.  Might have been her thinking we should be able to leave for treats since it was down on the entry/exit side.  It might have been a reaction to having gotten distracted by young leash runner.  Might have been something else.  Slow weaves and a little hesitation at double coming out of them.  But then kicked it down for blind cross and finishing line.  Overall, "a tale of two cities", great parts and a few issue spots.

Saturday: 4/6/13

Open Jumpers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkIN9j2CXu8
Leg #2 - 100 - 3rd Place
Slow weaves, but it was following a jump-triple-weave unmotivating start and was weaving into the well, so quite impressive that she did them all.  Then after jump 5 we, AGAIN, had an issue with her coughing up her treat.  She came out of the tunnel with great speed, didn't get a great turn because of the speed, but ended up very nicely including some independence on the double as I went for the long front cross.

Open Standard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxEUSxPxxbk
Title! - 91 - 1st Place
Not good speed to start even with a running start.  Then more aframe confusion including stopping and sitting at the apex!  Then she came out of the tunnel with great speed again, beating me to our front cross before the dogwalk.  She gets behind me and gets on the dogwalk from a severe angle.  No confusion on dogwalk bottom, pretty good speed and stuck it.  Then we missed the chute as we got a little distracted right at the entrance/crowd.  From there it was all really good, nice crosses, attentiveness and speed.  And maybe her fastest weaves yet in a show.

Sunday: 4/7/13
Excellent Standard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAEKKRoNitg
NQ

It was our excellent debut.  Decent speed after tunnel start, good lateral distance on the triple and a nice, early blind cross.  Unfortunately, our aframe confusion turned into aframe avoidance.  She avoided it twice so we went past it.  Very good speed once we avoided it, nice distance from table.  Then, on the way to weaves, another "freeze-off".  Once she came to me it was a great independent weave entry and performance.  Nice lateral distance on dogwalk and really good speed off of it.  Missed rear cross on final jump as she was distracted toward crowd.
Open Jumpers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUkYR7A42ug
91 - "3rd" leg (no title, same judge) - First Place

I was really happy with this run.  She left weaves early when I got big lateral/forward distance as a test (since no leg was on the line).  I found out that was too far for now.  Started with small send to jump 2 to blind cross after 3.  Nicely turned off wrong course tunnel option after 9.  As mentioned earlier, popped weaves late in poles as I test big lateral/forward distance.  Went happily back to fix them and did nice second set.  Good speed on final line.

Shepherds at On The Run: 3/29/13 - 3/31/13

Friday 3/29/13

Time 2 Beat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pYebpndSbY
Q: Officially clean, "stuck" on aframe - 2 pts
Decent speed to start with a blind cross early.  She did lose focus very briefly on approach to aframe, looking toward the door area.  Then she had a very slow, unsure descent of the aframe.  I don't know if it had to do with her last Fargo one being "shamed" or not.  Her second aframe was much better.  Slow weaves but she did all 12.

Saturday 3/30/13
Jumpers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78-ZWgeQxeI
100 - Leg #3 Title - 1st Place

There was a fair amount of distance from jump 2 to jump 3 and so she needed to do 2 a little independently for me to get the cross after 3, which she did.  Slow weaves but then really good speed on everything after weave.  I thought sequence to front cross was especially nice.  The run, however, included a number of ticks of the bars that only I could hear.  At least three, maybe four or five.  Fortunate that none of them came down.  Strange in that I haven't heard many ticks in all her other runs.
Standard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDQyXgnfcIs
95 - Leg #3 Title - 1st Place

Big puppy sit on the start line.  A big delay in dogwalk release but she was again coughing up a treat that again, fortunately did not hit the ground.  I need to look at changing up our pre-run routine if coughing up treats continues.  OK speed on descent of aframe but I asked her to release before she was stopped!  Bad me, I'm guessing slow dogwalk release influenced me there.  She then looked hard at me coming off aframe and didn't see me push her to broad jump until the last second.  She had very little speed for the broad jump, I'm surprised she cleared it.  Coming out of the tunnel she wanted to take the broad jump backward.  My position kept her from it but also kept her from approaching teeter so she could get on it.  She ran a bit by it but had good response to come back.  She did a nice auto-down on the table and over-jumped a tiny bit in clearing the double. 
Sunday 3/31/13

Open Standard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJEU0gKVlLA
91 - Leg #1 - 4th Place
Visisted stewards in ring twice.  The speed off the start line was good.  It was followed by an early wrong course, our first sign of a little distraction.  I led out from table and she was fine with that.  After good speed taking double-triple combo, she briefly visited a bar setter.  She got off the aframe without an official release but I basically let it go.  A little later she was taking a set of jumps to the weaves and veered off to go visit another bar setter.  This one was a longer "visit".  I really don't think it was weave avoidance, I don't think she saw them, but I'll have to keep an eye on that.  She then approached her weaves and did them well with good speed for this point.  Finished fine including a nice dogwalk contact.

