Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Shows and Stuff

I've already messed up my New Year's Resolution - to update this blog more frequently!  I've just been so incredibly busy - I need to find a way to either clone myself or find a way to stop time so I can get things done.  Luckily it's still January, so I guess I'm really not THAT far behind, right?  Anyway, one of the things that has kept me busy is working with Kaylie in Utility and Conor in Open.  I've been getting together with a friend every Tuesday afternoon to work with the dogs.  For once I'm actually practicing, and believe it or not, it does work!  We had an ASCA obedience trial a couple of weeks ago, and the hard work paid off.  Well, it did for Conor anyway.  Kaylie actually figured out a way to fail every exercise in Utility, except one.  We came away with a whopping 27 points.  BUT she did do her go-outs.  She failed the jumping part (she took the wrong jump plus knocked the bar down), but she did go out to the far end of the ring.  So that was a huge improvement.  Next I showed Conor in Open.  I begged him to show the judge that I do actually train my dogs.  And he didn't disappoint.  Although he had a couple of crooked sits on the fronts, the rest of the exercises were just about perfect, and he finished his CDX.  I was very proud of my little man.  So that finished his ASCA CDX.  Now we'll have to get entered in some AKC trials.

This past weekend we had a DOCNA agility trial.  Kaylie had a fabulous weekend, qualifying in 9 out of 11 runs.  And Conor had fun making up his own courses.  Little goof man.  Hopefully next trial he'll do a little better, and get qualified for the Championships. 

Here are the results from the trial:

Conor

Jumper 1 - Q/1st Place
Jumper 2 - NQ
Jumper 3 - NQ
Snakes N' Ladders - NQ
Standard 1 - NQ
Standard 2 - NQ
Standard 3 - Q/1st Place
Strategic Time Gamble - Q/3rd Place
North America Challenge  - NQ
Traditional Gambler - NQ
Trigility - Q/2nd Place




Kaylie


Jumper 1 - Q/3rd Place
Jumper 2 - Q/4th Place
Jumper 3 - Q/ 2nd Place
Snakes N' Ladders - Q/3rd Place
Standard 1 - NQ
Standard 2 - Q/3rd Place
Standard 3 - Q/3rd Place
Strategic Time Gamble - Q/1st Place
North America Challenge - Q/1st Place
Traditional Gambler - NQ
Trigility - Q/3rd Place

Kaylie needs just 6 more Standard runs and 2 Gamble runs to finish her Gold MEX, and Conor just needs 8 Standard runs for his first MEX.  So check back to see our progress!
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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.