More Than Just a Dog Sport

Of course, now that Tessa and I have finished her C-ATCH (YAY!!), I am in a very reflective state of mind!  I have been thinking back and just enjoying all of the memories of what it took for Tessa and I to reach our goal together.

The one thing that stands out the most for me is that - with one notable exception - I have never worked this hard for this long and put so much of my heart, mind, and soul into something with one of my dogs as I have with Tessa on this.

The exception - Speedy.  Really everything about Speedy.  Helping him learn to be comfortable in the world.  Helping him learn to enjoy training contexts with other dogs and people.  Working with him to be able to do live competition.  And - probably one of the most difficult challenges that he and I dealt with - helping him learn to control his stimulation levels so he would not be overstimulated by his own movement in Freestyle.

I put as much of myself into my work with Speedy, and accomplishing everything that he and I did was intensely amazing and satisfying.  I am who I am today because of Speedy and our experiences together.

I do believe, though, that after all of this, I will say the exact same thing about Tessa.

Both dogs started out with a great deal to overcome, and in the end both of them transformed from fearful dogs into bright, shining, confident dogs - in life, and in dog sports.

But . . . this was different, too.

Tessa and I set out right from the beginning with a clear goal.  And I knew that she was 100% with me from a very early point in our work together.

And, of course, Tessa and I were mastering a game.  Speedy and I were changing brain chemistry.

The thing is, Agility was never just a game for Tessa, and it was never just a dog sport.  Back when Tessa and I first started her Agility, that training really was the first place where I really saw Tessa experience real joy.  Something about jumping over things, walking across things, learning to tip a teeter, learning to weave, etc. tapped into something at the very heart of Tessa that nothing else in life seemed to be able to at that point.

And when Tessa and I started trailing, the most astonishing thing to me was that in the competition Agility ring, she always glowed with happiness and fun, which was something that I did not often see outside of that context.  Right from her very first Agility trial, it seemed that in that context Tessa transformed into the dog that she always should have been, and the dog that she always had the right to be.

At the same time, Tessa was helping me out in a significant way.  I was mourning the loss of my first Agility partner, Maddie.  Every time Tessa and I went to a trial, I felt like crying most of the time.  And Tessa was never phased by that in the least.  She accepted me where I was at and still put her whole heart into her Agility runs.

And while I might have felt like crying in the crating area, or while we were walking, or when I picked up ribbons, in the ring, my mind and heart were always right there with Tessa.

So, she found her confidence and her joy, and I found the way to move forward.  We did that together and we became . . . us!

One moment that stands out in my mind was the day we were driving home from the first CPE trial where we had run in Level 1.  The trial that was held at our home training center.  We had qualified in 4 out of the 5 runs that day, and it had just been an amazing experience.

I looked at Tessa on the way home and I said, "we're C-ATCH bound!"  And she looked back at me with happy eyes.

That was it.

Going from Level 1 to C-ATCH, we would have to earn 120 Q's.  We were in it for the long haul, and it was the perfect goal for the team of Kristine and Tessa.

I have never been a cut-throat title chaser.  Had something happened along the way that would have indicated that this was not a good goal for Tessa, I would have changed something.

But that never happened.  We ran into challenges along the way, but they were Agility challenges.  The kind of things you can train to overcome.  And coming off of my work with Speedy and Dean, whose issues were always grounded in problems with brain chemistry, the difficulties that Tessa and I faced together were really just worthy challenges that we both loved to dig in and work through together.

So, Tessa and I dove in and chased this title together.  And I am pleased to say that we did this with mutual respect, with mutual enjoyment, and completely in synch with one another every step of the way.  I was never upset with her or disappointed in her for mistakes on course, although I have to say - relatively speaking, she made very few!  I would take myself to task for handling errors, but Tessa had all of my appreciation and respect for every effort she made on the course.

Honestly, I would want to have exactly that kind of relationship, and that same approach to competition, with every single one of my performance dogs!

With Tessa, each level was never really a goal in and of itself.  Each level was a step that we needed to complete in order to move closer to where we were going.

