Happy Howl-a-days!!

My doggie siblings and I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Howl-a-days! We were lucky enough to get to see Santa a few weeks ago (I got to tell him what I wanted for Christmas...hope he understood dog-talk)

Abbey, Owen, Baxter and Ripley

Have a safe and happy Holiday Season! See you all in the new year. Licks, Abbey!

2008 ends with a great run!

Friday morning Mom packed Baxter and I up in the car and we headed to Acton Agility's AAC trial. This was our last trial of the season (and probably the last time I jump 10" too!) I had a rough start in the morning, Mom pissed me off in the Masters Gamble and I just refused to do the contacts. You should have seen me jump from above the yellow! :) Ok, I know that isn't good but I have to keep her in her place.

We then went on to do 2 Masters Standard courses. The first one I was still in a mood (I am a wire fox terrier you know...) and I jumped off the contact of the frame and missed my weave entry. Mom made me go back and do the contact again, I hate that!

Our next run was going quite well. Mom was being really nice to me and wasn't screwing up on the handling so I was running nice and fast. We had done almost the whole course when Mom said frame and I just wasn't listening and went into the tunnel instead :( Mom said she was sad because it was a beautiful run up to that point and we only had 3 more obstacles to go. Oh well, I tried! :)

Here is a video of that run:


The final run of the day was Masters Jumpers. Mom was in a rush to get out of there because a snowstorm was happening outside so we both ran fast and didn't make any mistakes. I came out with my 5th Q, half way to Bronze :)

Here is my Masters Jumper Q run:

Rules are made to be broken (or changed as it worked out)

The Agility Association of Canada (AAC) put through a bunch of changes to be implemented in Jan 2009. The most exciting change for me is that I can move from Specials where I jump 10" back to Regulars where I will be able to jump 16" We had no idea that this was going to happen but after training these past months at the 16" height and doing so well, I am VERY excited about it. Look out Regulars, here I come. There are also a few new titles and I am kind of close to a couple, so look out...I might have a few new letters behind my name soon.

Exciting news, I am heading to the final agility trial of the year next weekend! I get to do 2 standard runs and 1 jumpers run. I will let you know how that goes :)

Spot On Fun Match

So we ended up going to Spot On's fun match today to work on my 16" jumping. I was a good girl in the jumpers run going perfect. Mom thought about adding in the 12 weaves after my run so she went back after and we re-ran that part and I was a very good girl in the weaves. In the standard runs I was a very good girl, maintaining my start line, getting my contacts and weaves (I missed it once when my mom put her leg out and pushed me off the line...how rude!) My dad was nice enough to take some video of us so here are some better ones of me:

This is me doing the jumpers course:


This is me doing the standard courses:

Jumping machine :)

So I have been on the new 16" jump height training for less than a month now and I am rocking! My mom is so proud of me, she says I am jumping great. We have been training pretty hard recently and mom is now talking about even re-training my weaves using 2x2's. She says that if they can help B to get his entry every time that maybe I can learn too. I have done just one day so far and was a bit confused but mom says she's not giving up on it. I will let you know how it goes. Aunt Andrea was so nice enough to take some video of me last night for everyone to see. The lighting isn't great in the arena but at least you can see how good I jump :)







On Sunday mom is taking Baxter and I to McCann's for a fun match :) I can't wait to play at the higher height in a more charged up environment. I will see if someone can video tape me and then I will post it...(the lighting there is much better!)

Back to training...

So my Mom has been neglecting my agility training these days spending all her time with the border collie boys :( She says that she was giving me a much deserved break but I think that is just bull. I guess she is feeling guilty (I think biting her the other day helped her to realize this) so she took me outside today to work on skills she says. I thought I had pretty good skills but she said we are on a mission this winter/spring for something really cool (a secret but if it works...she will tell me and then I will tell you).

So for the next 6 months I will be using this blog with my Mom's help to track my training to see if we can become an even better team. Might be a bit boring so I will label the post "Training" if you would rather not read about it. If I have something exciting happen in my life I will put a cool title to let you know.

Day 1 of back to training:
Mom has moved the jumps up to 16" today. She says going forward, I will only jump 16" in training and CKC agility. Sadly they will not let me move up to 16" in AAC so we may have to do some of those trials at 10" or FEO.

