December DOCNA Agility Trial

We had our last agility trial of the year this past weekend out in Queen Creek, AZ. This was Conor's first full agility trial -- he was entered in 10 runs for the weekend. We've had a lot of rain lately, so classes had been cancelled and we weren't able to get in much practice, so I had no idea how things were going to go with my little silver bullet. Saturday actually didn't go very well with either dog. It was incredibly cold, especially in the morning (the low was 33 degrees Saturday morning and there was thick frost on the grass). The pants I wore did keep me pretty warm, but they were very heavy and very hard to run in. I felt like I was running with lead boots on. Kaylie only Q'd in one of her Standard runs and her Snakes N' Ladders run, and Conor only Q'd in Traditional Gamblers. I was pretty miserable, and really wished I had a pair of shorts or something in my van to change in to. I learned that being able to run and move is WAY more important than being warm!! On my way home that evening, I stopped by Dick's Sporting Goods and found some warm, fuzzy, stretchable pants to wear on Sunday. I was able to wear long johns under these fuzzy pants, which kept me perfectly comfortable on Sunday. I was able to run and move, so I was a happy camper again on Sunday. Conor only Q'd in his Jumpers run on Sunday, but the NQ's were basically due to poor handling on my part. Kaylie Q'd in both Standard runs (getting 2nd Place in both), and then Q'd in Jumpers, with a 3rd Place. This definitely wasn't our best trial. We have an AKC trial in a couple of weeks, so we've got some work ahead of us. At least now I have some warm fuzzy pants to wear!!

DOCNA Championships

The DOCNA Championships started yesterday with "warm up" Standard and Jumpers runs. Kaylie took a wrong jump in her Standard run, but had a fantastic Jumpers run, and got 2nd Place. Yay! Today was the start of the actual Championships. We had Traditional Gamblers, Snakes 'N Ladders, and then the first round of Jumpers and Standard runs. Finals will be on Sunday, and to make it to Finals, our scores from Friday and Saturday will be added together, and the top 25% of each class will go on to compete in the Finals on Sunday. Well, we had great runs in everything. Unfortunately, Kaylie knocked a bar in her Jumpers run (it's been FOREVER since she's knocked a bar -- why did she have to do it at the Championships??) Her Standard run and Snakes 'N Ladders run were very nice, but there were just too many faster dogs -- those darn Border Collies!!! We actually ended up in 8th Place in both Jumpers and Standard, and I think 9th Place in Snakes 'N Ladders. It's not very often that we finish out of the ribbons, but the competition here is tough, so we're about in the middle of the pack. Now for the real kicker -- our Traditional Gamblers run. Traditional Gamblers is definitely NOT our forte. We've only Q'd in Traditional Gamblers 3 other times. But Kaylie did it -- she did the gamble, and did it very well. I was shocked. And to top it off, we got 3rd Place. Wooo hooo!

We're not out of the Finals quite yet. We still have tomorrow. It'll probably take some mistakes to be made by those top teams, and then us having super fantastic runs, but anything is possible!

Kaylie's Journey for her Merit of Excellence - DOCNA Agility

We did it!!! Kaylie and I became the first team to start at the Beginner level in DOCNA to earn the Merit of Excellence (“MEX”). It sure wasn’t easy, but gosh it has been a blast. The trials we've been to, the friends we've made -- all the laughs and all the tears. It's been quite a journey.

Kaylie’s agility career began in 2005. I showed her in a few trials through 2005, but at that time, my focus was on Takara, my Akita. I just entered Kaylie in a couple of runs at each show to get some experience. Then DOCNA had its first trial on February 19, 2006 in Phoenix. Kaylie Q’d in all her runs but the Gamblers run. Through 2006, Kaylie and I were coming together as a team and I was getting used to running a pretty fast dog (I was so used to running an older Akita -- so I had to starting thinking and cueing much faster!) But we were doing pretty good, earning lots of Q's. In early 2007, we hit our first road block. All of a sudden, we couldn’t buy a Q to save our life. I hadn’t been feeling well, but I kept going, showing in agility, obedience, rally obedience and conformation – I had shows almost every weekend for about 3 months straight. I was worn down and exhausted. It turned out I had pneumonia. I took some time off from showing to recuperate. The fall shows started up, and Kaylie and I were back! Woooo hoooooo!! Then my mom got real sick towards the end of the year. There was a DOCNA trial the weekend of December 29 & 30, 2007. My mom was in the hospital, and Friday, December 28, my mom had a really bad day. I was at the hospital the entire day, because the doctors didn't think she was going to make it through the day. I was torn whether or not to go to the trial, or be with my mom at the hospital. I decided to go to the trial – figuring my mom would want me to be doing something I enjoy doing. Our first run that weekend of course was Traditional Gamblers. We didn’t Q – I don’t even think we got over 10 points – it was a disaster of a run. One of my friends told me that it was probably because I was preoccupied with my mom, and I should probably leave the show and go to the hospital. I’m pretty stubborn when it comes down to it, and I wasn’t going to give up and leave, even though in the back of my mind I did keep wondering if I really should be there. I did stay. We ended up Q-ing in most of our runs that weekend. I couldn’t wait to see my mom on Monday to let her know how we did. My mom actually had a “good” weekend, and her health started to improve. I saw her that Monday and told her that we had done well. She was heavily sedated, but I’m sure she heard me. Unfortunately, that Wednesday, her health deteriorated quickly, and she lost her battle with diabetes the next day. I know she’s there watching us at every trial, although she never has helped us with those darned Traditional Gamblers Qs!!! Mom!!! :)

