Trial Recap: GMKC AKC July 14th in Concord

We have come to the Greater Monroe Kennel Club's Concord many times before, but always as spectators. After AKC opened their doors to mixed breeds earlier this year, we were excited to attend this trial that was so close to home.

Our excitement turned into minor frustration, as the stories of the running surface from friends and how it affects large dogs turned out to be true.

GMKC rents an artificial turf surface from the Cabarrus Arena and Events Center. We've ran on artificial turf before, with great success. This turf was different: it's basically just fake plastic grass over concrete. No padding, and no traction. This is a big problem for the larger dogs with speed. Harley's just under 60 pounds, and turns on a dime. This weekend, however, every time she made a hard cut, her legs came out from under her and took a spill. Even Mo, who is about 15 pounds lighter than Harley, took a slide after turning coming out of a tunnel on the novice course. We saw many other large dogs doing the same.

Harley had a tough time adjusting. We tried a few different things on her paws to gain traction (coke, paw wax, and finally anti-slip grooming spray...Thanks Bob & Darius!). The anti-slip spray turned out to be the best, but not before Harley lost some of her confidence while running on it. Thankfully, Harley's last run went well, so it was good to end on a good note.

I'm not going to dwell on sour grapes, but I think we'll be holding Harley out of the trials here unless they make modifications to the surface. Mo seemed to do well, so we'll probably still enter him, but it's just not worth the risk of injury to Harley.

In other news, this was Mo's first trial at his full height! We entered him in 16" preferred in Charlotte just to see how he would do. Given his success there, we raised the bar (literally!) and started practicing at 20" in the weeks afterwards. He adjusted quickly, and so we entered him in the 20" class for this trial. He knocked one bar, but other than that, I think he did very well!

Saturday 8/14
Open Standard - Harley - Kristen and Harley were doing very well until Harley left waaay early for the triple. What resulted was her crashing the bar, and sliding across the slick surface. The rest of the run went well, but Harley seemed a little more timid for the remainder of the run. Looking at the results, if we had gotten the triple, She would've placed 1st by 7 seconds! Oh well....

Novice Standard - Mo - James and Mo had a very crisp run! Mo's contacts were spot on, and despite some lag laying down on the table and having to redo the last poll of the weaves, he was fast and accurate. He had a slip coming out of the tunnel near the end, but recovered well and finished in 2nd with a Q! [video]

Open JWW - Harley - Kristen tried some paw wax on Harley's paws to get some traction, but to no avail. Harley looked visibly slower, trying to compensate for the turf's slickness. She took a nasty spill trying to make a cut after the double, and then decided that she didn't want to go over one of the single bar jumps, so she decided to shortcut and go under it. Kristen didn't want to make Harley go back and fix it, so the run ended with a refusal and a missed obstacle.

Sunday 8/15
Open JWW - Harley - James' game plan was to try to be ultra-conservative, and try to slow Harley's speed down as much as possible to maintain her traction. Bob & Darius were also kind enough to give us some Anti-Slip spray that's used for confirmation dogs when they show on slick surfaces. Unfortunately, Harley just isn't used to going slow. The anti-slip spray seemed to work, but Harley looked like she still didn't trust her feet to stick. She dropped the bar on the triple again, but the rest of the run, despite awkward handling, was ok.

Novice JWW - Mo - Kristen took Mo out on the jumpers course, and had to do some in-course adjustments, as Mo was running much faster than he usually does! It put her slightly out of position, and an awkward cross made Mo drop a bar. Other than that, the run was very fast and clean.

Open Standard - Harley - James' plan on this was just to stick with what we know, and just see how it goes. We appied the anti-slip spray right before going in, and that seemed to make a difference. Harley seemed more comfortable with her footing, and was more confident with speed. The run went without a hitch, and we were relieved to end with such a good result. Harley earned a 2nd & Q, but more importantly, gained her confidence back. [video]

Titling Progress: Harley
Open Standard (OA) - 2/3 legs
Open JWW (OAJ) - 2/3 legs
Open FAST (OF) - 1/3 legs


Titling Progress: Mo
Novice Standard (NA) - 1/3 legs
Novice JWW (NAJ) - 0/3 legs
Novice FAST (NF) - 0/3 legs