USDAA National Agility Championships
Scottsdale, Arizona
November, 2006
Reports by Mia, Anne, Peggi, Whitney , Kristi & Scott
Summary of Show Totals
Photos!!!


From left: Bruce, Kathy, Leslie, Diane, Mike, Anne, Mia and Terra in front.
Not pictured: Kristi, Peggi, Scott, Kate & Whitney
WHAT A TEAM!!!

    

Anne's Report:
 The Swan dogs and I had an amazing week at the 2006 USDAA Agility Championships in Scottsdale, Arizona.  The drive there and back is long and if you are lucky, uneventful.  We had some interesting happenings at our hotel, like a Clown Convention and a Dachshund Specialty Breed Show - I am guessing that is better than the people that come for NASCAR the following week?  Anyway, the weather was bright, sunny, and warm everyday and the evenings weren't as cold as I remember from past years.  We got to see some beautiful desert sunsets and watched some incredible agility performances all week long.

I am so proud of my girl, Kiwi.  She ran her heart out all week long and really tried as best as she can.  I am noticing that she runs a bit differently after her surgery, she is a little more cautious and stays closer to me than she did before.  A little more sprint training for me would have helped Kiwi's times at the Nationals, but I am so thrilled to play with her again on such a grand scale that she could basically do no wrong.  Kiwi had many solid, fast runs in her classes and I was pleased with how well she did.  We paired up with Whitney Grant and Sadie for our Performance Versatility Team, the California Cowgirls, and we finished in the top third of all the 90 teams - pretty good!  Kiwi had a really nice run in the Performance National Standard Quarterfinals, and earned a spot to run in the Semifinals.  Her Semifinals run was fast and clean, but we were just one spot from making it to the Finals.  Still, I was impressed with how well she did and Kiwi felt healthy and strong every day, and woke me up each morning rarin' to go for more.  Her last class was Power and Speed and Kiwi was really running nicely again and finished 11th in the class, but only 2 seconds behind Zip.  Good girl, Kiwi!

Zippy Swan was  such a character, but made me proud as the week went on.  We took a couple of classes to get our team together, he was a bit wild in his first few runs, but he only had one class on Wednesday and Thursday.  By Day 3 we were hitting our stride and Zip was more tuned in.  He had a beautiful run in the Semifinals of the Performance National Standard and won the class!  We got to run in the Finals under the lights at night in the main stadium, and I think the combination of the crowd noise and the lights (and my nerves!) hindered us in a few places.  We started the run off very nicely, had a bobble at the weaves and that led to a couple of errors on my part.  I laughed most of the way through the run and Zip was fast and having a great time, and I am grateful for the experience with him.  He had two solid runs in Team Jumpers, and Team Standard (he placed 7th) on our Team, Zip-N-Gale with Kristi Cetrulo and Gale.  And out of 90 teams we finished 16th, not too shabby for a casual and fun Versatility Team!!  Zip ended the week with a superb run in our Performance Power and Speed class, he was fast and happy, and turned in a 14-second run for the Jumpers (speed) section of the course.  He won the class and got a ribbon and a trophy for our efforts, good boy Zippy Swan!!

Puppy Kylie, not to be left out, got to enjoy the games as well.  They had a mini agility course run by a escue group where you donate $5 and you can play on the equipment.  It was interesting for me to see Kylie in a different place, she was distracted by the smells of treats on the ground so I have some training to work on with her.  The actual agility part she did beautifully, she did her first full (very low) A-frame and did nice touches on each contact zone.  Kylie is also a little water lover, and it was pretty warm every day so we made our way over the the Dock Dogs.  Kylie went off the exit ramp for starters, and swam in the pool and chased her toy.  She then went off the mini-dock twice, the second time she actually did a little jump in the air and swam for her toy.  Kylie has a hilarious swimming style which makes you laugh when you see her version of the dog paddle.  She was quite pleased with herself and it was fun to play with her in Scottsdale, too!

All in all it was a great week in Arizona, the best part is watching friends and seeing the action in the stadium at night for the tournament classes.  It is nice to disappear from regular life at home to hang out with friends and fully enjoy all that we love about this fantastic sport that we do with our very best buddies, our dogs.  GVDC is fortunate to have such nice people to be a part of this club, and from what I saw this Week in Arizona, some impressive talent too!!  

