Today was the first annual Texas Agility Shoot-Out, a two-day agility trial whose goal is to raise money for Canine Cancer. There were classes from a few different venues to choose from. There were over 1100 runs for the whole day, and over 260 dogs enterred. I had two of those 260 dogs, and ran three of those 1100 runs. I stayed for two of the several different classes. One was called Jumpin' Judge Roy Bean, and the other was Run for the Border. Run for the Border was a NADAC-style Tunnelers course, which means there was nothing but tunnels in the ring. This is just a fun class for dogs who are inexperienced or people looking for an easier class to run. I ran it with my beginner dog, CJ, and gave it a shot with my other dog, Pearl, who has been doing this for a while longer but has recently been extremely stressed in the ring, to the point of running out of the ring. Jumpin' Judge Roy Bean was a CPE-style Jumpers course, which means that the course was made up of easy obstacles like jumps and tunnels(that was all that was in this course). This is another good beginner course, but I didn't dare try it just yet with CJ, as this was his very first trial.
The Tunnelers course was fun and fast, with lots of circles. Pearl was my first to go, as she was jumping 16", although it didn't really matter because there were no jumps. She did the first couple of tunnels and then went to see the photographer before heading toward the gate. She stopped there and looked back at me(I was calling her, even squatting down to see if that would get her to come back to me) and waggled her butt like she does when she's happy (she's an Aussie; you can't expect anything less from a tail-less dog). She looked like she just wanted to play, but as soon as I got up and started toward her, she darted for the gate again. Now, at another trial site we were going to for a good while before today, Pearl was extremely stressed and had been running from the ring the past two times we went. Only it wasn't a happy kind of stress. At Rendon, you could tell that she was scared and unhappy. She just wanted out. I was kind of hoping that she wouldn't do that here in Fort Worth, but I had already made my decision regardless. Pearl, who was my first agility dog, is going to be retired this year. She has always been very patient with me and learned at my pace; she was the perfect starter-dog for me. But from the time we got her from the Humane Society, she has always been very sensitive to everything. She never liked the camera and she used to be extremely shy, among other things. She's come a long way from that, but I don't think she'll ever be completely desensitized to the show ring. So I've made the decision to retire her, so she can just relax at home and be a couch-potatoe. Of course, I'll probably still take her to class occasionally, because she really does like going to practice, she's just not good in the ring. But anyway, I would rather her go to her last show and enjoy herself than to be scared and stressed like she was in Rendon.
C. J.'s very first show was today, and I must say that he did extremely well. He did a lot better than any of us expected. I had faith that he would finish the course, and sure enough, he did. Naturally, he got excited and went to visit a few times and ran around, but that's to be expected on his first run. He did the first two tunnels, went to see the judge and a ring steward, but then came back to me when he figured out they had nothing much to offer. I got him back on track and he did the next few obstacles fast and clean, but then he saw the photographer and had to go say 'hi'. After he was done with the photographer and got a few little "zoomies" out of his system, he came back to me and we finished the last half of the course clean and really fast. He made me run faster than I do at practice! But he never once took an obstacle out of turn, nor did he have any fault points. Basically we just lost time when he went to visit people. But I was so happy that he actually finished the course and came back to me. I honestly half-way expected him to go crazy his first time in the ring, and just totally ignore me, but he is certainly a better dog than I could ever have hoped. Needless to say, I am VERY proud of my boy for being so good today. I can't wait to see what pictures the photographer got of him!
In Jumpers I just ran Pearl, because I didn't want to pay the $15 to have CJ go out and just run all over the place (not that we didn't lose $15 anyway). It's for a good cause, but $15 is still expensive. Anyway, Pearls' run still didn't go very well, even though she seemed to have even more fun with this one than the last. She went in and took the first two jumps like a bullet, and I swear I thought for a second she was actually going to do more of the course than the first two obstacles. But no. Just as I was getting my hopes up and trying to recover from this burst of speed, she turned and went to visit the judge, and then ran off. I tried, again, to get her back, but she was just having too much fun by herself. She went and did a few laps around the course randomly (though she didn't take any jumps except for the ending tunnel) and acting all happy, which makes me laugh now, but I can't remember if I laughed or just smiled when I was in the ring. She just went and had her fun and then once again ran from the ring, where somebody caught her until I could get a leash on her. I was kind of expecting her to run again, but I was kind of surprised at how excited and happy she looked. And again, I would rather her be happy and out of it than upset.
Overall, I think today was a really good day. Wonderful, even. I'm going to get started getting C.J.'s AKC and NADAC registrations in, and then get him to more shows so we can see his true potential. After what I saw today, I think he is going to be a great agility show dog. I am very excited to get him into some more trials and hopefully get some titles on him. And Pearl just gets to hang out here at the house and live out the rest of her life as my baby girl. I'm sure I'll have lots of updates on C.J.'s trial life, so be prepared for lots of agility talk and pictures! Hopefully by Monday I'll have pictures posted here of both Pearl and C.J.