Tessa really put herself out there.  She ran, she jumped, she teetered and weaved and tunneled over and over and over!  She found more speed when we needed it.  She ran in the heat and sat around in the cold!  She waited through long days, ran when she was tired, and she put her heart into every single run.  That tail waggled and that girl preened without fail as we came to the finish together!  And she did all of that with her whole heart and with great joy.

I gave up weekends, and drove, and went to new places, and sat around waiting, and ran and ran and ran.  I learned new handling.  I learned how to train Tessa better.  I worked with instructors, and took classes, and went to seminars, and took online classes.  I learned how have Tessa work fitness exercises.  And I did all of that with my whole heart and with great joy.

Tessa and I did all that together and in the end it really was the perfect journey! 

We reached our goal.  And the feeling is beyond amazing!

I love the giant ribbon and the bar that I got to decorate and that our friends are signing.  I love being able to write C-ATCH Tessa!! 

But most of all I love the memories of this entire thing.  I love to remember where Tessa started, and what tiny little steps she had to take at the very beginning.  I love that the real Tessa has left the Agility ring and is present now in our everyday lives.  I love to remember all of the learning that Tessa and I have done together.  I love to think of those shining eyes and that waggling tail.  I love to remember all of the time that she and I spent together walking, hanging around, and running and running and running and running and running!

Agility has been an incredible gift to Tessa - it really is one of her favorite things in life.  And it is absolutely exhilarating to run week in and week out with a dog who doesn't do it just because I ask her to, but because she genuinely loves it!

I will be honored to continue to enjoy the game with her, hopefully for a very long time to come!

Now we will enjoy it strictly for its own sake, although that has always been a big part of it for us anyway!  And that is a really cool place to be!

C-ATCH Tessa!

We did it!!!

On Sunday Tessa and I earned her C-ATCH!

I am beyond excited and overjoyed and proud of my girl!

To have come from where she and I started makes it all the more satisfying!

And Tessa had fun every step of the way.  She loves Agility.  She adores trialing.  She enjoys training.  And she loves our "girl's days"!

Last week was surreal.  I thought about very little other than the upcoming trial.  We needed one Wildcard and one Snooker.  We would compete in Wildcard on Saturday and then Snooker on Sunday.

I knew that we were perfectly capable of qualifying in both games.  But . . . you really never know.  Anything can always happen!

I tried to be normal and be involved with other things, but I could hardly get my mind away from what Tessa and I were going to attempt to do!

Finally, Saturday came, and we were off to Periland!  I was very grateful that I had decided to scratch Jackpot altogether when I added Snooker to our entry.  I actually think I would have enjoyed trying our hand at that Jackpot gamble, but some other time!  I was also very glad that I did not have to get up early and rush.  I was able to sleep a bit later, and Tessa and I took our time getting to the trial.

Our first run of the day was Standard.  That went well.  I made a handling mistake that cost us the Q, but it was actually an extremely fun run.  Tessa did some really nice stuff!



I was glad that if we were going to NQ on anything it was this Standard run, since we had all the Standard we needed for our C-ATCH!

Next up was Wildcard.  I had the darndest time deciding how I wanted to run this course!  The first discrimination was between two straight tunnels at #3, and then the second discrimination followed that at #4 - a double that was the "B" and a single bar jump that was the "A".  Then there were a couple of jumps and then the third discrimination was the A-Frame, further out, which was the "B" and a straight tunnel, closer in, which was the "A".

I considered every different combination possible, and finally decided on doing the further tunnel (which was "B") and the double, which would make it so we had to do the straight tunnel on the last discrimination.  I thought this was our best bet, but I knew I would really have to stop to make sure she wouldn't go over the A-Frame!

There was one more tricky piece of this.  If Tessa was running fast, I was going to need to rear cross the jump after the double.  But if she was going slower, I would need to blind cross the double.  I was going to have to see how she was running and decide on the fly!

In the end, it went perfectly!!  I did blind cross the double, and after that she really picked up speed!  Then, I stopped to signal the tunnel and she was taking it before I even realized it!!

