Cash-man WEAVES!!!

Mr. Cash is now a weaving fool!

This was his very first set of 12 closed poles :)

I started the official weave training on August 12. And on August 29, Cash was weaving 12 closed poles with nice footwork! 17 days may not be impressive to the "professionals" who manage to train poles in one week, but for me, its huge! Jesse took several months to figure out the poles and Sophie and I spent over a year butting heads on this skill - and still butt heads to this day over the poles!

I trained the poles a bit different with Cash. With the girls I kept the poles totally isolated from all other things in the agility world. This created trouble when it was time to add the poles to a sequence. So for Cash, I started adding 'stuff' to the poles from day one. As soon as he realized his job was to go through the channel, I added jumps, contacts, tunnels, front crosses, rear crosses and distance to the poles. Cash accepted all of these challenges and continued to do his job - go through the channel. I gradually closed the poles - a 1/2 inch or so a day - but EVERY day, the poles closed. It was really interesting to watch him learn to collect as he entered the poles - regardless of how far open they were - because of the previous obstacle. Collection is something that causes Sophie and I trouble - so its very cool to see him getting it at this early stage of training.

What's more exciting to me than the time in which he learned this tricky skill is the attitude he brings to training it! When I release him into the agility yard, he runs straight to the poles and offers them on his own! He appears to enjoy this obstacle and really tries his hardest!

and yes - I'm training him in a skirt... I had a willing videographer and didn't want to miss the opportunity to tape this monumental day!

Q!

Our agility drought is OVER - or at the very least, temporarily drizzled upon! Sophie Q'd today in Open Jumpers at SOJAC - a Q with second place! This is leg #2 toward our OAJ.

Very nice judge for not calling a refusal on jump #3 if I do say so myself...

Oh what a weekend!

Sing the title of this post like you would the song "Oh what a night"! This was one of the best weekends I have had in a long time - it was ALL about the puppies!

To start off the excitement - Karen Hocker (http://www.karenhocker.com/), Kristen Hocker, Nikon (Cash's uncle), Snapshot (Cash's half-sister), and Trey (Cash's 'little' brother) came down on Friday night. They spent the entire weekend with us! Karen and Nikon were signed up to participate in the Lorie Jolly (http://www.rosehillretrievers.com/) Seminar being held on my property on Saturday. The seminar was hosted by New Jersey Pine Barrens Golden Retriever Club.

The seminar started fairly early Saturday morning - but this was no big deal because all we had to do was walk out the back door to attend! Lorie was instructing the seminarians on 'transitioning from Junior to Senior and Master Hunter work' - WAY above my head, but very interesting none the less! It was very interesting to watch these talented dog and handler teams work. I learned a great deal - and was able to see the connections between what I already train for obedience/agility and how they would apply to field work. Very cool! The only down side was the weather - it was cloudy, on the cold side and WINDY! Karen and I almost blew away a few times! Exhaustion and windburn followed the day of fun in the field!

On Sunday morning we started the day with a good breakfast and some agility. Karen had offered to teach me some of the skills she uses to take her amazing photographs and Kristen ran the dogs so I could practice shooting. The Hockers also helped me to practice taking more posed shots - stacked poses, seated poses and head shots using Nikon, Snapshot and Trey. And lastly we did a little field work with the young boys and Sophie - both on land and in the water. Oh how the boys love the birdies! Karen was nice enough to take some shots of Jesse, Sophie and Cash doing some agility, field stuff and posed shots as well. I can't wait to see what she got!

My photos were better than what I've taken in the past. Karen taught me so much - I just need to practice now and get the timing right! Here's some of the best shots from the day... focus isn't always 'on' - but I'm a green to doing this the right way, so give me a break and in time, my shots will ROCK! Or at least I hope they will :)

This is Nikon jumping the double - and he's not quite in focus...

Here's Trey jumping - again, not quite in focus and the composition is poor...

Here's another shot of Trey jumping - better focus and composition (better, not GOOD!), but POOR TIMING! Way too early with those dangling feets!

This is a shot of half of Snapshot on the bottom of the teeter. Of all the teeter shots, it was the only one where the dog was in focus.

This is Trey - stacked - looking like a big boy - but he's SOOO the 'little' brother compared to my MOOSE - Mr. Cash! I like this image though and there's not too much for me to complain about :)

Uncle Nikon stacked - and his face isn't quite in focus...

I think this image needed that reflector thing to eliminate the shadow on Nikon's right side (left side of image), but other than that, its an OK shot I guess...

