Category: Blog

It’s been awhile but we went back in the ring today. I took a break because Dulce was having problems staying in the ring, Macy is still having health issues and I was busy with the robot kids. I’ve also been uncomfortable showing since we were suspended.

Good news – I know now which people are friends who aren’t. I will admit to being surprised by a few. One person told me that I deserved the suspension because I was too loud in the ring. Gee, I didn’t know the AKC was using a decibel meter. Don’t like my runs, leave the room. I’ve gotten a Q not because the judge remember the run but because she remembered I was loud.

We had fun but it wore me out. If I would have had to crate in the building, we wouldn’t had made it.

By the way, the building we were in was great. Everyone I talked to remarked on how laid back it was. I also liked that it was easier to get to.

SO, finally the news.

Dulce finished two runs! She took some extra obstacle in JWW, so she didn’t Q, but she DID Q in Novice Standard. Had trouble at the start line starting, and had trouble with the weaves, but we got it.

Macy got the send but was two points short of the Q. That was interesting, because she did the send differently than how the judge intended, but was legal according to the map, so he had to correct her score. I still wanted it in the record books. I think she is still having some issues with her stress fracture as she still isn’t running as well as I would like, but she had some good moments.

I learned something I didn’t understand about the new weave rules and I am glad I asked – the dog can stop and eat something, sniff something during the weaves as long as they stay moving in the same motion. I thought you had to start over. Which I started Macy over when she stopped today and didn’t need to <pout> She did do good weaves the second time though.

Q Rate: 1:5

For the first time in I don’t know how long, Macy ran both the Standard and JWW courses. She’s been refusing to run the second course, and we usually walk out of the ring. Today, she did both rings.

We had a lovely judge in Novice Standard who let me work with Dulce. She ran out of the ring before the run but came back in and he allowed her to run, taking a couple of obstacles before going nuts again. We had two more opportunities before I had her go to the table and picked her up and walk her out.

We can’t decide what is going on. Some people think she is having fun. There was a time she was looking for food but I think she is over that now. I think my friend Roberta was closer – that it has something to do with being stressed by being asked to do tasks away from me. However, she enjoys agility class. I think having a decent blood sugar today helped somewhat.

We’ll try again next year (January).

Between the plastic bag outside the ring and my brain failure we most too many time faults for the Q

Sent from my Windows Phone

Macy and I are competing together for the first time since we were suspended. Our first run was in JWW, and she had trouble getting her head out of the dirt, but ran fast. Had bobble in the weaves, wasn’t real sure I wanted her in the tunnel and then we disconnected in the pinwheel.

FAST better but Macy got distracted by a piece of plastic outside the ring. She did get the Send, but I forgot my plan in the confusion. We lost too many points getting out of the ring.

Standard was best, she got everything but didn’t get into the tunnel, I sent her, she went towards it but didn’t commit. Got everything else though.

Dulce even got in a few obstacles before she left the ring. I’m not sure why she left this time. She wasn’t headed for the treats.

On August 10, 2012 Macy and I were competing in AKC Excellent Standard at Watt's Arena in Fort Worth.  The reason I mention where, is because this is a very crowded site, and people are very terroritial about their space.  We had already been treated very badly by some competitors and just weren't clicking together.

Before and as we went into the ring, I was scratching her.  I was also scratching her as we waited our turn.  She had flipped over on her back and I was even scratching her tummy.  When the timer said to go, we went, but she was obviously still unhappy. 

She missed jumped I reached down and scratched her again.  That made her happy and she started running much faster.  That was our downfall.  Of course, we were excused off the course by the judge and he wasn't very happy with me.  Neither were several of the exhibitors who were waiting their turn.  I wasn't sure why.  However, Macy was happy with me and that was all that counted.

We went back upstairs after we celebrated and celebrated some more upstairs.  Then one of the club members came up and told me I couldn't leave, that a complaint had been lodged against me.  She didn't tell me how and why and at that point I assumed it was someone who was grumbling over crating space.

This was about 10:30.

