The Rip Van Wrinkler, XVI, Issue 4, November 2012
Pages 12 & 13 <previous page> <next page>
Training Conversation
From PawPrint Trials’ web site, by Noreen Bennett:
October is Be Kind to your Fellow Exhibitor Month!!
Did you ever feel like an underachiever because you compared yourself to another competitor's achievements?
Remember, everything is relative!
And a title does not tell the whole story...unless it was this type of title:
Jumpin' For Joy Fido NA WFT T3HT HBK
What are those titles??
NA -Novice Agility
WFT -Works Full Time
T3HT - Travels 3 Hours for Training
HBK - Has Bad Knees
Be in AWE of yourself!
Antics, nerves, rabbits, and the madness of crowds.../Susan Marsicano
Antics
Here's a little cartoon I made, and, of course, there's a story that goes with it. This was originally printed in the Wrinkler, Volume XI, Issue 3, August 2007. Jump made by Shelia Webber.
Picture me; nervous as all get out, at the start line, in Excellent B Jumpers, in agility, knowing M needs just one more Q (you need 10; she has 9) for her MXJ title. M knows I am nervous. I do what is called a lead out, which means leaving her at the start line, and head into the course.
She doesn't hold her stay, and jumps the first jump, with my back still to her (my plan was to turn and face her). I feel her coming, so I say, "Jump." Well - what else could I do?
Jump two is the homemade wing jump pictured in my cartoon. Our friend who made the jump will never feel the same way about it, ever.
So, look at the picture. It is numbered, next to the little smiling red dog cartoon.
She jumped the lower side of the unusual three-squared wing, instead of the bar.
I said, smiling, "M?"
She then squeezed herself back towards me through the open square, past the number for the jump, and then flipped herself around, in place, and went over the jump. After that, she ran the course clean and fast.
People thought this was a little; well, "unusual."
An aside: M found herself out of position, re the cartoon, and so that was how she solved it. You see, since she did not hold her stay, she saw my back, as I had not yet turned around to her to give her the info she needed to jump there. My back showed her we were going to the left, which was where Jump 3 was, so she came in that direction, and so, when I said, "jump," she was already past the point to jump the bar, committed to go left, so she solved it, in her way. I am sure it did not make her happy to be in that situation. She probably thought it was a good save.
Rabbits and the Madness of Crowds/Susan K-M
I've always said doing agility with a basenji is like playing Wack-a-mole.
Kim McNeil
This was the Excellent Standard Course, which is different from Jumpers in that it has the big obstacles, Seesaw, A-Frame, Dog Walk, table, tire, chute, etc.
I bring a blanket ringside, at every event, and that is "home base." Occhi had had his run only 7 or so dogs before M, so I quickly got her from the car, and grabbed a good-sized zip lock bag of liver biscotti, and we went to the "blankie." I say to her, "let's go to school."
Gave her a few crunchies, and buried the zip lock bag in the blanket, thinking that this was not a good idea, but squeezed by time.
In the ring there was an ado going on, as I was worrying about liver treats, about RABBITS!
Those of us who train at Albany OTC know there are rabbits there, and so do the dogs, but of course. At this particular moment, the ring crew was chasing rabbits. I was still thinking about treats.
Our turn, and, at the start line, M is looking towards the entrance of the ring, behind us. I don't know why. The rabbit appears again, and we wait for the ring crew to chase it again.
Off we go. Know that this course had some really difficult discriminations in it; for example, after the table, a jump right to the weaves, which were really, really close to, and lined up with the dogwalk and tunnel. Occhi had got it right. Not too many teams had.
We got to the seesaw, and M spotted the RABBIT. She paused and used her nose, like a rabbit. This takes time, and the course time was 68 seconds. Off we went, and then got to the A-Frame, which gave M a REALLY good view
Photo by Lesley Mattuchio
of the rabbit, and her nose started twitching like crazy. I am standing there, saying, "come down, M." After lots of seconds, she did, she got the weave entry, and around towards the finish, with one more chance to be up in the air and watch bunnies; the dog walk. I tried to rush her through, knowing she was still "clean," but had used up a lot of time. She finished the 68 second course in 70 seconds. Too slow to qualify.
I had our scribe sheet in my hand, and started back to the blanket, when a person said, "Those are your treats," pointing to the ground by the corner of the ring. I was shocked, and said, "how'd they get there?" She said, "Your basenji carried them, and left them there."
So, picture this: We are going to the line, and M is carrying the zip lock bag full of liver biscotti, and I don't know it. Talk about taking your eyes off of your dog!
The Madness of Crowds (re: Bertrand Russell)
Second try at that 10th Q in Excellent B Jumpers. There are fewer nerves, and more Madness of Crowds.
At the Start Line, I have just told M to “sit on your dime“, as I always do, when a cacophony of yips, squeals, ripping, searing barking erupts, about 6 feet from us. I look and see what seems to be two Aussie’s trying to murder a third Aussie. People are untangling leads and milling around, and smiling (smiling!?!!). I look to the scribe to see if we should, “Go,” but the sign is on the other side, says, “Wait.” There are putting bars up, knocked by the previous dog. I am looking, now, from the Aussie mess to M to the starter. Now the sign says, “Go!”
I say, “Wait, Watch me, “ lead out, and M is fine. She had “handled” the noise. Along she comes, and we are GOOD, and steady and skilled. I feel the judge rooting for us as we turn to the weaves and she “nails the entry” and runs on through. Only 4 jumps to go. I begin to think, “that’s her MXJ.”
The opaque white aura of our run busts in a tingle of shattered air. M is standing there, looking at me, “what IS it you wanted, mom dear? Did you forget about me? ” She takes herself next to the last jump, and stands there, waiting for me. “We’re all done, mom,” she says to me.
I am really certain these dogs know we are not infallible. They forgive us our idiocies, and they love us, anyway. For a day or so, I could barely talk, but M was just fine. 
