Flying Poodles

CAT CPE trial

I took the girls to the CAT CPE trial in Ridgefield this weekend. It is SO nice to have trials only 25 minutes from home. And no need to set up a tent. It made lugging in the crates seem like a minor job.

Dancer ran in Level 2 Standard for the first time. That meant: the teeter. Now, she’s done the teeter a few times in competition now, but of course, this was a new place and a new teeter. Saturday, both times, she got on the teeter and took a few steps and jumped off. Sunday, when she stopped in the first run, I put my hand on her back and gently kept her from jumping off, while lowering the teeter with the other hand. Yep, that would be training in the ring, so I then thanked the judge and we left immediately and ran ran ran to her treats–freeze-dried turkey hearts, which appear to be basically some sort of addictive poodle drug. In the second run, she was having a wonderful fast run with lots of distance and speed, and I made sure to meet her at the teeter. I coaxed her across and you could see her make up her mind to do it (I even said “you’ve done it once, you know it’s not that big a deal”) and then she went on, fast and happy, got all the contacts, second place.

In addition to her Standard Q, Dancer also earned Qs (2nd) in Colors, Wildcard (3rd), FullHouse (1st), Snooker (1st), Jumpers (1st).

Elly’s Rimadyl is clearly making a big difference. She ran well and Qd in FOUR runs on Saturday! However, that turned out to be overdoing it a bit, and she only did one good run on Sunday–in the other, she asked to leave, so we did. Elly earned herself Qs in Wildcard, Jackpot, Standard, Snooker, and Colors. In Snooker on Sunday, we had the pleasure, as we finished the run, of hearing the judge say “first dog to make it to 7!” Elly reached the table just as the buzzer went off, signaling that it was time to get to the table. That was a fun run.

Joe Camp, one of my favorite agility photographers and one of Elly’s many fans, was there and took these photos:

Flying Poodle Elly (photo by Joe Camp)

Dancer trains her "I'm busy here!" look on the photographer while waiting to start (photo by Joe Camp)

Official results:
Dancer:
Standard, Level 2: 155 yards, SCT 67, 45.33 seconds, 0 faults, 2nd.
Jumpers, Level 2: 108 yards, SCT 39, 23.38 seconds, 0 faults, 1st
Snooker, Level 2: 32 points, 40.95 seconds (game time 45 seconds), 1st
FullHouse, Level 2: 31 points, 34.31 seconds (game time 35 seconds), 1st
Wildcard, Level 2: 71 yards, SCT 32, 19.57 seconds, 5 faults, 3rd
Colors, Level 2: 79 yards, SCT 36, 21.03 seconds, 2nd

Elly:
Snooker, Level 2: 45 points, 48.56 seconds (game time 45 seconds plus 5 seconds to finish), 1st
Colors, Level 1: 79 yards, SCT 41, 28.90 seconds
Standard, Level 2: 141 yards, SCT 63, 56.74 seconds
Jackpot, Level 1: 45.97 seconds, 41 points (game time 45, but they round the time down, so she squeaked a Q)
Wildcard, Level 2: 71 yards, SCT 32, 24.44 second, 2nd