Kachina Kennel Club Agility Trial

It was raining during our drive to the University of Phoenix Stadium.  It drizzled on and off while we were setting up and unpacking our gear.  And then it stopped raining but stayed overcast, the skies threatening to dump rain on us.  Todays runs were "small to tall" so Cassi was the last dog to run Open FAST.  Since it was so damp out, I planned my course so that Cassi did jumps and weaves but skipped the teeter and the A-frame.  The send bonus was lined up perfectly coming out of the weaves, to go over a jump, into the far side of the tunnel, and back over the jump.  We did a couple of jumps on our way out, skipping the contact obstacles which I think everyone else had done, so the judge sounded a little surprised to say, "I guess that's it."  Cassi was listening to me and did her weaves awesome.  She hesitated at the tunnel but she did it.  That finished her Open FAST title!  She had a first place (as the only dog at her height.)

I was glad that I didn't enter Teka in Open FAST, as it was extremely unlikely she would have taken the distance tunnel, although it would have been nice to run her in the morning.  We had to wait for quite a while for the rest of my runs, and Teka's were last.  During our long break, I volunteered to be a pole setter for Novice FAST, and then we went inside the stadium to do a quick shopping trip at the Pet Club (a little cheaper at the show than buying at the store.)  We also got a few freebies from Petsmart, and got a hot dog.  (for breakfast?  It was still pretty early...)

After a long wait, we started having ring conflicts.  I walked Cassi's Open Standard Course, but before she could run, I had to walk Cassi's Excellent Jumpers course.  The Standard course started with a tire jump, which I thought could work to my advantage since she has been pausing at the tire, which in the course could be a refusal, but at the beginning, her time doesn't start until she goes through.  And she didn't pause at all!  We went on to the dog walk, taking a right turn to a jump and then curved tunnel, entering the end closest to me.  She came out the other end, over the A-frame, into the chute, out to a jump (and we got some distance there!) and a sharp left turn over another jump leading to another jump, U-turning to the next jump, and a slight left turn to a table.  Then we had a U-shaped sequence: double jump, panel jump, teeter.  She did fine on the teeter, and we moved on to the next jump, then U-turned into the weaves and she got her entry and finished them.  We ended with a tunnel.  She had no faults and was under time.  She did almost leave the ring between the double jump and the panel jump, but she came back quickly.  This finished her Open Standard title!  AND she got first place because 2 or 3 dogs got NQs and the one that did get a Q got 2nd place.  She is now in ALL Excellent level courses.  (Downside: LOTS of dogs enter in Excellent relative to Novice and Standard, but they do separate the course walk through and running into 3 groups of small, medium, tall.)

After a short break, we ran the Excellent Jumpers with Weaves course.  We started with a 2 jump lead out, with me on her right, and she did 4 jumps and then a sharp right turn into the weaves.  She got her entry but popped out at the 10th pole.  I heard later that an agility person was walking by with a stroller, but Cassi should have finished anyway.  I had her re-do the weaves and she finished them.  I later found out that she had a non-qualifying run (NQ) as soon as she popped out of the weaves--no mistakes in Excellent!  Out of the weaves, a slight right turn to a jump far away, which she did fine with the distance, then a sharp right over the next jump, leading to another that lead to a jump that she had to turn right over, then left into the curved tunnel.  Coming out of the tunnel, she went over 8 more jumps that included a couple of switches and ended with a triple jump.  She rocked the course except for the mistake on the weaves.

The sun came out for Teka's runs!  Teka's Novice Standard course was similar to Cassi's.  She did awesome, even on the distance at the chute to the next jump, which is where the similarities ended.  That led to the teeter, then the table.  Coming off the table, there were 6 weaves to a panel jump, U-turn to a jump leading to the broad jump, into the tunnel, coming out to a finish jump.  She did everything exactly as I asked, with enthusiasm, and had a clean run.  She finished her Novice Standard title!  AND she got 1st place--a great accomplishment for the size group she was running with, in my opinion.  Now she is in Open level for all of her courses.

I had to walk Teka's Jumpers course once before taking her into her Standard run, and a half time after we were done with her Standard run.  Fortunately, it was the same as Cassi's course until the third jump after the tunnel.  The rest of the jumps were a little more of a round course with a switch to the last (double) jump.  She did some slow weaves but she did all 12 of them.  Other than the weaves, she was enthusiastic and happy and she had another clean run.  This was her first qualifying score in Open.  She got 4th place--not bad with those slow weaves.

Although I had some intermittent pain throughout the day, it was worth it.  With four Q's, 3 of which finished titles, it was a very successful day.  (Cassi may have been "promised" a bird to get that goofy look; Teka was less pleased with this part of the day.)