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| Spice earns her Nov B FAST title |
We spent the last weekend of 2012 running AKC agility in Birmingham at the soccer arena on artificial turf. This is my personal favorite venue for agility. The crating is a bit tight but the surface is FLAT (no ruts, bumps, or ankle turners). Dogs with longer strides slide as the turf surface is worn and has become slick in spots.
So how did we do - it was a mixed bag as usual:
- Grace ran with great enthusiasm but was lacking accuracy. This continues to be a common problem for her. Grace is very happy out there and wants to have fun - she gets so jacked up she can not concentrate on accuracy. This weekend she decided the dog walk contacts were optional - it would be more fun to jump off the side so she could herd my feet (argh!). Two NQs for her. Her weaves are continuing to improve - she has more value for this obstacle now. Keeping my fingers crossed she can pick up 2 more Qs before her retirement.
- Spice and I are becoming a team finally. Our runs still need much improvement but they are SOOO much better than they were a few weeks ago. Overall she is running very fast and happy, but Spice is struggling with her teeter in standard. We need to work on our rear crosses on the flat, building value for the first jump (obstacle) following the A-frame, and her overall obstacle commitment (like finishing a straight line of jumps at the finish). I'm very happy with her progress though.
Phyllis Ensley was at the trial taking photos. She got some great shots. I bought her photos of Spice (I already have several agility photos of Grace). Here are a few of my favorite shots:
