NADAC Toys for Tots Benefit Results

This past week was a nice week. Thursday was Thanksgiving and we returned on Friday from visiting relatives in South Carolina. We made it back in time for Clover to complete in one class---touch and go. She had a perfect run except for the last obstical, the A frame. She missed the contact.

On Saturday we competed in a few more runs. We had 2 regular runs and a jumpers. The jumpers run went very well, she placed first. After we ran it, I was told the timer forgot to start the timer, so we had to run it again. The second time we ran it, Clover knocked a bar down. But since we had a clean first run, they just needed the time. Clover was about 10 seconds faster than any other dogs in the class, and I am sure she was faster on the first run.

The regular run didn't go quite as well. She missed a contact. It is always happening on the A-frame. I guess the greater incline on this obsticle gives her more momentum and makes it harder to stop. The second regular run went better. She Q'ed. and placed 3rd. Clover Q'ed on both gambles.

I have been purposely slowing clover down on contact runs to reinforce the contacts. That has made her time a little slower, which has hurt me this week. This week I moved Clover up to open in all classes except weavers. The open class has a little tougher courses and the time is about 10 seconds shorter. This doesn't give you much time to reinforce the stays on the contacts or to restart the weave poles. I think clover would have gotten another 2 Q's this weekend if she was still in novice. But... it was time to move up.

On Sunday, I missed one class because our other dog --Kira wasn't acting right, so we took her to the vet. We never figured out what was wrong with her but she seems fine now. Shes was pacing and panting and acting like she was in pain.

I missed the jumpers run, but made it back in time for the tunnelers run and the 2 regular runs. Clover's tunnelers run was beautiful! Clover doesn't listen to voice commands well when it comes to tunnels, so I have to try to run and get to the front of the tunnel and do front cross before Clover gets there so I can give her directions. In fact after the run, the judge said she thought I was going to lose my knees. Because Clover shot out of the tunnel so fast. I replied, that it was a necessary risk. Clover was placed first and Q'ed in the tunnelers run.

The regular run on Sunday didn't go as well....of course, it has contacts and weaves. Weaves in open class has 12 weave poles instead of the 6 that are in novice. The first run was over time by 4 seconds because we had to restart the weaves so many times. Clover received only 1/2 Q on that run. On the second regular run, Clover blew an obstacle discrimination. there was a tunnel going under an A frame. She was suppose to take the tunnel and decided she liked the a frame better. This was a clear case of where if I was still in novice class, I would have Q'ed because that obstacle discrimination is not in the novice class.

This week clover received The following Q's

DATE CLASS Q PLACE NOTES
11/25/05 Touch-n-Go open E Missed A frame contact
11/26/05 Jumpers open Q 1
11/26/05 Regular 1 open Q 3
11/26/05 Regular 2 open N 3 Mssed A Frame Contact
11/26/05 Gamblers open Q
11/26/05 Gamblers open Q
11/27/05 Regular 1 open 1/2 Q Over time restarting weaves
11/27/05 Regular 2 open E Missed tunnel - A frame discrimination
11/27/05 Tunnelers open Q 1

We have a good start on our quest for open titles.

This is always a fun trial. It is all for Toys for tots. They hold a raffle of donated items. Michele donates the use of the facility. The judges donate their time and entry fees are donated. It is organized by NADAC and they brought their own equipment for 1 ring. All the contacts had a rubber coating and it was the first time that clover had been exposed to it. It didn't seem to bother her. The weather was a little cool but nice until about noon on Sunday when it started to rain. Clover and I ran our last run in the rain. Through the course of the weekend NADAC raised over 11,000 dollars.

Our next Trial is at Teamworks in 2 weeks. It is another NADAC trial. There are a few things we need to work on before then.... You guessed it, contacts and weaves. I did have a private lesson scheduled for yesterday with Michele, but it was raining so we had to post pone it until next Tuesday. Course of the week is tonight and it looks like the rain has moved out, so hopefully we can get some good practice in.

Teamworks NADAC Trial Results

This past weekend was a Nadac trial at teamworks. Clover did fairly well. She got 2 gamble Q's and 2 Touch and Go Q's. Clover obtained her TNG Novice title.
















