The trial was held on a school ground. There was a large sandy area that had playground equipment - monkey bars, swingsets, etc. Then there was a large grassy area that was used as a soccer field, although part of that grass field would be the outfield when baseball was being played.
Many people attending this trial must be from out of town as there were at least 20 RV's there. Of course there were no hook-ups but the parking was extremely convenient to the rings. There was no charge for RV parking which was nice. I always find it odd that some trials charge for RV parking when there are no hook-ups and you're just in the middle of a field or parking lot.
It was cold in the mornings and 70 degrees in the afternoon. Wazzu thought mornings were great, while I enjoyed the afternoons....a little something for both of us.
Saturday morning, the first run was Touch N Go. The ground didn't seem wet at all - just a little cool on puppy feet. This made Wazzu very perky. They were running small to tall and I wanted to make sure Wazzu got warmed up well due to her bad back so we were walking around the field as the dogs were running.
I have never, in all my years of agility, seen so many dogs fall of the dog walk. Interestingly, they weren't falling off the ramps, they were falling off the top plank. I thought this was very odd. Wazzu managed okay but on the way out she just missed the contact. Darn, she did everything so fast and happy (2nd best time of all dogs). Sparkie then started and was doing well when very suddenly she went flying off the dogwalk. Sparkie has never fallen off a dogwalk and neither had a number of other really experienced dogs that were there. It's one thing when Novice dogs fall off a piece of equipment, but when it's Elite dogs falling off I tend to think there is something wrong with the equipment.
After the Elite class finished, we went over to look at the dogwalk. The ramps were textured nicely but the top ramp had virtually no texture. What you could see were a lot of scratches on the middle of the top plank where the dogs were doing all they could to hang on. This struck me as odd as I'd never seen scratches like this on the top plank of the dogwalk. These were fairly deep scratches.
I asked around to see who the equipment manager was. After I found out who to talk with, I went over and very politely voiced my concerns about the dogwalk. This guy got super defensive and was very rude to me. What I did learn was that this was a brand new dogwalk and this was the first time it was ever used. If so, then the scratches on the top were all from just the Elite class first thing this morning. I didn't talk to the judge for this trial as there were other high ranking judges there. A number of us saw the problem with the dogwalk so one of the competing judges made sure that the courses were set so that the approaches were straight on to help avoid the problem of dogs falling off.
My point was that I wasn't worried about the dogwalk for my particular dog (as we're slower and thus it wouldn't be as much of a problem for us) but that I was worried about ANY dog getting hurt. The club didn't seemed concerned at all. I've been doing agility for eight years and never once have I complained about a piece of equipment (not even the a-frame that bowed about two feet). But this truly was not safe. The club had another dogwalk in the equipment trailer but didn't switch it out. I was very disappointed in their lack of concern about their equipment. Just because something is new doesn't make it safe. There weren't any problems the rest of the weekend once the entries were straight on. I sure wish rubber would become a reqirement!
The courses the judge chose to bring this weekend were great courses. They were very challenging but extremely fun at the same time. We tend to see some courses over and over. But I've never seen these courses before. I sure hope we get to see this group of courses again - and it's not because I did well on them (Wazzu and I only got four Q's this weekend) - but the courses were some of the best we've ever seen.
Originally, the trial was scheduled to be two rings with two judges. But about two weeks prior to the trial, the entries were low so they cancelled one judge. Then one week prior to the trial they received a lot of entries but decided to stay with one judge. They still utilized two rings by having one being set while the other ring was running. This saved a little bit of time but not that much. By Saturday afternoon we were really having to push things along so we could finish before dark. We finished just in the nick of time.
They had electronic timing which should have helped things move right along. But they were very lax about people getting to the line. I'd say there was at least a minute between most dogs - especially in Open and Novice.
This was a fairly bare bones trial. There was no check-in other than a list of names left out on a table. You could check there to see if your name was on the list if you wanted. The trial was Oct 27-28 and I got a confirmation in August and never heard another word. We just went hoping the trial was still on. There were no check in gifts or gifts for Q's, etc. Ribbons were all flats. If you worked two classes you got a ticket for lunch from a small food cart. The first day we were only scheduled for one class each so we didn't get to eat - even though we stepped in to help and did work two classes. Sunday we were scheduled for two classes so we did get lunch tickets. The lunch was actually very good. You got a sandwich, chips, cookies, and a coke.
