Snookered

We went to our first outdoor agility trial of the season yesterday.  It was overcast with a breeze but not too cold. You needed a jacket when you weren't running but it was warm enough to run without one. I brought Teddy along so he didn't have to stay home by himself yet again. I don't think he much cared for the collapsible crate, next time I'll bring the really big crate and they can both hang out together. 

Liam was in four events starting with an Advanced Gamblers. In Gamble, you plan your own opening to collect points, each type of obstacle has a point value. The judge can include mini gambles that you can do from behind a line to earn double the points.We had an opening that included a send to a tunnel, Liam got it twice. The main Gamble also had a send to a tunnel but Liam thought "been there, done that" and incurred a refusal on the tunnel. 

Our next event was an Advanced Snooker, if you've read my blog for while, you know Liam has an eyesight issue that makes it hard for him to judge the take off point for a jump and consequently he takes down quite a few jumps. In this Advanced Snooker, obstacles 5 and 6 were combinations and both used the same jump as part of the combination. Obstacle 7 was the teeter and I knew Liam was unlikely to do it so I had to plan a course that gave him the points he needed before we had to do number 7.

Advanced Snooker

I had planned a bit of a risky course. I was using obstacle 5 twice and obstacle 6 once before running the closing of the course, obstacles 2 through 7 as numbered. Liam needed to complete obstacle 5 successfully in the close to have enough points for a qualifying score. That meant he had to do jump 5b four times without knocking the bar, and really he couldn't knock any bars or we wouldn't have enough points. We had a nice clean run and Liam had just put his feet on the teeter when the buzzer sounded for time. He needed 32 points for a qualifying score and we got 39. It was the only event of the day where he didn't knock a bar down.

Our next event was a Standard run. Liam refused the dog walk so again I put my finger in his collar and just coaxed him along, no pressure, just verbal encouragement.  We didn't get to the teeter before the time ran out so after the trial was over for the day I asked one of the club members if I could put Liam on the teeter. He did it just fine, once on leash and once by himself. I should ask at the end of every trial if I can do that. Our last event was an Advanced Jumpers, it didn't look nice on the course map but walked and ran fairly nicely for Liam and me. Some of the handlers of fast dogs had issues with off courses because the dogs didn't turn tightly. Liam seemed rather pokey but our time was quite respectable, we had an allowed course time of 60 seconds and we ran the course in 47.89 seconds but unfortunately we had one bar down.

I think Liam was a little snookered by the time we did Jumpers but we did have our Snooker Q so I was happy with that. Liam now has two Advanced Gambles and two Advanced Snooker, one more Q in each of those games and he'll move to Masters.  

The trial ran quickly as there were two judges and they used two rings so no waiting around for course builds and walk throughs. We were home by around 3:30 pm usually it's much closer to dinner time. Our next agility trial is on 6 June, and we have a virtual Hoopers trial on 30 May.

There was a photographer at the trial. She takes nice photos. I am planning to buy some but it's so hard to chose. Which would you chose? Link to Liam's pictures below.

Znlens Photos - Liam

Advanced Gamblers

 

Liam and I went to an agility trial yesterday. I always say any trial where we have a Q is a good trial. They are especially good when Liam gets a Q (qualifying score). That boy tries so hard and I do think he enjoys agility.  Yesterday's trial was at a location where I know he does not like the teeter at all! Our first run was a Gamblers where you get to plan your own opening run and the Main Gamble was the A-frame and two jumps so I decided we would not even try to do the teeter or the dog walk.  The dog walk has the same angle as the teeter so dogs often think it might be the teeter. 