The end of the course was very straightforward, and we got it done!



And that left us with one to go!  It was surreal, it was exciting, it was nerve wracking, but it was awesome, too!

So, we headed back on Sunday for our Snooker run.

When I first saw the map, I was dismayed.  It looked difficult!  But I figured out a strategy that would work for us, and when we walked it, I saw that it was incredibly straightforward.  Really, this was the kind of run that Tessa and I could do best!  It was perfect!

For some reason, I had it in my mind that she was going to knock the bar on the second jump when I did the front cross!  I don't know why - she has never knocked a bar in competition on a front cross that I can recall!  But I guess I had to obsess over something, and that was it.

I practiced it a couple of times on the warm up jump to try to convince myself that it was not going to be a problem, but that didn't work!

We just had to do our best!

Finally the moment came!  This was it!  Really, the run we had been working for the privilege of taking together since the day I sent in her first CPE entry in spring of 2012!  And it was one I knew we could get done!

It was flawless!



Snooker is the best game to finish a C-ATCH on!  We beat the horn and finished everything, so there was no doubt that we had qualified!

We got a round of applause and we got to take a victory lap!  With the big ribbon, of course!!

I do have the victory lap on video.  Unfortunately, my camera got fussy and the video is blurry.  I am SO glad the run was clear!

Here is the video, in spite of that!


Tessa loved that!!  Look at her tail!!

Here is our ribbon!!  It is the biggest one I have ever gotten for anything!!!

And I got to decorate our C-ATCH bar!

Tessa got a rain of chicken after that!  We didn't walk much because it was raining, but we did take a bit of a walk!

That was just an incredible experience - all those trials, all those Agility runs, all those classes, all those years!!

And Tessa is the best Agility partner in the entire universe.  She will always be my Agility dog the way Speedy will always be my Freestyle dog!

I was extra happy to finish this at Periland.  Maddie and I, eons ago now, earned our very first Q's, and our very first Agility titles, at Periland!  Of course, that was when it was outdoors, and it was very different.  But it still makes me feel like starting with Maddie, and then going on with Tessa, all came full circle in that experience.  Tessa and I finished our big goal on the same ground where Maddie and I really got started.

What now?  Oh, we are going to take a few trials and just have fun.  Run what I feel like signing up for, and just enjoying our Agility together.

Then I will think about new goals!

For now, I am going to just be thrilled beyond words for my girl!!

Waiting for our Pizza after the trial.  Yes, Tessa got some pizza!

Congratulations to:

C-ATCH Tessa CRO-I(3), P-CRO-II, RL-1, D-CRO-Preliminary, WFDX-MF, WFD-HTM, RFE-X, RFE-Alt-X, ATD, DCD-CH(2) Team Hammar,
DCD-Ent(3) Team Hammar

 

Tessa's Agility Videos

In honor of our upcoming (hopefully!) C-ATCH, I have created a youtube playlist of all of Tessa's Agility videos!

All are public, for a limited time!  Most are Q's, but some are not.  Most are CPE, but there area a few that are not.

Most recent is first.  They go in reverse order!  There are almost 90 videos in all!

Enjoy! 

Tessa Got a Le La Ru Award!!!!

High on my list of things I thought that Tessa and I could never possibly accomplish together . . . Tessa got a Le La Ru Award for our submission to the Dance Into Spring Event for the Dogs Can Dance Challenge!

The Le La Ru Award is given to the team who earns the highest score of the event.

Anyone who has followed this blog knows that Freestyle has never been Tessa's particular passion.  She is my Agility girl, always and forever!

In fact, many years ago, a WCFO judge commented that Tessa and I were "not a Freestyle team", but "an Agility team".

Well . . . she was wrong.   We are BOTH!!

Yes, I brought some of her Agility into this particular routine.  After all, it was created - mostly by Tessa - to showcase the best of Tessa.  And part of that is always going to be her jumping.

