Philip and I went to a USDAA trial this weekend. These don't happen very often in our area, and it's nice to do something a little different for a change :)
The trial offered 4 runs each day, and Philip ran everything at the Advanced level since he finished his Starters title last time. We practiced 12" jumps in class for the last two weeks, and Philip had done alright with them, so there was good hope for not knocking all the bars down :)
We did have a pretty good weekend overall, so here's a quick overview of our runs!
Saturday - Advanced Gambler:
This was the first run of the morning and it was nice for a change since Philip got to warm up without having to worry about being on course so much. He ran fast, and cleared the bars with room to spare, but launched off of the dog walk missing the contact. I took him back over it and slowed him way down, so he got the contact on the second try. We easily got enough points, and Philip did the Gamble with ease (it was a jump to a tunnel straight ahead, then a left turn along the line to a teeter and another jump. We got a Q with 47 points total.
Saturday - Advanced Jumpers:
This course was nice, but I let Philip play a bit too much beforehand so he was pretty tired, and unfortunately knocked two bars down :( Otherwise he ran clean, so it was totally my fault for not stopping him from playing. Needless to say, I made him rest after this run.
Saturday - Advanced Standard:
The Standard course had a couple of tough spots, and I was sure that Philip would fail with a wrong course or something else silly. I made sure he slowed down to get his contacts, and surprisingly he got both of the hard parts correctly. He then almost skipped an easy tunnel, but got it with a little assurance from me, and since there are no refusal counted in Advanced level, we got a Q! I totally didn't expect this one, so that was nice :)
Saturday - Advanced Snooker:
For our Snooker run Philip did great with the first two red-color pairs, but after we got the 3rd red, I had him do a jump-tunnel sequence. He needed to go around the jump after taking it in order to get to the tunnel, and I think I flinched toward the jump too much, so he ended up taking the jump again instead of going around - whistle and NQ for us.
Sunday - Advanced Gambler:
The gamble portion of the run was very similar to Saturday's, the only difference being that it was mirrored to go right instead of left, and the dog had to take a different side of the tunnel than before. I though we'd do well, but I got overzealous during the opening, so we ended up on the other side of the ring when the gamble buzzer went off. I rushed Philip back, meaning for him to take a jump towards the gamble, but he got sucked up the A-frame instead. The put him in a bad position, but time was ticking so I have him go to the gamble anyway. He took the jump, but was facing towards the teeter instead of the tunnel, so I had to stop him, and after that I couldn't get him into the tunnel. Strange since he usually loves tunnels, but oh well - no gamble and NQ for us this time.
Sunday - Advanced Jumpers:
The jumpers course was very nice. It had just enough interesting turns, but wasn't so hard that it makes your head hurt. It was warming up outside and Philip was really tired, so I was worried he'd knock bars again. He ran super slowly, but hopped over every bar and got everything right. He took 2nd place with a Q.
Sunday - Advanced Standard:
Compared to Saturday's, this course was very nice, and Philip did great almost all the way through. When he got off the table though, he knocked one of jump bars :( I also managed to call him off the weaves after that, and Philip actually finished a second over the allowed time. All in all NQ.
Sunday - Advanced Pairs:
Last but not least we ran pairs with Sally the Corgi as our partner. She liked jumped over the contact zone, so we decided that Philip would take the first half that had the A-Frame, so that Sally wouldn't have to. The course wasn't hard, and Philip did it well, albeit very slowly. I almost forgot which jump was last, but got it right, handed the baton to Sally's handler, and they finished their half like pros! We had the slowest run of all, but we still got a Q - yay!
So we had 4 Qs out of 8 - not bad at all if you ask me, especially considering how badly we bombed our last USDAA trial. Philip now has 1 Q each in Standard, Gambler, Jumpers, and Pairs, and just need a Snooker Q and 2 more Standard Qs to get out of Advanced :D
Showing posts with label usdaa advanced. Show all posts
Showing posts with label usdaa advanced. Show all posts
Monday, April 11, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
January USDAA Trial
Hi guys, sorry I've been kind of MIA recently. I got super busy over Thanksgiving and Christmas, and had little time for blogging or even Agility itself. We did attend a couple of trials in December that I haven't written about, but I'll back-post them when I have a chance. In quick overview though, Philip bombed most runs and got only one Q in Open FAST over both weekends.
We are in a New Year though, and this last weekend we got attended a USDAA trial. I had taken Philip out of classes for a few week over the holidays, but managed to get one in right before the trial to get him warmed up. Still, his lack of practice was prevalent at the trial. Plus, as I've mentioned before, Philip runs 12" at USDAA, and while some dogs take to jump changes with ease, Philip is not so fond of it...
We ran Advanced Standard, Starters Gamblers, and Starters Jumpers on Saturday. The Standard run was really good, except for the fact that Philip decided to knock second to last bar! It's pretty upsetting having a stupid error like that at the end of the run, but I brushed it off as Philip getting used to the higher jumps. He also messed up his Weave entry, but that wouldn't have counted against us at this level.
Gamblers run had a nice set up, with what I thought was a pretty easy gamble portion. Philip had a good start doing everything as I asked, but half way through the opening the judged stopped us - apparently the timer had malfunctioned and we had to start over. So back to the start line we went, and again did the same routine. We managed to gather quite a few points with no issues again, and then Philip did the gamble beautifully. I was ready to cheer as he flew over the last jump, but in a split second all hopes were shattered as the bar went fumbling to the ground :( That was pretty sad, and even the judge chuckled that "it must've been an earthquake".
