Well, that was super nice. Longview USDAA
I’ve never trialed at Longview before, but now I can totally see why the club likes to keep that date. I hope more people get the clue and take part up there because it would be a shame to lose it.
NICEST BATHROOMS EVAH!! You know, in agility you’re lucky to have a flush toilet! Let alone a sink that runs nice water and paper towels to dry off, etc. And Clark Co of course has that… but the bathrooms are old and showing their age. But here? NICE! It was a joy to walk in there!
Hahahah.
The courses were GREAT and I’m really enjoying USDAA these days. So nice to ONLY move the a-frame for the tiniest dogs. Once that chute is shorter (and I believe it will happen) there’s really not going to be anything to stop anyone from entering.
The field was very slick. The dry-ish grass and harder ground due to not being wet enough made for a lot of dogs sliding and falling. Lucky Rumble only slipped once that I noticed, in Steeple round 2… which made a bar come down. But over all he kept his feet nicely and seemed to be pretty speedy as his times were good the whole weekend.
Friday I just worked. I was ring captain for team, but I really ended up being “do this! Do that!” captain and working all the classes and it was totally fine. I was glad I got Rumble out and he could “absorb” the venue because they built the rings “adjoining”!!! and there was no visual barrier between the two rings. Yikes.
Seriously, this is my worst agility nightmare. And I wasn’t alone. MANY dogs were very distracted by dogs running in the other ring, and not ONLY novice or advance dogs, even well-seasoned ones.
But, the GODS of agility smiled on us BOTH Saturday and Sunday by several times having the other ring being either empty or “walk through” during our runs! Wow, that right there was worth it. His first run on Saturday there was a small-ish poodle running in the other ring, and he was interested in that on the start line. But it actually helped because so many dogs slipped coming out of the chute/jump turn to A-frame and he didn’t due to not really taking off very quickly.
We went to this trial ONLY needing a Standard to move to PIII… but no such luck. His first Standard run was all his dang fault. HORRIBLE contacts. Nina has a great pic of him coming off the dog walk in spectacular “contact zone ON FIRE!” fashion. Hilarious! I marked all the bad contacts, but in Grand Prix (only a few minutes later) he launched off the dogwalk again (plus we had an off-course).
I was feeling sorta mixed. The distraction thing was going ok! But the contacts were not. I do think (and Tammy has said this before) that his contact wonkiness could be very much due to ring stress. They’re lovely in class, so he does “know.” But he gets very high… and so do his contacts! Hahaha.
So, Steeple was last on Saturday and I didn’t have much expectations for that especially after watching Championship run it and seeing SO MANY off courses, and slips and basically non-Qs.
But he went out there, and NAILED TWO A-FRAMES!! With lovely contacts, and weaves were stellar and I can still see that run in my head (no video, sorry). Believe me, it was lovely. He won the class, and got the best time (for a clean run) of all heights in performance cept for tiny little Cameron the Chi!! Who beat him by like .02 seconds (still can’t scientifically explain that except for I held Rumble’s contact BOTH times, for at least .05 seconds… still, that dog has 2 inch legs!)
So that was a nice note to go home on.
The drives home were nasty. SO MUCH TRAFFIC!! Even on the weekends. Crazy. The drives up were easy and smooth. I’m still glad we stayed at home tho. It was so lovely to wake up in my own bed. I had a feeling Saturday morning of such complete calm and relaxation. It was perfect. I was a tiny bit worried about the adjoining rings, but somehow, that morning helped me feel it would be ok.
Sunday’s Standard was completely my own fault. I’d walked a lovely strong rear cross after the tire, to get a turn to the A-frame, but in the run, I was not dramatic about it at all and lost him to a tunnel. Sorry buddy, totally on me. His contacts were “ok” in that run, nice stops. But a bit high on the DW.
Standard was also first thing in the morning, and I had originally planned to go home after and rest. But … Steeple round II??!!?? Should I stay for that? I sort of waffled a bit and helped in the rings and then I kept thinking how NICE it was up there, and the weather was agility HEAVEN with clouds and 70s… Why go home?
Staying allowed me to see Mercy’s first run ever!! Good puppy! And have some nice alone time with Rumble. When we finally got to Steeple, most of the Per 16 inch dogs had not shown up. It was just me and one other dog, Jack (BC) and I figured if we were clean, we’d win the $$. Again, not many dogs were clean. Many were lost to an off-course tunnel after the A-Frame. Rumble needed two tries at the first set of weaves, then he had the slip on one jump that came down, but his A-frame contact was BRILLIANT!! And allowed me to very clearly indicate which tunnel entrance I wanted. The rest of the run, spot-less. YAHOO!! First place Rumble, $15 and pizza for Mom and Tammy for dinner. Ha!
I’m glad I went. I’m seriously loving USDAA these days. I like the
peeps, the dogs and the courses. Performance 16 is REALLY good for my stumpy boy and soon he’ll nail a Standard and we’ll move to PIII and run the really fun stuff.
