Puyallup Valley Dog Fanciers

Puyallup, Wa.,  June 5, 6, 2004

This was a two day trial indoors on dirt.  Two rings, 600 runs per day.  The Trial was combined with one of the major dog shows in the area so the event site had hundreds of dogs, and several thousand people.  Confirmation, obedience and agility all in one place.

Al was on his own this weekend as Grace wasn't entered.  The event site could best be described as being very stressful for the dogs and in some ways for the handlers too. The crating area was livestock pens inside a metal roofed and metal walled building that was attached and open to the agility rings.  The sound level was incredible in the building, and added a lot of stress to the dogs.  I left Al in the crating area in his crate along with Sue Welsh's 4 Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, who are the nicest and quietest little dogs.  Still Al didn't like it at all.  I took him out to go potty after he had been in the crate for an hour or so and he had this panicked look and pulled against his leash refusing to go back into the stall.  OK Al I get the message.  You're going to be with me or in the van, no more stall crating for you this weekend.

Saturday Standard Course (Excellent A)

    Due to a technical mishap, I don't have video of this run.  Al was slow at the start, but picked it up after the 3rd jump and had very good speed, but just before the weave poles there was a jump at an odd angle which required the dog to do a sharp turn to get the jump.  If you had a fast dog, there was a strong likelyhood that the dog would cross the plane of the jump and this is exactly what happened.  Al  went beyond the plane of the jump and was called for a refusal, even though he never stopped, and came back into position in order to make the jump.  The rest of the run was good. 

Al's time was 67.10, the course time was 74 seconds (172 yards).  No dogs Q'd but Al had the fastest run, and was the only one to have 5 faults. 

Saturday JWW Course (Excellent B)

    Al had a very good run but the dog I imagined running the course as I planned our run, and the dog that I had running with me were different!!  Fortunately, the real dog was much faster than the one I thought I was  going to run with.  After a shaky front cross just after the start, the rest of the course came together and the result was a very fast run in which Al came flying over a jump in the middle of the course at top speed and then landed much further out than I planned, and was looking a jump and the judge right in the face when he landed, so why not show the judge what a good jumper I am.  We had an extra jump and a good time.  Al was very happy after this run.

Al's time was 38.08, course time was 42 seconds (136 yds.) 

Sunday Standard Course (Excellent A)

Al wouldn't hold his stay at the start line (not that he has much of one to begin with), but that was OK as I wanted him with me after the first jump.  He was a little distracted at first, but once he started the weave poles he warmed to the course and started to get faster.  The weave pole entry was a hard entry, as the dogs had to turn 90 degrees to their left to approach the poles, with me on the inside of the turn.  The rest of the run was fun.  Al was happy to do the down on the table, and he finished the last two jumps so we had a clean run. 

Al placed first in Excellent A 12" getting his first Q for his Excellent A Std title.  Al's time was 57.87, the course time was 71 seconds (164 yds.).

After this run, Al was ecstatic!!  He was wild, jumping up and trying to scoot around. The crowd really cheered for him after his run, which made him more excited.  He knew he had done something great!!  He wanted to celebrate.  We almost ran as we left the building through the crowd of people so Al could have his well deserved Celebration treats!!  It took him about 5 minutes to come back down to earth!!

Sunday JWW Course (Excellent B)

This was what appeared to be a very difficult and choppy course, and I was dreading running it, as the big dogs all had trouble running it.  Very few dogs Q'd, and the ones that did weren't very fast or smooth.  Dr. Cathy Sheeran helped me a lot during the walk through and all of a sudden it started to make sense.  The course was much more suitable for small dogs. 

Al had run 5 times in the previous 3 days and this was his last run for the weekend.  He warmed up well, and sat and stayed all over the arena before we ran.  We were the 2nd 12" dog to run.  I took Al out to the start line, and he started to tug at the leash to go to a spot.  He went over to a place where we could start, so I tried a sit at that point.  It was hopeless.  Al started to scratch and dig in the ground.  He had his nose right down in the excavation as he dug.  It was as if his nose was anchored to the spot he was digging in.  He would move his butt around, but his nose stayed right in his hole.  The only way I thought I could get his attention back was to run away fast from him, call his name and hope he noticed, which I did, and to my surprise Al raised his head and jumped over the start line.  The next obstacle was the weave poles, and they were straight ahead of him 15 feet.  It was the easiest weave pole entry Al has ever had in competition.  To my dismay, he started to sniff again about halfway to the poles, and by the time he got to the poles he had lost focus, and missed his entry, then he entered the poles between poles 2 and 3. 

By the end of the weave poles I had him back, and he had an excellent run.  He was very fast.  One bobble, where he missed a  jump, but that was my fault as I was trying to get more speed by pushing him out, but he cut the corner and took the next jump which is where I was headed when he was being sent out. 

It turned out that several people had the same problem as I did with Al.  Their dogs were distracted at the start line.  My instructors dog did exactly the same thing except she didn't dig, but she missed the weave pole entry.  People thought that either a dog that was coming into season, had left a scent where it sat at the start line, or a dog had blown its anal glands on that spot.  Whatever it was, Al was very interested and I'm surprised I got him off the start line at all. 

Al's time was 33.93, course time was 46 seconds (149 yds.)