Today the doggies and I went up to East Freehold Park, in Freehold, NJ. The weather was predicted to be sunny and hot--92 degrees. The sunny part was right, but it got significantly hotter than expected! When I left the park around 4:00pm, it was 98 to 100 degrees! Yowza! I found a place in the shade with some breeze to crate the dogs all day. Before and after each run I soaked Darcy with a hose, then put a soaked reflective vest kind of a thing on him while we got ready for our run.
Neither of our runs were super fast--not too surprising! But they were both clean. So no complaints. Especially since Darcy has always been pretty heat-sensitive.
A lot of people and dogs were pretty fried in the heat. The two courses were not THAT challenging, but a lot of people were getting lost, bars were coming down for no particular reason, etc. In the Standard course, the weaves were the second to last obstacle, with the finish jump directly in front of the weave exit. But many dogs popped out of the weaves early--I think both the handlers and dogs knew the run was just about done and lost focus.
For us, today was our only trial day this weekend. We were originally supposed to do all three days, but tomorrow I am flying out to Oregon for my mother's memorial service. Given that the rest of the weekend is supposed to stay very hot, I don't mind missing it. I will miss my doggies, though.
So, good luck to anyone spending the next two days up in Freehold. Stay cool and stay focused.
Rob
Friday, May 31, 2013
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Sunday's (sort of) U Q
A "U Q" is a phrase a friend of mine and I coined recently. It stands for "Ugly Q". "Ugly" meaning mistake-filled, but still a Q.
So here is the video of Sunday's sort of U Q. I didn't give Darcy good information to get into the weave poles. So he turned the wrong way, then saw where I was and came back to the weaves. Then later he came half off the table (not a fault, but does cost time as the table count stops) before getting back on. The rest of the run was pretty nice.
Here is a link to the video: http://youtu.be/iwjjVcehfvs
Rob
So here is the video of Sunday's sort of U Q. I didn't give Darcy good information to get into the weave poles. So he turned the wrong way, then saw where I was and came back to the weaves. Then later he came half off the table (not a fault, but does cost time as the table count stops) before getting back on. The rest of the run was pretty nice.
Here is a link to the video: http://youtu.be/iwjjVcehfvs
Rob
TBAC
Today is my first chance to write about the ups and downs of a trial just past, since I started this blog.
This past weekend I was at the TBAC trial at Dream Park. The weather was very nice, though we were indoors. The indoor environment was less than ideal as the dirt of Dream Park migrated into the atmosphere, leaving me with gritty teeth and eyes. Still, we had a pretty good weekend.
Our first run on Saturday Darcy dropped a bar. After examining the video I couldn't see any real reason for it. He has been learning to take off closer to the jumps than he used to, and he took off pretty close to the one he dropped. I think there's a good chance that the unusually soft and deep footing of Dream Park contributed to the bar coming down. The mistake left me feeling rather disappointed, though not as bad as these things used to do. The rest of our runs for the weekend were clear, though, so after the disappointing start we had a really nice weekend!
Our Standard run on Sunday was a bit of an adventure. I handled the weavepole entrance poorly leaving Darcy confused, but we recovered without a fault. Then Darcy came halfway off the table but got back on, also without a fault. I was able to leave him on the table while I walked away towards the next obstacle (something we've been working on), so that was a good thing. (I'll see if I can post a video of this run when I get home tonight.)
One of the best things of the weekend was that one of the judges was Clyde Closson, one of our teachers at Y2!
Probably the worst thing that happened was the Sunday morning dropping of my iPad (by me), which cracked the screen. I seem to have the dropsies lately--I did the same thing with my iPhone a few weeks ago. I got the iPad replaced today, though, so things didn't turn out too badly.
This coming Friday we are at an outdoor trial in Freehold, NJ. Predictions call for temperatures in the 90s! Yikes! We had to pull out of Saturday and Sunday to fly out to Oregon for my mother's memorial service. So at least we only have to suffer one day in the heat.
