Well, I just got back from my second AAC AB/NWT Regional championships. I was competing with both Hope and Talon. Ash is still just a bit too young but can't wait to play with him next year. Talon tried very hard and did some great things. Considering this was only his fifth agility trial and he is just over 2 years old, he was quite good. Didn't end up with very many points but he made huge progress and I was just thrilled with him.
Hope was amazing. After a rocky start on Friday in the steeplechase, I wasn't sure if she could even run in regionals. During the second steeplechase run, Hope knocked a bar and came up lame in her right hind leg. A quick trip to the chiropractor and some rest and ice that night and all seemed okay Saturday morning. In individual classes, Hope came in 4th in Jumpers 1 and 5th in Standard 1. Her first gamblers run was a bit of a disaster (first run of the day). Day 2 started out a little rough, with an off-course and refusal in jumpers and an off-course in standard. We ended the day with an amazing gamblers run, earning 81 points plus time bonuses, and another 4th place certificate. Overall, Hope ended up in 8th place in the 16" specials class!! So proud of my girl!! Now it is off to the AAC nationals in August :).
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Monday, June 21, 2010
AAC Regionals
Well, Hope and I competed in our first ever AAC agility regional championships this weekend in Sherwood Park AB. Started out with Steeplechase on Friday. Hope had some issues with the weave poles in the first run and ended up being over time. Second run went much better. Started the regionals on Saturday morning with a clean run on a fairly tough standard course. Second run was gamblers, with a really tough gamble. The gamble started with a pinwheel away from the handler to a layered set of 6 weaves (there were 2 sets of 6 weave poles and you were supposed to send to the outer set). Well, we didn't get the main gamble but she did get a 14 point mini gamble that was also very tricky (U-shaped tunnel around the dogwalk, had to take either a tunnel and then wrap tight up the dogwalk or take the dogwalk and then the tunnel. She unfortunately missed out on a bunch of points due to some shifty-looking (to her, anyway) people by the back fence. Third run was jumpers and she did a good job on another tough course. Had a couple of refusals and some time faults but overall a pretty good day.
Second day started out with gamblers and we would have gotten a lot more points if I didn't step over the line on the mini gamble. Didn't get the main gamble again, but more from handler error than dog error (as usual). Second run was a nice, twisty-turny jumpers course and another clean run! She needed about 50 points in her last standard run Sunday to qualify. Tough course, involving a straight tunnel and then a 90-degree turn into 12 weaves (Hope's current nemesis). She ended up with one refusal (for some reason she elected to not take a jump right in front of her) but did get the trickiest parts of the course. So overall we ended up with nearly 400 points in our first ever regionals. Considering this was about our 8th agility trial in our career, I am thrilled!
Second day started out with gamblers and we would have gotten a lot more points if I didn't step over the line on the mini gamble. Didn't get the main gamble again, but more from handler error than dog error (as usual). Second run was a nice, twisty-turny jumpers course and another clean run! She needed about 50 points in her last standard run Sunday to qualify. Tough course, involving a straight tunnel and then a 90-degree turn into 12 weaves (Hope's current nemesis). She ended up with one refusal (for some reason she elected to not take a jump right in front of her) but did get the trickiest parts of the course. So overall we ended up with nearly 400 points in our first ever regionals. Considering this was about our 8th agility trial in our career, I am thrilled!
Friday, May 21, 2010
Herding clinic this weekend!
I am so excited for this weekend. I am taking the dogs to a herding clinic with the Viklund's. It will be Talon's first experience with sheep and I can't wait to see what he does. Although camping in a tent with 4 aussies could be a little interesting :).
Ash is growing like a week and really settling in well. Tonight, he discovered the joy of the toilet paper roll! Left me with a nice mess to clean up. He is getting very good at walking on the leash (in fact better than some of the older dogs sometimes) and is learning not to jump on people. He knows sit and come and is well on his way to learning down and "shake a paw." Wait/stay is still quite a work in progress. I am very pleased with his attitude and interaction with "strangers." Haven't had a lot of time to work on foundation agility training yet but will start this week.
Ash is growing like a week and really settling in well. Tonight, he discovered the joy of the toilet paper roll! Left me with a nice mess to clean up. He is getting very good at walking on the leash (in fact better than some of the older dogs sometimes) and is learning not to jump on people. He knows sit and come and is well on his way to learning down and "shake a paw." Wait/stay is still quite a work in progress. I am very pleased with his attitude and interaction with "strangers." Haven't had a lot of time to work on foundation agility training yet but will start this week.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
New beginnings
I am very excited to announce that I will be getting another puppy from Hope's wonderful breeder Cathy Bishop (Caitland). So I figured along with the new puppy I would try out this blogging thing :). Stay tuned for updates on the gang here (Bear, Hope, Talon, and the as yet un-named new guy).
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