k9kreationz
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Disclaimer: don't worry, you guys won't have to read about every trial I go to, but this was his first Standard in NADAC and running at his regular height, so I was overly nervous. Hence my nervous post. lol.
I will upload some videos later. Unfortunately, hubby isn't computer savvy enough that he can figure out how to change the file extension on the files to upload them. Sigh.
With that said.....
My weekend was so crazy and I am sooo tired. Woke up real early to get Koji measured. I'd like to get a permanent height card. Of course, I'll need all 3 signatures because he's close. The judge said usually she needs to get two fingers under the bar comfortably. It was tight. Which means he's probably closer to 18" than I thought. Boo. If they measure him at 18" then he has to jump the next height up....I think that's 20" in NADAC. We also moved him up to his regular height division. His first trial, we did Skilled at 12". This time, we ran Proficient 16" with all the crazy Aussies.
Gawd it was a LONG day. The order of jumping was Chances, Standard Round 1, Standard Round 2, Jumpers. Elite, Open, Novice. Tall to small. I thought they'd go through Standard E/O/N, then the second round. But it was more like Standard Elite Round 1, Standard Elite Round 2, etc. Which means, we didn't run our first run until about 2:30ish.
Koji ran his first Standard run. He was a wild child and ran all over the place and even ran out of the ring. Dangit. Elimination. Round 2 was a lot better. He refused the A-frame (we really gotta work on our contacts). on the 3rd try, he put his paws up, so I was happy. I was wondering if it was the rubber contacts, the fact that it was black, or what? But since he did the dog walk, it cant' be any of those. Hmm.... Ohmigod. You have GOT to see his dog walk. He was going soooooooooooooooooo slow. Then a breeze came up, and he went even slower. I was laughing so hard. And being supportive all at the same time. He did great though. He got 4th place. I was proud. I have learned....it's better to not think about the fact that he was 4 out of 5 dogs and the 5th dog was eliminated. LOL.
We had to leave early and was hoping to get our Jumpers run in. We had to start cleaning up by 3:30pm. They started to set-up the course by that time, so we started to clean up. Had to get out of there by 4pm. We had a show to go to (Eddie Izzard). So we had to drive home (1 hour), shower, etc, then drive to LA (1 hour) and in that time, eat. And Koji does so well at Jumpers so I pushed to get it in and......
Ohmigod you guys. This was his finest moment in Koji's life. I was worried about the course, because I needed to do some rear crosses and since he's been so velcro, it was going to be a lot of running and calling, etc. One thing I'm glad about is that he tends to pull to me. So calling him off of things and back towards me in a serpentine is easy. I just need to do it at the right moment (otherwise, I pull him off of things too far). Anyhow. He was so awesome. He ran wide, listened to me when I said "go whatevers". Came back when I called. We only had one glitch when I was running to fast and basically we almost collided. I really need to learn to slow down. He had distance, he had speed, he had everything. I was in awe. I thought for sure we placed 1-3. It was his best run. Wow. I was so sad and hurt and disappointed when I found out he got 4th place. I have to say, competition is stiff in his new division. Darn those Aussies. Darn his height. On the upside. He got his first Q in his regular division. Yay!!!
Here is my big lesson learned. I assumed they'd run in the same order the next day. Big big BIG mistake. We figured we'd show up around Noon. Our friends were calling us around 8am saying they're running Jumpers first. Sigh. We missed Koji's favorite run.
His first run of Standard actually went pretty well. The A-frame was the 14/15 obstacle and of course, he refused it. I'm looking at our paperwork and we got 30 points for faults. Ouch. LOL. Need to work on that. Probably all his refusals. He refused the dog walk twice before going on. His last round, was hard. The tunnel entrance, was right next to the dog walk. The A-frame was the second obstacle. You get where I"m going right. Refused the obstacle. Got the tunnel correctly. Next time around, took the tunnel again (we have no discrimination and him not liking the dog walk adds to the matter).
All in all. 3 white ribbons (all 4th place) and one Q. I'll take it. The fact that he's running against dogs that can easily do Chances (meaning they have distance work), he's not fully comfy on his contact obstacles, etc. I'm really proud of him.
At the end, a woman (mother to a girl who has a Sheltie and they always run beautifully - yes we compete against her too, ouch) stopped me and talked to me about Koji. Had asked me what the deal with his contacts were, suggested a few things, etc. REally took an interest in him and at the end, said, "I think he's a beautiful dog that runs well, he just needs more work. And remember, Shelties like to work from a distance, so work on that too". It was awesome. The people are very nice in NADAC. Not so competitive.
Anyhow, it was a great weekend overall. I learned Koji needs a lot of contact work. We're going to borrow a mini Aframe and work on that. I'll work on distance also. And next time we decide to show up late, ASK ASK ASK about the schedule first. LOL.
