USDAA and Mimi

Today was Mimi's third agility trial and our first go at USDAA. For my non-agility audience, USDAA is another organization that offers trials and titles in agility. Unlike AKC, they don't require your dog to be a pure breed. And USDAA offers some really fun games in addition to the usual Standard (with contact obstacles) and Jumpers courses.

Mimi had Q's and placements in 3 of her 4 runs today!

The first course of the day was Gamblers, which requires you to send your dog to a few obstacles some distance away from you (the so-called distance challenge or gamble). I didn't really expect Mimi to get the gamble, which is required to Q in this game. I didn't think she was ready. And I was right.

The tournament was held outdoors, unusual for Texas agility in general. Even though we train outdoors in a big field, Mimi found this trial space fairly intimidating and stimulating all at the same time. It wasn't as securely fenced as I would have liked. A determined flight risk could have gotten out of there quickly.

In that Gamblers run, I chose to start with the dogwalk. I had some trouble with her at the start line and all of it was my fault. I waited too long to try to make it "perfect" and she became more worried about things going on around her. She ran up the DW okay but launched herself off the downside. Totally airborne. When she landed, I called her and she turned right around came back to do it again, as I had directed, but proceeded to launch herself off the other end after which she ran out of the ring. Someone in the entry area grabbed her for me. She was totally wired, not at all focused on me or on the game. But on the bright side, she did turn and attempt the dogwalk again as I had asked her to. A glimmer of light in the tunnel. Several of us agreed that perhaps she had now "gotten it out of her system" for the day.

The next run was Snooker. Iz was a snooker queen and just loved to play the game. I learned a lot about Snooker strategy with Iz and was pretty confident that I could do something in this game with Mimi. It's a good game for handler focused dogs. And in fact, we had a beautiful run that went pretty much as I had planned. She ran wide several times to check out the ring crew and the guy taking pictures but we completed the opening with 16 pts and completed all of the closing (which included 6 weaves), another 27 points, for a total of 42 points and no faults with seconds to spare on the clock. That was enough for a Q and a third place. It was a very nice follow up to that Gamblers attempt. Several people commented on how nice her Snooker run was.

The third run was Standard. By now, it was after noon and Mimi was starting to get a little tired. She ran under the tire, the first obstacle, and didn't trigger the electronic timer. But that's not considered a fault in the beginner's class, so I rounded her about and started her again. She did a run-by on the tunnel, the fourth obstacle, but again I pulled her around to try again. Still no faults. The weave entry was very difficult as the dogs were coming off an arc of jumps at high speed facing the Aframe the entire time only to be confronted with frantic handlers trying to pull them into the weaves. I realized that Mimi was flying over those jumps so I did a very strong RFP and basically pulled her to a stop, made eye contact, then turned her into the weaves. She hit the entry and did all 12 poles perfectly. This was a great improvement over the last trial where she struggled with just 6 poles all weekend. She had no faults and ran fast enough to get a Q and another third place.

The fourth and final run of the day was Jumpers. Mimi was visibly flagging (it was now 3:30pm or so and we'd been at the site since 6:30 that morning). She pulled off one jump in the middle of the course because I turned before she was committed. But it was a great run. She had no faults and earned a Q and a fourth place.

1. I may have several different problems with Meems but I certainly don't have bar-knocking issues. Her gigantic jumping arcs slow her down (thus no first places despite her lovely clean runs) but ensure that she clears all jumps easily.

2. I was worried that she might have a weave entry problem after the last trial. She confirmed for me today that she does not have a problem with the weaves. She did those 12 poles in the Standard course slower than she does them in class but with drive and commitment.

3. Each run today felt more and more like the way it feels for us class. In class, I can sometimes layer obstacles and push her out for distance--all signs of a dog that trusts her handler and a handler that is giving good information. Her confidence in the ring today increased with each run. She didn't get faster but her commitment point moved farther out and she drove ahead of me when I needed her to.

4. Mimi never tried to leave the immediate area of the rings on that first run. She stayed with me all day and it just didn't seem to occur to her to run off. I spent a lot of time walking her around the perimeter of the facility so that she could satisfy herself that it wasn't as interesting as all that cool stuff in the rings.

5. She hit all of her contacts perfectly.

6. She read all of my crosses correctly.

7. She held all of her starts (sometimes a bit too long, but that's better than a dog that breaks their start).

It was a very good day for me and Mimi. Indulge me and watch the video from our last two runs.