Fast forward to May 2008. There was a trial in Prescott – all we needed to finish the MEX was 2 Standard runs and 2 Gamblers runs. Of course the first run Saturday was Traditional Gamblers. We didn’t get it. BUMMER!!! At that point I knew I had to go to the Pinetop trial over Labor Day weekend. We did end up getting the two Standard legs we needed, and we got 1 of the 2 Gamblers legs we needed, by qualifying in the Strategic Timed Gamblers class. Now I had to fill out the entry form for the Pinetop trial. All I need to earn the MEX was ONE Gamblers leg – it could be either a Traditional Gamblers leg or a Strategic Gamblers leg. I had to decide if it was worth spending the money on a hotel room Friday night, take off work early Friday so I could get to Pinetop at a decent time, and take a chance on that Traditional Gamblers run on Saturday morning. Money is a little tight right now, so I decided to forego that Traditional Gamblers run (we've only Q'd in 3 Traditional Gamblers classes in 2.5 years anyway), drive up Saturday morning, do a couple of runs Saturday, and focus on the Strategic Time Gamblers on Sunday. Everyone thought I was crazy to put everything on the line for that Strategic Time Gamblers run. But I had faith we could do it. We got to the show site at about 8:30 a.m. on Saturday. Kaylie was just entered in the two Jumpers runs, and Conor was entered in a Standard run and a Jumpers run on Saturday. All of a sudden it started raining. And it rained, and rained and rained. It would stop for a bit, then rained some more. The show did go on though. Kaylie ended up doing awesome in her two Jumpers runs – she didn’t miss a beat – no wide turns or anything – they were perfect runs, and she got 1st Place in both runs, finishing her Specialist Silver Jumpers Merit Award. Yay! Conor did well in his two runs, although he didn’t Q. He was under much better control than he was in Utah at his first trial – he looked like he had actually had some training! Finally Sunday came, and it was sunny, but there were dark clouds all around. We got through Trigility and most of the Specialist level of the North America Challenge and then it started raining – it was pouring. Jim Mills (DOCNA's fearless leader, and my great agility trainer) decided to stop the trial for about 30 minutes to see if things would let up. It was now pouring. I was so sure that Jim was going to come to me to tell me that the trial was going to be cancelled – I kept trying to prepare myself on how I was going to react – I wanted that MEX so bad!!! I didn’t want to have to wait for the next trial (I’m NOT good at waiting). The rain wasn’t letting up, so Jim decided to stop things for a couple hours, see how things looked, and if there was a break, he would finish up the North America Challenge runs, and then instead of doing the scheduled Standard runs, we would do Strategic Timed Gamblers runs instead. A few people mentioned to me that the show was going on just so I could get my chance at that MEX. Oh my!!! The pressure!!! What if we didn’t get it?????

