Glenn Dean's Blog, page 2
October 5, 2012
ATK Retains Lake City Ammo Production
Alliant Tech Systems (ATK) has been awarded an $8B contract for continued operations at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant, according to a DoD release.
Alliant Techsystem Operations L.L.C., Independence, Mo., was awarded a fixed-price -- economic-price-adjustment with a maximum value of $8,480,000,000. The award will provide for the procurement of small caliber rifle ammunition and for the operation, maintenance and modernization of Lake City Army Ammunition Plant. Work location will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2022. The bid was solicited through the Internet, with two bids received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island, Ill., is the contracting activity (W52P1J-12-D-0078).
The contract value appears to be the maximum value of all operations and production for the contract period -- probably ten years, if it is similar to the last LCAAP contract, and one recently awarded at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant -- and is not an actual production award in and of itself.
ATK did compete to retain its operation at the Missouri plant, though the release does not indicate the other competitor. ATK did lose its operation at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant to BAE earlier this year.
October 1, 2012
Cynosport 2012: Epilogue
I hope you've enjoyed following along with our little detour into doggie geekdom.
If this has intrigued you to learn more about the sport of dog agility, I'd encourage you to look into it further via the US Dog Agility Association (USDAA) or the American Kennel Club (AKC).
Getting started in agility is relatively easy. You need:
(1) A dog with basic obedience training;
(2) Some personal motivation to establish a better rapport with your dog; and
(3) A local club or training center
Local agility clubs -- and most AKC chapters do some agility training among their other activities -- or dog training centers are an excellent way to start. They usually have some introductory or beginner level classes that will begin to introduce the dog and handler to the agility obstacles. If you like it, you'll eventually build the skills to handle sequences, and eventually full courses. How long it takes depends on your goals and the amount you train. Once you've reached a level of confidence that a dog can complete a course reliably, you're ready to start showing at the entry level local events. Beyond that is limited only by your motivation.
There's no need to buy equipment -- though you certainly can, and if you want to train at home it's easy to make a few simple jumps from a few dollars worth of PVC piping from the local home improvement store. It doesn't matter what breed your dog is, despite all of those Shelties and Border Collies at the national level events -- motivation and rapport with your dog matters far more than its breed, and owners have fun in the sport with dogs of all pedigrees and backgrounds.
If you try it, have fun!
Cynosport 2012: It's a Wrap
With the end of Team Relay, our official participation in the 2012 USDAA Cynosport World Games came to an end.
We stayed to watch the finals for the main event -- Grand Prix -- which was pretty exciting.
The Grand Prix course combined tight technical sections with smooth, fast flowing sections. The crowd got more and more amped up as each dog ran, alternately cheering and gasping as dogs either executed or failed to execute a particularly difficult part of the course.
Between each height class, the awards for that group were presented. I don't know most of the people involved, though my wife knows a lot of them from training, showing, and judging all these years. I do know that her instructor back home, Jen Pinder, who won 16" Steeplechase Saturday, won the International Individual class, the Team Relay, and took first and second with her two dogs in the 16" Grand Prix finals. That's a very, very impressive sweep, and her dogs switched; her whatchamacallit Taser won Steeplechase, but her Sheltie Brittain won Grand Prix and Team.
So now we're re-packing the car for the 20-hour drive home. It's been a fun, if tiring, event. SoldierGeekSpouse and the GeekMutts will definitely be back for the 2013 Games, scheduled to be held about this time of year in Tennessee.
Me? We'll see. I'm scheduled to rotate to a new assignment next summer, so it's too far out to make plans since I probably won't know where we're going or what I'll be doing until next spring.
September 30, 2012
Cynosports 2012: Team Relay Finals
Having been pleasantly surprised that "It's a Given they're Gifted Flyers" made it into the Team Relay finals with the other top 30 teams of the 170 entered, it was time to get down to the final business of competition.
It starts with the course walk, of course ... 120 people at once (the Championship teams plus the Versatility pairs teams).
Team Relay is run as a traditional relay race. The first handler starts on one part of the course, carrying a baton, and executes 10-11 obstacles before handing the baton off to the second member of the team. The second member executes 10-11 obstacles, and hands the baton off to the third member, who repeats the first leg of the course and crosses the finish line to stop the time. Fastest time (plus faults) wins; an off course means an "E" for that leg which sacrifices 150 of the 450 relay pointss. Two of the dogs have to be the same height so they can share the first and third legs of the course.