Incidentally, this is also the routine with which we got our WCFO Intermediate title last November (but the video is NOT from that event - it was filmed for the Challenge and it is my property to share).

Here is the video of our performance, BTW . . .



This one really was all Tessa's!!

Here are some of my favorite comments!  Actually, these are my favorite scoresheets of all time!

"This was a super performance!  The choreography honored the dog, matched the music perfectly, and built to an exciting crescendo.  Best incorporation of jumps into a dance that I've seen."

"Super teamwork!  Both team members were attuned to each other throughout the performance.  Their exuberance came through to the audience."

"Smart use of moves that Tessa obviously loves, to bring up her energy and put her heart into it."

"It was clear that you know your girl very well, and how to help her succeed.  It was lovely watching your respect and love for her.  It looks like she loves to dance with her Mom."

"Two gals out on the town.  I loved it!  The pace changes and choreography were really New Yorkish."

"The big apple props were very appealing . . ."


Love it, love it, LOVE IT!!!  It is beyond amazing to get comments like that on a routine with Tessa!!

Her score was 152 points!  That is high!!

This may not be the "big one" that we have been working for all these years, but it is an absolutely delightful and unexpected surprise that makes me every bit as happy!

Tessa and I will have to keep creating and performing together, after all!!

Back to Freestyle . . . . ????

Although I do work with Tessa, sometimes, on skills from other sports, our focus has been about 80% Agility; 10% Fitness.  This has been a good choice for us.  Ever since I stopped putting any real focus on other sports, Tessa's Agility skills have skyrocketed.

But . . . it was never my intention to only do Agility with her forever.  I do enjoy other activities, and I'd like to enjoy them with her!

So, last night we had a few minutes at the building after I taught class and I played around with her with some heeling/Freestyle stuff.

Freestyle.  Not Tessa's favorite thing.  She doesn't hate it.  But she has never really developed a true love for it.  Our experience in Freestyle has been fits and starts.  And although she has done a few really nice performances, and we actually have our Intermediate WCFO title (which is a huge deal!), I still have never felt that Tessa is a "Freestyle Dog".

Yesterday I took a completely different approach to a bit of Freestyle training.

I had some chicken on me and I started to wander around the room.  Tessa sniffed around a bit, then took a passing interest in me, and then finally drove up into heel with a look on her face like, "whaddayadoin'?"  At that moment, I went "Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, TESSA!!!"

Oh, she likes that!!  She preened a bit and continued to move along, holding perfect position, with a nice little bounce to her pretty trot.

Hmmm . . .

I tossed a treat and she broke away and meandered around the room again.  I did the same thing.  Again, when she drove up into position, I went, "Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, TESSA!!!"  She glowed!!

I started to delay a bit before giving her that bit of cheering.  I was also giving her chicken, but never for coming up into position - always for moving for a bit of duration first.

We worked it a bit in center position, too.  Moving toward me in center has always been a weak point of hers.  Darned if she didn't get a little trot going there, too!!

I am going to play around with this more.  The really exciting thing is that in the DCD Challenge, we can overlay the music over the video, so even if I am going "Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, TESSA!!!", that will go away when I make that edit!

Maybe Tessa has a future in Freestyle yet . . . !  In any case, it's worth exploring.

Tessa's ribbon for one of her Freestyle titles

And then there were TWO!!!

Well, now we are down to needing just two more!  One Wildcard and one Snooker.

I could scream from the rooftops for joy over the fact that this will not come down to Jackpot!  I think that of all of the categories in CPE Agility the last one I would want to need one more leg in for anything is Jackpot!

I took Tessa down to Breakaway Action Dogs in Frederick, Maryland this weekend.  We actually ran both days, which is highly unusual for us.  That was originally not my intention.  When I saw that they were offering a round of Jackpot on both days, I figured that one would be Traditional and one would be non-Traditional.  You can always tell which it is going to be when the running order for the trial is published.  If everyone is grouped together, they are running a non-Traditional Jackpot.  If Levels 1/2, 3, and 4/5/C are running separate, it will be a Traditional Jackpot.

