The Agilypmics were a great intro to competition. I discovered that
we're definitely not ready for prime time, but we had a *blast*. Angel
had the time of her life, and our team was the 2nd-lowest scoring team
overall :-), which is too bad because we really thought we were going to
get the prize for the Lowest Scoring Team. I think me 'n Angel may have
been the lowest scoring individuals, but there wasn't a prize for that.
I'm thinking we should have called our team "Not Ready For Prime Time".
The event photographer got some fabulous shots of her, and a great one
of her coming down off the Aframe with me laughing. I'll post the links
once he gets them up on his web site.

On the plusses: after several misses on each, I did get her through the
tire and chute - the Agilympics allows a small amount of training and
use of treats in the complete beginner category. Also, a lot of people
come up to me afterwards and told me how much fun it was watching us as
we were both obviously having a really good time, remarking on how fast
Angel is and how much she obviously loves doing this, and giving me
encouragement about getting better. One of the organizers told me she
was impressed at how closely Angel watched me for cues, which, of
course, means I was completely misdirecting her most of the time, but
that's what classes are for and I'll get better. I do not, however,
take credit for her full speeds laps around the ring randomly taking
obstacles, or, during the first match, her running through the gap in
the fence into the next ring (luckily she came back immediately when I
called and didn't disrupt the event in there). She ended that
particular match by bolting into the audience at full speed, where
someone grabbed her and was in full belly-scritch mode when I got to
them :-), thus completely illustrating my instructor's "The main goal in
your first match is to leave the ring at the same time as your dog". At
the end of following 4 events she did return directly to me when I
called her, thereby graciously demonstrating that I had at least a tiny
bit of control.

Most impressive owner/handler combo: I think they were in the Elite
category. A woman who must have been in her mid-to-late 70s, with a
very laid-back Cardigan Corgi. The dog was slow but extremely
methodical, and did a perfect run within the time allowed, while she
basically directed him from a central location. Really cool to watch.

--
Debbie the Dogged das at spamcop dot net
"Poodles are space aliens who think they've disguised
themselves as dogs." - Paghat the Ratgirl

Yay for Honey Bunny Fluffy Paws! Can't wait to see the pics!

Debbie

on 2005-05-22 at 15:57 wrote:

At the end of following 4 events she did return directly to
me when I called her, thereby graciously demonstrating that I
had at least a tiny bit of control.

congratulations! it sounds like both of you had a great time!

--
shelly
http://home.bluemarble.net/~scouvrette
http://cat-sidh.blogspot.com/
http://letters-to-esther.blogspot.com/ (updated 4/3/05)