Day of Speed Weekend

Had a whirlwind weekend of mountain biking down in Castle Rock on Friday then a USDAA trial the opposite direction in Greeley.  Somehow my knees survived all of this.

Met an Xterra friend down in Castle Rock to ride the Ridgeline Rampage bike race course.  Thankfully she'd been on the trails a few times and knew most of the course.  We did have to do some navigating but in the end only missed one turn near the end of a 16 mile course that wasn't signed very well.

Since I was riding with someone else and I was lagging behind a bit I only took one picture.  She was already having to wait for me, didn't want to make her wait for photos.

A nice view of the Continental Divide.

What was I saying the other day about feeling Fit and Feisty on the bike?  Rusty and winded was maybe a better description for the day but I had a great time riding some new to me trails.  And it's nice to ride with someone.  I'm slower but we're not too far apart, not like when I ride with Jonny.

The trails were nice, not technical.  But at times bordering on Front Range Sprawl of McMansions.  Every time I go to Castle Rock I become ever more thankful for Boulder.  It's crowded here but not that crowded.

I'm hoping to be able to do the race in a week and a half.  All depends on the weather.  Right now it's not looking good, rain predicted for all of next week including the weekend.  Of course it can and probably will change by next week.  We'll see what develops.

A 2 1/2 hour mountain bike ride is not the best way to kick of an agility weekend of way more runs per day then I normally enter but oh well.  Saturday was 5 runs, Sunday a whopping 6 runs.  Oddly my knees felt the best they've felt in a long time, no pain to speak of.  I could feel some mild throbbing in my quads when I sat for a while but for the most part my legs felt great and I was moving well during my runs.

Some very challenging course, especially Grand Prix.  Only 2 Q's in all of Performance and I think 3 Q's or so in Championship.  All the 22" dogs were eliminated except one who had 10 faults.  In fact there were only maybe 4 dogs total in the whole class with faults and the rest E'd.  Can't recall ever seeing anything like it.  Lots of people disappointed as they were hoping for a Grand Prix Q to be able to compete at Regionals next month.  I was hoping for one too but no big deal.  I'm not going to Nat's. and I have plenty to enter.  I'll have one last try at the local GP at Regionals but it's no big deal, so expensive to enter anyway but I entered provisionally if we get it.

As for the Grand Prix course I think the biggest issue was that there were so many traps and challenges, one right after the other, if one didn't get you the other did.

Most people ate it at the dogwalk/tunnel discrimination.  The worst option was to wrap the dog to the right.  That set a line straight into the tunnel.  There may have been some who tried a front or blind between 11 and 12 after turning to the right and maybe that worked for a precious few, I can't remember.  I did a reverse spin at 11, got a tight turn and Strum went right up the dogwalk no problem.  I fell victim between Jumps 5 and 6.  I was behind because I had to babysit the teeter a bit so I couldn't cue the tight line between 5 and 6 and got a back jump at 6.  Lots of off courses at the #9 Tunnel as well.  I did front after Jump 8 and it wasted some time but I got the correct tunnel entrance no problem.  Lots of people kept their dog on their right and tried to pull and that mostly didn't work, especially for the fast dogs.  There were a couple few dogs who refused the tunnel at the end including Strummer.  Weird, I don't know what was up there.  The #15 tunnel to Jump #16 was also a challenge.  I ended up further behind than I was hoping there but we pulled it off sort of.  The judge was sympathetic and told us she wouldn't be super strict about the run out plane at 16.

Despite the low Q rate I was happy I entered and got to try the course.  There were many challenging courses this weekend, I'm guessing a very low Q rate in general and we had more E's than normal.  But I'm at a point in my agility career that I'm happy for the challenging courses, don't care that much about Q's, love to have a challenging puzzle to solve.

I'm also at a point where I wish I had my own practice field.  It's frustrating to drive out to the practice field and there are other people already there.  It's especially hard on Strummer because he knows where we're going and starts whining/wailing in anticipation.  It's heartbreaking to have to turn around and deny him.  Or nobody is there when I get there and I spend 20 minutes setting something up and then other people arrive.  I love practicing with my training partner at her place but she doesn't have enough room for a full course and likes to set up courses with small distances between the jumps.  It's just not the same as running a full, real course.  And she doesn't have a dogwalk.  I'm not complaining, so happy to have people to practice with and her yard is great.  But moving forward it will be frustrating for me to train a new dog without having regular access to equipment.  Will have to get going on that move to Cortez though I admit the thought of taking care of acreage is sounding more and more exhausting.

Anyway, I had a great weekend with the challenging courses.  And we did have some success - 1st place in Steeplechase Finals and Strum did both sets of weaves with no bobbles!  Over the moon about that.  I'm feeling ready for Regionals, excited about it too!  My training partner has decided to enter her older dog in Performance so I have a great low pressure teammate.  She's not going to Nat's. and doesn't do that much USDAA so doesn't need or care about a Q.  And there will be Steeplechase and Biathlon, my favorite classes.  Looking forward to it next month.

 Here's a video of Sunday's runs.



I only got Saturday's Steeplechase run somehow, had some technical difficulties that were probably due to an old, dying battery.  At least I hope that's all it is.  Camera kept turning off even though the battery reading had plenty of juice.

Saturday's Steeplechase Round 1



Strummy had a great time.

He loves to watch, though I don't let him get too overstimulated.

FRAT USDAA Castle Rock

Rockin' it at Castle Rock.

Been ages since I've written about an agility trial.  This one was super fun - great courses (mostly), great weather, great people.  Mostly I'm happy to even be able to go because March is our snowiest month and this trial often gets snowed out for me because while it's only just over an hour's drive, I have to drive through all of Boulder, all of Denver and then the green belt to Castle Rock.  Didn't enter Team this year because the Denver rush hour traffic both ways on Friday was atrocious.  I love Team but not that much.  Though I heard this year was not so bad.

We started off Saturday with Masters Jumpers and ended Sunday with Biathlon Jumpers (ie Fancy Jumpers).  I put them back to back on video with Sunday's run first and it's funny to see the difference between first run of the trial and last run.  He was Crazypants for the first run, knocked 2 bars and had me worried that he's getting too old but looking at the video I think he was simply overexcited.  I was early in the run order and didn't get enough warm-up plus someone from way down in the running order in Championship (we were in Performance) was at the warm-up jump for reasons I can't possibly fathom.  In hindsight I should have booted her out but at the time I couldn't be bothered.

Masters Jumpers

Biathlon Jumpers

Biathlon and Masters Jumpers



Was pleased with both runs, Biathlon Jumpers being my favorite of the whole trial.  So many people got taken out by the off course tunnel entrance at #6 and that's a particularly difficult challenge for Strummer but I got his attention early and he listened beautifully.  To be fair, the jump was a double for Championship and only a single for Performance so he wasn't in as much extension but still, my timing was good and I made it up the opening line no problem.  Had a weave pole bobble but I've given up stressing about his weave poles.  I support him best as I can and he does what he does and I'm o.k. with it.  But I was so pleased with how well we both did on such a technical course, felt so smooth and connected.  Especially since it was last class of the day and we were both mentally tired.

