October 22, 2000
USDAA Keystone Agility Club
Will the Members of Team Bean Please Sit Down
What would a weekend be without
an account of our Beanheaded adventures?
This, my friends, is truly the adventure of Team Bean.
Despite this, this has been one of my best days of agility, the kind of day when
you get home 13 hours after you got there and you are still smiling over your
runs of the day. I truly hope that tomorrow is a repeat of that feeling.
I just had Crumpie this weekend and I am trying to keep it that way.
USDAA
Levels-Novice/Starters, Advanced, Masters.
Courses offered-
Standard (all of the equipment)
Gamblers (all of the equipment with a "distance handling" area.
Pairs Relay (two teams work together to complete the whole course)
In and Out" game - complex rules, but fun as heck.
Advanced Gamblers:
Okie Fadokie, the "opening
sequence" to this course offered nothing in the lines of serious course flow, so
Crumpie and I were going to have to wing it. I have stopped worrying about
collecting enough points in this time period and planned two Frames that would
give us 10 points, then the Weave Poles twice for 14 more. That alone equaled
more then the 21 necessary.
The Gamble part? Let me start
laughing NOW. Tunnel under the Frame (in an L shape) with the entrance on the
right. Perpendicular line (to the handler) straight to a jump, left, Tip,
Table. The Table ends the whole thing and stops time. Distance varying from 2
feet out to 25 feet.
What was so funny? The Tip part. I figured that Mr. Beanhead would just have to come back to me after the
jump.
We are the first dog of the
morning and I have had NO coffee as I woke up bow-late and did not have time for
my favorite jet fuel of the morning. Crumpie, on the other hand, snuck in about
five cups and was much more awake then me.
The Opening sequence was 30
seconds long and we amassed 33 points. Crumpie was definitely faster then I was
and did have to take a tunnel that was planned for later, but we recovered like
it was part of the plan. The whistle blows and we start the Gamble.
Crumpie goes into the tunnel,
like oooooh that would be a problem??? He comes out and I call the "out over".
Nooooooooo. How can he possibly do that when Mom is waaaaaaay over there. I
take a step backward and try again, this time resulting in sending the little
doggie out over the jump. I call a "left, Tip" and much to my surprise he does
it. Cool-o. I call Table and Crumpie decides that I could possibly not mean
THAT thing and he comes back to me. No matter what I do, I cannot get this dog
to get out 15 feet to the darned thing. Instead, he decides that I really mean
the TIRE that I am standing next to.
The whistle blows and we go to
the Table to stop time. BEANHEAD.
Only one person got a Q for
the whole course and that was not anyone in the 12" division.
NQ, 1st place
Well, at least we are STILL in Advanced and do not have to move up for next weekend. Thank god. : )
Advanced Pairs:
Crumpie and I get paired up
with Barbara R. and her Cardigan Welsh Corgi, Emma. Slow & Steady and
Ballistic. Barbara and Emma take the first twelve obstacles, we take the last
twelve.
Ok, we have the baton and they
are off. Emma does everything with accuracy and pulls the whole thing off.
Barbara hands the baton over to me and we are off and running at Mach 56.8, but
completely in control. I come over the finish line happier then heck, only to
discover that I had miss-walked the course and forgot two obstacles before
sending Crumpie into the Chute.
I was and still am, completely
devastated. Crumpie and Emma deserved a Q and so did Barbara, but nooooooo, I
had to go and goof up royally. I hate letting people down as much as I hate
letting the dogs down. But as Deb C. said to me�.take your own advice and get
over it.
The good thing is that Emma
and Crumpie do not know about NQs and Qs. They just run their little hearts out
and still get the treats.
NQ, with no placements because of my spacing the two obstacles, it was considered an incomplete course.
And I am definitely the QUEEN
of Team Bean.
Advanced Standard:
I push my failure of the last
course to the back of my mind and we are going to do this.
This course was bizarre for
USDAA. There were a few angles that I raised my eyebrow at, but hey, nothing
was going to throw me and the course still had flow.
The second obstacle was a
tunnel that was under the DogWalk. Hooray!!!!
