Agility training

Someone fun and not super serious needs to come AKC with me. The trials I've gone to watch parts of.... they take ALL FREAKING DAY. And I don't want to sit there by myself doing nothing all day waiting for our two runs. None of my USDAA friends do AKC anymore.

The only thing I want is an AKC title. Why? Just because I suppose... it seems more legit. I keep telling myself if we ever make USDAA titles then I should just be happy with that. It's a bummer we had to not run last trial. We are 1 Q away in so many things.

Well duh, because they've discovered that USDAA is WAY more fun! USDAA has snooker. And yes, AKC feels like a much longer day to me, with a lot more sitting around, than any USDAA trial I've done. It is one of the less appealing aspects for me.

As much as I'm a USDAA freak, I consider titles there and in AKC pretty comparable.

Come to Ohio! There's a club that puts on pretty regular AKC trials and splits Excellent/Masters from Open and Novice. The people only running Open and Novice show up around 2. It's awesome.

Y'all need to drink more at trials.
Makes the day go WAY faster.

Will you be at Louisville again next year? Because this sounds like something I want to be around for. xD

Depends on the judges, but more than likely!

ETA: Did I get drunk at Louisville this year? I can't remember... that's probably a yes. I routinely get tipsy down at Glen Carbon since the bar is RIGHT THERE. May or may not begin before I even finish running dogs...

Obviously you need to road trip here and go to an agility trial. I will introduce you to ALL the papillons. It will be fabulous. And we shall eat cake and cheer and Lodin will sit on you and hug your head because he does that.


Just don't move here if you want to do USDAA. We don't have hardly any and what we do have involves driving. Which is my main beef with USDAA -- barely or doesn't exist in large sections of the country. Including mine.

USDAA barely exists around here too. There's like 3 trials a year and it just started the last couple years. I've been at every USDAA trial the state has had. It's a bummer because I'd love to do more of it.

I think AKC type courses would be a better fit for Summer. I looked up course times and they're a bit slower than USDAA. She can make USDAA times but in the upper levels it may be a problem. Who knows though, last trial she blew time by about 10 seconds. Usually we're REALLY close to over time or at course time. Of course that has been with a few stumbles in each course.

I enjoy running full size equipment vs TDAA. Summer seems to enjoy both equally and there's just a bunch of TDAA around here so we participate. Basically the only 'big dog' organization that is very common in the area is AKC. I need to get off my butt and do it. UKC also has a few trials a year but they have weird equipment after level 1. NADAC has a whopping 1 trial a year.

I want all of Chaz to do trials together.

I get so nervous drinking at trials...and I don't know of anyone else who does it lol Ken & I fill up large styrofoam cups with a dark beer and pretend we're drinking coffee--complete with blowing on it to "cool it down" haha



I'm building an A-frame. Anybody know how tall it should be? I know it varies from venue to venue and I think most use 9 foot sides, and we used 8.5. I tried doing the Pythagorean theorem to get the right angle but I think I did it wrong :/

I'd definitely come hang out at a trial if someone is in my area . Anytime anyone is in Springfield MA (good venue) I will def come hang out.

I need IRL friends to go to trials with. Like Chaz peeps. Because it would be way more fun... and I'd have people to video for me instead of asking random people I don't know!

Alrighty....Crossy is all AKC (canine partners) registered!!

I guess I like CPE because I can decide last minute to enter a trial and they take Day of Show. I'm not good with deadlines & commitment!!! On the plus side, there are AKC shows on most of my weekends off, which is awesome.

For AKC, 9 ft planks, the height is within an inch of 5'6.
For 8 ft planks the apex should be 5 feet.
So for 8.5 ft, uh, 5'3ish?

Feeling super demotivated lately. I hate it.

5' 3" is EXACTLY what we ended up doing!

Agility trial Aug. 30th..

I bought a flying pig for when she gets her first Q. Dear god let us get one before we both are dead.

We're starting our jumps and weaves unit in foundations tonight. I can't wait to see this, I'm having a hard time picturing Squash doing anything except plowing through weaves.

Gusto had the fastest dog walk he's probably ever had tonight. Not just cantering, but running.

It's still at home (well, regular training yard, not my home), it's still with a reward at the end, and it doesn't have the stop installed yet. But he is running and accelerating. It's a start, right?

I can't decide if I am going to enter him in one last outdoor USDAA trial this fall. Entries close just before the AKC trial I have him entered in, of course. I want to go, because it is a fun trial and friends and my venue of choice. But I don't know if it is stupid and bad planning.

Stop stressing me out, stressy dog!

Good luck Penny!!!!

Whoop whoop, awesome!

Sassafras, you need to record the Squash agilities. It must be wicked cute.

Crazed, if we ever actually compete in six-twelve more months, I will come to springfield and we can have a dog agility party


Here's some Feist jumps and tunnel work from the past 2 days, we've been doing some agility training again now that it's cooler...Since she's a year old now, I've upped the jumps to 10-12" depending on what we're doing, and begin the slow process of raising them. I have to measure her, she's got a strong possibility of measuring into 18" (USDAA) in which case we can really take the raising slow from here. I've been thinking about whether I'm going to AKC register her, both 16" and 20" seem like reasonable heights for her. I need to buy a plank and get started on running contacts!

[YOUTUBE]Qqqu5UyDdRc[/YOUTUBE]