SCOR Agility May 30 and 31, 2009 Lewis Morris Park, Morris Township, NJ

Scraps has not practiced agility in any real manner for a long time.  This is of course with the exception of our painfully slow teeter learning process.  I can’t say I was expecting much out of him on this first day of the SCOR agility trial, but Scraps is a wonder dog and he never ceases to amaze us.  In short, he went four-for-four.  Four events, four qualifying runs and 4 first places. A perfect day all around.

Kathy had to help out with the annual Morris Habitat Bike and Hike this morning until about 9:00am.  This left me to get to the trial early, set up and run with Scraps for the first event.  I took the task seriously, not serious enough to use my cleats, and got there by 7:10.  Being at Lewis Morris Park, which is 10 minutes from our house, makes this responsibility much easier.  I looked to get measured but Scraps was not on the “to be measured” list so he need not get measured ever again for SCOR.  Yeah, no need to worry about geeting to event early again.

To see lots of pictures of all the dogs check out my Picasa Web Album.

Day 1 – May 30, 2009

I was all alone for the first run, the judge’s briefing, etc.  No big deal. It all happened very fast.  I set up the video on a tripod  and we were the 4th or 5th dog of the day.  It was full house. You had to do at least 3 jumps (1 point each) 2 tires or tunnels (3 points) and 1 plank, weave A-frame.  In addition, you had to a amass a minimum number of total points, requiring completion of additional obstacles to the ones listed above For running at level 3 we had to get 25 total point I believe.  We got 35 point and a first place, qualifying, the whole shu-bang.!  It felt like a near flawless run, quick, efficient and commanding.  I’m getting over the top as I finish off a bottle of wine as I write this so called “diary of the mouth.”

We only ran Scraps in 4 of the 5 events, choosing not to do Standard since it requires the use of of teeter which still isn’t happening.  Otherwise were are competing at level 3 for the most part and excelling at it.  That is the exciting part about what we accomplished on this day.

Kathy arrived about 9:00 after checking out Rags at home and my duties except for media compilation was over for the day.  I could break out the Hostess powdered white donuts and coffee and rest in my gravity chair or snap away with my Nikon D200 with its 18-200mm lens!  Since the camera is new and the old standy-by video camcorder is the “old stand-by,” I decided I would try to use both during Kathy’s runs.  I would have the video on a tripod nicely aimed and I would try to snap a few photos during the run whiles also controlling the video on the tripod.  I sacrificed qualify in both ends and therefore it wasn’t worth the effort.  I should just go with video.  By the next day this was on my mind but I still couldn’t resist trying to snap a few while video taping.

Kathy ran the next three event of the day and not only matched my performance, but multiplied it by three.  Wow, they were hot.

In Jackpot we came in 1st place with a qualifying run of 49 points in 49.56 seconds.  This was at level two and we will be able to now move up to level 3 in Jackpot.

Wild-card was the 3rd game of the day and we also came in 1st place with a qualifying run in 28.35 seconds with 0 faults.  Now I have to admit there were rarely any other dogs in our jump height of 8″ so a qualifying run guaranteed you and first place ribbon, but in all our runs, it would have been hard pressed for a small dog to have out run Scraps.

The last run of the day was jumpers.  We didn’t stick around for the results as we packed up and got out of Dodge to be home feeding the dogs by 5:45.  We ended up qualifying with a 1st place ribbon again in this event but we didn’t find this out until the next day.  A spectacular day and tomorrow we don’t have to be at the park until 8:30 or 9:00.  Much better than 7:00.

Day 2 – May 31, 2009

We didn’t get back to the trial site until a leisurely 8:30am.  Everything was there from the previous day, we raised the tent and we were ready to wait for our turn.  Like yesterday, Full House would be our first event for Scraps but unlike yesterday, it wouldn’t go so perfectly.  For some reason Scraps wasn’t too focused on Kathy and  missed a target on the A-frame and we only got 20 points when we needed 23 to qualify.  If you look at the video, we missed the last 3 points in a tunnel by about 3 seconds.  That was a real shame.

We didn’t get a qualifying run in the second event either as we were whistled off the course for double dipping on the A-frame.  Once again, Scraps didn’t performs on the A-frame as he went up it a bit it but jumped off just as he got on.  When we went back for seconds on the A-frame we were disqualified.

