I'm doing a little cross-posting today because this is an agility-related subject, so why not post this on my dog agility blog?
Recently I had the opportunity to write an editorial for Clean Run Magazine. Yep, that's right, the agility magazine to end all agility magazines, and one some say is the "Agility Bible". So that's pretty cool, right? Anyway, I had pitched an idea to them back in March and they wanted me to share my friend's story with the rest of the agility community.
You might already read The Brews Brothers blog, managed by my good friend Merinda. You've followed along on her training and struggles with Porter, her 9-year-old Cardigan Welsh Corgi, and now Stout, his younger brother. We all cheered when she won the Preferred National Agility Championship in 4" with Porter in Harrisburg, and I know I definitely cheered when they finally finished their PACH in May. While we all know the hard work and the dedication it takes to build a championship team, whether a national championship or an agility championship, but Merinda's story is so much more than just constant weave pole training and behavior shaping. Which is why I wanted to share her story.
This is a few days late, and for that I apologize! But we
have good reason…
Round 3 dawned rainy and gross in Harrisburg. We had high
hopes for #TeamDailyCorgi to finish strong in the Hybrid in the morning, with
trips to the Challengers and Finals Rounds on the line.
Unfortunately Dally and I came up short. Just like the past
few years, we couldn’t capitalize in Hybrid. Instead, something caught her eye
and spooked her, causing her to refuse the weaves and then want to end the run
early. Our Nationals experience was over.
We waited to watch the other two #TeamDailyCorgi members in
the 4-inches division. Maddie had a smoking run—Becky was pushing her to earn a
placement, and she did exactly that! A clean, fast run earned her second place
and a trip to the Challengers Round. Merinda and Porter had one weave pole
problem, but her placement from Standard and fast times got her a spot in
Challengers as well.
Jimmy and Taryn battled in the 12-inch division, hoping for
a clean round, but a knocked bar going over the double jump ended their first
Nationals run. Meanwhile, Roger and Keebler laid it out on the line, after
knocking a bar on Saturday, he knew they needed a placement to get into the
Challengers Round. With a flash of her signature tail, she finished 4th
in a huge, tough class.
Challengers came and so did the nerves. I was holding my
breath for both Porter and Maddie’s runs—I knew whoever won the round would do
great in the Finals. Porter took the lead and there was just one more run, from
Maddie. Porter and Maddie compete against each other a lot at local trials, so
it wasn’t anything new. Unfortunately for Becky, Maddie took a turn just a
little too wide, which meant a less than a second difference between her and
Porter.
Bringing home three ribbons isn't too bad!
Keebler’s Hybrid run was awesome—so fast! Roger laid it all
out on the line, but unfortunately Keebler was way too hyped to hit her down
contact on the dogwalk. The team still had a remarkable Nationals experience.
And, finally…Porter. Well, if you haven’t seen the news yet,
Merinda and Porter rocked the Finals course and came out on top—NationalChampions! In the 4-inch division the Cardigan Welsh Corgi came out on top!
Another Cardigan, Cleo, finished third and a Pembroke Welsh Corgi named Piper
finished in fourth place.
Another Cardigan, name Marti, earned third place in the
8-inch Regular division! Corgis totally rocked Nationals!
Saturday dawned bright and early for yet another day at the AKC National Agility Championships. It was Round 2, but day three for us (Thursday was Time 2 Beat), so you could tell the dogs were already a little tired of showing up at the complex.
Saturday was Standard, and the 4 & 8 inchers were in Ring 3. The opening was rather de-motivating---jump to a 180, to the dog walk. It wasn't as twisty-turny as the Jumpers run, but there were quite a few challenges that could cause some dogs to take off courses.
Porter kicked things off with a clean, fast run. Merinda handled him so nicely through the opening and the ending. Then I followed with Dally just one dog later. Again, a clean run. As I expected, the opening was de-motivating for Dally, but she started to kick it up after the weaves. In fact, she handled the 3-jump ending very well.
Unfortunately Maddie knocked the bar on the second jump, but was the fastest of the 95 scores, so hopefully that'll still help her. As far as our 12" counterparts for #TeamDailyCorgi, Keebler knocked the double on a superbly fast run, and Jimmy missed his dog walk contact. :-/
But one bonus from the day: Porter ended up finishing in third place for the Round 2 Standard, and is now sitting in second place overall through the first two rounds!!
