Show Report

Goleta Valley Dog Club's First Trial!
ASCA - December 16 & 17, 2006
Girsh Park, Goleta

Photo by Mary Arango

Show Reports from
Kristi, Mia, Rita, Daine S.M., Barbara,
Dorothy, Diane B. and Scott

Check out the videos too!

Kristi's Report:
What a weekend! First off, this was my first ever trial to host and I was having horrible nightmares about the whole thing for weeks ahead of time. I should not have worried: our clubs (both GVDC and COAST) really stepped up to bat. Sue Graham was my safety net and without her, this show would not have happened – there is no way I would have had the courage to do it alone. There was also the looming threat of rain for the weekend and that had all of us in a panic. Our clubs must have good agility karma though: we got sprinkled on early in the morning (6am) and then the rain held off until we were done with the day. Thank you weather gods!

I learned a couple very interesting things at this trial: I need to learn to multi-task better! I was so freaked out Sat. morning that poor Gale, Cinder and Patches did not get what they deserved from me. Cinder and Gale each got around clean in Elite Standard Round 2 (with a 1st and a 2nd) but I gave Cin a horrid call in Elite Jumpers, right over the bar! ACK! Patches and Gale both ran clean in Elite Jumpers with placements, I just can’t remember what they were.

The heroes of Saturday were my boys – Chance and Kane. Kane picked up a 4th and Q in Open Standard and really tried his heart out for me. His contacts are lovely – thank you Kate! Chance…what can I say? He was AMAZING all weekend. His Open Standard runs were both fast, furious and clean with a 1st and 2nd, and then he went on to finish is Open Jumpers title (also with a placement!) YAY CHANCIE!!!

Sunday was a much better day for me which meant it was better for my dogs. I was much more relaxed since things had gone so well on Saturday and I had so much help at the score table that I felt I could actually warm myself up and focus on the task at hand. Cinder was LOVELY – Q’d in both her Elite Standard runs (with placements) and then went out and laid down a wonderful Jumpers run for 1st place. Gale was much happier, but her contacts went bye-bye…still working on that! But she finished up the day with a clean run in Elite Jumpers and a grin on her face.

Once again, the boys were my stars. Kane Q’d in both his Open Standard runs (1/2 Q in one because I held his contacts for sooooo long - he IS related to Gale after all!) Chance also Q’d in both his Standard runs (I am pretty sure he won one again and took 2nd in the other…) and finished his Open Standard title! I had moved Chancie up to Elite Jumpers for Sunday and he was such a good boy. I did a massive handler error at one point and Chance ended up right on top of the jump he was supposed to take, at a dead standstill and at a terrible angle. Don’t ask me how, but that darn dog got over the jump and kept the bar up. What an athlete! Because of my mistake, we were over time, but I had the biggest grin on my face anyway. I think my favorite thing about the boys is that they always give me 110% and make me laugh myself silly. Chance tried to take me out on Saturday (it seems to happen once a show) and I just had to laugh because it is such a “Chance” thing to do.

The high point of the whole trial (other than the fact that we didn’t have any major disasters and folks seemed to think the trial was going well) were the awards. As you all know, I am a ribbon whore and when I agreed to take on the Trial Secretary duties for this trial, I volunteered to do the awards as well. We had HUGE pretty ribbons to hand out for all kinds of things! I don’t remember them all, but the High In Trial Elite Dog and the High in Trial Aussie was Finn! YAY FINN AND MIA!!! (yup, I bred the dog) High in Trial Open was Chance!! Yippee!!!!!!!! I thought Nancy was going to come out of her skin when she realized he’d won. I was/am pretty thrilled myself! High In Trial Novice was Bruce and Jiffy-Pop - man that dog can move!  High In Trial Other Breed was Diane and Gidget - you go girls!

So, I had a great weekend and am already planning the next COAST/GVDC trial…sometime this summer.

~ Kristi

Report from Mia:
So, what fun last weekend was. I slept away most of Monday, then Tuesday night I taught in the freezing weather at Julie's which caused me to wake up on Wednesday with a killer sore throat, so I've been delayed. To give you an idea of how much fun I had, Kristi and I are already figuring out when we can do this again (expect a post
from Kristi in the near future about dates etc). With all the tremendous club help we had, it was easy to put on. Kristi and I had talked before the show about how we needed to remember to keep smiling, when something went horribly wrong. We did keep smiling, but it was one of the first shows I've ever been a part of that there was no drama. Woohoo!