When I decided to enter, it was my intention to scratch on the day they were running the Traditional Jackpot.  But then . . . I was signed up, and it wasn't that big of a deal to go down twice . . . so, I decided to go both days.  I knew that our chances of qualifying on a Traditional Jackpot were slim, but . . . you really never know.  And in the end, I was so glad that I gave it a shot!

I used to go to Breakaway Action Dogs quite often.  Speedy did a good bit of Rally there.  He actually earned his Level 2 APDT Rally title there, in a course on which he did his one and only successful Stand for Exam in competition.  I used to take both Maddie and Dean Dog there for Agility.  But in all the years I have been doing Agility with Tessa, she and I had never gone there once together.

There were two reasons for this.  The floor used to be a very hard and slippery black rubber matting.  Back when I was running Maddie I didn't think as much about the safety of the flooring as I do now.  I don't think most people really did because we didn't have very many flooring options available.

Also, during the Agility events they don't have room for crating in the main room, so you had to crate out of the car.  Maddie didn't love crating out of the car, but she could handle it.  Dean preferred to crate out of the car.  But Tessa HATES crating out of the car.  She simply cannot settle in the car.  I almost never ask her to do it, and usually when I do we have finished for the day.

When I became interested in entering this trial, I made some inquiries and found out that they have replaced their floor with the same blue flooring that we normally train on!  I decided, in spite of the crating out of the car situation, to go ahead and enter her.  But then, just a few days before the trial, I found out that they have another building now and they were offering crating in there!  Perfect!

So, off to BAD Tessa and I went!  On Saturday we were just running Jackpot and then on Sunday a round of Jumpers and then a second Jackpot.  The Traditional Jackpot was on Saturday.

In spite of unseasonable April snow, we enjoyed a pleasant drive down.  It really brought back a lot of memories to drive into Frederick and go back to this location.  When we got there I found the crate room and got set up.  Stephanie and Oliver were there, so we set up near them.

They were still running 1/2 Jackpot, so we had a bit of time to settle in.  Tessa was rarin' to go!  Every time we walked by the main building, which she had never been inside of in her entire life, she preened and waggled.  It was clear that she knew exactly what was going on in there and she wanted to go in and run!

I took the time to look at the map for the 4/5/C Jackpot.  At first I thought we would never be able to do the gamble.  The line was a big rectangle with a curved tunnel at the "point".  I would have to send her into that, which was not a problem, and then over another jump that was sitting pretty much next to it.  That wasn't going to be a problem, either.  The problem was the next jump.  It was sitting directly behind the tunnel.  If I hugged the gamble line too much when I sent her to the first jump, I would pull her off the second.  Even if she took the second jump, she could end up returning to me and then go back into the jump, or else just waste a whole bunch of time!

I looked at it, tried to plan for it, but finally decided that I needed to actually see what it would be like.

When it was time to walk, I found that it wasn't as bad as it looked on paper. I planned out a strategy and I knew we had as good a shot at it as any!

Well, it turned out that it all worked out well.  We barely squeaked by, but we made it.  When the buzzer went off, Tessa wasn't in a great spot, and she ended up taking an extra A-Frame (which ate up time).  We just made it, though, and she got the gamble!!!!!!



Isn't that blue floor lovely?  It is very nice to run on!

We got the Q!  I am so happy that one of our Jackpots that we need for our C-ATCH is a Traditional one!  That is a big accomplishment!

When we went back on Sunday, Tessa was tired.  I have not kept up with her fitness work as I should, and I need to rectify that at once!

She, very uncharacteristically, knocked the first bar on her Jumpers run.  I thought that NQ'ed us, but it turned out it didn't!  So, we got that Q!!

Then we ran our non-Traditional Jackpot.  This one was very do-able!  The gamble was a Tunnel, A-Frame, Jump, and Tunnel kind of serpentine in the middle of the course.  There was no distance required!  It was really just a matter of getting that done and accumulating the correct amount of points!  In the end I sent her to a tunnel that she didn't need and that almost ate up too much time, but we were just under, and we got the Q!!