The height split meant that FlyR -- the shortest of the three dogs -- was forced to run the middle leg of the course, which was the more technical, less flowing segment. In particular, many of the dogs were having problems with the teeter, which dropped more slowly than most competitors anticipated, resulting in a large number of fly-offs (where the dog departs the teeter before it tilts and touches the ground). Some of the fast dogs looked like rockets being launched off the teeter as they went running completely off of the end. There would be an audible gasp from the crowd when this happened, as well as a cheer when a dog successfully negotiated the obstacle.
A weave pole entry also gave lots of dogs problems.
So the ring got increasingly more tense as teams ran, and were either clean, flew off and faulted, or missed something completely.
FlyR's team, having entered in 13th place, was trying to break the top ten, and so needed to make up ground, or have teams above make more mistakes.
The first leg, Gifted, went fast and clean. FlyR broke his stay at the baton hand-off, launching early (a way of telling Mom that she was too slow in the handoff), and to the delight of the crowd both executed the teeter smoothly and cleanly executed the subsequent weaves ... only to incur a fault by smashing through a double jump near the end. Given then closed out quickly and cleanly for a fairly competitive 61 second overall time, but with the fault for the double jump.
The team watched with anticipation as each subsequent team ran. There were some clean runs, but many teams incured one or more faults, and it looked like the team might make up ground.
No one knows what the outcome is until it is announced, since there's no scoreboard. I knew the team's time, though, and saw they were doing well -- the top seeded team was only faster by a tenth of a second, and with the same number of faults!
They first handed out the awards for the Relay event itself, starting with sixth place. The top-seeded team was fifth, and given the time difference I knew our team had to have been seventh (since we weren't sixth). So that meant we were probably moving up in the overall standings -- but as far as the top ten, where they started handing out shirts and plaques as awards?
Well, as it turns out ...
NINTH overall! Which of course started everyone wondering where they'd be had FlyR not had the "E" in Team Jumpers ... but everyone was happy with the performance. The top seeded team ... won the whole shebang, but then they had been a hundred poitns ahead going in to the relay, which was an almost insurmountable gap.
So despite not making either the Steeplechase or Grand Prix finals that we'd wanted, FlyR still ended up with some "bling" for the week -- two individual fourth places (in "Play it Again GP" and Gamblers) plus the ninth overall in Team. Nothing to complain about, really, and enough to stay motivated for next year, as the otehr finals were just within reach.
[image error]SoldierGeekSpouse, FlyR, and Bling.
We celebrated by taking the boys to Lure Coursing, where they both got to run together in an event that should come back in the future as "Sheltie Drag Racing". FlyR outran Scout, proving that youth and skill overcomes old age and treachery.
Cynosport 2012: Good news, Bad news
The Steeplechase finals are in from last night -- a great course with some very fast dogs. SoldierGeekSpouse's teacher at training partner at Highest Hopes Dog Training Center, Jen Pinder, won the 16" class with her dog Taser in a smokin' fast time. Good job and congrats!
The team results are out. "Treasure the Journey" with Scout and Mille ended up 21st in Versatility Pairs, just 13 points below the cutoff for finals -- a second or two on the Jumpers run or one less fault would have made the difference. Only 16 of the 139 teams are going ahead, which seems pretty small given that Championship takes 36 of 170 teams to the finals. So Scout's Games are over.
"It's a Given they are Gifted Fliers", though, with FlyR, given, and Gifted, is sitting in 13th in Championship Team, so they've made the finals cutoff. They are almost a hundred points out of first, so it will be very hard to make up ground, but the final relay event is worth 450 points so it is possible if one of the leading teams stumbles. So FlyR has one more shot at scoring to add to the two 4th place ribbons he's received already.
September 29, 2012
Cynosport 2012: Some videos
Here are videos of some of our runs from the USDAA Cynosport World Games. I've put up an example of each of the types of events that we've run to date.
FlyR's 4th place "Play it Again Grand Prix" Run
FlyR's Steeplechase Semifinal ... heartbreak at the end
Scout's Team Snooker Run
FlyR in Team Gamblers -- 4th Place
Scout in Team Jumpers
Cynosport 2012: We E'd
Well, we won't be going to "the show" tomorrow -- FlyR E'd in the USDAA Grand Prix of Dog Agility Semi-Final round today and failed to qualify for the final.
