# 2 Poodles Road Trip! Spring 2016



## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

OK so I don't have a picture to put here yet, but I will tonight. Lily, Javelin and I are just a few minutes away from getting into the truck and onto the road to go to Syracuse for a big weekend of rally trials. Lily and I are aiming to be able to finish RAE8 at PCA later in April. Javvy and I are going to go in for rally novice just to see what he thinks of being in a trial ring now that he's been to some matches.


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

Good luck, and have fun  Can't wait to see pics!


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## Nicofreako (Aug 19, 2013)

Looking forward to pictures from your 2 spoo road trip! 
Would that be a "spoad trip"?


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## Beaches (Jan 25, 2014)

You go girls... And Javvy too!


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

Good Luck & have fun!!! Can't wait to see pics and hear how ya did!


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## Mfmst (Jun 18, 2014)

Can't wait to hear how it goes! Best wishes for clean runs and lots of fun.


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## Caddy (Nov 23, 2014)

I love a good road trip, sounds like fun. Good luck to Lily and how exciting to take Javy in the ring for the first time.


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## Muggles (Mar 14, 2015)

How exciting! Have fun and good luck to you all!


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## Axeldog (Aug 29, 2014)

Sounds like it will be a good time. Looking forward to the pics!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

We didn't leave home until about 3:00 so it was after 9:00 by the time we got to our hotel. Yikes, it was a long ride with no relief driver! Aside from stopping to potty the dogs I needed a couple of stops to stretch my legs and back.

Anyway we made it.









We will all be well ensconced in this bed any minute now.


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## Quossum (Mar 18, 2011)

Oh, what fun! Having just got back from a three-dog road trip, I can say that with various tones of voice! LOL

Wishing you great luck at the trials! Keep us posted!

--Q


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## StormeeK (Aug 3, 2015)

GOOD LUCK Lily, Jav, and Catherine. Hope you have a great weekend!! Looking forward to more pictures and hearing about how things went.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

We got a decent night's sleep and don't have rally walk-thru for excellent until 12:30 PM. While I don't plan to wait until noon to get there since I have to set up crates, we are having a relaxed pace to getting going this morning. I am being heavily poodled right now.

I have a room with a king bed, but as you can see most of it is empty right now.









Instead here is the top of Lily's head, my knee and laptop and Javvy.









Javvy is smiling happily though. He's been pretty good here in the hotel, but some smokers who were outside earlier when we went out for potty break pegged him for a puppy with no problem since he was bouncing like a loon.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

We have had a good day. We got to see some friends, including mashaphan and Che who also got an RAE leg today with a very nice advanced run with a score of 99 (and a 4th place). Lily got her 6th leg for her RAE8 (got an 80 in excellent and a 90 in advanced, not her best, but good enough). Javelin was very good out and about with other dogs passing by. He did passably in his crate. The crate started out rocking side to side and traveling forwards and backwards, but once he settled down he really was quiet. I think t this point he just has to figure this out for himself. I enetered him for rally novice tomorrow and all I really want is for him to go in happy and come out happy. In between if we lose to many points to Q that's just fine.

We didn't have to rocket out the door this morning but we did leave around 10:00 so we would have some options about setting up our camp.

Here are Lily and Javelin in the back seat ready to hit the road.

















Once we got to the show site I put the crates and my chair plus a couple of gear bags in my wagon and took it in without the dogs to make it easier to set up. So here is our home away from our hotel away from home set up.

















Last year was the first year this trial was in the building it is now in. It was very hectic and stressful given how things were organized. This year is much better. Where we are set up has low curtains behind it and then some low traffic space (there is a dead end) and then two rings for the regular obedience and optional titling classes other than beginner novice.









In front of us on the other side of a wall with an archway is the rally ring. Nearly everyone was very considerate about going through the doors at the far end to go in and out and even very careful about walking past the ring on the right when a dog was working.









After an afternoon of working everybody was happy to get back to the hotel. Lily and Javelin are both out cold right now.


