MAWTA

Inseguire Keepsake and Ruffwinds Riddock
Reserve Open Terrier and Open Terrier Champion Respectively

Once again the Inseguire gang headed down to Nebraska at the end of June for the MAWTA Trial. The two-day trip is always well worth it as this is a fantastic trial in a beautiful location. The surrounding areas are rich with quarry and the dogs and I spent the Friday before the trial and the Monday after hunting with friends. Unfortunately we did not get into anything exciting on either excursion but I suppose that is why they call it "hunting" and not "finding". The trial that happened in between turned out to be the highlight of the weekend. Saturday started off well with Kiwi coming in second in flat racing and winning the hurdles in her division (over females). She was in serious contention in the final against some large, fast, older males when she misjudged the height of the last hurdle and nicked it with her back legs. How she did not crash into a somersault I will never fully understand but her athleticism and determination helped her do a hand-walk for a few strides and get right back into the race. Unfortunately for her it happened so near the finish she did not have a chance to place competitively. Thankfully though she did not injure herself and went on to help her mom win the family class later that day.

Sunday came early and we were back at the track, fresh and ready for another shot at the boys. Kiwi had her game face on and won both the flat and hurdle legs of her division handily. Being her first trial over high hurdles (puppies jump lower) she had to learn to adjust her stride and jump a little higher. You could tell in the steeplechase race she was jumping very deliberately and paying close attention to her take offs and landings and it paid off. She ran hard in the championship race and just got nosed out by a more experienced dog, but she beat everyone else so she won the Reserve Championship! We had a little time before conformation started so I ran Sadie through the barn hunt and she found her mark in less than twenty seconds, good enough for 3rd when all was said and done. I also took Robert over to run the lure and burn off a little energy. He loved it and placed 4th overall. By this time conformation was starting and with so many dogs in open conformation this year things were a little hectic for me. I asked one of the young terrier men, Ross, if he would be so kind as to pull out Kiwi for me and hold her the ring gate as there were no classes between her's and Cali's. As I walked out the ring with Cali and was about to exchange dogs Patti, the trial organizer and his mother suggested I let Ross take her in as they had been warming up really nicely together and he has loved Kiwi since he first saw her as a 6 month old puppy. I agreed as Kiwi obviously enjoyed his company as well and I would have the novel experience of getting to watch once of my dogs compete.  They were a dynamic pair and won their class and then went on to win the Open Bitch Championship! Unbeknownst to me Ross ran out of bait at this point but kept his cool and showed her like a pro as the judge spent 20 minutes going over her and the winner of the Males class. Now Kiwi is not an easy dog to show, she does not like to stand still and she gets distracted very easily. Part of it is her youth and inexperience and part of it is who she is and what makes her so irresistibly charming so Ross did an amazing job keeping her on task and semi-still all that time to win the Reserve Open Terrier Championship. Not to shabby when the dog in front of her is the reigning 2010 National Champion! I could not have been more proud of my little hooligan, and the young man at the end of her leash.

Patton and Sadie did not disappoint either with Patton taking the Reserve Colored Terrier Championship both days to a striking red Fell, and Sadie once again winning the family championship with Kiwi and Cali at her side. Even though Cali ballooned up in the car on the way down and really started to show her pregnancy I put her in the ring anyway and she did quite well never missing the ribbons even though she was getting a little thick around the middle.

All in all it was a great weekend of sunshine, terriers, and good friends. The hunting was a great time to catch up with some people I don't see nearly often enough and I learnt a lot from one of the UK judges who is a professional terrierman on how to dig a better hole and how to keep after a groundhog as they dig away. This weekend marks the end of our terrier trial season until Nationals as I will now be home with Cali and her puppies and just enjoying the next generation of Inseguire Terriers.