I put Crumpie on the Start
Line and what does he do? Barks. A whole lot. I cannot get him to stop
either. This is not good as this means he is going to be hell coming off the
line. Then he does something I have NOT seen him do in over a year. He breaks
his Stay�..the dog that can let me do a four jump lead out. Crumpie nearly
takes the DW, a new one, but does the tunnel. While he is in the tunnel I could
swear I hear��.I look back and yes, that first jump is down.
AAAARRRUUUGGGHHHHH
Well, we blew this one already
so we are going for broke. I try a few things that actually work that I would
not have if we were Qing. He does take down another bar and pops out of the
poles at number 6, but it was not a bad run�.considering.
NQ, 2nd place
In and Out, fun game.
Now this one was a scream. No
one had ever played this game before and since it was offered, you know that
Crumpie and I are going to be there.
I am going to try to explain
the rules but to be honest, all I knew is that when you goofed up and heard a
whistle, head to the Table in the center, then go back to whatever loop you were
currently running in. All of us were winging this one BIG time. We also have a
time limit of 50 seconds.
The walk through and Judge's
Briefing was a scream as we all kept the jokes flying. Heck, I was ready to do
jump�.then the Table, back to the jump, then off to the Table again, over and
over again.
Crumpie and I are the 3rd victims to run this course. Need bigger dog to get out of the 12" class.
We go to the Start Line and Crumpie starts to bark�again. Gosh darn it. He goes over the jump and we head
to the Tire that he missed because he is too busy barking to see it. Whistle
for the refusal and we are off to the Table.
Crumpie is so confused when he
gets to the Table. He was ready for me to issue a "down or sit" command and
well he did not get it. He is barking because the Table usually means Stop and
why should he? I was so mad about the barking and what that means to him. He
did not respond to the "let's go" command either so I left him and took off for
the first jump without him. Fear not, he caught up and was QUIET. He figured
out that this was NOT normal and did not want to miss anything else.
The second time around, he gets the Tire, jump, left, weaves�.and pops out.
I run to the Table, he follows
and gets stuck on the Table again without the barking. I take off and we
start the loop once again. Third time around, Crumpie handles it with his
normal flare and the concentration on his face is hysterical. Little, driven
dog that is determined not to make another mistake. You can stop laughing
Cory. Crumpet was hauling big time.
When we get to the Frame, I
breathe a sigh of relief. If we goof up now, we get to do the Table and then go
to the Tunnel instead of the first jump. Crumpie has none of those plans in
mind and keeps it together. We are five obstacles into the second loop when the
double whistle blows and Crumpie and I head off for the Finish Line to end time.
4th place
Wow wee and there were eight 12" doggies to compete against.
I like my Jumpers courses
because they are fast, but this course? ( In & Out ) Oh my gosh, let me at it again. This
is one of the fastest courses I have ever run and I had such a blast. I will say
that I was completely winded and could not get up when we came out of the ring.
Maybe it was the long day or other reasons, but it was more that I was so mad at
Crumpie for barking that if he wanted to be Harry then Harry he was going to be
run like. I think Crumpie was regretting that as Harry is three years younger
and can be super ballistic.
This run was like riding Dan's
Honda CBR motorcycle down what we know as the "launch road".
Need I say any
more?
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees
and hee hee hee hee hee hee (for Dan).
For those who know and care:
Elaine lived through her sickness and ran Nan. They NQed in all of their runs. For the Gamble, Nan was
one of the 3 dogs to get the Gamble but a scoring problem left them without
enough Opening points for a Q. : ( They did get 3rd place.
Deb & Bianca had some nice runs, but they NQed too.
Deb & Tickie NQed as well, but I know that Deb will post about their Adventures to the list and will
include how they did for "In and Out". (We left before this happened.)
Sorry that this is getting out late to everyone, but believe it or not, Mike and I actually got invited out for
the evening��meaning we actually have a life. Ok, that life meant eat, pass out on the Wood's couch, then go home, but hey it is still a life.
Have a great Sunday everyone.
Joyce and Crumpie�..like
mother like son��..Beanheads
The Team Bean Adventures Mount Up
Howdy ho, Everyone���as promised, the second day of Beanheadville.
I have also decided that when I have just Crumpie
entered, I will not be saying ANYTHING to you guys. I swear someone hears me
and decides to send another doggie my way. Right now, I am making the
announcement. Next weekend I have BOTH Crumpet and Harry to run at the
Nationals. There, that should do it.
