My first Nationals was an experience, mixed with "the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat" as the beginning of the weekend sports programs used to say.
As you know, I was running Baby for Katrina, as well as running Skye. Running Baby was a lot of fun, and we were really sooo close to being right there with the best of them. In Friday's State team tournament, Baby and I managed to be 4th place for Colorado (there were just over 50 Colorado dogs). She ran really well for me - we would have been in 1st for Colorado except for her missing a weave entry (which she never does).
On Saturday, the day started with Standard and we had a beautiful run. Unfortunately, Katrina had to tell me that we got called for the dogwalk contact.
Saturday afternoon's JWW was the only run where Baby did not run connected for me - she was searching around for Katrina while we were warming up, and then she did it a few times while running too. This caused a refusal since she wasn't paying attention! Baby's final run on Sunday in the Hybrid round went great and was a clean run. Overall, she placed I think 96th of 225 dogs, due to a fault in 2 of her 3 runs. Without those faults, she would have been in the top 25.
So, for me and Skye, it was not a good experience. He went 0/5, with all but 1 run being a zero point run. Weaves were the biggest issue - he would meander out about pole 4 looking at me, and wouldn't weave when I put him back in - this was in 4/5 runs. The one run he actually did weave correctly was the run where he knocked a bar, jumped a contact and got a refusal. We finished just barely above the people who did not show up :-\ . Pretty depressing. When we got home, I put him through the weaves out front and he did them super fast without a problem with a ball for reward. Who knows what was going on - I just know it's not an experience I will repeat with him.
On Saturday, the day started with Standard and we had a beautiful run. Unfortunately, Katrina had to tell me that we got called for the dogwalk contact.
Saturday afternoon's JWW was the only run where Baby did not run connected for me - she was searching around for Katrina while we were warming up, and then she did it a few times while running too. This caused a refusal since she wasn't paying attention! Baby's final run on Sunday in the Hybrid round went great and was a clean run. Overall, she placed I think 96th of 225 dogs, due to a fault in 2 of her 3 runs. Without those faults, she would have been in the top 25.
So, for me and Skye, it was not a good experience. He went 0/5, with all but 1 run being a zero point run. Weaves were the biggest issue - he would meander out about pole 4 looking at me, and wouldn't weave when I put him back in - this was in 4/5 runs. The one run he actually did weave correctly was the run where he knocked a bar, jumped a contact and got a refusal. We finished just barely above the people who did not show up :-\ . Pretty depressing. When we got home, I put him through the weaves out front and he did them super fast without a problem with a ball for reward. Who knows what was going on - I just know it's not an experience I will repeat with him.
I've been considering mostly retiring him from agility after his MACH and Perf. ADCH titles are earned, both of which we are close to earning. My initial thoughts about retiring him stem from his reactive behavior with other dogs. He really has to be managed and kept out of other dogs space - he will lunge at them, and sometimes bark his fool head off depending on the dog. It's something I really hate, and can make it stressful when we are in a cramped area getting ready for our turn. This is totally not an issue with Rip, which is how it should be. Skye also does not like to run when its warm - he will just shut down and go in slow motion. So.... add those issues to my Nationals experience, and I think just focusing on Rip going forward will be more rewarding for me, and probably less stressful for Skye. I will decide when the time comes.
5 comments:
Sounds like you are making the best decision for Skye. Our first agility dogs teach us so much. I have found it is really nice just to have Summit to focus on at AKC trials.
You are so lucky to be close enough to finish those two big titles even though IMO titles aren't everything but it will be nice to get them. I had to retire Tug my red and white BC because he just simply did not love running agility and with five dogs it gets expensive especially if he really didn't want to play. On the other spectrum it was truely heartbreaking to have to retire my Cashman due to epilepsy and other health issues without ever reaching his full potential.
So I guess what I am saying is do what you have to do. Rip truely does enjoy the game and has so much potential.
Bummer Skye didn't do better, but I think just being able to go would be fun!
Maybe he needs a more experienced handler.
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