www.rockhound.no

05 December: “Bronze badge exam” agility – and we made it!!! Good girl, Trixie! We still have a long ways to go before we get a nice float in our way through the course, but it is now possible to stop her and get her back to take the obstacle correctly if she has run past it. We did have a few refusals, probably about three alltogether, but only one on each of the obstacles. She did not make other mistakes apart from one in the weave. This exam allows three for each obstacle but no more than 50 error points on the course. (and we used the old thick orange tyre) -siri

04 December: As Trixie has only been trained on medium obstables, we had a session working on the high and long obstacles. No problem – she can jump. But she did not like the new dividable tyre. Frankly I think she did not see it. It is black, very thin and the area around it is very open – and it is relatively dark in the training facility. -siri

December: Astra is still on maternity leave until the end of the month. Can’t wait to start training her again. -siri

28 November: Trixie’s class trained on a “Bronze badge course”, as that test will be held next Monday. For the first time she ran on high and long obstacles, and she did it OK, but did also pull some. We need to have an extra session some time before Monday, where I have table, tire, lengths and jumps on normal size for her large size. We also had a course with a lot of handling, and she is now starting to understand what to do when I tell her where too go. -siri

22-27 November: Kennel Club with two great things happening:

I sold about 50 of my Agility 1-2-3 books, which were officially launched here! One funny comment from one relatively well-known handler: “What do you think you know since you think you can write a book?” The answer is of course that I have had it published! Neither she nor anyone else have done that in Norway since Jon G. Olsen published his 20 + years ago.

The other great thing was to see Astra’s daughter Ifa, who was qualified to run the Norwegain Championship in agility, 20 months old! She made two good runs Saturday and was then qualified for the finals Sunday. Unfortunately she did not make it in any of her two runs then. But NC final at the age of 20 months – fantastic, Mina! Congratulations also to Flax and handler Helge, who had the best result and time after the jumping competition, but unfortunately did not make it through the agility. Also his daughter Ina, who made it to the finals with her grandmother’s dog, who lives 8 hour’s drive away. Needless to say it is not easy to train her!  But the winners, including Stovner Dog club’s many very good handlers and dogs, all did a very good job – Congratulations to them all!-siri

14 November: Trixie and I had class as usual on Monday evening, and we enjoyed it very much. We worked on what we had learnt during the weekend. -siri

12-13 November: Weekend class with Lee Gibson was very good. I wish, however, that I could have taken Astra instead of Trixie, who does not know enough yet. But the goal was for ME to learn, and I did, anyway. It was a good class, where he stressed pull/deccelerate and Push/accellerate. Most of it made sense, but not all. However, this will become a part of my toolbox, and I will use it. Just takes some time to get used to, as I had to be in a different place from what I am used to. Different mindset. -siri

First half of November we did not go to class. We spent time with Astra and the puppies instead. -siri

13 October: We picked up Astra, who had stayed with her daughter Ifa and her family while we were gone for nearly two weeks. Boy, is she big now! And still 3 more weeks to go before the puppies arrive! -siri

01-02 October: Lapinette weekend, with several of Trixie’s relatives. Saturday we had a 4-hours agility class (I was the instructor). Some of the collies had never done any agility before, but they really did well for beginners. Jumping, tunnels, and A-frame was no problem, and some handlig also worked. We ended with a great lunch in Nette’s garden. 21 degrees C was wonderful for October in Denmark! Sunday 12 collies and their owners had a nice walk in the woods at Amager, and ended with coffee and cakes at a picknic table. -siri

26 September: But today, finally, was Trixie’s turn, and we had a good agility session. Elizabeth was stand-in instructor and did a very good job. Trixie was quite focussed, especially after a couple of rounds. She did her first ever jumping-from-side-to-side weave! And she hit every single contact on the circle with all three contact obstacles and two jumps, and we run it several times. She is also getting a good speed now, which she showed on the 30 meter straight up and down with jumps, weave, length and tunnel. Great with some improvement, and she is a really nice collie! -siri