It started to threaten rain by the next event and for Scraps’ run. It was actually raining by Scraps’ run and practically only for Scarps’ run but it wasn’t too bad.  This run he ran perfectly and zoomed through the course with the greatest of ease and got a 1st place and a qualifying run.  This was a perfect run.

In the last event of snooker, we were meat before we could get going.  Scraps missed an obstacle and before we knew it we were whistled off the field by the judge once again.  We may not have done that well on Sunday, but once again it was a fun day for Kathy, Scraps and I.  In addition it was really nice weather and close to home.  I was able to go home and walk Rags for lunch.  

We were packed and out by 4:30, so Sunday went quicker than Saturday.  Although we only had  1 of 4 qualifying runs on Sunday for the weekend we went 5 for  8.  That is pretty good considering we are competing at level 3 in most categories.  We have at least one more competition this year so let’s see what we can do.  It was an easy fun beautiful weekend as far agility trials go.

Scraps is now in Teeter Class

Two posts ago we discussed and showed how we tried to teach Scraps how to do the teeter.  While we eventually got him to go over the apparatus, it apparently wasn’t the St Hubert’s endorsed teaching style for long term success.  Kathy enrolled in a 4-week teeter class for Scraps and it quickly turned into 2 4- week teeter classes as progress in this class technique can be agonizingly slow.

Sherri is our teacher and she is a pip who is happy and has fun with the dogs.  There are actually a lot of people in this class working their way through the inch by inch progress of Sherri’s technique.  Enjoy the couple of videos I posted and let us hope it all pays off in the agility ring.

Rags’ Around Town Training

Week 1:
On a cold Valentine’s Day Saturday morning, Kathy and I begin our much needed around town training with Rags.  We can hopefully teach her some manners as she walks in and about other people and dogs.  We will see how it goes.  In the mean time it’s time to gather her papers, the chopped up cheese and her gentle leader and off we go.  Fortunately for Rags the gentle leader was all twisted and we couldn’t get to work so Rags practice all the time just with her harness on.

So we get to class and there is a lot going on in the St. Hubert’s parking lot.  The previous class is still in session and there are lots of dogs all over.  We wisely used that time to practice a little walking around all these distractions until we were let into ring #2.  Once in Ring #2 we discovered Leah Hartley was our teacher and there were only 3 other dogs in the class.  This gave us lots of nice personalized attention along with the nicely attentive TA, Karen. 

Leah interviewed us to see what we wanted to get out of the class and then she tested us all on our sit, sown stays. For the first time in my life I was able to walk around rags while she was in a down-stay.  She was unbelievably well behaved and never once barked at any of the dogs in the class or other distractions we encountered along the way.  It was a real worthwhile experience. 

On the way home we stopped at the Swiss Chalet for breakfast and we saw Adam Batt roll up on his bicycle in his winter biking outfit where i didn’t recognize him.  I thought he was one of the schleps from the Marty rides.  I now look forward to our 3 other classes in this around town mode.  Great stuff for Rags.

Week 2:
I did the second class by myself without Kathy, and in addition, there were only 3 dogs in the class and 2 instructors.  Needless to say, we received a lot of personal attention.  This class focused on “leave it” more so than anything else.  It meant to leave the treat on the ground, leave the fire hydrant, leave the pedestrian, etc.  By then end of the hour Rags was really responding to the cue. All the practice Kathy does in the basement really pays off.  Reward with a treat when she makes eyes contact with you after being given the “leave it” command.

Week 3:
I did the third class by myself and it was just me and another big dog with the two teachers.  Once again very specialized and focused training.  I got there 3 minutes early, parked in the Stop and Shop Parking lot giving me some breathing room to get Rags settled in.

We got into the class and it was just Leah, Karen, me and Rags.  For a while it seemed as if I would be the only student, but another dog showed up.  I was able to keep good focus ob Rags as the new dog came into the room.  In essence we practiced 3 techniques for Rags:

1. “Say Hi” to stranger with rewarding for sniffing their palm.
2. A recall practice to practice “here” when distracted by a piece of food or getting treats from a stranger.  We used the long lead on this one to give a little tug when they ignored the “here” command at a distance.
3. Walk behind me on the left.  Teach Rags to only walk behind me on the left.   A wall on my left shoulder is a great technique tpo learn and practice this action.  In addition, using my left foot to block here advancing in front of me helped.

