That’s when we discovered Hero Discs.  I’ve noticed over the past year, lots of people have switched over to Hero from Fastback – and there are so many varieties.  I’m the one who handles all of the disc ordering in the house, so I know them all by name and weight and function.

We switched Lilli to Super Hero discs exclusively after trying all of the “Super” style discs (Super = hard bite/durable) – and pretty much everyone we talk to – all the old cats – think it’s ridiculous that we use such a heavy, soft disc for freestyle.   We did come from an Ultimate background after all, so although Super Heros are the heaviest disc, they are still quite a bit lighter and smaller than the 175′s we’re used to tossing.

When we got Moxie -Tracy had tested her on Fastbacks, so I tried those out first.  She had a really solid 85% catch percentage right out of the shelter.  I didn’t want to mess with it, so I stuck with light discs.  Fastbacks had the same effect though and Moxie’s typical ACD jaws of death literally tore through each disc in one session.  I heard about the new Hero 235′s, so I got a set of those reading that they fly like a Fastback, but they are more durable.  That is accurate – they don’t tear like Fastbacks do, but they still get really punctured and edgy after a few sessions – albeit lasting much longer than it’s predecessor.

Moxie and I have been practicing for our freestyle routine for the upcoming USDDN Fun in the Sun Qualifier this weekend and her catch percentage the past 2 weeks or so has tanked.  The conditions have been windier and her inexperience has made it hard for her to read discs and again, being a cattle dog, she tends to pre-jump in anticipation.  After 5 or so rough routines in a row, and most of the misses coming on her usually-rock-solid 20 yard toss and catch, we did a run-through with Jason’s Super Heros.  It was also the first practice without 20 mph wind gusts too so go figure.

The result was much improved.  She had a much higher catch percentage than with the 235′s and BOY does she LOVE to tug those rubbery discs!!!  I can hang on fine if I keep her front feet off the ground, but if she gets full tug leverage with those discs – wow she’ll take my fingers off with her head whip!  So I’ve decided this weekend for the event, I’ll run her with Super Heros and see how that works.  I’ll likely catch all the same “heavy disc” flack from the veterans…

Next up – a post about all the different disc types, styles, weights, etc that we’ve tried over the past 3 years.

This was Jason and Lilli’s second freestyle competition and they rocked it!  Unfortunately, only 2 novice teams showed up.  That may make it appear that it wasn’t much to finish first…  To give FULL credit where it’s due, Jason and Lilli scored 79 points between their freestyle and D/A scores, (at Canis #1, Jason and Lilli scored 65 – what an improvement!) and the top finisher, Gary Duke, in the Super Open Division (expert) finished with 85 points I think it was…and they score more for each area by 3 points (I believe that’s how it works). We’re confident that she’ll be able to keep up with the big boys when she moves up from Novice at our next event!

Lilli caught every single disc and Jason made good throws each and every time.  It was a brilliant routine and we’re so proud of our freestyle team!  Check out Lilli’s newest trick, the butterfly back flip!  It was SICK!  Here’s the video:

Kai and I registered for her first Distance/Accuracy event.  My expectations were to keep her on the field, and my hopes were that she’d play just like we do at the parks and fields we train on.  D/A includes 2 rounds – 60 seconds each – where the object is to throw the disc within the boundaries of the field – ideally in the 40 yard zone.  The team is awarded .5 points additional for each catch made in the air versus with any paws on the ground.

Our first round, I didn’t notice that in the next field over, people we practicing long throws with their dogs.  She lined up fine and went around fine – ran out, caught the first disc, spotted the dog in the next field streaking after a long disc and schoooooommm…she was off to the races after that dog and his disc.

The next round, our plan was to keep it really, really short and add lots of tug with the goal of just keeping her on the field. We asked that the other competitors keep the plastic out of the air while we were up and that worked like a charm.  I first tossed the disc 5 yards and recalled and she came.  Then 7 yards a few times and she came each time and we tugged each time.  Jason thought I certainly could have stretched it to a further throw – I was a bit too nervous.  We got a nice cheer from the crowd each time she caught the discs and came back!

After the event was over, Jason and I took her back out on the field, with other dogs playing nearby, and threw long throws.  She came back each and every time!  I’m so glad this first time experience is over and done with and we can look forward to a solid round next Saturday!  The camera didn’t record Kai’s rounds.  Jason was judging and something happened and it didn’t record.  Can’t say I’m disappointed!  We’ll have fresh video of a great 2 rounds next weekend!

The first date for Canis Major #1 was sometime in September, but it was rained out.  Then rained out again the next weekend.  Followed by several weeks of finals and worlds freestyle competitions…finally we had a date…AND IT DIDN’T RAIN!  It was also close enough to Halloween to make it an extra Spooktacular event with costumes and everything!

