Runquick Agility Poodles

2011-06-20T13:25:00.000-07:00

So once again I have been relegated to being the cheering squad while Zippy runs. I am working on getting back into shape, but Mom says I cannot compete until I have worked my way back up to practice running whole courses at 20" (I can jump one or two 22" jumps for obedience, but have been running practice runs at 12". At least she is practicing with me again, so that's good.

Anyway, on Friday, Mom and Zippy did pretty good but didn't have clean runs. But on Saturday, Zippy finished BOTH her open JWW and her open standard titles, so she is now an EXCELLENT dog. She is pretty pleased with herself. Mom says that they now need to work on building up speed as well as consistency (including tighter turns).

Here is Zip's JWW run:

Yesterday we hung out at home while mom tried to catch up on her work, so no more legs. Hope everyone else had a good weekend!

Love
Jazzy

Sorry I've been on strike

2011-05-09T18:41:00.000-07:00

So in case no one noticed, I haven't posted recently. I've been bummed cause Zippy has been able to agility, but I HAVE NOT! And there is NOTHING as much fun as doing jility!!!! Mom keeps saying that she doesn't want me to injure myself again. Well but can't she see I'm all better?

Well anyway, on Saturday, we went to a CPE trial AND I GOT TO RUN! TWICE!!!! Woo Hoo! Okay, so I was running 12" as a specialist, but it was SO AWESOME! I wished that Mom had entered me in ALL the runs, and not just two! But two was way better than NONE! So I was in level 4 specialist, and I Q'd with 1st place finishes in both runs. I was stoked!

Charlie got to run too -- but only once. Charlie is 10 and has not run since he was 7, but he also ran as a level 4 specialist, but cause he's bigger than me he had to jump 16". He said it was really really fun! Mom said he is just the best, and he powered out as soon as she told him okay.

Zippy - well she was sorta out of control on Saturday, but managed to eke out Q's in 4 of the 5 runs. She just was not listening to mom on the 5th one, and took off running before she was told to, so she wasted lots of time.

Okay well Sunday wasn't as much fun, but at least we didn't sit around all day waiting while Zippy played. It started out poorly for Zippy - mom tied her leash to the chair while she walked the rally course. Something happened - don't know if the wind tipped the chair or what, but all of a sudden poor Zippy was being chased aross the park by an evil chair!!!!! OMG was she scared!!!! She didn't stop until the chair got caught on a car, and mom was able to catch up to her. Mom put her in the RV with us and went back to walk the course. The rally class was really small, and Zippy still couldn't concentrate when it was her turn -- she kept looking around to see if she was going to be attacked again, so she didn't qualify. After that tho, Mom brought me out. Zippy was SOOOO glad to see me. That made me feel good, cause Zippy knew that I would take care of her. So I stood there with another poodle friend of mine, Candy, when Zippy went into the novice obedience ring. Zippy was still sorta nervous and didn't do as well as she normally would, but she ended up qualifying to finish her CD! Yay Zippy! And she got the trophy for high nonsporting dog!

Well then it was my turn to go into the open obedience ring. Mom didn't have time to properly warm me up, but took me in anyway. I tried to tell her that I really would have preferred to be doing agility, but she didn't listen very well. I did my drop on recall, but didn't pick up the dumbbells. Mom was surprised cause I normally do that, but you gotta give a girl a break - I mean you finally let me run agility, and then you take me to an obedience trial instead of a second day of agility?????

So then it was Zippy's turn to to agility. Mom wouldn't let me do it cause it was an AKC trial and she said I'm not in good enough shape yet to be jumping 20" (I normally jump 24"). Zippy had a GREAT open jumpers run -- but then was disqualified by the judge for being a rhinestone poodle (rhinestones on her collar). Mom had been told it was okay, but no more fancy collars in the ring for Zippy. Then Zippy did open standard. Mom didn't think she qualified, but decided to go back and look at the score, and Zippy got 1st place in open standard! So she got the one she probably shouldn't have, but didn't get the one she really earned!

Okay, well then Charlie got to veteran obedience. He didn't really want to do it, but he's a good guy, so he went with the program. But we made up for it when we got to go into the ring together for BRACE! Well agility is fun, but playing in the obedience ring with Charlie is almost as much fun! We had the judge laughing at us the whole time. In fact, after we did the recall in our (somewhat) rambunctious style, she was practically doubled over with laughter and almost couldn't get out the next command! She said we had made her day! :-) So I guess Sunday was okay, even without agility.

Anyway, hope everyone else had as good a time as we did!

Love,

Jazzy

'

2011-02-13T14:24:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone -

Jazzy said I needed to rite my own reports, cuz she was tired of riting for me. I'm still learning how to rite, so pleez excuse the mistakes.

On Wednesday Dec 29 I got to see Helen and Mel and watch meme run! She runs good. And Crushie runs FAST!!!! Wow!

Wen mom and me went into the jumpers ring, we wernt very connected and I tried to do a good job but mom pulled me off of some jumps. But in standard, except for one place that I thought I was supposed to go on the aframe I did it rite and got a Q and a fancy ribbon for finishing my novice title.

Then we waited and watched to go in for the fast run. I was so excited and I wanted to run so bad and it was cold, wich is grate for running -- when we went into the ring and mom took off my leash, I ran across the ring, checked out the next ring, then ran back to mom. I did the teeter, the weaves, the send, some other stuff, but we ran out of time and were 4 seconds over, which meant I lost 8 points. Mom was surprised that I still Q'd with a point to spare!!!!

On Thursday mom worked so we hung out.

On Friday, the last day of the year. we got to go tracking!!!!! Jazzy and me did some long straight tracks, then I got to do a TD track that had been laid for a
dog that got lost getting there (a lot of roads were closed cuz of the rain). It had been laid 3 hours before, so mom wasn't sure how I would do. Well I did the first leg fine, but then a model airplane was buzzing us, and I lifted my head to watch it. Wow. what is it? Anyway, I had to wait for it to move away to get started again (I didn't have a problem with any of the legs, but it was hard to concentrate on the corners with the plane buzzing over us). It finally went away and I did my 4th corner fine, and when I paused, mom said I was doing good, so I went up a hill and across a road, and THERE WAS THE GLOVE!!!!!!! Mom was very pleased and I got lots of treats. She said that with some work on my corners I shud be able to get certified pretty easily.

So on Saturday wich mom said was new years, we did FAST first, and I really tried to listen better to mom this time. I thought about running around, but mom told me to sit and stay so I did. We Q'd for my second novice fast leg, then I Q'd in open jumpers for my first open leg. Mom couldn't move me up to open standard cuz it was a different trial, so we had a novice run to do, and parts of it were beautiful. I guess other parts weren't so good, but mom didn't care cuz it didn't count anyway.