Trey was the last of the Hocker dogs to pose for portraits, so all of his are nicer, in my opinion! This one just looks cute and dignified :)

Then there's Snapshot's head shot... Do you see her PINK nose? At first we all thought the poor baby had sunburn - she has a very light nose. But nope - she rubbed it raw trying to escape her crate in the house! Silly Girl!

This is the best shot of the day - Trey is a handsome young man!

However, this is my FAVORITE shot of the day! Its so TREY!

updates - long time coming!

Sorry for the lack of posts - been a little distracted and busy during the month of March. After the snow at the start of the month, I enjoyed a week with the stomach flu. Then, my Momma fell ill, with what turned out to be a ruptured appendix! Then, my Papa came down with shingles. Not much time for photography and puppy stories with a month of illness! The good news is that Momma is on the mend, Papa's shingles are almost totally cleared up and life is getting back to normal for everyone!

So - what's happened since our last post?

On March 18th Jesse turned 6! I can't believe she's been in my life for 6 years... She is such a peaceful creature.

On March 21st and 22nd Sophie and I trialed at Dream Park again - SOJAC trial. This was a special trial for us for many reasons. First, our judge for the weekend was family! Clyde Closson - owner of Cash-man's grandma "Rosie" was the judge. This was Clyde's first official judging assignment and he designed some beautiful courses! Sophie Q'd in his Open Standard course on Saturday (Q#2 for OA). Then she Q'd in Novice Fast to finish her NF title - taking Second Place! On Sunday, Sophie took Third Place in Open Standard to finish her OA title! (Her time was actually the fastest in her class, but she lost points with a wrong course and refusal, so she came in third) Our Jumper's runs were not bad, but not worth talking about either...

On March 27th and 28th Sophie and I trialed in Freehold - Afghan Hound Cluster trials. Our Friday Open Jumpers run was AWESOME! We took first place and had a beautiful run. She was fast and connected to me. The run felt 'right' - a great feeling! We also ran in Excellent Standard - but fell off the table and couldn't manage the tricky weave pole entry. Saturday was also a great day, but no Q's. Excellent Standard was another amazing run, but a handler error sent Sophie into the wrong end of a tunnel - NQ :( Open Jumpers was at the very end of a long day and we were both shot - not our best effort and another NQ. Either way, showing on Saturday was a great way to spend my birthday.

Cash started a 'super star' puppy class on the 16th with one of the area's premiere obedience instructors. What a great class this is! He and I are learning so much - and its so nice to be starting off on the right foot!

This coming weekend is a big one - Lorie Jolly Field Training seminar at my house hosted by New Jersey Pine Barrens Golden Retriever Club. This should be a really cool experience and to make it even better, Cash-man's family is coming to visit again :)

What a weekend!

This was the first weekend of agility trials for the area. DCKC trial was held at Dream Park in South Jersey - awesome indoor site!

Cash's family came to visit - Uncle Nikon, half-sister Snapshot, and brother Trey. Kris and Karen Hocker drove them down to compete at the trials. It was great seeing Cash-man's family. This put some real perspective on just how big the youngster has gotten! He dwarfs his brother! Karen took some shots of the boys together - I'll post them as soon as I get them :)

The trip was a great one for Karen and her kids. Huge congrats to Uncle Nikon for going 6 for 6 in Excellent B to complete his MACH 3! And huge congrats to the baby dog - Snapshot - for finishing up her Excellent Titles, earning lots of MACH points, and earning her first double Q toward her MACH! Me thinks Karen and the kids should come down our way more often! We loved having them!

Sophie and I entered for Saturday and Sunday. I really wasn't sure what to expect since its been so long since we last trialed - since NOVEMBER! I spent the week feeling nervous and unprepared...

On Saturday she played well, but had a few moments that blew the Q's. On Sunday though, she pulled it (almost all the way) together for a Q in Open Standard - one wrong course, but her idiot handler sent her there! There are no videos of the qualifying run at the moment - as I had a superstitious moment and realized our last Q was the last run we DIDN'T tape... so I didn't 'officially' tape the run, but some friends taped it anyway! We'll try to link to that video later... Sophie took 2nd place in her Standard run - nice job for the rescue kid!

For now, here's video of the NQ's on Saturday. There are some moments of brilliance in there (look carefully - I swear they're in there!).

OMG - did anyone see that rear cross? Lora and Sophie did a rear cross! No wonder we got a foot of snow today - it's usually a cold day in hell when we pull that move off!!!

Damn table - gotta work on that!

What a fun and memorable weekend! Can't wait till the next trials!

Training with snow flurries...

OK - maybe it was barely snowing, but I was still out there training Cash and 'weather proofing' Sophie. It wasn't too cold so it was fun to be out today. Cash did a bit of jump work and weaves entries, while Sophie and I focused on weaves. Enjoy the videos...