I can't believe we got two Jackpot Q's in one weekend!  We struggle with this game so much, at least the Traditional Jackpots!

I am so proud of Tessa and I couldn't be happier!

So . . . all we need now is one Wildcard and one Snooker.  We will go for both in three weeks at Periland!

Check out our progress chart!  Just two more blank spaces!!

JUST FOUR MORE!!!!!

Yes, I used all caps in the title!  Yes, I'm shouting!  But I am shouting with joy and excitement, so I'd say it's allowed!

Tessa and I now just need FOUR MORE Q's to earn our C-ATCH!!!!!!

Wow!  This is such an amazing place to be!  So close!  And we've come so far!  And we are still flying forward as we move closer and closer to our goal!

We went to Barto on Saturday.  I just love Barto.  Tessa loves Barto - she runs really, really well there.  Something about the place really brings out the best in her.  But, also, I feel close to Speedy there.  It's almost like Tessa, Speedy, and I are together again.  It's like he's there with us as we walk the beautiful grounds and while Tessa and I run together.  That makes the whole experience extra special.

And Stephanie and Oliver came along, which always makes it more fun.

Uncharacteristically, we went later in the day to run the last three classes of the day: Wildcard, Colors, and Snooker.  We needed Wildcard and Snooker, so late in the day it was!

It was a miracle that we found crating when we got there, as it was a very full trial.  But we did manage to find a pretty good spot, room for both of us and for Tessa and Oliver's crates.

We had to wait a bit for our first run.  We got there much earlier than we needed to be there.  Better too early, of course, than too late.  But Tessa was rarin' to go and she did have a bit of a difficult time waiting as long as we needed to.

Finally it was our turn.  Tessa was definitely "on" and she did a lovely job in our first run.  I made one tiny handling blip.  I called her name when she was in the air over a double jump.  I actually saw her change her body in the air so she could turn toward me.  I should have waited until she landed!

But she compensated beautifully, and we managed to Q and get 3rd Place.



Her happy demeanor at the end tells the whole story!

Now we only need one more Wildcard Q!  Wildcard can really be a bugaboo for us, so I am extra happy about that.

Next was Colors.  We are working toward our Colors Championship.  We need 15 Level 5 Q's for that, and we were running for #9 on Saturday.

That run was perfectly perfect!  Everything about it was flawless!  We Q'ed and got 4th Place!

We had quite a long wait after that.  They had to run Levels 1 and 2 Colors, and then they did 1 and 2 Snooker before they did 3, 4, 5, and C.

It was very, very late when we finally walked.  I was tired, and I was not thinking as sharply as I would have liked.  I bumbled around out there for the entire walk through, trying to figure out an opening that I thought would work well for us, but the best I could come up with wasn't great. 

As I was watching some other people run, I saw a PERFECT opening!!  Generally I don't like to change my plan to one that I haven't walked, but I considered the matter carefully and decided that this time it was smart to do so.  After all, Snooker is a game where you need to be able to think on your feet!  HA!

Well, it went perfectly with the unwalked plan!  I hesitated just a bit at one jump, but it didn't cause an issue.  Here is our run . . .



I love the serpentine at the end!!  I love how she dug in as she executed it!!

Well, that was our 4th Level 5 Snooker Q, so we only need one more of those now, too.  When I realized that, I was just utterly dumbfounded!

Q and 1st Place!  While I am not into placements, it felt good to place above an entire group of dogs who had placed above us all day long!  Tessa just rocked this run!

Tessa put her heart into all three of her runs, and she compensated for some little mistakes of mine.

I just love this girl.  I just love that we are doing this together!  I love that we are having so much fun as we accomplish this goal!

Now, just four to go!  The two Jackpot are going to be the tough ones.  We are running in two Jackpot classes this coming weekend.  We shall see how that goes!

But, no matter how it takes, I will love every second of it!

GO TESSA!!!

 

Tessa waiting in her crate for her first run of the day.  "Can we please run NOW?!!?"