Mia's Report:

 What an amazing time I had at the Cynosport World Games (aka USDAA Nationals) and I hope everyone else writes in with their experiences, because I'm going to focus on my 3 dogs right now.  It's an incredible show, a nearly perfect location and so much going on.  Every year it gets a little bigger.  This year they had herding, flyball (a very high level competition from what I've heard), lure coursing, freestyle and the always popular dock diving.  Oh yeah, and 6 rings of some of the best agility you'll ever see.  It was heaven.  :-)
 
My show started with Max in Time Gamble.  Time Gamble is a simple course with different options, that you were given a set time to do it in (a LOT of time it turns out).  Max and I were having a nice run, when I went to accelerate after a tunnel.   That's when I felt and heard a "pop" coming from my calf.  The judge asked on Sunday, "Did I hear what I thought I heard?".  I finished the course and when I saw Kristi C. I believe my first words were "my calf just popped".  By the time we were back at our set up (the competitor set up was AWESOME this year, the best ever!), I was starting to have my first meltdown.  Thank God for Mike Swan!  He quickly told me, I couldn't run anymore that day, if I wanted to be able to run the rest of the week.  He also got me icing it immediately and I stayed off of it, except to see Star's run and get a calf wrap, heel lift and lots of tape. I had another meltdown after everyone left, which is when poor Scott came upon me.  I have to say, everyone was so great after this happened.  It was really great having such support at such a scary time. 
 
Kristi and Anne stepped up and ran my dogs in Time Gamble.  Starlet LOVES her Auntie Anne and basically ran the course wagging her tail.  They both looked like they were having a good time.  I didn't see Kristi's run with Finn, but I think she also had fun. 
 
I spent most of Wednesday evening freaking out about whether or not I could run, while Kristi kept pouring me wine.  Definitely a good thing, considering my state of mind.  Kristi also pottied my dogs, drove me around and endured my biggest meltdowns.  The best one was when I called Mike after going to Sports Authority.  He asked how it was going and I said, "I tore my calf muscle" very clearly.  Then he said, "What?" and it took me minutes to get the words out again.  Poor Kristi was screaming "SHE TORE HER CALF MUSCLE" while Mike was trying to get me to calm down.  A camera would have caught a pretty funny moment.  :-)
 

Thursday morning, I was able to stand on my leg and as long as I stayed on my feet with the calf wrap, I could walk comfortably.  I was also lucky that I'd developed a rear cross obsession in the months before this Nationals, since I did more than I normally would.  First run on Thursday was with Max in Vers. Pairs Snooker.  He was lovely on a medium risky plan.  He ended up WINNING the class!  Yay Max!  Finn was also in the ribbons up until the last group in Snooker.  He ended up in 9th place in 26", just one place out of the ribbons.  He was LOVELY in that run.  Starlet was a little naughty on that course, but at least she picked up some opening points. 

Star went off-course early in Steeplechase (VERY naughty, she went behind me in a front cross).  Finn had a GREAT run aside from one misstep coming out of the tunnel.  He tried his heart out!  Max was awesome in Performance Speed Jumping.  He laid down a solid run and ended up as the 5th qualifier for the Finals that were run on Saturday night. 

 Friday started with an unexpected run for Max on the PNS semifinals course (for seeding for Finals, thanks to Max's Regional win in Oregon), I sent him off-course, so we ended up having to go second that night.  Starlet also had to run the course in the Grand Prix quarterfinals.  She was LOVELY, great weave entry, solid contacts, she was easy to run and ran clean.  So, Starlet was able to join the big dogs in the semifinals on Saturday.  Yay to Starlet!  She had a refusal in Team Jumpers, but no E and did run clean in Team Standard!  Woohoo!  Finn had a handler induced refusal in Team Jumpers and a weird off-course in Team Standard.  It wasn't The Santa Barbarians year, but at least we were out of it early, less painful that way.  :-)  Max had a lovely Versatility Pairs Jumpers run and finished 3rd!   Yay to Mr. Max!  Just to give me confidence for the PNS Finals that evening, Max missed his dogwalk contact in Standard, but otherwise was good.  I believe after Friday, his team "Who's My Daddy?" with fellow mutt, Betsy, handled by Laura Jones was in third place out of 80+ teams. 
 
