Tiffany ADM.

Last night Tiffany passed her 7th Agility Masters trial and qualified for her Agility Dog Master (ADM) title. It was a cool night, a good flowing course from Judge Brian and Tiffany was very keen to run. Keith, however, was a bit under the weather suffering from dizzy spells if he turned too quickly. During the walk through, Keith worked out a way that he could run without doing spins. Round the course Tiffany was flying, while Keith was doing his 'avoid spins' path. It worked because Tiffany came third overall and second in her height class (to our dad Rio) and gained her title.
My run was not as spectacular as Tiffany as I got a couple of jumps wrong, and had to repeat a jump too. The good news was that with all those errors I was only a couple of seconds over the time.
The pic shows us at home playing on the practice jump doing 'Synchronised Jumping', it will never take off as a sport.

Hannah's First Masters Agility Pass

Hannah has got her first pass in Masters Agility. It was at Whyalla nearly 2 weeks ago, but Keith has been a bit slack in getting this posted. We have moved house so we are not sure where we will sleep as we keep going back to the old house to get things.

Hannah did a beautiful run, holding her line well and only briefly barking at Kathy during the run. There is a video on the left side bar under video links so everyone can see how well she did the course. Did it with time to spare too.

The pic shows Hannah in the Weaving Poles, zigging and zagging through every gap.

Royal Games

Hannah passed her Excellent Snooker class at the Royal. She took it steady with Kathy running a controlled course and Hannah just kept going at a steady rate and got round within the time. To qualify Hannah had to get 15 points in the Point Accumulation period of 45 seconds, and she got 19. Then in the Closing round she went through as steady as a rock with no mistakes. The photo shows Hannah clearing the last obsacle, which was the bar from the Tunnel/ Bar combination.
I was not so lucky. I did my run first and showed everybody how to get 19 points without too much stress. Lots of people followed my plan. Then in the closing round I got all the way round to the "Pink" obstacle and headed for the last "Black". There was another bar in the way and I jumped that one trying to get to the tunnel quicker. Keith usually directs me, but this time he was a bit late turning and I was already commited to the bar. Well within the time, but no pass.
We did Gamblers too, but it was a very difficult Gamble that nobody passed, so we did not feel too upset about failing that one.

Adelaide Royal Show

The family at the Royal Show Agility Trials
Hannah, Tiffany, Rio (dad) Murphy (uncle) Karri (sister).
We had a great time with everybody at the show, Hannah barked at the judge, the crowd and the camera person during her runs and got distracted by the noise and excitment of the show so did not do her best in her runs. I did a good run in Jumping, clear round but 2+ seconds over time. I did get within 3 seconds of Rio and 6 seconds of Skye (who is very fast) so I did not do too badly. In the Agility I was doing well untill I missed a weaving pole. I had just come out of a tunnel into the light and I could not see the poles, Keith saw me blinking and squinting as I went towards the poles. The rest of the course was a training run and I finished well inside the time.
One more night to go, doing Gamblers and Snooker, tonight.

Tracking again.

We went Tracking again last weekend. It was very foggy, cold and damp but we enjoyed it. I was doing a Track 5 which got me to within one more track for my Tracker Dog Excellent title. I started well, following a track across a paddock until we got to the first corner. There was a lot of fresh chewy grass that I realy like to snack on and so I had a great time running between the patches until Keith got a bit stroppy and told me I was a Gundog not a sheep dog and to stop eating grass. I eventually went back to the track and did the next leg. Found the sock and did the next corner well, but then there was a section where rabbits had been. I could not resist an investigation, and as long as Keith thought I was tracking I could do what I liked. After a while Keith worked out what I was doing and put me back to work. Found the next sock on the track, had a bit of a play on another corner then found the third sock. On the final leg I got some strange scents on the wind and got distracted by them but finally found the T-shirt at the end of the track and got a big reward from Keith. Judge Sandy gave me a Pass, but only just.
Hannah was doing her Track 7 which is the first of 2 tracks she needs to get her Tracking Champion title. She started off very well and made the first corners well. Her undoing was the acute angle where the wind caused a scent trap in amongst the some rocks and Hannah found the return track without going all the way up to the turn. This meant she missed a significant part of the track, and so she failed the test. Kathy was pleased with Hannah's work but with her getting the 2 track ons for her TDX she had not really had enough training on those acute turns to be able to cope with the difficulty of the track.
The pic shows us in the car getting warm and dry after our work in the bush.

Hannah Tracking Dog Excellent

Here it is. Hannah's Tracking Dog Excellent certificate, and she got it from only 4 trials.

"How can that be?" I hear you ask.

Well, Hannah got a Track On which let her do 2 tests at one trial, and that got her Track 2 & 3 which was her TD title. Then at her Track 5 Trial, she got another Track On, so she did Track 6 on the same day.

Getting a Track On is very rare as it means that someone had to pull out of a trial at the last minute, and that usually means some kind of emergency, illness or an accident. Fortunatley this time the dog was withdrawn as a precaution after a vet visit and there was nothing wrong with the dog, just the handler playing safe.

Hannah getting 2 Track Ons in 4 trials is a bit like winning the lottery (but not quite) which would make her one of the quickest Tracking Dog Excellent titles in history.

The pic shows the certificate, and Hannah resting on her laurals, after doing her Track 5 & 6 about a week ago. Click on the pic to get a bigger view that can be read.

Tiffany, Tracker Dog

Tiffany has qualified for her Tracking Dog title. We were at Monarto on Saturday, up before the crack of dawn to get there by 7:00am. Tiffany was the first to go on her track, where she had to find a total stranger. It was cold, wet and windy, but Tiffany got down to business straight away and took off along the first leg of the track. She got the first corner and then found the first sock giving a good indication of the find. ( She pounced on it, shook it and then threw it at Keith). On the second leg she was a little upwind but got back on the track despite Keith trying to keep up. The second corner was near trees and Tiffany went sniffing a little, but got back to work and found the second sock. The last leg was a gentle curve that Tiffany followed and found the tracklayer at the end of it. She was rated Very Good.
I did my Track 4 test. It was later in the day, still cold but the sun was out.  I had 4 turns to track, and I got a bit tired towards the end. The wind blew the scent around and I wanted to wind scent, but I still managed to find a sock and I worked my way round the course and found the track layer at the end. I must have walked 3 times the distance as I was quatering a lot, and that was what got me so tired. I was given a Pass for the test, so I need only 2 more tracks to get my Tracking Dog Excellent title.