Actually I don’t recall seeing any stars. But the only time I was outside in the dark I was so busy trying to see where I was walking that I didn’t have a chance to look up in the sky. But agility stars I did see!
This weekend was Sluggers first time in Elite. Did you ever think you’d see the day when Slugger would be in Elite?! We sure didn’t. But the little guy earned it by getting both his Novice and Open Superior titles in Tunnelers.
He ran once each day this weekend and did he ever show us. On Saturday he ran the perfect course and had plenty of time to spare. Yup, that’s right, he got an Elite Q and 1st place. On Sunday he once again ran very well but missed time by .30 seconds. There was one tunnel that led to the crowd and the next tunnel was a 180 degree turn back. Well it wouldn’t be polite not to stop and look at the crowd – after all they were all looking at him. And just maybe some of them were wanting to come pet him. He’s doing better ignoring the crowd but this was just way too tempting.
Sparkie ran like a true star all weekend. Just a couple minor things here and there kept her from a perfect weekend. But she really did run pretty every run. She had a number of 1st’s and even came super duper close to getting their first Weavers box! Actually they did all the obstacles with Mike in the box but Sparkie skipped one pole on the last set of weaves. She ended the weekend 9/12. And of course she was the talk of the weekend. But what else is new for our cute little Sparkie.
Wazzu was a bit conflicted this weekend. She actually felt really good but could tell I wasn’t doing well. I didn’t run very many runs with her but on most of the ones I did with her she went slowly as she was so concerned. And for the first time, even on the runs I did with her I didn’t even walk the course. I just glanced at it on paper a time or two and then off we went. She ran very well with Mike and Q’d in every run they did together. With me she missed time as she was just too worried. What a loyal girl I have. So she ended up 8/12. Guess I should have let Mike run her in all the runs and she’d have been perfect. Of course, I think she is perfect anyway.
The trial was held at Teamworks Training Center in Youngsville, NC and was a totally perfect site for an agility trial. They had two rings set up for the trial. Both were totally fenced and were very safe for beginner dogs as there was even a gate at the entrance to the run and the exit. We didn’t run at night so the lights weren’t on but the rings were lighted for night time use. There were a couple very large enclosed potty areas and separate large enclosed practice/warm up areas. In addition, there were a lot of flat crating areas.
They had a large covered area for lunch and raffle items as well as for posting the scores. And they had an indoor area for the computer scoring area. They had different bins full of various toys for 1st – 4th place. So depending on your placement you could choose toys/treats/supplies from the appropriate bin. Slugger leaned that very quickly and would sit in front of the bins and do a sweet little bark. A number of people seemed to think that was very cute. I’m sure it was! Lunch was provided to all workers that worked two or more classes a day. Oh, and there was lots of parking for both cars and RV’s right there in the agility area. In fact, we parked parallel right next to one of the rings. Talk about convenient! And right on site were some woods with trails and a little spot Slugger could play in the water. I think if you were to design the ideal outdoor agility site this would probably be it. And to top it off the weather was great. Cool enough for the dogs (even for Wazzu) and warm enough for the people (even for me.)
We met a lot of very nice people. In fact, Sarah Fix even invited us to her RV for a wonderful dinner with about eight or ten other folks on Saturday evening. It was very nice of her to think of us and we truly enjoyed both the food and the wonderful folks we met. I’m not sure what she thought of me taking up all her floor space though!
Time to watch some football.
Debbie
11/18-19/06
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