 Steeplechase Round 1

Steeplechase Round 2

Steeplechase Rounds 1 and 2



Somehow I managed to fall during the opening sequence of Round 1.  Not sure what happened, my feet got tangled up or something.  Ended up with some road rash and impressive bruises and swelling on my shin and a cut on my hand but not hurt really.  And I got up and finished the course and still qualified for Finals though far down in the rankings due to lost time.  We redeemed ourselves with a second place finish in Finals.  More lost time due to popping out of weave poles but otherwise a nice fast run.  I bought some smoked marrow bones with our winnings so Lola will get a treat as well.  Plus I a bag of turkey hearts in the workers' raffle and bought a bag of duck feet.  Yes my life has taken a strange turn.


Grand Prix

Master Standard (Saturday)

 Grand Prix and Masters Standard (first video is Grand Prix, not Standard)



Nice runs with little faults here and there.  Of course he finally gets his dogwalk and misses other things.  The missed A-frame in Grand Prix was a handling error, I was too far behind and this impacted the weaves as well.  But otherwise a nice run, fun course.

Masters was another nice run but again with the weave poles and this left me a bit out of position for jump #17 where I ended up flat footed after a front cross after the weaves and ended up with (I think) a refusal at Jump #18.  Should have kept him on my left but didn't plan on being behind.  Got his dogwalk again, yay for that.  Thankfully we had no problem with the chute.  Much ugliness of photos of this on my Facebook this morning from other teams.

I didn't get video of Masters Challenge Standard but this was also a course of much chute ugliness, partly due to course design.  A front cross between Jumps #5 and #6 was challenging unless you could leave your dog on the teeter and many dogs came off the teeter sideways.  Then there was the risk of the A-frame/tunnel off course.  And if you didn't time it right the dog would go into the chute at too much of an angle leading to them getting tangled which quite a few dog did.  The trouble with a rear cross is that you also risked a bad angle or the same A-frame/tunnel off course if you shaped the line too much.  Plus calling the dog while in the chute also led to tangling.  I chose a rear and didn't bother to call his name, just let him come out turning the wrong way and let him turn on the flat before Jump #7.  Wasn't pretty but it was much better than risking a tangle in the chute.  However I had to go too close to #7 to manage his confusion and while I was able to pull off a front cross between #7 and #8 I was a bit behind and had to call him off #10 a little too hard/early and ended up with the off course tunnel entrance at #9 since I was too far behind.  It was close though, wish I had video of it.  Lots of people ended up with faults/off courses in this area.  I also ended up with a wrong course at #18, again with the weave poles.  Was surprised to see such a course design from this judge, I normally love her courses and I don't think I've ever seen anything like this before.  Watching from the stands I almost decided to pull from this class but decided to just let him go straight in the chute and turn him on the flat and accepting whatever happened after that.  Otherwise a very fun course.  We got through #13-#17 and I was pleased for that.

Overall I had a great time, was fun to chat with people I haven't seen in a while and watch the other runs.   Lots of great handling out there and some awesome performances from some of the baby dogs.  Training has come so far these days, it was amazing seeing some of those baby dogs knocking it out of the park.

FRAC January USDAA Trial

Gotta love a USDAA trial 20 minutes from my house.  It was 3 days though and that's at least one too many for me.  But the plus side is that I got to spread out Strummer's runs so he was never doing too much in one day.

Very fun trial, laid back atmosphere and the judge was crazy efficient, the days moved along at a quick clip and we were done early all 3 days.  Great courses too, challenging, fun.  I'll share the course maps for those who want to play along.

Fancy Jumpers was one of my favorites.  Had one little blip of an off course at 9 (he took 10), took my eye off him for too long as I ran between the jumps to get into position for a front cross after 8.  Shouldn't have run so far, should have stopped earlier and re-connected a little quicker.  Otherwise a great run.  I'll post video below the course maps.

Master Challenge Standard

Steeplechase Round 1

Masters Standard, Pairs, Jumpers and Steeplechase Finals

Masters Standard, Gamblers, Snooker, Grand Prix

So glad I didn't sign up for Gamblers.  Had a much better morning sleeping in and making a nice breakfast than I would have had trying to attempt that gamble.  Not many people got it.

Here's the video.

Friday - Masters Challenge Standard and Jumpers and Steeplchase Round 1




Saturday - Masters Standard, Steeplechase Finals, Jumpers (day is labeled wrong in the video)




Sunday - Masters Standard, Grand Prix



Strum hit a lot of dogwalks this weekend and got some weave pole entries.  Don't think he had any teeter calls, missed an A-frame or two.  Overall I was happy with his obstacle performance, could be better but seemed like he was doing better than he normally does.  Most of the errors were timing issues on my part or losing too much connection.  I like working on handling but not obstacle training mostly because I don't have easy access to obstacles any more.  The field where I've always done my training has become so busy at the times I try to go, I haven't been there in eons.  At the trial a woman told me she's moving just 15 minutes or so away from me and that when she moves in I can use her place anytime I want, I can just drop by which is an amazing generous offer.  We'll see how that works out.

Next USDAA trial is in March and I'm still waffling about whether or not to enter and if so which days.  There's always a snowstorm that weekend and the trial site is just over an hour's drive so I end up either not going and eating my entry fee or having to pony up money for a hotel room.  Plus there's so much construction on the drive there and I have to go through the entire length of Denver.  Not feeling the love at the moment but we'll see.

Fun at the USDAA Trial

Strummer and I competed in a USDAA tournament only trial this weekend, first one I've ever been to and it was very fun.  Classes moved along quicker than normal because there weren't course re-sets and walk-thrus for all the different levels.  I signed us up for 5 classes for both days, way more than our normal load but this will probably be our only trial until November and it's only 18 mins. from the house.  Saturday was long for me even though I was finished by 4:15.  My brain was in a muddle by the last run which thankfully was Speed Jumping and even though I got lost and confused we still managed to only get refusals and qualify for Finals, somehow in second place.  I guess lots of other people were muddled as well.

Some really fun, challenging, interesting courses, some of the best I've run in a while so I thought I'd share some maps and video.  Strummer did surprisingly well on courses that ate up a lot of really great teams.  I combined 4 of my favorite runs in one video which I realize is not ideal but I don't have time to go back and redo them.