I planned our opening going up the right hand side of the ring. We did the 4 point jump, the tunnel to the left, back again through the tunnel to the 4 point jump. I had intended to push Liam to the backside of the jump so he would be jumping towards the A-frame but he was too fast for me and took it on a slice which worked out just fine. After the A-frame, it was off to try the back mini gamble (labelled a,b,c). Liam did the tunnel, came in towards me and when I sent him back out he took the jump on the side labelled B, then he back jumped the side labelled b. You can only do an obstacle twice for points in the opening so now we couldn't get the mini gamble. In any case, I had him do the tunnel under the dog walk twice and then the buzzer for the end of the opening time went. I got him back and over the A-frame, I really didn't expect him to stay out to the first jump but he did and he also stayed out for the second jump which really surprised me. I wasn't sure we had made time as he stuttered stepped to both jumps and I wasn't even sure if I'd had stepped over the gamble line or not. The Gamble line ended at the dog walk, sometimes judges will tell you that the line goes to infinity but for this course the judge said the line ended at the dog walk so you had to treat it like a handler's box. With a handler's box, you can't cross any of the lines until the dog is past the point of faulting so for a jump, when their 4 feet are past the jump bar. I was so excited that he did the gamble that I thought I might have crossed the line while he was still jumping.

Luckily, I hadn't. Liam got a qualifying score with 25 points in the opening; he needs 16 as a Veteran dog. And he was well under the Gamble time, in fact even was he still in Specials, it still would have been a Q

Our next two runs were Standard agility runs. In the first run, the dog walk was the second obstacle. Liam didn't want to do it at all thinking it might be the teeter. The dogs can wear a flat collar now so I just put my finger in the collar and talked him over it. Our time ended before we got to the teeter so we didn't get to try that. In the second run, the teeter was the 6th obstacle. Liam again did not want to do it, so again I put my finger in his collar and coaxed him up and over. We got a round of applause when he finally did the teeter. For both Standards, the parts of the runs he did do, he did very well and he only had one jump down in all three runs. 

I'm not exactly sure how to work with him about this teeter, he does other teeters pretty well. I am going to try and weight mine so it drops faster and put a piece of plywood under the end so it bangs a bit on the drop.

But all in all, it was a good trial. We didn't have to get up too early, we were home before dinner time, the weather was good and Liam got a qualifying score. One more Advanced Gambler Q and he'll be in Masters Gamblers. 

Downs and Ups

I think I've posted before that Liam has an eyesight issue that makes it hard for him to judge his take off point for jumps. It's believed that either the dog is near sighted or has a depth perception issue. I think Liam is near sighted. 

When we first started competing in agility he always tried to go to the back side of a jump. I think because then he was close to the jump and could now see it clearly. With time and letting him figure out what worked best for him he became better at doing the jumps from the correct side. In Dec, we were at a trial, and he reverted to going to the backside of most jumps. Needless to say, I was very discouraged, he tries so hard, and he does love to play, but I decided we needed a little break, and I didn't register for the January trial. I made up my mind if he did the same thing at this past weekend's trial we wouldn't register for any more indoor trials.

Yesterday, Liam did very well. He did all his contacts although his two on two off wasn't really there, he did his weaves, got the entries and didn't pop out and, for the most part, took the correct side of the jumps. In his first event, an Advanced Standard, he took down the bar on the last jump but other than that it was a very nice run for him. 

The next Standard wasn't as good. Liam got a refusal on a tunnel and an off course for taking the backside of a jump when he should have taken the front side. He still had nice contacts and didn't hesitate on the scary teeter.

Our last event was a Starter Snooker, since there was no teeter and no weaves, I knew Liam should be able to do this if he could only keep the bars up. Snooker is a game where you have to successfully take a red jump before taking another obstacle, you have to do this three times using a different red each time and then you run the numbered obstacles 2 through 7, and at Starters you have to accumulate 37 points in 60 seconds or less to qualify. We did red, then the A-Frame, obstacle 6, then red, then tunnel obstacle 7 then a red and the tunnel again before beginning the close. My only worry was getting Liam by the frame and to tunnel numbered 2. But he was a very good boy, he came with me and kept all the bars up. 

Liam - Starter Snooker Video

We got a qualifying score with 50 points. Liam now only needs one more Snooker for his Starter Games title. 

So, it was a shame about the one bar down but good news about all the bars he kept up. Liam and I will keep trying and having fun playing agility, although we are thinking about giving Hoopers a try. 

