Saturday, October 20, 2007

Airedales in Action!

Hi all!

I'm back -- I was at an agility trials earlier this month in Pennsylvania but Mom was too tired and lazy to update my blog. We were hoping to get more pictures back from the trials but they just haven't come. So to entertain everyone I thought we'd show some pictures Mom was able to take of other dogs, which wasn't very many 'cause her digital camera was dying. (did I tell you she hates that thing???)

It was a fun time for me and Mom, but Emmy had the most fun. She did so well the first day, getting ribbons in her Novice runs, Mom moved her up to Open Jumpers and by the third day she won another ribbon! Hmpf, I bet she doesn't get good enough to run with me in Excellent!
(Mom: famous last words -- she may be slower but she's accurate)

Here are some pics of the Airedales running the Excellent course one day that I also did. They had a lot of fun -- this was agility for terrier breeds only so the Airedales were the tallest dogs out there.








This was the beginning of the course, jump through the tire. Look at this guy go! The posts before the tire jump hold the electronic timer equipment so they can time us as we run around. The same thing is set up on the last jump. I'm usually flying by then!


Now they're really moving here. Aires are so much taller than we Bedlingtons they have to jump higher. I think this one is going over 20 inches, but another guy was doing 24 inches while I was only doing 16 inches. Huh -- just watch, I could do 20 inches if they'd let me!








This guy on the left was the bigger Airedale and here he is going down the A-frame. Next he'll have to go in the tunnel end closest to the handler which you can hardly see in the corner of the picture. This was fun for me!








Here he comes out of the tunnel. He's happy!
He had to swing really wide to get up that ramp.





Now this is what I'm talkin' about! The smaller Airedale is turning really fast out of the tunnel.



The person in the green shirt on the right was the judge. She stood out there all day long watching about 200 dogs run like this. I get tired just thinking about it! There was another judge in the other ring doing the same thing too.


We did manage a shot of another Bedlington getting ready to do a round. This is Mom's friend from Boston who brought her Titus and Poppy to run. Poppy is Emmy's granddaughter who runs in Novice. Here is Titus getting set up to run in Excellent. There would be more pics of Titus and Poppy but Mom's camera died!

There were Wire Fox terriers, Border terriers, Westies, Scotties, AmStaffs, Norfolks, Norwich, you name it, they were there. We like it there a lot!

We ran agility for 3 days and we were pooped after that. Mom spent all of Columbus Day weekend recuperating. I've been doing more agility classes and we've got one more trials this year probably.

Have a good weekend!
Love,
Runnin' Rudy

Friday, September 28, 2007

Jump that Ring Fence!

(Phoned in by Rudy)

Hi guys!

I was at a dog show today, 'way out west of home about an hour, and I had a fun time. Mom brought me out there early and it was raining on the way out, but not when we got to the showgrounds. We parked in a big field and she wanted to practice some more obedience, but there were so many smells in that field (GROUNDHOG!!!) it was hard for me to concentrate.

Finally I got the idea but only after the sun came out and dried out the grass and the good smells. We were going to do Rally Obedience! Oh, OK... it's not as much fun as agility or Earthdog, but here we go. Mom figured it out so she gave me a huge pep talk and acted like this was going to be some fun! Yea! I was pepped up!

Well I got so excited, we did the first few stations just fine and then we got to the left-hand corner of the ring. Mom was crowding me and trying to get me to do a 270 degree left turn , and her left arm went out like she wanted me to go away, and so over the ring fence I went! That was fun! This was an off-leash test so I was free to go anywhere. Mom was kind of shocked and called my name -- oops, isn't that what you wanted??? So I popped back over and she got me to try that turn again. Oh geez, I hoped we weren't eliminated for that. We did the rest of the test just fine and when we finished, the judge told her we were OK since I came right back and started working right away. That made Mom feel better.
Some bad doggie that came after us thought what I did was cool, so HE jumped the ring fence but HE didn't come back. He ran around and around and around! Ohhh they didn't get to try that again... they had to leave.


I ended up scoring 90 out of 100 and getting third place. That was great! I got a lot of treats for that. My 'fan club' was really pleased! (yes I have groupies.. heh heh) I had to go with my breeder after that and do conformation showing and guess what -- I got Best of Breed and followed that up with a Group 3! (3rd best in the Terrier group). They all love me now!

(I'm spending the weekend with the breeder and her show buddies so I'm dictating this to Mom tonight. I'll be glad to get home, they don't treat me like royalty over there...)

Love,
Rudy


(Mom speaking: Rudy's mom Clancy and Auntie Em couldn't be less impressed tonight)