My plan was to arrive at the NADAC trial at OK Agility around 11 or so to sign up day-of-show for the last three games classes of the day. I registered in advance for the first three games classes on Sunday. I didn't expect to be free on Saturday but, when I realized I was available, I couldn't let the opportunity to trial today to go to waste.
I was somewhat nervous. After trialing three weekends out of every four from 1996 to 2003, give or take, and then one day a month until 2006, I had done exactly three competitive agility runs since then. Not trials. RUNS. In addition, Tessa is a very green dog and, since we train on excellent/masters level courses, we had never strung together more than seven or eight obstacles. I had some concerns about how the day was going to go. But I packed the kids and the dog and off we went.
The morning started with a snag. The class order had changed. The Touch N Go class that I planned to enter was already running at the Elite level. The folks at OK agility kindly let me dash in and I run two times around the course to get the feel of it. Then, after getting everyone comfortable, I did my best to watch the other dogs. Several competitors mentioned that it was a more complicated Touch N Go course than usual because of multiple uses of the same hoop. Perfect! We went last. Here's how it went:
Pretty damn good, right? Although Tessa had never been at an agility trial, she took everything in stride.OH, and while it looks like I was holding her at the contact because she skipped off the bottom rather than doing her two on/two off, I was actually trying to remember where to go next. HA! It was her first qualifying score in anything! She got first place, but no one else was in her class, so there you go. I took the blue ribbon anyway, as I felt like she deserved it.
Here's her scoring info. I covered the identifying info for all other dogs listed for privacy reasons. The Standard Course Time was 51.08 and she did it in 37.73 which I think was the 3rd fastest time across the heights. I should have checked to see what the Elite time was on the same course. If the sheets are there tomorrow, I'll check.
Because of the order change, Chances was next. I didn't particularly want to enter that class because I didn't think Tessa was really ready for the distance portion. I was told that it was most often just jumps or hoops or tunnels in the distance area so I thought, "What the Hell. I'm here!" So I decided to give it a go.
And then the distance element required a huge send to the dogwalk!
The course also included a barrel, which I didn't see in the rules and therefore I wasn't aware would be on the course. I've never trained that before! We went out back and I sent her around trees. It wasn't smooth, but we got through it. The send to the dogwalk? Not so much.
Yes, I called the hoop a tunnel at the end.
I was pleased with her send over the jump and to the tunnel, and for the bars that she kept up. Plus, she was so game! For some reason, her time wasn't recorded, so I don't know how fast she was going, but I probably couldn't tell anything anyway on account of the time we spent staring at each other over by the dogwalk. Haha! I think she got no score since she didn't do the distance part.
Then it was time for Jumpers. The opening stumped me. I should have led out past two and sent her to three off my left, but I know she sometimes knocks bars coming at me, so I opted for the conservative approach.... which caused her to knock down two bars. Ah, well. I was super happy with the rest of the run, even with the run by later in the run. Did I layer a jump at the end of the course? YES I DID! I was a bit concerned about the rear cross toward the end but it went well (of course, the bar was already down). Watch for how she looks for her ball at the end of the run. Bless her heart! :)
We got 40 points worth of faults on that run. 10 per bar (for 20), then 20 for the run-by that I didn't correct. I'm super pleased that she left up as many bars as she did, especially at the portions of the course in which she was running in extension.
So then I went and looked at her time:
Just over 16 seconds!
Fastest time in all novice! Now, I realize that CLEARING the jumps and JUMPING ALL OF THEM are important and can increase your time, but I'm still pleased that she's moving at these speeds!
Overall, today was great. It was also hot, about 80 degrees, if not more (in the port-o-lets it was an oven, let me tell you). Tessa's rarely worked in such heat. That plus perhaps the unusual environment decreased her speed. It also made her more responsive than usual. For example, I was sure she was going to go for the off-course tunnel in TNG after the A-frame and hoop, but she didn't even consider it.
I wore loose shorts so I could put a ball in my pocket to reward her worth if everything went to Hell in an handbasket and I needed to go into training mode. Unfortunately, then I was told that my toy had to be invisible, not all bulgy. So much for that. I'll need a different plan for the future.
I did reward her after her runs with her ball but not very much and it was a bit delayed. I'm nervous that not having a good reward after a run will decrease her enthusiasm, although I've never owned a BC and maybe it just doesn't matter like it has for my previous dogs. I think tomorrow, though, I'll run off and get a ball and really chuck it for her so she has a longer reward session.
I'm going out in the morning tomorrow for Weavers, Jumpers, and Tunnelers (hopefully there won't be changes as I'd prefer not to do Chances again for a while). It'll be MUCH cooler, so we'll see what that does.
Overall, it was a great day! I'm grateful to have such a good dog.
sounds like a perfect start!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Netia!
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