Tails From Texas: Agility Trial

Last weekend was Morey's first agility trial. We've been taking classes since May and our agility club was hosting a 3 day trial so we decided to enter a couple of events. We had 2 events on Friday night and 2 on Saturday. Unfortunately the weather was literally freezing and the event was in an open barn so it was pretty chilly. The course was on hard packed dirt but it was bumpy so it was kind of hard for me to navigate. Luckily I had my FreeWheel which made it possible to navigate the course.

Friday night we entered two events: Touch "N Go and Numbered Hoopers. The first event Morey had some excited jitters so he wasn't exactly focused on his run- but he did have a lot of fun! Everyone complimented him on his enthusiasm.

Some expert handlers can stay in one spot and direct their dogs with verbal cues for each obstacle but Morey and I aren't to that level yet. Morey still relies on my visual cues so he has to wait for me to catch up and direct him to the next obstacle. Once he learns the obstacles a bit better he will be able to complete the course a lot faster.

I can't figure out how to embed the video of our Tunneler run but you can see it on Facebook for now: https://www.facebook.com/AustinK9X/videos. He was a bit distracted at first but settled down to business once he realized what I wanted him to do.

Since the event lasts all weekend people camp out for the weekend. People bring camp chairs, rugs and all types of dog accessories including crates, dishes and toys. I brought Morey's collapsible crate and bowl and we set up next to Morey's Airedale friend Will and his human.

Saturday we ran Jumpers and Tunnelers (two of Morey's favorite obstacles). Dogs aren't allowed to eliminate in the ring or you get disqualified. I made sure to take Morey out before his runs so we wouldn't have to worry about that. He might have taken a quick wee at the end of his run but as I learned if the judge doesn't call it, it didn't happen! :)

What am I supposed to do with these?

Agility runs are scored in a couple of ways. You have to complete the course in a set amount of time as well as complete the course without any mistakes. We weren't able to meet both criteria in the same run but we had clean runs for Numbered Hoopers and Tunnelers and got 3rd in Jumpers and 4th in Touch "N Go. We weren't in it for the win but it was fun to come home with some ribbons!
We also got a photo and mention in the Drippings Springs Century News: