Wednesday, January 20, 2010

DSA AKC Trial

We were at a one-ring trial this weekend at a venue that is seven minutes from my house. It was a great trial with a great judge and a fun and relaxed atmosphere. Sage was 50 percent each day. I would like to say we had just one thing wrong in the classes we NQ'd in but actually, we had several wrong courses. Unusual for us and at first I was thinking, "Oh no! I have fallen victim to the "one more double Q for our MACH" syndrome. But after really analyzing the courses (this judge is known for nice flowing courses that let the dogs really open up and extend), I realized that they were a bit too wide open for Sage. I ended up having to handle with a lot of lateral distance from her and we had several disconnection points on course. I found this observation interesting and realized that as a team, Sage and I do much better on tighter more technical courses where I can really handle close to her. She reads my lateral motion cues much better when I am closer to her. So she NQ'd Saturday morning in Jumpers, then WON Standard that afternoon with a smokin' time of 38 seconds. Sunday - NQ in Standard and then Q'd in Jumpers that afternoon (6th place I think).

Summit had an awesome weekend. He did very well on these courses. There were a lot of wrong course posibilities which were a non-issue with Summit. Saturday morning he had a great Jumpers run that would have won the class but for one dropped bar. Saturday afternoon he Q'd with 3rd place in Standard with a time of 41 seconds. I was really making him hold his contacts and he did a great job of that. I found it amusing that so many people came up to me later after the results were posted and wanted to know how Sage could have beat Summit by three whole seconds. Well when you watch the videos, you will see how (hint: contacts).

Sunday Summit won Standard with a blazing time of 37.18 seconds. That afternoon he placed 3rd for a double Q. The first double Q he needs for 2011 AKC Nationals (5 more to go).

I am so thrilled to see that Summit and I are becoming more consistent. My goals have been to trust the training and make sure I uphold criteria in the ring, and perfect my timing.

Speaking of training....
I can't believe it's been two months now since I have trained my dogs. The snow has partially melted off the field but the water is not draining well and between soggy muddy grass and sheets of ice, I have not let the dogs out in the back field at all; not even to play. But we've had a couple of private handling sessions and the first week of February, we have my agility club's 4-day seminar. I am co-chair of the club's seminar which has been a lot of work but not only did I get to select the instructors, I will also get to participate all four days.

Anyway, although I'm a little nervous about not training, I haven't really seen any issues in competition - so far.

Here is the video of Sage's 1st place Standard run on Saturday.



And here is Summit's Standard run (3rd place)



Summit's Saturday Jumpers run (one bar)



Summit's winning Sunday Standard run (not holding contacts)



Summit's Sunday Jumpers run (3rd place. 1-4th places separated by 100ths of a second)
He stumbles a little at the end (second jump after the weaves).




We have this weekend off from competition. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some training in. It's supposed to snow though. Maybe we'll just go hiking.

5 comments:

kiwichick said...

Nice runs! I think we have Dave as a judge next weekend. It sounds like they will be fun courses :-)

Kathy Mocharnuk said...

That is pretty impressive that you have not been able to train and everything seems to be holding up GREAT!!! There were some tricky looking parts in those courses and it was really neat to see you handle those, it looked like dancing!

Elayne said...

Those courses do look trappy but you make it look so easy. Funny to see just how much time those held contacts add.

I'm looking forward to the seminar, thanks for your hard work putting it on.

Diana said...

Think if I what your runs often enough , it will rub off one me? LoL How do you think Summit knows how far he can creep? He seems to know, I can go this far and then I must stop. LoL Diana

Morganne said...

Thanks Kathy! I am thinking that I put so much foundation on my dogs when they were young and they understand my cues, that if we miss training for a couple months, it may not spell disaster. At least that is what I am hoping.

Diana, I wish we lived closer. I would love to train with you when I get my Sheltie!
I keep an eye on the creeping and so far, he isn't creeping to get closer, I think it is to get his rear up under him to prepare to push off - like a stock car:-) Because he creeps and then at some point, he stops and is perfectly still until I release him. But I am definately watching that behavior to see if it evolves into something else.