St Croix Terrier Trial

Event 2 of this past month involves the always exciting first trial of our JRTCA season. This year we chose to kick off a little early and attend the St Croix Terrier Trials in Lake Elmo MN. Structured a little differently than your typical terrier trial it was a JRTCA sanctioned trial on Saturday and an AWTA (American Working Terrier Association) trial on Sunday. The drive down was long but thankfully uneventful and we met up with old friends immediately upon our arrival. Being isolated up here in the "Great White North" I miss my American and Canadian terrier friends dearly over the winter and as such I am always very happy to have the opportunity to catch up with them. Friday evenings dinner was one of stories, cocktails, and good food - all the things a meeting of good terrier men and women should entail. Afterwards I unpacked the dogs, settled into the hotel, and was in bed at a shockingly reasonable hour.

With Kiwi now an adult I did not have to be at the racetrack quite as early as I had last year but for someone used to not having to have dogs ready to go until afternoon when conformation starts anything before 10am seems torturous. The weather as well was not entirely with us on Saturday as a little drizzle made for a damp start. Kiwi of course did not mind one bit, so long as there is a lure and a track she is happy to run in any conditions. She made her adult debut in style and won the Over Bitches flat race and then went on to take the hurdles race as well securing her a spot in the championship race. As an adult the initial races are separated by gender so the winner of the flat and hurdle races for boys and girls compete in the final. Like Kiwi the same dog won both the flat and hurdles so it was just the two of them for the Championship. It was a thrilling race to say the least as they ran neck and neck down the course, hit the hole together (an event that always makes me catch my breath) and ended in a dead heat! A rerun saw Kiwi come out victorious but I think that close match let her know the "big boys" will not be easy to outrun. We spent the rest of the day over at conformation where Kiwi and Robert took respectable thirds in their Open Conformation divisions and Robert won his suitability to Raccoon/Badger class. Sadie was the Veteran Terrier Champion and Patton took the Colored Terrier Championship.

There was no racing on Sunday so we were able to fall back into our old routine of sleeping in a little and taking our time arriving at the trial site. The day was much more inviting with near perfect temperatures and enough wind to keep any bugs that had been thinking about coming out away. While we waited for conformation to start I ran Robert through the Go-to-Ground tunnel and it did not take him long to figure out what he was supposed to be doing there. Cali and Patton both did a little trailing and locating work as I am hoping that Patton will take over as my tracking dog this summer once Cali has been bred. He did quite well on the scent trail, despite high winds, and as he matures a little more I think he will become a handy terrier to have around.

A cup of coffee and a little lunch later and conformation was ready to start. Cali was first in the ring and impressed me immensely taking the win in her class over some nice littler terriers and going on to take Reserve Champion Open Bitch. Robert repeated her performance in a little while later and took Reserve Champion Open Dog. We had a little fun and entered Cali, Kiwi, and Robert in the "Tool Box" class which they eventually won over some pretty handy competition.

All in all it was a great weekend filled with friends, of both the old and new variety, dogs, and pretty colored ribbons. What more could a girl want from life?

Warmen Flyball

As I have been a little negligent in my blogging I have 2 posts, from 2 different weekends, that each deserve separate billing. Here is the first. Mother's Day weekend, May 7th and 8th, saw us close to home in Warmen SK for the annual River Runner's flyball tournament. This year was a little extra special as it also marked our 1 year anniversary with Furry Flash. All our teams ran very well all weekend but there were a few special highlight moments that certainly stand out. Tov came back from a month break (due to a spay surgery) to run full time as the sole height dog on her team. She was solid all weekend and earned enough points to achiever her FDCh-S title. Kiwi ran part time with KAOS, a team from Regina, and never posted a time over 5 seconds. Her box turn seems to be coming along better and I am hopeful she will be ready to run in a more regular position soon. Sadie was great running full time once again and she even helped one of the younger handler in our club earn her Junior Handler pin for running her an entire race. Cali was once again my star of the weekend as she posted a new personal best of 4.65s on Sunday morning and then went on the achieve her FMX (10, 000 pts) title that afternoon. Considering she has only been running flyball for not quite a year and a half I am beyond proud of her. I will very much miss running her this summer once she has been bred as her enthusiasm and love of the game is infectious and always brings a smile to my face.

