The second day of our trip to St. Louis to attend the English Springer Spaniel Field Trial Association was a long one. We got going bright and early so we would be ready to run.
Day two started with Standard Class. It was, to be kind, a rather confused run. Take a look:
The second run was Jumpers with Weaves. It was a twisty, curvy run and we qualified, earning 9 points and our third “Q” in Excellent B Jumpers. Here I go:
Then we packed up the car and 7 or so hours later we were home for dinner!
Day three starts fresh and I was ready. My first run of the day was in Excellent B Jumpers with Weaves. That is the top class and no errors are allowed. I was focused and fast and got my first “Q” or qualifying run of the weekend. This is my first “Q” in Excellent B and that means I can start earning points toward my Master Agility Champion, or MACH, title. In this run I earned 9 points toward the 750 I need. I’ll talk more about points later. Now, let’s take a look:
My second run was in Standard Class Agility. Frankly, it was not so pretty. I ran a big “off course” with several wrong jumps and missed my weave poles. Nothing to brag about in this run, but Joe is to blame for the weave poles – I just did what he told me. Take a look:
My third run was minutes later in FAST Class and it was a beautiful one. I did a great send from fifteen feet away over the triple, through the tunnel and over the teeter. Look at me go! I qualified (no errors and a successful send) and took home a blue ribbon for first place. Here I go:
The day ended with another practice run in the new AKC agility test event, Time to Beat. Here it is:
Special thanks to our agility instructor, Anne Riba, for her encouragement and advice!
Day two of the Blitzen Agility Trial in McCook, IL was an early one. After a lovely walk along the lake with a pretty sunrise we headed out at about 6:30 a.m. At least there is no traffic at that hour.
Our first run was in Jumpers with Weaves. I felt I was ready, but those daarn weave poles messed me up. This foreshadowed a bad weave poles day. The rest of my run was beautiful. Take a look:
Our second run was in FAST Class. In FAST my handler designs the course I am supposed to run. I was very distracted from the start. After missing my weave pole entry at the beginning, I still felt I could design a better course than Joe and I tried to do so. Unfortunately I am not as good a designer as I thought I was. Next time I plan to pay attention to Joe’s plan. Here is the FAST Class run:
Our third run was in Standard Class. I was focused and ready. At Joe’s signal I took off like a rocket into the tunnel. My pause table was perfect (all the practice paid off). My dog walk and jumps were clean and fast, but those darn weave poles did me in again. Here is the run:
As a bonus, we got an additional run in a new event being tested by the AKC. It is called, “Time to Beat” and formerly called, “Run and Done.” I hope they keep looking for a new name. Our bad weave pole day continued, but there is the run:
Friday at McCook started off well with three great (but not great enough) agility runs. Our first run was in Jumpers with Weaves. Joe’s strategy was right on the money, but unfortunately his execution was off by about two feet. I was required to enter the tunnel on the right side. Joe did a nice front cross in an attempt to block the tunnel left side, but he ended up showing me the perfect entrance to the left side, which I took without hesitation. It’s too bad, because the rest of the run was beautiful. Here is my Jumpers with Weaves run:
In our second run, agility Standard Class, the fault was mine. There is only a second of lost focus between winning and not qualifying. I spent that second looking at the bar setter sitting in the back right corner before sailing right past the entrance to the weave poles. Again, except for one critical error, this, too, was a beautiful run. Here is my second agility run:
The third agility run was in FAST Class. In Excellent FAST Class you need to have your handler send you from a distance through a series of obstacles. I followed Joe’s signal a bit too closely and did not make it. Let’s take a look:
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.
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. (more…)
I started in a new agility class last week and I have a whole new group of names to learn. Once again, name badges would be very helpful. Our new class has has an agility nerd named Steve and a dog named cannibal. I like my new class, but of course I miss my friends from my old class.
Here are two of my runs in class. The first was lots of fun.
The second was great, too. Even thought Joe got confused in the middle, I like this run. Pay particular attention to the final jump. It filled us all with joy.
