Tire is not a Tunnel and it is NOT a Teeter ....

aaaah, yes, but it is a round flashy thing to go through .....

It's all in the 'T's. Yeah well.
Couple weekends ago, we had our first of the year local USDAA trial. Fun as always, very pleasant judge and really cool courses.
But I swear, the winter of not trialing much must have done something to competitors as most came out of that winter lull complaining, bitching about/at this or that, in foul moods to begin with and just clearly dissatisfied with their lives. So why even bother spending the weekend with the dogs if all they can do is pick out all the negatives, some totally out of their control, but most of their own doing, or more like lack of. UGH. As a course builder I had the advantage of staying out of most the negativity and putting down of the dog or the handler, or sky, or the grass or I guess life in general. But even in the ring, couldn't escape raised voices, choice words, or whining. Really ....

It all started with day 1 and the break away tire that was used for the first time. Oh my ......
It all of a sudden became a subject of so much controversy and discussions that by the end of the day, the tire has morphed into some unimaginable obstacle never seen by the dogs or handlers.
Up until it became a faultable obstacle, the tire has been totally taken for granted. It became obvious how many do not teach the execution of the tire and assume it is just a donut with a big hole, much like a tunnel is, that the dog is just expected to go through .... well hmmmm.
When it started to show that many dogs tend to drop their rear on top of it and have gotten used to dragging themselves through it and earning a fault as a result of the tire breaking away, the tire was deemed a totally different obstacle and that it just wasn't a tire. Really???

So of course the beast did not make an appearance again on day 2 or 3 of the trial. Although we all witnessed a pretty spectacular crash into the regular tire the next day, with the dog doing a somersault as it catapulted through. And that was the first obstacle, so clearly this had to have been a reckless execution, as the dog did not have any speed, handling confusion or bad approach. The handler did admit she would have rather taken a 5pt fault hit than to put the dog through that experience.
It also interesting to see how quite a few people changed their handling while the breakaway tire was in place to facilitate a good, clean approach and thus have the dog sail through it. Hmmmm, makes you wonder how it is taken for granted.

Then of course there is the teeter ... well to me that weekend it became a tunnel. Twice I had called it a tunnel while sending Banshee up on it. Good dog that she is, she ignored my mumbo jumbo perfectly and executed the teeter with a beautiful slide into two on two off.
Gotta love those perfectly trained, independently thinking agility dogs.
Next weekend I am just giving her the maps to read and study and I will just go tag along on the course.

I on the other hand had a fantastic weekend and the girls did amazingly well. Banshee got her first set of Performance Steeplechase and Grand Prix Q's for the Regionals and Nationals (should I decide to venture out on a long trip this year).
Riot ran like a champ, winning first round of Steeplechase. She even beat Banshee in time. How's that for an awesome USDAA debut for a 20-month old???
I was so proud of her.
But alas, yes, the contacts still need lots of work and mileage to be just right. I felt some were just too close for comfort, even though she got them, I did not like this borderline execution. We'll just keep on running and running, till she gets it just right ..... :-)
So still limited amount of trial runs for her when it is work in progress.

Aaaaah, so the weather is going to be quite nice this weekend. Which is a good thing since there is a four day huge AKC show in town. Lots of shopping to be done there :-)
Banshee, Riot and I are only doing two days of it, one because I still have this 'work' thing and two, Sunday is Church, as in Church of Flyball and we wouldn't miss it for anything, or at least Blink wouldn't forgive me.

You better not be talking about not going to flyball

No, trying to not skip any practices so we can get better and ready for our next flyball tourney in June. Blink is all excited about his new UTB green digs, a brand new and TOTALLY GREEN crate.

Well, looking forward to some 70 degree temps this weekend, and although very tempted, the shorts will stay in the closet for at least few more weeks. I am not feeling that brave, just yet.

And I leave you all with an agility montage of Riot's USDAA weekend





NOTE: that awesome shot of Riot in the tunnel was captured by the talented eye of Mia Larson, thank you so much.