Rob
This past weekend I was at the TBAC trial at Dream Park. The weather was very nice, though we were indoors. The indoor environment was less than ideal as the dirt of Dream Park migrated into the atmosphere, leaving me with gritty teeth and eyes. Still, we had a pretty good weekend.
Our first run on Saturday Darcy dropped a bar. After examining the video I couldn't see any real reason for it. He has been learning to take off closer to the jumps than he used to, and he took off pretty close to the one he dropped. I think there's a good chance that the unusually soft and deep footing of Dream Park contributed to the bar coming down. The mistake left me feeling rather disappointed, though not as bad as these things used to do. The rest of our runs for the weekend were clear, though, so after the disappointing start we had a really nice weekend!
Our Standard run on Sunday was a bit of an adventure. I handled the weavepole entrance poorly leaving Darcy confused, but we recovered without a fault. Then Darcy came halfway off the table but got back on, also without a fault. I was able to leave him on the table while I walked away towards the next obstacle (something we've been working on), so that was a good thing. (I'll see if I can post a video of this run when I get home tonight.)
One of the best things of the weekend was that one of the judges was Clyde Closson, one of our teachers at Y2!
Probably the worst thing that happened was the Sunday morning dropping of my iPad (by me), which cracked the screen. I seem to have the dropsies lately--I did the same thing with my iPhone a few weeks ago. I got the iPad replaced today, though, so things didn't turn out too badly.
This coming Friday we are at an outdoor trial in Freehold, NJ. Predictions call for temperatures in the 90s! Yikes! We had to pull out of Saturday and Sunday to fly out to Oregon for my mother's memorial service. So at least we only have to suffer one day in the heat.
Rob
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Coach's Eye
Today is Thursday--only two more days until we're back in the ring! This weekend we are at Dream Park, just over the Commodore Barry Bridge in New Jersey. Many don't care much for DP, but if you live anywhere near the SE Pennsylvania area and you do AKC agility, you are probably pretty familiar with it. Personally, I like DP a lot. It's big (three rings running at once) and boisterous, and the level of competition is high. It is our home-away-from-home--we probably do around 15 trials a year there. What people tend not to like about it is the footing--red dirt that gets all over you and your dog, with hard-packed clay underneath. That clay can be hard on both the dogs' and the handlers' joints. I will say that if I trial too many weekends in a row at DP, my knees do start to hurt. But we generally do well there.
As often as possible, I try to get a video of every run we do. Although it's fun to catch one of our pretty runs on video, the best ones to get are the ones with mistakes. Then I can look at them and figure out what I did wrong (which is the usual problem) or what Mr. Darcy has done wrong. I usually get someone (most often my wife, Paula) to video us using an iPad. Once I have it on the iPad I import it into an app called "Coach's Eye." This app is really cool. It enables me to slow the video down to half speed or even go frame-by-frame, controlling the speed with my finger. Coach's Eye has helped me discover what was happening with two or three problems we were struggling with. Once I knew what the problems were, I could develop plans to fix them.
For example, by slowing down our videos, we were recently able to figure out that Darcy was frequently leaving out a stride and taking off for jumps one stride too early. He usually did this in front of the triple jump. When he took off early, he also came down early. regularly knocking the top bar and causing us an NQ. It took the Slo Mo of Coach's Eye to enable me to see this. I then did a lot of training with Mr. D on the triple and he got a lot better at judging when to take off to jump the triple. Since that discovery, no more bars down. (I'm sure bars will still come down, but hopefully a lot less often.)
In addition to Coach's Eye, another plus of using an iPad for videoing is that it has a relatively large screen (when compared with a standard video camera). This means I can look at my run and analyze it within minutes, while it is still fresh in my mind.
So usually after our runs, particularly after an NQ, you will find me in the stands with ice packs on my knees, obsessively looking at our latest video. If you're not videoing your runs, you are missing out on a great learning opportunity.
