“Say what?” you think, glancing at the calendar. “That must be a mistake it’s only mid-October!” Has she gone mad? Does she not know what month it is?

Yesterday I was wearing a down jacket (with 3 layers underneath), 2 pairs of pants, gloves and a hat. I was bundled up like that kid in the Christmas Story movie and I was STILL cold! I don’t care what the calendar says – that’s WINTER. And pouring rain too. Exactly the kind of day I would have stayed home, if it weren’t my own club’s trial!

Saturday actually wasn’t half bad. It was cold and cloudy but the rain held off. We all had a pretty good time.

Saturday started with Novice JWW – I had entered Raven and Bryce (just for fun). Unfortunately, the timing of it being the first class of the day, having to get Raven measured, and having to run Bryce in the same class and height meant I had to leave Raven with other people a couple of times and she was clingy and insecure when I went to run her, popping out of a tunnel multiple times and jumping up at me again. I convinced her to settle down mid-course and the second half was very nice. I was pleased with that – to me, it’s better to have the second half of a course come together than to have a great first half that falls apart!

Bryce ran beautifully (clean, 1st place run) and had a great time :). It was a big difference from last year when I pulled him because he was too sick. I have to run him at 12″ in AKC – I don’t run him 12″ indoors any more because I think it’s harder on his feet/toes but outside on soft grass he’s fine at that height. He was very pleased with himself and wanted to run again, but since that was all he was entered in he had to settle for some walks and ringside schmoozing. He was OK with that too.

Jayda was in Open JWW. I don’t know if it was nerves or excitement from the cold, but Miss Perfect Poles tried to scramble through the weaves WAY faster than she usually does them and couldn’t stay in. Twice. She was back to her normal speed later in Standard, but she popped the end – I was probably hovering because of her earlier performance (bad handler.) Anyway, it was just 1 R, so it was her first Open std. Q. I was proud that I was able to manouver her past an offcourse A-frame on one side and an offcourse jump on the other side of the opening sequence, each of which took out a lot of teams!

Sunday was pretty much a washout. Bryce wasn’t entered and I didn’t want to soak/freeze the babydog. I ran Jayda and she was doing well in Standard again until something spooked her at the weaves (a flapping tent? Someone in scary rain gear?) and she froze like a deer in the headlights. I managed to get her through them – a pole at a time and lots of in-her-face coaxing. I was certain we had a string of “R”‘s on or sheet for that, but we went on. The rest was fine except where I assumed she’d run right into the chute and she ran past it instead. Turned out she only had ONE R for the weaves and that second one cost us a Q! Once again, my bad.

“Work Every Obstacle” and “It’s Never Over ‘Til It’s Over”!

Raven is now Toven Crave the Rave, CL1-F. Nice, easy babydog title – 1 Q in jumpers, 1 Q in Fullhouse and that’s it. No video, but here she is with the new title ribbon that’s as big as she is :).

It was a mixed bag this weekend. Saturday was OK aside from 2 frustrating “almosts” for Bryce. In standard he back-jumped a jump, and in jackpot he got a tantalizing 2 obstacles from the end and couldn’t stay out. Obstacle #2 in the gamble was the teeter – I knew from previous experience he had to run it straight into the yellow and not “think” about it or he’d revert to “Mama’s Boy” mode. Unfortunately, he stopped early and thought … and worried… and wouldn’t push out to the tire after it. It didn’t help that the tire was black and not highly visible. Oh well …

Jayda had the same problem as Bryce in Jackpot, but Q’d in Snooker and Fullhouse (I hadn’t entered her in standard). I wish I had video of the snooker run, because somehow I got her to take a more-advantageous but seemingly impossible left tunnel entrance in the opening – she was on my left, doing a tight curve to the right, which ended up with her facing the RIGHT end of the tunnel! I really wish I knew how I pushed her in that OTHER entrance in case I need to do it again sometime! (And no, I didn’t do the obvious and cross behind her.)

Raven Q’d in Colors and in Fullhouse to get her CL1-F title. She was doing the bratty jumping up thing again all weekend though, after not doing it at ALL in class Thursday. Sunday I experimented with starting her with a control sequence in Fullhouse, thinking maybe the big, open sequences were just getting her too revved up – that just brought on the jumping a little sooner.

On Saturday I also ran Bryce’s half-sister (and grandniece, I think) Mysty in Colors – what a hoot! She’s like a young Bryce (even SOUNDS like him when she barks), except that she spins. She didn’t spin TOO much for me, and we brought back a nice, shiny Q for her mom Karen :).

I also tried an experiment at this trial – putting the two girls in the same crate together (Jayda just curls up in the back and Raven’s so tiny there’s plenty of room for her). Other than it being a little difficult getting Jayda out without Raven, it worked out really well. They’re such good friends and it may have been good for Jayda to have her confident little “sister” for a roommie. Yay – no more lugging 3 crates !!!

