We were in an AKC agility competition on Saturday, November 15, 2014. This was Journey's 7th AKC Trial and only his 2nd time in Open Level. He was in three events, Open FAST, Open Standard and Open Jumpers with Weaves.
It was so cold - in the 20's. Our last AKC trial was in September and it was over 100 degrees. So quite a change. Journey's 1st event was the FAST event, where we go out and try to collect all the points possible, and also do the "gamble" or "send". That is where I need to send him over several obstacles on the other side of a tape on the ground. I cannot step over the tape; he must go alone and do the obstacles on his own. In this particular event we needed 55 points. The "send" was worth 35 points, so we only needed 20 additional points. We would have made it with points to spare, but for some reason, Journey bailed off of the middle of the teeter, losing 10 points. i don't know why he did that, he normally has no issue with the teeter. But it left us with only 51 points and no "Q". Other than that it was his normal beautiful run. His "send", which is the hardest part of this event was perfect.
Journey hurrying through the weave poles.
Our next event was Open Standard. That is kind of the main event and he was so good.
Below is the course map. We start in the lower left corner at obstacle #1, which is a hanging tire that he must jump through; 2 is a jump; 3 is a flat parachute that he must run through; 4 is in the upper left hand corner, a tunnel; 5 is a raised dog walk; 6 is a double jump; 7 - a regular jump; 8 is the teeter; 9 is a table which he needs to pause on for five seconds; 10 is a regular jump; 11 is the weave poles; 12 is a jump; 13 is a tunnel which he needed to enter on the far side; next was 14 which was the A-frame; 15, a jump; 16 was a triple jump; and the last obstacle was 17, a double jump.
This is Journey doing the tire, at the start of the course.
Below is Journey on the pause table. He thought it might be nice to shake my hand, but since I am not allowed to touch him, I had to ignore his cute offer.
Below is Journey just having taken the triple jump and preparing for the last jump, a double.
His run was so nice and he got a 1st place "Q". It is his second Qualifying score in Open Standard. One more and he will be in Excellent class. When I began doing this sport with Journey I was fighting some pretty painful back problems. I did not know if I could do it. I hoped to be able to do at least the Novice class with him, even if we did not "Q". Agility is such a wonderful sport and it creates such a bond between the teammates, I wanted that for Journey and me. He consistently has moved up and in only 7 one day trials he has titled in Novice and moved up in Open to only one Q away from Excellent class. I don't know if I can run excellent class, but I intend to try - can't let my teammate down! The levels get more difficult, with more obstacles.
Our last event for the day was the Jumpers with Weaves. It is a speedy event. There are only jumps and the weave poles, so nothing to slow Journey down, or give me a chance to catch up.
Below is the course map (when there are two different numbers on an obstacle it just means the obstacle is taken twice, once from the side each number is posted).
I had Journey wait at the start and I led out to the 3rd jump. He broke his stay (naughty) and caught up with me. He knew he was wrong and I attribute his faulty entry into the weaves (#4) to his guilty conscience. So he had to make a second try to enter properly, on the right side of the first pole and he threw in an extra jump. At the end of the weaves he turned right, as directed and took jumps #5 and #6. He spotted #7 and he really took off running fast. Starting with jump #7, my amazing boy just pretty much did the course on his own. There was no way I was going to be able to stay with him and he just glanced at me and I knew he had it. He jumped the next seven jumps, which were in a big circle, on his own and he was perfect. He returned to me with a big grin on his face. I directed him to jump #15 and the last jump, #16 and we were done. No "Q" this time, but it was actually my favorite run he did as he was figuring it out on his own and was working out from me over half the barn away. Love this boy so much and I am so proud of him.
Below is the video of our 1st place Q run in Open Standard Agility Preferred.
Last is our Open JWW Preferred, NQ run - or rather, Journey's run. I did not do much but try to keep somewhere near him. No easy task!