Just one more day...it seems like we've been here forever! It was cold and rainy the rest of the day, so we spent the rest of our time watching obedience, shopping, and then handing out at the hotel. Sunday is Round 3: Hybrid. If Dally goes clean (she's currently sitting #9), she's got a good chance for the Challenger's Course. If Porter goes clean. he's a lock for Finals (if not, Challenger's). So, we're pretty excited!
Porter and Merinda with their 3rd place ribbon from Round 2!
Cumulative scores so far! Porter's #2, Dally's #9!
The Stumps of Fury mobile arrived in Harrisburg, Pa., on Wednesday after about a 9-hour drive. The drive up was uneventful...and rather boring. Definitely not conducive for photo opportunities like last year's trip to Tulsa. Hence the lack of road trip photos...
Thursday's activities included a "warm-up run" in the Time 2 Beat class. This was my first time ever running Time 2 Beat, but it's like a hybrid of Standard and Jumpers. Dally did well and we ended up clean with 9th place. Porter took an extra jump, and our friend Maddie ended up winning the 4" division! Team Daily Corgi started rocking the joint early!!
Friday we competed in the official start of Nationals, with Jumpers. This was a twisty-turny course with lots of wraps and difficult weave entry. This time the 4" representatives of Team Daily Corgi went 3-for-3 clean! Maddie finished 5th, Porter 7th, and Dally 12th. Going clean is the name of the game right now--I'm good with being consistent and clean. I know we aren't the fastest, but if we can be clean, that's the best.
After cheering on some of the Small Dog Posse, we ventured north to Hershey for a few dog photo ops and a tour of the Hershey's Chocolate World! Finally, some fun times for the dogs!
Saturday we'll be competing in Round 2, Standard. Let's hope we can continue the clean streak!!
Dally & Porter are going to be road tripping buddies once again! Meet the captains of #TeamDailyCorgi
Merinda and I will be hitting the road extra early Wednesday morning to head east to Pennsylvania for a return trip to the AKC National Agility Championships.
Be sure to follow along as we tweet, Instagram, and blog our adventures. This year we're teaming up with a few select Corgis for #TeamDailyCorgi, brought to you by The Daily Corgi.
Follow along by searching #TeamDailyCorgi on Twitter & Instagram, and also:
I also wanted to share my bio that I wrote for the announcer this year. It's a little non-traditional, but I hope it gets read at some point this week:
This is Dally and Megan's third consecutive trip to Nationals, but every year it's always a happy surprise. For a dog that some said wouldn't be an agility champion, the pair earned their PACH in 2012 and are well on their way to PACH2. Megan knows Dally isn't the fastest, but she knows Dally will try to please her, and that's all that Megan asks for. She's thankful to have such a wonderful sidekick by her side at all times. Dally is her heartdog and has earned many, many miles under her collar. This has truly been a fun ride.
Be sure to tune into the fun!! Here's hoping for some epic adventures and great memories!
I'm a little late on wrapping up our last AKC trial we attended (Nov. 9-10), but I'm making up for it now. (Note: I've somehow misplaced all of the course maps from this weekend. Blogger FAIL. Sorry!)
Just a week after competing at Queen City, we were back. It was the third weekend in a row at an agility trial, but I knew that Dally and I could finish up the points needed for AKC Nationals this weekend, as long as I didn't make any unnecessary mistakes.
Saturday's runs were great. In Jumpers I made sure I didn't push too much in the weaves (which I know was my mistake the week prior) and to just run the course with simple cues. Standard was a little tricky with having to call her off the chute off the teeter, but luckily she listened.
(I love Blair Kelley and Dan Faulkner's courses, by the way.)
Sunday I wanted to push her a little more, but I had to remember to be more deliberate with my cues.
Here's the jumpers run:
This was fun with the serpentine, then a push for the big pinwheel. Both LaMesa and Dally handled that very well, so I was proud of both girls.
We didn't get a standard video, but I went in needing just a few more points for Nationals with that run. We came out of it in great shape! At the end of the weekend we had 513 points towards the AKC National Agility Championships!!
Dally's now on a long vacation from agility for a while. I usually do that a couple times a year to help her recharge her body and her love of agility. It's well-deserved--we're now just 5 QQs and 204 points from her PACH2. Who would have thought that we would be going to AKC Nationals three years in a row and be close to our PACH2??
For those pushing for their last points this weekend and next, I wish you good luck and best runs!! I was able to pull from the Merrillville, Ind., trial being held Nov. 29-Dec. 1 (I entered Nov. 29-30 just in case) since I have my points, so hopefully others can get their last points.
