USDAA Overcome, Port Allen arena



Equipment loaded and ready to go



Friday mid morning we loaded Overcome's USDAA agility equipment on the trailer and drove to Port Allen to unload at the arena.  Our stars were properly aligned - no rain during loading/transport and huge help from the arena staff getting it off the trailer.  The equipment was levitated of the trailer by two of the arena employees.  Both of the guys very nice and polite as well as very strong.  The judge's plane was a bit delayed but she made it in time for dinner on Friday evening. What a great start to our weekend!

I signed Grace up to run what she needs to finish her PII title - standard and gamblers.  She ran twice on Saturday and once on Sunday.  Good efforts - no Qs.


Kaz and I Q in Pairs!!

Sometimes you get what you wish for in unexpected ways.  I've joked with Tracey about running Kaz.  I ran the beagle girls when Tracey was hurt but we found fast dog/distance handling savy people to handle Kaz.  The pinch handlers for Kaz struggled to get her to Q.  As it turns out on Sunday Tracey needed to be in two places at once.  She took Kayak to try for his tracking certification (WOOT! PASS!) while I ran Kaz in pairs for a Q with Heather Dickinson and Ellie Mae.  Tracey and I walked the course once together as a reminder of Kaz's command set.  It worked great - fast and smooth.  I was very proud of us as team.  It felt great running her.  Kaz went on to have a perfect weekend - I'm so glad I was able to contribute to her success.

Spice earned pairs and jumpers legs

Spice was signed up to run all 6 titling classes during the trial (2 standard runs, snooker, gamblers, pairs, and jumpers).  I also signed her up for Steeplechase since it is a fast smooth course run on starters rules.  We skipped Grand Prix (master's rules and lots of wraps and jump slices).  This was more runs than she has done in a weekend.  But she was doing much better by the end of the weekend - we felt like a team.  I'm watching the video to see why our jumpers sequences are better than our contact sequences (am I standing up straighter, am I hovering,????).  The video is pieced together in the order we ran the courses - I see improvement over the weekend.  She did a set of 12 weave poles in Standard on Sunday (a first at a trial for her).  We came home with Qs in starter jumpers and pairs to add to our existing snooker Q.  We are a long way to her ADCH but I have a long term goal!  My immediate goal is to keep our teamwork momentum going into AKC agility in Monroe this weekend.  Darn the rain outside - it is really to wet to run in the yard currently.  We will do our weave practice in the den for now.  We can also practice rear crosses using a single jump.

Equipment stored in the workshop at the house

The trial ended early afternoon Sunday.  We packed up the equipment and unloaded it at the house.  Our tasks were completed before it dumped rain Sunday night.  The trial was a huge success.  The club cleared a little money to buy more tunnel sand bags.  We plan on doing it again next year.  I put more steps on my pedometer on Saturday and Sunday than at any other agility trial - lots of running back and forth making sure everything was going smoothly, working the ring, running the dogs, and fetching items for the judge.

We got 2.75" of rain at the house overnight Sunday night and early Monday AM.  The yard is very spongy and muddy.  Teaching agility Tuesday night is iffy as it continues to rain during the day Monday.