We went to the Poodle Farm and played CARO rally Sunday. It was stupid hot. Ontario has had weird weather this summer. Unseasonably cool all summer. This week we've had a hot spell that with humidity it's reached near 40 some of the last few days. Building was hot. Shade outside was hot. Couldn't win. Kids aren't water fans but had to endure being held onto and hosed down multiple times today.
Bought a cooling mat Smudge likes and Cider hates there too. Think it helped some.
Smudge and I NQ'd round one of novice. Handler error as he can't read the signs and apparently I can't either. He wasn't paying attention. We redid a station 2x. I stressed.. next station was sit down walk around. We sat we downed and I had us walk off. Would have been a 194 round as the rest was perfect even with Smudge having an uncontrollable sneezing fit..
Round 2 I redeemed myself So did he. He was more focused. Got a Q 197/200 and 2nd place. It also finished his first rally title. RNMCL (he got a magna cum laude tacked on for scores averaging 190+ though his scores rocked.. 197,200, 197). I'm not ready to work on advanced with him yet. I'm thrilled with his attentiveness.
Cider ran novice team for the first time. Can't say I like it. Apparently I'm not a team player unless it's me with my dogs. We Q'd came in 4th (no placement). We ran clean.. It's novice.. To do team you need to already have the 'normal' title. So it shouldn't be that hard.. Partner got 4 faults. Minor in the scheme of things but I have to admit it made me cranky... After I got to see her dogs run in advanced and then could see why they weren't rocking novice.. Running off, sniffing, stressing.. She asked to be my partner again. Wasn't a bad round by far but I'm still cranky about it.. (not at Cider in the slightest.. has nothing to do with her really.. she rocked.)
In excellent it was hotter than h*ll. I felt bad. She was minorly laggy. Not enough to get faults, but enough to bump up the encouraging. My shirt had been stuck to me for hours... I was melting. She was awesome. Never seen a broad jump except in a few obedience classes and she sent out to it like a pro. Excellent is hard enough usually. Judge included most of the hardest stations in my opinion. Most of the class NQd. Made it more rewarding to have gotten a Q 199/200 and 1st Cider got her title.. RXMCL as she's had rocking high scores too. (197, 193, 199).
CARO now offers championship titles.. We had another round of excellent we were entered in. So we moved to the C stream so we don't compete against people trying to get their normal titles.. and they don't give out placements. I was willing to pull Cider it was so hot at that point. She still seemed eager to work so we went for it. You need 190+ to Q. We got a Q and 197. The entire 'normal' excellent class NQd that round. Only the few of us in C Qd it. I'm thrilled.
So my kids rocked it.. I still don't get off on rally, but I do enjoy our team work, and it really has cemented my bond with my kids. Pics tomorrow. She has to mail out title ribbons though. Her one poodle kid dislocated her hip pre trial and she didn't manage to get her ribbon order out on time. Had a stock of placement and Q ribbons but no titles. So more pretty ribbons to come I hope. I thought when Cider finished her excellent title I'd give up rally, but this weekend was so much fun and the courses keep getting better that I think we'll keep playing for a while longer.
I judged the rally at the long haired whippet specialty this weekend. I had a great time. Ended up more like a fun match, but they were thrilled and I hope they want to compete in CARO eventually. As thanks we got a dog bed, Cider's smitten with it. You'd think I didn't own at least 10 others
Bought a cooling mat Smudge likes and Cider hates there too. Think it helped some.
Smudge and I NQ'd round one of novice. Handler error as he can't read the signs and apparently I can't either. He wasn't paying attention. We redid a station 2x. I stressed.. next station was sit down walk around. We sat we downed and I had us walk off. Would have been a 194 round as the rest was perfect even with Smudge having an uncontrollable sneezing fit..
Round 2 I redeemed myself So did he. He was more focused. Got a Q 197/200 and 2nd place. It also finished his first rally title. RNMCL (he got a magna cum laude tacked on for scores averaging 190+ though his scores rocked.. 197,200, 197). I'm not ready to work on advanced with him yet. I'm thrilled with his attentiveness.
Cider ran novice team for the first time. Can't say I like it. Apparently I'm not a team player unless it's me with my dogs. We Q'd came in 4th (no placement). We ran clean.. It's novice.. To do team you need to already have the 'normal' title. So it shouldn't be that hard.. Partner got 4 faults. Minor in the scheme of things but I have to admit it made me cranky... After I got to see her dogs run in advanced and then could see why they weren't rocking novice.. Running off, sniffing, stressing.. She asked to be my partner again. Wasn't a bad round by far but I'm still cranky about it.. (not at Cider in the slightest.. has nothing to do with her really.. she rocked.)
In excellent it was hotter than h*ll. I felt bad. She was minorly laggy. Not enough to get faults, but enough to bump up the encouraging. My shirt had been stuck to me for hours... I was melting. She was awesome. Never seen a broad jump except in a few obedience classes and she sent out to it like a pro. Excellent is hard enough usually. Judge included most of the hardest stations in my opinion. Most of the class NQd. Made it more rewarding to have gotten a Q 199/200 and 1st Cider got her title.. RXMCL as she's had rocking high scores too. (197, 193, 199).
CARO now offers championship titles.. We had another round of excellent we were entered in. So we moved to the C stream so we don't compete against people trying to get their normal titles.. and they don't give out placements. I was willing to pull Cider it was so hot at that point. She still seemed eager to work so we went for it. You need 190+ to Q. We got a Q and 197. The entire 'normal' excellent class NQd that round. Only the few of us in C Qd it. I'm thrilled.
So my kids rocked it.. I still don't get off on rally, but I do enjoy our team work, and it really has cemented my bond with my kids. Pics tomorrow. She has to mail out title ribbons though. Her one poodle kid dislocated her hip pre trial and she didn't manage to get her ribbon order out on time. Had a stock of placement and Q ribbons but no titles. So more pretty ribbons to come I hope. I thought when Cider finished her excellent title I'd give up rally, but this weekend was so much fun and the courses keep getting better that I think we'll keep playing for a while longer.
I judged the rally at the long haired whippet specialty this weekend. I had a great time. Ended up more like a fun match, but they were thrilled and I hope they want to compete in CARO eventually. As thanks we got a dog bed, Cider's smitten with it. You'd think I didn't own at least 10 others
