This past weekend we went to the AAC Eastern Ontario Regional Agility Championships. They were held in Harrowsmith, Ontario which is about two and half hours from Ottawa so we went on Thursday afternoon and stayed in a hotel about 20 minutes from the trial site. We arrived at the trial site at about 12:45 and helped offloading equipment until about 5 pm. We, then, headed off to check in at our hotel and get something to eat.
Friday was warm-ups and a sanctioned AAC trial. I hadn't entered the warm-ups so I had the morning to set up and walk the dogs. Our events didn't start until noon. Beckett had a Masters Standard run and Keltic had a Steeplechase run. Beckett had a beautiful clean Standard, for first place with a Q; that also won me $15 as the top dog in his height class, that paid for pizza on Saturday night. Thanks, Beckett. Keltic was eliminated in his Steeplechase but had some nice moments, like getting an off-side weave entry even though he didn't stay in the weaves.
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| The weekend abode |
Saturday morning started early with a general walk through of the day's courses. Our first course was Gamblers. Since I only had about 12 dogs between Keltic and Beckett I brought both of them down to the ring, I really didn't need to do that as it takes about a minute per dog to run the Gamblers event. This first Gamblers was really hard, not many dogs got it. You had to have good independent weave entries.
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| Gamblers 1 |
The main Gamble is in the top right corner and consists of six weaves, then the tunnel on the far right, followed by another six weaves and then the two jumps labelled 4 and 5. Many dogs did the first set of weaves and then were sucked into the tunnel at the top. Beckett was nearly one of those but I was able to call him off but then he wouldn't go out to the far tunnel. Keltic wouldn't even do the first set of weaves. In Gamblers, you accumulate points by doing obstacles for 40 seconds and then if you can do the main gamble in the time allotted, usually about 20 to 25 seconds, you gain an additional 35 points.
Our next event on Saturday was the Standard. Unfortunately, right off the start Keltic got an off course by putting a paw on the A-frame, that incurred 20 faults. He only got 5 more course faults for popping out of the weaves and he also had some time faults on the course but for him a rather good run.
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| Standard 1 |
Beckett had a clean run right until obstacle 12, I did my front cross too close to the jump and pushed him to back side of the jump for an off course and 20 faults. In the Standard event you start with 100 points and then they deduct the faults to give you a point score.
Our last run of the day was Jumpers. It walked quite nicely and ran rather smoothly too.
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Jumpers 1
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Keltic knocked down the bar on jump 2 for five faults and Beckett incurred a refusal for 5 faults on jump 8 when he came in between jump 7 and 8. I probably didn't support him enough. In Jumpers, you start with 75 points and they deduct your faults so both dogs got 70 points in this event. Keltic actually ran faster than Becket but then he is younger and ran first all day Saturday.
Keltic finished day 1 with just over 170 points and Beckett had just over 190 so we had our work cut out for us if we wanted to qualify for Nationals as you need 350 points. Beckett could qualify even if his second day runs were about the same but Keltic and I had to improve.
On day 2 we started with the Standard event and as the running orders were changed up Specials and Vets went first and Beckett got to run before Keltic all day.
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| Standard 2 |
Becket had super awesome run with only one spin after jump 15 which didn't cost us anything but a bit of time. He was clean and about 28 seconds under the course time so we got 100 points plus points for every second he was under time. Keltic didn't have an off course in this event but did incur 25 course faults and time faults as well so he only got 69 points for this event.
Next up was Gamblers, I had done some figuring and realized Beckett only needed 31 points to qualify for Nationals.
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| Gamblers 2 |
Beckett got one of the mini gambles (the one marked A and B) in our opening, did some spinning at the top right tunnel losing some time but we still got 36 points in the opening. This main gamble was one my dogs should have been able to do but neither one would go out to the tunnel. Keltic only got 29 points in his opening having knocked the bar on the obstacle marked A, had he not knocked that bar he would have had two more points. This will be important later.
Our last run of the day and for Regionals was jumpers, I had walked this course with very nearly a front cross after every second or third obstacle.
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| Jumpers 2 |
Beckett went in and we nailed it. Fast and clean, maybe I was relaxed knowing Beckett had already qualified and was just going for broke. We ran the course in just over 41 seconds; the allowable course time was 59 seconds. Keltic, I thought after the Gamble had to be clean and 12 seconds under time but my math was a little off. Keltic went clean as well but not as fast as Beckett. Keltic's time was 43.18 and he only had 49 seconds for the allowable course time. I thought we were about 6 points short of qualifying; well, Keltic ended up with a score of 349.6. He missed qualifying for National by only 0.4 points. Had he left up the bar in Gamble, in the first Jumpers or not put a foot on the A-frame in the first Standard he would be going to his first Nationals.
Beckett qualified for Nationals with a score of 455.33 and Beckett moved up in the standings in his height class from 4th to second. That's our best ever placement. It's hard to move up as all the dogs usually have their strengths. Keltic got third place in his height class but I am most proud of his first place finish in Jumpers 2.
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| Beckett - 2nd place - 8 " Double Drop Veterans |
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| Keltic - 3rd place - 12" Specials |
We had a great weekend. The rain held off until near the end of the event. The venue had great crating in the shade. The volunteers, organizers, sponsors, vendors and fellow competitors make it a wonderful event. Yes, Lyne, you have to come experience it first hand.
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| Beckett and his ribbons |
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| Keltic and his ribbons |