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## Streetcar (Apr 13, 2014)

Great pic! Hope you're enjoying the first trial day!!!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Streetcar, yes we had two decent runs today and Javelin got to see what it is like to be at a trial and he met some human friends too!


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## Streetcar (Apr 13, 2014)

Lily CD RE, great news, and I'm so happy Mashapan finally got to meet Javelin!

Btw, great photos all around. I remember your posts last year about this trial and the trials it put you and Lily through...

Those two photos of Javvy pups and Lily in the front seat immediately brought to mind their thoughts. Lily: I know what's up, and I have things under control. Javelin: I'm ridin' shotgun, dude!!!!


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## ApricotsRock (Jan 10, 2014)

Sounds like a great time! Good luck today!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

ApricotsRock said:


> Sounds like a great time! Good luck today!


Today should be interesting to say the least! Thankfully I will have Lily done with Excellent and Advanced before I have to work with Javelin in Rally Novice. My expectations remain simple but meaningful, to take a happy dog into the ring and bring a happy dog out of the ring. If he Qs it will be a small (or maybe not so small) miracle!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

*A great day in the rally ring!*

We had great success all around today. Lily improved her scores from yesterday to an 88 in excellent and a 94 in advanced. That is leg 7 of 10 towards RAE8 which I hope to finish at PCA.

And get this, Javelin got an 85 in Rally Novice! His first time in the ring and he Q'd, what a good boy he will become. He went in happy and he stuck with me. There was one station that he just couldn't get his head around, but we tried it and moved on. It is the novice sign where you heel to a halt, take one step and get another sit, then 2 steps and another sit, then three steps and another sit. It was the first station and I didn't get the sit after 2 steps, but I got the last one (but -10 for that). There was also a call front return to heel where he sat in front of me very crooked, and so we were really sort of facing the wrong way when I went around him to heel and I am sure we lost points there, but he stuck with me for most of the rest of it and even did a very nice spiral left with dog on the inside. He is entered tomorrow as well as 2X next weekend. He could be a Rally Novice by the end of April, but he will be staying there for a very long time.

Here are the poodles at our show camp after our good day of work!


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

How wonderful  Congratulations!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

They are very tired from all their hard work. Lily is too close for me to take her picture without disturbing her, but here's Javvy sacked out in a baby dog pose.


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

Congrats on your Q's!!!! Looks like Javie is doing you proud too! Looks like ya got yourself a performance pup huh?!!! LOL!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Thanks Molly! He made a decent start today, but it will be a very long time before we take the leash off him. I am happy he acted happy and that he kept checking in with me. 

He did do one thing I didn't like after we got out of the ring which was to stare at and then growl and bark at another dog. I should have put him back in his crate (which is what I almost always do with Lily) but he had been in it for quite a while, so I gave him a chance to get into a bit of trouble. Then I took him in the ring for the awards (another thing I don't usually do with either Lily or Peeves) and he was too bouncy and barked at another dog. We won't make those mistakes again. He will have to have rock solid attention to go back in for awards.


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## Beaches (Jan 25, 2014)

That's great Catherine! Good news all around. You must be very proud of them both!


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## Quossum (Mar 18, 2011)

Those first few shows are always such a learning experience. Especially with a new dog, where you're not sure how they're going to react to all the ring nerves and high energy. Sounds like a great time was had by all and some learning experiences took place as well. What more could you ask for?

Thanks for sharing! I'm loving following along with your journey!

--Q


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Thanks Beaches and Quossum, yes I am proud of them both!


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## Caddy (Nov 23, 2014)

How exciting, and a great job for all 3 of you. I'd love to watch some of these events.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Caddy I didn't have anyone make videos this weekend, but I will try to make sure I do so next weekend (which is a poodle specialty). If I get something good I will post it.


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## Axeldog (Aug 29, 2014)

Yay Javvy Pups! Nice going! 

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I love the photo of the two of them together at the competition facility - Javvy with his big grin and Lily so ladylike and composed.