I think my yahoo post from the Finals night is good for caputuring the thrill of that evening, so if this sounds familiar...Tonight was the Performance National Standard Finals. I rushed back to the hotel for a quick rinse off and to look for my phone (which was actually at the show site in my purse). When I left the site, it was still light out, but by the time I got back the lights were on in the big ring and everything else was dark. On the drive over, I was once again a bit weepy about how much this opportunity with Max meant to me and shaking with excitement. A couple other GVDCers were also in the Finals tonight, so it was very cool to have friends around during walkthrough. Even during walkthrough the crowd was cheering and calling out things to us. It was very exciting! The course was deceptive in the challenges. Let's just say, in 22" the winning dog was the only dog who ran clean (there were no bcs on the 22" podium, a Golden Retriever won the class). I walked a few options, but I focused on rear cross options, since I'm not able to accelerate as easily as I'd like. Walkthrough was faster than we expected, but it wasn't a hard course to memorize. When I brought Max to the ring, he was very excited. The crowd was going nuts for the little dog's runs, cowbells, lots of screaming "run" "go" "push it". The "push it" generally coming from the Texas contingent. It was very loud and the lights definitely drive home the point, that the crowd is there to watch you run. Max was the second dog in, the first was Ken Fairchild and Echo. Those of you who follow AKC Nationals know that he has had some incredibly bad luck in Finals and tonight was no exception. He fell while the dog was going to the dogwalk, by the time he'd gotten up, the dog had turned around and eventually jumped off the dogwalk. I felt so bad for him, but then it was Max and my turn. I told Max that I was very proud of him and walked away with confidence. I heard the crowd start making a sound that wasn't positive and turned around to see Max standing right in front of jump 1. I can't remember the last time he did something like that (I will never turn my back on a dog in Finals again!). I said "okay" even though I wasn't exactly where I wanted to be and off we went. He was AWESOME! Thanks to Rachel's rear crosses I was much more effective with them than I would have been 3 months ago. I loved running with the crowd screaming and definitely had to be louder than normal so Max could hear me over the sounds. I can't begin to explain what a rush it was! Max ended up finishing in 4th place. The 3rd place dog just won a Silver medal at the FCI World Championship, so it's a very honorable placement. :-)
 
There was a funny thing that happened after my run, which brought me briefly back to earth (very briefly, Max was such a GOOD BOY!). Nancy Gyes came up to me, patted me on the back and said, "Great Job!!!......Anne". I think I may have heard her correct herself, but we'd both walked away from each other and I could just be wishfully thinking. It was a very funny moment.
 
Saturday I was coming down off the high with Max from the night before.  I ran Team Gamblers with Finn to get in some training, because our team was out of the running and tried to get extra points with Starlet because our team was on the edge.  Both dogs were good, the buzzer blew on Starlet over the last jump and I didn't try for many gamble points with Finn.  Max was solid in Gamblers, but my closing plan wasn't as aggressive as it should have been.  In Grand Prix semifinals, Finn had one of the best runs we've ever had!  I'm hoping that he gets on a fitness program for next year, since I don't think he could try any harder or be any tighter.  He was such a good boy!  I sent Starlet off-course in the semis, but I was pushing for everything I could get!  It was a lot of fun. 
 
That night under the lights Max had the Performance Speed Jumping Finals.  I watched him during my lead out and said, "Gooooood Boy" before releasing him.  He had issues with the first weave entry and surprised me with an unexpected change of direction at the jump after the weaves (possible revenge for my sarcastic "good boy"?).  After that, the run got stronger and stronger, his closing was awesome and it was fun to have another opportunity under the lights to run for broke!  Despite the bobbles, Max ended up in 5th place!  Yay to Max!
 