I never used to go to trials if it was raining, but I’ve been spending so much in entries lately that I’ve been going anyway and hoping for the best. However, Sunday I came to my senses and remembered WHY I always used to stay home: Because the only dog who would do anything would be the baby dog du jour (because of the lower performance standards) and the rest of us would just end up wet and miserable and I’d have to spend the next day doing laundry and drying out all our stuff. Enough said!

Had a pretty fun weekend at the NADAC agility trial this past weekend. Bryce was entered in chances (2x) and tunnelers (1x – just for his amusement). He had a good time, but didn’t Q in anything, so the weekend ended up being all about the girls!

The trial was in a site used for horse events and all things considering, the footing and conditions in the rings themselves were excellent. However the rest of the grounds were another story! It had rained hard on Friday and was drizzling on and off all day Saturday, resulting in lots of MUD! Nasty, sneaker-sucking, clay-ey mud. You could take long detours around it or gingerly step through the “drier” areas, but there were some wickedly slippery spots and doing this little mud dance all day long was kind of hard on the legs!

Jayda

We had originally just entered Saturday. Jayda started with a really great run in Jumpers to earn her Outstanding Novice Jumpers title, following it up later in the day with 2 clean runs in Regular to finish her Superior Novice Regular title – Yay!

For those of you who don’t do NADAC, an Outstanding is awarded in Novice or Open when you reach 100 points (10 Q’s) in Regular or 60 points (6 Q’s) in any other class. A superior is 200 points (20 Q’s) in Regular and 100 points (10 Q’s) in the other classes. (The point totals are higher for Elite). We’re going for Jayda’s Novice Triple Superior award, which you get for earning superior titles in Regular, Jumpers and Chances.

Here’s a little bit of video from her 2nd regular run. Not a very exciting clip (one of her slower runs of the weekend) and there were some “technical difficulties” so this is all I have, but Raven’s been such a blog-hog lately I felt I had to post it!

Raven ran later in the day – more on her later :).

I wasn’t entered on Sunday, but it turned out to be a beautiful day and since I’d also accidently left my chair there on Saturday and the secretary allows day-of-trial entries, I headed back up for a few more runs (and to get my chair!). I entered Jayda in Regular and Chances, Bryce in Chances and Raven in Jumpers.

Jayda moved up to Open for Regular – she had a great run, but took a wrong obstacle on a discrimination. She Q’d in Chances, bringing her Chances point total to 80.

I’m definitely seeing progress in her speed! She was a good 10″ under time on that Open course and would have even Q’d in Elite (the course was the same for both). She also had a new “personal best” speed in Jumpers the day before. Now we’re talking Jayda, so it wasn’t some record shattering number :), and there was a lot of variance in her speed over the weekend (see above), but it was a big step in the right direction. I was VERY pleased with my little “slowpoke” on those runs!

Raven

Saturday I’d entered Raven in Tunnelers and Weavers. She’s still just a babydog and has virtually NO experience running full courses outside, so this was basically “practice” in a training-friendly venue. I was probably out of my mind for entering such a green dog in weavers, but she made a credible attempt. Tunnelers was a wild ride with a big wrong course in the beginning, but moments of brilliance on the 2nd half – she was a little rocket, enjoyed herself and did nice distance work besides! Unfortunately, all I have on tape is our less-impressive Weavers run:

She didn’t know what the hoops were but seemed to catch on quickly. It’s interesting that in both Weavers and Tunnelers she popped out of that last straight, dark tunnel. Not sure why she did that either – was pretty sure she’d committed to it both times. Unlike the tunnel in the middle of the run – she was already frustrated from the poles before it so I just let it go. She did a nice set of poles after it, with no help at all from me. Pretty sure I messed up the other 2 by not giving her enough space! I was much too “in her face” on this run and tried to back off a little on the others. With a grass-green dog you never know what to expect and we really don’t have our act together yet, but we had fun!

Sunday I decided to run her in Jumpers. She qualified and there were some good parts, but there was also a lot of jumping up at me, which wasted time and was driving me nuts! (She did it in Weavers too.) Take a look:

She would have smoked that course if she hadn’t spent so much time bouncing vertically! Anyone want to venture a theory why she’s doing that? Is it because she:

• Is frustrated with something I’m doing? (Poor/slow communication? On top of her too much?)
• Is used to a denser reinforcement schedule and at a certain point decides it’s time self-reinforce by engaging me in a game? She gets through a few obstacles OK and then it starts …
• Too much “handler focus”?
• Gets over-excited?
• Is feeling insecure? (Her tail’s up the whole time – she doesn’t LOOK worried about anything …)
• Is just being a silly baby?
• All of the above, none of the above, something else?

