4:00 am Sunday morning. The time when all of us non-morning people reassess the value of whatever dumb ass hobby it is that has us up at such an unsociable hour. I almost rolled over and said 'screw it'. Well, I did roll over and say 'screw it' but then rolled back over and said 'o.k., o.k., I'll get up and drive 2 hours so I can run around in the dirt with the dogs like an idiot for a total of maybe 4 minutes. It will be fun, really, I promise. Then I'll drive 2 hours back and spend nearly an hour unpacking and putting stuff away then I'll get up for work on time on Monday.' Makes perfect sense.
But I went and it was a beautiful day and I had a great time and yeah I'm tired but I suppose it was all worth it.
The trial was at an agility training facility in the middle of nowhere on the plains east of Colorado Springs. I've never been to this trial for various reasons but I did come out here once before when I went to look at a rescue BC (the owner fosters many rescues) that I did not take home because she and Lola did not see eye to eye. Anyway, I'd never been out to do agility and it's a shame because it's a lovely place, nice dirt ring and plenty of space for parking, crating, running dogs off lead, etc. It's too bad it's so far and there are no hotels nearby, they have 2 DOCNA trials a year now. If only I was made of time & money.
Anyway it was so nice and cool, 50's-60's and breezy, perfect weather for dogs and humans and my crew had a blast. Cody had a little bit too much of a blast and went 0/3 for his runs but oh well, I'm just glad he can run. Lola made up for him and went 3/3 for her runs (2 standard and the NAC which is DOCNA's version of the Grand Prix), running her little butt off and barking her head off at me. She got some nice fleecy squeaky toys for her efforts and I gave her one in her crate to amuse her in between runs. I heard her in there squeaking away, it was very sweet. If I had any energy I'd get her to pose in front of all her ribbons and loot but I'm way too sleepy and she's giving me a dirty look for even thinking about it so you will all have to use your imaginations.
One of the main reasons I went to this trial is that DOCNA Champs are in a few weeks and we're going and I have no idea how some of the games work so I thought I'd give the Time Gamble a try. Let's just say that it's different from the Time Gambles you see in USDAA in that there's a minimum time limit for the gamble as well as a maximum so you have a window of a few seconds where you can leave the ring and still Q. Let's just say we're probably not a threat in the Time Gamble at Champs this year.
Strummer came with to add to the chaos. Jonny is still in Scotland and I couldn't leave him home for 13 hours. He was so good except for when he was bad. The histrionics he threw whenever I left to run a dog were a bit over the top. Other than that he did great, sat next to the ring for short spurts, got to meet a friendly BC, said hi to just about every single person at the trial. Maybe there's some hope for him after all.
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Had a wonderful bike ride on Saturday on the trails near my house and an even better ride last Monday with some friends up in the mountains outside Nederland. My knee seems to be on the mend finally. Maybe I can finally start a back to running program in a week or two. Just in time for tri season to end, oh well. Maybe next year.
Congrats on Lola's DOCNA runs. 3 for 3! I like those numbers. I've been thinking about that getting up at 4 a.m. thing myself. I think about it--well--every time the alarm wakes me at 4 a.m. Insane! But I have the same experience: Almost always fun when I finally get there.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to try DOCNA. Unfortunately, there aren't really andy DOCNA trials around here.
ReplyDeleteAnd I question my hobby every time the alarm goes off at that early hour ...
Hi Elayne
ReplyDeleteI just stumbled onto your blog from another blog I was readying - glad you could come out to our place for the DOCNA trial! There are rumors that some hotel companies are looking at the fast growing town of Falcon to build in, which is only 10 minutes away, so maybe in a year or two.. :)
I think you might find the post on my blog interesting as I had some thoughts about how slow our trial seemed to go, due in large part to what you talked about regarding the wandering, re-doing etc of some of the novice handlers.
Hope you can make it back for at least one of our DOCNA's next year
Greg
We had a great time at the trial, if only it was closer. Hopefully those hotels will go up sooner rather than later. The big problem for us though has been the slatless equipment. Cody had serious problems with it in NADAC to the point where I retired him from NADAC classes with contacts and was only going to DOCNA trials that had slatted equipment. We're going to DOCNA Champs though and there will be slatless equipment there so I thought we should have some practice on it in a trial situation.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea a dog peed in the ring and the judge let the run continue. That's being way too generous, I've never heard of a venue allowing that.
Since DOCNA is flexible on which equipment can be used, we may be using our slatted AF and DW next time. Katrina just got a new slatted DW this summer, so now we have both. I like slatted better too, as my Skye dog sometimes will slide down an unslatted AF and hurt his pads. When the premiums come out next year you can have a look and decide - I am not sure which ones will be used at this point.
ReplyDeleteWe are going to the DOCNA champs too, Me, Katrina, daughter Katelyn who runs a little papillon and a yellow lab, and my son who just is there to watch. Also our friend Lorrie Reynolds who runs Maxx & Storm will be there too.
I'll be sure to say "hey".
We'll see you there.
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