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## bigpoodleperson (Jul 14, 2009)

Sounds like a great time! Congrats on all your success so far!! I enjoyed all the updates and pictures.

I really want to do rally with Draco! We just got done with a level 2 obedience refresher at a new training facility for us. I want to take their rally class next, but its not offered until the next quarter. We will see if I can make that work since we will have puppy class that quarter too. The instructor set up a mock rally course for the class, and she said that Draco could probably do rally novice at this point since he did so well.  I have never done rally before, and have never been judged in the ring. I will be beyond nervous when we do!


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## Streetcar (Apr 13, 2014)

Congratulations all around! You had wonderful results yesterday! Love Lily's laser focus on you in those photos and what I interpret as Javelin's alert but relaxed interest in what's going on around him. I'm sure he feels like a very big boy getting to actually participate.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

bigpoodleperson the biggest part of rally is the handler correctly understanding what the signs mean! Some of them are a little obtuse in what they actually say and the explanations of them can be similarly un-enlightening. If you get a book with the descriptions of the signs most of them can be practiced on your own. You can download the signs and descriptions on the AKC site, but also can purchase them at places like this: Rally-Supplies I have done most of Lily and Peeves' rally training on my own. I also will do Javelin's ongoing rally training myself too. Once you are in the ring your should just relax and remember to breathe, and most importantly make sure you are having fun with your dog!

Streetcar, that focus in Lily is strongly correlated to much of the recent work I have done with her on the Brenda Aloff "Get Connected" protocols. I have started Javelin with it too, but he has a ways to go. I need it with him (and Peeves) so they don't get too involved with other dogs when we are in heavy traffic.

Anyway we had a rough go of it yesterday. Lily and I along with about half of the other teams in Excellent B either NQ'd or were excused. The course was challenging in a fair enough way, but the judging was horrible. Many people who NQ'd couldn't figure out why it had happened. Lily and I were excused before we finished the course. She really wasn't working well, but I think we could have edged out a qualifying score had we been allowed to continue. There were a number of challenging things that contributed to Lily being stressed on this course. First when we were two dogs away from going into the ring a woman who was near us with her dog (a retriever breed) wasn't paying attention to the dog and it got its nose up Lily's butt. I asked her to keep an eye on the dog and she moved but really didn't pay any better attention and the dog started barking right next to us. Then we were the on deck team and the table next to the on deck area had someone's chinese food lunch container with lots of food in it in Lily's reach so I had to give her a big leave it to get her not to take the woman's lunch. And the third strike was that the judge was staying at our hotel and had played with both Lily and Javelin the night before! She was with the Friday rally judge. I wanted to thank him for his kind judging on Javvy and giving him his first leg. I *did not know* that the woman he was with was going to judge rally on Saturday. There were two women judging this weekend whom I did not know so I really had no reason to be sure this woman we talked with and who played with my dogs on Friday night was going to be my Saturday judge. Had I known that I never would have had a conversation with her. Frankly it was her responsibility to not interact with my dogs. That is even emphasized in the AKC judges guidelines and was confirmed for me by another judge I know who was showing in obedience and another acquaintance who is testing for her AKC rally judging certification next month. I was pretty PO'd yesterday and am considering writing to AKC about this issue. There was no rep at the trial as far as I know.

The weather forecast both in the Syracuse area starting at 8:00 PM through today and for later last night through today at home sounded miserable. Since there was no point in trying to do advanced with Lily or novice with Javelin with this judge we decided to come home yesterday afternoon. We got home around 10:00 last night just as it started to pour. There was also a dusting of snow this morning and now we are having high winds with gusts over 50 miles an hour. I am happy not to be driving in it since my truck has a high profile. I got lucky with my hotel since they didn't charge me for last night even though I checked out at 4:00 PM!