We first started with weave entries. I never learned 2x2 weaving and instead of going back to basics, Mom has decided to just use poles 1-2 at an angle of 1 o'clock and 7 o'clock to help with entries, we also had 4 more poles totally straight and all 6 poles were staked. We started with offside entries first, and at pretty easy entries. We were able to do entries from 2 feet back from pole 1, Mom really pushing me to stride through the whole 6, throwing a cookie for reward. We did 6 of those in the first session. We then moved to onside entries and I had a bit of trouble understanding the open entry of pole 1-2 so I was going in after pole 3. Mom had to support the entry to get it right...she is re-thinking the open poles. We did 6 on that side also.

We moved onto jumping then. First we did 2 jumps with Mom doing a post turn, I stayed out and jumped those well. I did 2 of those each direction. Next we did serpentines. I missed the serp jump the first time coming past it to my mom. I wasn't rewarded for that so the next time I did it correctly. I did 2 of those in each direction also. Next we did threadles and I found that much easier to come in than take jump 2 but was running under jump 2 when being sent back out. Mom needed to move back and give me a bit move room to get a stride to jump the 16" at a slice. I did a few of those after really nicely she said. Our final work was on 270's. Mom was very proud of me for staying out and doing them. I did come in a few times as I wasn't really reading Mom's body but she says that I was good and that is why we are practicing. For the final one I got a jackpot of my breakfast! woohoo.

So that is it for now. Mom said she will be more organized with the record keeping tomorrow like she does with the boys. Our training plan tomorrow is:

Weave Entries - onside/offside
270's
Threadles
Serpentines
Set Point jumps

New Sport?!

Did I ever have FUN on Saturday! My mom took me to a Dock Diving trial to try my paw at a new sport. I LOVE water and swimming so much, it is my second favorite thing to do, after agility of course. I had been learning to dive off the dock all summer so this was the test.

I did 6 jumps all together and had a personal best jump of 4'8" which both Mom and I thought was pretty darn good for such a small terrier like I am. Sadly I didn't make the finals (imagine!) but when they were handing out the ribbons I got called up to receive the "Shortest Jump" ribbon...how rude, lol ;)

Look at me jump!! Don't you think that looks hard?! and look how cute I am!!

For my final jump I just wouldn't go off the dock (it is 3' above the water...and the water was sooo cold) so Mom let me go from the ramp...what fun!!

So next year I am going to work hard with mom to see if I can learn to jump a little bit further. It is definitely a sport that I could love.

Canadian National Agility Championships were a blast!

Well it has been a few months since I have last written but I really had nothing to report. After achieving my Agility Champion title, my mom and I took almost 2 months off from agility trials and just concentrated on skills getting ready for our trip to New Brunswick and the Canadian National Agility Championships.

My human parents decided that if we were going to head to the east coast of Canada that we would make a vacation out of the trip. This was the first time any of us have visited the area.

We left very early on Saturday morning, heading through Quebec which took a very long time!! I am not really sure that my mom remembered that I hate to drive as this was the most driving I have ever had to endure. By the time we entered New Brunswick, mom let me come to the front and sit on her lap! (that never happens!!) We stopped at the welcome centre to get some maps and stuff so we took a picture of the Welcome sign :)

Mom and I in New Brunswick :)

We just stopped for the night in Edmunston then the next morning headed south to Moncton, NB where we stayed for 4 nights. On the way to Moncton, we stopped in Hartland to see the longest covered bridge in the World. I really just wanted to jump in the water below but no swimming for me that day (supposedly it was too cold and rainy!?)

Longest covered bridge in the world - Hartland, NB

Ripley, Baxter, Mom & I at the bridge (see I wanted to jump into the water!)

The next day we headed out early again to go to PEI. In order to get onto the island you either have to cross the Confederation Bridge which is 12.9 km's of the most amazing bridge or else you have to take a ferry. We took the bridge and even I thought it was cool ;)

Confederation Bridge - 12.9 km's long

We spent a nice day in PEI doing lots of walking in Charlottetown before heading north to Cavendish and the home of the novel Anne of Green Gables. My parents did some shopping in a few little towns and then even went in to a restaurant that they raved about (without us I might add!!). They said that if anyone ever went to PEI, they must stop at the Prince Edward Island Preserve Co.'s restaurant as it was just amazing food. (http://www.preservecompany.com)

I noticed on the way back to Moncton that there were lots of signs with these huge looking dogs on them beside a car. My parents were hoping to see these huge animals but I know I speak for Baxter, Rip and I when I say that we are glad we didn't see one!

Look at the size of that dog!!