So, see you at Dream Park this weekend?! Bring your iPad and your ice packs.
Rob
As often as possible, I try to get a video of every run we do. Although it's fun to catch one of our pretty runs on video, the best ones to get are the ones with mistakes. Then I can look at them and figure out what I did wrong (which is the usual problem) or what Mr. Darcy has done wrong. I usually get someone (most often my wife, Paula) to video us using an iPad. Once I have it on the iPad I import it into an app called "Coach's Eye." This app is really cool. It enables me to slow the video down to half speed or even go frame-by-frame, controlling the speed with my finger. Coach's Eye has helped me discover what was happening with two or three problems we were struggling with. Once I knew what the problems were, I could develop plans to fix them.
For example, by slowing down our videos, we were recently able to figure out that Darcy was frequently leaving out a stride and taking off for jumps one stride too early. He usually did this in front of the triple jump. When he took off early, he also came down early. regularly knocking the top bar and causing us an NQ. It took the Slo Mo of Coach's Eye to enable me to see this. I then did a lot of training with Mr. D on the triple and he got a lot better at judging when to take off to jump the triple. Since that discovery, no more bars down. (I'm sure bars will still come down, but hopefully a lot less often.)
In addition to Coach's Eye, another plus of using an iPad for videoing is that it has a relatively large screen (when compared with a standard video camera). This means I can look at my run and analyze it within minutes, while it is still fresh in my mind.
So usually after our runs, particularly after an NQ, you will find me in the stands with ice packs on my knees, obsessively looking at our latest video. If you're not videoing your runs, you are missing out on a great learning opportunity.
So, see you at Dream Park this weekend?! Bring your iPad and your ice packs.
Rob
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Perils and pluses of constant trialling
When I decided to campaign for the Invitational, I really had no idea what I was getting into. It is a huge commitment! We spend most of our weekends at agility trials, watching, competing and learning (and of course socializing!). It's been a bit of a trial-by-fire (pardon the pun). It's hard to think of, but before a couple of years ago, we rarely went to more than one or maybe two trials a month and almost never for more than one day at any particular trial. Now we go to trials almost every weekend, and many of them are three days long.
Trialling so much has benefits. For one thing, I used to get so nervous before going in the ring that I could barely make myself go in, and when I was in there I hardly knew what was going on. (Here's a funny thing: I used to get butterflies just filling out the entry forms! And that was a month or two before the trial was even going to take place!) Then once in the ring, I would make a lot of green mistakes--getting lost on the course, leaving parts of the course out, running into obstacles, etc. Those days are (mainly) gone, thanks to so many reps in the ring. I still get nervous of course, but only an appropriate amount. Plus, with all the experience has come the ability to see the courses much better and anticipate how they will run. Now I can walk the courses with much greater confidence than I could a year ago. Of course, I still make plenty of mistakes! Just not as many as before. :-) One more benefit: thanks to all the experience, when I run the course now my conscious mind is mainly turned off. I don't hear or see anything but the course and my dog. Actually, more often than not when my conscious mind intrudes during our run, it usually causes problems!
Probably the biggest benefit of trialling so much is that Mr. Darcy and I have become a real team. Almost every time we go into the ring, we are so connected it is like there is a string tied between us. He anticipates what I will do and I anticipate what he will do. We seem to be reading each other's minds. It is as if we are dancing out there. I am almost always able to tell him exactly where I want him to go and he goes there. Most of this is non-verbal, communicated with body language, eye contact, and motion. It is so much fun going out there with my partner!
But trialling so much also has downsides. For one thing, it's hard to get anything done around the house when you're away almost every weekend! Another problem is limited training time. As I touched on yesterday, we have learned to do a certain amount of training in the ring. You're not allowed to bring treats or toys into the ring, but there are things you can do. For example, in competitions I have taught Mr. D the difference between a rear cross with a sharp turn and a rear cross with a gentler "go out" kind of turn. We also frequently work on staying put on the table and various contact behaviors. I'm still trying to teach myself to mark it when bars come down, but that's a hard one! (At least for me.)