This club still uses the old fashioned scribe sheets. They even go to the extra expense of having NCR sheets (meaning there is a duplicate) so as soon as you come off the course you can pick up your copy and immediately see how you did. While it is a very nice idea, most people didn't pick them up. I'm not really sure it is worth all the extra money it must cost the club.
It seemed like scores were posted within 30 seconds of a class being finished. They were extremely efficient. But they put the scores out in notebooks - my pet peeve. It wasn't as bad as most trials that do that though as it was a one ring trial and they put the scores in three separate notebooks.
It isn't very common that we see Pits competing. But this trial was fun as there were at least six or seven. They all did extremely well. There was one that looked exactly like Slugger although it had a little more muscle. But he is much faster and more driven than Slugger. They were all so sweet, goofy and well-behaved.
Since Wazzu has been having back trouble we gave her some pain meds (Metacam) that her Valley Fever vet recommended. One vet suggested we give Wazzu Rimadyl for the pain. But on the VF list I'm on, I'd noticed over the last year that VF dogs that took Rimadyl had a lot of problems. So before giving that to Wazzu on a vet's suggestion, I contacted our VF specialist. She told me not to give Wazzu Rimadyl as it causes havoc to VF dogs. Whew, I'm so glad I checked and didn't just go with the regular vet's recommendation even though he tried really hard to convince us that it was a safe thing.
Wazzu seemed very happy and seemed to be moving better than she has for a couple weeks. It seemed to me as though the course times on Saturday were overly tight. I wasn't dragging Wazzu around at all. She was running ahead of me. Many times at trials I've had to look back at Wazzu the whole run and we've made time. This time I was seeing her tail (yippee!) yet on three runs on Saturday we were over time. I really had trouble beleiving this - but I didn't care all that much as Wazzu was happy - and that's what makes me happy. She wanted her turn! She was running! She was happy! She was doing the courses correctly! Now that's what it's all about for sure.
Wazzu and I had five runs on Saturday. While she did great (other than the weaves) we only ended up with one Q - but it was CHANCES, the last run of the day. She did a great switch out and away from me and then did a great out to three obstacles that were layered by two other obstacles. I was so proud of her. What she showed me today is that she can do it when she wants to! So on paper, 1/5 isn't good at all. But if you throw away the paper, Wazzu was great today.
Sparkie had a great day. After her fall off the dogwalk (fortunately she was okay!) she was perfect the rest of the day, coming in 1st place in every run. She even had great (and very friendly) competition with a team that came in 2nd at Champs. Mike was very pleased with 5/6 - who wouldn't be.
Slugger was entered in two runs Saturday. As luck (or un-luck in this case) would have it, both his runs came at the end of the day. This is normally his nap time so we didn't have very high hopes. While he wasn't head boppin' fast, he actually ran. For the very first time ever in his entire life, he missed a contact - that shows you that he was running fast. So he didn't get a Touch N Go Q today but he had a great run. Then he amazed us by getting a Chances Q! That was his Outstanding Novice Chances title. What a guy!
Wow, three Chances Q's for the Mason family in one day! That is probably a first...and most likely a last.
There were three border terriers competing today. All three are related to Boogie...two are half brothers. Here are Geordie and Jingles.
The gal that owns two of them knew Boogie from when he was a baby. Turns out that if the breeder has puppies but needs to go out of town, this gal babysits. When she saw Boogie today she thought he looked a little shaggy. So first she did his toenails for us. We've been trying to get Boogie used to the dremel but he said "nothing doing!" But she took no guff from him and held him down (he screamed a couple times - just because he didn't want to do this - he wasn't getting hurt). His toenails look the best they've ever looked since we got him.
Then she did a little bit of stripping on him. My goodness, when I do a little bit I get enough hair to make a ball the size of a ping pong ball. She did a little bit and got enough to make a wig big enough for most people! He does look a little smaller now - he should - it looks like a whole Boogie here on the counter. Hopefully that will help him not to be so hot on his hikes.
After the trial was done for the day, two of the borders (Geordie and Bezel) went out on the grass for some terrier play. I had just happened to take Boogie out to practice some "outs" when I noticed the border play. I took Boogie over and asked if he could join in. They said sure...and that was the end of any saneness!