I was a little disappointed with a few things. The first jumpers run was absolutely beautiful, but she missed the second to last jump. It was part of a straight run and I have no Idea why she went around it. ...Ok, I do have an Idea... bad directions from the handlers.

In both tunnelers runs, she went straight when she was suppose to turn. But boy was she flying.

The one disappointment I had was on a regular, where she missed a dog walk contact.

I did try the weavers run on Saturday, without much success. I also tried the 64 weavepole challenge, but she missed the entry.

Hurt Again and First AKC Trial

There is a lot that has happened in the last 2 weeks and I have been terrible about keeping up. Everything started with Course of the Week last Wednesday. Clover and I were practicing weave poles and as I threw the ball as a reward, clover ran straight into a railroad tie. Teamworks put the railroad ties down so that the cars don't park on the grass during trials. Clover must have hit her back left leg. Within seconds she was putting weight on it, but she was limping. This happened almost as soon as we arrived so we didn't get much practice in.

On Thursday, we took both Kira and Clover in for vaccinations, so the vet took the time to look at Clover's leg. She said I could take her go to class that night, but I did notice a little limping so I didn't take her. I did go though and helped set up for the AKC trial this weekend.

On Saturday was the AKC trial. It was our first AKC trial that the Youngsville Agility Club has hosted. It was held at Teamworks and seemed to run very well. It was also the first AKC trial that Clover ever competed in. The rules and feel of AKC is certainly different than NADAC Trials. We were entered in 4 runs all weekend.

I was not very happy with Clovers performance on Saturday, but I probably shouldn't have been running her. She didn't seem to be feeling well. She was slow and just didn't seem right. I don't know if it was a reaction to the vaccination or if her leg was still bothering her.

The first run was a jumpers run. AKC jumpers courses are different because they also contain weaves. Clover did not compete the weaves so was eliminated. The second run on Saturday was the standard run. AKC standard differs from NADAC because AKC has broad jumps, triple jumps and tables. Clover did well an everything but the broad jump. Her toe nails clicked on the broad jump when she landed, and she was illuminated.

Sunday was a much better day. I didn't go to the trial until about noon, since novice run at the end of the day. We ran 2 runs again. The first was the jumpers with weaves. Clover performed really well. She did the weaves flawlessly and I was able to call off a tunnel before she entered it. The second run of the day was a standard. She did very well. The time could have been a lot faster but I want to stress the contacts and I made her stay there for awhile. She did the weave poles flawlessly. I did get a refusal on both runs though. In clovers case, she missed a jump and I had to bring her back to do it. In novice, you aren't illuminated for refusals, but get a 5 pint deduction out of 100.

So I gues the weekend ended up being a success with a double Q on Sunday. For next weekends NADAC trial, I need to continue to work on weaves and contacts.

Here are Clover's results....

11/12/2005 Novice A JWW - 24 Inch - Judge: Carol Mount Distance: 115 yards SCT: 38 seconds Eliminated Time: 47.25 seconds

11/12/2005 Novice A Standard - 24 Inch - Judge: Carol Mount Distance: 140 yards
SCT: 75 seconds Eliminated Time: 59.66 seconds

11/13/2005 Novice A JWW - 24 Inch - Judge: Carol Mount Distance: 113 yards SCT: 38 seconds Score: 95 (Q) Time: 26.53 seconds 1st Place

11/13/2005 Novice A Standard - 24 Inch - Judge: Carol Mount Distance: 140 yards
SCT: 75 seconds Score: 95 (Q) Time: 54.61 seconds 1st Place

Still working on those Weave Poles

We went to course of the week and had class last night. On Thursday nights I help set up the course at 6:30 for obstacle proficiency class. We then have Novice agility class. I also stay for the next novice agility class because I am helping video tape it. We each get a video tape of all the runs we make during class.

lately we have been working on weave poles. Clover is getting better at them but we still have a lot of work To do. Last night we had a good drill in class, where we had 2 sets of 6 about 15 feet apart and as soon as she finished one she went to the next one. This weekend we have a show and go that I volunteered to help out at.