April 21, 2001
AKC Burlington KC
Howdy Ho, Everyone,
I bet you were all just wondering where I was. : )
Wonder no longer because from now until the last weekend in May, you get to have
an email from the Captain of Team Bean.
I have been training Crumpie in how to type and that is
going well, but he has developed my bad spelling. Do you know how hard it is to
talk dog and explain letters of the alphabet?
On another note, I went and did something really stupid.
(Like when don�t I?) I entered Mr. Crump in an Obedience Trial (And
Conformation at Trenton KC)�followed by the next weekend of an Obedience
Match. Wish it was the other way around, but I figured that if Crumpie blew the
Sit & Down, we would have something in the form of training to back it up.
Since our last Doggie Gestapo Report, Crumpie and I have
been working really hard on the �distance� part of the S&D. Indoors, we have
graduated to a full routine of doggie in the living room, me in the kitchen.
Outdoors, I can go further, like thirty feet. (Did I just admit my backyard is
longer then our apartment? : ) Na, we have to factor in furniture and the
Fridge��.add an extra six feet.)
The good thing and what is different now, is the smile on
Crumpie�s face when we are staring at each other. He just sits there smiling,
panting away very patiently. Then again, I have given him the extra motivator.
The ultimate in doggie treats, the revered BIG GIANT DOGGIE BISCUT, straight
from the special can under the kitchen table. This was once a �last out�
nightly treat, but Crumpie realized that he could go out, look like he did what
he had to do, and would stand by the gate door. Two SMALL doggie biscuits have
replaced that, but the only way to get the BIG one is to humor Mom.
So, Crumpie sits for three minutes and gets verbal
praise. He downs for five minutes and gets verbal praise�.just like he would in
the Obedience Ring. It is after we are done that he knows that it is biscuit
time.
Go with what works and the smile on his little doggie
face replies.
I have hope for a Companion Dog �leg� in May, but I am
not betting on it. He is genetically related to Amanda after all. : )
I can only hope that the effort that both Crumpie and I have put into this, pays
off. We will get a CD leg even if that means that after Crumpie is gone, I have
to have his body stuffed in a Sit or Down position. We will succeed in this
quest.
Turing to another thing that has my interest, I have had
something really cool happen. I got the idea to start researching Crumpie�s �unknown�
ancestors. I have a four generation pedigree, but I kept wondering who were the
dogs behind those fourth generation names. Do not ask me why any of this popped
into my head now, but I am obsessed at this point.
Drawing on internet resources, Corgi Kennel sites with
Peds attached, and a book that Betsy found in her extra bedroom, I have
made my History Professors at Temple U proud.
Going on Crumpie�s Grandparents (four), I now have nine,
seven, eight, and four generations to gaze at for hours. Ironically, I am
missing the name of one of the fourth generation dogs and am waiting for an
answer back from the breeder. (The fun part is trying to think who it might be.)
Anyway, during my search, I found out that Betsy�s
old male Gruder (who we put down last year at the age of 15) and Crumpie are
related. Betsy and I had not a clue. It was Gruder�s Ped that added to
Crumpie�s. Go figure.
The other thing that really hit me was who the ancestors
were. Call me a Novice at this, but my mind was blown away when I realized that
more then half of Crumpie�s pedigree were National Specialty winners in both
America and Europe. I thought we had to live up to the one multi-titled dog in
the Ped. Heck, we have to live up to them ALL now.
Another cool thing is that I found pictures of two of
these dogs and will have to post them to Crumpie�s pedigree page on my site.
(Once I can clean up the mess I made of the Ped, I will post the extended one
too.)
That quest continues to.
Have I rambled? Or did I really admit I have no life?
Hum.
On with the show���.
Elaine and I headed out to Burlington County
for their agility trial. The venue is AKC.
Excellent A Standard
Crumpet
Good googly moogly. This was truly a course for the
small, slow dogs with no bar knocking problem. Hum, last I checked��. They
ran the B class first so Elaine and I had a three-hour wait for our
turn. By the time we ran, we knew the course.
The course is hard to explain, so I will pull out the highlights.
First, Crumpie compensated for my lack of commands on a
difficult section of jumps. Coming from an extreme jump-left-jump, I was too
close in position to the left-jump. As he came over this one jump�from an
angle, his line of sight was a wrong jump. I stepped backward without calling a
command and managed to send him over the correct one.; Then it was on to a set
of hairpin jumps, jump, left, weave.
Ok, Crumpie bailed me out of that whole thing, but just
could not get that �left weave� part. Reeeeeefusal and an NQ. Well, we needed
practice on me stopping at pole number eight (off-sides) and him going on to
finish them, so it was practice time and it worked beautifully.
