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
No comments:
Post a Comment