Spring has SPRUNG

With winter slowing releasing it's grasp on Saskatchewan and the snow receding for another year we can finally take the dogs outside to play a little. While the tans and browns of spring do not set the ideal backdrop for photography I was never the less anxious to get some action shots of my new addiction, disc. We have been fiddling around with a frisbee here and there in the upstairs training room this winter but I need a larger area to really test out the dogs, so I was on hiatus until my yard was once again usable. A little damp still, and sacrificing some lawn to do it (I will certainly have to reseed this spring) I got the opportunity I have been waiting for all winter, to really throw some discs for the dogs. They were all outstanding in their first practice and it soon became clear that it will be my throwing skills that hold us back not their catching! I look forward to having the opportunity to improve my skills and theirs this summer, and who knows maybe we will even make it to Alberta for a competition or two...

Another Year Comes to a Close

This weekend marked the end of the fiscal flyball year for 2010. It was a year of ups and downs but on the whole I have to say a pretty good one. Cali debuted in Souris, MB in October of 2009 when Sadie came into heat a little early. Despite having absolutely no practice passing, or running with dogs in the other lane, she was wonderful and earned her first two titles, FD and FDX. The next tournament was in February and after a winter of working on her box turn Cali came out and ran in the sub 5s right off the bat. She has been solid ever since. This tournament was also Sadie's first back after having her puppies and she ran well until a border collie from her team went AWOL and went after her. This was the beginning of a grueling 5 months recovery process that, while frustrating at times, taught me a lot about bringing a dog back from being attacked and rebuilding confidence. Topher (Inseguire Christopher C) also debuted for the Lloydminster Hotdoggers this weekend and earned his FD and FDX title. By years end he and his handler Donna would earn 3700 points and set a PB of 5.2!

Shortly after that tournament came the decision to switch flyball clubs. This has always been about the dogs for us, and while we do it for them we need to consider our enjoyment as well. Flyball is our hobby,we do it to kick back, relax, and enjoy some time with our dogs and teammates a few weekends a year. We are highly competitive when we line our dogs up to race but once we walk them off the mats we leave all that behind. Finding a club that shared our outlook was not too hard and we will be forever grateful to Furry Flash for allowing us to join in their fun!

This last year with them has been awesome. Cali has held a full-time height dog position all year and earned a whopping 6200 points and a PB of 4.7. Sadie recovered to enough to run a few races and earn her FM (5000pts), and while she is not yet back up to full speed I am confident that in time she will get there. Riley even made his debut after 3 years and has been solid as a start dog posting times in the 4.2-4.5 range. None of this though could have been done with out the guidance nd support of Ken, Christine, and the entire Furry Flash club. It is going to be hard to top this year but with both Kiwi and Tovy to look forward to running in the future we just might!

Taking the Plunge - Dock Dogs 2010!

Inseguire attended the Dock Dogs competition in Prince Albert, SK. Dock Dogs is a competition where a dog runs off a 40 foot dock placed 2 feet above the water and are judged on the length of their jump. Basically it is a long jump competition for dogs. Sounds simple? Well getting your dog to actually jump off the end of the dock proves to be a real challenge. All our dogs love to swim and spend 3 days a week or more retrieving things out of a pond. They will splash and dive in without hesitation all day long, but asking them to jump 2 feet down off the dock is a completely different story.

My biggest motivation to drive down to give this a try was Sadie. She adores swimming and you never see her more excited than when she is retrieving things out of the water. She did not disappoint me as it only took a time or two and she was leaping off the end with very little hesitation. The rest of the crew, however, was a little more reluctant. I was hoping Cali's drive would overcome her hesitation to leap but with no luck. She would happily jump in off the ramp on the side of the dock but wanted nothing to do with leaping off the end of the dock it's self. After trying, unsuccessfully, to get her to jump I asked the Dock Dogs crew if I could get in the pool and try to coax her in that way. They looked at me in my nice shorts and t-shirt and laughed, saying if I wanted to hop in the cold, cold, water I was more than welcome. I had no swim wear but luckily I had an extra pair of pants in the car so into the water I went. I stayed in for both Riley and Cali and was eventually able to get them to jump in, although Cali needed to jump onto my shoulder first and then into the water. We even got the puppies, Tov and Kiwi, to jump in off the ramp and fetch up the toy.

