April 7, 2001
AKC Burlington KC
Howdy Ho, People of Email Land,
It is that time again�.to read an email about Beanhead and our adventure of the day. Here it goes��..
Elaine and I packed the doggies into the backseat of Elaine�s car and headed off to New Jersey for a day of field sitting.
This was the third trial of the year, but the first one outdoors.
That means that we have to put up the tent.
We were lucky that one of my girlfriends saved us a huge spot for front row tenting�.prime real estate. : )
The weather threatened rain, but the clouds managed to retain its water for someone else.
Thank god because it seems to be raining on me a lot lately. I am not the only one either.
I know that there are more then a few of you on this list that have not only lost doggie friends,
but also human ones at that. Crumpie and I offer our deepest sympathy to all of you.
The only thing that we can do is pick up the pieces and look to the future.
We got there in time, got the tent up, and managed to walk our courses.
Perfect timing. I go to check us in and realize that the 12� class is HUGE.
Not ten dogs, but like thirty. Where did they all come from?????? The good thing is that someone likes me
and Crumpie and I were the third 12� doggie to run. I did not have to wait forever.
Excellent A Standard
Crumpet
I really liked this course, but then again the Judge was Terry Brown.
I have run under him numerous times before and like how he constructs a course.
All of the challenges are there, but it also has flow for the dog. Q or NQ,
I keep giving this man my money to run. The course itself was more of a NADAC course, with some bizarre turns,
but wide spaces between certain obstacles. This means that the dog can get some serious
speed going and you both can have a little more fun. I was truly not disappointed.
When I had walked the course, I failed to notice the opening of the course for what Terry had in mind.
It was a four-jump sequence, each one set perpendicular to each other.
I was just going to do my �angle handling� until I was standing outside of the ring�.next dog in.
The four jumps had a straight line of sight. Hum�����change of strategy.
I did a one-jump lead out and let Crumpie find his way over the four jumps.
By the time he was coming to the fourth one, he was ahead of me. That was when
I realized the fourth jump was a panel jump. Have not seen one of those in a while.
Crumpie does a �stutter jump� and well that mean old nasty board jump could not stay up.
Well, we have an NQ, but that does not mean that I am going to give up. Nope, we are here to have some fun and man did we.
I let Crumpie find his own pace and hung back for the ride.
I did a cross behind while he was on the Frame. This put me in a better position
for a very wide turn to the poles. He had no trouble with the offside entry and flew through all twelve.
The triple jump came down, but this one was purely my fault as I called a �left� too soon.
**sigh**
I have got to stop doing that when it really counts.
The Table offered NO problems and Crumpie kept his mouth shut.
The look on his face as I repeated eight times �Good Job� was hysterical, but he got the point. Good Doggie.
The DW was a Personal NQ. I thought that he had one paw in the yellow zone and so did the judge,
but this is NOT what I really want.
We finished the course with two oddly set jumps, a send out to the tunnel,
and then a blind cross for a 180 turn (avoiding the Ring) to the Double Jump. Hooray.
Minus the two dropped bars, it was as flawless of a run that I can think of.
It also seemed incredibly slow.
Ok, guys, I know you say this dog is fast and Crumpie�s times reflect that, but I swear I am out there forever.
We were 28 seconds UNDER course time; 77 seconds and we had a time of 49.8.
Maybe the slower I think we go, the faster time goes. Where is Einstein when you need him?
NQ
Today was not your normal AKC trial. Believe it or not, there was actually time management and I found myself walking the Jumpers course by 11am. Ooooooooooh. Tomorrow on the other hand, we will be leaving by 7pm�because that is the way last days of dog shows goes.
Excellent A Jumpers
Crumpet
Simply put, Oh my god. What was the judge thinking? On paper it looked dreadful,
walking it, it looked dreadful, but when I started to run the course, hey it really was not as bad as I thought.
The one thing that I did not like was the severe angles of some of the jumps.
Again, this is not a course I can describe in an email, but grab a pen and piece of
paper and start drawing a squiggly circle that loops over itself, then add in a set of
twelve dots for poles. Hooray you created our course.
Crumpie and I start and we are hauling. Dum dee dum dee dumming it around the course.
We get to the third odd angle and well, �left over� just does not come out of my mouth fast enough.
By the time Crumpie turned to the left and
COMPENSATED for the �over�, he had to jump sideways. My fault completely,
I said to myself as the bar fell. We finished off the course in our normal, little flare.