My favorite memories...well there were many... Bodhi's first Q was sooooo cool! Lynda has done a marvelous job with him and her smile afterwards, reminded me why agility is so addictive. I was very proud of all the newbies. So many of you took advantage of the
allowed training in the ring, which is something some of us more seasoned people could have learned from ;-) (watch me let Starlet self-release at the A-frame on our video). The newer teams just kept getting better and better. Dolly's second Standard on Saturday really comes to mind, when I think about improvement from one run to another. It was great seeing Diane Mead at a trial again and she looked like she was having great fun with her bcs. Lauren and Pepper were really attacking the courses! Lauren ran with so much more determination than at her last trial! Too cool! Jocelyn and Martle are always great fun to watch. You can't beat Jocelyn's attitude. And of course, it was Barbara and Cedar's first show. They looked amazing and it was great seeing Barbara having so much fun with her baby girl.

It was also very cool seeing so many people who normally don't do ASCA. Scott and his dogs seemed to enjoy the big open courses, as did Miss Kadi Lulu. :-) Gidget and Jiff...I think you've given a lot of people complexes about their speed, myself included. ;-) Kristi did an awesome job running so many dogs while being trial secretary, definitely not an easy task. :-) I know I'm forgetting things and teams, but if I don't keep going, this will never get sent. ;-)

Finn and Starlet both had great shows. They both did both gambles, which is feeding my confidence for those USDAA Gamblers legs. They both found ways into an off-course tunnel in their first Regular (aka Standard). Same tunnel, but one went in the first time going by, the other the second. Other than the off-course, both of the runs were great. Finn definitely couldn't figure out if we were at a show or practice, so his contacts were really solid. Other than the one off-course, Finn ran clean in all his ther runs. That said, what matter much more to me, was WE were running great as a team. Qs are cool, but as Rita said, it's all about being a team out there. I'm very happy that Betty was able to see Finn win another H.I.T and she generously gave me his H.I.T Elite, since he also won the H.I.T. Aussie.

Starlet was very fun all weekend, we've come a long way as a team. She was loving tunnels more than usual and took another bonus tunnel in our Jumpers run on Saturday. That said, Saturday's Jumpers run had the moment I'm most proud of from Miss Starbar. We haven't been the best at serpentines. We tend to play the opposite end of magnets game at the middle jump, if I want her to jump towards me. She was GREAT! Not a problem and since it's something I've really been working on, I'm very happy. :-)

We will be doing this again. And while I've been asked to keep my mouth shut, I will say that the next time, I will be sponsoring the Best Sportsmanship Award, which will be decided by the judge. It should be a close race with all the great sports we had there last weekend. :-) One more BIG THANKS to everyone for all your help making this happen! I'm just so proud of this club. Tell your dogs they're good. mia

Max is doing much better after his run in with the closed sliding glass door. I'm going to give him a break from agility until next year to play it safe, but he's going to be fine (he already thinks he is).

~ Mia

Report from Rita:
Like everyone else I too had a fantastic weekend!!! Thanks to everyone who helped - it was a great trail. I enjoyed learning about course building from where the cones need to be placed to just working with the judge setting things up.

The cold and windy condition really turned my Blur on and I enjoyed that he was not so serious on course for once and picked up the running pace a bit. I'll take those mistakes any day if it means he can run with more excitement! Yay, Blurry man!!!
In my standard run he decided to go sniff the side line so I bear hugged grabbed him and set him back up to the teeter - can't do that kind of training in other venues-!! It was the perfect thing I could have done to get him focused back.

Sure we were not scored, but it is NOT about the ribbons for me at this point in our agility career, its about teaching my dog that we are a team and I was glad I could train that in the ring and not be whistle off. I STILL rewarded him at the end with lots of praise, treats and love as if nothing went wrong. I believe this is the best time to show your pal that you are HIS team partner no matter what happens. It is this relationship building that will carry over in the ring is how I see it. We still have lots to learn, but that is the fun part to it all.

I would have done the same to my missy Molly, if I could have caught her!! LOL She is my little 10 year old stinker bug and I was only bummed that she did not want to play since she can be so much fun to run and for folks to watch. I'll keep training and trying. (training tips are always welcome)

GVDC really had some nice runs and I enjoyed that so many did take advantage of training in the ring. Foster comes to mind when Scott decided Foster had enough he happily RAN out of the ring on a positive note - yea Scott.

And the Elite class - wow what GREAT runs, great teams. Yes, I am on this "team" thing. I watched how each handler and team worked together and got some great ideas that I will use with my pups.

The best part, besides running my dogs, talking dogs, ect... was when I asked Diane with the BC Westley and Indy, if she got her ribbons yet. She told me she was not sure how it worked since she was new to it all.

