Agility Run Through

17 July 2012
8:40 PM

Sunrise at	4:01 AM	in direction	29°	North-northeast
Sunset at	11:50 PM	in direction	331°	North-northwest

Civil Twilight all day

Canine Agility competition is a big deal here in Fairbanks.  The folks who have been training dogs and competing with them for years tell me it is addictive.  Aria, my middle doberman, and I have been in classes for three years.  We took Fundamentals I in the the fall of 2009.  Then, due to attempting to breed Aria for the last time, we did not take Fundamentals II in the spring.  I don't think that was a bad thing.  It seemed to me that both Aria and I needed to mature in our approach.

We were admitted to complete Fundamentals II in the spring of 2010 and then began Novice training fall of 2010. For reasons entirely out of my control, our section of Novice II was not continued in the spring of 2012.  Our instructor was kind enough to offer us a make up class this summer and we are completing that course now.

Over this summer, I have developed a stronger commitment to working with Aria.  Seeing progress has helped, but also not having so many distractions at home has increased my ability to make it to class on time and pay attention without feeling overwhelmed.  Tonight was a break through evening for us because we went up to a friend's house where the Tanana Valley Kennel Club offers "run throughs" on Tuesday evening.

The procedure is to be there with your dog set up in a crate promptly at 5:30, 6:30, or 7:30.  You walk the course at that time and then take turns running your dog through a full course.  We muffed it a few times on the first run, but did very well on the second run.  I have noticed that both she and I do better after a little warm up and I am wondering how I will get around that for actual trials.  You have only one trial a day with no warm up and either you qualify or you don't.  I think you can have two mistakes (or retries) to qualify if you are novice, but we missed four obstacles on our first run and only one on our second.  But there won't be a second run through at a trial.  There are four days of trials, but only one shot at qualifying each day.

So, the reason for the going to the run through practice sessions is becoming very clear in my mind.  It prepares both of us for getting out there and getting it right the first time.  I will enroll JayJay in Fundamentals this fall, so I will be doing Intermediate with Aria one day a week and Fundamentals with Aria one day a week.

I am actually looking forward to it.