The high point of the course and my personal Q.
On to the DW. Crumpie performed the most AWESOME DW
contact that I have ever seen him do. It was fast, he was controlling it, and
he was focused. Thank god for training - treats lining the DW, letting Crumpie
STOP on his OWN to get the click.
He kept the panel jump up and then bolted for the Table.
I did what they call a RFP (Reverse Flow Pivot) and Crumpie skidding in his
tracks on the Table to turn back to look at me. (What you do is send a dog in
one direction and without calling a command, you throw your shoulders around to
face the opposite direction to throw the dog off, and then follow it QUICKLY
with shoulders pointing in the correct direction. Time frame one to two
seconds.)
The next part of the course was from the Table there was
this awful angle to the Ring, then Frame. I elected to do what they call a
�V Point�. This is basically handling in angles. I called Crumpie from the
Table towards a wrong jump. I kept the handle signal LOW because that is his
cue that he really needs to pay attention. As he came to me, I pivoted to the
right and sent him through the Ring. Crumpie handled this like a pro.
He did drop the next jump and I miss-timed my right-chute
command, but Crumpie did the call off from the yummy tunnel. After that, we
finished the rest of the course like we normally do�.with speed and a smile.
NQ
Excellent A Jumpers
Crumpet
Now this was a course to my liking. It was wide
open, fast, and every bit like NADAC. YYYEEEESSSS on the hair-burning factor.
There was one part of the course that I really did not like and that was not
because of the design, but because I would have to use a piece of handling that
I do not like doing (and have never done on course).
The segment was almost at the end. Jump, jump, hairpin
run for the dog left, call dog back to you while he takes the jump coming at
you, jump etc. What made this difficult was that hairpin run to the left and
the jump coming back to me. Not only did I have to do a cross behind while
calling left, I also had to wait long enough for Crumpie to get to that jump,
then flip around to run backwards to call him to me over that jump.
Messy, messy, messy if not done correctly.
We begin. I do a two-jump lead out and call. He keeps
the bars up, jump, right weave���REFUSAL.Since when are the Weaves AN
ISSUE???????????
Back to training with the tennis ball.
I know we have NQed so here we goooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
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I have adopted the philosophy to run at the dog�s natural
pace, not mine. It usually keeps the bars up. I was dying to run as this was a
fun course and I pushed the little doggie to the max. WE HAULED! Oh my gosh,
this was so much fun. We ran, we flew, we jumped, we knocked two bars.
Waaaaaahooooooooooooooo!
Hee hee hee hee hee.
Irony? Crumpie and I handled that weird segment like we do it all the time and he kept those bars up.
20 obstacles in 34 seconds�including the mess up with the Weaves.
NQ
To make this email even longer��
I did something different today as part of the warm up.
Perhaps it had to do with us having three hours before the run, but Crumpie and
I went on multiple walks, worked on the practice jump, practice obedience, hung
out under the tent, and I did not give him treats on the way to the ring.
The treats part was interesting. It removed the routine
from the run and Crumpie watched me ALL afternoon. It was almost like he was
waiting to see what I was going to do next because everything was different.
With all of that watching he was doing, there was this
one little moment that we all experience with out four legged kids. It is that
moment where human and dog are locked in telepathic communication. I swear this
dog was thanking me for the day and for all of the work we do together. Call me
�tooting my own horn�, but that communication meant a lot to me. All of this
was worth every second of hassle. It is something I will also try to remember
when he breaks those Sits & Downs next month.
I hope all of you experience what I have today.
For Those Who Know��..
Elaine & Nan made their debut in ExA Standard and NQed. Same for Open Jumpers.
Dolores & Treffie NQed in both of their ExB runs.
Dolores & Harry NQed in Open Standard & Jumpers
Cindy & BG NQed in Open St and Jumpers.
Ok, I admit it for everyone. We all suck. : )
I hope that all of you are enjoying your weekend. You know we are.
Joyce, I really should sport the glasses when typing.
Howdy Ho��..
There is nothing like an awesome Spring day to have while
sitting on a field. I would not be surprised if the temperature reached 90
degrees�.just the way I like it.
For the first time ever, Crumpie showed signs of being
hot. Perhaps it was because this was the really first weekend of hot weather,
but it could also be his age. All in all, he survived.
Elaine and I started out the morning a little
later because they were going to run the �A� class after the �B� class. We got
to sleep until 6am instead of 5. Never the less, I am tired right now and I
think I am going to keep this email short. I know, I know.