When it came time for the competition Sadie jumped off just like she had in practice, run to the end of the dock, stop, think, leap in. With time, and some more practice, I am hoping she will learn to make a nice smooth run off the end. She was very excited each time it was her turn and really enjoyed herself. Cali was excited to chase her ball but just could not muster up the confidence to jump off the high dock solo so after her 90 seconds was up I let her get it from the ramp. It was much more important to me that she enjoy herself and have a good time then force her to jump off the dock it's self. Riley was much the same way as Cali and having had some good practice jumps with me in the water I am satisfied that with time he will learn to enjoy this sport.

Much to my surprise as we were packing up and saying good-bye I was told Sadie won her Novice division (even against the big dogs!). This was just icing on the cake as she loved every second of the time we spent in, and near, the water. All in all it was a great day, despite being overcast and raining, the dogs came home tired and happy and I came home with a lot of fun memories and maybe a new game to play with my dogs.

Home Games

We had two major accomplishments at our "home" tournament in Moose Jaw SK June 12th and 13th. Sadie earned her FM and Riley finally earned his FD! Sadie, while running with PDQ, earned her 5000 point title and the right to call herself a veteran of flyball. Riley though stole the show. After 3 years of unsuccessful training we finally had the opportunity to take over the reins on his training and with the help of Furry Flash he made his debut that weekend! He was a wonderful boy and when he ran he did everything right in the lanes. We are still keeping him in a very part-time spot so as not to overwhelm him but he was a star all weekend and made no mistakes. A HUGE thank you to Furry Flash for helping us get him over the final hump and giving him the chance to prove himself! Hopefully this is the start of many more wonderful thing to come for this sweet gentle boy!

Does anyone have a pug I can borrow??

We spent this last weekend in Brandon MB running in the CARS flyball tournament. Sadie, Cali, Kiwi, and I headed down to Regina on Friday and then carpooled the remainder of the way with the ladies of Good 2 Go. It was a long day but we made it to Brandon in one piece and after a few minor adjustments with the hotel room we were able to settle in and go to sleep. Saturday morning, as always, came way too early but we all managed to get up in time to make the captains meeting. Rhianna and I were running with the girls from Wild for the weekend and I would have to say that their name describes them well. These girls are an absolute hoot and have a great sense of humor, by the end of the weekend we had more laughs then I can ever remember having at a flyball tournament. Cali was absolutely solid, taking the ball even when it was loaded on the wrong side of the box and fumbling it once but recovering and completing all her jumps properly. I could not have been prouder of her, but it was the pugs and the bully mix who stole the show in the end. New and green, Billo had his job down pat - bring mom the ball - which he did over, and over, and over again, in rapid succession, and to the exclusion of his other teammates. We thought we has this problem solved by running him last until low and behold someone had to rerun. This required his handler to make a mad dash after him and a mid air tackle which was gracefully landed - one foot over the start line. The judge was laughing so hard that she almost forgot to raise her flag and disqualify us. The pugs on the other hand were our lucky charm and every time it was their turn to sit things would fall apart. At one point, in a must win situation, we resorted to asking the other team we were racing (who are friends of ours) if they had a pug we could borrow - after a moment of confusion they replied they were fresh out. The subsequent laughter by both teams delayed the race start by almost a minute. Sadie even had a chance to run on Sunday and after a shaky start ended the day making some very good catches and runs.

Kiwi, as always, stole the show. Everyone she met loved her and asked where she came from. She is a great ambassador for our kennel. She spent a good part of both days playing tug and introducing herself to the puppies of "Wild". She had her most fun though back at the hotel room with Rhianna's dogs Burst, Taboo, and Relay. They played like mad things for HOURS, Kiwi would hide under the bed and pop out like a little blanket monster an they would chase and paw and dig at her - she had the time of her life. All in all this was a great time, which was only made even better by getting to run Good 2 Go's start dog 'Limit' who is so consistent we were able to push our start to near perfection and win some very tight races. Such a great weekend, we are looking forward to repeating the fun in Warmen in early May.