The next day it was cold again. We got to do FAST again, and until the very end I understood what mom wanted and we did really good except I lost some points at the end, cause I turned the wrong way. Mom said she needs to watch the video and figure out why -- but she said the beginning was gorgeous. Anyway, I got my 3rd novice fast leg so I am don with novice and I got another pretty ribbon.

By the time we got to do open standard and jumpers it was raining. I slipped a little and knocked the first bar, and didn't hold my aframe contact, and then mom didn't tell me to go over the teeter, and then I almost slipped off of the dog walk but I hung on and didn't fall, and mom told me I did really well and she was proud of me, so I felt good even tho we didn't get a ribbon. Jumpers was pretty good cept I guess I missed a couple of jumps, but by that time it was really raining, so we just finished up and came home.

When we got home, Jazzy and me we went running around the yard and when I came in to the house, I had Jazzy's muddy pawprints on me. Then we ate mcdonalds mcdoubles and went to sleep.

So the next Saturday on Jan 8, I got to do jility once more, and was in open in all the classes. I did pretty good in fast, cept I missed a jump in the send, so no ribbon. Mom said my standard run was beautiful, cept that she kept turning and pulling me out of the weaves (she did it TWICE), so no Q there either. And with jumpers, mom was just really really late in letting me know what I was supposed to do, so I was sort of all over the place, since she just didn't let me know in time what to do, and I had to keep stopping and changing directions. Mom didn't think I had Q'd on that run either, so we packed up and went home. But she was looking at the AKC website yesterday and it said I had TWO Open jumpers legs. She went back and looked at the video and realized that I really only had one refusal, and ended up with 3rd place! (which, of course, I don't have the ribbon cause mom didn't bother to pick it up!!!!!)

No more jility trials for me since then cause mom was waiting for me to come into season, wich I did three weeks ago, so mom promises me we will be able to compete again soon - probly in March.

Love, Zippy

I am SOOO Jealous!!!!

2010-11-29T10:36:00.000-08:00

Okay, I admit it. I am jealous. I haven't been able to 'jility for MONTHS now -- and mom said that unless and until I stop limping after I've been working out, and until I can easily jump again, she won't enter me.

Well, this weekend, even though I can't compete, Zippy finally got to start doing 'jility. And Charlie and I sat around like bumps on a log. Well we did at least get to come along and hang out, but it was pretty cold and miserable, so I was not unhappy about getting back into the RV.

Anyway, this was Zippy's weekend, and for a beginner (her first AKC agility trial), she did okay. In jumpers on Saturday she took an extra jump, so was disqualified, but even with the extra jump, she was still the fastest 20" novice dog.

She and mom had a discussion about the need for her to get on the table in Standard; I think that they are going to be practicing that more.

But yesterday, Zippy was sailing. In jumpers, near the end of the course, mom said to turn right and Zippy got confused and turned left, which added 3 seconds or so to her time, so she was in second place by .13 of a second.

In standard, mom and Zippy discussed the table again, which added several seconds and earned Zippy a refusal, but in that course, even with the refusal, Zippy was the fastest of all dogs in novice, all jump heights! She was 5 seconds faster than the dog that won the 24" jump height, and more than 7 seconds faster than the dog that placed first in the 20" jump height.

So everyone was saying how awesome Zippy was. I had to make sure that she knew that she was still just the princess (me being the queen of course). And hopefully I will soon be able to run again as well!

All in all, not to bad a weekend.

Love, Jazzy

Jazzy & Zippy do 'bedience

2010-10-31T12:58:00.000-07:00

Okay, today Mom entered Zippy and me in an obedience and rally trial. It wasn't too hot, which was a good thing. But it was a LOOOONNNNGGGG day and my paws are tired, so this will be short.

Zippy started out in Rally Advanced B. She didn't place, but she qualified, so that now she has her rally advanced title! She got a really cool medallion for finishing her title.

Then, shortly after that (which meant that she didn't really have any down time at all), she got to go into the ring for Novice Obedience B. She STILL thinks that she shouldn't sit in the ring. But Mom said that her heeling was REALLY GOOD except for that -- she did sort of space on the slow part, but the rest of the time, she stayed right with mom, which is a total improvement over her last trial. But then she blew her recall by not coming on the first command. It was really noisy, and I think she was just being a blond; even though she has black hair, she has the Paris Hilton part down pat.

Well then it was my turn. Sorta. The Open A class -- which had 16 dogs, took over 3 hours!!!!! So I warmed up, then sat around, then warmed up again, then sat around, and finally mom took me into the ring. The dog that was in the ring two dogs before me threw up in the ring in a couple of places. I think they missed a spot. Anyway I was checking it out and got distracted on the heeling. Then when mom tossed the dumbbell, it went into that same area. Well, I couldn't pick up a dumbbell that was sitting in a smelly spot! So anyway, I didn't come close to qualifying.

But the really fun part is that Mom entered me in the Wildcard Utility class. She lost a bunch of points when she made me redo stuff (I got both of my articles, but the first time I admit, I dropped it at Mom's feet instead of handing it to her, and she made me pick it up and give it to her -- and on the glove I didn't turn and sit the way she wanted, so she made me come back). But even with all of this, I CAME IN 4th!!!! I expected to be at the bottom of the class, since everyone else there has more experience than I do, BUT I WAS ACTUALLY IN THE RIBBONS!!!!! Mom was pleased, but she did agree that I would have done even better if I had had a decent handler who knew what she was doing. :-)

Okay, off to bed now. Hope everyone else had a great weekend.

Jazz

Jazzy is 8!!!!!

2010-08-03T13:25:00.000-07:00

Just want everyone to know that I am EIGHT YEARS OLD today!!!! And so far the only one mom has played with is ZIPPY! Hummmppphhhh! I even had to help myself to the treats that mom left sitting on the fence, since she didn't offer me any! But Mom did say I had class tonight, so maybe she will have extra yummy treats for me then. Sigh...

Jazzy

We DID IT!!!

2010-06-26T17:37:00.000-07:00

Woo HOOOOO! I am now the DOG OF THE WEEK!!!! I would like to thank all my friends and fans and even those who might not be friends or fans, but who voted for me!!! See http://www.adogspurpose.com/

Dog of the Week - Update

2010-06-23T13:48:00.000-07:00

I am now in the lead for Dog of the Week! I didn't know I had so many friends! Thanks!

Anyway, I just wanted to thank Staring at Strangers for their support.

Pretty funny stuff!

Jazzy

Dog of the Week

2010-06-20T20:06:00.000-07:00

I (Jazzy) am in the running for dog of the week. Mom picked an OLD photo of me that she really likes; I think it looks sorta dorky, but I guess that if it means I can win, it is okay. So, I guess I am asking you to vote for me.

If I win, Mom gets a book and we get $65 donated to our favorite dog charity. I figure that if Peabody can raise money for poodles by getting his hair cut, I can raise money by being an online celebrity. Anyway, if you want to vote, go to a dogs purpose.