Here we have Cash in the horse shoe grid. He is getting so big that he took some of the jumps as doubles...not exactly the point of this exercise! 5 Jumps, set at 8" and at about a 45 degree angle to one another. Then we moved on to some entry training with the poles...

And for Miss Sophie Dog it was all about weaves. First, the send through 12 poles...

And the soft side angle work that we need so desperately...

And the hard side entries that come so naturally...

Sophie's HVGRC Golden Only Trial Results

Lets do good news first...

Sophie and I entered FAST for the first time this weekend. We were entered in Novice B and took FIRST place on Saturday and THIRD place on Sunday. Nice job considering I didn't have a clue what I was doing! Thanks to Mardi & Clyde for your advice on this game!

This is video of our FAST run on Saturday - First place with 66 points and 24.78 seconds.

This is video of our FAST run on Sunday - Third plae with 52 points and 26.56 seconds.

And now the not quite good news...

In our Open standard and jumpers runs things were not quite as joyous. Sophie had a bit of the sniffies on both days and in both courses. No Q's but I had fun and learned a bit more about how to handle my girl. As I reviewed the videos, there were some really nice moments in there...

This is video of our Open Jumpers run on Saturday - NQ

This is video of our Open Standard run on Saturday - NQ

This is video of our Open Standard run on Sunday - NQ

THis is video of our Open Jumpers run on Sunday - NQ

This was our last trial of the year - and it was such a nice way to end the year! Golden Only Trials RULE! HVGRC did a great job of organizing the trial. And the weather could not have been any better!

It must also be said, that I love my GOLDEN Family :) Fast-Traks, Pine Run, and all the 'adopted' members...you ROCK!!! The support and the kindness offered by all of you was appreciated more than you know. It is so nice to be a part of such a diverse and amazing group of people.

And to the 'adopted family' team of Bill Gates and Cider - thanks so much for taping us all weekend - you did a great job and we enjoyed talking with you so much! I hope our paths cross again soon! Cider is awesome!

Pictures from the National by the wonderful Karen Hocker Photographers!!!

All pictures in this post were taken by the wonderful and amazing Karen Hocker Photography photographers :) We love them very much - partly because they take great pictures of dogs in action, but also because they (Karen) helped to make Cash a part of my world :) Karen is Cash's co-breeder and owner of his momma - Flyte.

The pictures were taken in Warwick, RI at the GRCA National in September.

First we have Sophie on the return from her Retrieve over the High in Open. Nice hold on the dumbbell!

And over the jump to get back to the momma! Nice work little girl!

This picture is from one of her Open Jumpers runs at the National. She looks so happy and determined to me here! And I love the fly-away ears!

Thanks Karen and Kris for taking such beautiful pictures of my girl :)

Sophie - Agility 10/26/08 - Willingboro

Today's trouble was all about ME. If I could get in her way, I did. If I get forget my cross, I did. My timing was off and I tried things that we just aren't good enough at to do in a trial. Oh well - at least she counted to 12!

Here is Open Standard - refusal on poles, wrong course after dog walk, refusal of jump 16...

And here is Open Jumpers - wrong end of tunnel, refusal on jump 15, B-E-A-U-tiful weave pole entry and completion...

BTW - does anyone else notice that I need a new shirt? Its one thing to have a favorite, but come on! If I wear this shirt to another trial this year, you have permission to smack me!

Many thanks to Darlene and Oksana for doing a great job running the camera!

Sophie's agillity runs at Willingboro

Videos of the BCKC Trial held in Willingboro, NJ.

We're still working on counting to 12 in this standard run...

and now in jumpers we can count to 12 but we forgot about the rule - DON'T blind cross the momma! OOPS!

Both courses were great fun and I always enjoy being out with the dogs on such a beautiful autumn day! Thanks to Darlene for running the video - you're the best :)

Some videos of the National

This is video of our first run on Tuesday at the GRCA National. This is an Open JWW course.

Notice the big bad off course tunnel...and the handler's pathetic attempt to deal with it...

This is video of our second run - Open Standard.

Counting to 12 is a skill that Sophie will need to work on for future trials.

Results of the National...

Well, no good news to report. Sophie went 0 for 4 in agility and 0 for 1 in Obedience. It just was not our show!
First agility course was all my fault - I was a head case so she wanted no parts of me.

Second course was a battle of wills - and her's won! Our table down took at good 10 seconds to achieve, and the weave poles were optional in Sophie's world.

Third course was a beautiful up until obstacle 9 and 10 - when a big ugly off course appeared - serious tunnel suckage for the Sofa dog :( As though that wasn't enough, we missed the entry into the poles.