Flyball - KAOS Style

Cali and I traveled to Regina this weekend to attend the KAOS flyball tournament. This was my first time at this tournament and I have to say that despite the fact that their building was a little smaller than your typical flyball tournament it made for a great venue. The smaller size made for a more "intimate" atmosphere as so often we just stick to our own teams at tournaments and don't interact with the other groups as much as we could. With a venue like this one it is virtually impossible not to make some new friends as everyone is shoulder to shoulder, and with most of the dogs crated outside or in other rooms we could actually hear each other speak. It was a great place to spend more time with people I have not seen since last racing season and get to know Cali's new teammates a little better.

Cali will be running with Furry Flash Dogsports from Moose Jaw SK this year. We got to know this team a little better during the 2009 racing season and I watched them struggle to run the 10 or so big dogs that belong to their club with only one height dog.

For anyone who is not familiar with flyball the height of the jumps on the way to and from the box are set by the smallest dog on the team, also known as the height dog. Without a small dog on the team members must jump 14 inches (typical teams jump 7-9) which can slow each dog down by as much as a full second and is very physically taxing.

After watching this club try to coordinate running all their big dogs equally in only 5 available spots I spoke to their captain Ken about using one of my girls for the 2010 racing season. Our own club seems to have a large amount of height dogs this year, to the extent that 2 or even 3 will be running on a team at the same time. After discussing the logistics of the move with the club owner and president we transferred Cali over to Furry Flash.

This was our first tournament running with Furry Flash and all my worries about how Cali would handle the new box, new dogs, and new routine, was put to rest after the first race where she handled everything like a seasoned veteran. Cali lives for flyball and her enthusiasm is infectious on the line and some good, not to mention tight, racing added to that excitement and made for a fun day. I knew form watching furry Flash last season that they were a club that thoroughly enjoyed racing their dogs but I never expected to feel so welcome and comfortable in our very first outing with them. I want to thank everyone we ran with on Saturday for making us feel so at home and also say a special thank you to Ignited who allowed me the privilege of running their start dog Moxie in one race and giving me the opportunity to do something I almost never get to do, race the lights to the line. Cali and I had a great time overall and we are really looking forward to what the rest of the racing season will bring.

Edmonton Flyball

Donna and Topher

Inseguire Christopher C "Topher"

Well the first flyball tournament of the year is over and done with and as always there were a few kinks to be worked out but on the whole I have to say it was a success. Donna brought Topher (Christopher C) up on Saturday to do some warm ups with her team, the Lloydminster Hotdoggers. I always love getting the chance to see "my" puppies all grown up and how happy they are in their new homes and Topher was no exception. It is quite obvious he loves his family as he watched Donna intently from the sidelines even though I was snuggling him. He was such a good boy and did so well in warmups that he ran the last few races of the day earning his FD and FDX! Congratulations Donna, you have done such a good job with "our" little man!

Sadie had a good start to Saturday but an incident during a pass later in the day left her a little shaky. Fatigue was setting on top of everything else and she was just not a happy camper so I pulled her from the last race and let her relax. Thankfully we had a backup as this was her first tournament back since having the puppies and I knew she was not going to be fit enough to run full time anyway. Sunday morning started off with a fresher dog but she was still obviously hesitant from the incident on Saturday. After some work and some line-up modification we got her running almost like her old self by the end of Sunday and I am hopeful that a few good practices will have her back to form.

Cali was the real star of the weekend, improving vastly on her performance in Souris. Her box turn is almost solidified now and that helped her improve her personal best time to 4.903 even with a 3ft pass! She impresses me more and more each time I put her in the lanes and she may one day be just as fast (or faster) than her mother. She is a solid little dog who even when she makes a mistake will go back and correct it and with a little more experience will be quite a reliable little height dog.

To add to the fun (or chaos if you prefer) I brought along the puppies for some much needed socialization. They, as always, stole the show both days showing everyone how they fetch a ball and trade it for the tuggie at only 11 wks old. I adore the stage that they are in now where they just love everyone and everything and I am hopeful that with enough proper socialization they will be able to keep it up into adulthood. I have to give them a lot of credit they were amazing travelers for the whole 6 hour journey, only stopping once to potty and sleeping most of the way there. They were even good about sleeping in their crate, despite much chaos during the first night, and did not complain about much during the entire adventure. Did I mention I want to keep them all?