Eastern Ontario Regionals

Beckett at his first Regionals as a competitor.

This past weekend, we had the excitement of competing at the Eastern Ontario Regional Championship. The event started on Friday with warm-ups and some sanctioned AAC events. We didn't do the warm-ups as I thought it would make the day too long, as it turned out we were there anyway but were able to just hang out and relax a little.

Beckett and Keltic just hangin out.

There were four events in the afternoon, Standard, Jumpers, Gamblers and Steeplechase.  Beckett still hasn't got Masters Standard or Gamblers Q. In our Jumpers, he had three bars down but they were the only ones all weekend. We got our fifth Steeplechase Q, so now Beckett is half way to his Steeplechase title. Even though we didn't Q, we did come first in our height class in Master Gamblers and so won a $15 dollar prize.

On Saturday, Regionals began with the general walk-through at 8:00 am. Sounds early but it was actually a reasonable time, when the Championships for Ontario are hosted as one event, the walk-through is usually around 6:30 am. We had Gamblers first, the main Gamble was a jump out to the far end of a tunnel, then 6 weaves and then a send to a jump. We had a really nice opening getting both mini gambles and achieving a respectable 37 points. On the main Gamble, when I sent Beckett to the tunnel, I was too far down the gamble line and he crossed through the weaves to get to the tunnel.

Eastern Ontario Regionals Standard 1

Our next run was our Standard. Beckett handled this course beautifully even the hard part under the dog walk and the last obstacle where many dogs curled back towards their handler after jump 21 as most people were behind their dog by this time. Unfortunately, we didn't go clean as I led out to the wrong position for the teeter right at the beginning of the course and Beckett put two feet on the A-frame, for an off course and 20 faults.  I was probably standing right about where the number 2 is on the map and I should have been further up and away from the teeter.

Last for the day was our Jumpers run, Beckett did just amazing. I actually don't recall much of the run as it went so well.  The course time was 41 seconds and we ran it in 31.65 seconds or 4.9 yards per second. That's pretty fast for us, we are usually in the mid 4's.

Eastern Ontario Regionals Jumpers 1

Sunday started out cool but was again hot before we even began to run. Our first run was Jumpers. On this course, I didn't feel like I knew the course all that well after the walk through. During the run, for a split second at about jump 6, I wondered where we were going next, fortunately I got it together and completed the course without letting Beckett down. Many dogs fell into the trap of taking the last jump (obstacle 23) after jump 19, but Beckett was right with me and took the tunnel without hesitation. It was another clean run. The course time was 49 seconds and we ran it in 36.67 seconds, again running 4.9 yards per second.

Eastern Ontario Regionals Jumpers 2

Our second run on Sunday was the Standard, and again just one little bobble kept us from going clean. I had hoped to get a front cross in between jump 6 and the teeter but after seeing a number of fast dogs run the course, I knew it wouldn't happen.  I did a false turn behind Beckett but started moving forward too soon and he came with me rather than getting on the teeter, this counted as a refusal for 5 faults.

Eastern Ontario Regionals Standard 2

Beckett - Eastern Ontario Regionals Standard 2

This course had a time of 71 seconds and Beckett ran it in 52.52 seconds, if we had been clean, we would have received nearly 18 bonus points for the seconds he was under time.

Our last run was Gamblers and I made the mistake of telling Beckett they were bonus points as we had already made the 350 points necessary to qualify for Nationals. He must have understood me and I had a slightly crazy spinning boy running the opening of the Gamble. He even had a beautiful fly-off (LOL) from the teeter. He still did manage to do one of the mini Gambles and got 28 points in the opening. The main gamble was a tunnel under the A-frame, then you had to keep them out to farther of two jumps then back over the nearest jump, then to the a-frame and finishing with another jump. I only saw about 4 dogs who actually got the gamble, most dogs came into their handler after the tunnel and did the closest of the two jumps which is exactly what Beckett did too.

I was really proud of my Beckett boy; his two third place Jumpers runs were amazing and he was running great all weekend. He qualified for Nationals with 411.68 points and was less than 6 points out of the placements; the sixth place dog had 417.03 points. We do have some work to do on Gambles but for now a little Frisbee time is in order.