I see I’m turning in towards the jump when she does it, but I’m certain that’s my reaction to what I see HER doing (i.e. starting to run into my path) – I may not be the world’s most elegant handler, but KNOW I’m not in the habit of turning sideways to direct my dogs to jump!

Speaking of which, I AM trying to get in the habit of taking more videos of my runs, which should help me clean up some of my klutzy handling :)!

Unless you don’t follow AKC agility (or if you live under a rock) you’ve probably heard about the new agility committee recommendations that are causing a stir.

Lots of complaints that the proposed changes would “dumb down” AKC agility, an accusation often made in the same breath as “make it like NADAC” – which as a NADAC / multi-venue competitor I find a little offensive. I don’t see anyone suggesting that AKC adopt NADAC’s YPS standards – 3.75 YPS for large dogs in NOVICE jumpers – but I digress.

I see these recommendations as a blend of some things that may be “easier” for some dogs, some that may be “harder” and a few things that are just common sense. Here (in case anyone cares) are my $0.02 on the subject:

Easier/Safer

24″ Weave pole spacing. – Healthier for the big dogs, may make them more difficult for small, short-strided dogs? Just an assumption – anyone with a very small dog have feedback on this?
6′ -6.5′ Chute – As someone who’s had multiple dogs get tangled in twisted, wet 12′ chutes over the years, you won’t find me complaining about that!
Positionless table – No more sits or downs. Easier for the dogs? Yes. Easier for the judges too, and should save a significant amount of time previously wasted by competitors unsuccessfully attempting to get their dog into the desired position.
5′ A-frame for 4″ and 8″ dogs - IMO, a sound, well-conditioned small dog should have no problem with a 5’6″ a-frame, but whatever.

Personally, I’d have rather have seen (and I AM gonna go all “NADAC-y” on you now!) recommendations which would lead AKC towards adopting slatless, rubber contacts. But that’s me.

Lower Tire Heights (except for 4″ dogs) – WTF? Am I reading this correctly?

Tire height definition:
26 and 24” jump heights set at 20”
20” jump height set at 16”
16” jump height set at 12”
12” jump height set at 8”
8 and 4” jump height set at 4”

This one seems to have come totally out of left field! If dogs getting hung up on the tire is that big a problem, what about the increasingly popular breakaway tire?

More Difficult

No more MACH multipliers for 1st and 2nd place – Some folks won’t be happy campers about that.
Dog can no longer touch the broad jump – at least I *think* that’s what the proposed rule is getting at.
More spread jumps, triple allowed in Novice
Maximum of 2 open tunnels on a course – won’t hear me complaining about this either (Jayda slows down in tunnels – if I’m running her, the fewer the better!)
Limit of 3 attempts at the weaves, AND re-attempts must be made from the beginning – No more restarting the weaves in the middle. Only affects Novice and Open dogs from a qualifying standpoint. This may also save a significant amount of time at trials.

Just plain common sense

“Metal tunnel holders shall not have a rigid upright (e.g.
steel/wood) that is capable of fitting between the ribs thus
possibly projecting into the tunnel.”

Currently these are only allowed at the ends anyway.

The Preferred Agility Championship (PACH) title shall be
awarded to all dogs competing in the STD Excellent B
Preferred and JWW Excellent B Preferred classes who have
obtained 750 Preferred Championship points and 20 double
Q’s.

About time! PACH will always be viewed as “inferior” to the MACH, as it should because of the lower performance standards, but what’s the harm of giving preferred dogs something to aspire to beyond 20QQ’s? (And keep their entry fees going to the AKC!) Likewise, the proposed Preferred National Agility Championship. Seriously – why should anyone get their undies all in a twist about recognizing top achievers from a different “division”?

(Hey – just think: in 10 more years they just might let the mixed dogs compete in the “normal” A/B/P classes instead of sticking them in their own little ghetto. The wheels of the AKC grind slowly)

“If a dog gets tangled up in the closed tunnel fabric, gets hung up going through the tire, or falls off the on the ascent side of
the dog walk, A-frame, or seesaw; the handler has the choice
to immediately retry the obstacle once and then leave the
course.”

Yay!

If a dog is officially measured by a VMO or Agility Field Rep
for a jump height card and that measurement places the dog
into a lower jump height class, entrants in the Regular classes
may move down effective immediately.

Makes sense.

Clubs may offer full refunds to exhibitors who have to cancel,
after the trial has closed, but prior to the date of the trial,
provided the club can fill any canceled entries from the wait
list.

Yay!

Of course none if this is a done-deal yet. Any or all of the recommendations could be vetoed.

Well that’s it for my 2 cents – what’s yours?