This past weekend the girls and I were in a local trial, each of the girls were entered in 2 regular, a jumpers and a tunnlers. Regular started off our Saturday morning; Hallie was first up, she had a decent run considering she hasn't been on contacts since February...but of course the second obstacle was a dog walk/tunnel discrimination and she got sucked in by the tunnel. Not shocking. The rest of her run was good, she did her weaves first try. Next up was Pyper.....who also got sucked into the tunnel....LOL. Also not shocking! She did the rest of her run ok, didn't jump any of the contacts which was amazing and she did her weaves second try. Then came Mia....who also got sucked into the tunnel....LOL. She did the dog walk but she wouldn't do the A-Frame, can't blame her really, she has the least amount of train out of all the girls. So we did a few obstacles can had some fun. Later in the day we ran Tunnlers, much more successful! All 3 girls Q'd and Hallie beat Pyper by .25 of a second! Was a great way to end the day.
Sunday morning we started with Regular again, this time Pyper was first up. Thankfully no tunnel discrimination's today....but....Pyper jumped her contact on the A-Frame....so I made her do it again which cause the elimination. The good news is she did her weaves first try. Next up was Mia, she did both the dog walk and the Aframe...horray! But then she had a little accident in the ring....boooooo! oops. Oh well the 2 contacts was enough of a victory for me. Last up was Hallie, I had her all set up at the start line and she turned and approached the other dog waiting in line, so of course we got an E when I went and put her back to the start, oh well she had a good run besides that....not really her fault; the other dog was right behind. oh well. We ended the day with Jumpers, Pyper was first up. Saturday night we had a thunderstorm so Pyper had an upset tummy....so we were about to line up for our run and she had a little accident...poor girl. So of course we got an E and couldn't even run our run. Mia's jumper run was rather challenging for me as Mia was REALLY interested in all of the dragonflies. Was I had to call her back several times. She finished the run with no faults but we didn't make time. Hallie's run was also good but she had a couple of bobbles that we had to fix so she also ran over time.
So we only came home with the tunnlers ribbons, however, these Q's runs mean that Pyper is now in Elite tunnlers and both Mia and Hallie are in open tunnlers!
Since moving back to Canada we have wanted to get the girls back into agility classes, well mostly Mia and Hallie since they have had the least amount of training. We had gone and visited with Shirley from D&S Dogs of Course http://www.dsdogs.com/last month, checked out their site and chatted about their program. They offer all levels of classes and teach multiple methods including Awesome Paws. Their site is on the other side of the city which is a down fall and it is only outside in the summer time and in a riding areana in the winter time. They compete primarily AAC (which is the Canada USDAA). They cost $17 a class with a 10 or 20% discount for the second dog. This fee in cludes the use of equipment whenever it is not in use. This weekend I chatted with Lois from Sondog http://www.sondog.com/ (who hosted the NADAC trial) Their site is rather close to the house which is rather convienient and they have an indoor and outdoor facility. They use the outdoor as much as possible and use the indoor one when it rains or in the winter (it is heated) They offer all levels of classes and will help you with all handling methods but I think they teach primarily the distance handling as they are a NADAC facility. The classes cost $12.00 each and you get a 10% discount for the second dog. This fee includes the use of equipment on friday nights.
So I had a bit of a struggle with what to do about classes. If I go with Sondog I can afford to take both Mia and Hallie, if I go with D&S I will only be able to afford to take Mia. However, I am not sure what training at the NADAC facility will be like. So I sat back and reivaluated what my expectations around agility were, what did I want to get out of it. Did I want to compete @ regionals and nationals and maybe even worlds? If this was the case then AAC would be the way to go, the regionals were right here in Saskatoon this year so that makes that affordable, and Nationals were in Calgary last year. NADAC is all of North America and Championships are in Illinois this year. Did I want to title my dogs? NADAC has mulitple levels of titling from novice titles all the way up to Purple Versatility Achievement Cup or MOD SQUAD. AAC also has multiple levels of titling. What did I really want to get out of doing agility.....after much thought I figured out that all I really wanted to get out of agility was to play with my dogs. That's it! Everything else is just a bonus. So I have decided to take classes at Sondog since it is more affordable and I can train 2 of the girls instead of just one. Utimately I can trail in either NADAC or AAC or both if I want (or afford) NADAC has 14 trials a year 10 of which would be easy and convineint for me, 2 here in Saskatoon and 8 in Lloydminster. I am not sure how many trials AAC has a year but I suspect they have several as Saskatoon has 2 AAC clubs/hosts. So my options will not be limited! I have sent Lois and email asking her to sign both Hallie and Mia up for classes, we should be starting in September. Woohoo!
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