We had been working on the routine for over a month with a couple-week-long hiatus in the middle where we did nothing but free play and practicing vaults.  Jason kept the routine simple, with staple moves we knew were solid and we added the noodle in the beginning for fun. (Noodle is Lilli’s latest trick – a backwards walking weave)  It was a windy day but they all had a ton of time to throw and practice with the wind and our Hero Discs made it easier.  Jason got several compliments on his great throws in the D/A round of the event.

The big lesson I learned…check the CD with the routine music.  Make sure it plays.    Of course, ours didn’t so that made for an interesting beginning to the routine and some extra time for Lilli and Jason to connect before starting.  I don’t think anyone really got the coolness of the song we picked considering it sounded all crackly from us rigging the iphone to their equipment.  After the music drama was over…Jason and Lilli rocked it.  Here’s their vid.

Lilli and Jason took first place on Saturday.  I am so proud of them, I can’t even express it all.  Lilli has won everything she’s ever tried, the first time out.  She’s amazing.  If she wasn’t our first disc dog, she’d probably already be competing on a National and World level.  I guess everyone starts out with an amazing crash dummy dog that they break while trying to figure out how this disc dogging thing works.  It started with just wanting a dog to fetch and retrieve a frisbee…and look at her now.  Proud Mama. 

So that’s the preamble…

Lately I’ve been working on Lilli’s contacts.  Not much honestly – I’ve pretty much sold out on aility lately since Lilli started vaulting – it’s just so stinkin’ fun!    Anyway, we originally trained contacts as two-on-two-off with nose touch.  She would do it, but we had to encourage and remind her to come ALL THE WAY DOWN the contact equipment and Holy Moley did that take forever.  For such a ridiculously fast dog, her contacts move in reverse.   Today I had a brilliant idea…I heard music and saw Angels and the image in my mind became clear…the tasty, juicy, irresistable roast as the reward at the end of the obstacle…it was a FRISBEE!

I took Lilli out as I normally would, with a disc in hand (only one this time) and she fully expected us to play disc.  I pulled out the teeter and put it in the middle of the yard with no other equipment.  I set her up and asked her to teeter.  Now at this point, I didn’t say “touch” or “com’on’” or “all the way” or any of the “helping” I would normally offer to get her to do a proper contact.  (Susan Garrett suggested this as a bandaid for her contacts from how I trained them initially – with a plastic lid to a salad dressing.  If the lid wasn’t there – she wouldn’t target.)

Man, was she confused.  She went 3/4 of the way down and started offering behaviours.  Had no idea what I wanted but she sure wanted that frisbee.  She sat on the teeter, laid down, bowed, stared intently…finally after about 2 minutes she took a small step down…then another…then another…until she had one paw on the grass.  The I looked at her and said nothing (before this I didn’t give her any eye contact or stare down).  She slowly put another foot in the grass.  Then 30 seconds or so later she nose touched.  I said a big YES and released her and threw the disc.

We repeated this about 5 times.  I only rewarded average or better performances – another great Susan method – a couple times she went slower than the time before – and finally when she had the nicest, smoothest trip down the teeter, two on and two off and nose touch I ended the practice.  Tossed the disc several times and she went for a swim.

And I took a deep breath of relief.

Finally…the light went on a bit.  She’s learning to think instead of waiting for me to tell her everything.  Finally.

We’ll continue to practice this “disc reward” strategy for agility and see if it keeps the stakes really high for her.  There is no reward as juicy and irresistable for Lilli as her disc.  I’m so proud of  how she took on our new game today with control, curiosity and concentration.  She’s such a spectacular girl. 

Jason and I had a conversation today about the trial this past weekend.  I have really high expectations.  I expect to Q every time and do it in style.  Sometimes being that ambitious gets me fantastic results.  Other times it gives me an opportunity be hard on myself.  You say…“You got 3 out of 4 Q’s in your first trial…you should be stoked!”.

We did well this past weekend.  And looking back I got to see that what I was about this weekend was winning.  Not being great.  I’m not sure how to explain the distinction other than to go back to what Susan Garrett said on her blog about the lady that won first place but didn’t meet her criteria in her run or the post that really stuck with me about her own trialing experiences with her dogs.  She said that someone came up to her and asked her why she did so poorly in these trials. 

Susan responded saying that’s exactly what they were – trials.  They are practice for the big, important runs.  She could handle the dog along the course in a way that she’s absolutely sure they’ll take the right obstacle, OR she could handle a new, creative, interesting or tricky way to challenge the dog.  Maybe the dog won’t respond perfectly or Q – AND opportunity is created to learn something new!

That – to me – is being great.  And great isn’t the same as winning.  In fact, sometimes not winning is great.    If I had Q’d all for of my runs this weekend, my ego-bubble wouldnt’ have been burst and I wouldn’t have crashed back down to Earth.  I would have gone to run-throughs tonight with the big ol’ ego taped to my forehead and I wouldn’t have “gotten” anything new.  By failing, I went tonight with a whole new view of what Lilli and I were up to creating.

