AJ!! What a fabulous rosette and so well deserved 
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AJ!! What a fabulous rosette and so well deserved 
obbanner
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My three days in Maryland went very well. AJ went down needing 150 points for his Crazy 8s Silver and earned 230.
His first run on Friday night in the single Crazy 8s trial, he spent the first minute investigating the ring, as this was his first time there. He only earned 30 points. Saturday he earned 40 (one fault) and 50 points. Sunday he earned 50 and 60 points. The fault was fully my fault, as I thought I got an indication and called it. I'm glad I didn't talk him into it.
The club awards neck medallions for Crazy 8s titles.
There was a costume parade. Baron Augustus Johann von Doberman, the vicious vampire, made an appearance.
His first run on Friday night in the single Crazy 8s trial, he spent the first minute investigating the ring, as this was his first time there. He only earned 30 points. Saturday he earned 40 (one fault) and 50 points. Sunday he earned 50 and 60 points. The fault was fully my fault, as I thought I got an indication and called it. I'm glad I didn't talk him into it.
The club awards neck medallions for Crazy 8s titles.
There was a costume parade. Baron Augustus Johann von Doberman, the vicious vampire, made an appearance.
LifeofRubie
Moderator
what a great and fun weekend for both of you! Congrats!!!
obbanner
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AJ's Crazy 8s Silver certificate was available today. I don't remember if I said so, but confirm your Crazy 8s scores. I found AJ's records are about 30 or 40 below what they should be. I caught one error at the trial when I found out a tunnel wasn't recorded, which went from minus 20 points to plus 10 points. As a judge, I call out their items as the team leaves the ring so if they think I'm wrong, it can be corrected immediately. (Three rats, climb, no tunnel, for example.) Enjoy!
obbanner
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I had a scary Crazy 8s run tonight. AJ is very good about tunnels. He enters them willingly and shoots right out. I sent him in the tunnel and ran to the exit to praise him when he comes out. But he didn't come out. I went to the entrance and could see his head pointing to the entrance with his ears flattened and he wouldn't move. My heart sank as I thought he was injured. I tore the tunnel apart and found that a string from a hay bale was hanging down in a loop and his leg got caught in it. Fortunately, there was no injury and in his rerun, he acted eager as always to go in the tunnel! (We're now halfway to our Crazy 8s Gold title).
Since I'm posting, I may as well tell about class yesterday. AJ wasn't working, but he was acting like a bitch in season was on the course ahead of us. My teacher said one of hers is in season, but is in the house about 100 yards away. We left the ring, my teacher put a rat next to a bale, I reentered the ring, called AJ to the rat and he then pounced on it. The class went normally after that. I was thinking the sport he really needs instead of Barn Hunt is Nightclub Prowl.
Studley dreaming of unrequited love on the way home.
Since I'm posting, I may as well tell about class yesterday. AJ wasn't working, but he was acting like a bitch in season was on the course ahead of us. My teacher said one of hers is in season, but is in the house about 100 yards away. We left the ring, my teacher put a rat next to a bale, I reentered the ring, called AJ to the rat and he then pounced on it. The class went normally after that. I was thinking the sport he really needs instead of Barn Hunt is Nightclub Prowl.
Studley dreaming of unrequited love on the way home.
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LifeofRubie
Moderator
So Re: The String...
would that be an NQ in a trial? or would they reset and let you run again? Glad to hear he was unphased!
obbanner
Hot Topics Subscriber
That's a rerun because it's a course failure, not the fault of the dog or handler. I think a string from another bale got loose and was caught on a bale that was used for building the tunnel. I didn't see any bales missing a string. Yes, I was glad that he took the same tunnel again without hesitation!
jazzies mum
Hot Topics Subscriber
That's a really lovely photo, and well done AJ!
obbanner
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Had an interesting two trials on Sunday. My herding teacher spent a lot of time telling me to let my dog work and keep my mouth shut. I did that involuntarily Sunday. Before the trial - The line from the street to my house leaked and for over a month I was trying to get it fixed. Sunday morning just as I'm leaving for the trial, the plumber and the digger show up to fix the line. I want to get this fixed before we leave for Orlando, so I was glad they came and did everything I could to keep them on site and not leave. Whenever they needed a tool, I let them use mine - Sawzall for cutting the sump pump outlet pipe because it was in the way and mudsucker to drain the hole so they could work. I still have my problems breathing and my blood oxygen content is in the 80s when it should be in the high 90s, so I get very tired and winded very quickly and I need a good night's rest to recover. After humping the heavy pump and moving equipment out of the way to get the Sawzall, I was exhausted.
AJ ran Crazy 8s. I went in the ring and was too tired to try to direct AJ. I just wanted to go home. I seriously thought about terminating the run early after he got his rat, climb and tunnel.
AJ went crazy running around the ring for about a minute, and I just let him. Then he got to work. I was leaning against a post as he started finding rats. I called it and walked over to pick it up to give to the RW. AJ then found another, and another, and another. Somewhere in his run, I was standing by the gate and he was on the other side of the ring when I yelled TUNNEL. He ran over to me, saw the tunnel entrance and went through it. Four rats, climb, tunnel for sixty points.