Here's a photo of Koji with his ribbons. I cant' believe how stiff the competition is in this class/divsion and this is ONLY NADAC!!!! I think I'll stay out of AKC/USDAA for now.
I will upload some videos later. Unfortunately, hubby isn't computer savvy enough that he can figure out how to change the file extension on the files to upload them. Sigh.
With that said.....
My weekend was so crazy and I am sooo tired. Woke up real early to get Koji measured. I'd like to get a permanent height card. Of course, I'll need all 3 signatures because he's close. The judge said usually she needs to get two fingers under the bar comfortably. It was tight. Which means he's probably closer to 18" than I thought. Boo. If they measure him at 18" then he has to jump the next height up....I think that's 20" in NADAC. We also moved him up to his regular height division. His first trial, we did Skilled at 12". This time, we ran Proficient 16" with all the crazy Aussies.
Gawd it was a LONG day. The order of jumping was Chances, Standard Round 1, Standard Round 2, Jumpers. Elite, Open, Novice. Tall to small. I thought they'd go through Standard E/O/N, then the second round. But it was more like Standard Elite Round 1, Standard Elite Round 2, etc. Which means, we didn't run our first run until about 2:30ish.
Koji ran his first Standard run. He was a wild child and ran all over the place and even ran out of the ring. Dangit. Elimination. Round 2 was a lot better. He refused the A-frame (we really gotta work on our contacts). on the 3rd try, he put his paws up, so I was happy. I was wondering if it was the rubber contacts, the fact that it was black, or what? But since he did the dog walk, it cant' be any of those. Hmm.... Ohmigod. You have GOT to see his dog walk. He was going soooooooooooooooooo slow. Then a breeze came up, and he went even slower. I was laughing so hard. And being supportive all at the same time. He did great though. He got 4th place. I was proud. I have learned....it's better to not think about the fact that he was 4 out of 5 dogs and the 5th dog was eliminated. LOL.
We had to leave early and was hoping to get our Jumpers run in. We had to start cleaning up by 3:30pm. They started to set-up the course by that time, so we started to clean up. Had to get out of there by 4pm. We had a show to go to (Eddie Izzard). So we had to drive home (1 hour), shower, etc, then drive to LA (1 hour) and in that time, eat. And Koji does so well at Jumpers so I pushed to get it in and......
Ohmigod you guys. This was his finest moment in Koji's life. I was worried about the course, because I needed to do some rear crosses and since he's been so velcro, it was going to be a lot of running and calling, etc. One thing I'm glad about is that he tends to pull to me. So calling him off of things and back towards me in a serpentine is easy. I just need to do it at the right moment (otherwise, I pull him off of things too far). Anyhow. He was so awesome. He ran wide, listened to me when I said "go whatevers". Came back when I called. We only had one glitch when I was running to fast and basically we almost collided. I really need to learn to slow down. He had distance, he had speed, he had everything. I was in awe. I thought for sure we placed 1-3. It was his best run. Wow. I was so sad and hurt and disappointed when I found out he got 4th place. I have to say, competition is stiff in his new division. Darn those Aussies. Darn his height. On the upside. He got his first Q in his regular division. Yay!!!
Here is my big lesson learned. I assumed they'd run in the same order the next day. Big big BIG mistake. We figured we'd show up around Noon. Our friends were calling us around 8am saying they're running Jumpers first. Sigh. We missed Koji's favorite run.
His first run of Standard actually went pretty well. The A-frame was the 14/15 obstacle and of course, he refused it. I'm looking at our paperwork and we got 30 points for faults. Ouch. LOL. Need to work on that. Probably all his refusals. He refused the dog walk twice before going on. His last round, was hard. The tunnel entrance, was right next to the dog walk. The A-frame was the second obstacle. You get where I"m going right. Refused the obstacle. Got the tunnel correctly. Next time around, took the tunnel again (we have no discrimination and him not liking the dog walk adds to the matter).
All in all. 3 white ribbons (all 4th place) and one Q. I'll take it. The fact that he's running against dogs that can easily do Chances (meaning they have distance work), he's not fully comfy on his contact obstacles, etc. I'm really proud of him.
At the end, a woman (mother to a girl who has a Sheltie and they always run beautifully - yes we compete against her too, ouch) stopped me and talked to me about Koji. Had asked me what the deal with his contacts were, suggested a few things, etc. REally took an interest in him and at the end, said, "I think he's a beautiful dog that runs well, he just needs more work. And remember, Shelties like to work from a distance, so work on that too". It was awesome. The people are very nice in NADAC. Not so competitive.
Anyhow, it was a great weekend overall. I learned Koji needs a lot of contact work. We're going to borrow a mini Aframe and work on that. I'll work on distance also. And next time we decide to show up late, ASK ASK ASK about the schedule first. LOL.
Here's a photo of Koji with his ribbons. I cant' believe how stiff the competition is in this class/divsion and this is ONLY NADAC!!!! I think I'll stay out of AKC/USDAA for now.