Team Standard, MC Standard, MC Jumpers and Speed Jumping Finals



 The challenging part of Team Standard was the dogwalk to the A-frame.  Even people with stopped contacts struggled to get the backside of jump 6 because their contacts weren't independent, ie the dog didn't stop while they caught up and a front, rear or even a blind after 4 put people behind on the dogwalk so many dogs took the front side of 6.  I stayed on the left of the dogwalk and did a rear on the flat.  I called him to me to prevent him taking the wrong side of the jump and he missed his contact but might have missed it anyway and taken the wrong side of 6 if I hadn't called him.  Then 6-9 presented an issue for those of us with fast dogs who didn't want to loose our knees after the tunnel.  I stayed on the left side of the A-frame and was able to run fast enough to pick him up for 9.  It wasn't pretty but we got it done without a refusal.  I knew he'd come out of the tunnel the wrong way but he corrected easily enough.  15-18 proved an issue for some teams but we serped it no problem.  I was initially planning a front at the teeter but decided for a rear at 15 on the fly.  Thought it would be smoother.  Lots of E's on this course, was thrilled to make it through with only a missed dogwalk contact.

I thought MC Standard was easier than Team Standard except for the weave pole entry.  I had a feeling we would miss that.  I have practiced this scenario with a pull but it didn't work as planned.  Most people put a front in between 5 and 6 to make the weave entry easier for the dog.  I thought about it but decided I wanted to try the pull.  And again that knee destroying tunnel challenge at 7.  Not very smooth but we pulled it off.  Missed his dogwalk again but we still ended up in 3rd.

MC Jumpers was maybe the most fun course of the weekend.  I rushed his weave entry and he missed but otherwise he did great.  The fault put us into 2nd place.

Speed Jumping Finals.  Wee Ha Fast and Fun!  I turned a little too soon to avoid the off course jump and again helped botch the weave entry.  But otherwise a great run and a great weave entry off the A-frame.  The bobble cost us the win and we ended up in 2nd by only 1/2 a second.

Unfortunately the battery on my GoPro ran out without me realizing and I missed my Team Jumpers run.  I had spare batteries but the indicator didn't show the battery was low so I thought I had plenty of juice.  Here's the map anyway.  It was our only E of the weekend other than Grand Prix.  We had a back jump at 11 but otherwise a nice smooth run.  This was a challenging course for many and there were lots of E's.  Some had a back jump at 11 like I did, others had the off course jump at 3 because the dog went over 11 with way too much extension.  Others struggled with 13-15 either getting the #9 tunnel or a back jump at 14.  Strum had nice collection over 11, I simply decelerated, stopped and called him but rather than trusting him and continuing on I stood there watching him and for lack of any cues he turned back and took the jump.  I handled the line through 14 with him on my right, did a rear at 14 and a rear I think between 17 and 18.  Push to 19 was no problem.  Was very pleased with his rear at 14 since he struggles with rears in general and this one was a sharp turn.  He read it early enough and had enough collection though so he pulled it off nicely.  Lots of dogs had too much extension and either ended up in the tunnel or back jumping 14.  Some people intentionally turned their dogs to the left over 14 which took more time but was safer for not getting an off course  and easier on the dog if they didn't get a collection cue early enough.  Wish I had video but oh well.

I don't have video for Team Gamblers but this was our most exciting run.  I had an ambitious plan and had to alter it mid-course because I had extra time to I was a bit out of position when the horn blew but we pulled it off with 2 seconds to spare.  1st place and most points of all the dogs, Champ and Perf.  The numbers indicate the opening and the letters indicate the closing.  I'm a little unclear as to when the horn blew so the closing starts with either B or C.  25 obstacles in 38 seconds, that was a run my ass of, seat of the pants run.  And risky because there was a chance he'd blow past the finish jump and be over time and lose his closing points.  Most people did 2 loops of tunnel/tire for their closing or tunnel/tire/jump/teeter.  But the A-frame was the high point obstacle and including it and going for the fast line of jumps at the end seemed like more fun for Strummer rather than all that fussy turning.  A few people that tried this had trouble with the line of jumps at the end, missing G or running past the finish jump.  Also most people went to the left for the opening, taking the start jump/chute/A-frame then doing some combo of jump/tunnel/A-frame then moving on to the dogwalk or weaves to get back to the tunnel by the dogwalk for the closing.

Overall we did pretty well, our PVP Team got a Q in 4th place, Strummer was overall 2nd Team dog for 16" division, 2nd place in both Speed Jumping Rounds, 1st in Team Gamblers, 2nd in Team Standard, other placements kind of a blur.  And of course a 6 point Team Snooker run to keep us humble, his only truly naughty move of the trial when he ran behind me to take a tunnel I wasn't planning.  This happened to many teams.  Kind of my fault for taking my eye off of him and not leading out far enough but still.  Drives me crazy when he darts behind me.

Probably no more trials until November.  Unless I go to a USDAA trial in October which will probably only happen if I don't go to Xterra Nationals.  Which I might not because Jonny had the brilliant idea of let's buy another mountain bike that he absolutely does not need and an espresso machine and we have a huge car insurance bill next month and I'm not willing to dip into savings for a trip.  He seems to think we can pull it off but I'm not impressed with his financial planning skills at the moment so we'll see.  Maybe he has a stash of money lying about somewhere that I'm not privy to.  And yes I'm extremely aggravated.

USDAA Rocky Mountain Regionals Day 2

A quick day today, finished with 3 runs by 11:30 a.m.  A very fun, nice Team Jumpers run, a not so fun 7 point Team Snooker run that made me cranky and I very very pretty much never get cranky but wow I got a little bit cranky for a bit.  Especially since it was a super easy Snooker course and everybody else got at least through 6.  Then mucked up the Masters Challenge Jumpers run but at least we had fun doing it.

Team Jumpers

This was 3rd place and a Q somehow even with the 2 point refusal.  And my teammate is so awesome that even with my 7 point Snooker run we are above the Qualifying line and not in last place.  Looking forward to redeeming myself in relay tomorrow.

USDAA Rocky Mountain Regionals Day 1

Some nice runs from the Strum man but little mistakes here and there, typical.  I'll just post maps and videos from my favorite runs.

This was my favorite run of the day.  A missed dogwalk contact but otherwise a clean run.  Love those international style courses though this one was not as tricky as most that I've seen, at least for our skill set.

Masters Challenge Standard



Then there was the hearbreaker of Steeplechase.  It was such a perfect course for Strummer, difficult for me because of all the running but I thought I had a good handle on it because of the DOCNA trial last weekend.  I was so sure we'd make it into the Finals.  But I also know that on a super fast course like that, anything can happen. 

(I must have left my course maps at the site and for some reason USDAA doesn't have Regional Steeplechase maps on their site so I'll update when I get a map).

Steeplechase



Poor guy, I didn't cue the second A-frame early enough and he takes an off course tunnel.   I did see this trap of course and before the run I kept reminding myself to remember to call his name early but it all happened so fast and I forgot and, well, no Steeplechase Finals for us.  You can even see him lock onto the tunnel very early so even if I'd remembered to call I'm not sure it would have done anything.  He was patterned for that tunnel from the start of the run.  Most people kept their dog on their right through that sequence and rear crossed before the A-frame but some still got off courses anyway and for Strummer I don't think that would have been the best choice. 

