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Wylie's NADAC agility weekend
This weekend was my third NADAC trial with Wylie. I decided some weeks ago,
after already entering this show, that I was going to stop trialling him until we can get our contacts under control. He simply will not do them in competition - flying off way before the yellow on the dogwalk and a-frame, and now starting to jump off the teeter before it tips. So I was prepared to scratch anything with contacts this weekend - with six runs a day, I didn't think it would be a problem! g Because we have been having issues with start line stays, I inked those runs with contacts as our training startline runs. We had jumpers as our first run and Wylie held his stay, but we had a few bobbles and an off course tunnel and I fell down (ouch!) Wylie just hung out waiting for me to get up and we finished the course. We then had touch and go, one of my training runs, and Wylie blew his start line, took the tunnel, came back to me, took the tunnel again, and finally realized I wasn't going anywhere and came back again. I didn't have to deal with a start line stay the rest of the weekend - he held them beautifully. We also ran tunnelers that day, with one wrong end of a tunnel being the only error, but we had hesitation at a few tunnels. We did one standard run, which reinforced my decision not to do contact runs (he FLEW off them!) and gamblers - hard to pick up points without using contacts, but we got enough to Q, if he had done the gamble - for the first time all weekend he decided to stick by me! Still, we had many good results from the runs - fixing the startline was by far the best, but also had chances to work on some crosses and getting him to send ahead of me while still staying in control. Sunday's runs were a blast. The folks I was trialling with had run all six runs on Saturday and both they and their dogs were pooped. I was a bit sore from my fall, but Wylie was gung-ho. We did tunnellers first and even with a few bobbles (mainly turning and barking instead of going into the the tunnel, and once running by and having to be brought back around) we finished 4 seconds under time for our first tunnellers Q. We also did weavers - first time Wylie has done 12 poles in competition, and he popped at #11 twice so we ended up being over time. He also has issues with entries at speed, so we didn't get through it real smoothly, but I was very proud of him for doing so many weaves in one run! I scratched our standard runs and we did gamblers, getting 28 opening points without any contacts (just tunnels and weaves for 3 points and jumps for 1) and he DID THE GAMBLE! But, the a-frame was the 6 and 10 point bonus and he didn't actually touch the yellow so no points and no Q. I wasn't planning to finish the gamble once he blew the a-frame, but he went ahead and did it on his own, the goober. I laughed though. Our last run was jumpers, and we were running in open. I had moved him up when we titled, because novice had been pretty simple with no jumps and tunnels and we needed to practice more handling at speed. The course was identical to the elite course, minus one tunnel trap. I was glad to see the tunnel go, after working so hard on sending to tunnels all weekend! It was a really fun flowing course with 18 obstacles. Wylie stuck that startline and I led out two jumps and when I released him, he flew, and kept flying! It was magical - the first run we've had where I really felt we were gelling as a team - he was paying attention yet not worrying if I was too far behind him, no hesitation at jumps, I backcrossed and he just flowed along. Where the course was spread out, he took off, took the jump many elite dogs missed, and where the course tightened he came in and did a gorgeous pinwheel, then out the line of jumps to the exit and we were done! No bobbles, no hesitations, all the bars stayed up, and we ended up with a lovely first place ribbon and our first open jumpers Q. We were 7 seconds under time and he was running at 5.6 YPS, which amazes me. Even better, not only did we make elite time, but were within a second of the 16" first place dog's time! So I will probably have Wylie in elite jumpers before he even has one novice standard leg. g Qs and placements aside, we had a really wonderful weekend. I felt a change over the course of the two days and many runs - both of us feeling more like we know what the other is doing, and we were much more of a team than we had been at previous trials. I'm so proud of this boy and his progress. And I didn't mind beating my friend's dog (who is in AKC Ex B) in jumpers by 10 seconds either! g Granted, they were pretty tired, as they normally only do 2 runs a day and this was only their 2nd NADAC show, but it was still kinda fun. Now to get those contacts under control. Christy |
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