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
Monday, June 24, 2013
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
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Back in First Place!
Much to my surprise, we looked at the latest data (up-to-date as of May 30) and found we are back in first place, by 49 points! However, after May 30, we missed four trial days and our competition presumably did not. So more than likely we will fall back to second place. This does give us a sliver of hope, though--we could still finish in first. We have five trial days left--two this weekend in Cato, NY, and three the following weekend in Palmyra, PA. Should be fun!
We got back to trialling again last weekend, practically for the first time in nearly three weeks. Even with that extended break, we did very well. In our first run of the weekend, Darcy made one minor mistake, missing one weave pole. (On the video he appears to be a little discombobulated and is running through the poles a little differently than he usually does, two-footing it instead of single-footing. Maybe this was due to slippery grass? Who knows.) After that we had great runs the rest of the weekend, including matching our highest scoring day ever on Sunday: 26 points in Standard and 13 points in Jumpers With Weaves. So we ended the weekend very pleased. And now with this latest news about being in first place again at the end of May, we are extra happy!
Rob
We got back to trialling again last weekend, practically for the first time in nearly three weeks. Even with that extended break, we did very well. In our first run of the weekend, Darcy made one minor mistake, missing one weave pole. (On the video he appears to be a little discombobulated and is running through the poles a little differently than he usually does, two-footing it instead of single-footing. Maybe this was due to slippery grass? Who knows.) After that we had great runs the rest of the weekend, including matching our highest scoring day ever on Sunday: 26 points in Standard and 13 points in Jumpers With Weaves. So we ended the weekend very pleased. And now with this latest news about being in first place again at the end of May, we are extra happy!
Rob
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Bad News
We've had a string of bad news in our Quest. Every trial day is critical now, as we finish up the qualifying period for the Invitational. (The qualifying period ends on June 30.) But we keep losing days.
First, we had to limit our three-day trial last weekend to one day, due to having to travel out to the West Coast for my mother's memorial service. We did manage a double Q on Friday, before traveling on Saturday. (On the upside, the memorial service was really nice, and I got to see a lot of old friends and celebrate my mother's life.)
Second, we found out yesterday that we fell a few points out of first place in the Invitational qualifying.
Third, the two days we were supposed to trial this coming weekend just got canceled due to torrential rains we are supposed to be getting this weekend.
Don't they say bad news comes in threes? So maybe we're done with that stuff.
Our chances of recovering first place are now next to nil. Our June trial days have now fallen from 11 to just 7. Oh, well. It's highly doubtful that we'll fall out of second place, and certainly not out of the top five. Being in the top five is all that matters. But I was sort of hoping we'd be able to finish the qualifying period in first place. Those consistency problems we've had all year are now coming back to haunt us...
Rob
First, we had to limit our three-day trial last weekend to one day, due to having to travel out to the West Coast for my mother's memorial service. We did manage a double Q on Friday, before traveling on Saturday. (On the upside, the memorial service was really nice, and I got to see a lot of old friends and celebrate my mother's life.)
Second, we found out yesterday that we fell a few points out of first place in the Invitational qualifying.
Third, the two days we were supposed to trial this coming weekend just got canceled due to torrential rains we are supposed to be getting this weekend.
Don't they say bad news comes in threes? So maybe we're done with that stuff.
Our chances of recovering first place are now next to nil. Our June trial days have now fallen from 11 to just 7. Oh, well. It's highly doubtful that we'll fall out of second place, and certainly not out of the top five. Being in the top five is all that matters. But I was sort of hoping we'd be able to finish the qualifying period in first place. Those consistency problems we've had all year are now coming back to haunt us...
Rob
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