Funny that my 2 favorite runs were the most technical and the most wide open.  They both have their challenges.

Team Standard turned into sort of a mess because Strummer got too far ahead on the dogwalk as I paused like a deer in the headlights to marvel at the fact that he hit the contact and then couldn't get to where I needed to be.  And Gamblers went well except for the teeter flyoff in the gamble which negated our gamble points but it's a boring video so I won't bother to process it.

Was done with 4 runs by around 2:30, if only agility could always be like that.  Looking forward to more fun tomorrow.

More Agility Geek Out - USDAA Trial

A fun day today at USDAA and only 18 minutes from my house.  Course maps, geeky analysis, videos, I gots them, from today anyway.  I had some technical problems with the GoPro yesterday and I'll spare you the gory details of that but the end result is no video.  In short I'm still trying to work out the remote control.  Today I used the phone app and that worked no problem so I got all my runs.  No Q's but some really nice runs from the Strum man, just a little blip of a bar here or a contact there or a whoopsie wrong tunnel entrance that kept us out of Steeplechase Finals.  Ah well, Strummy was mostly a very good boy, got ALL his weave pole entrances and no pop outs!  I was over the moon about that.

I spent yesterday being very behind on course and today I was determined to stay ahead and I mostly was able to.

Masters Jumpers

Such an awesome run until the part where he dropped the last bar.  I had a front cross planned between 16 and 17 and probably could have pulled it off but I sort of forgot about it or maybe was further behind than I planned.  So I was stuck with a rear between 17 and 18 which caused a head check and put me behind for the last jump.  I was not the only one with that last bar down and it could have been that the ring gating was close enough to the last jump to cause some of the bigger strided dogs to balk.  But mostly I think it was due to handlers being behind.

I led out to between 2 and 3 but many people did not.  Another nice way to handle the start if you didn't lead out was to keep dog on the right and do a serpentine blind cross between 3 and 4.  Many people ran with their dog and did a front between 2 and 3 which also worked for most but some dogs ran parallel to 3 and had a refusal.

Lots of blinds between 7 and 8 including me.  Worked nicely for most.  I put a front between 12 and 13 then another front between 15 and 16.  Many people did a blind there and I thought about it.  Many people put either a blind or front between 14 and 15 and that worked nicely but put you behind if you wanted the front between 16 and 17.  I was hoping for that front but wasn't thinking quickly enough otherwise I think I could have made it.

You can watch in HD if you want by clicking on the little gear wheel at the bottom and choosing 1080 HD and watching full screen.  If you want.  GoPro did a great job of catching everything, I still had to zoom in with the editing software so it captured even more.  Not as good for sharing at small size but at least I can be guaranteed I'll get my runs taped.

Masters Jumpers



BTW how cute is that little mix in the stands?  One of my favorite dogs.  I told the woman I was going to steal him and stuff Strummy in his crate.

Steeplechase

Ah Steeplechase.  Of course I saw the off course tunnel trap at 15 but I honestly thought calling and moving laterally would be enough.  Doh.  I should have at least decelerated and maybe even stopped.  Maybe could have tried for a front but it would have been ugly.  Everything else was fairly straightforward.  Very fast, very fun.  Was excited to have a decent tight turn on the rear between 7 and 8.  Lots of dogs went wide there and a few dogs took the #3 tunnel after the broad jump if the handlers were too far behind.

Steeplechase



Grand Prix

The tricky part of this course for me anyway was the weave pole entry.  I debated putting a front cross in between tunnel and weaves then front crossing the weaves but I wanted a front between 13 and 14 and that would put me too far behind.  Some people did a sort of RFP, rotating into the dog to pull them in the turning forward to send them to the weaves.  Others did a front then a rear.  I simply picked him up out of the tunnel on my right and called him into the weaves.  It was a straight shot as long as the dog knew where he was going and it worked for many people.  I was still behind at 13 though and didn't get my front in.  Strummer turned left back towards me at 14 so I pulled him through the gap in the jumps to take the tunnel.  I planned to have him turn right after 14 but it worked out o.k. in the end.  A nice run except for the missed A-frame and dogwalk. 

Grand Prix


Masters Standard

The tricky part of this course for me was 15-18.  My plan was to be stopped a little past the first upright of the dogwalk when Strum got out of the tunnel so that he would find his own dogwalk entry and I could be ahead for a front cross after the dogwalk.  I'm such a dreamer.  I was nowhere close and in fact was still moving when he exited the tunnel and he followed my line perfectly, such a good boy, but it meant a refusal.  I did get him back on the walk but he went on at a funny angle and struggled a bit to hang on which helped him to hit his contact.  I ended up pulling to 17 then rear crossing.  Our only fault was the stupid refusal.  Ah well, I know for next time.

Master Standard



And last but not least, Master Challenge Standard from yesterday. 

Strummer had 20 faults on this course and still came in 3rd because only 3 of us didn't get an E.  The stinker broke his start line because I foolishly turned my back on him which I almost never do.  As I did it I thought, 'Hmmm, I'd better turn back around' and as I started to a flash of black and white flew past me.  I was planning a forced front cross at 3 which required me to be on the backside of 3 so that did not go well and we got a refusal right off the bat.  Most people simply pushed to the backside of 3 and did front cross on the landing side and it worked fine.  We could have tried that too but I wanted to try it the other way.  The couple few other people that I saw do it that way handled it nicely.  Can't remember where the other faults came from.  I know he got his weave entry.  I think we had a dropped bar at 18 and maybe another one somewhere else.  Maybe missed the dogwalk?  A refusal at 15?  It was messy over there at the dogwalk.  The dogwalk through the close was the hardest for most people.  Lots of dogs had off courses at the #17 tunnel.  I ended up pushing Strum to 17 and turning him left for a wrap to the #16 tunnel and that worked fine.  Got a front in between 16 and 17 and another front between 17 and 18.  Waited at the tunnel entrance and called him and he turned no  problem.  I think I rushed the 18 jump and took my eyes off him and that's why the bar came down.  Or maybe it was the last jump.  Yeah, it's been a long 2 days.  No video unfortunately.

Back tomorrow for Standard, Snooker and Master Challenge Jumpers which I'm looking forward to the most.  Probably won't have another big long post but maybe some quick video tomorrow.

An Interesting Drama on Trial Morning and Some GoPro Footage

Some interesting drama this morning while trying to leave for the USDAA trial this morning.  It was cold last night, about 18 degrees F, and we got about an inch of snow.  The roads looked o.k. though so I thought I'd be fine as long as I left early.  It was pitch black outside and when I opened the door Strummer refused to leave the house.  In fact he retreated farther into the house.  Which is beyond bizarre because Strummer loves agility mornings and is normally practically knocking me over to get to the garage.  I was worried - was he injured, had a bad experience yesterday that I didn't notice, had I stressed him out somehow?  We'd had a pretty good day and I always tell him he's awesome when he leaves the ring and he seemed happy yesterday.  But he's a weird dog, prone to strange inexplicable behavior like trashing the kitchen the other day because who knows why?  We were gone a whopping 20 minutes and I leave him alone all the time.

