Panic, the faux-po, went to a USDAA trial this weekend, it went very well :)
Judge: Joe Sare
Dates: 7/18-19/2009
Location: Marengo, OH
Q-Rate – 12/13 classes!!!!
This was, by far, the most successful trial I have ever had with Miss Panic!! Not only did we get a lot of qualifying runs, we were so together as a team. Most notably, I am finding myself not getting nervous anymore about elements which used to make me stress. Needless to say, this results in better and better performances on these former “tough” spots for us! For us, this is our start line stay, our contacts, and the table. Her stay was 100% on Saturday, and at the end of the day Sunday she did start breaking, but I think it was due to her getting tired. Still not acceptable, but maybe understandable :) Her contacts were 100% this weekend and I am really not worrying about these at all anymore. Not to say we won’t ever miss one again, but it’s not a stress point for me right now. And lastly, the table. This has been a tough one for us pretty much ever since we got out of starters. She got faster and faster and the table got more and more frustrating for her (and me!). She really didn’t want to keep those elbows down, and barked quite a bit. We went through a period where she’d jump off the table (incurring a fault and not allowing us to Q), then a long time where she’d take forever to lay down. And after laying down, would bark… and bark… and bark… well you get the picture. Each time she barks, her elbows come up off of the table. Depending on the judge, they might stop counting, or not. In any case, we spent a LOT of time on the table some courses. Usually this would not put us overtime, but the argument there would almost always lead to another fault due to her being frustrated with me and not as focused for the rest of the course. I was probably discombobulated too after the table.
We worked on it quite a bit. The problem I have is that while I do have a table at home, it is impossible to get her geeked enough in our small yard with just a few jumps. I finally realized one day the only thing she geeks on as much as agility (well besides swimming) is throwing a ball in the backyard! So, instead of doing jumps and then table, I’d throw the ball a while, then ask for a table performance. Second she lays down – “Good girl!”, throw the ball. Ask for longer durations, etc. I also was asking for a quiet mouth. This was tough, and I have to admit I gave a few muzzle corrections. However she did get it, and it transferred to class situations very well. I wasn’t sure how it would go in a trial, and our first try at POAC went better than trials had gone before, but not as good as class. Well, I figured that was to be expected. This past weekend though, she was PERFECT! Layed down quickly, shut her mouth, and kept the elbows down. I have also learned keeping a slight distance from the table helps her a bit. Sat, I even lead out which I could *never* have done before. I am so excited to hopefully put this behind us now. I know I feel confident about our table performances now and in the future.
Ok so class run down… will be long, we ran a lot!
Saturday
Masters Relay – we ran with Lisa Kucharski and Finesse. We had previously gotten an Advanced Relay leg together, and decided to team up again. Fin ran her half very nicely, and Panic got a refusal. She and I were not very together on this run for some reason, I presume she was amped from watching Fin run while she had to wait. But we made it through, and got the Q and 3rd place. This was our 3rd Masters Relay leg.
DAM Gamblers – Believe it or not, although I have been competing for 16 years, I have never run on a DAM team. With Peanut, she was never consistent enough, and with Fancy… well I don’t know why! Probably the cost. At Flashpoint, I entered on a team with Dave Seeger and Bug (Rottweiler), and Wendy Haas and Lannie (Vizsla). DAM Gamblers is not like regular gamblers, you can have non-traditional gambles. This was a time gamble where once the opening period expired, you had 13 seconds to accumulate points via jumps and tunnels. If you ran out of time you lost 15 points plus 1 point per whole second over. Panic had a great opening, and I fumbled a bit in the close, but we still ended up doing well, I was happy with her performance, and we got a LAA Q for the run.
Masters Gamblers – our arch nemesis. Sadly we didn’t defeat it this weekend. It was a gamble where you had to layer a chute and push the dog out to a DW about 20 ft from the line. Since I do not train Panic to layer, I didn’t expect to get this one, and whaddya know, we didn’t :) I was still very happy with her run though.
DAM Standard – Panic had a kick butt run on this one! She did very well, very fast, and ended up 2nd with a LAA Q.
Masters Standard – Yucky WP entrance and very yucky DW approach. She nailed both, and got her 5th Standard Q and a 3rd place, for her Standard Agility Master title!
Steeplechase – I was pretty happy with this run, although we placed 5th. Darn Border Collies and their long legs!! Our 8th Steeplechase Q.
Sunday
DAM Jumpers – Kind of a strange course with a circle of serpentine jumps! She ran it pretty well, although we had a few wide turns that I’d like to have done better. We had two close calls that I saved, so that could have been better, but overall good. She placed 6th and managed to get another LAA Q.
Masters Jumpers – She fell on her face at the end – but then again a lot of people fell running this also so the grass must have been slippery anyway! I don’t remember it very well, but she ran well and Q’d, 4th place, and her 14th Jumpers Q.
DAM Snooker – thank you to Darlene for coming up with a course to run!! I did 5-7-7-3. I was very pleased with it because it involved threading her through obstacles and she didn’t go off once. Good girlie :) This is something I know we can do, but I chicken out at trials. We only got through 5 though – had half of 6 done when the whistle blew. If I’d skipped the 2nd seven, we’d definitely have finished the course, ending with 5 more points than we did. That’s ok though – still was happy with this run. Placed 4th and LAA Q.
Masters Snooker – Thanks again to Darlene for coming up with the course I ran!! We did 5-5-5-3. I was trying to figure out, even as I took the last red, which color to take – 3, 4, or 5? They were all stacked on top of one another… I chose the 3 and am glad I did, we crossed the line after #7 with less than half a second left. The finish was very close to #7 so I think we may have made #4, but #5 and we wouldn’t have finished through 7. We got 2nd and super Q #7, snooker leg #13.
Steeplechase finals – Well, looking at this course on paper, I could tell we had no chance against the BCs. It was very flowing and a fast course. I ran as fast as I could, but we messed up our WP entry (I didn’t give her the best approach, and as this was her 11th run or something, I think she was tired and a little lazy, so the two combined to equal a mistake). It didn’t count as a fault, but we wasted 4.5 seconds. We ended up placing 5th, the mistake would have gotten us one place higher, not too much higher up! Still though she ran well and had her heart in it.
DAM team relay – Fun! Panic was the “odd” height dog, so we ran the 1st third of the course, which started out jump, chute, tunnel (under the A-frame). The chute was pointed right at the frame, with not a whole lot of space in between. I was a little nervous about it, but FCd at the end of the chute, sent her into the tunnel, RCd, and we were on our merry way. We did get a refusal on the WPs but other than that were fine. Lannie ran clean, and Bug knocked a bar, but we still ended up above the line and got a DAM Q!!!!! We ended up team #6 out of 10 teams.
Masters Standard – This course wasn’t too tough, and she aced it. What a good girlie. Placed 6th, so definitely not the fastest, but we were both pretty tired at this point! Standard Q #6.
Ok so that was a lot! The weather was great though, it was only hot briefly on Sunday (when we ran M snooker… that felt like a LOT of running!). I couldn’t have asked her for a better weekend though. 12/13 Qs is a record for us! Not to mention 100% on her contacts, great start lines, and the great tables. We really felt like a team this weekend. She is such an awesome little dog, and never ceases to amaze me with her heart and athleticism. Really looking forward to the BRAG trial in 3 weekends!