Halfway through the afternoon,
Elaine gets lunch and has an allergic reaction to something in the food. What
it was we have no clue, but the end result is that Deb C. and I drove Elaine to
the local hospital. Once everything is determined that she will live, Elaine
kicks the two of us out and back to the trial for our Jumpers run while she gets
poked and prodded with needles for tests. She called us when they released her
from the ER�just in enough time to help pack up and go home.
Fear not, Elaine is ok.
I get to run Nan again for Advanced Jumpers.
USDAA
Courses Offered:
Standard (all of the equipment)
Snooker (the one with the three red jumps, lots of rules, and not my favorite)
Jumpers (jumps and tunnels)
Everything else is the same as yesterday's description.
Advanced Snooker:
Crumpie
This is the course/game that I
just do not get. This is also the same course that I had problems describing
last time around, but you guys would remember my run�the one where Crumpie
knocked the first jump and I heard it fall as I put him into the tunnel�.the
5.98 second run�about three weeks ago?
Oh yeah that one.
Game goes like this:
1st Red jump (no it is not red, just called that),
Obstacle,
2nd red jump,
Obstacle,
3rd red jump,
Obstacle,
Closing sequence of obstacles planned by judge.
As I am walking the course, Elaine grabs me. Seems she has the course for me. She points out the double
tunnels that are worth 6 points apiece. Not only will this course work out for
me, but Crumpie gets to do 9 tunnels on one course, plus the Chute. And I was
looking at doing the Weave Poles and other stuff.
What was I thinking?
Right-o Elaine, you are a Goddess.
The only problem is going to
be if Crumpie knocks one of the Red jumps along the way. I will just have to
remember the stupid rules. I have also notice that when I do these insane lead
outs (doggie sits on the start line and I go waaaaaaaaaaaay out), he does not
knock the first bar. This will also give me the opportunity to watch for that
knocked bar and then I know which way to direct him.
Fate is with me and Crumpie keeps the bar up and gets to do 2 tunnels. He handles the next two red jumps
with care and gets to do 4 more tunnels. At this point, he is so confused.
Mom cannot really mean ALL of these tunnels. He actually refused two of them,
but corrected himself at the last second�..Holy Tomoly she really means TUNNEL.
We get to the closing sequence
and the bars stay up, he runs past yummy traps and gets to dothe Chute and two
more tunnels. The last obstacle was the weave poles and at this point I think
Crumpet was so excited to have something NEW to do, that he made the entrance
and slammed through the poles at mach 4 without popping out. We haul to the
finish line and���.
Q, 1st place, for our first leg in Snooker.
Everyone clapped and cheered
because it was Crumpie doing all of those tunnels, because it was that crazy
blonde chick with the ponytail trying to keep up with her 12" dog, and because
this is USDAA Advanced.
The funniest part is that when someone asked me about my run in Snookers, I actually said I suck at Snookers.
"Ut oh", I thought to myself. That is the same thing I said about Gamblers.
: 0
Everyone misses Fred.
Advanced Standard:
Crumpie
This was totally a Joyce and
Crumpie course, tons of speed, course flow, and some really challenging parts to
contend with. I had to say that the first part of the course was where I was
going to have fun. Deb N. had showed us a trick she had learned and so I was
going to apply it to this course. What the heck? If the DW contact does not
get us, the dropped bar along the way will.
There were two jumps, arched
right turn to another jump, sort-of left, Tip, go tunnel. The trick was to
leave Crumpet on a stay, go out to the two side-by-side jumps and stand between
them, turning to face the dog. I called Crumpie over the first two jumps with
my right hand out, waited for him to jump the one next to me (second jump), call
"right, over", and picked him up with my left hand. Wait until he is over,
across the body/right handle signal with verbal "left tip" and we are off and
running.
Sound confusing? Sure is. This handling was done with the Directionals for Crumpie's Right and Left, not
mine. (For those new to the email list, Crumpie has been taught "right and
left" and" go" for straight�known as Directionals.)