It was a tough course with a very difficult opening sequence, which made it doubly frustrating that the elimination fault occurred on the last obstacle, where he got out ahead, got a command late, and ended up jumping backwards over the double jump because he overshot it. But that's agility for you -- it only takes a heatbeat to make a fatal mistake.
[image error]The GP Semis ring.
In the Team Standard events, things went much better. Standard is "traditional" agility -- a single sequence with all types of obstacles. Scout ran slowly and had a weave pole fault -- not fatal, but his team is not likely to make the finals. FlyR had a clean, fast run, and his teammates have done well, so they are likely to make it into tomorrow's relay finals -- we're waiting to find out final team scores now.
The boys got their last round of physio, but they are pretty tired at this point. Between running every day, the altitude, and the time change, they're sleepy little dogs.
Meanwhile, we're watching the finals of the international competition. We didn't qualify to compete in those events, but they are running a parallel set of team events with relay teams from multiple countries inclusing Spain, Russia, Japan, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Mexico, and the US.
It looks like the US team has won it against some pretty tough competition -- the Russian team was particularly fast -- we'll know when the awards get announced.
Anyway, keeping fingers crossed for the Team finals even though we didn't make tonight's Steeplechase finals or tomorrow's Grand Prix finals. There's always next year.
Cynosport 2012: The Sideshows
Agility may be the focus of the six-ring circus that is the USDAA Cynosport Wolrd Games, but no circus would be complete without its sideshows, and Cynosport is no exception. A number of demonstration and participation events are going on at the same time as the main agility competitions.
Flyball Racing
If there's a sport for doggie adrenaline junkies and ball fanatics, it's flyball racing.
Flyball is a team relay race in which two teams of four dogs race head to head ... drag racing for dogs. The dogs have to run down a course, jumping four jumps, hit a box that releases a tennis ball, grab the ball, turn, and return back over the same four jumps carrying the ball. Crossing the start line releases the next dog on the team; fastest team to successfully complete all four dogs without faulting wins the race.
Flyball is a great spectator event, because the dogs are enthusiastic, and most teams run a "height dog" who is a much smaller dog, since the jump height is set by the shortest dog on the team and allows the other dogs to go faster.
Lure Coursing
To judge from the squeals of canine joy at Lure for the Cure's lure coursing event, lure coursing is the doggie equivalent of heaven. The event was being put on to raise funds to help combat canine cancer, and was open to any dogwho wanted to attempt the event.
Lure coursing has dogs chase a furry lure around a zig-zag course where they have to negotiate jumps and obstacles while trying to run down what looks like the world's craziest squirrel. Some dogs ignore it (Kaydee couldn't be bothered), but some dogs with extreme prey drive love it. FlyR was pulling us to the lure course ring from halfway across the event venue, and he isn't even allowed to run lure coursing until all of his agility events are finished.
Judging from the line, they should do pretty well at raising money this weekend.
Dock Diving
Dock diving is the sport for water dogs.
Imagine Olympic long jumpers jumping into a pool instead of a sand pit, and you've got the basics of dock diving, except the best dock diving dogs would put an Olympic gold medalist to shame. The handler throws a lure or bumper out into the pool, and the dog takes a running leap to grab it, then swims back to the dock. The best dogs will do twenty feet or more; the worst basically fall off the dock and swim to their lure.
Lots of dogs were getting a turn at dock diving as a reward for their agility runs; our Shelties don't think much of water and weren't interested.
Disc Dogs
A local club was putting on Frisbee Dog demos at the event. With the right training any dog that will retrieve can take up Frisbee -- it's a lot of fun to watch.
Scenting
Scenting is the quiet mental sport for the introvert dogs. A single object is marked with scent and hidden in a field of other similar objects out of sight of the dog and handler; the dog's job is to find the object. Think of it as a doggie version of hide-and-seek.
Doggie-Do-Right
The event had a micro-agility course set up for owners who had not done agility to give their dogs a chance to try some of the obstacles -- an A-frame, jumps, tunnel, weaves, and so on.
September 28, 2012
Cynosport 2012: Gamblers and Jumpers
The team events continued today at the USDAA Cynosport World Games with Team Gamblers and Team Jumpers.
