Simi Valley Kennel Club
AKC Agility Trial
May 19-20, 2007

Kristi's Report

I had taken three weeks off of showing so I woke up Saturday morning somewhat bleary eyed and not at all enthused about the trial. Let’s just say I should have stayed in bed. There were however some very entertaining moments and Cinder was, of course, perfect, no matter how atrocious I was!

I have been working on Gale’s gamble skills (in reality, MY gamble skills because Gale is just fine with distance) but I learned a really crucial lesson this weekend: do NOT work on distance the day before an AKC trial. We went off course at the 3rd obstacle in our standard run and Gale quite happily went off across half the ring from me before realizing that I was still standing waaayyy back that-a-way. I had to laugh. Chance was a complete disaster in Standard – I don’t even want to talk about it. Cinder was LOVELY and it was a course that was chewing people up and spitting them out. She was screamingly fast and not only Q’d but took 3rd! Good girlie!

Jumpers was the final course of the day and it was not a pleasant one either. Chance was so bad Nancy and I wondered if he was feeling ok: he was dropping bars everywhere (which has NOT been a problem recently) and just didn’t seem like himself. I sent Nancy home around noon with strict instructions to let Chancie rest for the remainder of the day. Patches was a naughty girl in Jumpers! I had to do a two jump lead out and that rotten 11 year old has apparently decided that she does not know how to”stay.” She came barreling into me (and I mean full contact) which put her over the correct jump but the judge (rightfully so) called the contact (it definitely helped her) and she did not Q. Forgetting her stay….sigh….

Gale was her usually lovely self in Jumpers – the run that doesn’t matter if she hasn’t Q’d in Standard. She already has her MXJ so OF COURSE she got around the course clean and picked up her umpteenth jumpers leg. Cinder was wonderful (I really can’t say enough good things about her) and picked up Double Q #19. Only 1 more to go for the MACH!!!

Despite still not feeling so great, I stuck around for another hour on Saturday to run Patches in Standard. I should have left – she went off course at obstacle 3 (which Patches never does) so I drove home in a fairly grumpy state of mind. But my one real goal for the whole weekend had been that Double Q with Cinder so I kept telling myself that the day had been a success.

Sunday was a MUCH better day! It started with Chance in Standard and I had my bouncy, barky enthusiastic boy back! He was wonderful!!!! There were some very tricky moments on the contacts (once again, the courses were icky) but he handled all of them magnificently. He got up so much speed at one point, and I wasn’t expecting it, he ran around a jump so no Q but both Nancy and I were thrilled with his attitude. Next up was Gale and I glumly walked over the ring because Saturday had been such a disaster. Typical Aussie – she decided to show me and ran perfect. Cinder also got around clean which of course started the “oh my god, I only need to get around in jumpers for her MACH” butterflies in my stomach. I decided not to tell ANYONE (except a couple key people who already knew) so that I wouldn’t feel that additional pressure as well.

Patches was icky in Jumpers but her mother – Betty – was there so that was nothing unexpected. Of my big dogs, Chance was my first Jumpers dog. He was crazed and wonderful and screamed around the course. He kept all his bars up and dealt with some very tricky handling moves and ended up overall in 2 nd place and finished his AXJ! YAY CHANCIE!!! Gale was next in the ring and also got around clean so Gale surprised me again and picked up Double Q #3. I had about 20 dogs in between Gale’s run and Cinder’s run and surprisingly enough the butterflies had started to go away. I think that getting Chance and Gale around the course (much harder dogs to run than Cinder) boosted my confidence. Cin and I did our usual “sit by the ring with Cin upside down in my lap” routine and watched dogs run the course. Like I said, I hadn’t told anyone about being up for our MACH but a couple people knew. I walked to the line with Cinder and thought “do not run like a pansy-ass.” Well, I am proud to say that I ran the course aggressively and Cinder was marvelous. We had one VERY scary moment at the 4th to last obstacle. I thought “oh my god, she is going to do it” and started to be a pansy-ass. I swear, the second I backed off a little, Cinder ticked a bar HARD. So I put it back into gear for the last three jumps and Cinder finished her MACH!!! YAY CINDER!!!!!! The trial secretary came running over and admonished me for not letting her know I was up for a MACH so she could have the big ribbon right by the ring. I explained to her that if I had done that, we would never have gotten the Q – I was ok with waiting 2 minutes for the ribbon.

I can’t believe the quest for 20 Double Q’s is over. Cinder is such an amazing little beastie. And, hopefully, I won’t have to do AKC’s for awhile now.