We qualified for the standard run with a 90 and finished 2nd.  I was amazed.  I thought for sure we didn’t qualify.  On the jumpers run, I thought we did a lot better – although I had the same issue on the weaves. I was really pleased with our finish.  However – we didn’t qualify becasue of a knocked bar on the 2nd jump.

I debated a lot over that lead out.  I could have handled it from the inside and it would have left me on the outside of course onside the weaves.  That’s fine, but I’d have to run all the way around the wide side for the next several jumps.  So instead, I decided to lead out on the first two jumps and do a front cross onto the 3rd jump.  That plan seemed great – until I pulled off the front cross early and she didn’t take the 2nd jump.  It was all jumbo from there.  I expected that she’d take the rest of the jumps that we missed no problem.  I’m not sure what happened later in the run.

Anyway – here are both runs.  Overall a mess – I was really disappointed in my handling.  Great learning experience.  I think the second run was an improvement over the first even though we didn’t Q.  I got to practice and experience moving past a bad first run and starting over fresh.

This is the Novice Standard Run.  We qualified with a 90 and placed second.

This is the Novice Jumpers with Weaves Run.  We didn’t qualify because of the knocked bar on the 2nd jump.

Here are our first 2 runs ever.  I’m really surprised how much leeway is given in Novice.  You can make mistakes and still qualify.  I thought for sure we had blown it in each of these runs, but it turns out we took first and scored 95 in each.  That’s just crazy.

Anyway here you go.  Please feel free to pull it apart.    Suggestions and laughter are welcome!

This is the Novice Standard run.

This is the Novice Jumpers with Weaves run.

So here are a few things that I learned this weekend – first hand experience with agility trials.

10. 6 month cut off – Only a couple people mentioned it to us…(and none of them mattered because they weren’t the judge) but no dogs under 6 months old are allowed.  Leilani was there – she just turned 10 weeks, so just a little under 6 months…

9.  Lots of leeway in Novice - Man, there is a lot of leeway in Novice.  You can jump over the wrong jump, go through the wrong end of the tunnel, then reset and go back on course and it’s only a 5 point fault!  Don’t know who did that this weekend…

8.  Meeting before the start - Not really shocking, but cool to know.  The judge meets with the handlers before each run and goes over the rules and answers any questions. 

7.  Don’t line up too early - Several people this weekend that we were chatting with shared that we shouldn’t line up for our run too early.  There is a lot of tension in the starting area, barking and people riling up their dogs in preparation.  Wait until you see your buddy set up (see Pick a Buddy below) and then head into line about 5 minutes before your run.

6.  Pick a buddy - We ran next to the same dogs/handlers both days this weekend.  So while I was waiting to run, we chatted and I said that I’d keep an eye out for her when she went up to line up that way I knew I was coming up soon.  We ended up chatting all weekend and “being buddies” the next day too.  Turns out we were also competing for 1st and 2nd spots all weekend too. 

5.  Take Videos - If you have a friend or partner with you, ask them to video each of your runs.  It’s amazing to look back at what “actually happened” versus “what I think happened” in each run.  I can go back slowly and over and over and see exactly what happened in each problem area.  We use the Flip Mino Series Camcorder as an inexpensive and really portable option.

4.  85 is Q – You need 85 points to Qualify in AKC Novice.  This article is really simply written and explains the differences between AKC and USDAA points and qualifications.  I definitely need to read it a few more times!

3.  Weaves are freebies – This detail is covered in the above article but it’s a super cool point to know so it deserves its own number in the countdown.  You don’t get marked off for missing or messing up on your weave attempts.  As long as you complete them, there is no penalty.  You just lose time from having to do them over and over, and over…(wonder who had to do that this weekend…)

2.  Don’t stick both stickers…- When you check in to a 2 day trial, or a 3 or 4 day trial for that matter, each day that you’re registered for runs, you get a sticker to put on with your number on it.  Don’t stick all the stickers to yourself the same day.  I know that sounds funny, but really.  I saw 2 stickers and put one on my hat and one on my pants thinking that – Wow I just got an extra one… – yah, no.  Thankfully I could just wear the same hat on Sunday!

1.  Knocked Bars are auto NQ – On our last run, the Novice JWW, we knocked the second jump bar.  Someone came and told us that knocking a bar was an automatic no qualify.  I had no idea.  I also didn’t find this on the above article, but a couple blogs referenced this rule.  If anyone has something more “official” or any more detail on this, please post it in the comments, I’d love to read it!  I chose this one as the #1 thing to know this weekend since it was the only reason I didn’t get 2 double Q’s this weekend and run the tables – even though it was C.R.A.P.

If anyone has any more cool rules or tips the newbies could use, please share!  I’ll read over them and make a new list of the best tips.  Lilli and I had a blast this weekend – Jason mostly avoided being bored out of his mind.    I look forward to our next trial in a few weeks.  Hopefully we’ll be a little more seasoned and prepared by then…