Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Day 4 - ASCA Nationals

What a LONG day but wonderful day! Today was the Obedience Finals with Conor. He did very well for a young dog. I found out that most of the dogs he was competing against were much older and more seasoned. Guess some people just keep their dogs at the Novice level to keep competing in the Finals! The top 5 dogs had scores in the 198-200 range - there was no way I could compete with that with Conor, so I was very pleased that we ended up at #7. His second run didn't go quite as well - he stopped to scratch on the Figure 8, and then he had a couple of crooked sits. NOT good things at the Finals. It was interesting on our first run - as I entered the ring, the judge asked if she could pet Conor. No judge has ever asked me that before, so it kind of took me by surprise. She didn't do that with any other dog. Later on in the day when I took pictures with the judge, that judge told me she absolutely loved Conor and thought he was just the cutest thing. She really loved up on him while we were trying to set up for pictures. Conor got a real nice ribbon - I think it's as big as Kaylie's Premier ribbon. COOL!! I've been trying to upload pictures for the blog, but for some reason every time I do, I lose my connection. I'll post pictures later. I'm leaving the hotel Wednesday to stay at a friend of a friend's house - hopefully I'll be able to get a better connection.

Today was also the Finals for conformation. Kaylie's brother Ziggy placed 10th in Altered Conformation and Conor's brother Jackson placed 6th in Intact Conformation. Our friend Laura's dog Princess placed 10th in Intact Conformation, Conor's other brother Oz was also in the Finals, but didn't place. It was an honor for him to just be there though. It was definitely a great day for the Arizona dogs! It was all very exciting - everyone was just in tears!

Tomorrow will be more agility, team obedience, brace obedience and then Kaylie will be doing regular obedience. I'm crossing my fingers for two good go-outs!
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1 comment:

Diamond Girl said...

Go out, Kaylie! Go out!!

September 30, 2009 at 10:24 PM

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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.