This weekend we attended 2 days of the AKC show in Castle Rock. I skipped Friday since I figured I may need some rest after last week's AKC Nationals.
It seems that AKC agility has taken a back seat to USDAA this year for us, and including this weekend, we have only attended 6 total days of AKC since the 2013 qualifying period started on December 1st last year. Admittedly, I do enjoy USDAA more than AKC for a number of reasons, but I still enjoy it enough to try and qualify and attend Nationals if I can. Next year is in Tulsa, OK. again, and as far as drives go - Tulsa is pretty easy, so that brings me to my post title. Looking at where we are now, and looking forward to what we need to do to qualify, I'm going to have to put in a conscious effort to attend enough AKC shows to get the double Qs and points we need.
It takes 6 double Qs and 400 points to qualify. Looking at Skye's performance the last 2 years, he got 12 double Qs w/491 points in 39 days of AKC trialing last year, and 11 double Qs w/456 points in 54 days of AKC trialing the previous year.
So... with only 6 days so far this year, we have a long way to go. Skye has 2 double Qs and 100 points, and Rip has 1 double Q and 91 points. We have 1 3-day show in May for AKC scheduled, and I need to make sure to do at least 1 show a month from here out.
Anyway, that was probably a little boring to read - sorry.
For this weekend, Skye was still being my awesome boy, continuing his streak from Nationals, and went 4/4, getting 2 double Qs. He even took 2nd place in Standard on Sunday on a tough course, against about 55 other 20" dogs.
Skye is now really closing in on his MACH 2 - we have 17 double Qs and enough points already.
As for Rip, he only got 1 Q this weekend, but he ran really really well. He Q'd the same tough Standard that Skye placed 2nd in - and Rip placed 4th!
His Standard on Saturday was awesome except he decided to miss both the AFrame and Dogwalk contacts. In jumpers, he was flying and I got in this blind cross right before the last 2 jumps, but he got trapped by the offcourse jump next to the finish jump as did many other dogs.
Sunday's jumpers was beautiful but I caused him to knock 1 bar before a tunnel discrimination - I should have just let him run because he was on the correct line anyway.
My internet connection has been really crappy the last few days, so I cant load any video until they fix it, but I plan to load a few of them when I can.
So no trials next week, and then we head to Albuquerque NM for the USDAA Regional event.
6 comments:
Congrats on the Q's! Skye sounds like he's really on a roll!
In the grand scheme of traveling this giant country, Tulsa isn't that bad of a drive for me, either. I was halfway tempted to start up AKC to try to qualify, but I have enough on my plate right now. lol Besides, AKC trials are CRAZY hard to get into in this area!!! Do you run into that problem? Lately the AKC trials have been getting *triple* the number of entries they can fit into the trial, forcing random draw for each one. There have been a lot of upset people lately, especially those trying to get qualified for 2013!
Good luck at Regionals! You are keeping busy lately. :o)
Karissa, we have the same problem here getting into AKC trials. Most of ours are 2 ring trials, and if you don't have your entry to the trial sec on the day it opens, you will be on a waitlist. The few 1 ring trials are crazy with super long waitlists. I have yet to get into one of the random draw trials!
And we have usually 2 and sometimes 3 AKC shows a month in Colorado!
This competition for entries is one of the many reasons I like USDAA - no limits so no hurry to get your entry in!
Woohoo MACH 2 is just around the corner. I don't think I will go to Tulsa. I would rather go to Dixon again. But you never know.....
Wow, congrats on all those QQs! You're getting SO close to that MACH2! Best of luck :)
Some trials around here fill immediately 9I'm on the wait list for the one in my own town right now!) but others will never fill. Just depends.
Oh Karissa-in two more years AKC nationals are in tulsa again. You could come then and stop by here on your way!
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