Sunday, November 8, 2009

Two Double Q's in One Weekend!!

Kaylie and I had a fantastic agility weekend this weekend. We started off Saturday morning with a devilish Excellent Jumpers run. I'm not even sure how I got through it, but it was a great run. Our Standard run was a little shaky in some spots - there were lots of opportunities for off courses. I only had to scream twice, but she stayed on course and we finished clean. Two great runs for Double Q #7.

Sunday we started off with the Standard run. I kept focused with each obstacle and she followed perfectly. Wooo hooo - another clean run!! Then came our Jumpers run. It wasn't a particularly difficult course, but there were several places where you had to be very careful not to send the dog to the wrong jump. It was a course where one could easily get lost. We made it through though with no problems, and voila! Our second Double Q for the weekend. That brings our total to 8 now. Just 12 more to go. But I'm not counting. :)

Conor did just as well this weekend too. He finished his Novice Standard title on Saturday, with a 2nd place. His Jumpers run Saturday was fantastic, but there was a "trap" jump set up in the corner of the course - Conor figured if it's out there it must be taken! Oh well. Even with taking that extra jump he was still way under the time of the dog that got 1st place. I moved him up to Open Standard for Sunday, but that didn't go all that well. Not that it was a mess, but he took the wrong end of the tunnel at the beginning of the run, then he knocked a bar and he popped out of the weave poles. His Jumpers run Sunday was insanely crazy. He ran it in 19 seconds - I was far behind him just trying to guide him as best I could. He knew what he was supposed to do though and qualified, finishing his Novice Jumpers title, with a 1st place. Wooo hooo!!

Next weekend we'll be in Tucson for another AKC agility trial. Looking forward to getting out of town for a couple of days for more agility!
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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.