GCDOC Agility Trial, Devon's runs

This was officially the first weekend where Devon was at a new place on new equipment. I entered her in FAST on Saturday just to get her on the teeter. I had a feeling she would do well, and she did just fine. 

Generally, I was very pleased with her attitude and her desire to work. As I mentioned in an earlier post, she did stop tugging as soon as we moved from the crating area into the arena with the rings. She also started sniffing the dirt at that point too. I did forget that she hasn't trained on dirt in about a year. Thankfully she was less distracted than she could have been. She's really starting to enjoy the work in agility.

Our warm ups were mostly shorter than I anticipated. Devon was the first 20 inch dog in every class. The most 24 inch dogs we had was 3 with the least being none, so once she was the first dog on the line. She handled all of it well. 

I'm also doing a better job with her on the start line. Every time we go to the line, Devon wants to make sure the judge sees her, so she looks at the judge and wags her tail. I'm now putting my hand in front of her face and asking for a sit. This is working well.

Saturday Novice FAST

Our goal for this run was to get on the teeter successfully. Devon was really wired for this run, so I knew I'd have a lot of speed from her. I selected a minimal lead out and a push to the broad jump. I knew this was risky, but I was very happy with how she handled it. After the teeter, I pulled her off a jump, but you can see she wasn't committed. That was a mental note to me to support the jumps better in her upcoming runs. 

Enjoy the new A frame performance on the dirt. Agile Gold asked if we changed our stopped contact criteria to a nose touch. I had to laugh. Although it looks like we did, Devon was simply taking advantage of an opportunity for a good sniff of the dirt. She went on to my next request, so I decided to let it go.

I walked the course staying behind the send line for the gamble and also stepping in. I wasn't sure what Devon would do, and I didn't want to pull her off the first obstacle. As you can see by the video, I shouldn't have worried. She sent very well and I was well behind the gamble line. We were over time by a lot, but I didn't care about the Q and considered it a great run.

Saturday Novice JWW

I was happy with this run too. Devon handled the front cross well after jump 3 and even pushed into the tunnel when I had to hold my ground a little. You see her shooting out of the tunnel past the next jump. What you can't see on the video is that she was stressed. Something spooked her either inside the tunnel or right as she exited. She had her head turned away from me and the course and she was looking over her shoulder beyond the ring gates. 

Everyone who saw her run agreed she was spooked by something, but no one could figure out what it was. I was very proud of her that she shook off this stress and came right back to work. The over run of the front cross was simply how I had to handle it without any pre-cue to her of the turn. 

When I asked for the weaves later in the course, she took that opportunity to go check out what was going on outside the ring. I immediately gave up on that weaves and asked her to come back to work, which she did. She wanted to go around that double, but I wasn't going to allow it and gave her a pretty firm jump command. That was all it took to get her back to work and finish the course in style.

I was pleased with how Devon worked through her issues on this course and maintained her work ethic. A couple of people who watched thought she looked very happy, too.

Saturday Novice Standard

Devon held up extremely well for this final run of the day. She was still excited to work even though it had been a long day with three runs. 

I was very pleased with the opening and my front cross. She never looked at the off course A frame. She sent around the circle very well. Her A frame contact was much like the FAST class, but she did look up and actually acknowledge my presence so I released her. 

I was concerned about pulling her off the tire since I wanted to do a front cross after the next jump. I wanted to test her understanding of a forward send with lateral movement, but I wanted it to be successful. Frankly, I shouldn't have worried so much. I think I handled that just like I did for Ian's run and she handled it just as well as he did! What a girl! I'm really proud of that lateral distance I got. 

Devon did go a little wide on the front cross, but her table performance was perfect. Her teeter was also solid with an odd approach to it. The funniest part of the run comes after the panel. She knew the tunnel was next, but she also saw the dogwalk which is a favorite obstacle. She holds on just so long, and finally has the baby dog moment and takes off for the dogwalk. She doesn't touch it and did come back to me for the tunnel. She even gave judge Jeff Ipser a look as he's calling the refusal that seemed to say, "Hey you! Put that arm down!"

After the dogwalk, the course turned to the weave poles and then one more finish jump. We had been so successful, I decided to take her off the course after the dogwalk and not worry about a set of weaves I knew she wouldn't do. It was the best call, and I think this was one of the best runs she had this weekend.

Sunday Novice JWW

This was the class where we were first dog on the line. Thanks to videographer Christie for getting this great angle! This was a tough course, with the same opening for all three classes. A pinwheel off the opening is really demotivating for Excellent level dogs, so I wasn't really surprised by the sniffing after the second jump. 

Devon thought about taking off, but recovered quickly and after taking the third jump she looked fantastic. I was very pleased with our rear cross on the take off side of jump 8. Her send into the tunnel with my deceleration and lateral movement was also a success from previous runs. 

At the weaves, she made the entrance and I moved on. I was surprised to see her slight head flick like she was planning to dive back in and weave. However, I'm glad I moved on instead. This was a very nice run.

Sunday Novice Standard

The final run of the weekend. Although this run was much earlier than the day before, it had been a long weekend. This run was 2 hours after I had finished with Ian, and I have to say I was really ready to go home. However, I knew Devon probably would enjoy the run. 

I do think this was Devon's worst run of the weekend, although it wasn't horrid. She came off the start line a little slow. She didn't hit her 2 on 2 off contact at all, but made the turn to the double. She also blew her dogwalk contact, and I have a feeling that was not only sniffing, but also because she saw the weaves. I did ask for a reattempt at the weaves, and she gave me the entrance, so I went on.

Devon did crouch more on the teeter than she had in the runs the day before. I'm wondering if this was because she was aware of the judge calling the failure to perform the weaves near the teeter as she was right at the pivot point. 

From the teeter, the rest of the run was beautiful. Her table performance with her automatic down and then to a sit was perfect. She pulled well into a difficult entrance to the tunnel. In fact I almost pulled her off of it. And she turned to the board jump as she was shooting out of the tunnel with me at quite a bit of lateral distance. 

Devon not only got treats, but she also was able to get some pets from some visitors who came to watch. They thought she did a really great job, and she really enjoyed meeting new people. It was a wonderful ending to a long two days of trialing!