And remember -- I'm a 5 star girl!!!!!

Jazzy

(Mom said you can vote every day, but that with all my friends and fans, it shouldn't take too long to pull to the front of the pack!)

Zippy now has her CGC

2010-06-20T19:42:00.000-07:00

Zippy got her CGC yesterday. That stands for "Canine Good Citizen" and tests stuff like walking thru a crowd, responding to noises, doing a recall, and stuff like that. :-) Zippy said that the CGC crew were very complementary about her. The last exercise is one where the dog has to stay with someone else while the handler goes out of sight. When mom left her, she stood for a while (on a loose lead), then finally she sat, and then she laid down. When mom came back, they said, What a GOOD dog she is! So mom gave her extra cookies.

Anyway, we were at a show n go, and Zippy also got to do jility, rally and bedience. The judge gave lots of extra halt commands when Zippy was doing novice bedience, cause mom asked him to (Zippy was convinced that she wasn't supposed to sit in the ring, cause of all the conformation stuff), and she did start to do automatic sits when she and mom stopped, so mom was pleased.

Well, FINALLY, I got my turn to do both open obedience and utility. First I did sits and downs. Mom was very happy that I stayed sitting for the full 3 minutes that she was out of sight. But then we waited and waited out in the sun until it was our turn to go into the open obedience ring. I admit, I was hot and tired and crabby by the time I got in the ring, so I didn't do a very good job. So mom put me back in the RV, gave me water and told me to rest and cool down, and took Zippy out to let her do some more agility.

Okay, so then she decided that it was about time I try doing utility. It was my first time actually doing an entire utility run thru, and mom made some mistakes. But I guess mom decided that I might actually get my CDX one of these days and figured we should start to work on the next level. There were LOTS of distractions, and I was till sort of hot, and I wasn't exactly sure about what I was doing. But I surprised mom by doing the scent articles beautifully (had a full set of articles out, and I found both the correct metal and the leather articles). I wasn't sure about getting the glove and the go out on the directed jumping seemed to be WAYYYY far out and there were all the other dogs and people around. But the jumping part itself was cool. Mom and I still need to work some on the signal exercises so that I understand the first time what she wants me to do, but she said that my moving stand was a thing of beauty. So we are making progress.

Charlie got to visit with the ring crews in between other stuff that we did.

All in all a pretty good day!

Love, Jazz

Zippy 1 Squirrel 0

2010-06-07T19:34:00.000-07:00

After spending countless hours chasing squirrels, Zippy finally caught and killed one. Oh, I was Soooooo jealous! I told her she needed to give it to me, but she just brought it into the house still warm, and sat on the couch lording it over us. Mom couldn't figure out why I was barking at her.

Well then Mom called us to come to work, and Zippy proudly trotted by her. Mom's first thought was that she didn't recognize that toy! lol. Silly mom. When she looked at again, her response was, and I quote, "eeeeewwww!" We told mom she should have taken a photo, but did she listen to us? Nope -- all she could think of was getting that yucky thing out of Zippy's mouth and into the trash!

Zippy let mom take it -- I think she thought mom wanted to play too, and it wasn't mangled at all -- just very dead (still warm). But no -- mom just threw it in the trash! What a waste of a perfectly good squirrel!!!

FINALLY back to doing agility!

2010-05-11T19:32:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys!

So I haven't written in forever! This is partly because the focus recently has not been on ME, but on my little sister. Well, so what if she is now a champion? I STILL have WAAAAY more titles than she does! And I can still beat her up!

Actually having her done with a championship is fun, cause now she has short hair, and I can beat her up without mom always yelling at me to stop chewing on her hair! It is really fun when me and Charlie both gang up on her -- and she can't complain cause she normally starts it.

So anyway, on Saturday we got to go to a CPE trial. Mom entered me in Veterans, cause I'm almost 8, so I only had to jump 16". Piece of cake! I qualified in all 4 runs, with one 1st place finish, and 2 2nd place finishes. Zippy also got to run 3 times (in the games). She said that when she got out there the first time, it was SOOO EXCITING with all the people and the dogs, and she wanted to run so much, that as soon as mom took the leash off, she was ZOOMING ZIPPY! Good news is that she didn't go out of the ring (which was just ribbon around the stakes), and once her brain started to click into gear, she made the first run into a tunnelers run -- tunnel, tunnel, tunnel, jump, tunnel tunnel tunnel jump table. Mom said that she finally started to pay attention to her about the time the buzzer went off. Second run, Zippy did much better paying attention to mom (but they wouldn't have qualified anyway cause there were weaves, and Zippy is still working on those, so Mom just ran by them), and by the 3rd run, she almost qualified (ran out of time - buzzer went off as she was going over the dog walk). Everyone enjoyed watching her, cause she was having soooo much fun! And mom was happy cause Zippy didn't run away, and paid attention once her brain kicked in.

Yesterday, we did agility, rally and bedience. Well, I did agility - Zippy only did rally and bedience. I had gotten so used to jumping those 16" jumps that I knocked some bars in 24" JWW. I normally don't knock bars like that, but Mom shoulda let me jump some 24" jumps to warm up, so I knew what I was doing. Then I went and qualified in rally advanced. After that we went back over and did the Standard run and I qualified with a 4th place finish (there were about 12 24" dogs that qualified, so mom was pleased). Came back and did rally excellent, to finish my RAE title. Then Zippy got to do bedience -- she qualified in novice, even though she forgot how to sit! She said that she is so confused. She has been told over and over during the past year that she is not supposed to sit when she goes into the ring; now, she is getting points off for not sitting! I told her not to worry - all she needs is that green ribbon. Then Zippy did rally novice and Q'd there as well, so now she has one leg towards her CD and one towards her RN. By that time I was done. I was SOOOO done -- but mom said it was time to do open obedience. WHAT? No - I am done! By the time I did the retrieve on the flat I was so disgusted that I brought the dumbbell back to mom and spit it out at her, and then I said I was done jumping. Mom had me excused from the sits and downs. Well then a bit later, Zippy and I got to do brace. That was sorta fun -- much more fun than doing bedience by myself. We got first place, but mom said that was mostly cause we were the only ones competing! :-) The judge was pleased by our recall, which was almost perfect. Our total score was 175 or 176 - don't remember exactly, so it wasn't too bad. We get to do it next week too, so we should be even better by then.

Hope everyone else had a good weekend!

Love,
Jazzy

Zippy is a Champion!

2010-04-04T20:06:00.000-07:00

Zippy took both majors this weekend in Las Vegas to finish her championship!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!

So now we can concentrate on performance!!!!!!