The second run was the same with an added twist. I was picking up a rat tube when behind me I heard his nails on a tube, so called RAT without even turning to look at him. That run he scored seventy points, a tie for personal best.
I have to try that again, just let him work. Once he started, he was having a blast finding rats on his own and singing his song when he found one.
Let your dog work!
AJ ran Crazy 8s. I went in the ring and was too tired to try to direct AJ. I just wanted to go home. I seriously thought about terminating the run early after he got his rat, climb and tunnel.
AJ went crazy running around the ring for about a minute, and I just let him. Then he got to work. I was leaning against a post as he started finding rats. I called it and walked over to pick it up to give to the RW. AJ then found another, and another, and another. Somewhere in his run, I was standing by the gate and he was on the other side of the ring when I yelled TUNNEL. He ran over to me, saw the tunnel entrance and went through it. Four rats, climb, tunnel for sixty points.
The second run was the same with an added twist. I was picking up a rat tube when behind me I heard his nails on a tube, so called RAT without even turning to look at him. That run he scored seventy points, a tie for personal best.
I have to try that again, just let him work. Once he started, he was having a blast finding rats on his own and singing his song when he found one.
Let your dog work!
Sounds like he really enjoyed working on his own - I know BH is different than Nose Work, but this was pounded into my head when I was learning NW. Stay out of its way & let your dog work!
Congrats on the fun runs and hope you feel better soon!
jazzies mum
Hot Topics Subscriber
Not the best way to learn something but I'm willing to bet he'll settle into work faster next time! They are so intelligent it's scary! And that run would have looked brilliant from the sidelines. You seeming to be just hanging around calling RAT, or occasionally Tunnel. Did anyone get a video?
obbanner
Hot Topics Subscriber
I judged an event on New Year's Day and saw something funny. When the dog found the rat, it sat on the tube in both trials! It was Novice class and a handler new to the sport who didn't know that was the dog's way of indicating. I hope she takes lessons because that was a good working dog.
AJ earned his Crazy8s Gold.
AJ earned his Crazy8s Gold.
obbanner
Hot Topics Subscriber
I judged an event in Maryland last weekend. Oriole Dog Training Club puts on nice events. The food was good and plentiful, and it’s a friendly club.
They made a sign to take around to place on my rings. I got a kick out of that.
I saw something twice that I never saw before – dogs found multiple rats, did the tunnel but didn’t climb in Crazy 8s!
The rules say a judge always calls the rat number in every class including Novice. In Novice, I called RAT1 and the handler panicked. “There’s more than one rat??? Hurry, let’s find it!!!” I had to calm her down and say just do the tunnel. I love nuggets.
There was one particular Never Take Your Eyes Off Your Dog moment that stood out. In Instinct, a handler took off the lead and the dog shot off the start mat and ran right to the rat and pawed the tube. It was a less than two second run. The handler was fumbling around wondering what to do with the lead and didn’t see it. The dog got bored and left the rat and it took another 16 seconds to get the dog to call the rat again.
One thing that got me very annoyed was two handlers walked into the ring and released their dogs without waiting for me to say, “Go when ready.” That’s a false start and there’s penalties. There’s also a penalty for me as a judge because sorting it out can add to the time the team is in the ring, which adversely affects my judge’s efficiency rating. One was in Senior and one was in Master, so those are handlers who should know better. In one case, I had problems resetting my stopwatch and the other the ring gate was still open. If I’m ready to go, I usually say Go when I hear the gate latch close.
I passed my first year as a fully qualified Barn Hunt judge in mid-March. In my first year, I judged 50 trials, 16 events and 998 runs.
They made a sign to take around to place on my rings. I got a kick out of that.
I saw something twice that I never saw before – dogs found multiple rats, did the tunnel but didn’t climb in Crazy 8s!
The rules say a judge always calls the rat number in every class including Novice. In Novice, I called RAT1 and the handler panicked. “There’s more than one rat??? Hurry, let’s find it!!!” I had to calm her down and say just do the tunnel. I love nuggets.
There was one particular Never Take Your Eyes Off Your Dog moment that stood out. In Instinct, a handler took off the lead and the dog shot off the start mat and ran right to the rat and pawed the tube. It was a less than two second run. The handler was fumbling around wondering what to do with the lead and didn’t see it. The dog got bored and left the rat and it took another 16 seconds to get the dog to call the rat again.
One thing that got me very annoyed was two handlers walked into the ring and released their dogs without waiting for me to say, “Go when ready.” That’s a false start and there’s penalties. There’s also a penalty for me as a judge because sorting it out can add to the time the team is in the ring, which adversely affects my judge’s efficiency rating. One was in Senior and one was in Master, so those are handlers who should know better. In one case, I had problems resetting my stopwatch and the other the ring gate was still open. If I’m ready to go, I usually say Go when I hear the gate latch close.
I passed my first year as a fully qualified Barn Hunt judge in mid-March. In my first year, I judged 50 trials, 16 events and 998 runs.