At about 12:30, I was told a charge of conduct prejudicial to the sport of dogs was made against me in relation to my last run and the hearing would be held at 2:00 pm.  I was told I was allowed to gather witnesses.   At that point, most of the spectators and exhibitors had left that saw the run.  The ones that did, didn't see anything wrong and didn't feel like they could be witnesses.  At most, we all know I had touched my dog and the penalty was being excused from the ring.

Well, I was actually accused of hitting my dog!  There were three different descriptions assigned to my action, from hitting to throwing.  They couldn't agree on whether or not she crashed the next jump but the all agreed she didn't act like I had hurt her. 

I was suspended on the spot.  They had scheduled the hearing at a time that I couldn't run my second dog, and the suspension meant that I couldn't run the next day, nor could I even hold a dog for another exhibitor.  I think it even meant I couldn't bring my own dogs, and I'm not sure what that would mean for the Diabetes Alert Dog and I think I'll ask that once the dust dies down.

It also meant that if I had any entries out and the closing date had passed, I lost those entry fees.  I had to email the trial secretaries and ask for my entries back. 

The end result, once they got clarification from the club was that a public reprimand will be published in the October issue of the AKC Gazette and I had to pay $100 fine.  I can now enter AKC dog events again.

Moral:  don't touch your dog.

Oh, and I won't be entering trials at that particular site OR will be entering any event put on by that club.  Not sure about the judge.

Now, why the old location suddenly doesn’t work, is beyond me.

But I’ve relocated the docking station to the living room, it’s line of sight to the dog room, where the dogs are during the day.  It’s where we hang out in the evening, when we’re home, and it’s the same room where we keep Maggie.  The little dogs sleep in the hallway in front of my room in cages and it’s downstairs from them.  It’s super inconvenient to do any trouble shooting, but oh well.

Our Pet Tagg problem seems to be environmental.

Do I resign myself to charging them nightly or do I move the dock with the dogs?

The Taggs seems to slip away from the dock and go out of power saving mode.  When they do, they don't communicate with the dock.  They sometimes turn off without a low battery warning or a off notification.

Dulce got a Games II Q this morning.  It was called “What’s My Line”, and we had to get a certain number of random obstacles.  Obviously we got enough.

Macy did well, but got one of the random obstacles twice, which was against the rules.

Macy had the next run, took the A-Frame in a tunnel / AFrame discrimination, and then proceeded to run the rest of the course correctly until the last obstacle.

Dulce was very silly, but got most of the obstacles correctly.

BUT THEN!  She Qed on her second attempt.

We went home, as I was expected a repair man to come by and give us an estimate on gutters, and was feeling very off.  8 runs is a bit to many when the building has stairs to climb to get in an out.  But we had fun.

Dulce has two legs towards her Games II title and two legs towards her Beginner’s Teacup Title.

Got done with a really good for Dulce run and was trying to praise her when an idiot woman criticizes how I was running my dog.

I got up, had a party for Dulce at the crate and explained to the woman when I got back that she was raining on my parade and no do that, but do I really have to teach adults, especially adults obviously older than I am how to behave in public at a dog show.

Geeze….

I used to love our Pet Taggs.  We have three.  Between the three Pet Taggs, and the surveillance camera system I felt that we were safe and secure and we’d always know where the beagles were..  Then all of the sudden the Taggs stopped working right.  We stopped getting notifications, and they started chewing through the batteries.  It was a full time job keeping them charged.

They ended up replacing all three Pet Taggs with no improvement.  Now mind you, nothing here at the house changed, except that we went from wireless to wired surveillance cameras.

I think we have some where around 50 cases into them about the issue when this week, one of the techs noticed that the Taggs were sneaking out of power saving mode.  We did a 48 hour test where we had the Taggs and the docking station sitting next to each other.  Worked out well until yesterday evening when Dulce decided she needed to get rid of Macy by chewing on her Tagg, guess the next step was shoving her out the door, though Macy never goes far….

Well, Macy is getting a new Tagg, we’re all getting a new Docking station and an additional travel charger sometime early next week so we’ll see if that solves the problem.