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Thread: Agility Trial Oct 20, 2012 - our first trial - Part II

  1. #1
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    Agility Trial Oct 20, 2012 - our first trial - Part II

    The first part of our trial, the photos, can be seen here: http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthre...t-trial-Part-I

    We registered for 5 runs. I have a bit of video of each run. Did not get an entire run on video, as my camera apparently shuts off if you video for more than 1 minute. Some folks did just click it again so I got the 2 parts and I've stitched them together.

    First run - our first run EVER in an Agility Trial! - was Touch N Go. In Agility, you have to direct your dog to obstacles. You have to follow a proper sequence, run the course in the standard set time, and your dog must negotiate each obstacle correctly. Two of the obstacles - the A Frame, and the Dog Walk - include ramps up and down. The dog must TOUCH somewhere in the lower 42 inches of the ramp, going up and going down. Hence the name of this course. We had one A Frame and one Dog Walk, but we had to go up and over each of them TWICE in the course. So we had 8 places the dog must touch, in all. "TOUCH" or contacts has never been an issue for Willy. His legs are so short, and his body so long, he has to touch those areas anyway. Folks with larger dogs, longer legged dogs, often spend time training contacts, as the dog will simply JUMP and miss that lower 42 inches entirely. (My Riley is going to have to learn her contacts!) This video was in 2 parts, so you will see a blip after 1 minute.

    http://youtu.be/mVqSNc0FFzc

    You will see the judge put up both his hands at one point. That was to let the score keeper know we had a 10 point fault. The courses are always testing many many things. We did all our contacts fine. But this course included traps. The A Frame had a tunnel set under it, and the opening for the tunnel was right next to the ramp up for the A Frame. I mean, you could not get a piece of paper between the 2! I as the handler have to make it clear to Willy which obstacle he has to take. A Frame is his absolute FAVORITE obstacle, so he took it when he needed to enter the tunnel. He didn't go down, he turned and came back to me and off he went into the tunnel. Because of that fault, we did not have a qualifying run. We did take 1st place!

    Next run is called Regular 1. This course includes all the many obstacles you can encounter in a run. Willy kicked one jump bar, you will see the judge hold up one hand - a 5 point fault. At the very end, Willy had to negotiate 6 weave poles. He was going to fast and first entered the set incorrectly. You will see the judge put up both hands: a 10 point fault. I called him back, and sent him through a second time - he skipped past poles 4 and 5 rather than weave them. After a third attempt we finally finished the course. Too many faults for a qualifying run, and again we took a 1st place!

    http://youtu.be/RoD12O4qww4

    Our next run is Regular 2. The same course, run in reverse. So we had the weave poles right at the start! You will see I practically WALK Willy to them, and hooray he negotiates them fine! Later in the course we get caught in a trap. This one has a tunnel entrance right up next to the Dog Walk, and I pushed in too close, so he took the wrong one. Hence we had a course fault, not a qualifying run, and again we made it in first place.

    http://youtu.be/TLYqrNZRFuo

    Tunnelers was the next course for us. In class, Willy has seen as many as 2 tunnels in one run. He is also going over jumps, through tires, all the many obstacles. Tunnelers is JUST TUNNELS. I think they had 8 of them set up and the course was set up so Willy had to go through 15. We did them all in order and had no course fault, hooray! Willy is a slow dog to start, and this whole idea of tunnel after tunnel after tunnel was new to him. As we walked off the course, we passed the judge who said to me, "your dog's face said 'I've never seen so many tunnels in my LIFE!'" The person who filmed this run went up on the mezzanine level. They do have netting up there so you will be 'looking' through that (remember this is a sports facility, you could have a soccer ball flying up there, so the netting it up for safety). You get a bird's eye view! When she returned my camera, she said she was laughing like crazy, his face just kept getting this look, "ANOTHER tunnel?" This video was in 2 parts which I have stitched together so you will see a jump in the viewing. We got a second place in this course.

    http://youtu.be/vVKmPGrEXa4

    Our 5th and final run of the day was JUMPERS. Willy jumps at 8 inches in class, but 4 inches at this trial (dogs older than age 7 can get a reduced jump height and he is over 9 years). Willy was tired, he had enough of this nonsense, the field is huge for a little bichon, he'd been running it all day. Enjoy this run, lol.

    http://youtu.be/ATbxul1se6g

    We had no course faults, I managed to find my way through it all well. Our time was WAY off (if you watched the video, you know why ha haaa). We earned a 2d place for this course.

    Stand by a few pics to add!
    .

  2. #2
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    Some photo of Willy and his ribbons.











    More photos to come.
    .

  3. #3
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    He is a bit disappointed they are not edible!




    My Willy!!!


    Thanks for looking!
    .

  4. #4
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    YAY YAY YAY YAY, Wills! Wilfred-Edward is a Blue Ribbon Agility Winner! Congratulations! Mmwah! (And mmwah, mmwah, mmwah for your sisters too!)
    Praying for peace in the Middle East, Ukraine, and around the world.