Tunnel, Tunnel, Tunnel

Well, I got home from my river cruise last week, but more about that trip later, this post is about the our last outdoor agility trial of the season. I entered Liam in three events, a Starter Gamblers, and two Advanced Standards. 

Starter Gamblers

When I saw the main Gamble, I knew Liam could do this one. For those that don't know, Liam has an eyesight issue that makes it hard for him to judge his take off point for jumps. As a result, he stutter-steps or comes to a complete halt before jumping. This, of course, uses up valuable time which in the main gamble is really limited. 

We started with the progressive mini gamble, the tire, the dog walk and the tunnel. I thought Liam had missed the dog walk contact but knew that even if he only did the tunnel with me behind the line that would be 8 points just for the tunnel. As Liam came out of the tunnel, I heard the judge call 18, so he must have had a toenail in the yellow contact zone. I tried to get him back in the tunnel from behind the line but had to cross the line to get him in the tunnel for another 4 points. I then went up the middle doing the jump, A-frame and the jump before tunnel 3 of the main gamble. I had planned to do tunnel 3 twice going back to the jump before the A-frame but during the judge's briefing, a question from another competitor reminded me that we could do the main gamble obstacles backwards, so I decided to do the tunnels in reverse order. We did the panel jump after tunnel 1 and I was trying to get Liam into the weaves when the buzzer sounded. I put him back into the tunnels and just kept running and shouting tunnel, tunnel, tunnel. We had 18 seconds to do the main gamble, we did it in under 12 seconds. A 35 point opening for our second Starter Gamblers qualifying score.  Liam now moves to Advanced Gamblers and now needs two Starter Snooker Q's for his Starter Games title. 

His next two events were his first Advanced events. Liam ran really well, although it helped that there was no long line of jumps on the courses and in some cases, we were doing the backsides of jumps which helps Liam figure out his take off point. In our first Advanced event, we missed our weave entry and Liam bailed off the dog walk, perhaps thinking it was the teeter, but his run was nice, and we were nearly 12 seconds under the standard course time. In our second Standard run, I thought Liam might bail on the teeter, but he did all of his contacts nicely; his only fault was missing again the weave entry. Independent weave entries are in the cards for our practices now. Liam still ran well and was nearly 10 seconds under the course time. Liam won't ever be the fastest dog on course but if he can keep the bars up and listen as well as he did this past weekend we should do fine with agility. 

Advanced Standard 1

Advanced Standard 2

Our next trial will be indoors in Nov. I registered Liam for two Advanced Standards and one Starter Snooker. Hopefully we'll have another good day of agility.

Wordless Wednesday - Liam - Agility Dog of Canada

Liam - ADC (first title)

Score sheet

 

Oh So Close!

Usually when you post that something was "oh so close" it means you missed it but not at the agility trial we went to on 10 Sep. I entered Liam in two events and he got two qualifying scores, his first two Q's.  He was so close in both he never even got a jackpot of treats after his runs because I thought we were either over time or had faulted.

Our first run was a Gamblers, where you do what you want to collect points and then when the buzzer sounds you have to send your dog to do a set series of obstacles, in this case, a jump, a tunnel and another jump (marked 1, 2 and 3 on the course map below).

Starter Gamblers

I started with the jump at the bottom left of the course map. Liam didn't do it, he came around and I didn't bother to try and get him back over it. He did do the teeter and jump mini gamble with me behind the line. We then did the jump in the top left corner, I wanted him to come to me and do the jump just above the tunnel so we could do that mini gamble. Liam decided to do the tunnel instead. I put him over the jump and then sent him back through the tunnel so we did get that mini gamble after all.  I tried to get him out to do the three jumps in the top right corner, I think we did them all once, then the buzzer sounded.  Trying to get him up to do the main gamble was fun as he kept jumping and bouncing around in front of me. When I had him set up for the first jump, he hesitated for quite awhile before taking the jump, the rest of the gamble was easy peasy, Liam loves tunnels. I thought we were over time doing the gamble, you only had 26 seconds. But when the results were posted we had a Q with 0.10 seconds to spare. I thought that was close.

