Good but not great

Indy knows she's amazing....and adorable!


I've been thinking a lot lately. Indy's a very good agility dog, I think I'm a good handler.......but I really feel we have the potential to be great. i'm just not content with good. Right now, we have good speed, but could be faster. So so turns, definitely could be tighter. nice weaves, but they could be better etc etc...

I feel like we've just been coasting along, just getting through courses, rather than really handling them. Our training has been sporadic, and often it's either rushed and too short or too much at one time, like an agility cram session. Part of the problem is where we're training these days is so ridiculously far. It's a wonderful facility, but it takes over an hour each way, and it's tough to get in the car drive over an hour (with traffic the whole way) to train for really just a few minutes and then get back in the car and drive another hour home, and end up exhausted the next day because we get home so late. So, we've just been coasting along without a lot of practice. Really it's pretty amazing we're doing this well. Indy's not an experienced agility dog, she's only 2 and very green in many ways and while similar to the pugs, she's very different. I looked back at Kittie's records from her first year in Ex B and it's amazing how much farther Indy is already in terms of speed and consistency, but I know we can do better.

I need to spend time really perfecting specific obstacle skills; improving her confidence on the teeter, rewarding the fastest weaves, spend more time teaching her it's okay to drive ahead and really work on my handling; making sure she always knows where she's going as soon as possible. Making sure to take enough time to play with her on course and keep it a big game.

Poor Indy

Indy's just not herself at all. She has no appetite, has vomited a couple of times and has lots of eye discharge. We went to the vet this morning and she gave us eye ointment for an eye infection and said to just give her pepcid for a few days and to come back if she's not doing any better by Wednesday. she doesn't have a fever, so that's good. It's just so sad to see her not bouncing around.

I feel terrible, we were at a trial this weekend and she was a tiny bit slower in all her runs, wasn't really driving in the weaves like she usually does, I think she just wasn't feeling well. She qualified in 3 out of 4 runs anyway, she really tried hard even though she didn't feel well. I never would have let her run if I knew anything was going on. Poor little girl, hoping she's back to herself quick.

look all the dogs in one photo

All the girls


Abby was trying to get fancy, and offer some tricks for the apple in my hand


All dogs looking bored and tortured

Happy birthday Rudy

I can't believe Rudy's 12 years old. No one ever guesses her to be 12, or even the oldest of our crew. she is and always has been a character!

YABTC trial, harness success & harness failure

I got the harnesses I ordered, and Rudy & willy's are going back. I got them the premier, five way adjustable (or something like that) harness from sitstay. It may adjust in 5 ways, but not enough to properly fit these guys, especially Rudy. She really does have a build that is uniquely her own, skinny, with a small neck, but an enormous rib cage......the bigger the lungs to bark and scream with!! All those adjustable buckles also make the harness pretty heavy. Just not for them.

Indy's harness (K9 gear power harness) on the hand I *love*, it's just so perfect. Fits her great, is really easy to get on and off and she's seriously even more adorable than usual in it. I need to get some pictures, really, really cute! she's always been weird about letting me put harnesses on her, she hates to be picked up, and hates being grabbed at, and I had serious concerns that she would run away and be a brat in the ring at the trial this weekend, but she seemed to actually like getting this one put back on after her runs.

Now on to the trial. Indy did great, Q in 3 out of 4 runs. Got another QQ, earned her MX title and she now officially has all her points for her MACh, with a few to spare.....we're still a l-o-n-g ways to go on QQ, but that's okay, I'll take a fast dog who's having fun, without being super consistent (she's only 2) over slow and consistent any day. Her one NQ was so close too.

New harnesses

I just put an order in for a new agility harness for Indy. https://k9gear.us/power-harnesses/ A power harness in Kiwi green, with a custom label with her name....Bill suggested getting a label that says "Fierce" and I just might in the future! She is a pretty fierce girl! She hates being grabbed at, especially after she runs, so getting most harnesses on was too much, but this looks pretty easy, or I'll have to get her one of those leashes that clips to the harness, but can be used as a slip lead just to get her out of the ring, you can never have too many leads!

Ordered willy and Rudy some regular harnesses from sitstay, and Kittie and Abby have fleece walkeez harnesses that I love.

I never really went for the whole harness thing, probably in part because it's so rammed down your throat that pugs "have to be" walked on harnesses, that their tracheas will collapse, or a collar will come right off over their chubby necks and they'll run off and die. I never had those issues, if my dogs were suddenly loose, they'd keep walking with me anyway, and they all have necks......but I really do think harnesses are more comfortable for them and safer for their necks and backs overall, plus I let them be as obnoxious and bad as they want to be getting the to the ring at trials, and I'd rather Indy didn't put pressure on her throat like that.

GTOTC trial

Indy ran at the GTOTC trial all three days this past memorial day weekend. On one hand I'm kind of disappointed we didn't get any QQs, but on the other hand I'm thrilled with how she's running. Perfect weaves and contacts all weekend long. She just got more and more into running as the weekend progressed. The only mistakes were; a table fault, a weird miscommunication at a tunnel and bad handling choice (I knew better too).

We ended up qualifying in one class each day. Jww the first two days and standard on the 3rd. Earning two 1st places and one 2nd place. These were larger classes with some nice dogs running too, so really proud of my little girl!

top priority now...stop running like a spaz! Really, I can run, but something happens when trying to sprint, properly cue my dog, keep track of where my dog is and where I need to be going.