The next day we headed to our 4th province, Nova Scotia. I was truly getting sick of getting up early each morning and then spend the day in that terrible car! What were my parents thinking?!?! We spend the day in Halifax which was a very nice city. We walked along the pier and again I was denied swimming. My parents ate in a seafood restaurant on the pier but did we get invited?! Nooooo....

Mom and I in Nova Scotia

Wednesday morning we left our nice hotel room in Moncton to head to Sussex and the Nationals. We didn't drive directly there as we went to visit Hopewell Rocks and Fundy National Park. I was the lucky dog to get to go down to the sand and walk around the rocks. My parents thought I might have been able to go swimming but once we were down there they realized that it was too muddy and didn't let me go :( It was however very cool to see and if you ever get to NB, this is a place to visit. (www.thehopewellrocks.ca)

Hopewell Rocks, NB

The cutest wire fox terrier at Hopewell Rocks ;)

After leaving Hopewell my mom said they had to find us a place to swim (isn't she the best?!) While we were driving to visit a lighthouse they spotted a great little place to let us swim. Man was it ever great!! I got to try out my new life jacket that mom bought for this trip, don't I look special?

Swimming in the Bay of Fundy

CANADIAN NATIONAL AGILITY CHAMPIONSHIPS!

We arrived in Sussex, NB and settled into our little townhouse that we rented for the 5 nights with our friends Tiffany, Dave, Kyra, Rio and Piper.

Thursday morning Tiffany, mom, Rio, Piper and I headed to the Nationals site to do the warm up games. We waited for most of the day in line ups trying to get into the ring. We did 3 warm up rounds which I just wasn't in the mood for. What do you expect when I have been driving around Canada the past 5 days and then waiting in the blazing sun all day?! I think mom was worried but I wasn't.

Friday was a GREAT day! We started the morning off with Standard 1. I had a great run making no mistakes earning a 9th place ribbon! Next was Jumpers 1, again having a perfect round coming in 11th place (missing 10th by less than .07 seconds) Our final round of the day was Steeplechase 1. I had a smoking round coming away with my 3rd clean round of the day, 10th place, a Q, my Masters Steeplechase Dog of Canada (MSCDC) Title and the chance to go to the 2nd round!! (a first for me). We went home very happy with our day.

Wasting no time on the teeter in Standard 1

Saturday was not such a great day. Our first round of the day was Standard 2. I was running really nice when we came to the A-frame. I don't know what came into me but I decided to leap from the top of the frame rather than going into the yellow (woops). Mom said that because I had leaped, she couldn't be in the right spot to get me into the weaves so we came away with 15 faults for that round. Our next round was Gamble 1. Mom brought out my squeaky ball to work on my "out" work and I just couldn't help myself but it blew my mind!! I couldn't think of anything but my ball. When we went into the ring I was sure that I could find the ball. I didn't listen to mom at all, just ran around taking jumps to see if the ball would appear. Mom said the only good thing was that I took jumps and tunnels while I totally ignored her. When the final gamble bell went, I tried really hard for her getting the out to the tunnel but when it came to that final jump...I just couldn't do it :( Our final round was Steeplechase 2. Mom said that they only way we could get into the finals is if we run like crazy. I was running such an amazing run, having a beautiful running A-frame, 2 perfect weave entries and fast weaves and we were just in the final stages of the jumps when I just didn't feel good at all. I couldn't help myself and had to go :( We got eliminated...how awful :(( Mom said that she was proud of how I ran before that though and was glad it wasn't in a class that was important.

Weaving machine in Steeplechase 2

Sunday didn't fare much better for us. We started our day with Gamble 2. Mom didn't bring the ball out (she said she learnt her lesson on that one) and we ran an amazing opening. Unfortunately I didn't get the final gamble which kept us out of the placings. Our next round was Jumpers 2. The heat was getting to me and I decided to go under the tire jump (mom was NOT impressed) and then I had another refusal having 10 fault round.

Jumping the Hoop Jump in Gamble 2

Overall we ended up in 14th place overall. Mom said that she was still happy with my performance and that I was a good terrier. We spent 3 days heading home through the USA (making the best stop at Clean Run where we got a bunch of toys!!)

a VERY tired Wire Fox Terrier!!

ATChC Abbey!

ATChC Abbey

Yes...look at that Ribbon! Isn't it huge? I had to get mom to hold me up with it as it was too big for me to have on my collar. I am now officially the first Wire Fox Terrier to ever achieve the Agility Association of Canada's ATChC (Agility Trial Champion of Canada) Title!

