2010 April GCOC Trial Recap

Our first AKC trial was quite a success! April 1st marked the first date where AKC clubs could allow mixed breed dogs to compete in agility, obedience and rally. The Greater Columbia Obedience Club (GCOC) opened the doors to mixed breeds with welcoming grace in their April 9-11 trial.

Kristen and I were so grateful to have so many friends at the trial with us to mentor us in our first AKC event. As we anticipated, Harley did very well, and showed people exactly what mixed breeds can accomplish!

Harley had 3 runs on Saturday - Novice Standard, Novice JWW (Jumpers With Weaves), and Novice FAST (Fifteen and Send Timed).

Kristen took Harley on the Standard run. The run was looking beautiful until we realized our oversight coming into the trial: The table. In USDAA, the pause table is always, always, ALWAYS a down. The judge's count does not start until the dog is completely down. In AKC, the judge announces during the briefing whether the table will be a Sit or a Down. Unfortunately for us, we've trained Harley to do an automatic down when she gets on the table. This by itself is not bad, however we never worked with Harley to getting her up into a sit from a down. When Kristen tried to get her into a sit, Harley jumped up on her 3 times, earning a disqualification (Harley thought Kristen was telling her to give hugs!). The rest of the run was flawless!

James handled Harley's JWW run. Harley charged mercilessly through the course like she had something to prove. It was a perfect clean run, besting the course in 20 seconds. It would be a 2nd place finish with our first AKC Q!

For Harley's FAST run, Kristen got some much-needed counseling from our friends Laura and Christine on the rules. FAST is all about racking up points. Each obstacle has an assigned point value on the course, and there's a "bonus" combo where the dog has to take the obstacles at a distance (5-7 feet in Novice). You have a set amount of time to obtain the required points. In her run, we had 32 seconds to amass 50 points. A buzzer sounds at the end of time, and if you have not gone over the end obstacle, you get negative 1 point for each second you spend getting to the end jump. Kristen and Harley put up an impressive 77 points in 28 seconds! Harley again placed 2nd, missing first by 1 point!

Sunday was just 2 runs: Standard and JWW. Kristen and I traded off and she took Jumpers and I took Standard. Jumpers was first in the day, but didn't turn out to be all sunshine. A small handler miscalculation took Harley off-course, and the rest of the course was history. We were both bummed, but in the end, we're here to have fun!

After waiting all day, we finally had the chance to redeem ourselves. Remembering the table incident the previous day, we had been working with Harley all day training her to come up to a sit from a down. While not 100%, she was very close to having it down pat. We flew through the course and reached the table halfway through. Sure enough, she did her automatic down on the table and the moment of truth arrived: I said "Up" with a hand signal, and sure enough, Harley went immediately into a sit! We finished off the run with no faults, earning us 2nd place and Q!

So you might be thinking to yourself, if she did so well, why is she always coming in 2nd? There's a perfectly good answer to that, one that we are not ashamed of. Anna Eifert and her dog Nevian were in town to give a seminar. They decided to enter the trial, and since they don't usually compete in AKC, they had to start in Novice. As you can see in this video, Nevian, the dog who placed 1st to our 2nd each time, is quite the accomplished dog. We were humbled just to be competing with a world-class level dog and it showed us how special Harley is by being closely competitive with them!

So that was our first AKC trial! As you can see below, there was a good turn out of mixed breeds, and AKC gave us a commemorative ribbon to mark the event.

Our First AKC Trial: Columbia GCOC

We're heading down to Columbia this weekend for the Greater Columbia Obedience Club's AKC agility trial! This is an important milestone as it marks our first trial in AKC with our mixed-breed star, Harley!

It will definitely be a little weird being back in Novice level. For those of you who are unfamiliar, each organization has its own titles. Harley competes in PIII level (the highest Performance level) in USDAA. However, since she has not competed in AKC, we have to start at the bottom and work ourselves up. Most organizations will not let you enter a higher level even if you have achieved a similar level in another organization until you fulfill their title requirements. Main reason is that each organization has slightly different rules, judges, and regulations that might not be completely compatible with their own titling requirements and standards.

Expect updates on our facebook page throughout the weekend.

So it's Novice-A for us! Look out, AKC. Here we come!