A really good class overall, I feel we made good progress today.

Week 4:
Last day of class is on a beautiful Saturday morning,  March 7, and walking around town today was beautiful and not cold like every other class.  Kathy joined me on our last class and I have to say Rags behaved beautifully.   We encountered many people and distractions around town, had a few nice strangers says “hi” and we did well.  We worked on wait at a distance.  We did the emergency sit stay but it wasn’t much of an exercise.  Leah’s a great teacher, she gave us a few tips to take into the futures.  The best being the walking with her not being allowed to be in font of me and the “leave it.”

In the end it was a very beneficial class now if I remain focus and concentrated with Rags on the leash she will come around to act like a dog that doesn’t embarrass me every time a distraction approaches.

Scraps Learns the Teeter

Jumping is easy for Scraps

 

Scraps the Dogs has progressed nicely in his agily abilities but his inability to successfully complete the teeter has limited his ability to qualify in a standard agility course.  He has been disqualified twice for flying off of the teeter in a dangerous manner.  Not to dispair, Kathy and Scraps decided to work on it and on October 3, 2007 we headed out to the St. Hubert’s practice  field started to work. If you see how Scrap’s tail wags you can tell it isn’t really work for him.  This little teeter practice session proved quite fruitful as you can see in the video.

Scraps and Rags the Dogs Walk for Morris County’s Central Park Dog Park

 Scraps and Rags love each other at the dog park walk.

The bee was accepting donations.

On Sunday, October 19, 2007 Scraps and Rags, as well as Kathy and I, joined about 50 other people and dogs in a walk to support and find out information about Morris County’s newly proposed dog park.  The Park Started at the Lutheran Trinity Church, just north of Franklin Street in Morris Plains.  The plan was to meet at the church and walk about 0.7 miles through bucolic Morris Plains to the location of the new dog park in the new Morris County Central Park.  This is the park that is being established at the new property Morris county obtained from the closed Greystone Psychiatric Campus.  It is  pretty exciting and that is why Kathy and I want to support it.

Scraps and Rags walking to the new dog park.

It was a beautiful autumn morning in Morris Plains.  The trees were about a week past prime but due to the recent gorgeous weather, most of the colorful leaves were on the trees and not on the ground; and we do know that in Morris Plains the leaves inevitably fall to the ground.  In parts of western Morris County some are trying to stop this inevitability.

The sheriff has some big a$s dogs

The dog park will be the responsibility and owned by the Morris County Park Commission but they still have to get the park raised up on their budgetary hierarchy so it is still some time away from opening but they have a site which is 90% of the battle.  Dignitaries at the walk who I would like to thank for supporting the effort included Morris Plains, Mayor Frank Druetzler, Morris County Sheriff Ed Rochford, Morris County Freeholder John Murphy.  Also there from the Morris County Family were Dave Helmer and Denise Lanza of the Park Commission and and the Park Commission’s chairman Judy Schliecher.  Then let us not forget Morris County’s Recycling and Solid Waste Coordinators Kathleen Hourihan and your humble narrator Larry Gindoff.  There were probably some others that I am forgetting but let us not forget the real stars of the show.  The dogs and the beautiful setting for the park.

Build it and they will come. Come Rags. Come Scraps.

The walk started at the church and there must have been 40 dogs in all.  Usually I would be embarrassed by Rags in that situation but Rags was on her best behavior and so were most of the dogs.  I was impressed.  It wasn’t until we sat down to listen to the speakers that Rags misbehaved when a dog or two came over to sniff where we were sitting.  And even then, it wasn’t all that bad.  I think it really helped that we walked at a fast pace from home to the dog walk and that probably tired out Rags a bit.  I was even able to let Frank Druetzler walk Rags for a while and she handled that great. Scraps was on his usual best behavior.

Morris Plains Mayor Frank Druetzler walks Rags during the walk.

In the end kathy and I both donated money to the Morris County Park Alliance which is a non-porofit established to funnel money to the Morris County park system from some donners that cannot donate money directly to a governmental orginazation.  It seems that the Park Commisson needs to generate some donated money to help fund the dog park and that will give them the ability to push it over the edge.  Hey whatever it takes, thanks to all who are involved.