The next run was a Starter Jumpers. Liam has an issue called early take off syndrome, he has a hard time judging where to jump from; he does well at home but stutter steps at new venues. 

Starter Jumpers

In this run, I didn't lead out from jump 1 just in case he decided again not to do the jump. The first part of the course ran nicely for us but I thought we had a refusal at jump 9. I sent him to the tunnel and then did a cross to get in position for the jump. Liam should have been on my left side coming out of the tunnel but he decided when he came out and come over to my right hand side. I turned to get him over jump 9 so I thought we had faulted the jump. We finished the course with Liam doing some stutter stepping over the back line of jumps. He did the tire very nicely and read my cross to go in the tunnel and took the last jump fairly well. I thought we would be over time because of me having to get him set up again for jump nine and the time it took him to do a number of the jumps so again he didn't get a jackpot of treats. Then the results came out and he was the only one in his height class to get a qualifying score but could it have been closer; in this event he had only 0.06 seconds to spare.

Liam and his Q's

Don't worry he did get a jackpot of hot dogs but he had to share with Teddy. I hope with more exposure to different agility venues his jumping will improve, it has improved at home quite a lot.

 

Masters Jumpers Dog of Canada

 Well, the little dog who could, came out to play agility this weekend. We went to our first agility trial since the lockdown this Saturday. There were many precautions like you had to wear a mask except when you were in your own crating area or when you were running your course, no spectators were allowed in the park, and there was hand sanitizer everywhere.

The trial site was over an hour away, an hour and forty minutes according to my GPS so we left the house at 5:40 am as our first run was to start with the walk-through at 8:15 am. Well, there's no traffic at that time of day and we arrived at ten after 7 but that gave me time to leisurely set up and to walk all the dogs.  The weather forecast was for a sunny and warm day so I just brought my beach shelter and sport umbrella.

I had entered Keltic in two Jumpers runs and one Standard run. First up was Jumpers, he needed one qualifying score for his Master Jumpers title. I liked how the first course walked and I thought that if Keltic would just run we would have a good chance but since we hadn't run since March, other than doing the Fun At Home League that the AAC had started, I wasn't sure what he would do.

I wasn't sure I could lead out with the tire as the first obstacle, so I didn't; but I still got to the end of the tunnel before Keltic came out and so got my cross in. The run was going really well until the tunnel at 14, I heard Keltic fall inside the tunnel, I was sure he was going to come back out the same way he went in but he didn't, he just came out walking.  He looked fine and when I called to him he started to run again so we went on to finish. Keltic did the course in 41.3 seconds, the allowed course time for medium veterans was 50 seconds, so there it was his Masters Jumpers title. There's no video of the run since I didn't want to give my phone to anyone.  

Our next run was also a Jumpers, again Keltic ran really well. I was late doing a front cross on jump 12 and Keltic came around with me but we were well away from obstacle 13 so once I got him back on the right side of me, we finished the run for another qualifying score, a "Q" to spare. Keltic finished this course in 44.46 seconds, the allowed course time was 55 seconds. He actually made the Medium Regular time of 46 seconds but then again he's only jumping 8" rather than 16".  I still thought he was running well. I had been thinking of retiring him, maybe all he needed was a rest. Anyway, there are no indoor trials this winter so we'll see what happens next Spring.  

Our last run was a Standard, Keltic again ran well and I was really happy with the run as he did all of his weaves and never argued about doing the entry, unfortunately we had an off course tunnel.

So the dog I thought would never get a Masters title, now has two.  We'll see what next year brings.

This trial was hosted by the Hilltop Agility Club in memory of one of their life members, Pat DeRonde, who sadly passed away in July.

Liam and Teddy had a good time walking around and enjoying hotdogs and other treats. Both were very good in their crates. Liam enjoyed meeting many other dogs and even some puppies. We had an awesome autumn day, it was even a little too hot by lunch time, but that's far better than being cold and wet.  One more trial this weekend and that's it for 2020. There's no titles on the line so we'll just go and have some fun. Our runs are later in the day and the trial site is closer so it's not another early morning.

