Agility Girl

This weekend the boys and I headed off to Swedesboro, NJ for the Paws In Motion trial. The weather forecast was outstanding, both Saturday and Sunday in the 70’s and sunny. Doesn’t get much better than that!! Saturday was a full day of titling classes and Steeplechase and Sunday had all titling classes and the Grand Prix.

Zorro was feeling a bit stressed all weekend, he decided earlier in the week that the dogwalk was far too scary to do, and he refused the dogwalk in the first class of the day, Adv. Std. The next class was Starters Gamblers and Zorro was sniffing and not working so no Q for us there. I decided to scratch him from most of his other classes until he feels more comfortable. On Sunday I did run him in Starters Gamblers where he did get a 1st and Q and his Agility Dog title!! I decided I would move Zorro down to Performance where he would only have to jump 12″ and he should be more comfortable.

Zip and Dasher had an amazing weekend, Zip Q’d in 7 out of 8 classes!! WoHoo!! He earned 2 Super Q’s in Snooker and also won Steeplechase. He was such a superstar!! All of Q’s resulted in 1st or 2nd places. We were really working as a team all weekend, it felt great!! The last class of the day on Sunday was Jumpers and I decided to scratch Zip from Jumpers because he had done so much running all weekend I thought he needed a break. Dasher came into the weekend needing one Standard Q to complete his Agility Dog Championship. He started the weekend great, earning a Jumpers and Gamblers Q at the beginning of the day. Our next class was Standard. As luck would have it the first obstacle in the course was the chute. This is great news for us since Dasher is notorious for dropping the first bar on course. As we stepped up to the line I reminded myself that this was just like any other run and remembered the feeling of running the dogs at home. Dasher had a beautiful run, smooth and effortless for him. There were some tricky spots but he handled them like a pro. After Dasher sailed over the last rail and was clean all my friends on the sidelines went wild!! It was such a great feeling!! I was so proud of Dasher!! It has been a long road with us, many obstacles to overcome, so this milestone was a sweet one. Dasher is officially an Agility Dog Champion!! The rest of the weekend was a blur. Dasher unfortunately did not get his last needed Grand Prix Q, we had one rail down, but he did get another Gamblers Q on Sunday.

The last class of the day on Sunday was Jumpers and Jeannette was feeling a bit burnt out after all her runs all weekend so she offered to let me run her Border Collies, Rumble and Eve. Of course I jumped at the chance since running Jeannette’s dogs is always so much fun. Both Eve and Rumble ran great. My timing was slightly off as the Border Collies cover the ground a bit faster than my guys, but we managed to Q in both runs. We left Dreampark at 7:30 p.m. a very long day, but well worth it. I could not have been prouder of all the dogs!!

What a weekend!! The boys and I headed up to Barto, PA for the Keystone Agility trial. First off I need to make a comment on the weather. We had rain all day Saturday with tornado like winds and a torrential downpour on Sunday. On Saturday a honestly thought the dogs would get blown away while I was walking them. Saturday just offered Starters/Advanced classes along with Steeplechase and Masters Jumpers. Zorro was entered in Advanced Standard, Starters Snookers and Starters Jumpers. He did great. His speed and confidence is greatly improving with each show, so good to see. In Standard, he hit the tire jump but kept on truckin’ along. Unfortunately, when we got to the teeter he became a bit unsure and jumped off. Note to self…I need to start finding new teeters to get his confidence up. In Snooker, Zorro did great and got a placement and a Q!! Jumpers was his last class. By this time it had gotten dark and the building had many shadows on course. The ring crew suddenly became the boogie men and were out to get him. He had to stop and stare at each one so we were clean but over time.

I ran the older boys in Steeplechase and Jumpers on Saturday. The Steeplechase course was fun and fast! The beginning of the course had a tricky part, a short almost straight tunnel to a 180 degree turn. The tricky part was the off-course jump about 10 feet in front of the tunnel. I walked it two ways, not sure which way would work best. Zippy ran first and I tried a front cross in front of the tunnel. Unfortunately my forward movement to do my front caused him to take the off course jump. Other than my bad decision Zippy had a smokin’ run! I ran Dasher next and decided to hang back at the entrance of the tunnel and do a pull. Well that worked much better and Dasher had an amazing run. He had one bar down but still ended up in 1st place!! In Jumpers I was not moving fast enough for Dasher and ended up behind which caused him to take an off course jump. Zippy was on fire and flew around the course. He ended up in 1st place with a Q! The club ran Steeplechase finals as the last class of the day. Again Dasher had another smokin’ run and again he ended up in 1st place with a nice cash prize!!!

Sunday was all Masters day for us. We had the Grand Prix, Gamblers, and Standard. The first class was gamblers. I wanted to work my A-frame with both Dasher and Zip since during the Steeplechase they both got a little “loose” in their contacts. The weave poles were the 7 point obstacle and A-frame was in the gamble but seemed to be easy enough to avoid other gamble obstacles while working the A-frame. Zippy ran first. We was having a great opening, holding his A-frame contact, unfortunately after I released him on his 1st A-frame he bolted toward the other gamble obstacle! Oh well! I had him do the A-frame a second time, this time he rolled off and I was able to mark it and we left. Dasher had a great opening and smoked 2 weave poles and held both his A-frame contacts. He got the tricky gamble which was 2 jumping heading away from the handler, then treadle the 2 jumps and go up the A-frame and then over the final jump which was a double. Dash won the class!! WoHoo!!

Our next class was the Grand Prix. Only Dash was entered as Zippy has his needed Q’s. The course seemed challenging but do-able. The first 2 jumps on course were set at very hard angles, not Dasher’s strongest area. Unfortunately Dash had the first 2 bars down and then another in the middle of the course so no Q for us in GP.

Our last class was Standard. Both Dasher and Zip needed one Standard Q for their ADCh. The course was again very challenging but do-able. Lots of angled jumps. Zippy ran first. He put in one of the best standard runs we have ever had!! He nailed his weave entrance and waited at every contact! WoHoo!! The last run of jumps were angled but in a straight line. After I did my final front and headed toward the last line I knew I needed to run like mad as I had seen other handlers fall behind and get faulted for refusals. As soon as I knew I had his attention after the front cross, I took off. It was a good thing too because by the 3rd jump he had caught me! After the last line we just had the chute and the finish jump. Zippy was a superstar and got his last needed Q for his ADCh!! I could not have been happier!! It is amazing to me that just shy of 2 years of showing Zippy achieved such a huge title. He is such a fantastic little dog!! I feel like I have been given such a gift in him. Just love my little Zippy dog!!

Dasher ran next and by this point everyone knew what was on the line. I didn’t tell anyone about the ADCh before Zip’s run but now the jig was up. Again the first jump on course was a hard angle. I tried to set Dasher up for success but it was not in the cards for us that day. Dasher ticked the first bar and it was over. I think the entire building sighed when that happened. Oh well, we have 2 more shots next weekend! We will keep our fingers crossed.

I drove home with 3 tired pups and some nice ribbons, including a HUGE ADCh ribbon, to show for our efforts. Doesn’t get any better than this!!