So I happily showed her the result book and let her find her dogs. She was in shock to see a FIRST and SECOND place AND Q too!!! I grabbed the ribbons and let her peel off her own sticker to stick on the ribbon. That made my weekend for sure - she was so excited!!! I was excited for her too since I have seen how hard she works with her dogs at practices and it was GREAT to share that moment with her. Her BC's are ALWAYS smiling, but I bet they were smiling even more when Diane gave them extra hugs and kisses!!

She later showed me her beautiful ribbon from Rally which Westley won!!!

Rita

 

Report from Diane S.M.:
T hanks Rita! I probably wouldn't have brought home any ribbons if you hadn't told me about them, and my kids sure were happy to see them!

It was a very fun weekend, and I am very thankful to all the people who put in such effort to make both trials take place. The environment was upbeat and encouraging with lots of good runs to watch and good people with whom to watch them.

And, the judges were so very nice! Indy bailed off the dogwalk in his first standard run, and not knowing I could try to fix it, I moved on. In his second standard run, he balked going on it several times. I stopped looked at the judge and told her he was afraid. She came over and told me I could gently hold his scruff and lead him over it. I was so thankful for her extra patience and the opportunity to work through his fear.

I spent less time at the rally ring, but from what I saw, the judges were equally friendly and approachable. They seemed eager and interested in answering our questions and promoting a relaxed, fun environment. If Anne ever organizes another APDT rally trial (hint, hint), I'd highly recommend giving it a try. I love games that allow me to tell my dogs what good boys they are...

And, thanks again to so many of you for making this such an enjoyable weekend.

~ Diane S.M.

Report from Barbara:
When I first heard we were hosting a trial, I was so excited that our little club was stepping up to the plate! (Krsiti, I can't thank you enough for taking this on!) I was really looking forward to running with Violet here at home. It had been months since our last trial together due to my summer travels. She was healthy and happy and I
never dreamed she would not be running with me. Unfortunately, as you all know, tragedy struck and I lost my agility partner to cancer. Luckily, I had my little Cedar to help cushion the blow, but I never ever thought my young, green dog would be ready to enter a competition. She's really taken to this sport, but we have so, so much work to do!

The temptation was just too irresistible. I just could not pass up running a dog in GVDC's first trial. And ASCA trials have a wonderful reputation of having wide open, novice friendly courses. So, in the spirit of taking it slow, we entered for Novice Gamblers and Jumpers only. She still has such a puppy brain at 21 months and it was evident in our runs. But, I also saw a small glimmer of a dog with the heart of a true agility athlete. I'm so excited about our future together.

After training and running with Violet for 5 years, Cedar presents a whole new ball game. (I was thinking of, and thanking my sweet Violet with every run this weekend.) I find myself having to pay much more attention to the fine details on the course, being more disciplined, consistent and doing it all so much faster! My greatest hope is that I can do this special little dog justice and bring out the best in her. With the support of my fellow GVDCer's, the future looks bright.

Our first run was Novice Gamblers and we had a blast. She held her start line and her contacts. She did everything I asked of her, but I admit I got a little greedy and attempted 12 weave poles, (she does it so well at home!) Our excitement got the best of us and there were no points for weaves. We did manage to get the gamble and earn the minimum 20 opening points! She was so good, so fun and to top it off, we Q'd!

Over the next 5 hours or so we entered scores on the computer, helped with some course setups, did a little leash running and took lots of video! I'll be posting clips this week of about 20 runs, so keep your eyes on Yahoo for details!

When it came time to walk the Novice Jumpers course, I was giggling with the joy of being back in Novice. I knew Cedar could do this as long as my command timing was good and I was in the right place at the right time. During the run she was on fire! I managed to keep her on course and we not only Q'd, but we won! This was just too hard to believe. Beginners luck? Definitely! But I have a feeling our little Angel Violet was looking down on us too, lending us her wings for the run.

Sunday was another great day and thank goodness for the great weather. It was cool and clear! Perfect! Our Novice Gamblers run was wild and its clear that Cedar really loves that A-frame. Probably due to treat "jack pots" as Mia calls it, in our early contact training! (Note to self: jack pot dog walk, weaves and good recalls too!) The gamble was a tunnel to the chute, then two jumps. Looked easy enough, but there was a trap with a jump right about where most handlers would be located after the chute. I think most dogs missed the "out" jump and took the close jump instead. In hind sight, I should have stayed back so she would look back at me, after exiting the chute, where there was no jump and then I could redirect her "out" to the away jump. It might not have been "pretty" but it might have worked. NQ, but to my surprise, she took a 2nd.

