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Tuesday, March 30, 2010

AKC Nationals Day 1

Wow, where to begin...From the beginning I guess! So we made the long drive out to Tulsa. Got to the site around 8ish on Thurday. It was almost 9 by the time we got the trailer set up and then my crates and stuff. We were starving and called around until we found a BBQ place that was open. Hooray for ribs, brisket and smoked chicken!

Friday we started with the ISC classes. Tooney ran at 18" since she's small enough to make the cutoff and Enzo ran at 16". The ISC JWW course was really tough. At first glance we were all like really?? yeah right. Here's a link to the course
ISC JWW
I walked four front crosses into a rear cross/threadle or a possible 5th front cross. With Tooney I was late on the fourth front cross and she went off course. With Enzo, I had to bail on the third front cross and got through with rear crosses somehow. Both nailed the rear cross into a threadle! well Tooney had a bar down but she came through between the jumps. Then there was a long run into a send to the backside of the jump. I ran through with Tooney and front crossed which caused her to go wide. I sent Enzo to the back side, and he turned really tight but knocked the bar. Even with me not running my plan, Enzo still ended up with a really good time and would have been in 9th place if the bar didn't come down.

The ISC standard course was a lot more reasonable although it had some tight spots too.
ISC Standard
Tooney didn't read the turn over jump 16 and ended up backjumping. Enzo had another nice run but knocked the second jump. I think I said something to him while he was over the bar. His time would have put him in 10th without the bar.

CA ended up winning the state team tournament so that was cool. There was no final run off this year like they've had in the past.

To be continued in the next post... Videos will probably be posted on Friday since I have the day off. Here are the videos from Friday:

Enzo:


Tooney:

Monday, March 22, 2010

Enzo world championship qualified, Tooney almost!

This weekend we had our AWI (Ashley Whippet Invitation) qualifier. People from California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Washington and New York came. We also had appearances from Indiana's Tony Hoard and Rory (from America's Got Talent) and Alex Stein (one of the founders of disc doggin'). The event consisted of 1 round of freestyle and 1 round of toss/fetch. They combine those scores and take the top 15 to perform a 2nd round of frestyle. The top 5 get an invitation to the World Championships in Chicago. With over 40 entries, making the cut would be hard enough, let alone the top 5.

Enzo and I went out and performed our freestyle as a gangsta and pimp. I wore a flat-billed hat, baggy shorts and a giant frisbee-clock hanging from my neck (Flava Flav style). The clock was Jenn's idea - thanks home girl! Enzo wore his pimp costume that my mom made! The routine was solid and went over well with the crowd. I got a lot of good feedback on the theme. I am super happy with our routine for 2010. Flow is great and Enzo has incredible athleticism. I also have some throws that are quite difficult and impressive looking. Here's Enzo's first round:



Tooney had a great first round of freestyle and looked as cute as ever. My throws were right on target and she only had about 3 drops. After watching her routine back, I really like how it looks now. I used to just think it was cute and fun, but now I see some great athleticism out of Tooney. She never stops running and can catch almost anything I throw! She makes most of my throws look right on target because she understands how to adjust her stride really well (thanks to agility along with natural ability I'm sure). Our routine flows REALLY good and I have a wide range of throws. Here's her first round:



After Enzo's first round, I figured he just needed a solid toss and fetch and he'd make the cut to top 15. Enzo had an average round of toss/fetch with 9.5. Tooney had a below average round of t/f for her, but matched Enzo's score. They announced the cut to the top 15 and in 7th place they said Jeff Hill and... Tooney?!?!?! What!!! Tooney made the cut!!!!!!!!!!! I am so proud of her! Usually it is her toss/fetch that pushes her up in the standings, but this time it was freestyle! Then in 5th place was Enzo!

After the initial excitement, I realized I had to prepare to do 2 rounds of freestyle almost back to back and perform at a high level to keep Enzo in the top 5 and keep Tooney in the top 10. They both had awesome 2nd rounds just before it got dark out. They announced the final order and the placements stayed the same. 7th and 5th! At the event, I felt Enzo's 1st round was better, but watching the videos back, I thought the 2nd round looked better. We got slightly better scores in the 1st round. Tooney's 2nd round video didn't come out, but we got Enzo's:



Now for the big decision... are we going to Chicago? You betcha! It's not a final decision, but Jenn and I are confident that we will go. We have made a decision that if we travel far for a disc dog competition this year, it will be Chicago for the AWI finals!