23-25 September: I did not bring any of my dogs to Kongsberg this weekend. Friday we had 8 persons trying out for the “bronze badge” in agility, and four of them succeeded. It was very obvious that they were nervous as this was the first time anything “mattered”. We had competition at the same time, and ended the evening with pizza and a seremony where four received their badges, and everyone received prizes for their competition and diplomas for their summer-and-fall class. Saturday and Sunday we had 6 dogs in the handling class. We worked on hidden tunnel openings, front crosses, back crosses, blind crosses, around the obstacles, between the obstacles and finally layered obstacles. They were all amazed at what they were able to do with their dog. What was a lot of fun was to see the different solutions they had to their handling. Recall or send, left or right, back cross or front cross. As an instructor I stress that they shall understand what they are able to do with their dog. There is no one-size-fits-all in agility. I also enjoyed listening to their discussions. They sure have come a very long ways since the beginner’s weekend in May! Two BCs, and the rest of them different breeds this weekend: Koiker, Kelpie, Eurasian, Chosky pez. I have never seen the latter breed before (they have been on a different training group), but did I fall in love with that dog! -siri

19  September: Trixie and I had a very good day in class. We had great contact, and her attention was on me and not in everything and everybody else. We worked obedience on the side, and did quite well on the course. Quite well does noe mean that things went good, but they went as good as one can expect of a young dog who has not learnt very much. Unfortunately her handler has not spent enough time working with her. -siri

11 September: Gunnvor and I had the indoor training facilities to ourselves around noon on Sunday. Listening to the radio on my way there all they talked about everywhere was that it was 10 years since 9/11. How time flies! I think of it as only a few years ago that I saw the twin towers being hit by planes and later collapsing… First we worked with Gunnvor’s sheltie Penny. She has decided to run nicely over the dogwalk and then JUMP over the contact. A chair that she had to run under, and two jump wings on the side, made it necessary for her to run all the way down. Not exactly an elegang solution, but one that worked. I think the solution is to work on running contacts. Then I got Trixie out of the car. She did so well when there was nothing in the surroundings to distract her. Weave is improving, though she is not quite there yet jumping back and forth; She stops on the down contacts on the A-frame and the dogwalk as she is supposed to; she followed my instructions for where to go – to a certain point.  Poor Astra, now (hopefully) a week pregnant was confined to the car during the training session, and she knows that Trixie is having some fun while she is not. I guess we’ll have to continue going up there, even if it is 45 minute’s drive each way. At least we’ll be able to do some serious training.  - And coffee and a chat with Gunnvor is always nice.

05 September: Training with Trixie. She still has ”a few” concentration problems when she sees other dogs and people running on the next course. And waiting is such a booooring thing. She let me know very vocally that it is so, and I spent a lot of time trying to hush her and keeping her quiet. Nothing helped, not even going over to the weave and work there, or working with obediencve. No concentration at all. When we got home Tom asked her if she had had a good training, but she did not want to talk about it. Usually she shows that she had had fun when he asks. I agree: This was not fun.

04 September. Marion came by and we agreed that the best little girl of the litter will be mine to own and hers to have. She has wanted a puppy from Astra ever since she babysat the last litter several times. Great cooperation! And Marion is a very knowledgable young woman, having just graduated from senior high with focus on dogs, and is now studying at the agro university. So I am very happy that she wants this. It will be good for me, too, so in the long run we can have more puppies while not having more dogs at home. And I can have a granddaughter from Astra. I believe that keeping a daughter, much as I would love that, will make the daugher very dependent on her mother. At least that’s what I have seen other places. They always need to ask their mother for permission, and will forever stay their mother’s little puppy. I want one with more guts – thus a granddaughter would be great. And I am not ready for another puppy yet with all the training that needs to be done. I was not ready for a puppy last year, either, but Trixie has been wonderful all the time, and Tom trained her basic obedience.  -siri