Del Mar - rain rain and more rain

2010-02-28T19:30:00.000-08:00

It REALLY rained in Del Mar. We were there in our motorhome, but mom decided because of the distance to the agility rings, not to do agility. Instead I did rally (got legs 8 and 9 towards my RAE) and obedience (we won't talk about obedience, except that mom said she will never show again to one of the judges). Zippy did conformation. Zippy was gorgeous, and was robbed. She shoulda won. Well, the bitch that won was also a pretty bitch, but not as pretty as Zippy!

Anyway, it rained and it rained and it rained. It was windy too. We were glad to be safe in our warm, cozy RV (mini mini mini GW), but a couple of times the wind and rain made so much noise that I had to bark at it to warn it away!

More Later

Jazzy

Zippy's Report

2010-02-05T19:24:00.000-08:00

Zippy was in a car accident with Mom on Monday night when they were on their way to obedience class. The car is gone. Zippy said that she was sleeping in the back, when all of a sudden there was this big boom, and she was slammed into the front seat, and there was smoke all over, and she was really really scared. Mom got out, Zippy followed, and was so scared she pulled away from mom and out of her collar (on a busy street)! Mom yelled at her and she stopped, and Mom put the collar and leash back on her. Then they stood on the corner and waited. Pretty soon someone came by and Mom put Zippy in the back seat of that car next to another dog who was in its crate. Zippy was really scared then, cause Mom was still talking to people and she was alone in this strange car. Finally Mom got in the front seat, and Zippy jumped in her lap, where she rode, trembling and panting all the way home.

The next day mom and Belina (who works with us) put Zippy in Belina's car (Zippy tried to tell mom that she really really didn't want to get into a car again), and they went to the vets. She got on Mom's lap again, and stood there trembling and panting just like on the way home on Monday. There they offered Zippy really yummy chicken treats and Zippy wagged her tail at them to tell them she appreciated it, but she wouldn't eat them, cause she was just too nervous. The vet said that Zippy had a sore shoulder, but was pretty much okay otherwise. She got rescue remedy and some other stuff to take and has to go back to the vet next week.

Since then, Mom has kept going to different places and leaving us alone. She said she was going to the doctor, then she went to get a rental car, then she went to get the stuff out of the car that is gone, then she went to get xrays, then she went to the doctor again. We all want to go with her but she says not yet. When she came back today she said she had a sprained neck.

Anyway, mom said she doesn't have to go anywhere this weekend, so we can all stay home -- till Monday when she goes to the doctor again and Zippy goes to the vets ...

Hope everyone else is okay.

Love,
Jazzy

Finally some Ribbons!

2010-01-31T20:09:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I got 1st place in USDAA Starters Jumpers, and today I got 2nd place in Starters Jumpers for my starters jumpers title.

I got my second starters pairs leg today, also second place.

I would have had a lot more except for the fact that I suffer big time from IHS (inept handler syndrome). :-) Mom screwed up the rest of my runs. Good dog, shame about the handler! I am waaaaayyyy too good to be stuck in starters!!!!

Love Jazzy

No Good Horrible Week

2009-12-06T15:08:00.000-08:00

Hi guys! Well mom and me and Charlie definitely had the week from hell. We were playing outside (Charlie and Zippy and me) on Wednesday morning when Charlie started crying and crying. Mom thinks that one of us just body slammed him too hard; I think he just twisted wrong. Anyway, Mom took him to a vet and got him some rimadyl.

Well between Charlie and Zippy I wasn't getting enough attention, so I thought I would explore while mom was away picking up Zippy. mmmm ... what's this? mmmm ... chewed off childproof cover ... mmmm ...

well the next thing I know, Mom was back and we were on our way to the vets. Mom told the vet that I had eaten 13 of Charlie's rimadyl. Well how was I to know that it wasn't anything other than candy? They gave me some disgusting stuff and made me throw up, then they gave me charcoal and other stuff -- and Mom said goodbye to me, told me to be good, and said she would be back to pick me up in a couple of days. What's this? She's leaving me?????

So they kept stuffing charcoal and stuff into my mouth, and put me on an IV and put me in a big crate. It was not fun. It was noisy (there was a dog next to me that was either barking or slurping his water. Gross.), and I couldn't get comfortable.

It seemed like forever, and then Mom came! Yay Mom!!!! Let me kiss you! Let me jump in your lap! Take this conehead off of me so I can cuddle! Take me home! Well Mom took the conehead off, and after I gave her kisses and hugs, I ate some of the food that was sitting there, and they gave me some more, and I ate that and drank some water. Then I told Mom it was time for us to go. She took me outside and told me to go potty; I pooped for her, and then ....

SHE TOOK ME BACK INSIDE AND THEY PUT THE CONE HEAD BACK ON ME AND MOM LEFT AGAIN!

She said that if the tests were good that she would be able to come back tomorrow and take me home.

That stupid dog! Wish he would stop barking. I can't sleep, I miss my mom. I miss Charlie. I even miss my bratty little sister Zippy. Sigh.

Another night; another day. At least I think it was another night and day; it's hard to tell when they leave the lights on all the time and there aren't any windows! Sigh.

What's this? They are taking out the IV and wrapping up my leg? Where are they taking me now????

MOM!!!!!! There you are!!!! TAKE ME HOME! I PROMISE TO BE GOOD! GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!! Okay, okay, I'll get out of your face so that you can drive. Just let's go!

Charlie!!!! I missed you sooooo much!!!!!! Where's Zippy? She's not here! Nope - she will be back in a couple of days; Mom said that she went with Auntie Char since I was in the hospital and couldn't go down to Costa Mesa where we were supposed to compete. Okay, so she'll be back.

Friday night. Tired. Sleep. mmm -- in my own bed next to Mom and Charlie. That is just the best!!!!

Wake up, still tired, groggy. Into RV; get to do jility and 'bedience. After jility, I'm beat; did heeling with 'bedience, but kinda messed up after that. Mom didn't make me do groups.

Go home, sleep rest of the day, eat, sleep all night. Mom gets up again early, back into RV, back to do more jility and 'bedience. Not so tired today; mom and me weren't in synch on our first run, but we had fun! So much fun to run with mom.

Then to the 'bedience rings. Wait around for other class to finish, then we go in. Do good heeling. Mom praises me. Drop on recall? No problem. The mom throws out a dumbbell -- I go out but not sure what to do. Mom calls me back, throws dumbbell over high; I jump over, check it out and try to tell Mom --

finally she says to the judge, "It's not her dumbbell!" Well, duh! Of course I couldn't pick up another dog's dumbbell! The steward had given the wrong dumbbell to mom and it took two throws before it dawned on mom that I wasn't just shining her on!
Okay, so then we get to do the retrieve on the flat again with MY dumbbell this time. No problem, I pick it up and bring it back to mom.

