Great agility weather, great location, very well organized and a strong GVDC showing best describe this event! There were clouds with a little sun, lots of shade and plenty of room for everyone. Lots of great runs for GVDC dogs kept the level of excitement high and the ribbons coming! Little did I know how many GVDC dogs there would be before committing to do this report! So get comfortable, this is bound to be a long one. I tried to catch as many runs and get as many post-run interviews as possible, but I’m bound to leave someone out. Just can’t catch ‘em all, forgive me if I miss anyone. What a joy to see so many friends having such a great time.

On Saturday Janet and Rowdy started things off in the Excellent JWW ring. Rowdy seemed a bit timid at first, but finished well with only one bar down. Anne and Kiwi kicked things into the usual “Kiwi hyper-drive” and had a great run. Kiwi made a short detour to inspect the tunnel, but finished with a Q and 4th. Susan and her adorable Papillion Bella showed good teamwork as they worked through the course. Shirley and Augie did a great job on the course and Mia would be proud of her front crosses! Violet and I went next and she was right on track. Her weaves were a little slow, but she got through all 12. We earned a Q and 2nd place. I’m so proud of her; she’s becoming a seasoned little competitor and shows me the way when my handling gets sloppy. Paula K. and her high flying little dog Zoe had a great run, Q’d and gave some credit to Anne for a little “revving” for Zoe before their run. What are friends for anyway?

In the Open JWW ring, Vinnie tested Paula S’s patience by letting his “inner rebel” surface for a bit, but they finished with smiles. Suzie and Tanker were a ball to watch! He started out slow, but half way through the course Suzie must have lit a rocket under him. He fired up for a blazing, crowd pleasing finish with only one bar down. Bob made a tough, but smart decision to leave the course early when it was clear that Kadi just wasn't’ in a “jumpers” mood. Sometimes sacrificing a run that just isn't’ flowing right is the best way to send our canine teammates a clear message. We should all do it at least once. Good for you Bob! Dixie and Kathy were fast, I mean FAST and Dixie let everyone know she was having a great time as she barked her way to a Q! Indy and Peggi were next and were such fun to watch, as always! Indy flew over her jumps and took a quick detour to inspect a very mysterious white bucket lying just outside the ring. It could have been filled with dog treats! Really! Thanks for checking it out Indy!

In the Open Standard Ring, Zoe made Paula K. proud with a very bold teeter! We are so impressed with Paula’s patience and persistence as it appears they have clearly worked through Zoe’s “teeter issues.” All eyes were on them as they flew through the course for a Q! I’m pretty sure Paula S. laid out some cold hard cash, or maybe some chicken livers, because Vinnie’s improved attitude earned a Standard Q with only a minor bobble at the weaves. Violet continued to show me the way during our run and earned our final leg for our OA.

In the Novice JWW Ring, Scott and Foster made a great debut run and earned a first place Q! Nice going! Foster was as cool as ever and stayed right with Scott through the course. What a great way to start an agility career! Diane and Gidget tore up the course with blazing speed. I’ve never seen such a fast lab! She’s amazing to watch. Diane pulled off some incredible front crosses; if you have seen how fast Gidget is, you’d know why the crosses were incredible! Nora and Lilly Q’d in their first ever AKC run and Lilly bounced and smiled all the way. What a happy competitor she is! Cooper was a delight to watch as he and Susan ran the course. That puppy curiosity got the best of him as he paid a visit to a jump setter, but he was right back on track and finished under time with only a bar down. Nice run!

In the Novice Standard ring, Diane and Gidget were starting small fires again. I was impressed with how Diane holds such solid contacts with her dog. Great discipline. During his run, Cooper practiced a little sideways broad jumping and experimented with different ideas of his own on the weaves. But, Susan did not negotiate with him and he finished all of them along with a very strong teeter for a Q. Lilly got smiles from the crowd with her joyful bunny hops over the jumps. I’m not sure what Nora feeds her, but she clears those 24” jumps with at least 6” to spare! So fun to watch!