03 September. The agility competition closest to our house was today, and do I wish that I could have started Astra for the first time in Jumping class 3! But now there will be no training or competition for her for the next four months if she has puppies. So I came there without dogs, and watched for a few hours, and of course talked to everybody. -siri

01-02 September. Astra and I drove 5 hours to Sweden to visit Shelteam’s kennel where her stud-to-be lives. They had a good mating each day, so we can now only cross our fingers for a nice, good litter! -siri

31 August and the last day of summer: We drove the the Veterinary university today to check up Astra’s progesteron levels. Her calls show that she is about ready, but this is not nearly as accurate as the progesterone levels.  Her progersterone level is 20 so she is ready to meet Rasmus http://www.shelteam.se/rasmus.htm. We’ll leave for Sweden tomorrow. -siri

27 August: Tryout for Guinness World Record Agility. Astra is still in heat, and did not like to run with panties. She knocked a bar (which she never does) and we were out of business. I bet the rest will have fun tomorrow, and I am sorry I miss it. But such is life, and her life is that she will meet Mr.Perfect in a few days and then hopefully puppies in 9 weeks. -siri

25 August: Astra’s turn for training, but she was in heat and her concentration was not fully on me. She ran behind me several times, even if I have never taught her that. this may be the second last training for 4 months as I plan to let her meet Mr Perfect in about 10 days. His name is Rasmus and he lives in Gothenburg, Sweden http://www.shelteam.se/rasmus.htm -siri

22 August: Double training. First Trixie agility. She started out running after everyone she wanted to say hi to, then all obstaclers she wanted to take. But after a while she began to understand that she was supposed to come with me even if there were others around. We trained on back cross, and on layered jumps behind a half-circle tunnel. She managed that, though usually she thought that she had to take a round in the tunnel before the jumps behind it. Tunnels are fun! Oh, well – she did what she was supposed to. We also had a circle with seeesaw, jumps, tunnel, and weave, and she did all well. She has a wonderful stop at the end of the seesaw. She does the weave pretty well, but is not quite there yet. And Astra barked from the sideline. Then it was Astra’s turn training in the show group. We worked mainly on the obedience parts. And Trixie barked from the sideline. Trixie was also allowed to take part and had other dogs jumping over her back. She does not care, even if sheltie Liz hits her. And 4 hours of training is a lot for the handler. -siri

21 August: NKK. Astra was back to old bad habits during the first run, which was the Ag2. She started wild and continued without listening or hearing, so I took her off course. The next (and final) run was Jumping 2, mand she did a clean run – her final needed for saying good-bye to class 2. Jumping class 3: Here we come!! In the evening she started her heat (no sign during the day and no interested males sniffing her, either). Now we are frantically hunting high and low for a suitable tricolor male for her. Hopefully we will have puppies around November 1. -siri

13-14 August: Competitions in Fredrikstad. Saturday started bad: Eliminations in four runs. Why am I doing this?? Sunday: One run with one fault in Agility 2, and came in as number 4 or so of about 25 dogs. She ran the team run with 2 errors (=10 error points), while the rest of the team had two clean runs. The team won. Prize: One hard rubber toy that none of my dogs like. Anyway – we won and that was fun. -siri

8 Aug: Show group training. We were only 4-5 people, but had a good training. We also worked on obedience heelwork, in addition to the “normal” marching, jumping through hoolahoops, and the individual things. Astra always jumps up on my back when I sit down, stays there and gives me a lick in the face. She is so cute! -siri

6-7 August Competitions in Nes: Sunday started well: Astra had a clean run with the speed of 4.14 meters /second. That was the final clean run she needed: Byebye at last to Class 1 and Here we come to Class 2. Actually I think class 2 will be easier, as there is more handling and less long straight runs from one course end to the other. Next was the team, where she for once had a fault: She missed the down contact on the dogwalk, and then had a refusal into the tunnel. But Stovner’s three small teams did well: Winner: Stovner, Second: Stovner, and third: Stovner. It was raining heavily so the judge decided to take out the collapsible tunnel from class 2 jumping. He replaced it with a normal tunnel, which gave us 3 openings to choose from instead of one plus the tail end of the collapsible. Astra ran well until the last entry to the tunnels, where she stopped when I called her, and put her nose into the wrong opening.