Final course was a big disappointment cause we were very close to getting it right! She got her entry to the poles, but then forgot how to count to 12 - popping out at pole 10. Huge bummer, but the rest of the course was REALLY nice!

On Wednesday we showed in Obedience. I was hoping to bring home a ribbon here, but again, it was not our day! Heeling was poor to say the least - we had a broken sit again for some reason and missed all but two of the halts! Her drop was lovely! Then retrieve on the flat - she must have gone blonde for a moment cause I told her to "take it!" and she looked at me like she had never heard those words before in her life...so she went on my second command, thus NQ. Retrieve on the high was nice enough, but it was already over at this point. Broad jump was a bit odd - she came over, then front, but no sit, then no get back...that was a new one. On the stays, I think Sophie KNEW it was pointless to sit for that long, so she took the first opportunity to lay down - the moment I stepped away from her! She enjoyed her long down, and fell asleep!

Our National experience was not at all what I was expecting performance wise. The kids did behave very well while on the trip, and all three enjoyed the love they got from strangers as they passed :) It was great to see Cash's brother, Trey, and compare notes with Karen - Trey's owner and one of Cash's breeder's. And we enjoyed seeing our friends compete, especially Cash's older family members. Uncle Nikon was very impressive on Tuesday at the GRCA show!

Here we are - all tired out after two days of agility trialing.

Our one shining moment was the Rescue Parade, where Sophie was spot lighted with 50 other rescues. She received her big ribbon and a certificate for participating. It was a nice ending to the adventure of our first National :)

Sophie finishes her NAJ

We've had lovely weather the entire month of August here in the Garden State... then September rolls in and the heat and humidity are back! Despite the disgusting weather, we trialed Sunday in agility at the Princeton Dog Training Club trial, held in Jamesburg, NJ.

Sophie ran her first Open Standard Course and impersonated a bird - HUGE fly-off on the teeter! It was humorous, and so unsafe! NQ for Standard. We waited around for hours and finally came the Novice Jumpers run. She did an awesome job on a very friendly course. Perfect score, 19.77 seconds - which works out to be 4+ yards per second. Sophie came in 2nd to a wicked fast Border Collie who spanked her by almost 4 seconds!

So now its on to Open in the Jumpers ring - first run will be at our National - one week from now in the lovely little state of Rhode Island :)

I just love agility ribbons - they always give such nice rosettes!

BOSU training with the fur kids

Finally got a BOSU to help with core strengthening for the dogs. Everyone had a turn to see what they could do today...

Sophie says - I can stand with my front feet on and move my back feet around from left to right...

Cash says - ME TOO!!!

AND I can SIT on it!!!

Sophie says - Ha - sit on it, I can SIT UP on it! Silly baby, Tricks are for RED DOGS!


Meanwhile - Jesse says - I think this thing makes a nice pillow...

Photos of Cash and Sophie taken by Carol Durr

PVGR Club Agility Trial

August 9 and 10 found us in Maryland for the Potomac Valley Golden Retriever Club - Golden Only Agility Trial. Sophie, Cash and I headed down on Friday night and Sophie and I competed in Novice A classes on Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday yielded two first place runs for the Sofa Dog. Sunday yielded a second place run in Standard and an NQ (for having WAY too much fun!) in Jumpers. The Standard run completed our first ever agility title - NA!

Many thanks to the club for a great show and site. Huge thanks to the Fast-Traks and Pine Run family that we met! You are all amazing people and we had so much fun getting to know you and your dogs better! Cash is going to need his big feet to follow in those foot steps!

photo by a fellow competitor

Me and Sophie with Judge Donna Gomer after completing her first agility title!

Cash - settled in to his first over night away from home...he was such a good little traveler!


Sofa dog all tuckered out after her big wins of the weekend.

Yeah for Jump Grids

20" Jumps set at 10' - Sophie bounces this distance with ease...

Look at my EARS!!!

Where's my toy???

Sophie practicing her weaves

Sophie's first two agility trials yield Blue Ribbons!

Sophie's very first weekend out in agility yielded a first place and perfect score in her Jumpers Run, June 15, 2008, at the JAG trial in Jamesburg, NJ.
Her second weekend out yielded another first place and perfect score in her Standard Run, June 21, 2008, at the PVGRC trial in Westminster, MD.

Photo by Barry Rosen

Yeah for the Sofa Dog!!!

Cash starts his 'serious' agility training :)

Cash has found his first agility obstacles and thinks VERY highly of them! The tunnel was a breeze and he is already doing 'U' shaped tunnels! The tippy board or baby teeter is another favorite to play with.