Agility Nuts 09/01/16

An interesting and eventful show, Agility Nuts on the 09/01/16 was an enjoyable and somewhat educational day. Although it may not have been our most successful show when it comes to placings, I learnt a lot and grew as a handler of Ethel especially. Although we didn't win any classes, we did come home with some lovely rosettes and a good deal of valuable experience for the future. And what is more valuable, apart from our dogs themselves, than experience?

Ethel vocally showing her role model how proud she is!

Although we didn't win, Earl did run Clear in three out of four of his classes. Unfortunately, in his fastest run, the Agility, he ran too far ahead of me and ran through two jumps, jumping the wrong one; resulting in an unfortunate and uncharacteristic Elimination on our part as a team. I never thought I'd be saying 'Earl was too fast' in Agility! With only one more Agility win for Grade 6 at Dog Vegas in only a couple of weeks, his rapid increase in speed is incredibly promising!

As for Ethel, she was amazing! She may not have gone Clear or won either of her two Jumping based classes, but she made amazing progress for such a young, inexperienced Agility dog. She completed the difficult parts of her Jumping course perfectly, and we both found it effortless. Unfortunately, right at the end of the course, she skipped one of the six weaves due to her speed running up to them. I made her do them again, which she did in the end, choosing to Eliminate ourselves for training purposes; going back and redoing the jumps as part of the sequence was a better option for Ethel. I was thrilled with her, however, for doing the majority of a difficult course faultlessly! We then found out that the lovely Judge of this class had given us the Judge's Special Award for 'the best handling of the day'! I was over the moon!

On her other class, Time Fault And Out Jumping, you have to run to the finish line, thus ending your run, if you make a mistake on the course or when you eventually reach the course time. Completing the first four jumps and entering the twelve weaves perfectly (she'd never done twelve weaves at a competition before), she skipped one of the final few weaves, thus ending our run. Because the weaves are a somewhat complicated piece of Agility equipment, they require 100% accuracy to be done properly. I always dreamt of having and running an unbelievably speedy Agility dog, and now I have one; but alongside speed come faults, and I am constantly working on adjusting my handling to suit such a dog as Ethel. Nevertheless, I was proud of her, and it was, if nothing else, a brilliant training opportunity in such an environment. The more experience we have, the more we improve! She amazes me!

They BOTH amaze me like you wouldn't believe. ALL Agility and other sporting dogs amaze me. All DOGS amaze me in general! Their intelligent minds and athletic bodies impress me as a human, never mind their dedication and human loyalty. Dogs are amazing, and I'm ever so proud of mine!