Saturday was a disaster with 4 out of 4 possible eliminations. Ag1 started with a straight line of obstacles from one end of the course to the other, about 40 meters: Jump – jump – dogwalk and jump, before going left. Astra’s refusal to sit and stay and her incredible speed, made it impossible to be at the end at the same time as she. So she veered to the right after the last jump, and when I finally got there, she ran over the jump again on her way to me.  -siri

20-24 July: Mina and I sent our two dogs Astra and Ifa (Astra’s daughter, 16 months old) in crates to Tromsø, and took the same flight. We took a taxi to the campground and installed ourselves in the cabin by the river there. Then we had four days of exciting agility competitions. The event was well organized as always (it is my third time there), had one ring with approximately 35 different dogs alltogether in 3 heights * 3 classes. The location is fantastic: They have the most beautiful 360 degree view to mountains, the city, the fjord, and the harbor where cruise ships visited almost every day. We had no rain and no wind, and the temperature was perfect for agility: 12-15 degrees C (50-60 F). Astra has had a long period of high stress during competitions, which manifests itself in her blocking. She has had no ears and no eyes for me, and has run like crazy to wherever she wanted to go. A month ago she stopped (I hope that this will continue). She was my perfect dog during all the 15 runs in Tromsø. Each day we had Agility class1, Jumping class2, and alternating days we had unofficial open agility and open jumping where all small compete regardless of class. Our club was the only club with team, so the poor judges had to make a team agility course as well for the three dog in our team. With both Astra and Tove’s sheltie on the team, we failed miserably each time. Tove’s sheltie is soo slow that both Astra and John’s sheltie run 3 times faster – and I literally mean three times faster! Astra had no errors (kicked bars, missing contacts or jumping off the seesaw) anywhere. She had some refusals because I was not able to get to where I was supposed to go. Also her disqualifications had to do with her being quicker than me. But before and after the “disks” she had perfect runs where she did everything she should do. I can now send her far out and place myself where I need to be, usually So to Astra’s results:

Thursday 24:  Jumping2: Astra had one refusal and won. Three “disks”. But 4 good runs.

Friday 22: Ag1: One refusal, came in 2nd. Jumping2: “Disk”, Open Ag: Clean run, came in 0.7 seconds after John.

Saturday 23: Ag1: Clean run and won! Jumping2: “Disk” Open jumping: clean run and won.

Sunday 24: Ag1 “Disk”, Jumping2: 1 refusal and won. Open jumping: “Disk”.

Mina and Ifa did even better: They won the overall competition with the most clean runs during the four days and came home with a very large “silver” cup! Boy, am I proud of them! Mina is such a good handler, and Ifa is a great dog. I can at least take a little credit for that; after all she is Astra’s daughter! -siri

31 July: Great, warm weather for a few days so I had decided not to train – it was too hot for dogs and people. But Marianne urged me to come, and John, Gunnvor and we were there. John had a good course that had its quirks and difficulties, and we made it – at least Astra and I. Trixie is another matter. She still does not understand cues that I give her, and decides that this obstacle is a lot more fun than what I show her. Oh, well – no hurry. She has agility as an activity and I don’t plan to compete very much with her. Too much stress with one small and one large dog in different rings. -siri

15 July: Good training with Gunnvor and her dogs. Astra and I worked on sending away. Trixie still needs to understand that she shall go where I tell her to go. Her weave is pretty good, but she does not jump from side to side yet.

