Dandy had a very successful weekend at the USDAA Agility trial held at Th
e Blackthorne in East Durham, NY, June 20-22, 2008. He only needed to qualify in Starters Standard one more time to finish his Agility Dog title (AD) and he did that the first day, so we could relax and just have fun for the rest of the weekend. He was entered in 7 Starters classes over the 3 days, and he qualified in 5 of them, all with First Places. And he still got 2nd Place in the two classes we did not qualify in. I also entered him in Steeplechase, for the experience, and to my surprise, he qualified in Round 1 in the 26" division. He did not place in Round 2 as we had an off-course, but I was very proud of my baby dog who did a great job "running with the big dogs". There were 11 qualifiers in the 26" class, and Dandy was 9th, with a time of 34.87 (which included fixing a weave pole entry) plus 5 faults added for one knocked bar.
e Blackthorne in East Durham, NY, June 20-22, 2008. He only needed to qualify in Starters Standard one more time to finish his Agility Dog title (AD) and he did that the first day, so we could relax and just have fun for the rest of the weekend. He was entered in 7 Starters classes over the 3 days, and he qualified in 5 of them, all with First Places. And he still got 2nd Place in the two classes we did not qualify in. I also entered him in Steeplechase, for the experience, and to my surprise, he qualified in Round 1 in the 26" division. He did not place in Round 2 as we had an off-course, but I was very proud of my baby dog who did a great job "running with the big dogs". There were 11 qualifiers in the 26" class, and Dandy was 9th, with a time of 34.87 (which included fixing a weave pole entry) plus 5 faults added for one knocked bar. Stats for his First Place qualifying runs in Starters (26") :
Friday - Standard - Time: 42.51 seconds - SCT: 69 sec, 155 yards
Friday - Jumpers - Time: 18.56 seconds - SCT: 34 sec, 123 yards
Friday - Gamblers - 51 points, Time: 40.06 sec - Max Time: 46 sec
--Note: This was also his 3rd leg in Starters Gamblers, finishing his Starter Gambler title (SG)
Saturday - Standard - Time: 36.14 seconds - SCT: 55 sec, 122 yards
Sunday - Standard - Time: 36.35 seconds - SCT: 64 sec, 142 yards
Over the 3 days, he nailed every contact, only had one weave pole error, and had a total of 3 dropped bars. I did not enter him in *every* class available as this was his first 3-day trial and I didn't want to overface him (and I wanted to reduce the number of ring conflicts as Token was entered as well). I am in awe of how well he did, especially considering he is only 19 months old. Our next USDAA trial will be in August, where he will be entered in the Advanced classes. It's nice to have a few weeks to prepare for the next level.
I also ran Token, in 3 classes per day over the 3 days. He had many great *parts*
but also some glitches in nearly every class. He qualified in Master Gamblers with a 4th place, for his sole ribbon of the weekend. For the most part, he ran really well, he nailed every contact, only had one missed weave entry, and only 2 bars down. We did have our share of refusals which cost us some Q's but I also learned what skills we need to work on more at home. And the good parts were really NICE, so the "new & improved handling system" is coming together, little by little.
but also some glitches in nearly every class. He qualified in Master Gamblers with a 4th place, for his sole ribbon of the weekend. For the most part, he ran really well, he nailed every contact, only had one missed weave entry, and only 2 bars down. We did have our share of refusals which cost us some Q's but I also learned what skills we need to work on more at home. And the good parts were really NICE, so the "new & improved handling system" is coming together, little by little.Our next event will be a local AKC trial July 18-20, so we'll be spending the next few weeks combining training with swimming at the lake...improving skills and conditioning, and having fun :-)