I really wish I would have started Tooney in frisbee earlier. She could have accomplished great things early on. It is my fault and a silly mistake. I never had any faith she could do it and felt she didn't have the athleticism, focus or drive for it. As it turns out, these characteristics that make her great at frisbee. I was completely wrong and I will always regret it. Jenn and I are going to enjoy little Fluffasaurus and her awesome frisbee skills as long as possible and have decided we will definitely not be getting a new puppy until Tooney has decided she's had enough of frisbee, giving her the full dedication and attention she deserves! Based on her current performance, we think that won't be for a long time!!!

Monday, March 15, 2010

UFO Vegas update and another double q

Saturday was the 3rd annual UFO in Las Vegas. Enzo won the event 2 years ago and Tooney won the event last year. This year there were more people from SoCal at the event hoping to earn some points for the UFO finals in San Diego. We left Saturday morning, drove 4 hours, competed, then drove back so Jenn can compete in agility Sunday. There is 1 word to sum up this event, W-I-N-D-Y. They nearly called the event half way through as everything seemed to be blowing away. When we were leaving the event, the weather report said it was currently steady wind at 33mph. Where we were was very exposed and I would expect it was actually windier where we were. Onto the results...

The freestyle scores were all pretty low and there was little variation in scores from top to bottom due to the wind. Everybody struggled. Enzo (as a pimp) and I (as a wanna-be gangsta) went out and put on a good freestyle routine to "Pretty Fly for a White Guy". The costume/theme went over really well and people seemed to get a kick out of it. I plan to do this theme more throughout the year, including next week at the AWI qualifier. Enzo ended up having the 2nd best t/f score and got 2nd overall in the open division and earned more UFO points! Tooney did GREAT in freestyle despite having her little tootsies wrapped up to protect her pads. She posted a goose egg in toss/fetch, but I can't blame her. Out of the 18 teams in open, only 4 got points in t/f! 1 team got 3 catches, Enzo got 2 catches and 2 other teams got 1 catch each. I think Enzo is the current leader in the UFO standings. That won't last long, but take it when you can get it!

I doubled as a judged as I have done at every Vegas competition the past 3 years. The way it worked was that I judged everybody else but myself in the "sequences and flow" category. When I went up to compete, another person judged me in that category and used the scores I gave to other people as a reference to score me. He was able to compare how I perfomed to how others performed and was able to pick a fair score for me.

Next week is AWI qualifiers, so I look forward to that! Then we're off to Oklahoma for AKC nationals!

Jenn went to an AKC trial on Sunday and got a double Q with Enzo. He got 1st place in both runs. Tooney got a Q in jumpers.

(Jenn typing here) Enzo was smoking in standard, just really driving over his contacts while still collecting to hit them. He had a pretty good time even though his table was slow, probably 4-5 seconds before he sat. His JWW run was nice and smooth. The JWW run had a tough pull to the weaves and then you needed to rear cross to get to the other side because it was a sharp 180 turn to the next jump. Both Tooney and Enzo did this really well. I don't rear cross the weaves much especially when it's that severe so I'm glad they didn't hesitate. Tooney's JWW run was maybe a little slow for her but she was paying attention really well. In Standard, she was faster but we got a two off courses. The one part I probably should have planned something different for her than for Enzo. The other part I ended up doing differently when I ran Enzo. She hit her running dogwalk though which is most important for her at this point right before nationals. I feel pretty good about our preparedness for nationals right now. We're ready!!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Enzo battles addiction; frisbee and agility updates

Enzo has an addiction. And we're not talking about frisbee (more on that later). It's citrus. Yes, Enzo is addicted to citrus fruit. Enzo is not a 'food hound' like our other dogs. He likes treats, steak and chicken but isn't going bonkers for it. He's not even going to beg for it. We can be eating steak and Enzo won't beg for any. The other dogs are practically climbing on top of us trying to get the food. As soon as we start cutting some citrus fruit, he won't leave us alone. He becomes a shark, too, snapping at the fruit as we try to give it to him. He is one peculiar fella. His favorite? He loves oranges off the tree, but his absolute favorite is pummelos (like a giant grapefruit for those not familiar). He likes everything about them including the nasty white husk material just under the peel.