I finally managed to coax him into the yard and I proceeded into the garage and loaded a few things into the car then noticed he hadn't followed me.  In fact he'd remained frozen a few feet away from the door, utterly refusing to move.  I went over to him and tried to get him to move and he growled his unhappiness at me but finally followed me into the garage.

I worried throughout the day and watched for any sign of injury or stress but he seemed fine.  I made sure he got extra good warm-ups and cool downs and that I spent some extra time with him.  Totally normal agility day.  Even a little more calm and normal than yesterday.

When it was time to leave I checked my phone and there was a voice mail from Jonny for me to call him which is unusual and I worried something was wrong.  I called and called but he had his ringer off because, well, who knows.  I came home and found a business card from the police with a case number on it but nothing else and he was going to be gone for another 1 3/4 hours.  Super fun worrying what was going on and why there were cops involved.  His car looked fine so it wasn't an accident.

Finally he came home and it turned out someone had started a fire in a small sheltered space next to our garage and backyard fence.

Our psycho next door neighbor has big stacks of wood stored in her driveway and in fact she'd tried storing the piles on the piece of our land where I was standing to take this picture without asking me first and she completely blew her stack when I told her I wasn't comfortable with that arrangement.  I think she has some hoarding issues and I don't want her to start piling her crap in my yard, especially without asking me.  Anyway, the likely scenario is that some homeless people took the wood and started a fire to stay warm in that little sheltered area between our houses and Strummer smelled the fire and/or the people who might have been still sleeping there and it freaked him out.  Poor guy, I should trust his instincts more often.  I never noticed the people when I pulled out of the driveway but it was so dark and I was more worried out what was in the road and the icy street.  The cops said they'd drive by more in the next few days and we'll check the area.  I may put a motion detector light as well.  I don't want people lighting my fence and/or house on fire or leaving human waste.  Haven't checked for that yet.

Anyway, the trial was fun.  Courses were interesting and challenging.  Strum had some nice parts to his runs and some stuff we need to work on.  He won Round 1 of Steeplechase and I filmed his run with my new GoPro camera set to the superwide view setting.



It might not look the best on YouTube but on my big monitor at home it looks great.  I zoomed in a bit with editing software but still it's hard to see the back end of the course on YouTube.  Next trial is in an arena with bleachers and I think it'll look a lot better.  I've become obsessed with the idea of getting a remote controlled quadcopter to film aerial footage from above (not indoors obviously) but that may be going a bit far.  My friend has one on order and I'm going to wait to see how hers works, how hard it is to learn to fly, etc.  I know, just what I need, one more ultra geeky beyond nerdy hobby.



I'm thinking about moving Strummer to Performance so he can jump 16".  There was nothing about his performance at the trial that has me thinking that way, just had a few people at the trial put the idea in my head when I mentioned how old he was.  He's looking pretty grey in the muzzle these days too.  I know he's old in numbers but it's hard to think of him as old.  He's not struggling with the jumps or anything and hasn't slowed down as you can see from the video but I don't want to wait until he's struggling.  I've already entered trials in Jan. and Feb. but his 9th birthday is in March and I think his present will be to move down to P16 for the March USDAA trial.  I'll see how he does in practice at that height before I make a final decision but so far I think it's a good idea.

No trial stats for the moment, they all flew right out of my head but I know he missed 2/2 dogwalks, got almost all his weavepole entries but popped out of the weaves on an easy Steeplechase Finals course and took 6 tries to finally get them right.  Big Le Sigh.  Was an otherwise awesome run.



Ah well, this dog has been an interesting journey.

Fire in the Hole - USDAA Black Forest

Yes I went to a trial in Black Forest last weekend, site of the latest and most awful fire of the season.  Maybe.  There's one burning in the southwest-ish part of the state that they're not even trying to contain because it's so out of hand.  But so far I don't think it's burned any structures or killed anyone.  Unlike Black Forest which burned over 500 houses and killed 2 people.  Ironically it started right around the area that I pulled off the road last year to take a picture of the start of the Waldo Canyon Fire.

I've always loved Black Forest, I have a post about it and pictures here.  I think I got my first title at a NADAC trial in Black Forest back in the days of Cody.  The fire broke out a street or two away from the park so I was sure it would be toast but word on the street is that the grassy part of the park and the structures are o.k. but the trees are black.  Black Forest is a very beautiful, spooky, magical place but also very scary for the fire danger.  Lots of tall spindly trees packed tightly together and houses built right up against them.  I could see the place was a tinderbox from the first time I drove through there and though I love the area it's always put me a little on edge.

Photo from 2010

Some of the newer neighborhoods were planned with fire mitigation in mind and supposedly according the firefighters the fire behaved much better in those areas.  But there are a surprising number of people who don't/won't do fire mitigation.  Jonny works with someone who moved out of the area because his neighbors flat out refused to do any mitigation.  Mitigation doesn't help 100% of the time but it does in many instances and is better than doing nothing.  Anyway.

The trial was not at the park this year but rather in an arena that was under threat from the fire and in an evacuation area during the height of the fire but survived and was open again by the trial weekend.  But the fire was still smoldering in some parts of Black Forest and some roads were still shut so I had to do some detective work to try to figure out how to get to the trial.  Thankfully it turned out that the most efficient route had roads that were all open.  Still I was not looking forward to driving through the burn area.  So upsetting to see fire devastation.  But also thankfully I only had to drove through about a mile or so of burn scar and it wasn't bad compared to what the worst areas suffered.  Phew.

There was smoke at the trial site from other fires burning in the area but it wasn't horrible.  Air quality started out poor then improved on Friday.  Saturday was the reverse and by Saturday afternoon I was having sneezing fits when I went outside.  Thankfully the trial was small and I was done at 3:00 on Friday and 1:00 on Saturday.  I drove home on Friday to avoid spending the night in the smoke.  Boulder had a couple few hazy days during the height of the Black Forest fire but nothing really terrible and I was still able to run and ride my bike.

To add to the drama we had some excitement on Friday afternoon.  Right before Strummer and I stepped into the ring for his Jumpers run there was a small pop/explosion and flames from an overhead light in the arena.  I left the ring and went to grab my bag with phone/wallet and was ready to flee the building.  Many people were like me, very on edge about it, but others didn't seem all that concerned.  The arena manager shut down the lights and stood looking at the flames for a while.  Smoke started collecting in the roof.  Finally it seemed like the flames died down then there was another loud pop and more flames.  It looked like they'd died down again and the judge told me I could run.  I figured I'd be out of there in 20 seconds or so and it seemed safe enough so we started our run.  About a third of the way through right in the middle of a pinwheel the manager turned on a bunch of big industrial fans that were lining the walls of the building.  Poor Strummer, he's so scared of loud noises.  He reacted to it but I told him he was o.k. and he kept going, finished up his run with a Q and 1st place.  And it was one of the two Q's we needed to get out of Advanced.  I left the ring, grabbed my bag to leave and noticed there were still flames going in the light fixture and more smoke collecting.  Not sure why no one called the fire department, plenty of fire trucks in the area but the arena was still standing the next morning and the light fixture was gone so all ended well.

