USDAA Trial - Post 2

Down to the particulars of the weekend. Seeker ran 9 times, and he had a BLAST!! On Saturday he was in Standard, Gamblers, Snooker and Jumpers. Sunday was a repeat of these four classes with Pairs thrown in. Don't panic when you see the judge's arm flying around, it's just something they do. LOL

Our judge was from New Hampshire, Maureen Sullivan, and other than talking funny, she was absolutely the best. If she happens to be an AKC judge, GRAB HER!!! She was friendly and fun to work with. That was great, as she saw a LOT of us over the two days.

In USDAA an off course is an automatic NQ in any class. General Refusals are only counted at Master level, I think??? Weave pole refusals are counted at Advanced level once you get a correct entry into the weaves. You can still place, even if you don't Qualify. The following are used in scoring is S/Refusal/Failure/Elimination. I don't remember what the "S" stands for, no, it wasn't a four letter word. Although, that could apply here as well!! G I know they use the S for a missed contact and a bar down.

Standard is just like the AKC Standard class. Minus the broad jump. Now there's a PLUS! G I know they use the broad jump in other classes, but we somehow 'avoided' it all weekend. Seeker got 1st both days with Q's. There are 12 poles in all starter levels except snooker where there are 6.

Gamblers is what NADAC use to be back in the late 1990's. You have an accumulation period, 25 seconds for our class, then the buzzer sounds and you have 15 seconds to make the gamble. Obstacles are given number values, jumps are always worth one point, round obstacles (tire, tunnel and chute) are always worth 2 pts, and then it's judges decision on pt values. You can take as many contacts as you'd like, back to back is fine. You can only get the points twice however for repeating an obstacle. Seeker was very happy to find that the teeter was a 7 pointer on Sunday! Seeker got 1st both days here too, with Q's.

Snooker is a strategic game. At the Starters level, there are 3 red jumps position throughout the course. You must start with a red jump (worth one pt), then take another pointed obstacle, back to a different red jump, then a pointed, then the 3rd red jump, followed by a pointed obstacle. At that time you start at #2-7 and run the course. Weave poles at Starter level are not scored if you miss an entry, but must be completed. 51 points is the maximum you can accumulate. So on Saturday the weaves were worth 7 pts, so I did (3-7's), then my ending. I got the max points in the shortest amount of time for 1st and a Q. Sunday I was greedy and tried for 3-7's once more. I lost him in a tunnel and would have been fine...but I panic! UGH! That's a killer. We took #2 in the incorrect direction for a whistle. We still got 3rd, but no Q.

Things to remember about snooker, you can't take two red jumps in a row. You can't take to 'colored' obstacles in a row, unless you've completed all your red jumps. Then you do the numbers sequence. Finally, if you drop the bar on a red jump you need to go to another red jump. Are you confused?? I was too, until you ran it. Then it all made PERFECT sense! HONEST!

Jumpers is just jumps and tunnels. No weaves. Seeker got 1st on Saturday and 3rd on Sunday, but no Q's. He dropped one bar each day. Wendy with her Black Sheepdog, "Tempo" was there. She is pretty sure that Tempo and Seeker share a sire. The sire's Native name is "One Jump'. Thus we have Tempo On Jump and Seeker On Jump. Tempo was having the same problem Seeker was. We could be in Starters Jumpers for a LONG time. VBG

One funny thing about our Sunday's jumpers run. I took a 3 jump lead out and noticed a jump wasn't set correctly. I asked the judge if I could reset the bar. She said I could, so I walked over and reset the bar, stepped back and released Seeker. She said later, I've never had a handler ask to set their own bar while their dog waited at the line. She was laughing. Of course, she never had a worker - work the timer, scribe and set bars all at once either...but more on that on my other blog.

Pairs involves running a two dog team. Okay, let me clarify, you are only running your dog! There is another handler/dog team. If you know of another dog at your level, you can enter together ahead of time. That's what Seeker and Scorch did. If you don't have a partner, you can send in your entry and they will pair you up with someone. You can be at two different heights, one level apart. So, a 8/12, 12/16, 16/22, 22/26 can run together, as you don't do any of the others course. I believe you do at the upper levels in which there are 3 dogs on a team.

You get to decide which dog runs which side and you have a baton you have to pass before the 2nd handler can begin.

At first we named our team, "Boys will be boys", but then I got to thinking about the old show, "The Smothers Brothers" and how they would say, "Mom always loved you best". I guess we should have called the dogs, Tom and Dick! If you don't get this....please don't tell me. I know I'm old, but I'm in denial.

Seeker knocked a bar, but it turns out that's only a 5 pt (seconds) deduction, so we Q'ed with 2nd. YIPPEEE!!!! The yippee is for the Q, not the dropped bar.

Finally, the scorers sheet! OMG!! If you've ever had to keep a bowling score (On PAPER!), this is what it looked like! It's rather crazy, but you figure it out after awhile. I guess you'll just have to trust me on this one. I'm not even going to attempt to explain it here!


The best news is, they post this almost immediately and ribbons are self serve!! No waiting for the "Ribbon Police" to put that sticker on your ribbon so you can leave!!! In fact, we didn't even have running numbers!! That's right, no sticker for your shirt, no sticker for your ribbons. Crazy huh!!

There's so much more to tell and explain, but I'm tired! I think the best thing to do is go yourself, work a class or two. Not 9 or 12 like Bill and I did. Ring Crew of TWO!! I'm 'almost' kidding here. You all remember what it was like to be in "NOVICE"...you get NO respect. G

We did have a good time and Seeker thought it was a blast. Kruz got to judge all day and Mad was bored to DEATH!! They got a DQ cone on the way home however, so that was worth the trip.

Here's a combo of video runs. If you don't want to watch the whole thing, skip ahead to the ending. Seeker will let you know his thoughts on running 9 times in 2 days!!