Our Jumpers was another open, very fun and very fast run. We had two off courses, purely handler timing. I'm getting used to a dog who has no separation issues on the course either. "Oh that's a fun looking jump! I think I'll do it THEN see where Mom is!" I'm learning to know where to be and when to make the calls with this speedy little girl. I'll get the hang of it some day! But in the meantime... recalls, recalls and WHOO HOOO!!!

Thanks to everyone for participating, helping, organizing, laughing, sharing, supporting, and making this just about the greatest little trial I've ever been a part of. June cannot come soon enough!!!

~ Barb & Cedar

Report from Dorothy:
I am writing because I imagine everyone else is probably too tired. I don't know what I am doing up. Anyway, as could be expected, Kristi and Mia put on a "great party". Everyone was working hard and I can honestly say our first show is looking like a great success. Everything is running smoothly.. I was soo impressed. Kristi even
had everything (running orders, results, ribbon labels) computerized and ready ASAP. Mia is a great course builder and gate steward. In between her jobs, she had some great runs with Finn and Starlet.. I mean great runs. The sad news here was that Max couldn't participate today but I will let Mia fill you in on that. I think Kristi was finding out that it is hard to run a show and run your dogs at the same time. When I asked her how she was doing today, she usually said "glazed"...but from the outside, she was awesome! I had a great time with so many GVDCr's around. At times, it seemed like a Saturday lesson but bigger! Lucy and I had our usual mix of good moments and not-as-good-moments. It was good to have Mia there to remind me to "run aggressively" !! Our first run was Gamblers and we Q'd and won, so that was a good energizer to start the day. Our Jumpers class was good once I started to run. We got a Q and blue there too. We Q'd and blued in one STD course and I had an off- course in the other (I disengaged after a dog-walk and Mia pointed out that Lucy was just "lookin' for fun" since I was running so pokey). Still so much to learn.

There were lots of newbies and seasoned teams as well... I hope they write in... Bruce and Jiff, Diane and Gidget, Jocelyn and Martle, Linda and Dolly, Susan and Cooper, Bob and Kadi, Pepper and Lauren, Lynda and Boddhi, Susan S and Bella. It was really like a Saturday morning at Girsh, except the sun came out only briefly and there were a bunch of aussie's running around! Well, I hope that gives you some idea of the day and I hope everyone has a dry, fun day tomorrow.

Day 2 felt much like Day 1 for me except the threat the rain had passed. It didn't feel like it was my finest weekend of agility, but when I look at the four green Q rosettes with blue ribbons attached, I am reminded I must have done some good. BTW Kristi, you really do know how to pick good ribbons. I think it is such a good idea to have
rosettes for Q and "swimmer ribbons" for placement. EXCELLENT (I wish I could write it with Kristi's Italian roll). Considering that two weeks ago, I was having eye surgery and wondering how much my peripheral vision would be effected, I was quite pleased to know that I could still run courses and hang with my friends and be an active part of a great agility trial. Our first STD course, I did not do an RFP and sent Lucy off course. It really bugged me as it was just like a "corner" we had practiced at our Pay N Play where you had to do the RFP to keep them off the dog walk.

The next class, Lucy decided to start barking uncontrollably right before I took her in the ring. Rarely does Lucy bark and I had no idea what she was barking at. She was distracted the whole course but we managed to Q with 5 faults. I figured out that Richard Todd was standing on the entire other side of the ring with his wide-angle lense and that set her off. I don't know if it was Richard or she thought he was toting a gun (she IS afraid of gun shot) but that was strange. Our Jumpers course was smooth, probably not the fastest (didn't do much too fast Sunday) but she got a Q and blue. We had an OK opening in Gambles, but didn't get the Gamble. It was tunnel, weave poles, jump, jump but there was a chute staring the dogs in the face when they came out of the tunnel. I know now I should have stopped and redirected Lucy after the tunnel. Another good learning experience [:)]

Today seemed to be a day of good socialization. I feel like I got to know some of the people I usually just "brush up against" at lessons. There is so much talent and so many nice people in our club it is amazing. Are we going to do it again in June? Hunh? Are we???

~ Dorothy and Lucy

~ Diane & Gidget

 

Check out the videos!

Annie	Cooper	Kane
Bella	Finn	Lucy
Blur	Foster	Martle
Bodhi	Gale	Molly
Cedar	Gidget	Starlet
Cinder	Jiff	Zip - Rally!
	Kadi
To save a copy of your video, right click and choose "Save Target As..." and save it on your computer. Links to the videos are also on your album pages. I really wish I could have captured everyone, but it just wasn't possible. Maybe next time!