Yes, Agility again!

Yep, we were out agility-ing again today, Sunday, and what a gorgeous day it was! Sunny, not too windy, warm (almost too warm), just a nice day. After two days of rain it was nice to see the sun again. Mom took me, Emmy, and Josie to a 'fun' match where they had Obedience, Rally, a CGC test, and of course agility. She signed us all up for practice before next week's trials. Emmy hadn't been on a course in a couple of weeks, Josie had NEVER been on a course before, and I was there just for fun. We saw our buddy "Coll" the Scottish Deerhound, so Mom snapped a few pics of him in action: He was getting ready for his run. He sure is tall! I get a crick in my neck looking up at him. He's sitting on the table, only I can't see the table! He was by far the biggest dog to run today. Mom got someone to video Josie's last run (she got to run twice) and here's part of it. Josie thought Mom threw that leash just for her to go get... and got a little shaky on the weaves but she was good otherwise!


At the table the camera went nuts so Mom's friend turned it back on to catch the last half. Not a bad run for a totally novice doggie.



That's my girl! We had to wait to go home so Mom could help take the rings and equipment down since she's a club member and had to help. We waited in the crate and FINALLY we got to go home. Here's Josie, me and Emmy (squished behind me) saying "Hurry up Mom get in this Jeep right now!!!"



Mom also put me in Rally Novice just for fun -- she meant to enter Rally Excellent but by the time she thought about it, Excellent was over. That's OK Mom, I can deal with the disappointment! (ha ha -- it was too hot to work)

Sure was fun -- next weekend is the agility trials up the road from us. Sure hope it doesn't rain from the remnants of Hannah that might come up to visit us later in the week. Mom hates to run in the rain but I LOVE it! She slips and slides and I just laugh and laugh and laugh... get a video of THAT now!

Love,
Rudy

My Agility Weekend

Whew I survived another agility weekend with Mom! (MOM: Heyyyy!)
No really, we ran fast and had 3 runs per day instead of the usual 2 runs like we do in AKC all the time. (MOM: this was USDAA, another agility organization)
It was exciting! The courses were all indoors in a big building with huge arenas they call a soccer dome. Good thing it was all indoors 'cause it was HOT outside. Every time I went outside to do my business I was panting and not from excitement.

Anyway, we did great on Saturday and I won 3 ribbons! I was second in Gamblers, third in Standard and third in the Pairs Relay. Not bad -- there were lots of doggies competing in our classes! Since this was our third ribbon in Pairs we got a new title! It's the "SR" title which I never heard of but it's "Starters Relay". Cool! Starters is the beginning level in USDAA 'cause we're new to this group.

Here's a pic of me and my loot from Saturday (Josie must be chewing on the toys I got as prizes!)



I forgot to mention I got a cool new haircut last Thursday so I'd look good and run real fast out there. I think it worked!

Sunday, well, that's another story. Y'see, the courses were in this huge arena so there's lots of room to RUN, and to me it's really hard not to take off like a real fruitcake and start doing laps or something crazy. I love to go running and I forget sometimes who's in charge here!
I tried real hard to be good on Saturday but by Sunday I couldn't help myself... I was OK in Standard but did something funny, we can't remember what it was, so we didn't qualify. If we'd been good we would've been fast enough for another 3rd place. Oops! Then it all went downhill after that.

In Snooker I almost took the wrong course but Mom caught me in time, and soon after that I veered left as she was going right and took the wrong jump. That was it, I was done! I had lost it.
I was having too much fun out there and not listening again.. uh oh.. Momma don't like!

She's forgiven me now so we're good again, but all the excitement from the weekend has me tuckered out.



I'm so happy next weekend is free! Mom is working on getting Josie ready for her very first trials in September and wants to take her to a show-and-go for extra practice in a couple of weeks. Go on you guys, knock yourselves out, I'm going to snooze!

Love,
Rudy

Silver Again and some Cousins of Mine

Wow! I did it again! More silver to match me and my roommates, who are sort of silver/gray coated.. sort of..

Anyway, it was for the High Jump at the Pawlympics. I tried my highest jump for that one! Thanks Lenny and the judges!




Mom got a couple of pics of her cousin-in-Florida's boys and my dog-cousin that I didn't know I had. He's cute even if he isn't a Bedlington!






They're just cute all over, eh what? Too bad they live so far away, I love kids and I bet they'd love me! What do you think of this new doggie cousin of mine, Tanner, Mack? I don't know if he's like the Doofus or not...never met this fellow.

Ah, but I must go to bed now -- Mom says we're getting up super early tomorrow for the next agility trials. I have to be perky and run fast for her!

Love,
Rudy

Silver Medalist!

Hey I'm so happy to get the silver in Hurdles at the Pawlympics! Thanks!! It's so amazing to see all the other contenders. There are some high jumpers in our ranks! Thanks Lenny!

Yesterday Mom took me back up to the agility place where they had an all-day seminar with a couple of the teachers there, and we worked with each of them for half a day in groups of six. At the end of the day she got someone to run me and took this video... I'd never had anyone else run me but Mom so this was different! It was just a small exercise but interesting. The lady sitting in the chair is the teacher -- hey I guess she was tired! She's going to be on the USA Agility World Team once again this fall with her fantastic dog Jive. He's so fast!!!!!



All us doggies were pretty tired from running and jumping all day. By lunchtime I was napping in my crate inbetween runs. Mom was wishing she could get in there and join me too. Ew, Mom, not enough room!

I'm catching up on my Z's right now, I could probably win the Gold in Napping at the Pawlympics ... Gotta be ready for another agility trials next weekend!

Love,
Rudy

I'm Faster than Mom!

Oh OK unless you're a little bitty dog, most of us ARE faster than our Moms and mine does everything she can to outrun me, but let's face it, she can't! We went to my Tuesday night agility class tonight and boy was I excited. I can't wait to get out and run those courses like mad!

Here I am anxiously awaiting my turn --- the people put us doggies in crates and some of them have labels on them. I never met the Hirsch K9's but they sure are nice to let us use their crate!



Before this video was taken, I'd already warmed up doing another course and really got Mom started. I whizzed around the course and Mom was pretty tired just from that! The best was yet to come...

Here is where I run Mom's legs off. About 50 seconds into this video, you see Mom stopping at the teeter wondering where to go next and realizing she messed up the entire thing! The teacher tells her where she messed up and lets us start all over again. This time she gets it (mostly) right but when we run down the far side, she's so out of breath she has to stop a second and start us up again. hee hee!
I ran fast, too. I won that race!!




So uh, Mom, I didn't run too fast for ya, huh?

(MOM: "Gasp, wheeeeeezzz...")




Mom is so much fun!

Love,
Rudy