Then mom tells me to sit and stay -- and throws the dumbbell out of the ring. Judge goes and gets it, brings it back, gives it to mom and tells her that at least she is getting practice throwing the dumbbell. Well by that time I am totally confused about what is going on. Mom throws the dumbbell again, and it goes way off to the side. She says "get it" and I'm wondering if she's talking to me or to the judge, since the judge has been doing more fetching than I have. So mom says Jazzy get it. Okay so she's talking to me. I go directly to it, then realize that I shoulda gone over the jump so I bring it back over the jump. We do the broad jump, and mom tells me that I am a good girl.

I go lay down in the RV for another half and hour or so and then mom brings me back for sits and downs. Okay, I'm not blowing this one. Mom tells me to sit, I sit. I sat for the entire 3 minutes. One of the dogs stands up but no, I'm not going to stand up. Mom comes back and tells me I am such a good dog. Then the down. Before they are even out of the ring, two dogs get up, including one next to me. I stay down like a good girl. then another dog gets up and starts moving around the ring, and another one sits. Mom comes back and tells me that I was perfect, that I am such a good girl.

We go get mcdonalds hamburgers and go home.

Paws tired now. Sleep again.
Kisses and hugs

Jazzy

Jazzy's UKC Obedience Report

2009-11-29T18:27:00.000-08:00

Zippy has a brag and asked me to post it for her, since she is still little and hasn't learned to type yet (she's 19 months old). Anyway, we went to a UKC obedience trial this weekend. Except for Top Dog, which doesn't really count since it is a match, she had never been in a performance trial before. And she wants everyone to know that she isn't always a ditz!

Anyway, on Saturday morming, Zippy started by getting a 73 in rally 1(novice) for her first ever leg in anything (would have been higher, but she kept getting distracted when one big leaf and then another and then another would blow across the ring -- obviously those had to be guarded against!). Then, after waiting until the afternoon, when they finally got to the novice classes, she qualified in novice obedience - TWICE! (there were two parallel trials).

This morning it wasn't windy like it was yesterday so there were no real distractions in the rally ring, and she got a 94!!!!! Woo hoo! So now she is 2/3 of the way to her first rally title. By thetime she got into the obedience ring, however, there were tons of children in the park running around making noise, so the distraction level (if the other dogs were not enough) was pretty high. Zippy didn't
qualify in her first trial, but, by the grace of a nice judge who must have been looking the other way on part of her heeling off lead, did barely qualify FOR HER FIRST TITLE!!!! So she now has her UCD! Yes!!!!!

I (Jazzy) am sorry to report, however, that I would have had my UCDX if it weren't for those nasty out of sight sits. After about 2-1/2 minutes I got bored and laid down. Yeah, each time. I know I know -- but really, how much can a girl be asked to do? Mom said that she wan't upset, as I did everything else (except on the first trial on Saturday I did anticipate the broad jump) and that that is the BEST I have ever done in open, and the most consistent.

Mom is asking for suggestions for a solid out of sight sit, since she foolishly registered me for obedience next weekend as well!

Charlie has settled into his official position as couch potato; however, on Saturday he was a courtesy honor dog for one of the other open dogs,so he did get to do an out of sight down.

Hope all the other dogs out there had a nice weekend!

Love,
Jazzy

Jazzy's Top Dog Report

2009-11-15T19:15:00.001-08:00

Hi Guys!

Mom says that I am a bad influence on Zippy. She said that she will have to stop letting me play with her if I don't reform. Well, now it's not MY fault that she left an almost WHOLE chicken on the counter! And a WHOLE chicken on the counter HAS to be taken care of.

So we did. Well, we took care of most of it before mom came back into the house. Okay, okay, the kitchen floor was slippery from a chicken scooting around on the floor while we were playing with it. That was Thursday night.

Friday morning we drove to meet with a new client (we stayed in the RV while mom met with the clients) and then continued on to where the Top Dog match was going to be (for those who don't know, Top Dog is a competition between the Southern California Obedience Clubs). Mom didn't give us anything to eat before we got there. At that point neither Zippy nor I really felt much like eating. In fact, we both had diarrhea, and Zippy threw up a little. But after that we both ate our food.

Saturday morning there were lots and lots of people there with their dogs (Saturday evening we stayed there in the motor home, but didn't have much company except for the two poodle people who had dinner with us, and one of them stayed overnight with us in the RV). Zippy was excited to see all the dogs and the people, and wanted to play. Everyone loved her -- she had her hair in bands instead of wraps, so you could see how long it is. Well, after taking us all out, mom crated us, and then she took me out to warm me up. I had more diarrhea, but then I drank some water and felt a bit better.

Then I had to do sits and downs. Half way thru the sit I couldn't do it anymore so I laid down. Mom came back and made me sit up, but then I laid right down again. Mom said I had to sit up before I could do a down, and finally made me heel to get me up, but I wasn't going to sit again. She finally, with the judge's consent just put me in a down and I stayed there thru the 5 minute down. She was concerned about me and thought that maybe I was still just not feeling right.
We went back to the crates. Mom took Zippy out of her crate, and was going to put me into it. I took one whiff and said, NO WAY! While I was out, Zippy threw up in her crate. Mom wasn't happy. She cleaned it out, then she put Zippy in the other crate, and took both Charlie and me and put us back into the RV, so I didn't get to see how Zippy did, but she told me about it afterwards.

Mom then played a bit with Zip and she seemed to feel fine once she threw up (was happy to retrieve her toy and tug with mom), so she got to go into the ring for her sits and downs.

Well, the setup was really awful for the novice dogs. There were six rings set up -- 3 and 3, with an aisle between the two sets of 3, and the novice rings were in the middle. So that meant that they were doing utility on one side of the novice dogs, and open on the other side. Talk about distractions! And for some reason, you could hear all the commands that everyone was giving in each ring, so it was really loud.
Oh, and did I say that the rings were made up of posts, with a ribbon around the top? So there were no real ring dividers.

Anyway, Zippy and mom went in for the sits and downs. The dogs had to line up right next to the utility ring -- and just then the dog in the utility ring was doing the directed jumping exercise -- running out, then jumping over the jumps. Well, Zippy's most favorite thing is jumping! She wouldn't sit down -- she just twisted around, so that she could watch the dog. The judge kindly said that they would wait till that exercise was done, and mom thanked her.
So finally Zippy sat, and they did the sits and downs. During the whole time, Zippy's head was going back and forth as she tried to watch the other 5 rings! Amazingly enough, she made it through, and got all the 60 points for the sits and downs.

Well then she had to wait for about 10 dogs to go into the ring before she got her turn. Oh, my. Utility with jumping on one side of her, and the open dog getting to retrieve the dumbbell on the other side (and mind you, the ring was just posts with a ribbon!). She made it through the on-lead heeling with a barely passing score, although at one of the halts, which was right next to the utility ring, instead of sitting, she turned to face the utility ring and watched the dog until it was time to heel again. Figure 8 was interesting, since it gave her a chance to look at all the rings (and it was a pretty wide turn when you had to keep your eye on the utility dog while going around!). Stand for exam also got a passing grade. Well then there was the off-lead heeling. Too many double commands to bring her back in line to pass that exercise, but at least she pretty much stayed with mom.
Then came the really fun exercise -- the recall. Zippy waited till she was called, then blasted towards mom, then around her, then around the ring, as she tried to see what was happening in each of the other rings. The good part? Zippy did not go out of her ring, so she did not mess up any of the other dogs' performances. lol. The judge informed mom that Zippy had failed that exercise. Yeah? You sure? lol.