LCDA Charleston Trial Recap

February 27-28th was Harley's trial down in Charleston, SC. Harley did very well the first day, earning qualifying scores in several events, most importantly the tournament events.

The Cynosport World Games are coming up this October in Louisville, KY, and this trial was an important step along the way. To qualify to enter a Cynosport tournament event, one must earn 2 qualifying scores in that event (except for Dog Agility Masters Team/Performace Versatility Pairs, which only requires 1 qualifying score). Coming into Charleston, we had 1 Q in Performance Grand Prix and 1 Q in Performance Speed Jumping. We needed a Q in each to guarantee our trip to Louisville. Read on to see if we made it...

Saturday

PIII Snooker - Harley usually does very well in Snooker. It's been her handlers that alway bungle it up! Not so with this run. Harley scored an impressive 52 points (If you know snooker rules, it was 4 reds and the points were 1+7+1+7+1+3+1+4+2+3+4+5+6+7 = 52). Best part was that she placed 1st and got her first SuperQ! 3 SuperQ's are needed to earn a PIII title in snooker, and we were dry up to this point, not for lack of trying. The thing about SuperQ's is that you have to be aggressive in your plan. It's not enough just to qualify. A SuperQ is earned when you place in the top 15% of a height class of at least 7 dogs (there are other rules about less than 7). You have to start running for the most points you can get instead of trying to be conservative and get the minimum 37 points required for a qualifying score. We've struggled recently with this, and going all out has cost us. Snooker is very unforgiving!


PIII Gamblers - Harley always does very well in her Gamblers opening. She racks up a lot of points very quickly. However, the closing came to bite us again. We placed 3rd overall, but no Q. We're still working on her distance work, and there's a lot more work to be done.


PIII Standard - As is always the case with our standard runs, something went wrong. Harley uncharacteristically dropped a bar, then proceed to look at her dad while not doing the weave polls (which was more dad's fault for not hiding well enough while video taping!). We ended with a respectable 3rd.

Performance Grand Prix  - With all Harley's troubles in standard, she sure doesn't show it in this tournament event (which has all the standard obstacles minus the pause table). She flew through this course to a first place and a Q! This was doubly important - A) This now qualifies us to enter PGP at Cynosport later this year, and B) a 1st place finish earns us a first round bye at regionals this June!

Performance Speed Jumping - Harley turned in another impressive performance, earning a 3rd place and a Q! This completes our goal for qualifying in each tournament event for Cynosport!


Sunday
In brief, Sunday was not as good as our Saturday showing. Harley was a little tired, and her runs showed it. She was making mistakes, and ended up not earning a Q in any of the events. She did, however, earn LOTS of 3rd places! Four, to be exact.

That's it for this trial. Our next trial isn't until April when we enter our first AKC trial! This will be the first month that mixed breeds are allowed at competition, and we are looking forward to showing our stuff!

Summarized Results:
Saturday

 - Performance Grand Prix - 1st and Q
 - PIII Snooker - 1st and Q

 - Perfomance Speed Jumping Round 1 - 3rd and Q

 - PIII Standard - 3rd
 - PIII Gamblers - 3rd

Sunday
 - PIII Standard - 3rd

 - PIII Jumpers - 3rd

 - PIII Gamblers - 3rd

 - Perfomance Speed Jumping Round 2 - Eliminated

 - PIII Snooker - 3rd

Slo-Mo's Ancestry

This was already on our facebook page, but we forgot to cross post it here for posterity. For Kristen's birthday, she received a DNA ancestry test for our puppy Mo. We know Mo's a mixed breed, but we were never quite sure what mix. Obviously a border collie mix, but what are the other parts???

Because Mo is a mixed breed, this ancestry is measured in levels. Mixed breeds rarely have anything listed in  level 1 (75%). They would have to have a purebred parent. Each subsequent level designates a smaller percentage.

Mo's highest level is 3 (20-36%): Collie (doesn't specify which type of collie but we all know)
level 4 (10-19%) breeds are: German Shepherd, Italian Greyhound, Siberian Husky
level 4 (less than 10%) breeds are: American Eskimo, English Setter

So what we learned from all this is that Mo is a Mutt with a capital M, and we're ok with that. Yes, we were hoping for something more conclusive, but at least it's conclusive that he is a mutt.

