March 15, 2003
NADAC Krusin' Kanines Agility Club
For the first time in almost two years...I actually
wanted to go to a dog show. I am not sure if my six month seclusion to the
basement living room couch to work on projects other then dog related stuff,
was part of the cause or not. When the alarm went off at 5am, the house (minus
Mike) went into a flurry of activity.
Since this agility trial was being hosted by E's club, we
decided to drive up separately. There was no point in me being stuck there to
help clean the place up when the members are forced to do so. I got to the show
early (as what happens when E is not there to chill me out about "leaving"
times) and got Crumpet, Sprout, and me settled.
All of the courses that the club offered are relatively
new to us. The mother club (NADAC) has approved to have three new
courses/titling and this was the second time that a club offered them. Last
October, I decided to forgo these courses with Crumpet (he already had four runs
going those days, but entered Sprout in the Tunnelers class.) I will have to
add these courses to the NADAC part of my stickied string above for those who
are more interested in the course description.
Anyway, I ran Sprout last October in the Tunnelers class
because there is no jumping and she was still not where I wanted her
physically. There is nothing wrong with running along and going through tunnels
when you have an extra pound or two. Besides, she had very little training and
it was easier for me to put her into one end of a tunnel......... The result
was that she gave me two perfect runs.....one was over time so there was only
one qualifying ribbon. NOT BAD!!!
I had every intent on working with her on the contact
equipment (Frame, Tetter-Totter, and Dog Walk), but the early snow that stuck
around until.......let me look out the window....NOW, kept me from working
Sprout at all. Instead, we have been attending Obedience class on Monday
nights.
The running order for the day was going to be Tunnelers,
Weavers, Tough&Go. I entered Crumpie in all three and Sprout got the Tunnelers
and T&G. (I was not going to fry her noodle noggin with tons of weave poles
when she is doing a set of six just fine. :))
Ooops. Forgot to mention that since these are new
courses, ALL dogs must start off in the Novice class. Mwhahahahaha with
Crumpie. The good thing is that for the different levels, the course
is not changed...just the time in order to complete it. Faster is better for
these.
Are we all caught up? Mmmmmmmm Yup. I think so.
Novice Tunnelers
Sprout
The course was straight forward, tunnels everywhere, bent
in all kinds of shapes. Sprout completed the first two and then decided to bulk
at every tunnel afterwards. This was not the same dog that I had out back in
October, so I was very disappointed as we got to every tunnel. There were a few
that she went into with no problems, so while I was hauling along, I was
analyzing "why".
The one thing that was extremely important to me was
Sprout's body language. She was NOT scared, more like confused. The one thing
that NEVER changed was the smile on her face. Why is that important? If Sprout
was not willing to dive into each tunnel on account of fear, then she would not
be willing to move on. Sprout did however, complete each tunnel. That is what
was important. We were over time, but managed, bahahahahaha, a fourth place.
(Does not say a whole lot for the 8" class.)
NQ, 4th place
As I grab my lead that was located on one of those
folding cloth tables...one foot in diameter. What does Sprout do? Jumps up on
to it with grace and style. Where the heck that came from I have no
idea, but the crowd LOVED it. It totally threw me off as that is something I
could not train if I wanted to. Go figure that the "fat" dog would do something
like that. ;)
Run back to the crate to switch dogs...
Crumpet
Ahhhhh, the old pair of gloves. Walking into the ring, I
knew what my Little Man would do. Shoulders square, confidence boosting....time
to haul. Crumpie on the other hand, had the "liquid eyes" and his focus was
incredible. This is what this dog lives for.
Crumpie hauled....gone...wait for
meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. (This was not his fastest run of the day
either...) We were all over that course, with me being left behind. Crumpie
was out there on his own, running at full tilt and working away from me by
twenty to thirty feet. Fine by me, I was winded by this time and I appreciated
any steps that I did not have to take.
We almost went into a wrong end of a tunnel, but Crumpie
held himself together and followed my late command of "which tunnel". (My bad)
A couple more tunnels and whala, instant crowd "going wild".
Q, 2nd place
(We were running up against a woman who travels the USA
for agility trials. She owns about four of the top ranked dogs that are
faster then Crumpie, hands down. I take our second places as compliments.)
Sprout's performance bothered me. I was suddenly
doubting having entered her in the Touch & Go course (where there was the Frame,
which she has not been on in years). If she was not willing to do tunnels, how was I
going to get her up that?
How can she go from a willing performance back on October
to this? Come on, it is not like she got any training before those runs. Then
it dawned on me......building compared to out doors, wood chips instead of
grass, and dark colored tunnels made darker by being indoors.
Suddenly, I did not feel too bad. She had fun and we
would work on that. :) At least I had an answer?
Weavers
Crumpet
This course was almost the same as the Tunnelers course.
The exception was the replacement of a set of six poles and a set of twelve.
