Illiana Collie Fanciers Agility Trial at McCook, IL – Day 1

Contact obstacles in AKC agility include the A-Frame, Dog Walk, Seesaw (or teeter) and the Pause Table.  They are called “contact” because you must touch them in the prescribed way during your standard class agility run.  (Contact obstacles are not used in Jumpers with Weaves.)  On the A-Frame you must ascend one panel and descend the other and touch the yellow “contact zone” with any part of one foot prior to exiting the obstacle.  On the dog walk you must tough the “contact zone” with one foot on both the up and the down sides.   The teeter works the same way, with the added caveat that you have to touch the down zone after the plank has touched the ground and prior to exiting the obstacle with all four paws.  In my first run of the day I forgot everything I know about contact obstacles.  Unfortunately, the judge in today’s agility trial did not forget these rules and so I was far from qualifying.  It is not pretty, but let’s take a look:

My second run in Jumpers with Weaves was far better.  It was clean and fast.  I won a “Q” for this run and 9 points.  Only 732 more to go.  We were all very happy.  Here is my Jumpers run:

Thanks for watching!

–Lancelot

AKC Titles – Resolute Sir Lancelot du Lac OA AXJ OF

The AKC let’s you list your titles after your name.  Once you become a champion you can list your champion title in front of your name.  The title for an agility champion is MACH (or Master Agility Champion).

I compete in three AKC agility events: Standard Agility, Jumpers with Weaves and Fifteen and Send Time (FAST).  At the McCook trial, I received two new titles.  I had my third qualifying run in Excellent A Jumpers and my third qualifying run in Open FAST.

As you receive titles at each level you can add them after your name. The higher title will supersede the preceding title in all AKC records.

The titles for Standard Class are in Novice (NA), Open (OA), Excellent A (AX) and Excellent B (MX).

The titles for Jumpers with Weaves are in Novice (NAJ), Open (OAJ), Excellent A (AXJ) and Excellent B (MXJ).

The titles for FAST class are in Novice (NF), Open (OF), Excellent A (AF) and Excellent B (MXF).

You need 3 qualifying runs to to recive a title for Novice, Open and Excellent A classes.  You need 10 qualifying runs for an Excellent B title.

I’m glad the open agility fast title is not called OAF.

–Lancelot

McCormick Dog Show – Agility for Lancelot

You have probably noticed that I have not had a post since winning my five blue ribbons in agility in January.  Now I am pleased to announce that at the McCormick IKC dog show in February I won another four blue ribbons in the agility competition, plus I had a qualifying run (a run where I did everything correctly, but where I did not place in the top three).

It was three days of fun at the huge McCormick Convention Center in downtown Chicago.  Six thousand dogs and lots of people to primp them, play with them and admire them.  The McCormick dog show is a “benched” show which means the dogs are there all day with their people and available to answer questions (the people mostly answer, but several of the dogs had plenty to say).

The people near us had a sign asking that their dogs not be petted without permission.  The dogs clearly did not make the sign.  If they did, the sign would have said, “PET ME!”  Note that the signs were nicely laminated with C-Line Cleer Adheer laminating film.

Over the three days I had nine agility runs – three in Standard Class, three runs in Jumpers with Weaves and three runs in FAST Class.  I have videos of my best seven.  Regarding the other two, let’s just say I hate yappy dogs. Their people should give them more treats.  You can’t bark while you are eating a treat.

Friday’s Agility Runs

My first run was in the Novice Class.  As a review, you start in Novice.  Once you have successfully completed three qualifying runs under two different judges you get your Novice title and you can move to Open.  From Open, once you have successfully completed three qualifying runs under two different judges you get your Open title and you can move to Excellent.  I’ll talk more about Excellent Class when I get there!

The run above was really picture perfect and allowed me to earn my Novice title in Standard Class agility.