Agility Retrospect...(part 3)

One Day.

One Mission.

Complete our level 1 requirements by qualifying in Jackpot!

(Oh, and also try our hand/paws at level 2 Standard - as in, perform the weave poles and teeter in public).

DONE! ...and... DONE!

Jackpot, our final level 1 requirement is complete. Yea! ...
It didn't go as smoothly as I (or Zainey) would have liked, for sure, but we did it. Z fell off the A-Frame, or more accurately, she launched off the A-Frame. Whoopsy! One of the people working the ring (I won't say who) observed that it was due to my approach, being such a green handler, that I needed to not 'leave' her at the approach to the A-frame, and that I'll learn how to manage that better in the future. ...<Ahem>... Okay. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that the tire to A-frame approach was at a 90 degree angle and by the time we ran, the non-rubberized equipment set up outdoors on grass was visibly wet from all the dogs that ran before us.  Luckily, this is one of the few courses where the A-frame is not faulted and, while I was prepared to stop our run right then and there, Z bounced right back and was ready to keep on truckin'. Granted, my course plan fell apart a bit at that point and we just kind of muddled though, but we finished strong (no 'sniffy' or other distractions in the gamble portion) and in 1st place! Pretty good for her first time running on an outdoor course where the distractions are tenfold and she had to run up a slippery slide!

Agility Retrospect...(part 2b)

In part2b of the retrospective post of our March 17-18 agility trial, we pick up where we left off in part 2a (duh-really?). Z and I are back at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds competing in our third agility trial. We failed to qualify in Jackpot on Saturday morning which meant moving up to level two was out of the cards for that weekend. However, we still had three more courses to run that day and another three the next. Oy vey - that seemed like a lot to complete (in between a LOT of sitting around) when my hopes for the weekend had just been smashed like a yam on Thanksgiving. ...

Agility Retrospect...(part 2a)

Another title for this post might be "Agility Trial #3: 3rd Time's not the Charm" or maybe even "Our 3rd Agility Trial: Apparently Failure is an option."

I knew when I got started with agility that it wasn't going to be easy. I've heard time and again about people who've gone through all the hassle of registering for a trial, packing up the dog (and dog supplies and car), driving quite a distance, staying in some random hotel, getting up way too early on a morning that's way too cold, and sitting around for the better part of a day (or weekend) - all for the chance of qualifying in just one or two particular runs - only to have it all blown to heck in a matter of seconds. I just thought those types of disappointments would come at a much higher level, not in level 1! ...