The best that we can do when people ask us what he is, is border collie mix.

Winter Weather Blues

Apologies for the recent drought of posts. Here's a couple reasons:

• Really bad luck with weather. Harley's agility class was cancelled this week for the second week in a row (first for snow, now for rain). Even worse, Mo's Beginner II class was cancelled for the THIRD week in a row due to weather. Lastly, the Show-and-Go we were going to attend this weekend was cancelled due to poor field conditions. That's what days and days of rain can do....
• Kristen got a new job! Probably not news for most of you, but it's a big change. She's now working for Wood Designs doing graphics. While working at the vet had it's perks and we still love the people there, it was time for a change. As a result of her new hours, it's now easier for us to take off for the weekend for a trial without having to worry about work schedules!
• OK, I admit. We're also lazy. 

I know all 4 of us are itching to get back out there once mother nature starts cooperating. As of right now, we're attending the Low Country Dog Agility trial February 27th. Wish us luck!

Carolina Piedmont Agility USDAA Trial Recap

We've just wrapped up the trial weekend in Raleigh at CPA's USDAA trial. The venue was great! Hunt Horse Arena is a superb location for an agility trial. It fits 3 rings in the indoor heated arena, albeit it's a tight squeeze. A two ring show would be more comfortable, but with the amount of entries, 3 rings were really needed.


I'm really impressed with CPA. They are just starting out in the world of trialing, and they are getting everything right. We learned on Sunday that this was the largest USDAA trial EVER held in NC. This was only their 2nd trial, and there looks to be many more to come. Kudos to Greg Fontaine, Carolina Piedmont Agility, and everyone involved.


Now to Harley's performance!


Day 1

P3 Snooker (Kristen) - Not too tough of a course. Kristen and Harley were doing VERY well and looked like they were headed for a sure Q. Unfortunately, the practice jump was right next to the weave poles. In the closing, Harley got distracted by something that direction and popped out of the poles. Snooker requires 37 points to qualify, and we ended with 33 points. Had we gotten through the weave poles, it would've been worth 5 points and our Q. Oh well...



P3 Pairs (James) - This is a class Harley traditionally does very well at, and this was not an exception. We had a great partner who did their half flawlessly. Despite an awkward baton exchange area that got the best of a lot of pairs, it went very smoothly. Harley was on-target and fast, but unfortunately she missed her weave pole entry. I think it was probably that she had too much speed going in, and just overshot it. Regardless, it was a 5 point fault. Great thing about pairs is that Qing is time+faults so as long as you're still under course time, you're good. We Q'd, and just barely missed 3rd place. 0.05 seconds sooner and we could've had it!

P3 Gamblers (James) - Harley's string of Non-Q's continued, highlighting our need to keep working on our distance work. James had a nice send over a jump to a far tunnel, but unfortunately stepped over the gamble line. Our opening would've had plenty of points, but the closing is always the challenge. Even had I not stepped over the line, Harley took the wrong jump after the tunnel. C'est la vie.


P3 Standard (Kristen) -  This was our most important class this weekend, as our last P2 title was on the line! Harley was running a little slow, but ran clean. We were concerned that she might not make the course time, but our worries were unfounded as we ended up placing 1st and Q!


Performance Speed Jumping Round 1 (Kristen) - The Steeplechase/PSJ course was very challenging for many dogs that entered. Since Harley was running pretty slow in her P3 Standard run, Kristen tried jazzing Harley up before her run with her favorite toy: a racquetball. Her strategy proved to be a successful one as Harley was noticeably faster. But it's not just speed that counts....it's accuracy. Harley was dead on! She earned a Q, and advanced to the next round on Day 2.


Day 2

P3 Gamblers (Kristen) - Harley's first run of the day. This run started out FANTASTIC....until the timer realized that they hadn't started the timer (very important in Gamblers). D'oh! So Kristen had to start over. Graciously, the judge said that as long as she did the same course, she'd give us the points even if we faulted. The restart did not go as well as the first run, but she did do the complete gamble, but missed the A-Frame contact. Despite not Qing, we were very happy with this, since she's starting to "get" distance work and not be velcroed to our side for the entire run. It's a process of learning, and she's showing signs of great improvement!