14 July: Instruction in Kongsberg and about 10 people showed – in the middle of summer! I had planned some easy small combinations but they wanted a full course with a table. So the one course I happened to bring for my own training later, was modified and used. We replaced the weave with a jump and a table. There was a little handling there so we walked the course and talked as we walked. It is not easy for beginners to remember how they wealked, so we worked on that. They tried the difficult parts a few times before they got the handling right, and could see how much better the dog runs when he gets earlycues and right handling. They did so well; After all, they started in May. Mina came with me and Ifa and Astra also ran the course. I asked some of the beginners to be my “trainer” so they could tell me what was wrong and what I did well. They learn a lot from that as well. All in all a good training sessions, and good company in the car with Mina. -siri

09 July: Gunnvor and I decided to have some training time. I needed to work on sending Astra ahead. It works really well when she sees the goodies ahead, but without she is less focussed on running ahead of me. Need more training on that one as she easily loses several seconds by waiting for me. Not that low speed is a problem, but it may cause someone to beat her. John and Kari also came and we set up a course that could be taken in many different ways. -siri

04-07 July: No dog training, but a great trip to visit the two grandchildren Victor (2 1/2) and Justin (8 months) with my dad, their great-grandad. Trained Victor to understand that a GIFT means not only for him but also to give away. I am not quite sure he really understood. Can’t wait to get back again. And we are now ready for some agility training this weekend. -siri

03 July: Show group training was good and fun. We worked on the marching and on our other tricks. After one hour we decided it was about time to go to Helen for barbeque. She had invited us and had made a lot of good food. It was great to have time just to chat. -siri

29 June: Mina and I took our mother’n'daughter Astra and Ifa to Helge and Ina where we had a great training session. We built first a full agility course  and ran this, suggestion changes to each other, before we built a jumping course and did the same there. Wonderful weather and great peers. Three blue merle shelties: Astra, Ifa and Flax, plus one tricolor, and one sable. The blues look so much alike that we really have to look to take the right one

24-26 June: 3-day competition with 4 sets of runs (individual agility + individual jumping + team). Astra had a clean Agility run and won her class Friday. Her daughter Ifa is a bit larger and is medium size. She raced the same course, and won her class with a clean run. Two great blue merles! Ifa was one second quicker than Astra. Astra was not stressed this weekend, either, so hopefully we will start to get more results now. She had several good runs with 1 fault, including one jumping (where she had a refusal when I sent her forward), and both the team runs Saturday. The team had one first and one second place, but unfortunately no qualifications for the Norwegian championship as the total for the teams was above 15 error points. Most of the disqualified runs were also pretty good. The last day she was extremely tired, and she ran as quickly as normal, but her focus was not as good. I must admit that my knees were not good, so I did not run as well as I should have.

14-15 June: 2day competition and Astra for the first time ever was not stressed! That meant that she actuaqlly listened to me and had contact so she could see where I tried to get her next. Some good runs and some not good, but most of thosde were my fault and not hers. So I was happy about the weekend, regardless of the results. -siri

11 June: Gunnvor and I trained in the indoor facilities and had the whole building to ourselves. Luxury! Both of mine and her Sheltie had some good rounds with emphasis on starts, contacts, and for Trixie, also the weave. She is doing better and better. We were invited to BBQ with other agility freaks and agility dogs, and had a great time. Thanks, Helge! -siri

06 June: Most of the participants in my class started in their “exam” in order to train on the B-level in the fall. Most of them passed. No training for Trixie today. -siri

04 June: Photo session for Agility 1-2-3 book. I took 1200 pictures, largely because the camera can take 7 pics a second. So many great ones in good weather! English staff, Yorkie, shelties, border collies, standard poodle and small poodle, pomeranian, chineese crested, and collie. Just shows the wide range of breeds that are active in the club and in the fun! Thanks to everyone who helped out today!