Sunday was Power and Speed for all the dogs and Versatility Pairs Relay for Max with his new love Betsy (he LOVES her blue eye).  Starlet was a good girlie in her run and I was glad her contacts were still intact after the semifinals.  :-)  Finn was also a good boy in the opening, but he knocked the GIANT spread jump they were using in the opening.  It's called an extended spread and it's huge.  Max was a good boy in the opening.  He had a bobble going to the first jump of the closing, but we sorted it out and in the end it was another solid run by Mr. Max.  He ended up in 4th place in Performance Power and Speed!  He is such a special dog and I'm incredibly lucky. 
 
My last run of Nationals was the Versatility Pairs Relay.  By this time, we'd moved up into second place.  The leaders needed a major bobble for us to catch them, but the team behind us was close enough that a minor bobble or too conservative a run and we'd be caught.  I'd been looking forward to this year's team event, since I first decided I wanted to move Max to Performace in 2006.  Two all-americans giving the bcs and shelties a run for their money.  Without a doubt, before the Relay was the most nervous I was about a run all week.  I really wanted to run well for Betsy and Laura and all the mixed breeds of agility (including my Roxanne).  It seemed like our turn came up really quick.  I was running the second half, so while Betsy and Laura started, I was playing the belly game with him.  He was loving it.  So much so, that when Laura and Betsy reached the weaves and I tried to get Max up, he immediately started rolling again.  Meanwhile, Betsy is having the weaves of her life, she's flying and there's only two jumps between us.  Max barely got up in time for Laura to pass me the baton.  I couldn't play it safe, but the course punished recklessness.  Max was AWESOME and our team held on to our 2nd place standing with a 3rd place in the Team Relay.  Max finally had a spot on the podium, next to Linda Mecklenburg with Awesome.  Max started doing his flirty head bonking on Awesome while he was on the podium and then realize sexy Betsy was next to him.  He was so full of himself!  The only team to beat us was made up of two dogs that have FCI World Championship Medals, Linda Mecklenburg and Awesome and Jennifer Crank with Guess, who won Silver at this year's FCI World Championship. 
 
From such a scary start to finishing with a moment on the podium.  What an amazing experience!  Starlet and Finn were both great, but this year meant so much to me and Max.   Scottsdale 2006 will always be very special and I can't wait until next year!  Tell your dogs they're good.  mia
 


Peggi's Report:

We all just had the best time! Watching each other, cheering each other on, and laughing with each other over all the good and not so good things that happened! I sure hope everyone comes next year not only to compete, but to watch all the amazing teams that come from all over the states and even from other countries! The speed of some of these teams is really amazing! The winning Grand Prix run for the 26 inch division was under 30 seconds!!!!!!!!! WOW!!! The competitors are getting younger and faster. But it is nice to see some people that have been around for awhile still up there in the ribbons! This year was my 7th USDAA Nationals and I hope to make next year my 8th!!!! Sure hope a big group from Santa Barbara goes to the big show! It is sooooo worth it.

I was very lucky to have Scott and Foster as my Versatility Pairs partner! What a pleasure to have someone who just does his best and then doesn't sweat it!!!! Indy made it into the semi-finals and I was pleased. I then had my run at 3:30 in the heat (6th run of the day) and just could not keep my mind in the game. Indy was great all week and I had sooooo much fun. Jessie was having a good time but I had such a hard time running her knowing this was her last Nationals.

I felt very lucky to be able to cheer on all the talented teams from Santa Barbara! They all did such a good job!!! My favorite part of the show was watching Scott run Indy in Power and Speed!!!!! I had just been over at Splash dogs with Jessie and she was such a nut as I was walking up the wet stairs(metal) she pulled me over and I smashed my leg on the stairs (you should see the big bruise). Scott and Indy looked to great running!!! It was just the best to have that as a memory! Thanx, Scott!!!!!

