Hurricane Ridge Kennel Club
September 25, 26, 2004
Sequim, Washington
Judges: Dan Selthofer, Anne McQuillen
This was a two day trial, outdoors on grass. The field was in perfect condition, and looked like a well manicured Golf course. A great effort by the club, particularly, because early in the week, some local idiots decided to go 4-wheeling across the area where the courses were going to be located, and then someone broke into their trailer at the site and after giving up on trying to steal the whole trailer, (which was a beautiful trailer I have to say) they settled for all the tools, drills, and the clubs electric generator that we needed for the timers and the computer equipment. The club managed to round up enough replacement gear and everything went smoothly. Anne McQuillen is one of my most favorite Judges. Very professional very personable, and lots of fun!
Heather became very sick on Sunday morning and it turned out that she had forgotten to bring one of her medications, and when you miss a dose, you get very sick. Sunday morning I was busy trying to get an emergency prescription filled, trying to find a pharmacy that was open, and helping Heather get in touch with her doctor in Seattle. I ended up having an abortive JWW run with Al first thing in the morning on Sunday, and then ran Grace for Heather so that she might get the final leg of Open Standard Preferred, and then ran Al in Excellent Standard.
I was happy to leave to go home, which is something I've never said before about any Agility Trial. Al had done well, getting one Q and coming close a couple of times. And Grace had run pretty well for me on her Standard course.
I definitely prefer to have the Standard Course in the morning and the Jumpers with weaves course in the afternoon.
This was a fun run to do with Al. He was running well, and after watching the video, he didn't have to check in with me very often. He ran straight ahead and did whatever came to him. He ran hard and didn't look like he had to wait for me on any of the crosses. I could have run harder, but hey, it was 8AM??!! Jumpers should be run in the afternoon after you are warmed up!!. The video picks up Al after the start line, but at the second obstacle, which is a tunnel.
I'm really happy with the way he ran, and he did the course in 4.80 yards per second. His speed is steadily increasing.
Al Qualified placing 5th.
Al's time was 30.62 seconds. The Standard Course Time (SCT) was 45 seconds (147 yards).
The pressure was slightly on, as we had a chance at a Double Q, after our Q in the morning JWW run. The course looked doable, but it was an inexperienced judge and a lot of people were complaining before we ran.
Al was ready, and gave me a good obedient sit at the line. After the second jump, Al landed hard and put his nose to the ground, which wasn't a good sign. I did a front cross, but it was a bit late, and I think I lost him there as he was waiting for me to tell him what to do so he decided to put his nose down and see what was going on there. When I did the front cross he perked right up, and was with me again. Over two jumps into the weave poles and Al did them although he wasn't really fast. He hopped out and I was ahead of him and the result was that he came out of the poles behind me. Luckily, we were heading that direction, and Al climbed the A Frame right after we did a blind cross with Al under my feet!. It was like he knew that the A Frame was next?! We were still clean. Through the tunnel and over the Teeter, and we were still clean. Through the chute, a jump, and a very nice front cross (I must say!); over another jump and then straight into a tunnel.
This is when time slows down and you watch a disaster unfold before you. You become a spectator and everything starts to move in slow motion. Al dodged the tunnel entry, and had to make a hard 90 degree turn at full speed to try and make it up the A Frame???!! He got a foot on it before I called him off and then he came back and went through the tunnel and another one, and then did a great sit on the table. We were toast!! We went on and did the remainder of the coarse. Al did great until the jump that got almost all the dogs. I did a front cross before it, and over rotated a bit, which brought Al towards me and then I started to change direction and come towards Al, so we could make the Jump. Al goes "HUH??!!" Are you sure? I better watch you to make sure this is what you want me to do. Watch out don't step on me??!!. By the time we had everything sorted out, Al had run by the jump, so we had a refusal, and then we did the last two jumps and were done.
It was a great run. Al jumped into my arms and I almost caught him. Very few dogs qualified on this course, and people told the judge to burn the course map and never use it again!!
We almost got a double Q, and even though we didn't, Al ran really well, and had a lot of fun. He beat me with his tail as we walked back to the van to get his treats!!
Al's time was 68.03. The Standard Course Time (SCT) was 78 seconds (183 yards)
As I said in the opening paragraph. Heather was very sick that morning, and there were a lot of things on my mind.
When I sat Al at the start he got up, turned away from me and proceeded to sniff his way back to the edge of the course. I walked over picked him up, and then carried him to the start line, where he sat (briefly). He left the line a little early, and so I wasn't able to lead out enough to shape the turn after the second jump to avoid the trap jump that was waiting straight ahead of Al. As a result, Al, with some determination on his part, as we were headed in opposite directions, went over the dummy jump and we had a "wrong Course". At least we didn't collide. (After looking at this tape, I have decided that all the problems we had were a result of me having a bad plan for the course. I set us up to fail running the course as I did) Al came back and we went over the proper jump on the way to the weave poles, but he was looking up at me as if he wasn't sure we were on the right path, and as a result, he couldn't get into the weave poles until after the second pole. Things weren't going well at all. Then at pole 10, Al hit the next pole hard with his shoulder or hip and stumbled and almost stopped, and then bailed from the rest of the poles.
The next obstacle was a jump and then a tunnel. Al did them both properly, but I was done and I decided that we would have some fun in the weave poles on the way off the course. I didn't want to pick up Al, as he hadn't done anything wrong, but I wanted to stop the run and this seemed like a nice route to the finish. When we came out of the tunnel, I turned Al straight at the weave poles and said wiggle, and he did perfect and fast poles right in front of the gallery. I was wondering how long it would take for the Judge to get out his whistle, and we were about halfway through the poles before the whistle blew. As we entered the poles there was a collective gasp from the crowd as everyone thought I was lost. Then they realized what I had done, which is called "training in the ring" and probably the most blatant example of it in recent history in the NW. Everyone laughed hard when they realized what I was doing, and we finished to some loud cheers.
If you are going to get disqualified, you might as well have some fun doing it!!
Al was given no time because we were whistled off the course. The Standard Course Time (SCT) was 46 seconds (151 yards)
This had been a pretty rough day. I wasn't really into the run at all. Al had a good start, but I was late on my commands and as a result he was really focusing on my when we approached the weave poles and as a result, we were past the entry when he believed me that I wanted him to "wiggle". We went on, did an ugly rear cross and then went on to the table, where Al was great and sat quickly. Al did a really fast A Frame, nailing the contact and almost jumping over the transition. We were together from then on. Al flew through the remainder of the course.
One mistake. That's all it takes. But at least we had fun and Al ran well, particularly after our abbreviated run in the morning.
Al's time was 54.17. The Standard Course Time (SCT) was 71 seconds (166 yards)
