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DRAFT TODAY, POST TOMORROW: Some posts may be in draft status until I (aka procrastinator extraordinaire) get around to posting them.



Saturday, March 5, 2011

Fiesta Cluster AKC Agility Trial

We drove across town (after a detour off the 101) to Westworld, where we encountered a stream of idiots who work there.  First was the guy who took our money but couldn't tell us how to get to the agility unloading zone--so he sent us straight ahead into the main (east) parking.  Then the guy at main parking who obviously had never heard the words "agility" or "unloading zone."  Then the guy near the RV parking who was just a jerk--since he did not know what we were asking, he was rude.  So we parked in the vendor/dog show unloading zone, walked across the whole dog show to the agility area, and found the agility unloading zone.  I asked the guy monitoring the area how we could get there and had the most annoying, circular conversation of  the day.  We found out that we should not have entered the main parking but gone down the street to the west entrance, which can really only be accessed by exiting the 101 from the south (rather than the north as we arrived).  We pulled the truck around and unloaded; M took the truck back to the main parking.

Cassi ran first in Open Standard.  She was doing pretty well until I sent her into the other end of a tunnel she had already gone through.  I'm not sure why she hesitated, but I wasn't expecting it and she pulled her out, getting a refusal.  We continued on, and she did a really great A-frame.  Coming off the table, she went over a jump and then slid and face-planted on the grass when she had to turn back towards me.  She did a good teeter.  Then she paused in front of the tire (like she does), looked at me and moved to the side, getting another refusal.  We finished well enough, but she did not get a Q (qualifying run).

My walk-throughs for Cassi's Excellent Jumpers with Weaves course and Teka's Novice Standard course were at the same time and I got very nervous about my impending conflict.  I was getting hot by then too, not helped by running between two rings and trying to figure out which dog would go first.  I'm not sure if it was my stress or the heat or if she just wasn't feeling well, but Cassi did not act like she wanted to go.  On the course, she did what I asked, but she was slow and got a refusal, so she got a NQ (non-qualifying run).

Then I ran over to the other ring to run Teka.  She did everything I asked, without being too slow, except for the (6 pole) weaves.  I almost took her off course when I got confused after the tire jump, thinking I needed to go to the teeter but still had a jump first.  She recovered and finished strong.  And got a Q--third place.

We had a break for a while and then everything was total chaos.  The ring where Teka was going to run Open Jumpers with Weaves was running behind, so she was about to run when the Open FAST course was ready for walk-through.  FAST is the hardest walk-through for me too.  I ran to get Teka into her course, where she had a great lead out--I was standing with 2 jumps between us and she jumped them both when I released her from her stay.  She had a little trouble with the weaves, so even with our strong finish, she didn't finish in time to get a Q.

I was able to walk the FAST course for another minute, and then all of a sudden it was Cassi's turn and I wasn't ready.  I ran to get her, and warned M that Teka was only a few dogs away.  Well, maybe I shouldn't have done that, because he missed Cassi's run.  She did the weaves just fine.  I thought the best way to go for flow would take her to the tire jump, and since there aren't refusals in FAST, I went for it.  I think the judge was kind of amused by Cassi's pause and jump.  She got her bonus, finished strong, and got a Q--second place.

Then I had some time with Teka, so I tried to keep her happy.  I thought we were doing well, until we got on course.  She just didn't want to do anything (except the teeter which she did just fine).  I was trying to send her over the jump in the bonus, but she pulled off the first time.  So I took her around to another obstacle, trying to get some momentum, and she still wouldn't do it.  And I tried a third time and she wouldn't do it.  We left the ring--defeated.  I mean, with a NQ.  That was a pretty frustrating run to end the day.

After some shopping, we brought the truck back over to the agility unloading zone and M sent me to get my final scores.  And then I waited.  And waited.  And asked about them--they weren't ready.  And waited.  M had to go back to the east parking since it was more than 10 minutes (unloading zone limit).  He came back and reported that they tried to charge him for parking again.  Power hungry idiots.  I finally got my scores and ribbons and we left.  A long, hot, frustrating day for such a fun sport.

2 comments:

  1. But look how cute ya'll look with your ribbons and sweaty-ness.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Did you see that Teka is sticking her tongue out at you?

    ReplyDelete