Beautifully handled by Mr. Crump and brilliantly presented to us by Deb. Forever will this particular
handling strategy be known as the Deb Maneuver�which she cringes at because Deb
did not think of it. She just presented it. The name stays. : )
As for the rest of this
run????? Oh good lord. I indirectly blocked the frame and pushed Crumpie
out�.for a direct line of sight to a�.wanna' guess? Right to a tunnel under the
frame. NQ right there. He then goes on to jump the DogWalk contact and pop
out of the poles twice before completing them correctly. Other then that, it
was an awesome run, especially after pulling off the Deb Maneuver.
What did we NOT do? Knock a bar.
I will also have to say that when it came time to do the Table, Crumpie watched me very closely. He did not
start barking until he was in the down, but man did he have a huge smile.
Amazing what happens when you have something different happen in another run the
day before. I have to remember to vary the Table commands to keep it
interesting for the Corgis.
NQ, 2nd place.
Run to the ER and get back in enough time for Advanced Jumpers with Nan and Crumpie.
The good thing is that both Nan and Crumpie are both running in Advanced. I just had two different height
divisions to run in.
Advanced Jumpers:
Nan
Nanny goes first and she does
a stay on the start line, giving me a one jump advantage. This course looped in
on itself twice and was to be honest, confusing. Nanny was already tired,
confused with my handling style, and worried about where her mom was. She gave
me everything and made me WORK this course (as I kept giving her the wrong
command word of "over" instead of "jump") and she did everything. The only
problem we had was a run around the Tire (not my fault guys, Tire IS her
command. She was being a Beanhead) and one knocked triple because of a bad
angle that Bad Handler, Auntie Joyce pushed her into.
Everyone clapped and cheered
for Nan because she ran for the blonde chick while her Mommy was far away.
Hooray.
NQ, no placement.
Advanced Jumpers
Crumpie
Good lord.
I did a two jump lead out and Crumpie came screaming off the start line. It was amazingly quiet
too. Hum. No barking from the Beanhead?
Can we say tired?
We fly through the two loops
of the course and I tried the third blind cross of the course, but Crumpie did
not follow my hand signal. He ended up at the jump on my wrong side, but took
it at a bizarre jumping angle�.barely making it. We all heard the PVC rattle in
the cups, but it stayed up. The crowd went "ooooooh". We continued on and as
Crumpie came through the second RING, I almost sent him off-course. In a last
fraction of a second decision, I realized it was a "right, triple jump"�not
"left, tunnel" and made the correct call. Crumpie sailed over the last jump and
through the Chute and the Crowd really went wild.
As we came out of the ring I
heard my name being called. It was my girl friend Maureen�the girl that I had
the "four jump lead out" bet with three weeks ago. She was sitting in her lawn
chair on the other side of the ring with about seven other people. All of them
had their lawn chairs too and they were sitting side by side. As I turned to
look, she stood up, cheering and yelling, and then all eight of them did "The
Wave". It was an awesome way to get your first Q in Advanced Jumpers���1st
place too.
Now Crumpie has a leg in each
of the Games classes and needs one more a piece to move up to the Masters
level. The good thing is that next weekend is also a USDAA trial�and the
National Steeplechase Competition. Maybe, just maybe, we might do some serious
Qing and we will start out 2001 in Masters.
As for Standard, we have no
wins there yet, but to be honest, I am really enjoying the Advanced courses.
Besides, Crumpie owes me nothing more then a huge doggie smile when he comes off
the course. That is why we are there on the field every weekend.
What will I ever do after next
weekend and my trial season ends? I know, sleep and stop annoying you all with
my emails.
Thanks again, Deb C., for
going with us to the ER and for picking Elaine up when it was time for her
release. Your effort resulted in ring experience for Nan and a Jumpers Q for
Crumpie that we would not have received if we were not there. : )
Thank you Dave and Meg for
watching Nan, Bianca, & Crumpet while the three of us went to the hospital.
For those who know and care:
Elaine & Nan did 2nd place Q
for their first leg in Advanced Standard, but NQed in Jumpers and Snookers.
Deb & Bianca NQed in their
runs but Deb did a GREAT job once again. If only she saw herself handle she
would be impressed.
Deb N & Tickie Time Bomb NQed in their runs, but I could be wrong about that. Deb can correct me if I am
wrong.
So that was our weekend.
Hope you guys had one just as good. You know we did.
Joyce, Captain of the not so Beanheaded Team Bean.
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Last Updated on April 21, 2007
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