A lot of people told mom that they loved her dog. lol.
Okay, well, maybe we will do better next year. And mom promises that there will be no more chicken for us to get into!

Love,
Jazzy

P.S. We both feel fine today.

2009-11-02T15:17:00.000-08:00

Hi folks! Jazzy here.

I got to do jility this weekend. I did a REALLY good job, but Mom messed up THREE of my four runs! Do you believe it??? I really need a new handler. 25% Q rate stinks! But mom said that I did a really good job and she is proud of how well I am doing, so maybe I will keep her for a little while longer and hope she improves.

On Saturday, Zippy went with Auntie Char cause she doesn't get to do jility yet. After we were done with jility, Charlie and me sat in the RV with mom, and mom told Charlie to tell Zippy to keep her head up and her tail up and make nice to the judge. It was sort of funny -- I mean, Zippy wasn't even around! Any way, it was really late on Saturday before Zippy got back, but she had 4 ribbons! She won her class, she went winners bitch, then best of winners, and because there were no specials, she went best of variety beating a lot of top handlers!!! She thought she was pretty hot stuff, so I had to put her in her place and make sure it didn't go to her head. So that's 2 more points -- 8 points now in total. Mom says that now we are looking for majors.

On Sunday, Zippy won her class, but Char said that someone else told her before she went in the ring that the judge was a friend of Leslie's and not to expect to win the points. Sure enough, Leslie's puppy won. Char said it was a nice looking puppy, so I guess it's okay to share the points, especially since it wasn't a major.

Anyway, no more jility for a couple of weeks or more; mom is now on an obedience kick. Sigh. Hope everyone else is doing well!!!!
Love,
Jazz
P.S. Here is a picture of Zippy at her last show

Friday Agility

2009-09-21T12:01:00.000-07:00

Hi guys!!!!

So mom FINALLY let me do agility last Friday. It seems like forever since we got to do jility. She said she had other things to do on the weekend, but at least I got to get out ONE day. Anyway, as you can see from the videos, I REALLY need a new handler. We Q'd in standard (no thanks to her), and would have Q'd in jumpers if she had bothered to let me know ahead of time not to take a particular jump. But it was fun in any event. I know that if a decent handler were to run me, I would be able to do it twice as fast!!!!

Jazzy

Progress

2009-08-17T17:10:00.000-07:00

Well, progress has been slow in coming. It's been too hot to do much agility (Jazz did get a couple more legs which, if she can get me into gear, I will post).

Anyway, on Sunday August 9, Zippy got her 5th point towards her championship, and Jazz, who just turned 7 (happy birthday sweet Jazz) got her 6th RAE leg.

More later, but because neither Jazz nor I have posted anything recently, I thought I should at least let everyone see how pretty Zippy is and how much her hair has grown! Pretty good for 15 months!

Interesting Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-26T10:49:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

So I had an interesting weekend. Mom and I drove our RV to Pomona on Thursday. I had Mom all to myself, but I missed Charlie and Zippy.

I got to do agility for four days in a row! We hardly ever get to do that. I am looking for a better handler, however, cause mom screwed up some of my runs. She liked the fact that I was running really fast tho! She said that someone must have told me that it was a race, cause I was running faster than ever! In fact I ran so fast I missed some of my contacts, which mom said was NOT a good thing. But she gave me lots of cookies and told me I was a good girl.

On Friday after my runs, Mom left me in my crate, and disappeared. She came back a couple of hours later, and she had Zippy with her!!!! YAY! And Zippy had ribbons with her. Mom said that Zippy went winners bitch and best of winners. Not sure what that means, but Mom and Zippy were happy. Zippy said that she got to trot around the ring and make nice to the judge, and that the judge liked her. But it was really good seeing her, and Zippy and I got to run around and play.

On Saturday, Zippy said that the judge thought another dog was prettier. Not sure how that could be cause Zippy is just about the prettiest dog I know, except for myself, of course.

But on both Sunday and Monday Zippy brought back MORE ribbons! I guess she went winners bitch and best of winners again on both days. Mom said that there weren't any majors, whatever that means, but that points are points. So out of Zippy's last 5 shows, she has gone winners bitch and best of winners in 4 of them.

Best of all, we got to go home. Charlie was waiting for us, so we all got to run and play.

Love, Jazzy

Poodle Obedience Trial - May 9

2009-05-10T15:11:00.000-07:00

Um, I WAS sitting! Really, I was! But then the dog next to me got up and moved, so it was facing me, and then the dog next to that one got up, so I figured it was fine for me to go down. At least I didn't MOVE like they did! But the judge was angry and excused all three of us from the ring for the downs, even though I hadn't moved from my place. Mom wasn't particularly pleased with either me or the judge.

But then Zippy got to do prenovice. She is just starting to train, and is doing conformation, so she sometimes gets confused about when she needs to sit, but she still got a 184, and first place! So mom was happy again.

Then Zippy and me got to do brace. Mom said that we were the comic relief for the day, but I tried hard to do everything right until about the middle of the heel free, when zippy decided she needed to visit the judge, so we trotted around, not exactly next to mom, but having a good time. Mom was surprised that we actually got a 168, considering that our heeling left something to be desired. We were the only brace (people keep telling mom that next year they are going to enter brace as well; we will see) so we got first place with that as well.

So in the afternoon we had rally. Charlie and I were the only 2 Excellent B dogs, so they had two volunteer dogs as well, so that Charlie and I didn't have to honor each other. I normally do the backup 3 steps pretty good, but I just couldn't get it together, so we got 10 points off on that; our final score was 189, so that was actually pretty good. Charlie was sorta a goofball, but he got a qualifying score and a new toy, but he decided he didn't want to do Advanced B (he was tired and hot and cranky), so it didn't count (we both already have our Excellent titles). By that time I was REALLY tired, so when I went in the ring for the FOURTH time for Advanced B, I anticipated the finish TWICE, once too soon, and once when it was a swing finish rather than a get around, so we had to redo both of those exercises for 6 points off. Sigh. So I only got a third place rather than what could have been a first. Mom said it didn't matter; the only thing that was important was that we got those green ribbons for my 6th RAE leg.

So today we are sleeping mostly.

Love, Jazz

Lure Coursing is FUN!