Performance National Qualifier (James) - This course was fast and fun! James had the pressure on to Q since Kristen already Q'd on Saturday in Performance Speed Jumping. These two tournament classes are important since Q's in these count towards qualifying for the Cynosport World Games. Harley did beautifully and Q'd with ease. She didn't place, but Q's are what counts. The only place that counts is 1st since that gives you a first-round bye at regionals (we earned one of these last year).

Performance Speed Jumping Round 2 (Kristen) - With our Round 1 Q in hand, this run is for the money! PSJ round 2 placements determine prize money for places 1st-3rd in each height class, with 1st obviously getting the most. Harley did well, but with so many good dogs and the fact that Harley was getting tired, she just wasn't fast enough to place. We ended up in 6th.


P2 Standard (James) - Since we earned our PS2 title the previous day, this run was just for fun since it won't count towards anything. Despite being late in the day and both of us being tired, Harley had a nearly clean run. Her only fault? She jumped off the pause table. While I'm very happy this didn't count, it was frustrating since we've worked very hard the last couple months to "fix" her table. All weekend she was doing a beautiful automatic down. For some reason or another, she hopped on the table and hopped right off. When she got back on, the down was automatic. Despite not Qing, Harley placed 1st (nobody else Q'd in our height class either). That's what I love about USDAA: You don't have to Q to place!


P3 Snooker (James) - Last run of a very long day! I took a very risky snooker plan and hoped it worked. Since it's the last class of the day, I knew Harley wouldn't be as energetic, so I wanted to avoid the weave poles (the #6 obstacle was a combo jump to weave poles). So I did all 7 point obstacles. Problem is that the 7 point obstacle was not very close to the required red jumps! Harley and I sprinted all over the field and made up some impressive ground (I actually had to warn the judge at the start that my path was coming right towards her! She thanked me for telling her, and moved to a better position so I wouldn't barrel right into her..). The strategy worked, and we got all three 7-point obstacles and made it through obstacle 6 in the closing for a total of 44 points (need 37 to Q). We were hoping for a "SuperQ" but were bested by 2 other dogs that managed to get 48 points. We ended with a 3rd place and a Q.

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Summarized Results:
Saturday
 - PII Standard - 1st & Q
 - PIII Pairs - Q (Did not place)
 - PIII Gamblers - Did not place
 - Perfomance Speed Jumping Round 1 - Q (Did not place)
 - PIII Snooker - Did not place

Sunday
 - PII Standard - 1st
 - PIII Gamblers - Did not place
 - Performance National Qualifier - Q (Did not place)
 - Perfomance Speed Jumping Round 2 - 6th
 - PIII Snooker - 3rd & Q


NEW TITLES:
PS2 - Performance II Standard
PD2 - Performance Dog II

Major AKC & USDAA Announcements

Just about to leave for our trial in Raleigh and got some VERY good news!

1. USDAA just announced the venue for the 2010 Cynosport World Games. This year it will be held at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, KY October 13-17!

From USDAA:

We are pleased to announce that we have received a Letter of Commitment from the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville to host the Cynosport World Games on October 13 - 17, 2010.  Options are also being offered for 2011 and/or 2012.

The facility is home to the Kentucky State Fair and the Kentuckiana Cluster of Dog Shows and has ample RV and general parking, and includes both indoor and outdoor areas for competition and other use.  Much of the competition and the finals will be held in the Broadbent Arena on packed dirt and will be streamed live via the Internet. 

We are working diligently with the facility, local sports commission and hotels to secure room blocks at favorable rates.

The City of Louisville has undergone a great transformation as a destination of choice, and we are certain competitors and guests alike will enjoy their time in Louisville.

Further details will be annouced as they become available.

2. AKC just made a major announcement about changes to their Mixed Breed program!

• They have decided that Mixed Breeds may compete in any agility, rally, or obedience event. Initially, Mixed Breed classes were only available at events that were not also holding an all-breed event (Conformation).
• Mixed Breeds will now compete with their Purebreds friends instead of in a separately. 
• Mixed Breed titles shall be the same as their Purebred friends. There will NOT be separate titles for Mixed Breeds.

Both news items are very important, but I am especially happy about the AKC changes. I'm glad to see that they acted so quickly to feedback from the community, and, in my opinion, made changes for the better.