Open Jumpers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83j9CmjPOIA
NQ - Two bars and one wrong course

Not a good run although not awful.  Jumping was off.  Kris claimed later that she pooped a big pile, don't know if that was it or not.  Started with a big puppy sit and first two strides out of it was slow.  Opening line was slow with a drop bar on 3, mostly just because of lack of effort.  Picked up speed after blind cross but that was followed by wrong course.  Then hit triple when she left a bit early.  Finished ok after that including doing weaves without hesitation.
 
 
 

The Debut Weekend (Fargo): 3/22/13 - 3/24/13

The Debut
T2B: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNJ_KpP3iPY
Q: No errors - 6 points

The debut.  I was pretty calm about it, wasn't real nervous.  A testament to Shasta's usual work focus.  It was a run with complete focus.

Start line was all focus and even a little intensity, decent drive to begin.  It started with jump-weave, usually a tough start for green and non-intense dogs.  It was also 12 weaves as Time 2 Beat.  She handled the weaves great.

She then stayed confident as I got a ways in front of her to get our first official cross, which I did as a blind cross.  I have to say, it felt good to do a blind cross.  I missed them.  Another smooth blind cross after the pinwheel.

The descent down the aframe was very deliberate.  The release from the aframe was a bit delayed as she was hoping for a treat.  Only one or two steps were slow off the release then she picked up speed in the pinwheel/blind cross.  Did the teeter with great confidence.  A quick look at me coming off the teeter (again hoping for a treat I assume).

Overall, great job by Shasta.  Pointed out right away what appears to be our biggest weakness right now, contact releases.  But also pointed out her biggest strength, focus for her age.
Debut Day (Friday)
Novice Standard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ48Mq_xylw
Leg #1 - 100 - 1st place

It had what I thought was pretty good speed off of the start line.  The descend of the aframe is slow, I have some work to do there.  Delayed coming off the table and a big lack of drive coming off the teeter.  Good drive after weaves over the final three jumps.
Novice Jumpers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrjcenibeOE
NQ - Dropped bar.

Good speed on this run.  We did drop a bar.  The irony was that we had our first "pressure push" on a bar in the course but she dropped the bar one jump before that push.  Nothing noteworthy about the bar, just one of those things.  She handled the push itself really well.  Loved the nice entry of the weaves off of a stretch that sent her "to the crowd" so to speak.  She missed a jump late in the course as I really pushed getting ahead of her but she pulled into me.

Saturday 3/23/13
Time 2 Beat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYcy26fXliw
Q: No errors - 4 points

I handed the lease to the steward and Shasta looked back at it but didn't actually go for it.  Decent speed to start.  A responsive call-off of the wrong course aframe.  Slower weaves but slightly faster aframe.  Only to see how it would go, I planned a rear cross on the aframe.  In trying to set it up, I nearly lost her to the wrong course jump.  Because of the near wrong course, I got too far in front of her for a nice rear cross on the aframe but still tried it.  She almost came off because of it.  I also threw in a rear cross at the end just to see how she would do it and she did it very nicely.
Jumpers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZUZ_oyF9so
95 - Leg #1 - 3rd place

Shasta got confused on the start line as I released her but she didn't budge first call or two.  Considering confusion, not bad speed to start.  Had our first "lead out/pivot" after jump two that went very nicely.  Had our first distraction moment as Shasta briefly visited bar setters rather than go in the tunnel (they were quite close to it).  Decent speed for the finish.
Standard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYPCawODJT4
95- Leg #2 - 1st place

Bad release from the dogwalk and slow speed through early contacts.  She took a wrong course broad jump off the aframe that got a handful of dogs in a row for reasons we didn't understand.  She could have come out of chute a little tighter with better attention.  But she had good speed at the end as I was planning a very late front cross that I bailed on.

Sunday 3/24/13
Standard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rps59qGvWaE
100 - No Leg (same judge as first two legs) - 2nd place

Very delayed response on release from dogwalk.  Turns out it was because she was coughing her treat which was the reason for the stop before the double.  She didn't actually hack any out on the floor so we got to keep going.  Nice speed and front cross to the teeter.  I got a ways ahead of her on weaves which went fine.  She then self-released aframe and when I "shamed her" she didn't really know what to do, looked back at the dogwalk.  A very delayed response to release from table but then a nice turn off the tire facing a wrong course and good finishing speed .
Jumpers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdqF3aWaw9o
100 - Leg #2 - 1st place

To me, I was impressed with this run because of two things that happened outside the ring.  One, this was late on Sunday of a three day trial in which we were there beginning to end all three days.  Then as we are about to go in the ring, dog before us poops in the ring.  There was a 10-15 minute delay.  I kept Shasta out of entry chute, found some treats and hung out in a chair with her in my lap near the entry.  For the run itself, Shasta got a little distracted on my leadout.  I had to make sure I got ahead of her for jump 3 to insure correct tunnel.  She did her weaves with me getting good lateral distance to set up a front cross.  Nice blind cross in the pinwheel to set up run into box in which we needed the right tunnel.  Paused a moment coming out of tunnel before taking last two jumps at decent speed.