Sunday dawned a little earlier than the past few days--the walk thrus were starting at 6:30 instead of 7:30. We had the Hybrid round to go before it was determined who was going to the Finals and who would be battling it out in Challengers for a spot in the Finals. Dally and I were sitting 10th--a great spot to make a repeat trip to Challengers.
The course opened up a little difficult if you have a dog who is slow to start, like Dally is. There were a couple of ways to work the opening, and I guess I chose the wrong one. After the first jump Dally stopped to sniff and wondered past the plane of the second jump, which garnered a refusal. After that bobble we actually turned it on and ran a decent course. There was a tight flip off the double into the weaves that could have been handled with a rear cross on the flat after the double (which Dally isn't a rear-crossing dog) or a post turn. I chose the post turn and hoped for a tight turn...Dally gave me that tight turn, but I might have made my move too early, which caused a knocked bar.
We were knocked out of contention for the Challengers Round--finishing with a score of a 290 (out of 300) and in 18th place (out of 35) in the 4-inches Preferred. I was frustrated with myself because I realized, after the fact, that this was the same opening we had on the Challengers Round last year when Dally and I made it, and the same thing happened because of how I handled it. If I had done my front cross between jumps one and two, she most likely wouldn't have stopped to sniff (which, by the way, is the first time she's ever done something like that, ever). And the dropped bar...well, I could have probably tried to not go so tight on the turn, or maybe it was just one of those times she jumped awkwardly.
Judge for yourself:
But, I'm proud of my little Corgi. We've come a long way. This was the same weekend, five years ago, that started our competition career in agility. Five years ago, if you had told me we would have qualified, and competed, at the AKC National Agility Championships not just once, but twice, I wouldn't have believed you. If you had told me five years ago that we would have earned our Agility Championship, I wouldn't have believed you. I've had people tell me, "She's not an agility championship caliber dog..." And yet, she really is!
Dally has done more for me than I could ever have imagined, considering I found her litter for sale in the Indianapolis Star want ads and I saw her come tumbling out of a barn stall with the rest of her brothers and litters.
So what if I didn't accomplish my goal of going a perfect 3-for-3 and getting back into the Challengers Round? A fellow competitor reminded me that she has competed at Nationals many times and has yet to qualify for Challengers, and I did it last year in my first trip! And, we came out the best of the rest of the Posse with two clean rounds. We live to see another trial another weekend.
I've been asked if this was Dally's last Nationals. I'm not going to say yes, or no. Quite frankly, I wasn't sure we'd qualify for this year, and we did. I know the qualifications have become tougher, yet again, and I'm not aiming to trial a whole bunch to try to get those points and Qs. I want to focus on LaMesa and her training--we're starting to finally click and come together, and it's time to put energy towards her. Dally will still be competing, possibly making a run at PACH2 (we have a while before we're even close, though). So, we'll see.
I'm proud of how our weekend ended up. I'm done being disappointed in myself. Time to move on and enjoy my time with both of my girls in the agility ring!
Quick update: Dally and I made it back to Lexington Monday evening. It was a long drive, but Merinda was a great driver. I'll be finishing up our wrap-up throughout the week, along with a write-up for The Daily Corgi.
Saturday dawned early and already warm--in the 60s! It was definitely different from how things were back in Lexington! We arrived at the Expo Center in time to grab our course maps and head over to the Mustang Arena, where both our runs for the day were going to be held. The day before we had watched our friend Camille run her Papillon, Gus, run in the same arena and the birds were swooping in and out of the rings, so I knew we had to be careful with those distractions.
Jumpers was first. I thought I had Dally all riled up and ready to run in the course, but she started off a little slow. It was a winding course, but she stayed with me and only looked over at the birds once. She even handled a back jump like a pro (I'm so glad I had been working her on those in practice!). I had walked it with the hope of using some blind crosses, but I was worried that she might take that opportunity to chase the birds, so I stuck with all front crosses, and it still worked out pretty well:
First round--Clean!
Just a few hours later we were preparing for our Standard run. This was one course that I definitely needed her to listen to me. There were quite a few 180s and some off-course chances. Again she was a little slow, but for once I was alright with that because I wanted her to stick by me and listen. I wasn't planning anything fancy, I just wanted to try to give her the best shots for each obstacle as possible.
Second round--Clean!
We ended the day in 10th place overall. I was very happy with both of our runs. The rest of the Small Dog Posse had some little issues here and there, so we were leading the crew and doing our best to represent.
