More Nina Agility Videos
Three Nina videos courtesy of Jen here from last weekend’s CPE agility at Boom Towne outside Rochester. Jen is one of those people who is just so plain-old down-to-the-bone nice. Thanks again Jen!
Anyway…there is embarrassment contained herein:
The first video is our Saturday Standard run (we are in Level 4 Standard, Level 5 everything else), in which I break my own newly-established rule (and for which I am still kicking myself). Right or wrong, I have decided that I will not even ask for a stay at the start if I do not think I can get one (I will do a “drop and run” where I carry her in and put her down and we start), and if I ask for one, I have to take her off if she doesn’t stay. Well…she obviously doesn’t stay, I obviously asked her to (although I got a very nice sit!), and I obviously let her run anyway. I am teaching her NOT to stay by being 100% unclear about what “stay” means. Bad Amanda, not fair to Nina, not fair to me either since I’m making it that much harder to actually get the behavior at a trial. Also, it clearly shows that we get all out of whack when we have a crazy start like that, it got her all caffeinated and she goes careening off shrieking like a banshee and misses the next obstacle, flies off the teeter, and we obviously did not qualify. Next trial I will drop and run (since it is AKC, and therefore expensive), but next CPE we’re back to taking her off if she doesn’t stay, even if we don’t do a single run all weekend.
The second video was Sunday’s Jackpot. The tapes marked an area you had to stay out of while the dog did the obstacle within the tape. This was a “nontraditional gamble”, and judge Pat called this a “Magic Easter Basket” Jackpot, the taped off obstacles acted as doublers for the obstacle your dog performed after the Magic one. We qualified in this run although I didn’t handle it the way I might have liked.
The third run was our Sunday Full House run (you need three “singles” (one-bar jumps), two “circles” (tunnels and tire) and one “Joker” (contacts, weaves and double jump in this case)). We scored 42 points in this run, it was a pretty nice run, we were working well together.
We also had a great Snooker run, where we were in pretty close contention for the “51 trophy” (judge Pat gives trophies to teams who get a score of 51 in Snooker, which is the highest score you can get). We had a bar down or we very well could have had it. We did qualify anyway, but with a lower score. We love Snooker, it’s a great strategy game and really tests your handling and planning skills, as well as your ability to think on your feet.
Tish will make her CPE debut at All Dawgs in May. Level 1 CPE is an awesome place to get a new dog some low-stress away-from-home experience – Level 1 has no weaves and no teeter, the courses are simple and straightforward, and the rules are very forgiving. Plus, CPE folks are super-nice!