We ended up going to my friend Jill’s cabin during the break, because we didn’t want to hang out in the cold rain for two hours. She cranked up the heat in the cabin and we sat and chatted, and I agonized the whole time about not being able to qualify in that Gamblers run. At about 12:00 we noticed blue skies and we headed back to the show site . Things started back up pretty close to 12:30 or so. The North America Challenge classes finshed up, and it was finally time for Strategic Timed Gamblers. For those that don’t know how this class works, you get 30 seconds to run a course that you make up. Each obstacle is worth a set amount of points, and at the Specialist level you have to get at least 19 points. You plan your course so you can rack up as many points as you can in 30 seconds. At 30 seconds, a horn blows. At the sound of the horn, you get 15 more seconds to get some more points and then cross the finish line. BUT, it’s not quite that easy. You actually have 12.5 to 15 seconds to cross that line. If you cross the line before 12.5 seconds, or if you cross after the 15 seconds, you don’t qualify. So you really have to know your dog, know where you are on the course, and know how long it takes your dog to complete the obstacles you choose on your path to the finish line. It sounds crazy, but it’s a very fun challenge. As I was planning my course, my stomach was turning, and I could feel the pressure mounting (I don’t normally get nervous – this was a new thing for me). I finished my walk through, made sure I was checked in, then went to get Kaylie. We did our normal routine, playing catch and tug and we did some heeling and fun stuff. It was finally our turn – we walked into the ring, and all of a sudden everything seemed very calm and all I could see was Kaylie and the course ahead of us. I couldn’t even tell you at this point if it was raining or not, I was so focused on our run. We ran everything perfectly – she was right where she was supposed to be at that 30-second horn. We did what we needed to to get out and cross the finish line. I looked over to the right, and there was Jim with the MEX medal!! Woooo hoooo!!! We made it!!! We got our medal, and then ran a victory lap for us, and for my mom. It was very cool. Turns out it wasn't raining during our run -- I think mom stopped that rain for at least those 45 seconds we were in the ring.

So that’s Kaylie’s journey to her MEX. She’s a one-in-a-million dog, and I’m so blessed she fell into my life. I knew the minute I saw her that she was a very special dog, and that as a team, we were destined for great things.

As for Conor’s runs on Sunday – he qualified in his Strategic Time Gamblers run (despite my totally forgetting about him and not planning a course he could run!!) AND -- he got 1st place in that Gamblers run. He also qualified in his Standard run, with 1st place!! WOW!!!!! I’m always just stunned what this little boy does. Hopefully in a couple of years we’ll be earning Conor’s MEX!!!

Results from Saturday & Sunday's Trials

Agility Rule #10: For every great day of agility is an equally not so good day of agility. Not that we really had a bad day, just not a Q day. Kaylie had a wrong tunnel entrance on her Standard run (she did take the tunnel entrance that the teeter was pointing RIGHT at!) But alas, that was the wrong end. And then on her Jumpers run, I just turned a nano second too soon and pulled her off a jump. Both runs were awesome despite these 2 mistakes. And then Conor's FAST run was just that -- F A S T. And just wrong. But he had fun.

Agility Rule #11: Never let negative random thoughts pop into your head regarding your agility abilities. I got to the show site a little early Saturday. I got set up, sat down to look at the course maps, and for some reason a thought popped into my head: It had been a long time since we had NOT Q'd in Jumpers. We've Q'd in just about every Jumpers run we've done this year -- for some reason I thought to myself that all good things do have to come to an end. WHY did I think that??? I don't know. And of course what happens? We didn't Q. Hmmmm.

On Sunday, Kaylie's Standard run was pretty darn awesome. There were several traps, and we made it through them up until the end. The weave poles were in a corner that wasn't really used all weekend, and were pretty close to the ring gates. We had to do a tight wrap from the weaves to the A-frame, then to the right of the A-frame was a curved tunnel. I ended up kind of tripping right at the end of the weave poles because the ground was pretty lumpy, which pulled her out of the weave poles. This actually happened to a lot of teams. So not sure if it was the uneven ground, or the fact that the weave poles were really close to the ring gate or that too many people turned towards the A-frame before the dog finished the weaves. If the weaves didn't get people, it was the tunnel entrance -- most dogs headed straight to the jump that was right in front of the A-frame. But we had a great run despite the mess up at the weaves. Then came our Jumpers run. I knew my mistake from the day before was thinking my run on Jumpers Q's had to run out, so I knew I HAD to Q on this one. And we did. There were several traps which I handled very conservatively to make sure we did it right, so that did cause us to run a little slower (we were only 10 seconds under time), but at least it was a Q, and good enough for 3rd place. YAY! Then on to Conor's first ever Standard run. Boy oh boy. Instead of going through the tire jump, he ran under it. He flew across the dog walk, but at least he did hit the contacts. Next was a tunnel to the teeter. I crossed at the far end of the tunnel to direct him to the teeter, but I swear, I didn't see him come out of the tunnel. I looked up and saw him flying in the air off the teeter!!!!! He was just this big ball of fluff flying through the air. Goof ball. I think he missed the next few obstacles -- he was going so darn fast, I just don't know. Then we got to the table. Whew -- we got 5 seconds to catch our breath!! Then he actually finished the rest of the course perfectly. So he can do it!! His next trial will be the end of August, so we have some time to work on that team work concept. :)

We headed home super early Monday morning. It was a beautiful morning, and I just had to stop and take some pictures at Lake Powell. I found a scenic spot where we could stop. Here are Kaylie and Conor enjoying the view of the lake.

We even saw a cute little bunny hanging out by a bush. He didn't seem phased at all by the wonder doggies.