Wags for Wishes in Del Mar
July 8 & 9, 2006
Anne's Report

Hello!
The Swandogs and I have just returned from a long, exciting, but very fun weekend at the Wags for Wishes trial in Del Mar. I was the only GVDC club member there (bummer) but we had a great time and I got to see many agility friends that mostly frequent the AKC agility venue - I hadn't seen them in awhile as we've been focusing on USDAA for the past 3 years.

If you are curious about the "Wags" trial, by all means - go next year and check it out! It is like a mini-USDAA Nationals in that they have so many other events going on at the same park. There were three days of AKC agility, and we got to run in the new FAST class (the new titling class in AKC, soon) to give it a try, and had a lot of fun. They also had dock dogs, obedience, conformation (for aussies only), rally, lure coursing, herding, frisbee, and flyball. Three fun filled days with literally thousands of dogs there having fun, they had a great vendor aisle with lots of shopping to do. The weather was very warm and humid, kind of like Hawaii - but the dogs were crated in a huge covered arena so they were in the shade with a nice breeze.

The courses were very AKC, reminding me that I really like USDAA courses - they weren't harder, just different. I like the flow of USDAA better, I think - but overall it was not bad. There were over 150 dogs in the 20", 16", and 12" classes EACH - long classes but it gave you a chance to watch the other competitors handle the courses.

Kiwi was superb the entire weekend. I remind myself that every show could be our last, as it was forced into our reality last year - so we ran each course with speed and enthusiasm, and Kiwi gives it everything she has each time. She qualified on the Saturday standard course (the one I liked the least, it was tricky with a dangerous approach to the dog walk that I took an extra second to set her up correctly for) with an amazing run. Everything after that was just pure fun, we had no more than one mistake on each of the other runs but I was able to push Kiwi and run as fast as we could. Our times were competitive with the other top 16" dogs in our class, so it is great to know after a surgery and pushing nearly 11 years old Kiwi is still doing very well. It is hard for her to bend her knee for a sit on the table, she is fine with a down but the sit seems uncomfortable for Kiwi. She was a trooper and I was so proud of her the entire weekend - and Kiwi was really having fun.

Zippy and I are working on our accuracy in trials. I maintained my criteria of a stop on the contacts, for the most part Zip held them but I did occasionally have to mark a self-release. He got the picture and by Sunday was much more reliable, and he was listening very well to the directions on course and running beautifully. Zip is so speedy there is about a millisecond of time I have to get out my commands, and I am not always fast enough - but he was listening well and had a gorgeous Jumpers run on Saturday. Zip's big news is that he got the last leg of his darned ASCA CD on Saturday, they made the dogs sit and down facing the sun on a very hot and humid morning - I wasn't sure Zip would be able to hang in there with his big fluffy coat but he did. I promised Zip ahead of time if he got the last leg on Saturday I wouldn't enter him on Sunday - and he obliged. He also won the class with a score of 192 out of 200, and I realized walking into the ring that we hadn't done a lick of practice to prepare for traditional obedience. You cannot talk to your dog very much in the CD class, and I maintain a constant dialogue with Zip in Rally, so this last CD leg was a bit difficult. Plus we had just come from the agility ring before that and they had an obedience panel jump RIGHT next to the ring rope and as Zip was heeling off lead he looked at me like "I can jump that, right, can I?" and he veered off a bit, but we maintained it somehow to the end and he won the class to finish his ASCA Novice Obedience title.

There was even something for Puppy Kylie this weekend at Wags for Wishes, she got to try sheep herding for the first time!! These sheep were huge, much bigger than the barbados-type that Zip and Kiwi have worked with in the past. Kylie was so little I wasn't sure what she'd think of them or if they would listen to her. We walked up to the pen and the sheep see this little pip-squeak cattle dog and start stomping their feet at her to shoo her away. Kylie didn't flinch or charge, just stood her ground looking at them, so I was curious to see what she'd think. I went in the pen with Kylie and the herding trainer, she
had three loose sheep and told me to unhook Kylie's leash. I let her go and to my amazement Kylie went in and just went to work on the sheep like she did it every day! She circled and gathered them, and brought them to the trainer where ever she walked - Kylie's first time seeing livestock!! Her parents are herders so I guess it is naturally ingrained but it was cool to watch. Kylie was confident and happy, she would occasionally go in closer to check them out but mostly circled the back of them in a loose-eyed fashion, it was so neat to see the instincts at work. The herding trainer (who likes her strong-eyed border collies) said "What a nice pup! Where did you get her? She is a very nice little girl!" Kylie got to herd on Saturday and Sunday, and was very cute yet effective with the sheep, a lady was there taking
pictures so hopefully those will be up on her website soon.

It is sooooo great to be home, it is very cool in Santa Barbara! Nice to be out of the humidity and not have your shirt stick to you. I am a cold weather wimp and I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt every morning at 6:30am, to give you an idea of how warm it was all day, night, and morning long. The Swandogs and I had a great time and hope to go back next year, plan to join us!!

:) Anne, Kiwi, Zip, and Kylie