AAC 2012 National Agility Championships - Nanaimo

We took an unbelievable 8th place in the National Agility Championships.  It was our highest placement to date at that level of competition.  Most of the courses were very difficult as you would expect at a national event.  It was the first major competition where I was able to avoid melting down under the pressure and understood the rule book well enough to not do something silly in the ring.  We were also coming with a 4th place finish in the BC/Yukon regional championships.  THAT was a total surprise since, unlike most other competitors who take classes every week and trial often, we haven't had a class in years and only do a few day-trials per season.  Most of our training is modified walks in the park although I did ramp up the practice before the two events.  Now the job is to shave off seconds to place higher next year.

A "blue merle" ribbon for 8th place!  

Yaaay!  What a surprise.  Morgan the Kelpie (1st place in the BC/Yukon championships) took 7th place.  He's so fast and almost always perfect....if we can keep up to Morgan we're doing great.

The final standings for the 16" Special class.  

The loopy Standard 2 course.  I use coloured pencils to help visualize the path.  When obstacles are used more than once I'm in great danger of having a brain meltdown at that point in the course.  I discovered last month doing "tai-chi-lity" after I walk the course right up to the time we have to run it helps keep it in my head so I can focus on Sassy and not worry about where we have to go next.

A very sharp angle over the jump which increases the risk of dropping a bar....especially since Sassy never jumps higher than she needs to!

The pack mule, carrying it all home on Sunday afternoon in 31 degree heat...tough when you're wearing a fur coat that you can't remove.  Staying cool was the main concern this weekend.

A great campsite at Westwood Lake. The evenings were so relaxing and steak grilled over the campfire coals tastes great!

Tired dogs after it was all over.  This is Echo, one of Sassy's best friends and our main competition because they're both such great dogs and very evenly matched!

Paws Squad

This is the Paws Squad Dog Agility group.  A fun group of people with a similar outlook towards playing with their dogs.  Competitive but not at the expense of having fun and celebrating everyone else's achievements.

We took 4th place in the BC/Yukon Regional Championships.  Five perfect runs and one really bad one (the last one) due to handler incompetence.  I need to learn how to relax under pressure. Not bad though, considering we don't train and haven't competed since January.  We were third last year but that went to Cathy with her Shetland Sheepdog, Echo (bottom pic, far right).  Well done!  Now it's on to the National Agility Championships in August and yes, we are training for that!