Strummer also got the Advanced Pairs Q he needed and now we're finally done with Advanced and on to Masters in everything.  Very happy about that, was the one thing I was hoping to get out of this trial.  We also had 2 fun runs in Masters Standard, both spoiled by naughty teeters.  I've got Saturday's run on tape.  Sheesh it was noisy in that arena for such a small entry.  Was hard to find music to drown out the barking.

Masters Standard

  USDAA 2013 06 MASTERS STANDARD from colliebrains on Vimeo.

I held him up a little after his naughty teeter and caused a refusal but those were our only faults.  Not many Q's on this course, maybe one or two, and lots of E's.  The opening caused a lot of the E's with dogs taking the #16 off course jump after #3 or missing the weave entry.  Lots of folks led out to jump #3 and tried pushing to the weaves which caused  knocked bars, broken tires, missed weave entries.  A few people pulled it off though and it was nice when it worked.  Many people put a front cross in between the #8 A-frame and #9 tunnel which I couldn't quite figure out.  This sent some dogs to the wrong end of #9.  A pull worked fine for me.  Seemed like the #13 jump came down a lot and some problems for people with the #13-#16 sequence.  Most people did a rear on the flat between #15 and #16 and ended up missing #16 or getting a back jump or getting bars down.  I did a front there and it wasn't pretty because I was late but we got the job done.  I don't know if anyone else with a big dog did a front, maybe one or two other people.

I had a blast running Masters Challenge Standard though it wasn't pretty.  Our first effort at a course like that at a trial, can't wait for more opportunities.  I have video but it will only make your head hurt so I'll spare you.

Overall a very fun, well run trial despite the challenges of the fire.  Some people on the trial committee lost their homes so it was a trying, emotional weekend for many people involved.  So many people happy enough for the opportunity to be able to run and have fun with their dogs, the rest seemed trivial.  One of my favorite judges as well, fun courses, easy going atmosphere, worth the 1 3/4 hour drive even if it did take 2 1/2 hours to come home in Denver rush hour traffic on Friday.

I've been somewhat absent from the internets the past few weeks.  Because it's summer and nice out and I'm out playing and training and what not and the blog, Facebook, etc. get kicked to the curb.  But I will make something of an effort to keep up with race reports, trial reports, photos, etc.  I have a sprint triathlon up Lookout Mountain this weekend that's mostly for practice.  The bike is on the road but there are some good hills and the run is on dirt roads and trails and it's super steep so it's good practice for my upcoming Xterras.

Trial Stats

Advanced Gamblers Q, 2nd place

Advanced Jumpers  Q, 1st place

Advanced Pairs Q, 2nd place

Titles:  AAD
             
Dogwalks:  2/4 (50%) 

A-frames:  5/5 (100%)

Weave entries:  4/5 (80%)   no pop outs

Knocked bars:  2 or 3, all were obvious handling errors

Teeters:  3/5 (60%) Ugh, not sure what was going on with the teeters this trial

Table: 1/1 (100%) fast, perfect table, I led out to next obstacle

Off courses:  3 in Masters Challenge

No broken start lines.  1 refusal in Masters Standard, probably a few in Masters Challenge.

FRAC USDAA Trial

Strum had about the best weekend I could hope for, getting the 2 remaining legs he needed for his Advanced Standard title and winning Steeplechase Finals.  So so happy to be able to enter Masters Standard at the next USDAA trial in March.  Finally.  We only picked up a Gamblers leg in the games so we still need Q's in all the rest to totally move into Masters but it's the standard legs we struggle with so I was over the moon to get those so easily.  This was his first trial entered in Advanced but he moved up for one standard run at the last trial so we were able to complete the Standard title.  Funny that it took him nearly a year to get his Starters Standard title yet he got his Advanced Standard title in his first 2 trials.  I think we do better with challenging courses.

Both rounds of Steeplechase were a lot of fun.  Round 1 was somewhat technical for a Steeplechase course, lots of E's.  Strum and I made it through but had a fault at the broad jump and a missed weave entry on the second time around.  But the little stinker is so fast that we still made it to finals.  Just.

Steeplechase Round 1

I almost didn't hang around for Round 2 because they switched the running order so it was at the end of the day on Saturday rather than on Sunday.  I was through with my runs at 1:45 p.m. and would have to sit through Starters Standard and all 3 levels of Pairs to get to Steeplechase Finals.  I didn't enter Pairs because I didn't want to be at the trial super late.  But the course looked fun so I decided to wait for a bit to see how things ran.  The judge was very efficient, Pairs went quickly and I was 2nd dog on the line for Steeplechase so the wait wasn't too bad and I was done at around 5:20 or so.   Round 2 was a pure speed course, very fun and perfect for Strummer.  Glad that I stayed.  And the money I won was exactly our entry fee so we got 2 tournament runs for free.

Steeplechase Round 2

Steeplechase Finals



I also have video of Saturday's Advanced Standard run.  Not as nice as his flawless run on Sunday but a good view of his good dogwalk contact.



I think my Flip is on its last legs.  The quality looks terrible.  Sometimes I hear a little piece of something loose rattling around in it and other times I don't hear it all.  I don't think that's a good sign.  I'm not thrilled with the idea of giving people my phone to tape me so I'm not sure what I'm going to do.  Maybe I'll try smacking the Flip around a little, sometimes that does the trick.

A very fun weekend but so cold.  Sofa king cold.  Single digits in the morning working up to a high in the mid-teens each day.  Thankfully the heat was on in the arena but it wasn't toasty warm, especially Sunday morning.  I was very happy to be done with my one run by around 9:00 a.m. on Sunday.  It was 10 degrees when I got home and I was glad to be snuggled up in my house and not freezing my butt off at the arena for the third day in a row.  These extreme temps. aren't normal for us but it is normal to have a few cold snaps like this throughout the winter.  At least it wasn't so cold that I was shivering like I was at the trial a few months ago when there was no heat at all.

Poor Strummer doesn't do well in the extreme cold.  He has sensitive feet and he'll sit on his haunches with his feet up waiting for me to warm his tootsies when his feet get too cold.  Which take about a minute or 2 of walking across the parking lot.  Somebody had to come to my rescue and warm his feet for me because my hands were full and he was sitting up refusing to go any further just 10 yards from the arena door.  The person rightly called him a 'Sissy Dog' but obliged him anyway.