2009-03-31T13:56:00.001-07:00

So two weekends ago we got to do jility, and afterwards (we waited and waited), Zippy and me got to do lure coursing! It was really really fun! I told mom that she needed to let me do it again. Here I am running after the lure:

This last Saturday I got to do jility -- we went to a CPE trial. I did five runs and ended up with five first place q's. It was pretty fun, and the courses were pretty easy. Long long long day, tho!

Hope everyone else had a good weekend!

Jazzy

Jazzy's Weekend Report - 3/14 & 15

2009-03-17T10:30:00.000-07:00

Okay, I guess I have to admit that I miss the little twerp when she isn't with us.

On Thursday mom left really early in the morning - she said she had a meeting in Philadelphia and that we couldn't come. Then Friday Charlie and me got baths -- but then Zippy left to go play with her handler. Finally late Fri nite mom got home. Boy, by that time Charlie and me were REALLY glad to see her.

Saturday, still no Zippy. Mom loaded us in our RV and we drove and drove. We finally got to where we were going and set up the RV, and Charlie and I got to look around. Then Mom said she was going to watch Zippy and bring her back. YAY, finally she came, all smelling like hairspray, but it was really good to see her again.

Sunday we got up early, and I got to do rally. I finished my 5th RAE leg, with a 91 and a 95. Not the highest scores, but mom said that all we needed were those 2 green ribbons. Then she took Zippy out again. This is what Zippy looked like:

I guess she looks pretty, but I will be glad when she gets rid of the hair and we can wrestle without mom getting upset. Anyway, I guess Zippy was perfect -- she stood still when she was supposed to, she let her handler place her feet, she strutted nicely around the ring -- but the judges still didn't see that she was the best.

So then we packed everything up, but no Zippy! Zippy went with her handler to get a bath. When we got home we waited and waited till her handler called. Both Charlie and me were excited and couldn't wait to get her! So I guess she can stay.

Love, Jazz

A New Title!!!!

2009-03-09T11:55:00.000-07:00

Hi folks! Jazzy reporting in. So mom finally has registered us for some agility trials! And the one this last weekend was especially fun, since my little sister didn't get to come along (she was at a conformation show). Anyway, it started out on Saturday with me getting my second MXF leg, with a 2nd place finish! And it ended on Sunday with me getting my 10th MXJ leg and a 3rd place finish, for my title! Woo Hoo! We won't talk about the other runs; I was seriously thinking I needed a new handler, but since she managed to pull it out at the end I may keep her for a bit longer.
Love, Jazz

Weekend in Del Mar

2009-02-27T11:10:00.000-08:00

Zippy got to do conformation; Jazzy got to do jility, and Charlie got to be a couch potato in his new motor home.

On Saturday, I thought Zippy certainly should win; she looked great, she moved well, she wasn't jumping all over like the other puppies in her class -- but she only got 3rd place; didn't even win her class! So on to Sunday. Another chance for points. Zippy was gorgeous, the judge liked her, she moved beautifully, and then she managed to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory! lol. SHE WOULD NOT LET HER HANDLER PLACE HER FRONT FEET, and insisted on having one of them slightly turned out! Unfortunately, that particular judge wants to see correct fronts, and that probably did it. I watched her being an absolute brat. In spite of being drop dead gorgeous, and moving absolutely beautifully, because she was such a brat, she lost her class again. And the bitch that won the class took the 5 point major. Sigh.

So we have two weeks to get her to learn that when someone places her feet (especially the front feet) someplace, THAT'S WHERE THEY STAY! I figure a little bit of clicker training and she will remember what she needs to do.

Interestingly enough, everyone who sees her says how gorgeous she is (her handler was telling me that everyone was coming up to her and telling her that, as she walked around, and I know that they do with me too. And she is personality plus -- wants to say hi to everyone, jumps up about 3 feet in the air just for fun, and thinks that life is wonderful. I really don't think there will be any problem with her finishing; she just needs to settle down a bit. In fact, I was thinking that, as cute as she is in her puppy trim, I think she will really put the others to shame when she is cut in pattern. She is so nicely muscled with no extra flab, and it will be obvious once her butt and legs are shaved. There is a lot one can disguise with hair. :-)

BTW, we had to take a tram over from agility to conformation. The first ride over, Zippy was in my lap, not being too sure of herself. When we rode back, she hesitated to get on, then she said, I'm a big girl, mom, I don't need to sit in your lap. and she laid down at my feet. The second day, both over and back she did not hesitate to get on and off, and just laid down at my feet. What a brave little girl!

As to agility, Jazzy was absolutely gorgeous in all her runs. Unfortunately only one was a Q. In her first run on Saturday, she did exactly what I asked her to do; too bad it wasn't what she was supposed to do. lol. Yesterday she had two runs that were perfect except she missed the weave pole entries. Thought we had those under control, but I guess we need to work on them some more. They were not easy courses, we haven't done much practicing cause of all the rain, and so I was pleased at how well she did. One more leg and she will have her MXJ, finally.

Lisa on behalf of Charlie (couch potato), Jazz & Zippy

INVADER!

2009-02-09T11:10:00.000-08:00

So I wasn't able to do jility this weekend, cause of the rain (they closed the park!). Can you imagine? So I stayed home and guarded the place. Good thing, too, cause there was an invader!

Love,
Jazz

Charlie Is EIGHT!

2009-01-23T11:56:00.000-08:00

My love puppy Charlie is 8 years old today! Happy Birthday Charlie! (and Delta Blue, and Tippy and Erte!) Although he is now pretty much retired, he has acquired 31 performance titles over the past 6 years. Pretty good, considering the handler he has been saddled with. Love you bunches, Charlie!

Lisa

Zippy's First Conformation Show!

2009-01-19T17:01:00.000-08:00

So Zippy finally got to go to her first conformation show in Ventura this weekend!

On Friday she got Reserve.
On Saturday she got Reserve.
On Sunday she got Reserve.

Woo Hoo!

For a puppy in the 6-9 month class, at her first show, that's not too shabby! In fact, I think that's pretty darn good. The bitch that beat her all 3 days was in full show coat, in the open class, and was nice (but not as nice as Zippy, in my humble opinion!!!!)

When the judge would come over to her, she would wag her tail. That's always a good sign! So I guess I will go ahead and enter her in some more trials.

Jazz got 3 additional RAE legs (she now has 4). Charlie has decided that if it isn't a game, he doesn't want to play. lol. So in our final class, I made a total fool of myself, and convinced him that it really was a game, and he finally had fun. I figure that if my dogs are having a good time, I don't care what anyone else thinks.

Lisa

P.S. Jazzy is on strike on reporting until we do agility again. lol

First Run of 2009! It's a Q!!

2009-01-10T16:36:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I still need a handler that is faster, and I didn't really stick my contacts very well (okay, I didn't stick them at all!), but I did Q, for 10 more mach points! I think that should be worth something!

