Riley and I competed in a three day agility trial last weekend. The first two days were nothing to write home about. Her first run on Friday, Riley actually lost her footing and had to jump off of the dogwalk. I was irritated with the judge. In the past, if you dog bails off of an obstacle, you are not allowed to attempt it again. However, there is a new rule stating that if your dog falls off of an obstacle you are now allowed to do it again and leave the ring. The purpose is to help your dog get over a bad experience. As the old expression goes "get back on that horse". Well, the judge immediately told me to go on which I did. Riley jumped one jump and then I remembered I was allowed to attempt the dogwalk again so I stopped and said so. He said I could not because I had continued. "Yes, but you told me to. You should have given me the option." He still would not let me redo the dogwalk. Regardless, Riley was not hurt or traumatized. She did not miss a beat the next 2 days. Here is that run:
On Sunday, Riley and I finally got it together and qualified in both runs. She earned third place in Excellent B Standard (has climbing obstacles) and first place in Excellent A Jumpers. Since Riley is now in Excellent B Standard (highest level), she can now earn MACH points for seconds under time. The time allowed was 70 seconds for this course and she ran it in 42.59 seconds. 70 minus 43 = 27 MACH points. In Jumpers, she is still in Excellent A, but she only needs one more qualifying run to move up to Excellent B Jumpers.
I love agility runs like these! I also thought her weave poles were especially good.
