Lulu & Minnie

 As we have been doing orientation with Pärli and taken Lulu with us all spring. Actually 10 times dorig this spring, then I decided to take part in Zaba orientation day for dogs. I went this time alone with Lulu to see how we manage. I choose short course, because of her legs. In written it was 2.5km, but in reality it was 3km.   I was the first on to get to the finish. But as I actually got a but lost in one place and we waited our turn on the ditch crossing and we even walked in couple of places. I think we could have been under 20 mins easily, so therefore I did not think that we were the fastest :). Later it turned out that we were fastest out of 22 dogs that went on the short course!  As a bonus, Lulu got nail clipping on the spot :D

Minnie: Minnie and lulu were enjoining the pillow we got as a prize from agility competition until Pärli took it as her pillow Our evening walk: Meditation in progress :D Lulu enjoying Minnie hard-earned prizes :) Couch hang Lulu participated in "Bring your pet" at kindergarten.  Lulu favorite: belly-rub The last weekend of May, we spent in Saaremaa (Lulu stayed home with grandma): Lulu has been doing regularly mantrailing ("man-hunt") for the past 2 months (6 times). She likes it a lot. And bonus is that after she gets extra walk:

Our third competition in RK2 grade. Unfortunately we managed to do rally training in the past month only once. Judge was Lauma Zutere from Latvia. 1st course. Minnie was good and calm. During the first 12 signs we had only little things (3x-1p). But then we got closer to the temptation :) the sign before the temptation - she lost her focus to me and did not undersaand what I want - started to offer nose touch :) we got in total -6p from this sign. Then the temptation itself  - she was doing actually pretty good - only the penguin took her attention for too long. -3 points. After temptation it was easy run. In total -12points. I have to say that I choose to do the course with the leach, because I knew that then she will be more in contact with me.  88points gave us I place. 2nd course. Without jump or temptation. So of course I wanted to take the leash off. I also felt That I started a bit too rushed from the car...I should have taken more time. Anyway Minnie was more di...

Time for outdoor season. Our training moved outside just this week. So we had a outside raining in this week earlier. The competition was in Viljandi and judge was Einari Pekkala from Finland, we are still on grade 2 level. On the way to the competition I received very sad news that my grandma has passed. So it was mentally more challenging than in other competitions.  1. course. Jumping. I think it was pretty easy course. There was couple of tunnel traps and maybe some thinking what would be the best slalom entry. Minnie slipped two time on the course. I think it was the "new" surface. Everything went by the plan except I planned to blind cross before tyre, but in reality I ran too much into the jump and ended up rear crossing. But all went good. Clean run, speed 5.48 m/s and first place!  2. course. Jumping. Again very smooth course. There was one tricky place. Just after first tunnel. I made plans to try to blind cross to be safer. I managed to blind quite easy for my su...

 Well, 4th qualifiers for AWC. This time judge was Anna Schönenberger.  1st course . Agility. While course walk. there was 2 obvious moments where I would have problems. Slalom entry and tunnel exit after dog-walk.  So for slalom I managed to blind and slalom entry was successful. I was very happy of that. After dog walk I did extra 3 steps towards the jump. That made me being late for the plan to blond cross after tunnel. Of course when Minnie entered the tunnel and I saw that Im only on the mid tunnel, I realised that I will not make it. But I still tried to make the blind...why? dont know. Of course I should have stayed behind an call her....but since I dint then she took the long jump instead. DSQ . The rest of the course went very smoothly. I actually was very happy with the run!  2nd course. Jumping. Difficult for us. Lots of obstacles very close with each other. Many sharp turns needed. I was not 100% sure of my plans. And in addition to that, Minnie wa...

 Both dogs god a short hair cuts for the summer! Minnie still with long hair: Pärli and Lulu watching TV: Minnie preparing for the next skiing season :) Minnie at training: Hedgehog season started - everyday guests unfortunately. Minnie is okay with them but Lulu goes frantic and is a daily rescue mission. Lulu got her teeth on Minnie favorite ball...time to get a new favorite.. 

Because Minnie started heat, then we had to change plans and cancel planned rally obedience competition and we could register at last minute to the agility competition instead. Judge was Alejandro Salas from Spain. 3x agility courses at grade 2. 1st course. Not the easiest courses for sure! The most tricky moment was the sequence after see-saw. I think my plan would have worked put I stayed to check on her on the jump after see-saw (it was inside). On that spot I kinda knew that Im in trouble for the next one (the critical one). And I was right - I was super behind and too afraid the wall, so called a lot and she was very good girl and took the jump (should have too ik from outside). DSQ . My line was not very good when sending her to the tunnel after, therefore Minnie was also mislead about the direction = massive time loss.  2nd course. It was not that tricky for us and I tried to keep in mind to be bolder on my run. I did that and everything worked well! Clean run, 1st pla...

The April qualifications, third ones. Judge  Juraj Ruza. I liked the courses, they seemed to flow very nicely. 1st course. Jumping. Im still in a state where i feel that 7 minutes is not enough for the course walk. So I messed up 4x. 1) On already 4th jump, i was slightly confused where to go, that caused delay in my actions, that meant i was late for 6th. DSQ in a place that I didnt anticipate. The part that I was nervous about I managed very well. 2) I forgot where to go in a place where I constantly already messed up while walking... 3) i did not call Minnie where she needed to change the line - I know in theory that I have to do it... 4) To the last tunnel - my body already turned and late with cues...so you cannot expect anything else from Minnie, but to follow me.  2nd course. Already when course walking I knew that it will not be pretty. We got DSQ already after 2 obstacles, where Minnie went to tunnel. I did not do a good job in turning her. Now thinking, I should ha...

Back to agility competition this weekend. Still in grade 2. Place was Vastse-Kuuste and judge was Laura Grosser (GER). 1st agility course . When course walking it seemed pretty good and simple. When running, it felt the same. maybe in couple of places I could have been faster with the commands - she had time to slightly look at me :) But anyway everything went smoothly and clean run with 1st place . Speed 5.63 m/s.  2nd agility course. Much more challenging. There were 3 moments on the course that I found challenging while course walking. First moment was after slalom and it went well for us. Only the joy of success caused me to miss the plan after that. And we got a DSQ from a jump before see-saw. She went to the back side...Then after tunnel I was miserably late by watching her so she went out from the line. The second challenging moment was after dog-walk and tunnel, where the dog had to come to the inside of the jump. My plan was to stop but in reality I did not stop not I tu...

 We went again to try out rally obedience. Judge was Vivian Ainsalu. Grade 2. First course. Short course, no temptation, no spirals, no jumps...very pleasant. Out of nowhere i got this "brilliant" idea to put a ball in the finish. Was I not concluded after last competition that she cannot see or play ball before the obedience course - its too exciting? So I dont know why now I thought that it was good idea...well it was not. This ball was distracting her when we passed it at third sign. And she was first time ever vocalizing her impatience :) Then at 7th sign (double 180 degree turn) she got distracted by the judge, also then missed my turning. Result was -10 because she got more the 90 degree angle from me. I should have been taking her with me more carefully. Then it was quite nice for a while. She didnt wait until called at the left turn (but no minuses). And then at the last sign she got really impatience because of the ball in sight. She was barking about 3x. That earne...