NICEST BATHROOMS EVAH!! You know, in agility you’re lucky to have a flush toilet! Let alone a sink that runs nice water and paper towels to dry off, etc. And Clark Co of course has that… but the bathrooms are old and showing their age. But here? NICE! It was a joy to walk in there!
Hahahah.
The courses were GREAT and I’m really enjoying USDAA these days. So nice to ONLY move the a-frame for the tiniest dogs. Once that chute is shorter (and I believe it will happen) there’s really not going to be anything to stop anyone from entering.
The field was very slick. The dry-ish grass and harder ground due to not being wet enough made for a lot of dogs sliding and falling. Lucky Rumble only slipped once that I noticed, in Steeple round 2… which made a bar come down. But over all he kept his feet nicely and seemed to be pretty speedy as his times were good the whole weekend.
Friday I just worked. I was ring captain for team, but I really ended up being “do this! Do that!” captain and working all the classes and it was totally fine. I was glad I got Rumble out and he could “absorb” the venue because they built the rings “adjoining”!!! and there was no visual barrier between the two rings. Yikes.
Seriously, this is my worst agility nightmare. And I wasn’t alone. MANY dogs were very distracted by dogs running in the other ring, and not ONLY novice or advance dogs, even well-seasoned ones.
But, the GODS of agility smiled on us BOTH Saturday and Sunday by several times having the other ring being either empty or “walk through” during our runs! Wow, that right there was worth it. His first run on Saturday there was a small-ish poodle running in the other ring, and he was interested in that on the start line. But it actually helped because so many dogs slipped coming out of the chute/jump turn to A-frame and he didn’t due to not really taking off very quickly.
We went to this trial ONLY needing a Standard to move to PIII… but no such luck. His first Standard run was all his dang fault. HORRIBLE contacts. Nina has a great pic of him coming off the dog walk in spectacular “contact zone ON FIRE!” fashion. Hilarious! I marked all the bad contacts, but in Grand Prix (only a few minutes later) he launched off the dogwalk again (plus we had an off-course).
I was feeling sorta mixed. The distraction thing was going ok! But the contacts were not. I do think (and Tammy has said this before) that his contact wonkiness could be very much due to ring stress. They’re lovely in class, so he does “know.” But he gets very high… and so do his contacts! Hahaha.
So, Steeple was last on Saturday and I didn’t have much expectations for that especially after watching Championship run it and seeing SO MANY off courses, and slips and basically non-Qs.
But he went out there, and NAILED TWO A-FRAMES!! With lovely contacts, and weaves were stellar and I can still see that run in my head (no video, sorry). Believe me, it was lovely. He won the class, and got the best time (for a clean run) of all heights in performance cept for tiny little Cameron the Chi!! Who beat him by like .02 seconds (still can’t scientifically explain that except for I held Rumble’s contact BOTH times, for at least .05 seconds… still, that dog has 2 inch legs!)
So that was a nice note to go home on.
The drives home were nasty. SO MUCH TRAFFIC!! Even on the weekends. Crazy. The drives up were easy and smooth. I’m still glad we stayed at home tho. It was so lovely to wake up in my own bed. I had a feeling Saturday morning of such complete calm and relaxation. It was perfect. I was a tiny bit worried about the adjoining rings, but somehow, that morning helped me feel it would be ok.
Sunday’s Standard was completely my own fault. I’d walked a lovely strong rear cross after the tire, to get a turn to the A-frame, but in the run, I was not dramatic about it at all and lost him to a tunnel. Sorry buddy, totally on me. His contacts were “ok” in that run, nice stops. But a bit high on the DW.
Standard was also first thing in the morning, and I had originally planned to go home after and rest. But … Steeple round II??!!?? Should I stay for that? I sort of waffled a bit and helped in the rings and then I kept thinking how NICE it was up there, and the weather was agility HEAVEN with clouds and 70s… Why go home?
Staying allowed me to see Mercy’s first run ever!! Good puppy! And have some nice alone time with Rumble. When we finally got to Steeple, most of the Per 16 inch dogs had not shown up. It was just me and one other dog, Jack (BC) and I figured if we were clean, we’d win the $$. Again, not many dogs were clean. Many were lost to an off-course tunnel after the A-Frame. Rumble needed two tries at the first set of weaves, then he had the slip on one jump that came down, but his A-frame contact was BRILLIANT!! And allowed me to very clearly indicate which tunnel entrance I wanted. The rest of the run, spot-less. YAHOO!! First place Rumble, $15 and pizza for Mom and Tammy for dinner. Ha!
I’m glad I went. I’m seriously loving USDAA these days. I like the
peeps, the dogs and the courses. Performance 16 is REALLY good for my stumpy boy and soon he’ll nail a Standard and we’ll move to PIII and run the really fun stuff.