The Invitational ended yesterday and we are on our way back to Pennsylvania. Although it didn't go as well as I had hoped—no clean runs among the four that counted—we still had a good time at the event and having adventures with friends! We also learned a lot from our mistakes and from our first experience at a 'big' trial. We'll be able to apply the learning to future trials, both big and small.
One thing we learned is that agility on mats and a good performance by Mr Darcy don't really mix. The AKC decided to use rubber mats for the surface at this year's Invitational. That's a disappointing decision, especially for the bigger faster dogs. You could see a lot of them slipping. Although Darcy wasn't the fastest dog at the trial, for his size (big) he was one of the fastest there. And somehow that and the way he runs and turns combined to make the conditions pretty hazardous for him. He slipped and fell several times. In our last run of the weekend, I'm pretty sure he opted not to make the sharp turn I asked of him, and in order to avoid yet another slip he went straight instead and went off course. I'm pretty sure the mats played a direct role in two of our faults. The fact that we only had one fault per run tells me a lot about his willingness and skill. I'm going to try to find out if mats will be used at the next Invitational, and if they are we won't be trying to qualify.
Another thing we learned is that trials with only a couple of runs combined with long hours in the crate and not much activity after hours either, are not a good mix for Darcy. He needs more stimulation. We'll have to figure out how to get him that without tiring him out so much that he's not competitive.
We also learned something about the Invitational itself. Because of how you have to qualify for it—a year of competition after which the top five teams from each breed are invited—we had figured that the level of competition would be good but not great. We thought there would be more teams that qualified because they were steady, not because they were necessarily fast. We were wrong about that. There were certainly a number of steady teams there, but there were a LOT of really fast, good, and exciting teams there! If we qualify and return to the Invitational, we might have a chance to make the finals (the top 10% of the teams make it), but even having four clean runs does not make it anything like a given. Also, many of the teams had been to the Invitational a number of times before. I think only one first-timer made the finals. Experience is key.
In any case, it was a great experience! The year of intense trialling turned us into a real team. I don't think there is any one other thing you can do to get that result quite as well. And the days at the Invitational were really fun! Hanging with friends was great, and watching the finals on Sunday night was exciting! The small dog teams were especially awesome and competitive! It was also cool to see a wide variety of dogs doing really well, some breeds we would never expect, and even some breeds we had never seen.
Finally, it was a grueling year of work to qualify, especially since I had made it a goal to qualify as the first PWD team. If we try to qualify again, it won't be a casual choice and I won't try to qualify first.
Below are links for the videos of our last two Invitational runs.
JWW Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nGl9Ucu3mM
Hybrid Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DER8UTT3eEQ
Monday, December 16, 2013
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Disappointing First Day
In our first run of the day, I spoiled it by dropping a bar myself! I got a little too close to a jump and hit the standard (which may have been taller than I'm used to) with my hand, causing the bar to drop. Otherwise it was a nice run.
Then another bar dropped in our second run today, but this time it was Mr D at fault, not me. I think he was full of energy from being cooped up all day, so he came out jumping big and early (something I thought I had schooled out of him these past few months). It caught up with him at the triple.
Video of Standard run: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf4hXHuaxzM
Video of Jumpers run: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaqhU2ILmLg
Then another bar dropped in our second run today, but this time it was Mr D at fault, not me. I think he was full of energy from being cooped up all day, so he came out jumping big and early (something I thought I had schooled out of him these past few months). It caught up with him at the triple.
Mr D is apparently different from other dogs. Other people come home from a day like that and say their dogs are tired and just want to rest and sleep. When we got back to the hotel, Darcy raced up and down the hotel hall for a while, then dragged us around outside for a while, then wrestled with me in the room for a while. And then wanted to do more. He is six years old and still very high energy. I'll have to try to figure out how to keep him busier on this sort of day, without tiring him out too much to run. It's a delicate balance.
So overall a disappointing day. But as always we learned things and will keep trying to get better. Plus we ended it nicely, with a really fun dinner out with friends at Joe's Crab Shack.
