Yesterday was a LONG day. We started at 7:00am and Sparkie didn't get her last run until 9:30pm. We were still scheduled to do Touch N Go but because of the late hour they postponed that until this morning. That meant instead of starting at 7:00am as usual we started at 6:30 this morning.
Back to the Regular round two scoop. Earlier in the week people were trying the boxes but most people were having a rough time. So as time went on fewer people were trying the boxes. During the first Regular run some people tried the boxes but not as many as Sharon had hoped, I guess. And since distance is really what NADAC wants to focus on they weren't happy that more people weren't trying the box.
So, to encourage people to try the box it became more valuable. The box has always been worth five points. So in Championships, if you did the box then five seconds were taken off your time. For those of us that don't do distance well that really gave us a disadvantage. So to place (like Wazzu did in Round 1) without doing the distance means you were really cooking!
In Round 2 the box became bigger. Instead of completing a certain sequence of obstacles from within the box now each obstacle became independent. Each obstacle was worth one point if you were in the box. So you could come and go as you please. There were 18 obstacles that counted for "box" points. So now instead of someone getting five seconds deducted from their time they could get 18 points deducted from their time. As you can see, non-distance dogs really have no chance at all at a placement.
Wazzu was very excited and happy again for her run - a little too much so. The required distance challenge had a dogwalk very far away and then a turn toward you to a jump. Well Wazzu wanted to get back near me so she took off from the dogwalk early. Then in the next section she got so far ahead of me that I had to direct from way behind. She turned to look at me to see what to do but hadn't quite cleared the jump yet and knocked a bar. But she did the rest of course fantastically (is that a word?) Anyway, we had a great time!
We were worried about poor Sparkie having to run as it had been such a long day and it was so late. She hadn't had dinner so she was hungry and very cold - even though we had two coats on her and a blanket over that. But once Sparkie saw that she was going to do agility her spirits perked right up. Mike and Sparkie blasted through the course - even doing many of the obstacles from the box!! The only real time consumer they had was that Sparkie ran past the last tunnel so Mike had to call her back before she crossed the finish line and get her back into the tunnel. I'm guessing that cost them at least five or six seconds. But Mike was so happy with her. My jaw literally dropped a couple times during their run as Sparkie did some amazing things.
This morning they had the results posted. Somehow instead of the 15 faults I thought Wazzu and I had they have us down for 25 faults. I put in a question to get clarification but it doesn't really matter as I doubt we could get into the finals anyway....tee hee....like that would ever happen!!
Sparkie placed 7th!! Yippee! Sparkie ended up getting 7th place. Without the tunnel problem at the end she would have been much higher. But Mike is very pleased with 7th place. Sparkie ended up getting 11 bonus points. Everyone else above her had more bonus points than Sparkie so that shows you how fast Sparkie was really moving! It was a run to remember for years to come.
Interesting to note: Dogs that had 10 (and even more) course faults placed higher than dogs that ran clean due to the bonus points - 18 of them! Who can overcome someone that gets 18 seconds deducted from their time!
This morning we have run Touch N Go and Jumpers. I pulled Wazzu from Jumpers as it is just so many jumps - imagine that! Even though she has looked good I think she is getting tired. We did our Touch N Go run but it was our slowest run of the weekend. I don't know if it was because Wazzu is tired or because she was worried about me. My left leg has really tightened up and I can't take a full stride. Each step feels like I'm having to pull a truck behind it. So I just couldn't run well at all. Mike was going to run Wazzu for me but they only had us four dogs apart (we can't move)and there was no way Mike could have run Wazzu and get back around to be in line as they have six or seven dogs lined up inside the ring at a time.
Sparkie had a fantastic jumpers run. Even though she was trying to anticipate she was listening to Mike. So even though they had a couple wide turns they didn't have any off courses. It was a very pretty, very clean run. Sparkie had a great Touch N Go run too. She hit all her contacts perfectly and did probably the prettiest running A-Frame I have ever seen. Sparkie is just having the time of her life. And Mike is having a great time too. I'm so happy for the two of them.
More later......
Debbie
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