March 2008 - Dandy's Agility Debut

March 20-21, 2008 - Dandy made his official debut in Agility competition at an AKC Trial hosted by the Hudson Valley Golden Retriever Club. It was a nice, small one-ring trial, indoors at the Sullivan County Community College. The surface was Max Trax, a type of indoor carpeting designed for dog agility. But it is sometimes a difficult surface for the big, fast dogs to run on, as it can be slippery. Neither Token nor Dandy had ever run on this surface, so I was pleased that they both did pretty well on it. Dandy was jumping 24" while Token was entered in the 26" division.
In the Novice Standard class, Dandy did great, he nailed everything except the collapsed tunnel...he would start to go in, then turn around & come out...he just didn't trust this in a "new location". So he didn't qualify either day since he never completed that obstacle.
In Novice Jumpers With Weaves, he knocked one bar the first day. But the 2nd day, he ran clean & got his very first "Q" and a First Place.
Token didn't bring home any ribbons, but he had some really awesome runs; just one bar down in Jumpers both days, and in one standard run, I caused a refusal...otherwise, he did great, nailing his contacts & weaves just beautifully.
To commemorate Dandy's debut, I bought a lovely big print from the show photographer, Dog House Arts. It's a great shot of Dandy coming over the double jump, a wonderful memento!