Rubie's Agility Career

LifeofRubie

Well-Known Member
Today was SO AMAZING. It was long. It was stressful. And Rubie was phenomenal.

She measured a competition jump height of 20" but I opted to stay at 24" which was A GOOD decision (we are registered and trialed with CPE). Rubie and I were the only Level 1 at 24". If we finished a course, we got 1st place.

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We got there by 6:30a. Got ourselves set up. During the opening meeting at 7:30, the judge asked who was new. Myself and one of my classmates raised our hands (we're wearing matching shirts for our training facility and our trainer has one on, too) so we're painfully obvious. We had SO many people cheer for us and encourage us for the sole fact this was our first trial. It was actually really amazing!

I'm so glad our trainer was there to show us the ropes but I'm positive we would've been totally OK. Should I get to the good stuff, first?

First run: a fullhouse!
Goal: earn 19 point to Q; joker's are 5 pts, tunnels are 3 pts, jumps are 1 pt.; You start where the "S" indicates and it ends when your dog touches the table. You pick where you earn your points, when the buzzer sounds, get to the table AS FAST AS POSSIBLE to stop the clock.
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Actually a really nice way to start because you just do whatever and however you want. Rubie jumped at the start, did the dog walk, and WIPED out. Skid on her side, all four legs in the air. By the time she recovered and we got through the rest of course, we ran out of time and got only 11 points. Even though we didn't Q, qualify, we finished so placed first.

Next: Standard! Pretty staright forward. Complete the course as numbered. I was so worried Rubie would be freaked out by the dog walk and/or turf after her wipe out that she'd refuse everything.
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The start was the hardest part because of the type of jump. Once Rubie got past that, she nailed it! Q and first place (by default)!

Next: Wildcard! 2, 4, and 7 have two options; a and b. For levels 1 and 2, you pick two As and one B. I chose 2a, 4b, 7a.
IMG_20180527_120355.jpg Rubie did great but 2a was the same jump that messed with her start on the standard. We Q'ed and got 1st, though!

Next: colors! There are essentially two courses laid out; you pick one (circles or squares). I chose circles.
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Rubie ran out of steam. Two jumps in and checked out. It was probably around 2pm and we'd been there 7.5 hours. I can't blame Rubie. We just ran off and went to the crate with no celebration or excitement.

Last: Jumpers! Follow the numbers in the allotted time.
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This would be Rubies JAM if it hadn't been 4p and 9.5 hours into the longest day ever. She actually did GREAT. Strong start, got interested in the judge for a few seconds, and then back on course. Would NOT jump 14; that darned same jump from the two earlier courses. We had time. We circled around and around. Rubie would not jump that finish line to get her Q and 1st place to save her life. SO CLOSE!! That's the only time I got frustrated.

We were the last run off the last group of the last level of the day and Rubie couldn't get that LAST jump to end it!!

That said, Rubie was amazing, considering. New place. LONG day. Lots of people and dogs and noises. LONG day. My own anxiety. Mental stamina for such a LONG day!

The other dog and handler there didn't do so well :( Penny was too overwhelmed and just ran around the course. She only did two jumps the whole day. BUT everyone was so understanding. "We've had those days," "We've been there," "We can't wait to see you guys next time!" The even let him put a leash on her and work with her on the course. Allowed him to take treats onto the course after the trial was over. Everyone was so supportive.

I can't wait for our next trial. I LOVE this Dingo and what she tries for me.

Our first ever ribbon and the first ribbon earned by a student for our teacher!
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Who dis!?
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Still deciding which to buy!
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I love this dog so MUCH . We've been training a year and needed to get this under our belt.

I cried a little
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Wow! I didn't even know there was another kind of agility where you kinda can freestyle it. Very cool! Congrats you guys, you got your first trial under your belt!!!
 
Unreal! You guys did an awesome job! The pictures are wonderful! I don't know which one I would choose lol. They all are so cool looking!!
:congrats:
 
Congratulations, just putting yourself out there to compete is a huge win. She many people never even attempt it. Awesome job, you guys will continue to get better each time you go out to compete. Have fun
 
How exciting! Yikes, I was feeling the pressure for her after your earlier post. I'm so happy that Rubie pulled out all the stops to please you. The Dobers are reliable for that!

My fave pic...I took a screenshot since you had so many great shots.

This look says, "Ya, you know I'm number 1!" She looks pretty satisfied with herself there :D And she deserves it! So do you, well done! :thumbsup2:

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Wow! What an amazing 1st trial. You must be very very proud!

Good on you both! :woot:

I absolutely adore ALL the pics, too. How are you to choose? Oh my!!! There is one particular one that stands out for me though. It’s the last ‘proof’ pic of her jumping, look at that height!! :wideyed:
 
Great job!!! You and Rubie are an inspiration! Her attention and focus in the picts are awesome. She looks like she is smiling in proof 4.

Thank you for the detailed post for I know nothing about Agility and they have it here at the local AKC Club.

I am torn between proofs 3,4,5. Depending on how many times you chose to attend these competitions, I would maybe get one at each competition.