Fun courses this weekend, I've always liked Tim Verrelli's courses and he's a nice judge and so efficient, the trial ran quickly.  Unfortunately Strummer seemed to like him too much and almost jumped off the table to say hello on one of his Standard runs.  He was laying down on the table and wiggling his whole rear end during the table count.  I couldn't lead out at the count at all, had to stay on top of him or he would have jumped off to snuggle the judge.  Such a goof.  I guess it's a whole lot better than being worried about the judge.

Overall I'm happy with the weekend, especially considering we've practiced only once in the past 6 weeks.  Strum only missed one dogwalk (Gamblers) and 2 weave pole entries.  He had 2 knocked bars but those were both due to my handling errors.  I was more rusty than he was but after the first day I started to remember how to handle.  Hopefully we'll get more practice in before the DOCNA trial next month.


 Trial Stats

Advanced Gamblers Q, 2nd place

Advanced Standard  Q, 2nd place

Advanced Standard Q, 1st place

Steeplechase Q, 5th place Round 1, 1st place Round 2

Titles:  Advanced Standard
            
Dogwalks:  3/4 (75%) 

A-frames:  9/9 (100%)

Weave entries:  4/6 (67%)   popped out in one Standard run

Knocked bars:  2, both were obvious handling errors

Teeters:  4/4 (100%)

Table: 3/3 (100%) fast, perfect table, almost jumped off table to say hi to judge

Off courses:  1 in Jumpers due to me trying not to over handle and not handling enough, 1 in Standard when he didn't turn off the dogwalk and took a jump right in front of him instead

2 refusals both due to me not supporting a jump.

1 broken start line stay during his last run of the trial (Standard).  I went out for a long lead out and took my eyes off of him and I know he was a little nervous on the start line when I left him.  I let him get off with it, it was really more my fault, shouldn't lose contact with him like that when he's worried.

USDAA Weekend

The big suspense for this weekend was whether or not we'd get our final Starters leg for our AD title and our ticket out of Starters.  I've been unwilling to spend too much money on Starters games classes, hoping to get our minimum in the games but those Standard legs have been stubborn - a missed dogwalk here, a knocked bar there, so many 5 fault Standard runs.  We had titled out of Gamblers and needed one more Snooker leg so I entered those classes but I didn't want to blow the money on Starters Pairs and Jumpers so only entered 1 class - Standard - on Sunday in case we didn't get the Q on Saturday.  Kind of putting  all our eggs in the Standard basket.  But I was about in tears at the thought of hanging around until the end of the day for Starters Jumpers.

Saturday's Standard course, well, it wasn't looking good for the dogwalk.

The dogwalk and weave poles are our 2 worst obstacles so of course the main challenge to the course is a difficult weave entry off of the dogwalk.  The masters and advanced courses had this same challenge and most everybody struggled with it.  Even many dogs that made the entry struggled to hang on and popped out.  It looked like the kiss of death for a running dogwalk.

Thankfully the Gamblers course had the chute through the weaves set-up so I was able to practice the sequence ahead of time.  And Strummer missed both the dogwalk contact and the weave entry.  I was behind and he curled to the left and nearly took the chute, a fate that several dogs suffered in all the classes.

So for Standard my plan was to be way ahead.  I thought about a blind or front cross at the end of the dogwalk but thought I'd likely end up blocking his view of the poles.  In the end I stayed near the end of the up ramp as he exited the tunnel, stayed still and kept eye contact just long enough to make sure he made it onto the up ramp and then ran like hell, thankfully making it to the weaves before him with him on my right.  He still missed the entry but got his dogwalk contact and I was able to quickly bring him around and send him back in to the weaves.  No refusals in Starters so we were o.k.  I managed to keep my head for the rest of the course, even got some nice collection and a tight turn into the tunnel at Jump 11.  A front cross between 13 and 14 and we were out of there.  And out of Starters at 7 1/2 years old.  SO happy.  I was tempted to ask the judge if I could have a victory lap.  1st place as well, icing on the cake.

And as if my cake needed any more icing, the club offered next day move-ups so I was able to enter Advanced Standard on Sunday.  And the little stinker got another Q and 1st place, putting me into diabetic shock.  Maybe we'll even make it to masters before it's time to retire.

The course was fun, very similar to masters, just a couple of angles tweaked on a few jumps but otherwise the same course.

Strum missed the teeter to weaves entry but no refusals in advanced.  I don't often practice contact to weaves and this is the second trial I've seen a challenging dogwalk to weaves entry in Starters (the other one was even worse) so it's a good reminder that I need to practice that sort of thing.  There was also a challenging dogwalk to weaves challenge in Grand Prix Semis at Nationals this year.  Not something that typically occurs to me to practice.  Most dogs got this entry o.k. though some were lost to the tunnel.

The judge's counting at the table startled Strummer a bit.  I told him he was a good boy and he seemed o.k. but that's another thing to practice.  Might have to start going to my club's course run-throughs to practice that.

In all a fun but short weekend for me since I had only 1 class on Sunday morning.  The trial had a very small entry, only 16 dogs in master standard and 11 in P3 standard.  Can't ever remember such a small masters class.  There was an AKC trial going on so maybe that was part of it.  The trial was done before 4:00 on Saturday and I was done just after 9:00 a.m. with my one run on Sunday.  Don't know if Strummer has ever Q'ed both Standard runs in a weekend so I was very very happy and so ecstatic to be out of Starters.  Not too much difference typically between masters and advanced so we'll finally be able to enjoy some more challenging courses.  I really enjoyed the judge and her courses this weekend.  She was awesome with the nesting so the course changes moved quickly and she had some fun, creative challenges.

The only downside was that the club didn't turn on the heat.  It was warm enough outside, 50's and sunny, but freezing inside the arena, even at mid-afternoon.  It was fine while you were running but the rest of the day . . . brrrr.  And I jump set for 4 classes on Saturday but was still cold.  Thankfully only had the one run on Sunday.  I'm hoping enough people will say something that they'll put the heat on for the Dec.-Jan.-Feb. trials.  I know the club is trying to save money but this is a false economy if everybody is miserable all day long.  I'll bet most people, myself included, would happily have paid and extra $2 per day to put the heat on and if Dec. is bad as well I may pull my entry for Jan. and skip Feb.  Hard to pass up trials that are just 20 mins. away but agility is not worth being cold like that all day long.

Nonetheless looking forward to DOCNA at the same venue in 2 weeks.  Maybe we're on a roll with this dogwalk thing.

 Trial Stats

Starters Standard  Q, 1st place

Advanced Standard Q, 1st place



Titles:  Starters Standard
            AD

Dogwalks:  2/3 (67%) 

A-frames:  4/4 (100%)

Weave entries:  0/3 (0%)   didn't pop out at all

Knocked bars:  None

Teeters:  3/3 (100%)

Table: 2/2 (100%) fast, perfect table, worried with judge's count though

Off courses:  1 in Snooker, 1 in the opening of Gamblers

No refusals or run-bys except at the weave poles.