Anyway, enough complaining... I did get to 7 legs towards Lily's RAE8 even without yesterday. We are entered at a nice small AM/PM pair of trials with a decent judge next Saturday which should get us to 9 legs for that title and hopefully getting to finish it at PCA. Javelin is entered for two novice legs next week too, so he may have his first title before we know it. Sometimes you Q when you really shouldn't have and sometimes things work against you. 

Again the most important parts of it all are that we had a good time together and that I learned things about my dogs and how to have a better bond with each of them. And we got to visit with some of our good poodle friends, including mashaphan.


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## bigpoodleperson (Jul 14, 2009)

Wow, that is a big bummer! Glad you made it home safely and before the weather got bad!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

bigpoodleperson said:


> Wow, that is a big bummer! Glad you made it home safely and before the weather got bad!



If it had been just me and Lily I would own it myself, but there were many unhappy people. The day before apparently the same judge made an open handler who was working on a 196 take her dog out of the groups because he whined. Lily could have handled one or two of those issues, but not all three at once.

We are happily at home on a crazy windy day!


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## Streetcar (Apr 13, 2014)

Wow, what a shame; it makes me extra happy for your great Friday. I had a feeling something was up when it went late and you hadn't posted. It seems like that woman with the judge with whom you Q'd on Javelin should have first asked whether you were scheduled to compete the days she was judging-before interacting at all. Guessing since I don't know the rules. Speaking of which, how isn't a hot smelly meal at ringside against the rules? Good grief!

I don't understand this? "'The day before apparently the same judge made an open handler who was working on a 196 take her dog out of the groups because he whined.'" 196 seems a very high score. I thought rally was more forgiving, guess not. Can you say what would be considered the norm in this situation?

So happy you beat the weather, especially in a truck.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Streetcar, first thank you so much for noticing that we may have had a problem. You are clearly a very sensitive and perceptive person. 

In the AKC Obedience Judges' Guidelines there is a section titled "Ethics: Honesty Plus Common Sense" followed by a section called "Beware of Those Gray Areas." The language there pretty squarely puts avoiding even the appearance of anything that might not appear as impartiality on the shoulders of the judges. 

When I saw her and the other judge at the hotel, I probably should have asked her if she was the Saturday rally judge, but I didn't think to since I really didn't expect her to be playing with Lily and Javelin if she was. I had seen her watching the rally ring at the end of Friday and when I saw her with the Friday judge at the hotel I just figured they knew each other and she had been waiting for him to finish, which I didn't think was a big deal. One of the officers of my club is an obedience and rally judge. We are friendly and she knows all of my dogs, but never pets them. I recently showed to her with Lily and there were no issues since even though she recognized the judge as someone she has seen many times in her life.

A perfect score in obedience is a 200! So the person who lost out on Qing with a 196 did have a great run going for sure. Additionally if it was open B (I'm not sure about that) and they had Q'd in utility that day she lost a UDX leg and potentially OTCh points that day too. The rules on this require a dog that moves out of position during group stays to be removed and excused if it is during the first stay, but shifting position without breaking the sit or down and noise other than outright barking is supposed to be points off if any penalty.

As to the food, there is a rule about not having food within eight feet of the ring (including and perhaps most especially dog treats). I did make a comment to the person whose food it was that it didn't seem right. Her answer was that she thought it looked like there was more than 8 feet between the table and the ring entrance. Oh well....

And I really am truly happy not to be driving on the NYS Thruway right now with a bunch of idiots.


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## Streetcar (Apr 13, 2014)

Lily CD RE, thank you for explaining that and for your kind words . I love learning from you.

Really, seems to me the onus is on the judge to abstain, since theoretically that person is the rules expert. That is a huge shame about dumping the obedience team when it was not something which should be punished in that manner .

And I can't brag about having great common sense myself, but at least I know when I get Chinese food my dog will be super interested whether he's 6, 8, or 20 feet away. Matter of fact, I can prove that having ordered in last night. (Yes, I shared.) Now a cold sandwich, okay, maybe, but not hot Chinese food near a ring... It's clear one isn't only up against one's training when showing and trialing. Thanks for sharing.