Whitney's Report:

Here is a quick update on our Nationals... Going to the Nationals was an amazing experience.  Being a "newbie" and running two dogs was a challenge, but it was a treat to be in the company of so many incredible dogs and great handlers.  The various finals were wildly exciting - and hats off to Mia, Anne, and Kristi who ran in the center arena, under the lights to the roar of a huge crowd.  Very inspirational!  
On a personal level, I was thrilled with both of my dogs.  Sadie rose to the occasion and tried her heart out.  Despite one off course in the GP round, she had all clean runs and consistently finished in the top third of her classes.  Cooper served notice that he wants to be in the finals one day.  Aside from a few minor glitches he did great.  I pushed him hard in the GP and SC classes and he handled the pressure well, with his only fault being a dropped bar in each class.  The highlight of our show was the very last class, the Team Gamble, where he finished second (behind a "famous" trainer!) and won a lovely silver medal!  Needless to say I have been on cloud nine ever since!   Overall, we had a fantastic time at the Nationals.  Met many nice people and truly enjoyed the whole experience.  Can't wait 'till next year - and highly recommend that everyone aim to qualify for 2007. 

Kristi's Report:

Arrival in Scotsday: So...Mia and I have arrived in Scottsdale after 7+ hours in the car - we are not the happiest campers at the moment.  Although I must say, I have it better than Mia at the moment.  I have 2 glasses of wine in me already and she is still struggling with her room key and hiding her dogs because her building says NO DOGS ALLOWED all over it.  You can probably infer from this that we did not drive out together this time.  I think that wine/cheese night will be tomorrow because Mia and I are both kinda pissy at the moment.  As I write this, I am on the phone with Mia listening to her struggle with luggage, dogs and trying to open doors.  Great beginning to our Nationals <VBG>  Mia says this means we will all be lucky.  Being miserable the day before the trial seems to be our trademark.  Means the show is going to go well, we are getting all the crap out of the way now.

 Day 1: So...today was Time Gamble.  Huh....Time Gamble has got to be the world's worst class unless you are working contacts.  There were 11 obstacles and the "optimum" (read "winning") course time, was the dog who came closest to 30 seconds in CH and 32 seconds in Perf.  That's a heck of a lot of time.  Mia held Max's contacts FOREVER (and damaged herself - more on that later) and was still waaaayyy under time.  Cinder was almost 10 seconds under, Star was almost that bad as was Patch - Finn - no idea (I ran him - more on that later) so...Time Gamble, not my favorite class J

So, by this point, you are all probably wondering what the heck is going on.  Well, first run of the entire darn show that Mia had was with Max.  As he came shooting out of the tunnel, Mia accelerated and tore her calf muscle.  Yes that's right - tore her calf muscle.  At least that's the consensus at the moment.  Mike Swan (thank all the gods above that he is here) told her "DO NOT RUN ANYMORE TODAY" so Anne ran Starlet (and did a lovely job of it!) in Time Gamble and I got to run Finn who was entertaining as usual.  Everybody needs to keep their fingers crossed for Mia and tomorrow (and the rest of the darn show...)  Because if she can't run, I get to run Max (and probably get bitten by him....) So, Mia HAS to get better!!!!

Day 2: Gale and Patch both ran GREAT in Team Snooker - both made it through the close on a tricky course.  Gale actually finished up 7th overall in Team Snooker! Cinder did not make it through.

Her mother (meaning me) is a moron.  However we did get more than 1 point so I am not too bummed.  Cinder also laid down an amazing Steeplechase run but her A-Frames were slow and creepy (thanks to the bad back from Bay Team) but she ran her heart out, kept all her bars up (on a not-so-nice-course) and is the best dog on the planet.  I know I am biased but still...

The Performance Grand Prix quartefinals were today and I did not think Gale or Patch had a chance (with 5 faults) however, BOTH are in the semi-finals tomorrow!  Yay Girlies - now all my dogs have made the semis and I get shirts.  Ken is a cheap bastard and the Perf shirts are exactly the same as last year.  Wanna bet they are left-overs? 

 Day 3 (kinda): Morning - it is the day AFTER day 3 because I was too tired to battle with my computer last night <VBG>

I had a phenomenal day yesterday!  The day started when I found out Gale took 7th overall in Team Snooker the day before - and that was with a "pansy-ass" course!  What a good girlie.  The Team Jumpers today was a gnarly course with a HUGE off-course tunnel option (that dog after dog took) so I was understandably nervous when I walked to the line with Cinder.  Thank heavens for herding commands:  a huge "LIE DOWN" right before she took the wrong end of the tunnel stopped her cold so I could get her re-directed and she finished the rest of the course flawlessly.  Gale ran PERFECT and finished in 5th place overall!! Patches was (of course) perfect so one more team class out of the way that all my dogs got through - YAY!

