Agility Competition

"What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate." — Donald Trump

First a little business: My online friend and talented author, Maria Zannini, has a book in the KENSINGTON "Writing With the Stars" contest!! I'm so thrilled for her -- but she needs our help. See her post here about the contest and her excerpt, and go vote!

So ... last Saturday night DD finally decided she wanted to compete in a local trainer's junior agility competition the following morning. I wasn't even sure we COULD compete, but decided to just show up and see what happened.

The people there were fabulous. It was an interesting dynamic. Clearly everyone there knew everyone, and had been competing and training together for quite some time. So, a tight knit group, but also very inclusive. They had no trouble at all welcoming the three of us into the fold. DD even ran another dog for the owner. Everyone was very supportive and full of all kinds of information -- including the fact that a more formal CPE Junior Agility event was being held the first weekend of November. They were all very impressed with DD's ability and strongly recommended she start competing at CPE trials (whether they were specifically for Junior Handlers or not).

There were four "classes" at the competition: Games (we did "Full House"), two standard, numbered courses, and one jumps and tunnels.

Dakota and DD won the blue ribbon for games. That's this video (and as always I apologize for the quality -- I'm still using my cell):



Things were looking good, and I was excited that Dakota was responding well in a strange environment... but I got too confident too soon.

You see... this was an outdoor competition on a woman's property and along with agility, she also raises miniature horses. Horses whose pasture abutts the agility ring. And right in the middle of one of Dakota's runs, they decided to run down and check things out...

Part of what happened is off screen in the video, sorry! When Dakota came out of the tunnel underneath the A-Frame, she saw HORSES!! DD grabbed her (a fault) and she ran up the frame and then stopped and LOOKED AT THE HORSES!!! while DD stood at the bottom calling and clapping and whistling. You'll see the judge start over to help when Dakota finally comes down. But she goes off course at the bottom for a moment, too, because HORSES!!!!



DD came off the course with tears in her eyes. Everyone was wildly encouraging, and Dakota wasn't the only dog to be fascinated by the HORSES!!, but that didn't matter. It was DD's only last place run in her class.

It was a good experience for both of them. I'm glad we went. And, yeah, we'll probably do the other Junior Agility trial in November, even though it's the Saturday before the fun match from our agility class, so it means an entire weekend of agility because it's something DD really loves, and it's getting her involved with other kids who love it, too.

=====================

Tomorrow -- a few websites I've found that are helping prepare folks for NaNoWriMo.

=====================

You Are Sensible

You are a down to earth and practical person. You don't get caught up in flights of fancy. You try to look at all sides of something cooly and rationally. You make prudent decisions. You are always aware and informed. You rather know all the facts, even if they're hard to swallow. You are together and wise. People can rely on you to be the voice of reason.

The Argyle Test

That's mostly right. :-)

=================