NQ
The thing that I noticed while out on course and backed up by Elaine afterward,
was how carefully Crumpie was jumping. It was odd but he was tearing round the course at Mach 6,
but each jump he took was carefully calculated. It was almost as if he did NOT want to knock one down.
Creepy, just down right creepy.
At one point, the look he shot me was like, �come on already,
I am jumping VERY c�A�r�e�f�u......l�l�y.� (said in the Dan Cartoon Voice like �I am hidink�<sic>.)
I know that we plant human emotions on our four legged kids, but to be honest,
Crumpie is NOT a dog. He just looks like he is.
So we end this overcast day with two more NQs, but they were sure in heck FUN NQs.
If we have to do it, might as well be done right and have it be the knocked bars.
There is nothing worst then a missed pole entry or jumped contact.
Plus we go home before 3pm. Whoa.
For those who know����
(For Diane who keeps the newsletter.....we have Qs, we have Qs.)
Elaine & Nan NQed in both of their runs.
Dolores & Treffie got their first AKC Double Qs, plus they picked up 20+ MACh points.
Karen & Mozart Qed in Open St, but I was not there for their Open Jumpers run.
NQ in Jumpers for � second OVER course time.
Cindy & BG Qed in Open St. I do not know about Jumpers.
Tomorrow is always another day.
Hope everyone is enjoying their Saturday. : ) You know we are.
Joyce, incredibly proud of the way Beanhead has been running lately.
Howdy Everyone,
My morning started off at 3am because I woke up and could not get back to sleep.
At 5am, I started to get ready for the day's events and by 5:30, Crumpie and I were out in the dark backyard.
The mist had soaked through to the core of early Spring and the air was fragrant with rejuvenating life.
There was something in the whole moment that was so positive, so calming that
I was reminded that this is what I love about agility mornings.
Then the Lightening started. Okie Fadokie. Visions of that NADAC trial two years ago
flashed through my mind�.the one where I ran Fred and Crumpie in four inches of mud all day long.
By the time I got to Elaine�s at 6am, the Lightening was on top of us�literally.
A few drops of rain and that was it. Meanwhile in NJ, it had pored, but at least
it was early and we got that part over with.
We got there with more then plenty of time to spare, walked our courses, and got ready
to start the events of the day. More Lightening. AKC would not allow a trial to begin until the
Lightening stopped so we had a slight delay. By 8:30 we were all ready to go.
Excellent A Standard
Crumpet
We are totally ready to go. I really like the course despite a tricky �gamble�
with a sequence involving the DW, 2 jumps, and a Tunnel. I had serious hopes for a Q,
but that was not to be in the cards for me. Call it Karma...and I have no idea of what
I have done lately to have things go bad.
Not going into super detail because you all KNOW how analytical
I am�and how I dwell on thing something until I understand every �why�,
I will mention what happened and then I will go on. If I do not, then Pat S.
will come over here and beat me up. Elaine will probably help her out.
Minding our own business, standing RIGHT outside of the ring with half a minute
to go until our run, what happens? A �Rottweiler Friend� has decided that I have to meet
her ten-month-old pup. No problem, but with Crumpie focused on me, my gaze checking the ring to see when to go in,
Renee brings the pup right up on top of Crumpie. To give you an idea, our shoulders touched. Where were the dogs? Between us.
If I was 12� tall and got snuck up on by a huge black dog, I would have reacted the same way.
I call Crumpie off and get away, �fighting� to get Crumpie�s attention WITHOUT food.
I really cannot leave the area because now I have to be on the line.
In this time frame, I toyed with the idea of arranging to have another dog run,
but I figure that we have to learn how to run under all distractions. This NQ run was known before it started.
I put Crumpie into a sit on the line and he is really focused on me. He handled the two jumps, right, jump,
left, Frame like there was never a problem. After the Frame there is a Pole/Chute
trap with the Poles being correct. As Crumpie is coming off the Frame, last second, he heads
to the Chute. Never turned a head, did not even try to respond to his name�.went right into it.
I stop because I have to wait for Beanhead to go through it, but he figures out really quick
that there are no Mom Footstep noises. He comes back out with that funny look on his face.
I regroup the team and send him to the poles. Once again, there was not even the HINT of trying and he runs past them.
NQ with the refusal. Second time was the charm and we head to the Table.
