Practice on Mats

Travis and I have been working hard on getting ready for the AKC Agility Invitational in Dec. It seems like we are preparing so far in advance, but it just dawned on me that it is only 3 months away. The Invitational is a special agility event that invites the top 5 dogs of each breed. Travis will be the only greyhound in attendence. I am nervous because this will be the first time I have ever flown one of my greyhounds and he will be flying all the way to CA. Luckily, we will be traveling with our friend, Anne Jones, and her ridgeback, Kira. They competed at this event last year, so they will know their way around. The other great part is my best friend, Anna Rhodes, lives close to this event so she is going to provide us with transportation and it will be great to see such a great friend again.

So back to preparations... the main difference between this event and most other agility events is that it is held on mats instead of dirt or grass. I definitely do not want to fly all the way to CA to find out that Travis and I do not run well on mats. So we have started to seek out local places that provide agility on mats. Well, the best place we have found is Play Dog Excellent in Chattanooga (at least 1.5 hour drive one way). So Travis and I have been making our way to this facility about 2-3 times a month. I think that we are improving. Our second run is always better than the first. Hopefully we will get the hang of it in the next 3 months. There is also a warm up class the day prior to the Invitational, so that will be a good chance for us to get a feel for the actual competition mats. Its a FAST class, so we get to make up our own course and avoid dogwalks which will be good for getting in the practice we want.