Now on to Enzo's 2nd favorite thing - frisbee. We had our first competition last weekend and he did great! He posted the top toss and fetch score of the day, which is so impressive for him since that is his nemesis (sort of like the A-frame for him in agility). There were 60 teams total with 27 in the open division! He ended up placing and earned some UFO points that will go a long way this year. The UFO finals are in San Diego, so Enzo just needs to do his thing to get the points required to qualify. UFO competitions are going to be crazy here in SoCal with the finals being local. Poor Tooney wore her pads down in the competition because it was wet out. It didn't impact her in the competition and she finished top 10, but she may be out for next weekend :(

We are going to Vegas for the 3rd straight year next weekend for another UFO competition. Enzo won the competition 2 years ago and Tooney won it last year (behind an insane toss/fetch score).

I'm pretty excited about the frisbee season because I'm in better physical shape than I have been in 2 years. The nerve problem in my arm seems to have mostly healed (after a year and a half!) and I'm able to compete 100%. Last year I had to throw left-handed most of the year for toss/fetch. The only problem with my arm is I can't practice very much because it starts tingling, burning, etc after too much activity. For a single competition, I can go full out. I can't do long distance, either. It messes me up bad, so 40-45 yards is all I'm trying to throw right now and I can do that with little irritation. My hip problem (again from almost 2 years ago) isn't anywhere near 100%, but I can compete and it doesn't hurt nearly as much as last year. I'm not getting much in the way of the numbness/tingling this year thankfully. It mostly just starts aching a if I do too much. It's been a long time since it's been bad enough that it was difficult for me to walk.

For agility Enzo is still in the same mode. AKC, AKC, AKC and then more AKC. When he's not at an AKC competition, more AKC. He's still in the top 5 Aussies in the country and needs to stay there for another 3 months and he'll be invited to the AKC invitationals in Long Beach!

Report Date: 03/11/2010
THE AMERICAN KENNEL CLUB

December 2010 AKC Agility Invitational
for Australian Shepherds
Qualifying Period Starting July 01, 2009 and ending June 30, 2010

Events Processed Through Friday, February 26, 2010

Rank Name Class Formula Value
1 MACH3 Barjh Batteries Not Included REG 3,351
2 MACH2 Gulfstream's Tnt-Take No Tail MXF REG 2,368
3 NAC MACH13 Blue Moon Shine On Willow MXF TQX REG 1,988
4 MACH6 Los Suenos Gravity Games MXF REG 1,961
5 MACH Windsor's Enzo Ferrari OF REG 1,956
6 MACH2 Toprock's La Femme Ewe-Nika REG 1,617
7 MACH7 Roanoak Reinflame Red Hot Chai MXF TQX REG 1,382
8 MACH6 Add It Up OF REG 1,365
9 MACH Kandlelite's Icyhot CD RE MXF REG 1,322
10 MACH2 Katch 22 Animation XF REG 1,310
11 Hardins Dust Up Rinse Repeat MX MXJ XF REG 1,118
12 Granite's Fly Like The Wind VCD2 RA TDX MX MXJ MXF REG 1,020
13 MACH8 Imagineer's Rely On Me REG 988
14 MACH2 Windy Farms Shoo Fly RE NJP OF REG 908
15 Old Oaks Katie Bar The Door VCD1 MX MXJ XF REG 898
16 MACH5 Schiml's Denim Blue Dylin OF REG 887
17 MACH11 Whimsical Whirlwind Marni XF REG 868
18 MACH3 Old Oaks Capt Rocky Yr Socks CD XF REG 850
19 MACH Catalina Pitsch Black Knight NF REG 815
20 MACH3 Renfield Rave-On MXF REG 799
21 MACH Sunnybrook Hang Ten REG 798
22 MACH Fly Away's Call The Ball XF REG 788
23 MACH2 Aussie CDX XF REG 756
24 MACH3 Staarry Heavens To Bessie UDX RAE MXF REG 745
25 MACH Simply Sydney XF REG 731