The Team Standard course was fun except for one area of lots of jumps and tunnels - kinda scary actually.  Once again, all my dogs stepped up to bat and ran without E'ing.  The next class was the Performance National Standard Semi-Finals and both Gale and Patches had made the cut.  I was/am SO THRILLED they both made it because they both had 5 faults in the quarters.  First up was Patches in the big ring and she was running great until we hit the weave poles.  She hit her entry, came out - STOPPED - and air scented...and air scented....all the while I am frantically saying :"weave, weave."  She finally came back through pole 2 and back out - and stopped again...and air scented again...this happened for the rest of the weaves.  I kid you not, it took at least 15-20 seconds (which felt like A LOT MORE) to get her through her weaves.  Once we were rolling again she was great but she had wasted way too much time.  Once we got out of the ring, I kept looking to try and figure out what the heck had gone on.  And then I saw them:  SHEEP.  The herding demonstration pen was right on the other side of the ring - she couldn't see them but boy, she could sure smell them.  Sigh....  As if to make up for Patches' run, Gale was fast and furious in her semi's and I was just thrilled we had gotten through it (with her weaves!)  Imagine my surprise when I went to look at the results board and there was Gale's name on the list for the Finals!  The rest of the day was spent in serious suspense because three more groups of Perf. 22" dogs still had to run.  I would check back and her name was still there - but would it hold?  I finally caved and actually watched the last group of 22" dogs run....and SHE MADE THE FINALS!!!!  YIPPEEE!!

I went back to the hotel for a quick break (for the dogs) and still couldn't believe Gale was in the Finals!  3 GVDC'ers in the Finals - not bad for a small club in Goleta!  As I was walking the Finals course, the sense of unreality got stronger and stronger...I mean Gale?  The dog with no contacts???  The Finals were VERY exciting to watch and while Gale was completely

freaked by all the noise at first, I am glad I had her out early so she had time to get accustomed to it.  By the time we were ready to run, she was SPUN.  She was so excited and jazzed up about the whole thing she blew right by the tire in the opening - her stride was so big (oh yeah, related to Finn...)  We re-set and went on and Gale was faster than she has ever been!  Hit a gnarly weave entrance and just flew around the course.  Did she have contacts?  Oh no....but that was OK with me - she was in the Finals!!!  Out of 12 dogs, she finished up 8th overall!! YAY GALE!!!

Well, today is the final day of Team stuff and Cinder in the Grand Prix semi-finals!  Wish us luck!

Day 4: Well, this show has been a BLAST but I am exhausted!  Thank heavens today was a light day...only Team Gamblers with Patch and Gale and Grand Prix Semi-Finals with Cinder.  My team-mates with Cinder (Mia/Finn and Terra/Seeker) were gracious enough to allow me to pull Cinder from her Gamblers run since it was about 15 minutes before her GP run.  Thank you guys!!!  As a result, Cinder laid down an AMAZING (and clean) run in GP but we were off the cut-off mark by a second.  Sigh...Still, they only took 16 dogs so I am thrilled Cinder ran as hard and fast as she could.  She's a good girl!

Gale in Team Gamble was nothing like the Gale I had last night.  It was so friggin' hot (plus I had let her work sheep this morning as a "reward" for being so good last night) so she poked along.  But still - Gale's overall performance at her first Nationals has been amazing:  7th in Team Snooker, 5th in Team Jumpers and 8th place overall in Performance National Standard.  YAY GALE!!!

Patches was her usual steady self - there were a crowd of "Aussie folks" who cheered on almost every run we did so she was quite perky :-)  She likes the heat (the only one of us that does) and ran her heart out all the time.  Except for the "sheep incident" of course <VBG>

 Day 5: It is SO NICE to be home!!!  I left super early this morning - I had intended to go back to the show last night and watch the Steeplechase Finals but it was not to be.  I laid down to take a nap and woke up at 4:30am!  Guess I was a little bit tired....