Virtual Agility

So in these crazy times, all of our agility competitions have been cancelled so the Agility Association of Canada started a virtual Fun At Home Agility League. You just need three jumps and a tunnel, it's supposed to be a 15 ft tunnel but a 10 ft one works too. The space required is 40 ft by 40 ft but you can get by with less. My problem is the slope of my yard and the trees. Every week there are two jumpers courses at each of three different levels. You can buy any or all the courses or you can buy the courses you'd like and judging too.  You submit your videos to a FaceBook group.

Usually I buy the two level 3 courses and judging, this week I bought all the courses but no judging as I'd like to work a bit more with Teddy and it takes up quite a bit of time to walk the courses, then warm up Keltic and have him run the course.  The courses are so nested that I really can only do one a day as otherwise I would get super confused. 

The videos are from the courses from the week before last. Keltic ran well, I didn't. This was a mulligan run after we had already run the course. No handler or dog was hurt in the video.

Keltic Fun At Home

The next day I let Teddy have a chance on this course before learning the next course.  He did really well considering how little training we've actually done.  Level 3 is approximately Masters level. This week as I said I bought all the courses so I'll see how he does on Level 1 which is closer to Starters.  

Teddy Fun At Home

Keltic has earned his Level III Novice Jumpers title the week before last. This past week although he was clean he was over time on both of his runs.  This week we'll focus on some training.  

Down but Not Out!

Well yesterday, our national agility championships were cancelled. They were scheduled to be held in Aug at a major equestrian centre near Calgary, Alberta, called Spruce Meadows.

I, like many young girls, was very pony mad when I was growing up, but with six kids there definitely was no money for riding lessons.  I loved westerns and horses all the same. As I grew into my teens, I loved to watch show jumping. Many of the major show jumping events in Canada are held at Spruce Meadows.  Even as an adult, I continued to love horses and watching show jumping. When I was posted to England I was fortunate enough to be able to take riding lessons at the military college and even went, as a spectator, to the Royal Windsor Horse Show.

Me and Lightfoot

A hack around the college

So when I started doing dog agility, I found out that the first AAC national championships had been held at Spruce Meadows.  I thought wouldn't that be cool to run agility at Spruce Meadows, perhaps even in the Grand Prix ring I'd seen on TV so many times.

In 2010, agility nationals were once again being held at Spruce Meadows. My Ceilidh had had surgery to have a mast cell tumour removed in Jan 2010. The margins were clean but not wide, there was a very good chance the cancer would reoccur.  By the spring I was feeling hopeful that we had beaten the cancer, we had started running agility again and I had entered her in the regional championship to be held at the end of May. It wasn't to be, the cancer returned in her lymph system and I had to let her go just before the regionals were held. So no Spruce Meadows in 2010.

Spring forward now to 2019, it is announced that the 2020 national championships will be held once again at Spruce Meadows.  My plan had been to enter just Keltic in the regional championships, which I've already done but those championships are up in the air too; still waiting to hear from the hosts about what will happen. I had also already planned a trip west in my travel trailer and have campground reservations booked all the way to Minot, North Dakota.

Two days ago, my sister sent me a link that said Spruce Meadows had cancelled the summer equestrian series and yesterday the organizing committee and the AAC Board of Directors made the decision to cancel the agility championships too.  So no Spruce Meadows in 2020 either.

Keltic - 2019 Eastern Ontario Regional Agility Championship

It's very disappointing not to have a national championship this year as Keltic has never been to a national championship yet and he's already 8 so time is running out on his agility career.  It's not that I think he'd make the podium but it is fun to put yourself up against some of the best to see how you would do.  Keltic has qualified to go to the national championships every year that I've entered him in regionals except for once.  I never entered him for nationals as either I wasn't going that year, I thought Keltic needed a little more trial experience  or I wanted to focus on Beckett. The one year I planned to enter him, as nationals was only an hour away from Ottawa, he missed qualifying by 0.4 points; if he had kept up one more bar all weekend he would have qualified.