This was displayed at the dog walk.

SCOR Agility Sept. 27-28, 2008 Madison, NJ

 Scraps the Dog competes in another local SCOR agility trial.  This one was held at the field next to our St Hubert’s sports club training field on Woodland Avenue in Madison.  Maybe it is Morris Township but the SCOR people state it is Madison.  What I love about this location, as well as competingat Lewis Morris Park, is that I can ride my bike to the trial what could be cooler than that.  It also means it is an easy stop at the Swiss Chalet Bakery by bicycle on the way to the trial location.  A couple of buttered rolls, apricot cigar and more was a nice sweet beginning to the day.

Home base at the 9-27-2008 SCOR agility trial.

 We haven’t practiced a lot this summer but Scaps and Kathy are an incredible team so hopefully they can pull off a few good runs.   As we compete more and more and as Scraps keeps racking up qualifying run we keep rising in the ranks of SCRO competitions.  This means harder courses and harder and more experienced competition.

There was a nor’easter hitting the east coast just prior to the event and it appeared as if the entire trial may be a wet washout.  We were fortunate and it petered out by Saturday morning and the weather was foggy, cloud, never sunny and often misting, but it never really rained.  This was great news because Scraps doesn’t like the wet stuff and it wouldn’ t have been fun for anyone.  Though it was moist outside, it wasn’t windy or cold.  It turned out to be a pretty comfortable day.

Now for the results of Day One.  

If you want to view it, click the YouTube below.

Jumpers – Level 3 – 8″ – 160 yards
NQ – 2nd Place – 20 Faults
56.81 seconds 

The first run is always tough but since it is jumpers we thought we may be in luck since Scraps is usually pretty good at jumpers.    The run started off good but Scraps just would go through the tire and got distracted by one of the sandbags holding down a tunnel.  Scraps ended up off course and received an NQ from Judge Carol Thom.

Full House – Level 2 – 8″
Qualifying – 3rd Place – 23 Points – 28.90 seconds 

Scraps did well for this event.  he got distracted by me on the sidelines filming the run, but he and Kathy recovered to get the qualifying time.

Jackpot – Level 2 – 8″ Game Time 58 Seconds
Qualifying – 3rd Place – 45 Points – 49.05 Seconds

Kathy and Scraps ran a real good beginning of the run but then Scraps didn’t want to do some weave poles at the rear of the ring.  Neverthelss, they improvised and recovered and ended up with the 3rd place but most importantly, qualifying score.

Standard – Level 2 – 8″ – 128 yards
NQ – 1st Place – 35.94 seconds – 15 faults

Knowing Scraps jumped off the teeter the last time he ran standard in a trial, Kathy intended on having Scarps bypass the teeter and relinquish the “Q.” Scraps had his own intentions and said, “I ani’t no pussy.” He decided to go for the teater on his own and flew off the end like last time resulting in oohs and aahhhs but more importantly an “NQ”  Ironically and not as importantly, he received a 1st place.  Rich offered to he us with some teater training.  That’s very cool of him.  

Wildcard – Level 2 – 8″
Qualfying – 1st Place – 15.86 seconds – 0 faults

The last event of a long day one was Wildcard.  This is a very short run and bang boom, Kathy and Scraps flew through the course and whiel at this moment we dont have the standings we botht think it was a very good run that should be a qualifying runa nd hopefully an 1st place.

Now for the results of Day Two.  

Full House – Level 2 – 8″ – Game Time 40 Seconds
Qualifying – 2nd Place – 36.70 seconds – 28 points 

A fast run that ended nicely right after the buzzer rang.  Kathy and Scraps looked a bit confused at the intro not gathering too many points but they pulled through and got the “Q.”

Snooker – Level 2 – 8″ – Game Time 55 seconds
NQ – 3rd Place –  20.45 seconds – 9 points

It was raining so it was amazing we did anything at all.  I think it all stopped quickly when Scraps decided to go to to the table and called it quit.  We all have to learn to work in all weather and this was a learning experience.