The drive was uneventful (other than the 10 West closure with no detour signs - that was fun - I just just started driving west on side streets....) and I made it home early enough to take a LONG nap (and of course woke up completely disoriented and panicked "OMG!!  Did I miss any runs???") and am now contemplating a glass of wine and talking to Mia to keep her awake.  She stayed to watch the GP Finals so is still in the desert.  ICK.

HUGE CONGRATS TO ALL GVDC'ers!!!  I know I am going to miss folks (so have patience!) but here is a stab at it:

Scott getting ribbons with BOTH his dogs in Time Gamble!! Peggi and Indy and the PNS Semis!  YAY! Zip - well, too much really to talk about <VBG> but I do remember that he went into the PNS Finals seeded 1st and he won Power and Speed today!! Max - Waaayyy too much to remember - lots of ribbons in individual classes (a 1st in Snooker right???) and 2nd overall in the team!  Make those BC's work for it! Gale - 7th in Snooker, 5th in Jumpers and 8th overall in PNS!  YAY GALE!!! Terra and Seeker had an AMAZING GP Semi run!  So did Bruce and Jiffy!  Way to go!

I have to add that while many of our dogs didn't get ribbons, the runs were fabulous!  Patches, Starlet, Kiwi, Annie, Foster, Seeker, Finn (and others I know I am forgetting...sorry...) all ran great in their team classes and really showed that a little dog club in Goleta has it going on.

Scott's Report:

Nationals…, what can I say? If you’re a agility enthusiasts you have to go at least once in your agility career, especially since it is within a days drive! This was our second time at Nationals and I think we had more fun this time partly because we took advantage of the other activities going at there. They had Disc Dogs (3 different games), Fly Ball, Dock Diving, Herding, Lure Coursing, Doggie Massage, and 6 rings of Agility! Plus, more vendors than you can shake your wallet at.

The trip seemed longer this time. Traffic wasn’t bad but the miles rolled slowly by, mile… It finally did 8 hours later around 7:30 AZ time where we set up camped at the Pima Inn. When I took the dogs out for the last walk of the evening I noticed somebody had step a x-pen with plastic sheeting around it. I thought it was odd but I was too tired to care and went back upstairs for the night. It turned out there was a dashound specialty at the hotel. There were more wiener dogs than you could put in a whole case of hot dog buns!

I liked being there the first day of Nationals. We had most of a day to get settled in to our spot for the next five days and explore the grounds. Foster and Annie ran in the time gamble taking 5th and 7th respectively. It was a nice way to start Nationals.

The next day started early, walk through started at 7:00am so we needed to be at the show grounds a little before that to make sure we picked up copies of our maps. Last year they were often out of maps and you had to go scurrying around to find one. Since you might not run the course you just walked at 7:00 until 4:30 that afternoon it’s helpful to have the map to refer to throughout the day to refresh your memory.

Foster picked up 38 pts in team snooker, we were half way through the last obstacle, 12 weave poles, when the buzzer blew. He had a nice PGP run and had we not bobbled the weave entry we might have had a good enough time to make semi’s. Still, we had fun and Foster ran very well with of the pressure 100’s of competing dogs around him. Our last run of the day was team standard. I pushed Foster too early on a tricky serpentine, ending up in a Mexican standoff with the jump between us. We got back on track without back jumping and continued on our way. We didn’t E but we ate up a lot of time at the jump.

To sum up the rest of the show, Foster ran very well for most of the show. Of course he ran it in Foster style with long sweeping turns but we never E’d! In the end we succumb to the heat and pressure turning in a very poky 10 point team gamblers run. Still we had fun, and I had the sense to know when to “say when” and pulled him from Power and Speed. He didn’t mind a bit!

Annie only had three runs during the entire show. In Time Gamble we took 7th. Our GP quarter final turned out to be a reminder to not change your plan after you walked the course. I had planned to run her on my left side off the line (jump, jump, A-Frame, FC with a tunnel obstacle discrimination – how many times have I trained that?!!!) but changed my mind (doh!) and did a lead out pivot. By turning into her so close to the A-frame/Tunnel I pushed her into the tunnel with no time to correct the mistake, so that was the end of GP for us. I was kind of bummed because last year I only got through the first 8 obstacles when I forgot the course. Maybe we’re not ready for primetime eh? Our last run was Power and Speed, we caught a lucky break. The timer told us to go so I ran with her off the line to the A-frame where she charged up to the top then stopped to take a nice look around then she decided to come down and hop over the contact zone. As luck would have it, the judge was not ready so we got a “do over”. This time she did the same thing but got a toenail in the yellow so we were off to the races. We had a nice fast run which was a great way to finish up with my dogs at Nationals I’m sure glad we had a chance to do that run again.

