Monday, July 20, 2009

A great weekend

Clancy and I had a great agility weekend! No ribbons but he showed so much improvement from his trials of last year I have great hopes for the future. More details and the first of what I hope are many videos below. But first stitching updates. :-)

I'm half way along with It's Berry Time and I'd love to have this piece finished this week. Not sure what I'll start on next - but I do have a ton to pick from. Something with some color I think.
House #10 of HoHRH is moving right along. I should finish up the house tonight and move on the cow and monkey and then it's done. This house has been one of the most boring to stitch so far and I'll be glad when it's over. I'm not sure which block to start on next but that big empty hole to the left of this one is going to drive me crazy so I bet I put in #9 before going back up to #7. :-)

Here is Aoife and Clancy at the trial. Aoife comes to everything that has to do with agility so she can get used to the noise and being in her crate/pen all day. She does very well and this weekend I even took her out and played on the practice jumps.

As for the man himself, Clancy did really good. On Saturday we had three runs, Standard, Weaves and something called FAST which is a game that AKC started a couple of years ago. Our first run was FAST and I got overly ambitious with my plan. In FAST the handler sets the course rather than the judge so you can do the obstacles in any order. However to qualify you must complete a challenge set by the judge. The challenge on this course was one I knew Clancy would have trouble with so I figured I would just use the run as practice for the rest of the day. He was great but we ran out of time (there is a 35 second time limit).

His second run of the day was Jumpers with Weaves. Jumpers are courses with only jumps, weave poles and the occasional tunnel. This was Clancy's best run of the weekend and the only reason we didn't qualify was I pulled him off a tunnel too early. I hate it when I'm the reason we don't Q. I should know better at this point what he likes and what he doesn't like while we are on a course.

The video below is unfortunately of our worst run of the weekend (third on Saturday) but it will give people who read this blog a sense of what I'm talking about when I mention agility. This was Saturday's standard run. Standard is the course with all the equipment. When I took Clancy out on the course, he was very distracted. I don't know what spooked him but I never really had him with me during the run. In fact you can see me at the start line making him look at me. Usually he never takes his eyes from me. I knew things were not going to go well. The video is also short. My camera can only take 60 seconds of video and we ran longer than that. :-) He is slow and distracted during the entire run taking really wide turns and generally not paying any attention at all to me. A friend who was there much of the weekend took a video of our great jumpers run so I'll post that Wednesday or so when she gives me a copy. He never did complete his weave poles but he made his entry which was one of the many things we took time off to work on. So I do see much hope for us. :-) We have an indoor trial this coming weekend so maybe a few more things will line up for us.



On Sunday we had two runs, Jumpers and Standard. In a switch Jumpers was his worst run that day with him dropping a couple of bars (very unusual for him which results in an automatic NQ) but he did his weaves! His Standard run was great but he got a little distracted by an oddly placed cone on the course about half way through and I never did get his full attention back. He also made his weave pole entry here but popped out after several. He might have been tired from the weekend and the weave poles where spaced at the maximum 24 inches apart and he is used to 20/21 inch poles.

But I feel like this is the start of good things. :-) Yeah Clancy-boy!

11 comments:

Margaret said...

Nice progress on your stitching! Hey, I loved seeing the video of you and Clancy at the trials! What fun! I've always wondered how it all worked and now I know! I have to say, I find it pretty impressive that Clancy can do all that. And you too!

Glenna said...

Lovely stitching on Berry Time and HoHRH, and how cool about the agility work.

I think of you when I pass a neighbor who I only ever see early in the a.m. from my car. She has 5 pugs, some of them on leashes, and 2 in a stroller, and she goes out with them every day.

Michelle said...

Thanks for the video of Clancy - it was really fun to watch. It is amazing that he can do all those things - I'm sure he is going to have a great season!

Great progress on your stitching too!

CJ in OK ;-) said...

Berry Time looks great as well as your HoHRH. Loved seeing the video. Go Clancy. CJ ok;-)

Kielrain said...

I love your Berry Time. Your Houses is also looking great!

Stef said...

Every time you post a picture of your pugs, it puts a smile on my face! My daughter starts behavior training with her little pug this week. They are just the sweetest little dogs! HoHRH is looking good and can't wait to see your finish on It's Berry Time.

Andrea said...

Well, I'm so impressed, even if that video was the of the worst y'all did that day! I might could get Astro to do something like this, but the other two, fergetabouit!
Can I just also mention...I don't know what you looked like before your weight loss, but you sure look great in this video! WTG!!

Great stitching!

Theresa said...

Thanks for the video!! Although you said this was not his best performance, I think he is amazing~~ Love your puppy photo~~

Your stitching progress are looking very good as well!!!! I'm sure you will whip this house up in no time!!

MyLifesAStitch said...

Lots to comment about!! :)

Stitchy first - It's settled. I MUST have the "It's Berry Time" chart. It is just too adorable, and would look oh so cute up on my little Leah's bedroom wall! So, thanks for the inspiration! HOHRH is looking really great, too!

Agility - Like Andrea said, no idea what you looked like before your weight loss, but you look fantastic! And, I've only seen agility "Live" once before (last year we were considering getting a Sheltie and were also considering agility as a way to keep the poor house bound thing from getting bored & destructive) so we went to a trial - I must say... it looks like you & Clancy did pretty well! Def. better than a lot of the folks we saw at the trial we went to! I know it can be frustrating, though, when you know he is capable of better.

Can't wait to see the other vid, and good luck with your progress together!

Julie M said...

Sorry you didn't get any ribbons but glad there was improvement! I enjoyed the video!

Berry Time is coming along nicely as is House #10!

Your pugs have such expressive faces!

Sandra said...

Great video Margie, it all looks like great fun, and you are so slim and fit!!