Colors – Level 2 – 8 ” – 71 yards
Qualifying – 1st place – 13.06 seconds – 0 faults

This was the last run I would see as I had to go man the MCMUA booth at the Morristown Festival on the Green.  It was almost perfect.  Fast and accurate made for a super 13 second time.  It’s tought to do too many courses that fast.  Good Job Scraps and Kathy!!!!

Standard – Level 2 – 8″ 156 yards
NQ – 45.03 seconds – 20 faults

Well Scraps hasn’t been well trained in teeter and it proved once agin to be his achilles heal.  He went flying off of it like he did the day before and was disqualified.  Thanks to Rich for video taping this run for me.

Jumpers – Level 3 – 8″ 
NQ – 2nd place – 40.13 seconds – 10 faults

2008-08-29 Morristown Critical Mass Bike Ride With Rags

Larry and Rags heading to the Critical Mass ride in Morristown, August 29, 2008

It was the last Friday of the month and in Morristown, NJ for the past year that has meant a critical mass bicycle ride through the streets of Morristown.  This month we took Rags with us in the cushy bike carrier as Kathy and I joined what must have been at least 200 other bikers in the ride.  This was the one-year anniversary of this ride and is coincidentally just over the one-year anniversary of me riding to work on my bike.  I feel connected to this ride as it has advanced along the same bike path as me.

Mayors Nace, Cresitello and Hussa are just a few of the Morristown Mayors who biked in the critical mass bicycle ride.

This was a giant ride including lots of dignitaries besides Rags.  Morristown Mayor Cresitello rode in the ride along with Denville Mayor Hussa, Morris Township Mayor Nace, Parsippany Mayor Luther, Morris County Freeholder and Wharton Mayor Chedwiggen and I’m sure a few others I didn’t know about.  We saw Rebecca Feldman who is a councilman of Morristown.  The primary theme of the ride was biking to work so people were encouraged to wear suits and work clothing.  I wore a tie around a golf shirt while Kathy wore a pink sports jacket. There’s probably a woman’s name for this type of sports jacket but I’m not sure what it would be.  Marty was there, Paul Miller, Steve the Saturday morning bike rider who I had no recollection of was also there.  There was “thay guy” and oh yeah, “that guy” and “we’ve seen that woman before.”  Everyone seemed to be at this ride.  I captured lots of it on video as I was hauling Rags around so enjoy it.  Unfortunately, since Rags was behind me and I was recording the ride I got like no footage of Rags.  You hear her barking a bit and people commenting about her.

Rags on the bike at the Critical Mass Ride in July 2008

Along the ride Rags would bark if Kathy was riding ahead of me.  Rags enjoyed looking behind me and seeing Kathy.  We stopped for Pizza at Milanos on the way home.  It was dripping rain a bit but not too badly.  We ate the pizza outside in it and then rode home.  Nice and quick through Morristown.

Since you miss the dog dfor the most part on the bike ride video, below is a video compilation of Scraps and Rags playing ball and playing in the agility park at the Denville Dog Park the night before (August 28, 2008).  For a little while Duke and Link the Dogs were there playing with them, but for the most part it was just Kathy, Scraps, Rags and a tennis ball.

The unofficial, undergound poster for this critical mass ride.

Rags barking at the neighbors prior to gogin to the dog park.

SCOR Agility Aug 2-3, 2008 Morristown, NJ

Scraps studying the course and relaxing before his event.

Larry's bicycle in the background. It's geat to have a trial in your home town!

This trail is run by SCOR which is part of CPE Agility.  After running several good trials in the innovative and fun CPE format, Scraps is for the first time stepping up to level 2 for all but one event.  It’s a beatiful location for an agility trial from my perspective.  I am able to ride my bicycle from home to the trial and then take advatage of Lewis Morris Park’s mountain bBiking trails  when I get bored.  In additon, being a 10 minute drive from home means we were able to leave Rags at home so not to get the Judge to scream at us about shutting that mutt up.  By the way, for the record the judge was Ray Wheeler who did a great job in keeping the trial moving and I have to say he was effective.

YouTube Video
To view a quick video compilation of the 10 runs activate the link YouTube video link below.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

It's gonna rain one way or another.