Video of Jumpers run: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaqhU2ILmLg
Friday, December 13, 2013
Time To Beat
'Time To Beat' (T2B) is one of the kinds of runs you can do in AKC agility. At the Invitational, T2B doesn't count for anything. It's more or less just a warm-up run, which happened today. Darcy had a long day in the crate—8:30am to about 4:30pm, with a few short walks. So when he hits the course he is on fire with pent-up energy. You can see when he comes out of the opening tunnel he is really going fast! Then he takes the first jump and has to make a sharp turn and you can see him realize what kind of surface he is on. After that he runs more controlled for a clean run and a Q!
You can see our run here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uxfd07a10Ko
Also, if you want to see live video of the event, go to live.eukanuba.com.
More tomorrow!
You can see our run here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uxfd07a10Ko
Also, if you want to see live video of the event, go to live.eukanuba.com.
More tomorrow!
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Orlando!
It's been a few months since I posted anything. Sorry about that! But now we are in Orlando and the real event—the National Invitational—starts on Saturday! So I'll be posting regularly for the next few days.
We made it to Orlando! It was a grueling, though uneventful, day in the car: 4am to 8:30pm, which included various stops and only a 10 minute delay in DC. Nice weather change from teens in Berwyn to 80 in Orlando. Today we are mostly relaxing. We do have some practice time at a local agility venue this morning. Tomorrow we'll be checking the place out some more, and then we have one run that doesn't count for anything. The actual competition starts on Saturday!
Also, as some of you know, we have been struggling the last month or so with some lameness in Mr D. It's not clear whether it's muscle soreness in his shoulder or a sore wrist. In any case he seems to be sound now (has appeared to be so for weeks, but you never know), but we are definitely keeping a careful/paranoid eye on that!
We made it to Orlando! It was a grueling, though uneventful, day in the car: 4am to 8:30pm, which included various stops and only a 10 minute delay in DC. Nice weather change from teens in Berwyn to 80 in Orlando. Today we are mostly relaxing. We do have some practice time at a local agility venue this morning. Tomorrow we'll be checking the place out some more, and then we have one run that doesn't count for anything. The actual competition starts on Saturday!
Also, as some of you know, we have been struggling the last month or so with some lameness in Mr D. It's not clear whether it's muscle soreness in his shoulder or a sore wrist. In any case he seems to be sound now (has appeared to be so for weeks, but you never know), but we are definitely keeping a careful/paranoid eye on that!
Monday, July 1, 2013
Whew!
The qualifying period is over! Yay! We finished things up nicely, too. Now we can relax. We are heading up to State College this weekend for a trial, but really we are going just to visit our son, Lee. The trial is just for fun. Of course, it does count for next year's Invitational... :-)
This past weekend, we had a fabulous, fun, hot & humid, three days of agility at the BCKC trial in Palmyra! We closed out the Invitational qualifying period almost perfectly--we dropped one bar in our first run of the weekend, and then were fast and perfect for the rest. Now we just have to wait and see whether we qualify first or second!
Below is a link to a video of our JWW run on Friday. This was a really fun course and we got to do it twice! The first time through, when we finished the timer said we had done it in 14.44 seconds! Obviously, it had malfunctioned. So we ran it a second time a few minutes later. (Our actual time was about 29 seconds.)
What made this course fun and challenging was that you really had to move. There were a couple of spots where you were in trouble if you didn't beat your dog down the line.
Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In7VCRxJyDU
As I said above, Darcy was fast this weekend. I have always considered him to be heat sensitive. But I've found if I really soak him (with a hose or by letting him swim) right before we go in for our run, he does just fine.
My next posting will probably come after the AKC posts the final results for the Invitational qualifying.
Rob
This past weekend, we had a fabulous, fun, hot & humid, three days of agility at the BCKC trial in Palmyra! We closed out the Invitational qualifying period almost perfectly--we dropped one bar in our first run of the weekend, and then were fast and perfect for the rest. Now we just have to wait and see whether we qualify first or second!