If Snooker is the agility event for anal-retentive rules-lawyer types, then Gamblers is for the free spirits.
Like Snooker, Gamblers has a course time, and an opening and closing section. In the opening, the dog and handler have a fixed amount of time to accumulate as many points as possible by doing obstacles. Jumps are one point, tunnels and tires three points, contact obstacles five points, and weave poles seven points. Obstacles may be taken in any direction or sequence the handler -- or dog -- wishes, and each can be taken up to twice.
[image error]The Gamblers Ring.When time runs out in the opening, a buzzer sounds, and the closing, or "gamble", begins. In traditional Gamblers, this means the dog must execute a set series of obstacles, but the handler is restricted in how close he or she can get to the obstacles, which puts a premium on the dog being able to work at a distance from the handler. In the Nationals Gamblers course, the focus was shifted to strategy: dogs had to execute a specific jump to "open" the gamble, then had to execute a one-point, a three-point, and a five-point obstacle (in any order, no more, no less) and get over the finishing jump before time ran out. The gamble section was worth double points -- 18 total -- but failing an obstacle lost all of the points for the gamble. Lots of competitors ran out of time before making the finishing jump.
Scout and FlyR both did pretty well and successfully completed the gamble, with FlyR tied for 3rd in points when we last checked with 62 points total versus 64 points for the 1st place dog.
Jumpers is the event for the speed demon dogs. It really should be named "Jumpers, with some Weaves and Tunnels", because that's what it is -- a course consisting entirely of jumps, weaves, and tunnels, which is run for maximum speed (plus 5 seconds per fault), unless you go "off-course" and take an obstacle in the wrong sequence, in which case you "E", or are eliminated.
The Jumpers course was brutal -- lots of very difficult turns and traps, with a couple of obstacles that had to be taken by running between two other obstacles. If I had T-shirts made with the slogan "I E'd" printed on them, I could have sold hundreds. Competitors were not asking each other "How'd you do?", they were asking "Did you E?", which gives some indication of how tough it was.
[image error]The Jumpers Ring.FlyR, sadly, normally a speed demon on Jumpers courses, decided to do a little freelancing behind Mom and took an extra jump, earning an E.
Scout completed his course cleanly, but his teammate racked up a lot of faults.
So we go into the next-to-last Team event tomorrow, Team Standard, with a lot of ground to make up if we're to make the cutoff for the Team Relay finals on Sunday. We're missing tonight's Performance Grand Prix Finals (Scout didn't pass Semis) and tomorrow's Steeplechase Finals, too, but still have a shot at the big time in tomorrow's Grand Prix Semis.
Oh, Team? Standard or "Championship" teams have three dogs; Performance teams -- ahem, Versatility Pairs -- have two. They don't run together, but their scores are totaled; the final event is a team relay where all of the dogs on the team run together. Teams are marked by (generally) silly names or names that use all of the dogs' names. So FlyR, on a team with border collies Given and Gifted, is Team "It's a Given they're Gifted Fliers" (yak); Scout is teamed with Millie, an older border collie, on Team "Treasure the Journey". FlyR's team was up near the top after Snooker yesterday but probably took a dive with his E today; Scout and Millie were mid-pack (54 out of 108 Versatility Pairs teams) before today.
Cynosport 2012: Dog Geek, meet Car Geek
"There is no human activity so silly it cannot be advertised on the ass end of an automobile."
- SoldierGeek
Dog agility is no different -- the agility geeks pimp out their cars with custom license plates, magnets, bumper stickers, and event custom-painted windows. Car choices tend to the mundane and practical, as crate and gear space is at a premium. This means that minivans rule the roost, with smaller numbers of SUVs. Subarus are disproportionately represented -- the Outback and Forester both seem to be pretty popular dog haulers -- as are Honda Elements, whose boxy shape is well-suited to hauling boxy dog crates. A few smaller roomy sub-compacts like the Honda Fit are starting to pop up now, too.
Here's a selection of the more interesting personal statements from the parking lot at the USDAA Cynosport World Games.
Agility Nerd. Yeah, I married one of those.
Agility Dog: Paw prints galore.
AUSSOME. Someone really, really likes Australian Shepards -- upper left "If it's not an Aussie, it's just a dog". Except for that one little "I