This past weekend we headed for a 4hr drive east (and remember I stand up and pant the whole way in the car) to Ottawa to compete in the OVBCC/All Dogs Agility trial. It was an incredibly hot weekend and I really didn't like the heat, plus I was tired from the drive. I decided that I would give my mom just 1 Q over the weekend and that was the Masters Team to earn my Masters Team Dog of Canada Title and that gave me ATChC! We would like to thank Tiffany and Piper for being our awesome team partners to help us achieve this goal. Mom seems very proud and I got the coolest toy ever as a gift :)

Nationals here I come!

Woofhoo!! We are headed to Sussex, New Brunswick this coming August for the AAC National Agility Championships! Awesome logo, don't you think? (though I do think a wire fox would have been a better dog choice ;))

So this past weekend I competed in the Ontario Regional Championships and did awesome earning 445 points and qualifying for Nationals for my 3rd year in a row.

Friday - Steeplechase Qualifier
On Friday there was the Masters Steeplechase round that was the qualifier for the Sasha's Blend steeplechase finals. I was a bit off and missed the weave entry and had to come back to do it. Then just before the end of the run, I thought for sure that I saw a big piece of food so I ran over to grab it and guess what...it was just a stupid dandilion!! Mom didn't seem impressed that I left her but what is a terrier to do?! In the end I still did well and ended up getting my 9th Masters Steeplechase Q! Only 1 more to go for that title now too! We also earned 6th place which was a really pretty pink ribbon...I like pink. Unfortunately I missed out on the steeplechase finals :( Maybe at Nationals?!

Saturday - Regionals Day 1
Gamble - 6th place finish. We started our day in the gamble ring and mom was very pleased with me. I was able to get the mini-gamble once and racked up quite a bit of points. I didn't get the main gamble which was very hard as you had to go away from the tunnel and go to the teeter. I misunderstood and went back in the tunnel. If only she would show me those course sheets BEFORE the run!!! ;)
Jumpers - 13th place finish. Our next round was jumpers. There was a nasty tunnel call off after the tire jump to the tunnel that a lot of people went off course on. Mom was very worried about an off course, so she called me off by mistake prior to jumping the tire so we got a refusal fault. If she didn't do that, we would have done well as I was flying!
Standard - 6th place finish. Our last round of the day was standard. I was very hot and tired from our long day so I had slowed down. Mom kept telling me to move faster but at least I got all my contacts and the weaves! Some humans are never happy ;)

Sunday - Regionals Day 2
Jumpers - 5th place finish. Our first round today was jumpers. Mom didn't make any mistakes today and I was running at a good pace. I went clean and got a good time bonus too!
Standard - 6th place finish. Woops, I made a boo-boo on this one. I sometimes can't help myself and just don't want to touch that yellow on the contacts. So I jumped off the dog walk before the yellow so that I could get to the jump/tunnel combo quicker. I heard after that because of that, we got 5 faults and lost our time bonus...sorry mom!
Gamble - 7th place finish. This gamble was pretty hard but my mom was "thrilled" that I got the mini gamble which was tunnel out to an A-frame (I got the contact..woofhoo). We ended with some really great points but didn't get the main gamble.

So with my great individual finishes (mom says its a very competitive division these days) I came in (drumroll......) 7th place overall in my division!

I will try and post some pictures from Nationals soon.

And then there was 1....

So with the help of our friends Breezie and Colleen on Sunday, we were able to get our second Masters Team Q!! woofhoo! I did almost go off course from a major hard trap at the tunnel but I used my listening ears and heard mom call me back to the weaves. Breezie is a superstar and did her side with such ease! Thanks Colleen and Breezie!

Countdown Stats:
1 Masters Team Q = 1 left for ATChC
2 left for MSCDC

This coming weekend is the Ontario Regional Championships. They are being held in Ilderton, ON from Friday to Sunday. If we qualify at Regionals we will make the trip to Sussex, New Brunswick for the Nationals in August. I feel that I am ready to take on Ontario so lets hope that the courses are good, the weather is good, and like I always say, that I get out of the right terrier side of the bed ;)



For more info, check out the Ontario Regionals website at http://www.dogsportemporium.com/ontregionals2008/

a WFT record!!

You are looking at the 1st Wire Fox Terrier to earn the Masters Gamble Dog of Canada (MGDC) Title! Yes...I did it!! Today was a good day :)

I got to sleep in a bit this morning which is always good for getting out on the right side of the terrier bed ;) We headed just north of our house (did I ever mention I hate to drive?) to Spot On's AAC Agility trial. The weather wasn't really that great when we got there but I was really happy to be outside and able to roll in the grass before my run. But don't worry, once I was finished rolling around, I got serious and was ready to run!



