Thursday, June 3, 2010

Conor, Conor, Conor

Oh my crazy boy Conor. We had a 3-day DOCNA agility trial this past weekend, with a possibility of 13 Q's. We got 5. Major boo hoo. Mostly bummed about the 100% failure rate in our Standard runs. What am I going to do with this little speed demon? Guess we'll just keep on practicing.

On a happier note, Kaylie went up to Prescott this same weekend with her breeder for a conformation show. She is currently ranked #22 in the country in conformation. Never, ever in my wildest dreams did I ever think she would be nationally ranked in conformation. Earlier this year I decided to show her a few times just for fun. She just isn't ready to show in Utility, so I figured I'd show her in conformation. Then she started winning! Wow! So to solidify her standings in the Top 30, her breeder said she would show her in Prescott. I could make it up on Sunday to show her and then bring her back home. Well, on Saturday, she got Best of Breed! It was a pretty large entry, so she'll get plenty of points for that win. And then the two shows that I showed her in, she won Best Opposite Sex in both!! What a thrill! So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that these wins will keep Kaylie in the Top 30, and she'll be invited to the Conformation Finals at the ASCA Nationals this year. What a thrill that will be. Last year I was waiting on pins and needles to see if Conor qualified for the Obedience Finals, and now this year it's Kaylie in conformation. July 1 can't come soon enough!!
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Kaylie - The True Wonder Dog

At our last DOCNA (Dogs on Course in North America) agility trial in Prescott, Kaylie did fantastic! We are trying to be the first team to earn the MEX (Merit of Excellence) who started in the Beginner level. We are getting VERY close. All the other teams that have earned the MEX were grandfathered in at higher levels. Kaylie was just starting her agility career when DOCNA was created, so we had no choice but to start at the beginning. And as it is, I believe there are under 20 teams that have even earned the MEX to this point.

Well, going into the trial at Prescott, we needed 2 Specialist Gamblers legs and 2 Specialist Standard legs. In DOCNA, there are two types of Gamblers runs -- Traditional and Strategic Timed Gamblers. Unfortunately, we have only earned 3 Traditional Gamblers legs -- one from the Beginner class, one from the Intern class and one from the Specialist class. All the other Gamblers legs have come from the Strategic Time Gamblers. So, I knew going in that the chance of getting that Traditional Gamblers leg on Saturday was slim. We walked into the ring, and I knew Kaylie was on fire and ready to go. The Gamblers class is usually the first class of the trial, and Kaylie is usually absolutely wild in the first run. Well, this was no different. She was incredibly fast, and I was not -- I kept getting in her way, and things just fell apart. At 30 seconds, the buzzer rang, which meant I had to get to the gamble portion of the course. I sent her over the jump to the tunnel -- she took the wrong end of the tunnel, then came right back to me over the wrong jump and that was the end of that. No MEX for us this weekend. BUT, she did qualify in the two Standard runs she needed, getting First place both times, and she got her Strategic Timed Gamblers leg on Sunday, earning a Second place. Wooo hooo Kaylie!!! Out of 10 runs over the weekend, we qualified in 8 of them, placing 1st, 2nd or 3rd in all but one run -- our Jumpers run on Sunday. I got lost on the course and just got confused. Luckily, Kaylie can read the numbers on the cones (that's the only explanation I can come up with) because she ran the right course despite my mess ups! Hence the name "Wonder Dog." So we still Q'd, but got 6th place. Still, not too bad!!

So, our next DOCNA trial will be in Pinetop the end of August. Hopefully we'll get our MEX there! Just one Gambler leg to go.