Below is a link to a video of our JWW run on Friday. This was a really fun course and we got to do it twice! The first time through, when we finished the timer said we had done it in 14.44 seconds! Obviously, it had malfunctioned. So we ran it a second time a few minutes later. (Our actual time was about 29 seconds.)
What made this course fun and challenging was that you really had to move. There were a couple of spots where you were in trouble if you didn't beat your dog down the line.
Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In7VCRxJyDU
As I said above, Darcy was fast this weekend. I have always considered him to be heat sensitive. But I've found if I really soak him (with a hose or by letting him swim) right before we go in for our run, he does just fine.
My next posting will probably come after the AKC posts the final results for the Invitational qualifying.
Rob
Monday, June 24, 2013
Video of yesterday's NQ
Here is a link to the video of one of yesterday's runs in Cato. You can take a look for yourself and see if you can tell why the bar came down. It's the first jump (the panel) after the A frame.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4eQssk2XiI
Other than a wide turn and a bit of a sloppy dog walk (the never-ending bane of our agility existence), I think it was quite a nice run. Well, there was that dropped panel jump...
Rob
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4eQssk2XiI
Other than a wide turn and a bit of a sloppy dog walk (the never-ending bane of our agility existence), I think it was quite a nice run. Well, there was that dropped panel jump...
Rob
Penultimate Trial
We had a good weekend up in Cato, NY! It was a four-day trial (Thursday through Sunday), but we were there for just the last two days. The site is nice--a farm about a half-hour west of Syracuse. But the weather, whew, was it ever hot and humid! Highs around 90 both days. I don't know what the humidity was, but it was very high, too. The trial was outside, and the dogs and Paula and I spent two days hanging out in the fug. Mr. D. did well, though. I kept him cool with water that I sprayed him with and by letting him swim in the pond. Saturday we had a double Q, but Sunday we had one bar down to spoil our run in Standard.
Since I bought a triple jump a few weeks ago and have worked with Darcy most days on it, his jumping has really improved! The bar that came down yesterday was not related to his old problem of taking off too early. I'm not quite sure what happened here. He knocked a panel jump (we don't see many of those in practice), set 90 degrees and very close to the A frame. I think he just took off a little too close to the jump. Anyway, we'll work on that for a bit after class tonight.
Missing that one Q on the weekend almost definitely takes away any chance we had to finish first in the Invitational qualifying. Although I've said that doesn't really matter (we just have to finish in the top five, which we definitely will), it does matter on a personal level. I had really hoped we would place first and that hope is now gone. Oh, well.
It probably seems like I'm a bit obsessed with qualifying for the Invitational, and with the sport of dog agility in general. It's true, I am obsessed. But when you spend two or three years focusing on a particular goal, you do become pretty obsessed. Otherwise, why would you be doing it!?
We have only one more trial, now, in the qualifying period. This coming weekend we'll be up in Palmyra, PA, Friday through Sunday. Then we can take a deep breath and relax for a while. :-)
Rob
Since I bought a triple jump a few weeks ago and have worked with Darcy most days on it, his jumping has really improved! The bar that came down yesterday was not related to his old problem of taking off too early. I'm not quite sure what happened here. He knocked a panel jump (we don't see many of those in practice), set 90 degrees and very close to the A frame. I think he just took off a little too close to the jump. Anyway, we'll work on that for a bit after class tonight.
Missing that one Q on the weekend almost definitely takes away any chance we had to finish first in the Invitational qualifying. Although I've said that doesn't really matter (we just have to finish in the top five, which we definitely will), it does matter on a personal level. I had really hoped we would place first and that hope is now gone. Oh, well.
It probably seems like I'm a bit obsessed with qualifying for the Invitational, and with the sport of dog agility in general. It's true, I am obsessed. But when you spend two or three years focusing on a particular goal, you do become pretty obsessed. Otherwise, why would you be doing it!?
We have only one more trial, now, in the qualifying period. This coming weekend we'll be up in Palmyra, PA, Friday through Sunday. Then we can take a deep breath and relax for a while. :-)
Rob
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