On Sunday, Mia joined the gang with Finn and in their Excellent Standard run, Finn had a short episode of “puppy brain” in the weaves. Mia was happy with his contacts and described her handling as “spectacular”… ;-) Mia also did a great thing for Marie and ran Bubbles for her. Mia brought out the best in Bubbles and she was a happy and fast competitor. They had a nice Excellent JWW run with only one off course. Barbara C.H. and her JRT Bud got a Q and 2nd in their Standard run and she was very pleased with his performance. Often a bit of a ground sniffer, Bud stayed focused and did his job. Paula K. and Zoe earned another Exc. JWW leg. Mia commented that, “she did a nice job driving her from the tunnel to the weaves.” Vinnie also earned another JWW leg for Paula S. and barked his way through the finish. Violet and I had a false start on the JWW course, a near crash with her sloppy handler at the first tunnel and one bar down, but she was so happy to be out there.

In the Excellent Standard ring, Violet and I had a wonderful run. I think I heard music because it felt like a dance. We earned a Q and 1st. She gave me a little attitude at the table, I think it may have been a little warm from the sun, but the run was about as fun as they get.

I was not able to stay for the Novice runs, so thanks to Paula K. for the following results: Nora and Lilly qualified again in Novice Standard. An amzaing first show for them for sure! Scott and Foster repeated their Saturday showing with two 'Q's. Both Augie, and Sydni, qualified in Open Standard. Bob had a very good Open Standard run, but had a minor weaves problem. Vinnie also skipped the weaves in Open Standard, after his beautiful Open Jumpers, and Paula K. and Zoe got very lucky, knocking a bar which popped up, and much to everyone's amazement, landed back in the cup, giving her an Open Standard Q and finishing her OA .

Here's Monday's news from Mia: Monday of the show, which I keep thinking of as Sunday, since I didn’t show on Saturday...it’s thrown me off my days of the week all week! ;-) Anyway, the show was noticeable smaller than Sunday and I think it was a bit warmer or at least the fog didn’t last as long for the Excellent dogs. My day started with JWW with Bubbles and Standard with Finn.

The JWW course was technical in the opening. The challenges of the course were very different depending on the dog. For a less motivated dog, you had to find the least disruptive way to handle the course to keep them moving and motivated. For the more drivey dog or long-strided dog, the handler had to really keep control of the dog’s head and be able to do some stride management. What I really liked about the course were all the different handling options and choices challenging the teams. Bubbles had a lovely run. She kept moving despite the less than motivating opening and would have qualified, except for a knocked bar, at the second to last jump. After the near miss with Bubbles in JWW, my next run with Finn in Standard. It was beautiful run except for a missed weave entry....sigh. Then, it was Bubbles turn.... It was hot, she wasn’t looking too motivated and since we’d already had 3 good efforts, I felt like we could be running out of lucky tokens. As we approached the collapsed tunnel (Bubbles has a long history of rolling in the collapsed tunnel) I knew she wouldn’t be coming out the other end. Sure enough, she started rolling. I immediately tried to pull Bubbles out, but it was difficult with the fabric and the judge, laughing, kept asking me for progress updates. In order to answer the judge, I’d have to pull my head out of the fabric, which didn’t help my efforts to pull Bubbles out. Finally, just as I was getting close to grabbing her, Bubbles exited the entrance of the tunnel. I thought, "whew! I’ll just call her around the tunnel" and dropped the fabric. As soon as the chute hit the ground, Bubbles was back in the tunnel and the process started all over again. The ever helpful Terry Simons started giving commentary from the gate steward post, the judge was dying with laughter and I could swear the sun had gone down significantly since the chaos began. Finally, Bubbles left the tunnel and I thought "Whew, thank god that’s over" then remembered the tunnel was only obstacle 3 and the judge was quite happy to see us continue (I don’t think she stopped laughing the entire run). After the tunnel incident, Bubbles was good and Marie gave me a good laugh by asking upon our return, " Do you think she made time?"!

My show ended with Finn’s JWW run. Finn and I had a wild run with several "Finn! Finn! Finn!" calls by me. He tried his heart out and for the second day in a row won Excellent A JWW with a great run. Not a bad way to end the weekend or rather, begin the week (see how confusing showing on Monday is!).

Other GVDC'er highlights: Paula and Zoe had a nice JWW run for a Q and an even better Standard for a win! Paula and Zoe were 6 for 6 for the weekend! Janet and Roudy had a fabulous JWW, unfortunately, there were 3 more obstacles to the course than she realized. Janet also had a nice Standard run with Phoebe for a Q. I didn’t get to see any of the Open or Novice runs on Monday. I heard through the grapevine that Nora had a Q in JWW. Woohoo!

At the end of the month, there’s another AKC in Ventura. Here’s hoping for more clean and fast runs!

Tell the dogs they’re good. mia