The biggest downside, though, is the feeling of having to Q every run. This really sent me through an emotional roller coaster this year. After a good run or a good weekend I would be on top of the world! It was a great feeling! I couldn't wait to get back in the ring! But after an NQ or a bad weekend, I would feel very bad. "Why am I doing this? What a waste of money. We just gave away 20 points. We'll never qualify for the Invitational." I would be depressed for a couple of days. What a drag. This has been very hard to control, though I am finally starting to get a handle on it. Now that it appears we are all but definitely going to qualify for the Invitational, I have started to think more about working out kinks instead of being perfect in the ring. Now when we NQ, I try to use it as an enhanced training opportunity and not worry about being imperfect. It's an on-going journey but is getting better.
Rob
Trialling so much has benefits. For one thing, I used to get so nervous before going in the ring that I could barely make myself go in, and when I was in there I hardly knew what was going on. (Here's a funny thing: I used to get butterflies just filling out the entry forms! And that was a month or two before the trial was even going to take place!) Then once in the ring, I would make a lot of green mistakes--getting lost on the course, leaving parts of the course out, running into obstacles, etc. Those days are (mainly) gone, thanks to so many reps in the ring. I still get nervous of course, but only an appropriate amount. Plus, with all the experience has come the ability to see the courses much better and anticipate how they will run. Now I can walk the courses with much greater confidence than I could a year ago. Of course, I still make plenty of mistakes! Just not as many as before. :-) One more benefit: thanks to all the experience, when I run the course now my conscious mind is mainly turned off. I don't hear or see anything but the course and my dog. Actually, more often than not when my conscious mind intrudes during our run, it usually causes problems!
Probably the biggest benefit of trialling so much is that Mr. Darcy and I have become a real team. Almost every time we go into the ring, we are so connected it is like there is a string tied between us. He anticipates what I will do and I anticipate what he will do. We seem to be reading each other's minds. It is as if we are dancing out there. I am almost always able to tell him exactly where I want him to go and he goes there. Most of this is non-verbal, communicated with body language, eye contact, and motion. It is so much fun going out there with my partner!
But trialling so much also has downsides. For one thing, it's hard to get anything done around the house when you're away almost every weekend! Another problem is limited training time. As I touched on yesterday, we have learned to do a certain amount of training in the ring. You're not allowed to bring treats or toys into the ring, but there are things you can do. For example, in competitions I have taught Mr. D the difference between a rear cross with a sharp turn and a rear cross with a gentler "go out" kind of turn. We also frequently work on staying put on the table and various contact behaviors. I'm still trying to teach myself to mark it when bars come down, but that's a hard one! (At least for me.)
The biggest downside, though, is the feeling of having to Q every run. This really sent me through an emotional roller coaster this year. After a good run or a good weekend I would be on top of the world! It was a great feeling! I couldn't wait to get back in the ring! But after an NQ or a bad weekend, I would feel very bad. "Why am I doing this? What a waste of money. We just gave away 20 points. We'll never qualify for the Invitational." I would be depressed for a couple of days. What a drag. This has been very hard to control, though I am finally starting to get a handle on it. Now that it appears we are all but definitely going to qualify for the Invitational, I have started to think more about working out kinks instead of being perfect in the ring. Now when we NQ, I try to use it as an enhanced training opportunity and not worry about being imperfect. It's an on-going journey but is getting better.
Rob
Edited That First Post
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Hello Again--
I'm real new to blogging. This is my first go round, in fact. After a little review of my first posting, I was concerned about two things:
1. It may have seemed like I was tooting my own horn a bit too much.
2. It may have seemed like I was dissing our co-competitor, Rowdy Jack Tar.
I didn't intend either of these things. So I've edited the post a teeny bit. Hopefully it's better.
