Archie On Fire--UPDATED

No, Archie is not literally on fire. But he has been burning it up in the agility ring lately. We had a bit of a break with no trials and no classes from late August to early September, and I think that was good for both of us, but we are back in the swing of things. Sadly, my surgery schedule this term prevented me from continuing with his Monday night class. He's been going to that class since he was 8 or 9 months old. I had to switch to a new night, new time, and new instructor. There are risks and benefits to moving to new classes and new instructors. Group dynamics are important, especially in small classes. And his original agility instructor definitely figured out the best way to handle me. I hope that I can communicate with the new one as well. I won't find out for another couple of weeks. But we continue with our Thursday night class which provides us with plenty of international handling challenges.

Vet school is becoming rather intense. I continue to go to trials but I only go one day, usually Saturday (most trials in this part of the world are three days long). One day seems to suit Archie just fine. He earned his Excellent Jumpers title this past Saturday, and can now start accumulating precious MACH points. He turned 2 years old on Sept 21, so that's a nice accomplishment for a young dog. 

UPDATE: I left the trial before placements were posted and wrote this before I received the confirmation email with the results. Not only did Archie earn that Q and his Excellent Jumpers title, he placed first in the 16" class. I kind of regret not sticking around and picking up that spiffy blue first-place ribbon. Go, Archie, go!

He has yet to earn an Excellent Standard leg but that's not for lack of effort on either my part or his. While he can struggle with contacts at trials because he is so damned high, an entirely unexpected problem has cropped up: the table. He doesn't want to get on the table at a trial. He performs the table perfectly, at speed, in class and at home. At a trial, meh, he says, I'd rather not. 

It is very possible that he just doesn't want to stop. That table represents a weird point of inactivity in a Standard run--the dogs have to jump on it and remain on it for the judge's count of five seconds (they can sit, down, or stand). One reason Archie has been doing so well in Jumpers is that he gets to run fast, run furious. He likes that! He was the fifth-fastest dog in his qualifying run in Jumpers on Saturday. That's quite competitive for a dog as young and green as he is. He still turns a bit wide and drifts here and there, and I know his speed will only improve as my handling and his path tighten up. He does have stopped contacts but I release him fairly quickly from those. The table is another challenge entirely for a dog like Archie. 

Archie doing a very nice teeter. Photo by Joe Camp, July 2017.

It's also possible that I am doing something different at trials when I approach the table. So I plan to ask someone to film us at the next trial. I haven't had a video of him in a while anyway.  

For the trial this past weekend, the hosting club decided to rent out some space in the large arena where the agility trial was held for a barn hunt test. Barn hunt tests and titles are managed by a separate organization, not AKC. Bales of hay are piled artfully in small, fenced-off bays, with a rat in a cage sequestered somewhere within. Dogs, mostly terrier types, have to find the rat within a specified period of time. It's kind of like earthdog but above ground. When I found out that the barn hunt ring was immediately adjacent to one of the agility rings, I was Not Happy. I began a mental draft of the stern email that I planned to send to the hosting club. I walked the boundary fencing line between the rings, marking all the places that a determined fox terrier could leave the agility ring and get into trouble on the other side. The other side where there were unleashed dogs and rats in cages all day long. My god, the potential for chaos was nearly infinite.

I should have had more faith in my dog. I have built an absolute crazed obsession for agility into Archie. He chooses agility over other dogs, other people, other distractions. He never even eye-flicked to the barn hunt side of things. In the ring, he was all about the game. 

I am incredibly proud of my fox terrier, even if he thinks the table at the trials is made of lava.