Agility Invitational 2016
Friday
We reserved a hotel near the show site to make transitions during the day easier. Traveling back to the RV would be a 30 minute drive without traffic. But this morning, we left the dogs in the RV as we only headed to the show site to check in. So we stopped at Whole Foods on the way in and then went to the site to check in and register at the hotel. We came back for lunch. I rode the bike for half an hour to clear my head and enjoy the outside. Then we packed everyone up and headed over to the show for the afternoon warm-up run.
Complicating the transition process even more, it takes forever to park the car, unload the car, get everyone into the hotel room, and then walk over to the convention center. We gave ourselves an hour and a half and it wasn’t enough time. So, we need to determine whether we will stay at the hotel at night to make the transition in the early morning easier.
But for today, we committed to use the hotel for the run,
and then return back to the RV. We
didn’t run until 5:30. And I suppose
since Braddock has been on-leash the last 2 weeks because of his bicep strain,
and we haven’t hiked as much because of Logan, that these were the reasons he
was jacked up in the run and didn’t listen at all. He ended up doing one section of the course
twice, and when I thought we recovered, he still went off course taking jumps,
any jump, at will. Russ and I could only
laugh. Afterall, this was just
warmup. I was trying to take it
seriously though and treat it like the run actually mattered. But, what we ended up telling ourselves is at
least he got his zoomies out and hopefully the rest of the runs are clean and
fluid. We can’t lie to ourselves. This year we hope to make it to finals.
We’ve had a few challenges to overcome to get here. But I learned that we aren’t the only ones
who have these challenges to overcome.
For example, our Greyhound friend, Jen Bachelor and her husband, had not
one, but two fender benders on the way down to the Invitational today. Then, when Jen got out to run the course with
Maddie, everything was going well until the teeter. When Maddie jumped off, the teeter caught her
leg and she came up lame. The heaviness of the day wore on both of them.I’m hoping we are over the challenges and that this is our year. The positives of today are that Braddock ran fast, he’s not lame, he felt good, and he looked good.
Little did I know when I brought him home what a superstar he would turn out to be.
Saturday
Step 1 was to get all the dogs settled in the hotel and then
get over the show site to walk the course.
We brought Frye with us so she could see Jen and Stephen. At first, Frye was aloof, but as they talked
with her the recognition came back and she became very excited. She even did a butt wiggle and of course gave
her frenetic kisses and little bites.
Russ and I worked very well together talking through the
course, with him standing on the sidelines.
I had an hour and a half before the run so we walked back to the hotel
to potty all the dogs again. I headed
back to the show first so I could watch some runs and then when Russ was on his way with
Braddock he told me that Frye had broken out of the crate. So, he had to go back and get her and she
spent the rest of the day walking around with us wherever we were going. We should have known because she never
relaxed in the hotel. She kept running to the door, obviously not
comfortable there.
Although my nerves were up a little, I did feel a solid
technical understanding of the Round 1 JWW course and we really nailed it. Then we had about 2 hours break so we walked
Frye and Braddock back to the hotel and rested for a bit. We refilled on tea, celebrated our success,
focused on the next run, fed dogs and took them out.
Then came Round 2 STD run and I didn’t have a clear
technical plan. I had to rework that
course many times in my head to get comfortable and even then there was one
push off the teeter that kept bugging me.
Well, when we finally ran, everything was great except that one
push. But Braddock compensated for me
and took the correct tunnel obstacle giving us another qualifying run to
celebrate.
He got his second laser treatment from Sheila and then we
packed up (about 3pm). We bought Frye an
LED collar (blue), just like the other guys we got last year. We packed up the dogs and the car and headed
out. Took until 4pm before we pulled
out. The back and forth to the hotel
room is quite exhausting.
On the way home, we discussed staying at the hotel overnight
or just getting up early and driving. We
decided to stay in the RV because the dogs get better rest and we are all more
comfortable there. Thus, when we got
back, we biked Frye and Cadia around, avoiding two cows we saw that had busted
through the fence and were in the campground.
Frye was ballistic on the bike today.
I was surprised she wasn’t exhausted from being at the show all day. Cadia was her usual maniac self.
It was a nice night and Logan kept jumping up to go outside
too so we walked Braddock and Frye while pushing Logan in the stroller for a
bit. He was so happy to go for a stroll
and kept popping out his head and looking around (even when he wasn’t begging
for treats).
Then Russ and I got in the hot tub for 20 minutes and set up
for Sunday’s runs.
Sunday
We planned to leave for the show at 5am. I woke up at 3:30 in pain from the gallbladder. It’s bothered me all day so I’ll definitely need to be scheduling with a GI doctor. Still, I was excited for the show. We left all dogs except Braddock in the RV since my run was early (8 am) and we’d have a four hour break in between runs to come back and pick everyone up. In fact, Russell suggested Braddock and I rest at the hotel in between and he would go pick up the dogs.
As I walked the course for the third round, prize
announcements from Saturday were announced.
We learned that Braddock placed 4th among all the hounds – this
is the invitational so he was measured against the top 5 best performers for
all hound breeds. He also finished
Saturday as the 6th ranked 24 inch dog among 166 running. That’s the top 4%.
The third round was the most tricky. I fretted over a hard pull off the A-frame,
but Braddock did that section flawlessly.
Problem was, on the backend of that section there was another hard
component coming out of the tunnel and that is where I lost him.
I was in disbelief.
After the first day I had gotten my hopes up that this was finally my
year. I truly really did believe it this
time. Russ and I were both
deflated. We packed up our things and
decided we’d both go back to the RV.
It took a bit to turn the energy around to gear up for our
last run. I ran him hard, and he did run
fast. It was a beautiful run.
The positives so far, though, are that Logan is doing
well. He’s had good rest the last 3 days
so he’s been rather perky and energetic.
Frye got a lot of exposure out in the agility venue and the atmosphere
didn’t bother her at all. Braddock ran
really hard and fast and his body held up, no injuries or signs of injury. He had great stamina. Russ and I worked really well together
throughout the show. We fellowshipped
with other Ridgeback people (Beth Lockhart, Carrie’s husband Matt) as well as
people we know from back home (Mike with the labs, Mary with Fendi). Frye also got to see Jen and Stephen. We’ve also had gorgeous weather here. These are all positives. Sometimes you just have to smile and laugh in life too.
Comments
Post a Comment