Thanks,
Rob
Hello Again--
I'm real new to blogging. This is my first go round, in fact. After a little review of my first posting, I was concerned about two things:
1. It may have seemed like I was tooting my own horn a bit too much.
2. It may have seemed like I was dissing our co-competitor, Rowdy Jack Tar.
I didn't intend either of these things. So I've edited the post a teeny bit. Hopefully it's better.
Thanks,
Rob
Monday, May 20, 2013
Greetings and Explanations
Monday, May 20, 2013
I really wish I'd started this blog a year ago, when Mr. Darcy and I first began our quest to get to the National Invitational. But I didn't think about it at the time. I figure better late than never, even if the qualifying period is almost over. I can tell you about what exactly the "National Invitational" is and some of what we've been going through for the past year. I'll try to keep this post from getting too long. I may add more detail in future posts. Eventually, posts will be more about what's happening right now, not so much about what's been happening for the past year.
First, in case you don't know, Mr. Darcy is my six-year-old (as of two days ago--his birthday is May 18) Portuguese Water Dog. We compete as a team in the sport of Dog Agility. For a description of what that is, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_agility.
The National Invitational is a unique dog agility event sponsored by the AKC. Other big national competitions in agility, sponsored by AKC or by other venues such as USDAA, are based purely on merit. Nothing wrong with that! But the National Invitational is different because it is based partly on merit (how good your team is) and partly on breed. So it's a little different. Here is basically how it works: The qualifying period for the Invitational is a whole year. It begins on July 1 and ends on June 30. At the end of the year, the AKC sends out invitations to the top five teams in every breed, nationwide. So to qualify, Mr. D and I have been competing in agility for nearly a year, and the only other teams we're worried about (as far as the Invitational is concerned) is the other Portuguese Water Dog teams. Sometime shortly after June 30, the AKC will send out invitations to the top five PWD teams (and all the other breeds, too). If the top five teams all accept the invitation, then everything is set. If one or more teams say "No thanks," then invitations go out to the next team (or teams) until there are five teams for each breed. The Invitational itself is held in mid-December in Orlando.
At the Invitational, we will compete in three opening rounds. It is imperative that during these opening rounds our runs are all mistake-free. Clean trumps speed. After the three opening rounds, the top 10 dogs at each jump height go to the finals, with the caveat that no more than one dog of any breed (within a particular jump height) can go to the finals. So even though Border Collies, for example, are usually faster than PWDs, only one BC can get to the finals. So the key is to be reasonably fast, but perfectly clean. Then go for broke in the finals.
We actually tried to qualify for the Invitational two years ago, starting on July 1, 2011. It quickly became apparent that we were not ready. We stopped trying for that and began to train more intensively. Then we started again on July 1, 2012. The thing about the Invitational is, for a year you have to trial a LOT, and you have to be very consistent. Mr. D and I have certainly trialled a lot--75% or 80% of the weekends for the past year, many of them for three days. (I believe our total number of trial days for the year will end up being around 100 days!) We have struggled sometimes with consistency, but have made up for it with speed. Because we are trialling so much, we don't have a lot of time for training. Weekend seminars are pretty much out (that's when we're busy trialling). We do go to classes a couple of times a week. We also work in our backyard pretty regularly. But both of us also need downtime, so we can't do too much training. I have learned to do certain kinds of training in the ring, during competitions, too, which has been a big step forward in my development.
There is one PWD in the competition this year who is extremely consistent. His name is Rowdy Jack Tar. Nearly all of his runs are clean. He has finished first among PWDs in the year-long qualifying for the last several years. (We've never met him because he trials in the Indiana-Michigan area.) Although he is very accurate, I am told he is not as fast as we are. (We aspire to his level of consistency!) Nonetheless he consistently finishes way ahead of all the other PWDs in the qualifying period. So, in addition to qualifying for the invitational, we have had another goal: beat Rowdy Jack Tar and qualify first. So far we are in first place. We'll see what happens over the next month and a half!
