I've been very very busy lately, doing a lot of 'doggie' stuff with little time to post on my Blog. The last 5 days I was in New York state at Wine Circuit shows and trials at Romulus, NY. I've been going to this venue/show for many, many years. The grounds are beautiful, the area is absolutely gorgeous, there is lots going on at this show (conformation, obedience, rally, agility and sometimes lure coursing). plus there are lots of NY state wineries to visit in the area. I will, however, go on record to state that Ontario produces far better wines than NY state but it's still fun to visit the wineries, if one has time.
In previous years I've done only conformation and other years conformation and rally with multiple dogs. This year I also had multiple dogs and focused on conformation with Quest and agility with Miska (Quest's mom) and Diva (littermate to Quest). The last time I did agility here was in 2004 with Keira and I can recall it being extremely wet and muddy. I was so covered in mud, I had to find a laundromat to get clean for the next day's competition in '04.
Weather usually repeats itself at this show and didn't 'disappoint' in that regard in 2012. Last year was a mud bath and so was the previous 2010 (especially muddy!) when I was last in attendance. Of the 4 days this year, it rained for two and turned parts of the agility fields and conformation rings into muddy paths. It simply wouldn't be Wine Circuit without rain or cold or sun or high winds or clouds. One year there was the threat of a tornado and the entire show was cancelled on Thursday.
I entered Miska and Diva in two agility trials per day - novice standard and novice jumpers. That meant I did 4 runs per day, times 4 days which equaled 16 runs. I was totally gobsmacked that I didn't have conflicts with conformation on any of the four days. That's virtually unheard of there!!
I was thrilled that Miska came home with her AKC Novice Jumper (Preferred) title and two legs towards her Novice Standard (Preferred) title. The preferred class means Miska can jump a lower jump height than her withers. She's nine years old and jumps 16" although she measures just under 22". Due to my handling error, Miska missed the dog walk contact by a paw; otherwise she would have aced and qualified in another Standard trial and completed her Novice Standard title. Miska had an amazing run and was going so fast on the dog walk that I didn't want to slow her down. She was crossing it faster than she had ever run it in her life and had only the tire jump to go through to finish the course. I failed to tell her to "touch" at the bottom of the dog walk, figuring she would touch the contact zone on her own. Instead, she was flying so fast, she leaped over the zone and flew through the tire jump to complete her course. I was sooooo disappointed she failed to qualify but her speed and happiness thrilled me immensely and so that helped to make up for my handling error.
Out of her five qualifying courses, Miska had 4 clean runs (100/100) and 1 score of 95/100. She had 1 first & 2nd place finishes in Standard, and 2 seconds and a third place in Jumpers. I am so proud of her!!!
Diva earned her Novice Standard title with 90/100 (third), 95/100 (first) and 100/100 (first). She also earned two Novice Jumpers legs, both with first place finishes (scores of 95 & 100). Diva is very fast but needs a lot more training on her focus on me so that she doesn't take jumps on her own. And I need to work more on my distance handling skills with her. She will become, I am confident, an awesome agility dog.
In previous years I've done only conformation and other years conformation and rally with multiple dogs. This year I also had multiple dogs and focused on conformation with Quest and agility with Miska (Quest's mom) and Diva (littermate to Quest). The last time I did agility here was in 2004 with Keira and I can recall it being extremely wet and muddy. I was so covered in mud, I had to find a laundromat to get clean for the next day's competition in '04.
Weather usually repeats itself at this show and didn't 'disappoint' in that regard in 2012. Last year was a mud bath and so was the previous 2010 (especially muddy!) when I was last in attendance. Of the 4 days this year, it rained for two and turned parts of the agility fields and conformation rings into muddy paths. It simply wouldn't be Wine Circuit without rain or cold or sun or high winds or clouds. One year there was the threat of a tornado and the entire show was cancelled on Thursday.
I entered Miska and Diva in two agility trials per day - novice standard and novice jumpers. That meant I did 4 runs per day, times 4 days which equaled 16 runs. I was totally gobsmacked that I didn't have conflicts with conformation on any of the four days. That's virtually unheard of there!!
I was thrilled that Miska came home with her AKC Novice Jumper (Preferred) title and two legs towards her Novice Standard (Preferred) title. The preferred class means Miska can jump a lower jump height than her withers. She's nine years old and jumps 16" although she measures just under 22". Due to my handling error, Miska missed the dog walk contact by a paw; otherwise she would have aced and qualified in another Standard trial and completed her Novice Standard title. Miska had an amazing run and was going so fast on the dog walk that I didn't want to slow her down. She was crossing it faster than she had ever run it in her life and had only the tire jump to go through to finish the course. I failed to tell her to "touch" at the bottom of the dog walk, figuring she would touch the contact zone on her own. Instead, she was flying so fast, she leaped over the zone and flew through the tire jump to complete her course. I was sooooo disappointed she failed to qualify but her speed and happiness thrilled me immensely and so that helped to make up for my handling error.
Out of her five qualifying courses, Miska had 4 clean runs (100/100) and 1 score of 95/100. She had 1 first & 2nd place finishes in Standard, and 2 seconds and a third place in Jumpers. I am so proud of her!!!
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| Miska with her rosettes |
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| Diva with 4 first place rosettes, 1 third and hwe finishing title rosette |
CONGRATULATIONS!
ReplyDeleteCongrats! You had a busy weekend in the US!
ReplyDeleteAwesome work!! Congratulations on your agility titles and legs.
ReplyDelete