All of my other agility dogs went to nationals at least once, Tucker and Beckett placed in some events. Tucker even placed seventh overall in his height class in 2009. Beckett won the Steeplechase challenge for his height class in 2018.

Beckett  - 2016 Nationals

Tucker - Seventh place 6" double drop Veteran 2009

Ceilidh - 2009 National Championships

But not being able to run agility is not the end of the world. I hope that I'll still be able to make my trip out west this summer, I'm holding on to the campground reservations for now. Hopefully in a few weeks, some of the restrictions on movement and travel will be relaxed. If they don't open the Canada-US border, the trip will have to wait for another summer too.

Masters Snooker Dog!

Keltic and I went to an agility trial yesterday and guess what happened, Keltic got his first Masters title. It's been a long time coming.  He got his title for getting four qualifying scores in Masters Snooker. Snooker is a game where you have 55 seconds to collect points. Keltic, as a veteran dog, needed 34 points. The points given are based on the obstacle number that the dog successfully completes.  You have to do one of the "one point" jumps called "red jumps" before you can do one of the obstacles marked two through seven and you can only use each red jump once. Once you've done three pairs, red jump then obstacle of choice, you have to run the the obstacles numbered two through seven in numerical order.

Keltic and I did three of the red jumps and then obstacle 7, three times before we started to run the numbered obstacles.  We got to obstacle 6, the weave poles and Keltic refused to do his entry so we got whistled off.  That's was all right as we only needed to get through obstacle 5 to have our 34 points, we actually got 38 points  (three times 7 for 21, plus 3, plus 14 equals 38).

Video - Keltic Masters Snooker

It wasn't a pretty run but it got the job done.  Keltic also got a Masters Jumpers qualifying score which gives him three masters jumpers qualifying scores so the next qualifying score will be his title in that event.

Keltic has come a long way from when we were on the Snow Dogs Unharnessed Kanine Kup team. For our blogger friends at the Chronicle of Woos and the Army of Four, Keltic was only one of two dogs on the team that wasn't a sled dog.  Below is the picture on our team t-shirt. Keltic is on the sled and the Keeshund is peaking out from behind the exclamation mark. Kanine Kup is an agility house league for dogs just about ready to trial.  The first year we did Kanine Kup, our team took first place; there are four events over the course of the summer and early fall.

April Showers?

This Saturday we went to an agility trial at Absolute Agility, it was hard to get up so early but off we went in the dark to play our favourite game.  It turned out to be a very nice day; the only nice day we got this weekend.  Today, we have freezing rain and tomorrow they are calling for snow, at this rate it will be May before all the snow and ice is gone.  Unless it really warms up, it's not looking good for me to have my Christmas decorations down before Easter.

But back to agility, in January I thought Beckett got his Silver Expert Jumpers and his Silver Versatility titles but I had miscounted his qualifying scores; we were short one Jumpers qualifying score. In Feb, we only did one trial and Beckett got a refusal in the Jumpers event at that trial, I worried that we would take forever to get that last Q.  At this trial the Jumpers was the first event, I didn't really think we would get it, not that the course was really all that difficult but because first thing in the morning, either I'm off or Beckett is. We were the last dog of the event.  We had a clear round and well within time. It wasn't our best run, I never felt connected with Beckett but we got it done. And that was really Masters Jumpers qualifying score number 25 for Silver Expert Jumpers; that is Beckett's fourth Silver Expert title giving him also his Silver Versatility title. We did the Silver Versatility title the hard with way with Steeplechase as one of our Silver titles.  For Silver in Steeplechase, you need 50 qualifying scores.

Masters Jumpers

Keltic also did me proud, getting his third Masters Snooker qualifying score, one more and he gets his Masters Snooker title.  He made me work for the Q though.