Jumpers run seemed a bit tough for a Starters course, and I felt bad for the beginners to trialing. I knew Philip shouldn't have trouble though, so didn't worry too much. The bar knocking gods were not on our side though. Philip knocked two right at the beginning. Beautiful run otherwise, but oh well.
On Sunday we had another shot as Advanced Standard, followed by Starters Snooker and Starters Pairs. The Standard run wasn't too exciting as it ended up with two knocked bars again - one at the start and another towards the end.
The Snooker course looked a bit challenging, and I was a little discouraged by that and the constant NQs over the weekend, so I came up with a plan, walked it and figure that it'll be whatever it'll be. Funny how that works, but the time when you don't really expect much are usually when you have good runs. Such was the case this time too. Philip paid perfect attention to my direction, took the course as I planned, and most importantly kept all the bars up! We had a beautiful run with a total of 46 points, a Q, and a first place. The judge cheered for us exclaiming "no bars!" :)
Last up was a Pairs run. Our usual partner in crime Willis was unavailable this day, so we had a new partner - a Bichon Frise names Travis. Travis is new to Agility and this was his first USDAA trial. He is such a cute little guy though, and has so much fun on the ring! We split up the course for him to take the first half of the course which was a little shorter and easier (8 obstacles, mostly jumps). Philip and I took the second half (10 obstacle with contact equipment). Travis's owner was a little worried that she wouldn't be able to catch him after their half, but I encouraged her to try. Travis must've gotten bored waiting for this run, and when he got to the ring, he had the cutest case of zoomies ever! He ran and ran around the ring, and I just giggled waiting for them :) He got back on track eventually and finished his half, then we did ours, complete with a knocked jump bar even! Of course all the running around and the knocked bar NQed our run, but it was so much fun, so I thought it was a good end to the weekend :)
So there you have it. Overall, Philip paid really good attention to me the whole weekend, which was a bit unexpected, but very pleasant. I really hope this trend stays for the upcoming AKC trials! The 12" jumps really killed him though with all those knocked bars. If it wasn't for the bars, we'd have almost all Qs. Oh well, we'll take the one Q we got, and actually it's a really big one as it finished our Agility Dog title, so Philip can move up to Advanced Games next time :)
We have quite a few trials coming up, so stay tuned for more of our adventures!
We are in a New Year though, and this last weekend we got attended a USDAA trial. I had taken Philip out of classes for a few week over the holidays, but managed to get one in right before the trial to get him warmed up. Still, his lack of practice was prevalent at the trial. Plus, as I've mentioned before, Philip runs 12" at USDAA, and while some dogs take to jump changes with ease, Philip is not so fond of it...
We ran Advanced Standard, Starters Gamblers, and Starters Jumpers on Saturday. The Standard run was really good, except for the fact that Philip decided to knock second to last bar! It's pretty upsetting having a stupid error like that at the end of the run, but I brushed it off as Philip getting used to the higher jumps. He also messed up his Weave entry, but that wouldn't have counted against us at this level.
Gamblers run had a nice set up, with what I thought was a pretty easy gamble portion. Philip had a good start doing everything as I asked, but half way through the opening the judged stopped us - apparently the timer had malfunctioned and we had to start over. So back to the start line we went, and again did the same routine. We managed to gather quite a few points with no issues again, and then Philip did the gamble beautifully. I was ready to cheer as he flew over the last jump, but in a split second all hopes were shattered as the bar went fumbling to the ground :( That was pretty sad, and even the judge chuckled that "it must've been an earthquake".
Jumpers run seemed a bit tough for a Starters course, and I felt bad for the beginners to trialing. I knew Philip shouldn't have trouble though, so didn't worry too much. The bar knocking gods were not on our side though. Philip knocked two right at the beginning. Beautiful run otherwise, but oh well.
On Sunday we had another shot as Advanced Standard, followed by Starters Snooker and Starters Pairs. The Standard run wasn't too exciting as it ended up with two knocked bars again - one at the start and another towards the end.
The Snooker course looked a bit challenging, and I was a little discouraged by that and the constant NQs over the weekend, so I came up with a plan, walked it and figure that it'll be whatever it'll be. Funny how that works, but the time when you don't really expect much are usually when you have good runs. Such was the case this time too. Philip paid perfect attention to my direction, took the course as I planned, and most importantly kept all the bars up! We had a beautiful run with a total of 46 points, a Q, and a first place. The judge cheered for us exclaiming "no bars!" :)
Last up was a Pairs run. Our usual partner in crime Willis was unavailable this day, so we had a new partner - a Bichon Frise names Travis. Travis is new to Agility and this was his first USDAA trial. He is such a cute little guy though, and has so much fun on the ring! We split up the course for him to take the first half of the course which was a little shorter and easier (8 obstacles, mostly jumps). Philip and I took the second half (10 obstacle with contact equipment). Travis's owner was a little worried that she wouldn't be able to catch him after their half, but I encouraged her to try. Travis must've gotten bored waiting for this run, and when he got to the ring, he had the cutest case of zoomies ever! He ran and ran around the ring, and I just giggled waiting for them :) He got back on track eventually and finished his half, then we did ours, complete with a knocked jump bar even! Of course all the running around and the knocked bar NQed our run, but it was so much fun, so I thought it was a good end to the weekend :)
So there you have it. Overall, Philip paid really good attention to me the whole weekend, which was a bit unexpected, but very pleasant. I really hope this trend stays for the upcoming AKC trials! The 12" jumps really killed him though with all those knocked bars. If it wasn't for the bars, we'd have almost all Qs. Oh well, we'll take the one Q we got, and actually it's a really big one as it finished our Agility Dog title, so Philip can move up to Advanced Games next time :)
We have quite a few trials coming up, so stay tuned for more of our adventures!
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