Love, Jazzy

Zippy Gets A Haircut

2008-10-05T21:38:00.000-07:00

We had a VERY long day today. We drove and we drove and we drove. Then Charlie and I spent most of the day sitting. Part of the time Zippy was with us, but most of the time she got to watch the dog show. And then she got trimmed. And then we drove and drove and drove home. Got back about 12 hours after we left. Only good thing: We got in-n-out hamburgers! mmmm.

A very TIRED Jazzy

P.S. I forgot to add that Zippy got to see her sister, Cali (before she got groomed, but after Cali was trimmed, so Zippy is the furry one):

Getting Back In the Groove

2008-09-28T16:32:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

Charlie and I got to do jility both yesterday AND today too! It was awfully hot -- over 90 degrees, which Charlie said was just too hot! But how much fun to finally be able to run!!!! I was excited, even though Zippy got a lot of the attention. So what if she's the baby? Anything she can do, I can do better!

So yesterday Charlie was clean in both of his runs, but was over time. But mom was glad that he felt like running even though it was hot, and they partied. I had a GREAT standard run going until Mom did not tell me to turn until I was committed to a jump, and I so took an extra jump. I was still 9 seconds under SCT. Mom wasn't willing to post that run, cause she said that it would make her look stupid. Well, duh! Okay, so then I did the jumpers run, and qualified (in 5th place). Anyway, I thought I did pretty well, considering our long layoff.

Today, Charlie was clean in standard, but was again over time. In jumpers, he took a couple of jumps then told mom he was done, so she sent him through the tunnel and finished up with a couple of jumps. Mom said it is more important that Charlie have fun, than that they q, so she didn't care.

My standard run today was again really good -- um -- except for the weaves. I made the entry, but then kept running straight. Mom of course posted the run with MY error in it, cause she said I looked so good the rest of the time (I overheard her admit to someone else that maybe if she had let me find the weaves by myself, that I probably would have been fine, so it really wasn't my fault). Anyway, after waiting for ever, I finally got to do jumpers. I ran clean and got 3rd place!!!! Woo hoo!!!! I told mom I was going on strike if she didn't post that one as well!

So that's all. Hope everyone else had a good weekend.

Love, Jazzy

Jazzy's Weekend Report - FINALLY WE DO AGILITY AGAIN

2008-09-20T17:31:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! It has been like FOREVER since we got to do jility! First of all, Zippy came to live with us, and cause she was little, we couldn't go out and bring anything back that would make her sick. And then I had an operation so that I can't have puppies anymore. We haven't even really played very much since then (except running around with Zippy). Mom says she has to go out of town tomorrow, but she let us do jility today!!!!! YAY!!!!!

In my first run, Mom said I did really good, but I guess I knocked two bars, so no ribbons. My second run, I was determined to do better, and did really well -- well at least I did really well until Mom pulled me off course -- and then FORGOT where she was going. So I took a couple of jumps to entertain myself while she tried to figure out what we were supposed to do, and then we finished in fine style.

Charlie decided in the middle of his first run that he didn't want to keep going. I guess Mom didn't warm him up enough (he was almost right after me), and he just wasn't into it. So mom just had him take a row of jumps out of the ring and then partied. For the second run, she made the gate steward move Charlie down further on the page, and massaged his back and hips and legs -- and wouldn't you know it? He qualified! With a first place finish!

Zippy finished up her shots last Tuesday, so she got to come with us. It was her first trial, and she thought it was GREAT. She got to meet people and other dogs, and watch the dogs run (she wanted to go run with them), and she even got to meet two horses that were watching the competition (well I guess their riders were actually watching).

And I want to personally thank Victoria [from the agility poodle list] for telling Mom to put an xpen in front of our space so that we didn't have to defend it from other dogs and people. It was much more relaxing not having to be on guard that someone might come too close!

Mom said that she signed us up for next weekend too! I am excited!

Hope everyone else has a good weekend.

Love,

Jazzy

Jazzy's Weekend Report - TOO HOT!!

2008-06-21T14:18:00.001-07:00

Jazzy's Weekend Report - TOO HOT!!

2008-06-21T14:18:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Jazzy reporting in, here. A very tired hot Jazz. Mom said that, according to the car when we got home, it was 113.It was 111 when we got into the car, after competing this morning.

Charlie got 1 first place finish in his class, and woulda gotten 2 except that I barked at him just as he was entering the weave poles (he turned and looked and messed up on the weaves). Oops. I guess I shouldn't a done that.

On my first run, I was going towards the correct jump, when mom opened her big mouth and said something to me. I figured mom wanted me to do something other than what I was doing, and so I turned and ran towards another jump. Mom called me back, over the jump I had been headed towards, then sent me back over the same jump. Stupid handler. Hit handler in head. Otherwise it was a perfect run. Even with the bobble, I was 11 seconds under SCT, so mom was pleased with ME, even if she wasn't pleased with her own performance.

My handler didn't totally screw up my second run, and I q'd with another 10 MACH points added to my total, but there were a couple of not pretty turns. :-) It was another 5th place finish; I really need to send her to a class so that she learns how to handle me better. I'm only a few seconds out of first place, so it really could make a big difference. I really try to pay attention to her, but sometimes it is IMPOSSIBLE to figure her out!

Anyway we get to hang out with Zippy tomorrow instead of going out into that heat again (someone puppy sat today, cause she's too little to come to the shows yet). Zippy said it was fine that we went, but that she really thought that she shoulda been able to come too. We told her that she was better off staying in the air conditioning, and that there will be lots of other shows. Sides, she hasn't learned how to do any of the obstacles yet!

Anyway, hope everyone else is having a good weekend!

Love, Jazz

Introducing Zippy

2008-06-20T10:43:00.000-07:00

Zippy plays with Jazz. Charlie looks on suspiciously.

A New Assignment

2004-10-26T12:47:00.000-07:00

You know how when you go to a trial, there are some people you always look for? And how some people seemed to typify that which is best about our agility trials -- it is not how you win or lose, but how you play the game?

One of those that I always want to see is Jacqui Webster. I know that most of you outside of S California never have had a chance to meet Jacqui and the indomitable Floyd, but many got to know her from her postings.

I guess one of the things I always have appreciated is how she has always played the game, win or lose. Even when she wasn't able to run Floyd herself, she was there, bright and early, impatiently waiting for whomever was privileged to run Floyd that day. And when I, as a newbie, introduced myself to her, she took me under her wing, and always made sure that there was a place for us to set up.

I found out last night that I am going to have to wait a little longer to see Jacqui again. You see, she's taken on a new assignment. She's now overseeing our friends at the rainbow bridge. But knowing Jacqui, she is not wasting her time. I expect that she has already started to teach them, not just agility and obedience, but free style. I think we all better be prepared to dance with them when we get there.

I think that God must love you a lot, Jacqui, and that he just couldn't bear to be without you another day. And so, let me raise a toast -- to your friend and mine -- Jacqui Webster. May the forces be with you as you embark on your new journey.