Masters Snooker

I had planned to do red jump, the tunnel number four, then red jump and jump number 7 followed by the red jump to the left of the tunnel with the jump 7 again. We got the first two pairs done but Keltic knocked the bar on the third red, I could have started close then but I knew we wouldn't have enough points to Q; so I thought we might as well go for the 4th red and do number 6 which was a combination obstacle, a tunnel, a jump and another tunnel.  We got over to the red, got number six done then started the close, where you run the numbered obstacles (2 through 7) as numbered. I was sure the buzzer would sound before we had enough points but we actually finished the close in a time of just under 53 seconds; you have 55 seconds to collect your points.

So each boy came home with Q ribbon. I'm not sure they were happy about having their photo taken with bunny ears.

I did take some without the ears too, but it's not as cute! Don't you agree?

Now hoping that we get some warmer weather, we have our next agility trial at the end of the month.  It's in a horse arena that is not heated so it would be nice to have warmer weather.

GOAL!

We had our first agility trial for 2019 this past weekend.  Both boys ran very well and we achieved our agility goals for the year. My goal with Beckett was Expert Silver Jumpers and with that Silver Versatility.  That was a pretty easy goal as we finished 2018 needing only one qualifying score.  For Keltic, the goal was to get his first Masters Q.... in any event! Not really as easy as it sounds as he's been in Masters games for quite awhile now and some little bobble always seemed to happen that prevented us from getting a Q.

At this trial, I put Keltic in the first three events two Masters Gamblers and one Masters Snooker. He didn't Q in either Gamble but he ran really well for me; he almost got the second Gamble but once again would not go to the distance obstacle.  Then it was the Masters Snooker; I don't think I'd ever entered him in Snooker before, as last year I was working to get Beckett's Expert Silver Snooker. Any way, luckily this Snooker course had no weaves and no dog walk which made me think Keltic really had a good chance at a Q.

Masters Snooker 1

I originally planned to run the two of red jumps nearest the teeter using the teeter as our obstacle of choice followed by a red jump then the A-frame as our opening but a friend pointed out there was a better line to jump 2 to start the close if I finished the opening with the teeter.  So that's what we did, a red jump, then the A-frame, followed by red, teeter, red, and teeter then the close. Keltic needed to finish obstacle 6 to get a qualifying score.  The course ran beautifully until I got myself out of position after 6 and as a result did a blind cross which Keltic didn't read, leaving him on the wrong side of me for the teeter.  We got a refusal for the teeter but we had already Q'd with 41 points. We finished our run in just over 47 seconds and you have 55 seconds to collect 40 points. We would have had plenty of time to have done the teeter.

Keltic - Masters Snooker Q, his first Masters Q

Next up was Beckett, he had one Masters Snooker and two Master Jumpers events to run.  Snooker was just a warm up event for him as we arrived at about 11:45 am and it now was close to 5 pm.  Beckett ran well in Snooker getting a Q but that's not the Q I really wanted. The next event was a Jumpers, it walked really nice and ran really nice too but Beckett had the very last bar down. 

Masters Jumpers 1

It was late and I did think about going home.  The second Jumpers course while nice was a little more technical and quite similar to the first. I worried that with so few dogs in the event I would forget which course I was running and incur an off course.  I told Beckett if he was going to knock a bar to knock an early one so we could relax and run the course.

Masters Jumpers 2

I shouldn't have worried so much, Beckett ran beautifully and I didn't forget the course.  That was Masters Jumpers Q number 25 which gave Beckett his Silver Expert Jumpers and, because Beckett has three other Silver titles, his Silver Versatility title. Although we did it the hard way with Steeplechase as one of our Silver titles; in Steeplechase, you need 50 qualifying scores for Silver Expert.

Video of Beckett's Masters Jumpers runs

Beckett - Silver Expert Jumpers and Silver Versatility

What an extraordinary way to start off our 2019 agility season!  Now though I have to come up with new goals for the year. For Keltic that's pretty easy,  a Masters Snooker title.  But for Beckett, he's a long way from any other title, so maybe it's just time to have fun and see where any Q's take us.