Excellent A Standard
Crumpet
This course was designed by the same judge who ran
yesterday�s Jumpers course. It held every promise of being a fun course to
run. As I was walking the course, I had the opportunity to tell the judge that
no matter if we Qed or not, I was going to enjoy running her course and thank
you. Her face lit up. I figured that if judges are THANKED instead of
complained to, they might be more willing to design NICE courses.
There should be no reason why a course cannot be fun,
challenging, flowing, AND technical. That is what we expect when we move up in
levels. I plainly hate AKC. Not for this course.
In a nutshell, we haul around the course. It has a
Chute/Tip/Frame trap and we have to go through it twice. Crumpie pulls that
off. He gets the weave entry, gets the DW contact (hurray), and gets the
Table. We pull off a somewhat difficult jump, right, jump, left, Frame
segment. We get the Tire and avoid the trap jump, plus Crumpie stays focused on
the correct end of the tunnel.
Three jumps to go. One, two���.I watch from behind as
the bar falls and Crumpie continues in a straight line�..when it should be a
right jump. We pull it together and save the last jump and finish.
I will admit it my heart was broken. To go THAT far
through the course only to see the second to last jump bar before my eyes was
not only heartbreaking, but also frustrating. A few people came up to me and
congratulate me on our awesome run�.but that the second jump�s fallen bar was
completely my fault. ???????? Crumpie had knocked the double jump, second one
on the course.
Some how, the number 19 jump did not hurt so much.
NQ
I spent the rest of the HOT afternoon under the tent.
Crumpie and Nan got to hang out. I find it weird that we bring crates only to
tie the dogs up to them. Crumpie laid in the grass part and watched me. I sat
in lost thought about jumping, fallen bars, and the shed in the backyard.
I am frustrated with this bar thing. I think that what I
am going to do is a set of jumping routines that was shown to me for Fred. I am
going to apply this to the Double and Triple jumps as well as practice with
�flattening out� over jumps.
Poor Crumpie, the backyard will look like torture chamber by the end of the week.
While wallowing away in my sorrow, I get to watch the ExB Jumpers class run.
Our course was utter hell.
Excellent A Jumpers
Crumpet
Once again there is no way for me to describe the
course. It was like that course from two weeks ago�the one you guys made up.
The only difference was that there was more room between the jumps.
I had to do ONE MAJOR cross behind with Crumpie going
over the Triple and then Gamble it out to the second of the two jumps. There
was another hairpin run�from one jump back over to another. I had to do another
cross behind and another gamble, pulling Crumpie toward me over yet another jump
while doing that �fancy� spin around.
All of this sound confusing? Try being me�.with a fast
Crumpie Dude as a teammate. I decided that I would pray to God the whole time
out on course.
We go.
The first obstacle is a tunnel. Oooooooh, jump,
weaves�..
Crumpie broke the stay because I went out of his sight.
I never thought about that, but at least I knew where he was going to come from
and I was basically ready to call the command anyway. (We will practice this as
well.)
Over the jump and right past the Weaves. NQ. Maybe he was frustrated about being left in front of a tunnel.
THAT IS IT. I have had it with this. I have allotted
Crumpie the benefit of the doubt and thought that I was doing something wrong
with the weaves during this weekend. I KNOW that this one is on him.
�Cruuuuump,� he comes back to me. �I have had it.�
Ut
oh.
�What is with you? Now PULL it together and I MEAN it. Now weave�.
Like a kid who is willing to hot tail it out of the room when mom is �mad�, Crumpie put
on the speed and blasted through the weaves�.and the rest of the course.
We were hauling. After the poles I decided that I was
going to �mark� every good jump. This was going to be harder on me because that
would mean an extra word uttered between obstacles, but I had to let him know
what was right and what was wrong. We did everything perfectly. He did drop
one bar that I had figured he would because a lot of dogs were, but we got
through the course performing like a real team.
Despite being a really technical course, I enjoyed
running this one. Would I like to see it again at a trail? No. It did put my
hair on fire.
Suddenly, I was no longer feeling sad about knocked bars,
only determined to get the problem solved and you guys all know how I
get�..Crumpie does.
For those who know���
Elaine & Nan NQed in both of their runs.
Dolores & Treffie Double Qed.
Cindy & BG Qed for their Open Standard Title and I do not know about Open Jumpers.
Some people do not suck. : 0
So that was our weekend. Off to spend the week jumping, pooooooooooor Crumpie. Hope you all enjoyed yours!
Joyce, hey I consider this a short email.
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Last Updated on April 21, 2007
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