It was a cool morning but Jeff Mendelsohn from Channel 12 news on channel 61 showed us some radar that indicated strong chances of thunder storms all day long. It was okay in the early morning but two storms hit us resulting in two rain delays. The first storm sent us scurrying to the Toyota Matrix for shelter. Scraps not being a wet weather dog at all made Jeff Mendolsohn’s predictions all that more ominous. We got lucky lucky for each time it was Scraps turn to run the rain came to a complete stop.

A summary of the 10 runs over 2 days is provided below.  In the end, Scraps and Kathy qualified in 6 of the 10 events and “NQed” in the other 4.  Each time they qualifie they came in 1st place.  The lesson to be learned is that care and qualifying is everything and speed just gets you disqualified that much faster.

It was little buggy, or may I say a big buggy.

Jumpers Level 2 – 8″
1st Place – Qualified 
32.65 seconds – 0 faults 
Scraps started the 2-day decathlon impressively with 1st place excellent run except . He just missed a jump at the start but still did well enough to pull off a 1st place.

Colors Level 2 – 8″
4th Place – Not Qualified -
25.37 seconds – 20 faults
We were all over the place and NQed.

Standard Level 2 – 8″
3rd Place – Not Qualified -
60.23 seconds – 21 faults
Flying off the teeter and not liking the A-Frame.

 

Kathys says it's time for a plum.

Full House Level 2 – 8″
4th Place – Not Qualified
43.04 seconds - 11 Points
Not enough points before the buzzer. Scraps was pre occupied. Missed the A-frame and by the time he got to the plank the buzzer buzzed. DQ

Snooker Level 2 – 8″
1st Place – Qualified 
38.86 seconds - 36 points 
Last event of the day and we didn’t want to go home 1 for 5. It was colors and Kathy and Scraps ran a great exercise. Scraps was a little distracted by me, but got over it and hesitated going into a tunnel but other than those minor flaws, the run was smooth, methodical and enough for a first place and qualifying run.

Sunday, August 3, 2008. 

It was a nicer day on Sunday

Today was much nicer than Saturday.  It was cool as I arrived on my bicycle with the morning dew glistening across the field.  By the end of the day there we some clouds and some hot points but it would be tough to complain about the weather.  A woman from PetSide.com, a website somehow affiliated with NBC Television, was there filming some of the runs for her website to check out PetSide.com

Jackpot Level 1 – 8″
1st Place – Qualified 
47.20 seconds - 50 points 
Well it’s Jackpot, the first event of the second day. Today small dogs go last giving us more opportunity to get set for each event. This was a very good exercise. Scraps ran past the set of weaves to start but then hit them nicely and went on the complete the course in good fashion. Another first place showing. This was the only exercise that we competed at level one, but now that we qualified we will be able to move up a level.

Standard Level 2 – 8″
1st Place – Qualified 
45.15seconds - 2 faults 
This is standard and due to Scraps leaping off the teeter on the day before Kathy decided to run the event while intentionally bypassing the teeter. With that game plan in mind it was and impressive run, even the judge like our style commenting “good exercise.” We had one miss queue into the weaves but then successfully pulled it off. Somehow we qualified but Kathy isn’t sure if our missed teeter is enough to DQ us.

 

Scraps takes his bones seriously

Colors Level 2 – 8″
4th Place – Not Qualified -
33.69 seconds – 27 faults
This was another running of colors. We were going well and Scraps missed a jump and then we running off for one of the ring crew women and Kathy wasn’t able to get him over the jump and she proceeded to completed the remaining few obstacles but it was a DQ in colors.

Wildcard Level 2 – 8″
1st Place – Qualified 
19.40 seconds – 0 faults 
It’s wild card and the second to last event of the decathlon and Kathy and Scraps pulled off a flawless run and just beat out the competition by about 2 seconds. One little additional distraction would have turned our prized first place to second.

Jumpers Level 2 – 8″
1st Place – Qualified 
27.12 seconds – 0 faults 
Last event of the trail and scraps was second to last dog of the trial. It was along hot weekend and ho knew if Scraps would have enough energy to pull off his best event in the decathlon. Scraps knew being the tough little mutt that he is. It started with a tire, had a few tunnels and lots of jumps. Just a little spin around toward the home stretch but short of that ever so minor flaw, it was a tremendous run. It seemed as if Kathy and Scraps were getting better as the weekend grew long.