Peggi Bean and Indy were my teammates with Foster and I. Peggi was nice enough to let me run Indy in Power and Speed. We had a very nice run that was even faster than the one I had with Annie. That Indy is one awesome dog! Peggi is pretty nice too!

Agility wasn’t the only thing to do at Nationals! Annie got to herd some goats, receiving a herding instinct certificate. Foster had two runs of Course and Lure. He had the best time and did great for a novice dog, definitely his sport! Both of them also got doggie massages from the very knowledgeable and nice Cindy de Franco, the dogs were in seventh heaven.There was also a very cool disk dog competition going on as well as fly ball and dock diving. And yes, there were vendors of all types selling all sorts of doggie paraphernalia.

This year two things stood out for me as highs and lows at Nationals and both of them centered on our instructor. The low was seeing Mia in tears after the first run, of the first day of Nationals when she tore her calf muscle. She was incredibly devastated. Imagine training and trialing so hard all year and having your hopes dashed with an injury that keeps you from running at the biggest show of the year! The high moment(s) was listening to Mia’s laugh throughout the show. Her leg now much better and ready to run. There she was back the next day, and the entire show, running her dogs to great success and above all having fun while doing it. I mean, you knew she’s having fun because you could hear her laugh 200 feet away over the noise created by 600 dogs and owners, announcers and music. Above it all, was Mia’s laugh reminding me to have fun too!!! That’s the spirit of agility.

Mia and Max
1st place Versatility Pairs Snooker
3rd place Versatility Pairs Jumpers
3rd place Versatility Pairs Relay
4th place Power and Speed
5th place Performance Speed Jumping Finals
4th place Performance National Standard Championship
2nd place Versatility Pairs Overall with Betsy and Laura Jones

Anne and Zip
2006 Performance National Standard Finalist
1st Place, 2006 Performance National Standard Semifinals
1st Place, Performance Power and Speed
7th in Performance Versatility Standard

Anne and Kiwi
8th in Performance National Standard Semifinals
All-Around Awesome Dog!

Kristi and Gale
Performance National Standard Finalist (8th),
7th place in Versatility Pairs 22" Snooker
5th place Versatility Pairs 22" Jumpers

Scott and Annie
5th place 22" Time Gamble

Scott and Foster
7th place 16" Performance Time Gamble

Whitney and Cooper
2nd place 12" Team Gamblers

Kate and Quick:
Grand Prix 22" Finalist
9th place in Steeplechase 22" Finals
3rd place in DAM Team Finals (Hardly Thinking w/ Olga/Luz and
Tracy/Blew)
1st place in 22" Team Gamblers (Quick's 3rd time winning Team
Gamblers!)
4th place in 22" Team Standard
13th place in 22" Team Jumpers
4th place in Team Relay

Kate and Driven:
2nd place in 22" Team Gamblers
2nd place in 22" Team Standard
Grand Prix Semifinalist

 Grand Prix seifinalists:
Terra and Seeker, Bruce and Jiffy, Diane and Gidget,
Whitney and Cooper, Kristi and Cinder, Mia with Finn and Starlet

 Performance National Standard semifinalists:
Peggi and Indy, Whitney and Sadi, Kristi and Patches
 
 
Gidget on the start line.
Bruce & Leslie catching the action.

Tent City!

Early Walk Through

Ahhhhh! Foster gets special treatment!

Patches is such an old pro!

Zip having a blast!

Sadie and Whitney making it look easy!

Streaking Seeker!

Flyball

Lure Coursing

Herding

Dock Diving

Disk Dogs

Walk through for finals under the lights! Can you spot Mia?

Mia, Max with Laura and Betsy receive ribbons.

Awards ceremony!

Taking a victory lap for the adoring crowd!