And I had fabulous homemade tamales on Sat. and crepes on Sun. from the Farmer's Market. This is one of my favorite trials because I always get a wonderful lunch. And the bonus of a friend unexpectedly dropping in to watch. I came out of the ring after one of my Standard runs and there she was. She had been at the Farmer's Market and saw the dogs warming up outside so she came in the arena building and happened to come in right in the middle of one of our runs. What are the chances of that?
Somebody else had some big fun too (photo from USDAA Nationals)
There was even a tricky part to one of the Standard courses:
The tricky part was the line of jumps after the #13 tunnel through 18. I tried to do a perpendicular rear cross between 16 and 17 but I think I rushed it a bit and was too far ahead, stopped too soon and didn't show enough motion for the #17 jump so Strum stalled a bit but he got it eventually. The only people who I noticed had a smooth run through there were folks with little dogs who put a front in between 16 and 17. I thought about a front there but didn't like the line it set for 17 to 18 since I'd have to push a bit to get the turn between 16 and 17.
Jumpers was uneventful. Yet more pinwheels into pinwheels with a little bit extra challenge provided by a box.
Here's some video of a few runs from Saturday for the course maps shown above. No video at all from Sunday since I was 2nd-3rd dog on the line all day and didn't have time to ask people to tape me.
DOCNA JUMPERS, STANDARD, SNAKES from colliebrains on Vimeo.
After the embarrassment of riches from the weekend I decided to check Strum's records to see how far we were from his MEX (DOCNA's version of ADCH, MACH, NATCH, etc.). Last time I checked it seemed like we were half way there, especially in Standard but after this weekend he needs only 1 Gamblers and 4 Standard (requirements are 15 Standard, 10 Gamblers, 10 Jumpers). Not too bad considering we only did 3 DOCNA trials this year and only 1 day of 1 of those trials. Our next DOCNA trial is in Feb. and they're only offering 3 Standard classes so even with 100% Q rate we can't finish it then. The next DOCNA trial I have planned after that isn't until August and the next after that in October so it could easily be another year until he gets his MEX but it's funny to think he's so close. There are a couple more DOCNA trials in May and July but I wasn't planning on them for various reasons and the MEX isn't enough incentive to get me to go since we're in no hurry.
Final Stats
Specialist Standard 1 Saturday Q - 1st place
Specialist Snakes and Ladders Saturday Q - 1st place
Specialist Jumpers Saturday Q-1st place
Specialist Standard 2 Sunday Q - 2nd place
Specialist Standard 3 Sunday Q - 1st place
Specialist Time Gamble Sunday Q - 1st place
Specialist Jumpers Sunday Q-2nd place
Specialist Sunday Trigility Q - 2nd place
Titles
Specialist Jumpers Agility Merit Award (10 Jumpers legs)
Bronze Specialist Trigility Merit Award (earned at last trial in October)
Obstacles
Dogwalks
8/9 (89%)
A-frames
10/10 (100%)
Teeters
9/9 - 100%, though the first one of the day was iffy
Weave pole entries
7/8 (88%), 1 missed entry, my fault, handling error, no pop-outs
1 bar down - my fault, handling error in Gamblers
No off courses (except an accommodating run for Trigility, came over the A-frame and was supposed to flip to a tunnel but put a few paws back on the A-frame before eventually going in the tunnel)
Sounds like a fabulous weekend! Congrats!
ReplyDeleteWow, very nice all around! Qs, placements, obstacle success rates, and tons of good old-fashioned fun for both of you. Congrats!
ReplyDeletelooked like you and strummer had you some fun!
ReplyDeletei gotta ask- was that the judge standing by the start line in std, judging the dw and a-frame from way over there? years ago, i went to one nadac trial, and that's what the judge did at that one. it was hard to have any confidence in his calls from 80' or so away...
debie
That is the judge. She wasn't that far away for all the runs. Maybe she felt confident in being able to judge the dogwalk since it was a flip and most dogs would be decelerating for the turn.
ReplyDeleteI've shown under this judge a zillion times and she's very fair with her contact calls. If anything she's over generous and in general I think the rule for DOCNA judges is that they're supposed to give you the benefit if they have even the slightest doubt. I have way more problems in USDAA with judges calling my dogwalk when it was in, including at Nationals, probably because they have to judge the up and can't beat Strummer to the other end. The judge in my Standard ring at Nat's. was in a terrible location to judge the down on the dogwalk and Strum did get called even though he was solidly in.
I turned the 'word verification' gizmo off on the comments. If I get mobbed with spam I'll put the comments on 'moderation' but still with no word verification. Didn't even know I could turn it off. Fun with Blogger.
ReplyDeleteUgh, spam already. I put the comments on moderation but still took the word verification away.
ReplyDeleteit did seem to be getting harder to prove i was not a robot... i can't even read some of the words.
ReplyDeleteall venues should give the benefit of the doubt to the dog, no matter the situation. some judges are better than others about that:-)
being over generous sounds good!
debie
Wow, what a great weekend all around! Having nice weather is always a plus. Congratulations on all those ribbons and Qs and placements and being so close to that big title.
ReplyDelete