There was a minor change in the beginning. Straight line...tunnel, six poles,
straight, tunnel. I was worried about forgetting the "straight & tunnel"
because for the Tunnelers course it had been tunnel, tunnel, right, tunnel, then
on to that tunnel.
I elected to leave Crumpie and walk out to the middle of
the first tunnel, then let him find the poles on his own. I was NOT expecting
mad man and was soon lost in the flying wood chips. Crumpie nailed every pole
and every tunnel. We had the same problem with my late command to the correct
tunnel and he almost took the wrong one. Eeeeeek, but he listened again and we
flew around the course.
How the heck we got a faster time then the Tunnelers
course, I have not a clue. Amazing especially since the weave poles take longer
to complete. Like I said, we were hauling.....faster.
Over the finish line and another wild crowd.
Q, 2nd place.
Touch & Go
I really liked this course, nice and flowing. The only
thing that gave me concern was that the Frame was done twice. :)
AUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hahahahahahaha. One of the Frames was the second
obstacle. At least I would have the opportunity to get Sprout's butt up the
thing more then once.
Sprout
The way I figured this was that if she refused the
Frame...move on. If anything, she would go through the tunnels and perform the
DogWalk. I just wanted a smilie face.
Sprout completely shocked me and I forgot who I was
running. She hauled through the first tunnel like her brother did for his past
two runs. Heck, she even went straight up the Frame.
After hopping down the other side, she HAULED to the next
tunnel. I was still standing there at the bottom of the frame, LAUGHING.
Called her "back to me" to go into another tunnel...which she did from ten feet
out and went right onto the Tetter-Totter.
Now, here is where we learned about gravity and about
mom's "easy". Poor thing, it started to move on her, but she rode the Tip
down. (Crumpie would later hesitate on this Tip too, so I think it may have
been off-balance.) Sprout continued on to the "U" shaped tunnel....with me
being ten feet out and it was back up the Frame.
Where the heck did this dog come from? And how come she
has a bigger set of balls then her brother?
Back into the tunnel and "get out" to another tunnel for
an approach to the DW. Sprout was flying so fast that I was afraid that she
would lose her footing. What did I do? "easy easy easy" while going up. I
should have known better.....the Tip experience. Sprout slowed down to the
point of a crawl.
I ran to the other end and encouraged her, which lit up
her little doggie eyes. She flew down the DW ramp and into the next tunnel.
The crowd really went wild. Poor Crumpie. He has been
upstaged by his little sister. The best part is that she does not know that she
has done this. That is what I really love about her...she does not know that
she is a cute ball of fuzz.
If Sprout had hauled across the DW, we would have made
time for a Q. We were 1.24 second OVER time. Quite ok. She took a 3rd place
for one VERY AWESOME run!!!!!!
Crumpie
Geez, let me just stand in the middle of the course and
let the dog run on his own. This was Crumpie's fastest course.
For the opening, I basically stood next to the Frame and
sent him on to the tunnels and Tip. Once he completed the second Frame and
tunnel, I had to move to the other side of the course. While he was in a tunnel
I started to run past the DW, calling the obstacle as Crumpie came out of the
tunnel.
I cannot even LOOK at the DW anymore or he will jump the
yellow contact. Do not ask me how I figured this out, but it works. The sad
part is that as Crumpie went into the tunnel to complete the course, I had no
idea if he had Qed or not. Only the crowd in front of me could tell
me.......and the crowd went wild!
Guess he Qed. :)
((E confirmed that as I got to the top of the ramp were everyone was standing.))
Q, 2nd place
In conclusion, Crumpie Qed in everything, picking up his
first Novice "new games" wins and Sprout got up the Frame...twice.
The day was perfect. I had entered this trial as a
complete after thought and almost missed the entry deadline. I was not
expecting to Q in anything, only that my guys had a ton of fun while hauling
around the courses. I have not trained since that day when I set my weave poles
out in the yard (November???) and Sprout has only seen those since....then it
snowed and I have not seen the Poles sticking three feet out of the ground. :)
E and I are traveling out to a show next weekend. That
one will be AKC and I have Crumpet and Sprout entered. Just one day, but this
show is my favorite because of the vendors. The weekend after that it is a
weekend of USDAA for Crumpie only (Sprout would have to jump 12" and I do not
want her too.)
If my six month stint in the basement worked for my
Internet excitement, I have decided to go easy with the Agility stuff this
spring. I think that I am going to weed out a lot of the AKC stuff because I
get really annoyed when I run those courses. (Agility has become AKC's new
money maker...that and puppy mill litter/puppy registrations.) There is no
safety and challenge in mind when the board approves the course designs.
I think I actually found the "fun" in this again. No
longer do I have the feeling like I am only getting out of bed to let Crumpie
have his fun. I am getting out of bed for both of us.
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Last Updated on April 21, 2007
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