I think that's enough for now. I'll write more about my ever-changing state of mind, maybe post a video, etc., in the next day or two.
Rob and Mr. Darcy
I really wish I'd started this blog a year ago, when Mr. Darcy and I first began our quest to get to the National Invitational. But I didn't think about it at the time. I figure better late than never, even if the qualifying period is almost over. I can tell you about what exactly the "National Invitational" is and some of what we've been going through for the past year. I'll try to keep this post from getting too long. I may add more detail in future posts. Eventually, posts will be more about what's happening right now, not so much about what's been happening for the past year.
First, in case you don't know, Mr. Darcy is my six-year-old (as of two days ago--his birthday is May 18) Portuguese Water Dog. We compete as a team in the sport of Dog Agility. For a description of what that is, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_agility.
The National Invitational is a unique dog agility event sponsored by the AKC. Other big national competitions in agility, sponsored by AKC or by other venues such as USDAA, are based purely on merit. Nothing wrong with that! But the National Invitational is different because it is based partly on merit (how good your team is) and partly on breed. So it's a little different. Here is basically how it works: The qualifying period for the Invitational is a whole year. It begins on July 1 and ends on June 30. At the end of the year, the AKC sends out invitations to the top five teams in every breed, nationwide. So to qualify, Mr. D and I have been competing in agility for nearly a year, and the only other teams we're worried about (as far as the Invitational is concerned) is the other Portuguese Water Dog teams. Sometime shortly after June 30, the AKC will send out invitations to the top five PWD teams (and all the other breeds, too). If the top five teams all accept the invitation, then everything is set. If one or more teams say "No thanks," then invitations go out to the next team (or teams) until there are five teams for each breed. The Invitational itself is held in mid-December in Orlando.
At the Invitational, we will compete in three opening rounds. It is imperative that during these opening rounds our runs are all mistake-free. Clean trumps speed. After the three opening rounds, the top 10 dogs at each jump height go to the finals, with the caveat that no more than one dog of any breed (within a particular jump height) can go to the finals. So even though Border Collies, for example, are usually faster than PWDs, only one BC can get to the finals. So the key is to be reasonably fast, but perfectly clean. Then go for broke in the finals.
We actually tried to qualify for the Invitational two years ago, starting on July 1, 2011. It quickly became apparent that we were not ready. We stopped trying for that and began to train more intensively. Then we started again on July 1, 2012. The thing about the Invitational is, for a year you have to trial a LOT, and you have to be very consistent. Mr. D and I have certainly trialled a lot--75% or 80% of the weekends for the past year, many of them for three days. (I believe our total number of trial days for the year will end up being around 100 days!) We have struggled sometimes with consistency, but have made up for it with speed. Because we are trialling so much, we don't have a lot of time for training. Weekend seminars are pretty much out (that's when we're busy trialling). We do go to classes a couple of times a week. We also work in our backyard pretty regularly. But both of us also need downtime, so we can't do too much training. I have learned to do certain kinds of training in the ring, during competitions, too, which has been a big step forward in my development.
There is one PWD in the competition this year who is extremely consistent. His name is Rowdy Jack Tar. Nearly all of his runs are clean. He has finished first among PWDs in the year-long qualifying for the last several years. (We've never met him because he trials in the Indiana-Michigan area.) Although he is very accurate, I am told he is not as fast as we are. (We aspire to his level of consistency!) Nonetheless he consistently finishes way ahead of all the other PWDs in the qualifying period. So, in addition to qualifying for the invitational, we have had another goal: beat Rowdy Jack Tar and qualify first. So far we are in first place. We'll see what happens over the next month and a half!
I think that's enough for now. I'll write more about my ever-changing state of mind, maybe post a video, etc., in the next day or two.
Rob and Mr. Darcy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)