USDAA Nationals Days 3 and 4

Strum and I had a great few days at Nationals.  And I ended up having a lot more fun in general than I thought I would.  Both the site and the layout are so much nicer than Westworld in Scottsdale.  The crating is way closer to the rings, the parking is way closer to the site, the grass is lush and green, nothing like the dry slippery stuff in Scottsdale.  And the artificial turf is great.  Other than the late evening/overnight rain the weather has been perfect.  A little warm the past 2 days but high 60's, low 70's is so much nicer than 85-95 degrees.  If they had set all the rings up on the turf then they wouldn't have had scheduling issues due to rain saturating the grass fields but I guess they wanted to try to please everybody so had a mixture of grass and turf.  Still not happy about the 22" weave poles and Strum (and other dogs) struggled with them this weekend but oh well.

Lush green fields

Fresh snow on the mountains in the background.  They look a little hazy, maybe there's still lingering smoke from the wildfires in Idaho.

 Didn't take many photos, somehow not much seemed interesting enough.  Or maybe was burnt out from all the picture taking in Utah.  Forgot to get shots of the turf rings.

Day 4 was Team Gamblers and Team Jumpers, both events that I was looking forward too.  We usually do well in Gamblers as long as it's not a distance challenge and luckily this time it wasn't.  And I love Jumpers, my favorite class.

This course didn't give you a lot of options for the gamble though.  The opening was 25 seconds (for 22" dogs) of point gathering then when the horn went you had to go over the Gateway jump then take 1-3-5 point obstacles, any order, and only those 3 obstacles then cross the finish jump in 15 seconds (22" dogs).  Since the teeter was the only 5 point obstacle near the finish you were pretty much stuck with that.  I didn't see anyone attempt any other contact.  Also the jump before the teeter was pretty much the only jump that made sense so the only choice you had was which tunnel to take.  I took the tunnel by the Gateway jump then jump then teeter then out.  Lots of people chose this option and many had dogs take the off course tunnel on the way out.  The other popular option was jump-teeter-tunnel to the right of the teeter and out.  Pretty much the only other variation I saw was jump-teeter-tire and out the long way around.  And the handler only did that because her dog went racing off the teeter and took the tire before she could stop it.  Kind of a boring gamble for Nationals if you ask me but I shouldn't complain because I got it.  I chose a boring course for the opening to avoid the dogwalk and weave poles.  If it wasn't Team and Nationals I would have chosen a more challenging course but instead I went for maximum points given Strummer's strengths.  We even ended up with 3 more points than I had planned for.

Team Gamblers


Ran Gamblers at around 11:20 then didn't run Jumpers until 5:00 or so.  Jonny and I went out for lunch then I sat around forever beating my brains out over the Jumpers course.  It was a very technical, international style course and I was probably one of the few people who thought it looked fun and was excited to run it.

I made it through with refusals between 1 and 2 and of course a missed weave pole entry.  Such an easy entry too.  I walked the course with a front cross between 10 and 11 and then again between 11 and 12.  Seemed like no problem when I walked it.  Then I saw practically no one run it that way.  Most people did rear crosses.  Most people also had wide turns with those rear crosses and refusals, run bys, back jumps at jump #11.  I also debated back and forth about which way to turn Strummer over jump #9.  I was leaning towards turning him to his right because it gave a much better line to the broad jump which he'd sliced in Steeplechase quarterfinals due to jumping wide and me not bringing him in enough.  But a friend pointed out that if I was going to do the fronts, wrapping him to the right would put me too far behind.  In the end I turned him to his left and waited every so briefly until he came into me and still easily got my fronts in and nice tight turns through that serp. (at least relative to most other folks who did rears).

The pull through the gap after the #17 tunnel was also a challenge.  My initial plan was to do a blind cross after the tunnel and finish 18 and 19 with Strum on my left but in the end I chickened out, pulled him through on my right and did get the anticipated turn towards the broad jump but at least it wasn't an off course.  I hate taking the safe way but Team at Nationals is not the place to take chances.  I was so happy to get through with only 2 refusals and the wasted time.  Lots of really good handlers had E's.

So pleased with the run, what a good boy Strummer was and with a dog running in the next ring as well.  Once again, was beaming all the way home.

Team Jumpers



Day 4 was only Team Standard and thankfully we ran just after noon so I didn't have to sit around until the end of the day.  This was another technical course and again I was excited to run it though we've never done anything close to such a complicated course in a trial situation.

The only handling blip was after the #9 jump.  I didn't support the #10 jump enough, turned my shoulders too soon because I wanted a tight turn to the weaves.  Some people didn't cue the turn soon enough and got the #3 off course jump or an impossible line to the weaves.  For once he got his weave entry then mysteriously popped out far into the poles.  The only thing I can think is that he was struggling to hold on with the spacing.  Then we got called on the dogwalk but it was a very solid obvious hit with 3 paws in the yellow so I don't know what the judge was thinking.  I even pulled a photo off of the video.  You can't see it from that angle but he had his back feet hit on the yellow as well so it's not as close as it looks.  The judge was at such a bad viewing angle too, probably from having to judge the stupid up contact.  Oh well.  Until they get some sort of contact zone sensor pads for National events we just have to live with the calls we get.

Nonetheless, I was thrilled to get through that course with only a couple of blips.  Strum was such a good boy, so pleased with him.  Again, lots of E's on that course.

Team Standard



My awesome teammates didn't E on Jumpers or Standard either, just some minor faults here and there and Team Here for the Party ended up in 50th place out of 170 teams.  They take the top 30 teams for relay finals so we didn't quite make that but still I'm plenty happy with our result.  Was so glad to be on such a great, low pressure team.

In all I had a great time at Nationals despite all the down time.  Strummer did so well, so calm and focused.  He did start to lose it before his Gamblers run when a loudspeaker kept feeding back right next to the ring.  This caused him to start freaking out at the Gamble horn and loudspeaker but I managed to work him through it and he had a great Gamblers run.  He was also getting a bit wound up before his Jumpers run probably because it was so late and he was overtired/overstimulated.  But I worked his focus like crazy before his run, having him heel at my side which is something that he likes to do and calms him down.  Again, he was great once he got into the ring.

I also got to meet Steve, the one and only Agility Nerd.  He was in our rotation and I got to see some of his awesome runs with his Border Collie Meeker.  Such a wonderful, smooth team to watch.

Was happy that they weren't calling fault limits and whistling people out of the ring for E's.  At least they weren't in my ring or any of the rings I watched.  That was my biggest complaint with that Nationals I went to at Scottsdale.  I did get more of a feeling that USDAA was trying to accommodate people and cater more to the competitor this time.  They even gave us really nice t-shirts and schwag this time.  The picture frame is so nice, can't wait to get the photos I ordered.

I hope they'll bring Nationals back here.  The facility was so nice for agility and for a Nationals type event.  Don't know why they aren't doing it 2 years in a row like they did in Kentucky but I guess I should be thankful enough for having had at least the one opportunity.