It was a great time for Boogie. He got to play with dogs his size and dogs who play just like he does. They took turns chasing each other in huge circles....for a long time. I sure hope Boogie gets more opportunities like this as he got some great exercise and obviously had a great time.
Sunday morning it was again really cold. But it was easy to put up with since I knew it was going to warm up soon. It's not unusual to see a pretty sunset here or there. But it's pretty rare to see a beautiful sunrise - but that's exactly what we were treated to this morning.
We were a little worried how the dogs would do as the grass was really frosty but it didn't seem to bother the dogs or the people - the footing was actually very good.
They had courses set in both rings. One ring had Chances set up and the other ring was Jumpers. I noticed that the Chances course had a serpentine at quite a distance. The Jumpers course also had a serpentine so I decided that I would do the serpentine at a distance in the Jumpers course to get Wazzu used to that.
Wazzu loves frost on her toes. It always makes her very frisky so when we started the Jumpers course she left me in the dust, which of course is always fine by me. She was working at a huge distance and going exactly where she was supposed to go. Wazzu's favorite thing in all of agility is the serpentine so I knew we'd have no trouble doing it at a distance since she was going so fast. She started off great. She does a tighter line in a serpentine than we've seen any other dog do. When it was time for her to flip out to the final jump, something happened. I can't imagine what happened but for some reason she didn't flip out and we ran right into each other. It knocked me so off balance and turned me around that I got a bit disoriented. She did do the last jump in the serpentine just fine but I had to look around to see where I was and in that short nano-second, Wazzu took the off course tunnel - that MANY dogs took. Darn, she was doing so well. I continued on like the tunnel was the right obstacle so she had no idea we'd done anything wrong. She had a very big happy smile at the end of the run.
Sparkie took the same off course tunnel in the Jumpers run as did almost every dog. But she and Mike had a good time and finished the course being very happy.
In addition to the serpentine, the Chances course also had a very difficult discrimination. Wazzu had no trouble with the discrimation and things were going well until we got to the four jump serpentine. Each time Wazzu had to go out away from me she would stop and look at me like "you can't possibly want me to go all that way away from you all by myself." Each time I kept my arm out and insisted. And then each time she would turn and slowly trot away from me and do the jump. It wasn't pretty but we got another Chances Q. Way cool!
Poor Sparkie did the discrimination perfectly. But while she was in the tunnel, Mike was looking around to see where he should go as he'd forgotten to do the cross he had planned on doing. While he was busy looking around, Sparkie zoomed out of the tunnel and took the obvious obstacle....unfortunately it wasn't the correct obstacle. They continued on ad Sparkie did the prettiest serpentine of any dog. That was huge as Sparkie doesn't typically do well with serpentines. So even though it wasn't a Q, it was a great step forward for Sparkie.
The Tunnelers course was really fun and had one particularly difficult turn. Many dogs went off course there. But all three of our dogs did it perfectly. Slugger ran first and for his first time since being back from his surgery he was running so fast he was doing his super cute head bop. Sparkie had a bit of an odd turn but it kept her from going off course. I told Wazzu she was going to have to really run fast to beat Slugger! Sparkie was fastest, Wazzu was two seconds behind Sparkie, and little Slugger was only two seconds behind Wazzu. Very fun!
In Regular, Sparkie was superb getting two more 1st place Q's. One run had weaves at a distance which Wazzu didn't do. Once I crossed the line and helped her she did just fine but we had a five point fault for me crossing the line. She Q'd in her last Regular run even though she was exremely deliberate through the weaves. Slugger didn't get his turn until last run of the day. By then he was in nap mode and was pretty slow. But that's okay, he did very well overall this weekend.
It was a great weekend with nice courses, nice people, and nice weather.
We took off as soon as Slugger was done as we had quite a drive ahead of us. We prefer not to drive at night as Wazzu hates it! Plus it is difficult to pull into RV parks in the dark and get all hooked up. But the trial ended much later than we expected so we had no choice.
We made it to our destination just fine with only a little bit of stress getting situated in our spot. Let's just hope we make it through the night without any UFO's getting us.
Debbie
10/27-28/07
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