To be fair to my four-legged teammate, we do have a problem with jumping off of the Table,
but when Crumpie did this today, that was it. We had a nice conversation during the count down from �five�.
And I made him wait an extra two seconds.
Coming off the Table, Crumpie was back to being focused. Perfect.
We get to the DW and I am forced to send him to it because there is a tunnel sticking a
good six feet out. Perfect and I haul to the end, but Crumpie beats me to the end and performs
the most awesome DW Contact!!!!!!!!!!! : )
Off to the left for two jumps, a send out to the tunnel and a haul for me back the way I
came because on the other side of the DW was the next jump. As I turn to retrace my steps,
I notice that my view of the tunnel was completely blocked by the judge. As I continue to move so that
I can see Crumpet as he comes out, Judgie-poo keeps moving so that I cannot. (Some say this was an accident,
some say it was on purpose��) Leave it up to God, I call out �Out Over� and hope my dog is where I think he is.
Like a shot and from leaning to see around the judge, I see Crumpie sailing over the jump.
If I thought Crumpie took agility too seriously before this, then let me tell you what I think now.
I have never, ever seen a look of that kind of determination before IN MY LIFE. EVER. Including humans.
We finished the rest of the course with only one knocked bar. I never realized that until
I picked up the yellow sheet.
NQ
After typing all of this? Pat, I realize you were right.
The run really was not as bad as I had thought. Actually, it was pretty darned good.
I knew that DW sequence was performed to 150%, but I never really thought about the rest of the run.
Guess my focus was elsewhere.
On a happier note, I went and found Renee right after the run.
Crumpie got his treats standing next to the Rotty pup� and had to share them too.
Ironically, both sniffed noses and stood leg to shoulder. Not one raised hair or lip, no growling, no nothing.
The rest of my morning was in a slump. I was so disappointed for Crumpie and
I guess for myself. Sure I could have had another dog go, but I elected not to for reasons.
I got to thinking about how serious the Crump-dude and I take this, the hours we have put
into making this team, the early morning wake-ups and driving, ditching the family functions (sorry mom),
and spending weekends away from Mike�to have something that never should have happened, happen.
I would ask when people will ever get a clue, but I already know that answer.
Thanks Elaine, Megan, and Dolores for filling me in on what happened after Crumpie and
I started our run. (Renee was banished from the ringside by more then a few people.)
You guys really helped make feel better.
Excellent A Jumpers
Crumpet
I know I went on and on about the Standard course, so I will make this short.
I took one look at the Jumpers course and nearly hit the ground laughing.
Dreadful. Absolutely dreadful. There was no way for me to handle it the way I wanted to.
I had to do three cross behinds while Crumpie was going over jumps. No. Bars come down that way.
Well, this was going to be fun and man was it. When the first bar came down,
I went into plan B. That was Gamble, Send Out, and Let the Doggie Fly.
Actually, I had Fred. The yellow score sheet had four �Fs�, one �W�, and one �R�.
Translated: four knocked bars, one off-course, and one refusal. Weeeeeeee
And we were still six seconds UNDER course time. The run was as dreadful as the course,
but we still had fun. Plus Crumpie surprised me during a few of the smaller sequences. Talk about Personal Qs.
NQ
Well, that was our day. I wish I could say that I had as good of a time as I did yesterday,
but to be honest, I cannot. My faith in humanity was echoed in the dreary rain clouds that
hung in the sky and I really wanted to come home and pull my head under the blankets.
The funniest part was when Elaine and I stopped for gas in NJ on the way home.
The attendant was afraid of Nan and Crumpie and did not want to put his hands near the car.
Ok, I can understand that, but the funniest part was when Elaine expressed that it was NAN AND CRUMPIE.
My response? Crumpie did take on a Rottweiler that morning. We both lost it.
Maybe now, the 12�dogs will get some respect. : 0
For those who know�..
Elaine & Nan Qed in Open Standard to FINISH their Open Title (OA). Their Jumpers run was not as happy.
Dolores & Treffie Qed in Excellent B Standard (MACh points), but they had the same type of run Crumpie did on that Jumpers course. Even Treffie knocked a bar. : (
Karen & Mozart were not entered and I did not see the BG Entourage so I have no idea of how they did. : (
Hope you all had a good Sunday.
Joyce, the Disappointed Bean.
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Last Updated on April 21, 2007
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