Nationals Recap

Last weekend, we went to the Agility Association of Canada (AAC) National Agility Championship. Keltic only got to play on Friday at the sanctioned trial events since he missed qualifying for Nationals by 0.4 points. Quite a heart breaker but as someone said he saved me money and the stress of running two dogs.  Keltic got to run two Masters Jumpers courses and was able to get his first Masters qualifying score with a very nice clean run. There was only one spot where I thought we might have had a refusal but another competitor, who is also an AAC judge, told me Keltic stopped but never had any backward motion. I thought all those tunnels in the middle would cause an off course but they didn't.

Beckett had two Steeplechase runs on Friday. Since Steeplechase is time plus faults, he managed to get a Q with a bar down (5 faults) but didn't Q on a clean run since we spent a lot of time getting the second set of weaves done and were over time. But that run was still good enough for third place and qualified us to run in the Steeplechase final on Sunday. More on that later.

They had so many dogs in the Steeplechase that they didn't finish running until about 8:30 pm and had to run under the lights of the grand stand. They also had to postpone the opening ceremonies until Saturday morning.

Some of the Nationals rings

Opening Ceremony

Judges in kilts

Saturday was the first competition day of Nationals. Over the two days of Nationals, we would run six courses, two Standards, two Jumpers and two Gambles. Our rotation on Saturday was Jumpers, Gamblers and last the Standard.  We didn't get a clean round in either Standard or the Jumpers, we had one refusal on the weaves in the Standard and two refusals in the Jumpers course.   We had a decent opening in the Gamble but could not get the main Gamble. We finished the day in 13th place out of 18 dogs in the double drop 8" veteran class.

Saturday night was the banquet. It was quite well organized and the meal was good too. I had the salmon.  They had highland dancers and step dancers for the entertainment.

Step Dancers

Highland Dancers

Complete Dance Troupe

It made for a late evening though. We left at about 8 pm. Getting home around 9 pm, it was off to bed after the dogs had been fed, Sunday would be another early day.

On Sunday, our rotation was Standard, Gamblers, then Jumpers. It was good to get the Standard done before it was too hot. The Standard had the weaves divided into two sets of six. Beckett was having problems with weaves over the weekend and sure enough he faulted the second set of six, we also got a refusal on one of the tunnels. Again in Gamblers we had a nice opening and Beckett did the first four obstacles of the Gamble before running out of time. I was quite happy about that.  Last up was our Jumpers, since we were in the Steeplechase finals they had moved Beckett up in the running order so we would have time to rest.  We had a beautiful clean round in Jumpers.  The standard course time was 49 seconds so we were over 10 seconds under time.

Finally, we had Steeplechase to run, there were a minimum of three dogs in each height class. Beckett and another Sheltie named Brigid ran very close in time in the sanctioned event but the third dog Cinn, an Icelandic Sheepdog was very fast in comparison.  I expected him to win. Beckett ran first since he qualified third and we set the time to beat. Beckett popped the first set of weaves at the tenth but we finished them before moving on. We ran the rest of the run clean even if parts of it weren't really pretty; Beckett even stayed in the second set of weaves. I didn't see Brigid's or Cinn's run; all I heard for Cinn's run was that he took 20 faults for not completing the weaves.  Maybe the handler thought he had done them but had put the dog back in at the wrong pole or in the wrong direction but in any case even a fast dog has a hard time making up 20 faults.  Beckett and I got first place, beating Brigid by only 2/100's of a second.

Overall I was  a bit disappointed. We finished in 13th place out of 18 dogs but there was some tough competition. That clean Jumpers run over 10 seconds under time was only good enough for 8th place. I did do the "what if" scenario, and if we hadn't had the weave issue, then we would have had a clean first Standard run. If we had run that clean, we would have ended up in 10 place overall and made the podium. But we had some nice runs and got to run Steeplechase with everyone watching. What a blast that was; I could hear people from the standings cheering us on.  Beckett gave me all he had over the weekend and that's all you can ask.

Keltic and his first Masters ribbons