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## Quossum (Mar 18, 2011)

Boy, sounds like some rough luck there. In Agility, with several ring stewards in the ring, sometimes it's inevitable that someone the dog knows will be right there in the ring, and some dogs find it difficult to resist a little "visiting." The food at ringside is just inconsiderate. At the public-heavy Houston World Series of Dog Shows there will be tons of Joe Q. Public right up against the ring gates eating popcorn and hot dogs--but for the actual club members / volunteers to do this? C'mon, talk about gimme a break!

And yes, don't we just love judges who put their own spin on interpreting the rules? There are a few in Agility who are know for certain...idiosyncrasies. Sometimes the only thing to do is talk to the club about not inviting that person back, or not entering under them again. It's a shame!

Anyway, sounds like at least the weekend had some good moments as well, and much was learned along the way. Safe journeys and many good trials ahead!

--Q


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Yes, it was a steward who had the Chinese food Q! I couldn't believe her answer to my comment when she came over to eat a bite or two with Lily about two feet away.

I think we should have figured there would be issues with this judge when she told us the stay after the finish was to be a down stay even though the sign said sit stay and the rules say sit stay. there used to be an option for an honor down stay or sit stay in rally excellent, but with the new rules it specifically says sit stay. It ended up being a sit stay since so many people were flummoxed by the idea of having a down instead, but it wasn't because the judge wanted it to be that way.

There was one time when we ended up showing to the young woman who we do our agility privates with. She ended up with that as her first judging assignment since the entries were so big at this trial they needed an additional judge. Since then we have been very clear about not ending up in that situation again. She handled it very well, but we did have Lily end up giving me a "look mom, it's Stefanie!" moment at the bottom of the dog walk. Q, I've generally been very lucky that at trials where there are ring stewards that a particular dog knows very very well someone has always been willing to step in to help the dog stay on course.

...and yes, always things to learn.


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## ApricotsRock (Jan 10, 2014)

So sorry your weekend ended on such a sour note. Please don't let it discourage you in the future. I do have to shake my head over the Chinese food..not to be mean but that is a special kind of stupid.


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## marialydia (Nov 23, 2013)

Well, although Saturday was not what you had wanted, it sounds like Friday was an all-round success. Javelin did very well indeed and it is a major testament to your focus and training. Congratulations!

And thank you for the detailed descriptions of your travels, managing at the rally site, and so on. For those of us who haven't gone it helps us enormously to visualize it all. The descriptions of Miss Lily and Master Javelin, and the photos, are great.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

ApricotsRock said:


> So sorry your weekend ended on such a sour note. *Please don't let it discourage you in the future*. I do have to shake my head over the Chinese food..not to be mean but that is a special kind of stupid.


There is nothing that happened this weekend that would discourage me in any way! If anything it makes me dig in and work harder. And yes, a special kind of stupid. In all honesty though it can be very hard for clubs to get members or friends to volunteer to steward. Usually providing lunch for them is a major draw for doing it, so I'm not sure what happened in this case. I've had quite a number of very nice breakfasts and lunches on various clubs for whom I've done work.

And marialydia, Saturday is a lemon out of which to make lemonade! I now know a few other things to train the dogs to ignore, despite silly temptations. I hope my descriptions of everything will encourage some of you to try out a dog sport or maybe even two. You don't have to travel far from home unless home is far away from civilization. Otherwise feel free to live vicariously at shows with us. I know the power of PF is always cheering for us.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I just realized in all of my complaining about yesterday I forgot to tell you guys the fun, funny way our day started. I walked through the hotel lobby to put the dogs in the truck while I had breakfast. A woman followed me out the door and called to me about the dogs. After we chatted for a minute it became apparent that she is a poodle peeps! When I went back in she was sitting alone in the breakfast area so I joined her. We had a very nice conversation and as it turns out she has a cream spoo boy who was a service training failure. And get this, she lives about ten minutes away from us! She and her DH plus in laws where up to visit MIL in nursing home in the area.


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