Smooth Sailin' Agility: MACH 2 Addie!!

Congratulations Carrie and Addie MACH 2 !!!

http://www.inflightphotog.com/Agility-Trials
(photo by Marsha Kingsley)

Carrie was heard to have said, "I'd give my RIGHT ARM for another MACH!"
Apparently she really meant it!

We're very sorry we missed it!!

We were East, in Villa Park, IL

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity;

an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."

Winston Churchill.

Bill and I headed off to Villa Park, IL for an AKC Agility Trial over the weekend. It was at a site we’d never been to before, indoors on soccer turf. The facility was quite large and had two levels. The JWW course was upstairs, the Standard down. On the other side of the building there was an Obedience and Rally Trial under way.

The turf was by far the best I’ve ever run on. Absolutely NO SLIPPING from Seeker or Kruz. It was great! Move over black bead with knapp and come on in nylon weave. Both boys had really nice grip on this surface. Kruz and Bill picked up 3 Open Legs, 2 in Standard and one in JWW. Seeker got a JWW Q and had a couple other really nice runs.

The courses were nice, a couple challenging parts, that I felt we handled quite well. On Saturday we had a line of 5 jumps, set at depressed angles and Seeker kept them all up while I ‘kicked’ him out to #6 to get a Front Cross at the Triple. I was very proud of him. The things that could have gone better were partly handler error and partly dog error. We’d been working on ‘deceleration’ this week and probably need to work on this a bit more. Understanding that I can decelerate and Seeker’s commitment point where he can keep the bar up, thus the quote above.

While walking any course you can hear people carrying on about “this is bad”, “this is ugly”, “I can’t get there”, etc. You know the drill. What people need to realize is, this is the course you are given, and it’s up to you to decide how you’re going to handle it. Complaining and grumbling doesn’t do anything except give you a ‘defeatist’ attitude and possibility has a negative impact on those around you.

Look at those challenges as opportunities to shine. Visualize your dog ‘kicking’ out to that jump, so you can get that front cross where you want it. Blind cross those poles, because you know you can, and it’s faster than rotating in front of your dog in this particular set up. If it doesn’t work, well, you have things to work on when you get home. You’ll be ready for NEXT TIME!

As always, funny things happen at dog events. It was strange to arrive at the trial at 7:00, starting at 7:45, and be done running your first run at 7:46. Yes, we were the first dog in, again! I would actually prefer to be first. This did give me a LOT of time to watch other dogs run agility, and even watch some obedience! I did a lot of watching from the second floor. A very fun perspective.

I really admire people that are willing to show in both Obedience and Agility at the same trial. They give INSANITY a whole new definition! One guy and his Doberman did just that. The Doberman had a lovely obedience run through in Open B, but later the handler told me she laid down on the sit. RATS!

Several rather humorous moments, at least I thought so, involved a Novice dog that was grabbing the handler’s pants and tugging while “heeling”. I’m sure the handler didn’t think it was funny, but we laughed. The Open A dog, that ‘completed’ the Board Jump exercise without jumping and never touched a board. It carefully stepped over each board, placing it’s feet on the mat in-between. Let me see you TRY to train that behavior!

There were the Utility B handlers working their scent article over like they were competing to solve the Rubik Cube in Record Time. Either that or they were trying to screw in both ends simultaneously? It was really hard to tell, and if you didn’t know what they were ‘really doing’, it would have been rather freakish. I could easily have turned this into a Flip Video Movie, to what tune I wonder?

The Rally dog, (Advanced as the dog was off leash) in which the women had her hands out in front of her dog, begging it to follow. I had to point this one out to Bill. He wanted to know what she was doing. I told him that if she was at the pool’s edge, I’d have thought she was diving in. I wonder who she trains with?

As for Agility, there were the normal fly offs, missed weave entries and dogs that didn’t stay with handlers. Nothing we hadn’t seen before.

Overall it was a great weekend. If I had my ‘wish list’ is would be that AKC remove the ‘judge has to check scores’ prior to results being released. I really wonder statically how often this re-check really has an impact on the out come. The other thing I would love to see clubs move to is a “Self Serve” on ribbons. How many people are really interested in a ribbon they did not earn? One club laid the stickers out and if you wanted your ribbon, you simply found your sticker and put it on. Those that didn’t want their colored ribbons didn’t have to give them back. The club also frees up at least ONE WORKER that they could use elsewhere! Finally, require carbons for all AKC Trials. I know not everyone picks them up, but for those that do, it’s nice not to have to wait several hours for your individual results to be posted. Not to mention saving all the interruptions to the show secretary!