Our two clean round ribbons from Saturday.
The evening was spent relaxing and an early bedtime--we had a very early morning on Sunday for Hybrid!
Thursday Dally, Porter, Merinda, and I had a relaxing morning that started with breakfast, then a quick trip to Fort Leonard Wood base to salute the troops, and get a few photos. Then we were off to finish our trip west towards Tulsa!
Saluting the troops at Fort Leonard Wood in St. Robert, Mo.
And no trip to Tulsa is complete without stopping at the "World's Largest McDonald's" and taking a photo with Will Rogers in Vinita, Okla.
Did somebody say "French fries"??
Finally, we arrived at the Tulsa Expo Center and set up our stalls: 1 for the dogs, and 1 for the humans. After check-in, we looked around the venders before getting settled in our hotels--we'd have plenty of time to shop and take more photos later.
Friday was another laid back day for the Corgi Crew--Dally and Porter were just doing the Warm-Up Standard run, which didn't count for anything, but it was good to get them out on the equipment and in the rings to get a feel for everything. Dally's run was a little wide, but I was happy with what she did. You can watch the video here.
Then we took the time to take some more photos at the facility, as well as meeting up with the majority of the other Corgis competing at Nationals for a big photo.
A flower pot o'Corgis!
This is the main arena, where three of the rings are.
There are lots of Corgis (Pembroke and Cardigan) competing here in Tulsa!
The first part of our trek was a relaxed one. After Dally had her chiropractor appointment, Merinda, Porter, Dally, and I were on the road headed west. We were only going to drive about 6 hours to St. Roberts, Missouri, for the first part of our trip, so we took it easy. We decided to stop in St. Louis for a photo opportunity at the Gateway Arch and the Mississippi River.
Here are a couple of our favorite shots:
Looking so regal
The Mississippi River and the Casino Queen in the background.
Dally and Porter are so famous, park rangers ask for their photo!
This weekend was all about enjoying the hint of Spring that hit us. After my long training run (part 10-mile race, part 5K warm-up to get 13 miles), I took the Stump Kids to a show 'n go at Goose Creek. The one bad thing about the show 'n go was how close it was from the end of my race (I was heading back to the car at 11, the show 'n go was at noon).
The show 'n go had three nested courses, and I, of course, had to start walking one of the harder ones first. And, of course, I quickly realized that I did not have enough legs left to keep up with LaMesa, who was loving the beautiful weather and chock full o' energy. And she was so off the grid, I couldn't get her to keep her start line stay long enough for me to get to a comfortable spot to start the runs. It made me realize that if I'm not running with her, our timing is off, which means knocked bars and not-so-tight turns. Needless to say, our first course was a disaster. But our second one, which was the easiest one, turned out better (she was a little worn out).
For Dally, it was my chance to do a couple last minute tune-ups on the weaves, teeter, tight turns, etc., in preparation for Nationals. Thankfully (or maybe, not thankfully?) I had enough legs to keep up with her better than LaMesa, so we were able to have clean runs. She ran happy, was fast in her weaves, and listened well, so that's all I can ask for right now.
Sunday Matt and I took them to go walking around Keeneland Race Course, where we could turn them loose and they could just trot or run beside us, take in the new smells, and burn some energy. We threw the tennie a few times, since we had lots of space and they loved it. It was definitely a great way to work out some pre-Nationals jitters and get some fresh air.
I think they enjoyed it:
LaMesa tends to be like Matt's little shadow.
Can't you just here the, "Zzzzzooooooooooooomm!!!!!" as she sprints by?
Now we're all about washing last minute items, starting to gather snacks, and putting together packing lists for Dally and myself. We're loading up Merinda's car and heading to Tulsa Wednesday afternoon, after Dally's chiropractor appointment. We'll be driving part-way and staying in Missouri that night and then finishing the trip Thursday.
Don't worry, we'll be blogging, tweeting, and Instagramming from Tulsa. Be sure to follow!!
Right now we're doing some last minute "Corgi Conditioning" with long walks/runs in the park after work. Tomorrow we have a show 'n go at Sandra's (after I run 13 miles, of course) and then I'll start getting things together for our trip West. Dally, Porter, Merinda, and I will be headed to Tulsa Wednesday. I'll try to do a better update this weekend, but I'll definitely be blogging, tweeting, and Instagramming from Tulsa!
Dally competing at AKC Nationals in Reno, Nev., last year.