The first course of the day was the Masters Gamble. My mom picked out a nice course for me that I was able to run real fast and was perfect timing for when the buzzer went. The main gamble was a jump (easy) to the tunnel along the line (easy) out to a tire jump (ok, not easy). I didn't really understand what mom was saying so I ran over to her. She then said "go out hoop" and sure enough...I understood! Out I went over 20' away from my mom, jumped to tire jump (we call it hoop) and then she called me back to jump the first jump again and the tunnel again. YAY, I did it! I got my 3rd Gamble Q to get my Masters title.

I didn't stop there for Q's either. My next course was the Masters Snooker, which is my favorite course. Mom teases me saying I am the Snooker Queen but she doesn't seem to mind when I get those Q's. Here is me and my mom running the course (thanks Andrea for taking the pics of me today!)


Our final course of the day was Steeplechase. I was smoking and my mom didn't make me mad (which is always a good thing...I bite you know!) She said she was very proud of me because I got 2 great A-frame contacts and nailed the weaves. Sounds pretty good, don't you think?

Well tomorrow I am headed back there to see if my friends Breeze & Colleen can help us to get a Masters Team Q. I will let you know how that goes :)

Countdown Stats:
1 Masters Gamble Q = 2 left for ATChC
1 Steeplechase Q = 2 left for MSCDC

Cool new tags

Ok, I know that I said this blog was about agility but I just had to show off my new tag that came in the mail from, get this, Australia!! My mom found this amazing website that sells the coolest dog tags and they are really inexpensive! They had the Canadian flag as one of them so she got us those...because as I say "I AM Canadian!" hehe.

Owen, Baxter, Ripley and I (I didn't really want to be seen with the boys, so I closed my eyes ;))

Don't we look awesome with our new tags? For all my American friends and "boyfriends" (yes, thanks for all the offers...I am very flattered ;)) they also had the American flag.

Check out their website http://www.pawprintpettags.com/

Now on an agility note...this weekend we are going to the Spot On AAC Agility trial in Blackstock, ON. I am running in the following Masters classes: Gamble, Standard, Snooker, Steeplechase and Team. That means that I have 2 opportunities (Gamble and Team) to come away with more Q's towards my champion title!! Lets hope my mom doesn't screw up and make me mad! I will give you an update next week.

Till then,

Licks, Abbey

Another title on the line

Along with working towards my ATChC, I am also working on getting my Masters Steeplechase Dog of Canada title. In order to get this title, you need 10 Q's. I had 4 Q's at the end of 2007 and have so far been able to get 3 this year, just another 3 more to go :)

Here is Q#6 at the Rat Pack Trial in April:

The beginning of my blog...

Welcome to my blog. As you can see by the pictures and the heading, I am a wire fox terrier who competes in agility. I am hoping that 2008 will be the year I will become the first WFT to receive the Agility Trial Champion of Canada (ATChC) title!

The history of how I became such a great agility terrier :

My mom and I started our agility training back in 2004 at a place called Grand Paws in Edmonton, Alberta. Our teachers were Gayle Grant and Sue Charlton, they were awesome and taught me how to perform all the agility equipment to compete. My mom entered me in my first agility trial in Aug 2004 just prior to us moving to Ontario, I got my first Q and was hooked on the competition (I am very competitive...I bite my mom if she messes up!)

I was always a very fast little girl and had a lot of challenges with having to "stop" on the table. Can you imagine? Why would anyone want to stop in the middle of the agility field and lay down on such a rough table?! So it took me a while to get my Agility Dog of Canada (ADC) title. I completed that task in Sept '06 and headed into Advanced standard. I had much more success in the advanced ring (though the table was still in there...how stupid) and I completed my Advanced Agility Dog of Canada (AADC) title in Sept '07. During these 2 years I did finish my Starters Games Title (SGDC), my Masters Snooker Dog of Canada (MSDC) title and my Masters Jumpers Dog of Canada (MJDC).

2008 has started off with a BANG! I have come into my own and have completed the 2 Advanced Team Q's needed to get my Adanced Games Title (AGDC). I also completed my Masters Agility Dog of Canada (MADC) title by March! I am now on countdown to my final Q's to ATChC. I only need 1 more Masters Gamble and 2 more Masters Team! Keep your fingers crossed for good courses, good handling and me getting out of the right side of the terrier bed the morning of the trial ;)

I will keep you up to date on how it is going :)
Licks, Abbey