Friday, November 12, 2010

ASCA Conformation and Obedience Trial

This past weekend we showed at an ASCA conformation and obedience trial. I showed Kaylie in Utility and I showed Conor in Open and then also in conformation. Saturday was quite interesting. Some day I swear Kaylie will get a Utility leg. She had a very difficult time with the scent articles -- the grass was very tall. She did eventually get the first article but just couldn't find the second one. Bummer. She did do everything else beautifully though. And although she didn't get the first go-out, she did do the second one. And then the judge let me try it again, and she actually did a second go-out. That was huge. So she CAN do it! Conor's Open run was very nice, until we got to the retrieves. I had to double command him on both retrieves. Weird. Oh well. No chance of finishing this weekend. Then I showed him in the afternoon conformation show. He actually won his class, but that was the extent of the winning. On Sunday, once again no Q for Kaylie in Utility. She somehow missed signal to come, and then the go-outs were non-existent. Everything in between was beautiful though! Conor's Open run was pretty nice, although he stopped during the heeling to scratch and had no sits on the Figure 8. Then he finished in grand style on the Broad Jump. Instead of doing a front in front of me, he decided to go around me and come from behind to in between my legs, looking up at me so proud of himself. He was absolutely precious! Goofballs. Then in conformation he did nothing. Perhaps he should have tried running between my legs to get the judge to look at him! LOL! His sister Nikki finshed her championship, so now Conor just needs to finish his. Someday!
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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.