Sweden 2016 :: Our Agility Trial!

A week before we left we did AKC agility. Our first time in Excellent for jumpers and then we got our  last Open Standard pass.  This let us jump into the level 3 (of 3) in Sweden.  Over on the left, you can see the course map for that  first excellent trial.

Our first weekend in Sweden we went to a big agility trial. All 3 levels, Jumping and Agility (standard).  And 60-90+ dogs in each class. Super exciting. A few weeks ago I wrote about some general observations.

Our friends helped get Griffin registered and entered in the trials. Note that the registration with the kennel club took less than 24 hours and was online. I’m trying to get Tonks (Canadian Kennel Club registered) registered with AKC and it’s paper, mailing it in, and very expensive.  Registering for the trial? Done online. Online!!   And results are posted online while the trial is going on – people can check results that are almost immediately  posted.

No barrier around the rings. A chain laying on the ground.  Tents and people all around the ring. For most of the sequences I knew we could do any of the parts as a sequence, I was not as sure that we could do it all together.   A few fun things:

• No course maps.
• Run order was dry erase boards with numbers on them. You’d be marked to indicate you were there and numbers were erased as teams ran.
• 30+ people on the course walk!
• I think jumping higher than he does at home? There’s some flexibility in what the judges can allow, and the last day was lower than the first few runs.
• Formal awards presentation

Unfortunately I didn’t take enough notes right away and I’ve been slow to report about all our adventures. Each run mostly got better and better. He did leave the ring on the first 3 runs (barely on two!). On one we did a good job of coming back and continuing on and I know  if we had more time I would have been more and more confident about how he could handle the environment

The train in the ring rules are so different! I missed opportunities to use this early on because I am in the habit of “keep moving! don’t make the judge mad!” I regret not doing that. But, one run when he left to consider friendship with a little cocker, we heeled back in and finished the course (fairly well too!). The next run – much  more on task!

9 was tunnel so between 5 to 6, getting the dogs to the weaves, that tempting off course tunnel was a challenge!

On our very last run, Agility/Standard we a course I was not as confident about. There was a long opening threadle situation which is not a strong (or needed) skill at home. I had a plan for handling it snooker-style (way, way more and excessive turns). There was also a few areas with very tempting off courses and the tunnel entry after the dogwalk seemed impossible. But, somehow, we got through most of it with refusals but not errors that would be an NQ – but at the very end, when I was amazed we easily got the tunnel entry after the dogwalk, I didn’t cue enough deceleration and he put his front paws on the aframe.  But, we mostly did it, he was focused, not super fast, but steady!

The environment was so exciting. Most people were so enthusiastic and trying to encourage dogs to go as fast as possible. The intensity! I don’t see as much of that as home and I know I’m not that intense. I try to not slow my dog down, but I probably focus more on being precise than fast because that matters more for the things we do. It was thrilling to watch so many people trying to go as fast as they could.

It was such a fun experience to trial outdoors with Griffin and to have him do so well in that environment. He’s not a dog that likes agility a lot but he is a dog with quite a bit of training skills. He was on very different equipment; small tire! indoor/outdoor carpet on the contacts!  very “open” jump wings, and  massive looking long jump.

The kinds of challenges were perfect for us – it was the kind of hard that makes me want to do more training and more trials, not so hard it seems impossible. I love watching agility and it was great to see so many teams of various skill/training levels participating. It was amazing to see the training differences – especially with where dogs would commit to obstacles. The dogs had completely different focus/commitment points than what I see at home. Having space was so nice, especially at the start and finish areas.

On one hand, I’m very eager to trial again and succeed. But also, it seems like a bit of a disappointment to go from a course with such intriguing challenges. Again – compare the two course maps above!  The intensity was great – so fun to watch and made agility more of a ‘sport’ than it sometimes feels at home. I think it was good for me to be exposed to that. And it was exciting to go back each night and see training friends checking the agility club website page to see if their yearly rankings have been updated to include the day’s trial. We had such a fun time. I’m really happy we had these opportunities!

I’m not very patient waiting for our next chance to trial – 2 weeks until we can do AKC!