How old is Rubie again and y’all trained for about a year? If I recall, you set up a course in your back yard to train independently too, right? So all in all, how many times a month did you train with her?

Just curious to get my 6P’s right.
 
Great job!!! You and Rubie are an inspiration! Her attention and focus in the picts are awesome. She looks like she is smiling in proof 4.

Thank you for the detailed post for I know nothing about Agility and they have it here at the local AKC Club.

I am torn between proofs 3,4,5. Depending on how many times you chose to attend these competitions, I would maybe get one at each competition.

How old is Rubie again and y’all trained for about a year? If I recall, you set up a course in your back yard to train independently too, right? So all in all, how many times a month did you train with her?

Just curious to get my 6P’s right.

Thank you! She was actually anything BUT focused half the time so I'm glad the photog got good pictures!

We started training in June of last year; right after Rubie recovered from her spay surgery and at 18 months old (now 2.5 years old). I had never done agility so we started from scratch. NOW I know that there are fundamental things you can train younger but the impact of jumping needs to wait until they're older. Formal class is twice a week; we work on stuff at home pretty frequently but not any sort of specific interval or for any certain length of time. I will say the extra practice at home afforded us the opportunity to advance through classes faster.

I have just 4 jumps at home but it's amazing what you can practice with that few and some imagination. It has also given me the opportunity to practice memorizing and planning course routes. I maaaaay buy some weave poles to mix it up a bit. I would say we've been "ready" to compete (skill set wise) for some time, based on the courses we ran yesterday, but man it's tough putting yourself in that position; competing for the first time! Rubie could've easily done those same courses 10 times in a row in training class so I know once she gets used to the environment, she will truly shine!

Thank you all for the kind words, everyone! I WISH I could buy a print of each picture but they're kiiiiiiind of expensive. Might get at least a crate tag for our future trials!

I was amazed at the dogs we saw competing! In CPE, only qualification points count toward titles, not wins. If you complete a course on time and correctly, you get a Q. I believe Level 1 allows up to 10 faults, even, and you can still be awarded a Q. That means you don't have to be the fastest to get titles; just accurate! A three legged lab looking guy and a pack of Bassett Hounds were the exceptionally interesting entries!
 
Hey on the plus side you have all the proofs fo freeeeeee! Can’t hang em in a frame but cheap :evilgrin:. Regardless of the “proofs” still will be nice to look back on and remember her first trial. I love them all! I think my favorite out of this batch is the one coming out of the tunnel. She is a majestic dobe, love catching up and reading about the dingo
 
Welp, we're signed up for our second Trial! We're going to the SAME venue for the trial and doing a Fun Run there this weekend to get ourselves psyched up. We're competing on Sunday, July 29th in the first three games instead of all five. I think Rubie and I are still working up to being able to complete an ENTIRE day at a trial so hopefully by keeping it short, we'll end on a really strong note.

Luckily, those three runs are ones that we still need Qs in to work toward getting our Level 1 title so Qs in all three would be positively amazing! From there, we'd need three more Qs in different games to complete the title. And then from there, we could either say at Level 1 and work toward getting a points title or move up to Level 2 and start getting Qs toward that title.

The points title is appealing BUT at 15-25 points per Q run, we would need 40-60 Qs (not RUNS) to get there. If we do 3-6 runs/month and assuming they're all Qs... we're looking at 6-12 months!

For just the Level 1 title, you only need 8 Qs as outlined below (we have Qs for the highlighted games and are registered for the ones underlined in blue - Colors, Snooker, and FullHouse are the three remaining we'll need to get):
h4u39rxx09R_YO72Vui5fwnXJ0HOp0F-87aCp5PrPFG8nUqdKXh0qRT0TpuXv0GcF2_Kx4nzfP7W__5vMD83yRBNrXnmRidAgzZMU1mNGY1sDrNZ6pZvkey82h55V-rX6dkN9Rpfl1XdbudxxU38F301JUUVswgy-Ld_ElBGVqBHQXEFNSgBKOA0nMAjCPbkyXcQ7HkN-voDSDlI0wQp1yxwETI7ZjJPQGhbrGnQyWhsVKNpzqT78JyOhCAgbNDG8f3ji3lPjCVl6p2eofPga29A7NQGYpsi-tmdwTl3iEf801jiFa9MvgeKEd95lMW6OSDwFdPHYbdo5jlqGYfuCZFE-n-mF3UTECJdxllzf1bHet3XTaqQrVLK0Th_q0qpNSWy5Vd-Jt9gKthYcjq62NAJAoYIGJPZam-ymGtDV5Fe0eYPmt6wsNfUtUAZTGFp0J6IWnxM7Db1dcvSUFFYzIZVoJpTdVBSRNv-k_lJZjCH1DGe5m3aMJNpzukZvSKDWW-Swad3qvD5n4MKwaQPT4N3Op4-JTeCDusfR3FRX8WFhWwcrKatEPWdGmzeR46CnFBR1IUbJkR2-n_PF4a8dbrB7BKj4MtoWq0ZPHrR=w955-h716-no


No trials near us in August so we'll have a nice long break before several options in September!

Thanks for letting me GEEK out :D
 

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