    I've been Boo'd ... right off the stage!

    Aaahh, I have been defrosted! Thank you, Bonny and Asiel!
    Brrrr, I've been Frosted! Thank you, Asiel and Pomtzu!


    "That's the power of kittens (and puppies too, of course): They can reduce us to quivering masses of Jell-O in about two seconds flat and make us like it. Good thing they don't have opposable thumbs or they'd surely have taken over the world by now." -- Paul Lukas

    "We consume our tomorrows fretting about our yesterdays." -- Persius, first century Roman poet

    Cassie's Catster page: http://www.catster.com/cats/448678

  5. #5
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    Explain please, as I am a dummy when it comes to understanding points, etc in events such as this.

    How can he not have a qualifying run, yet still take 1st place???

    See - I really did read what you wrote, and didn't just look at the pictures!
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Wolfy ~ Fuzzbutt #3
    My little dog ~ a heartbeat at my feet

    Sparky the Fuzzbutt - PT's DOTD 8/3/2010
    RIP 2/28/1999~10/9/2012
    Myndi the Fuzzbutt - Mom's DOTD - Everyday
    RIP 1/24/1996~8/9/2013
    Ellie - Mom to the Fuzzbuttz

    To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
    Ecclesiastes 3:1
    The clock of life is wound but once and no man has the power
    To know just when the hands will stop - on what day, or what hour.
    Now is the only time you have, so live it with a will -
    Don't wait until tomorrow - the hands may then be still.
    ~~~~true author unknown~~~~

  6. #6
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    I think you both did an excellent job. Willy looks like he's been doing agility all of his life. He did look very tired or maybe just bored with the whole thing on the last run though. I also don't know anything about the point system. I did read everything you wrote too. Congrats again Willy!!!

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by pomtzu View Post

    How can he not have a qualifying run, yet still take 1st place???

    See - I really did read what you wrote, and didn't just look at the pictures!
    It really is tough to understand. If you get a qualifying run, you earn points. You need points to progress to higher levels.

    We took 1st place because no OTHER dog in our group / class did better than we did for time! We run in Novice (newbies), Veterans (dogs older than age 7), 11 inch height (height of the dog at the withers) and jump height of 4 inches.

    It is not easy to guide your dog properly! The "only" thing Willy did wrong was the jump where he hit the bar and knocked it down. The other stuff is all handler error. I mean, yes he got too tired to move for the last 2; but the other small dogs we were grouped with faced the same issue. And some of them had course faults in Jumpers, which made them even lower down the list than we were.

    He didn't do the weave poles -- I KNOW he can't do them at speed, I have to slow him down; I was so excited and running myself I didn't do that in Regular 1, so he blew that. In Regular 2, I learned that lesson (probably for LIFE now!) and made sure he walked slowly - and he did them all first approach!

    He missed the correct obstacle at the trap (twice, 2 different courses). That also is me. I had to learn to direct him. I have to either crowd him over to the far one, or move out and away to "pull" him away from the far one so he takes the one nearest me. I actually did get him through the traps a few times, but not EVERY time.

    As for Tunnelers and Jumpers, Willy is a s-l-o-w dog. We took 168.02 seconds to get through tunnelers. The fastest dog of the day (a sheltie, in the Elite division, been doing this for YEARS and started as a puppy with Performance Puppy) got through the same course in 20 seconds! Amazing! Elite Division has to complete the course in a faster time than Novice, but even with the faster time, that sheltie just FLEW! The dog finished way below the standard course time. The owner literally stood int he center and moved in a circle IN ONE SPOT, directing the dog with hand signals. Just breath taking to see!

    And no, not all the courses are the same except for time. Only Tunnelers did not change for this trial day. The other runs, each Division had a completely different course.



    So we did not have ANY qualifying runs, which means we did not earn any points to advance to a higher level. But neither did any other dog in our Division and Class etc.


    Hope this helps!
    .

  8. #8
    Join Date
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    Got it. Thanks! I still think Willy did a GREAT job.

    And those Shelties - they can run like the wind and are just so darn smart too. My son used to have a Sheltie, and wants another some day. Great dogs, even if their barking can drive you mad sometimes!
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Wolfy ~ Fuzzbutt #3
    My little dog ~ a heartbeat at my feet

    Sparky the Fuzzbutt - PT's DOTD 8/3/2010
    RIP 2/28/1999~10/9/2012
    Myndi the Fuzzbutt - Mom's DOTD - Everyday
    RIP 1/24/1996~8/9/2013
    Ellie - Mom to the Fuzzbuttz

    To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
    Ecclesiastes 3:1
    The clock of life is wound but once and no man has the power
    To know just when the hands will stop - on what day, or what hour.
    Now is the only time you have, so live it with a will -
    Don't wait until tomorrow - the hands may then be still.
    ~~~~true author unknown~~~~

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