Tuesday, November 24, 2015

UKI Nationals


This wasnt taken at the UKI nationals but I liked it and didnt have any good pictures to post.  I took it this weekend in Ga at a seminar I went to.

Anyway, went to the UKI nationals that was being held in Perry, Ga. The weather was great. It was sunny and warm most of the time. It was chilly in the morning on Saturday but then warmed up.  But Thursday and Friday, when we had to also use the outdoor rings, it was nice and warm. Unlike last year, when we froze our butts off!!   So much nicer!!

We started Thursday morning.  We were divided into 5 groups and there were 4 rings.  We walked all 4 course first thing in the morning and then spent the rest of the day running courses.  The idea was that which ever group wasnt in a ring, since there were 4  rings and 5 groups, the group that wasnt running , would work the rings. Yea, a great idea as long as the group will work.  It didnt work out that way. What is wrong with people??  There were times when I ran both my dogs and then put them up and went and helped in the ring, still during my groups ring rotation.  Why, because people wouldn't step up and the rings needed help.  I know other people did this too.  I was helping in a ring and after this lady ran her dog, her friend ask her if she would mind coming back and helping in the ring.  She came back .
So we ran Power and Speed first. I used this for training in the ring time. Java broke her stay and I was able to put her back. She flew off the teeter and I was able to fix that too.  Miley had a very nice run going, but she has trouble getting to back sides sometimes. But still a nice run.  I thought using this first run as training, for Java, would help us. No, she broke her stay all weekend. It was really bad. I probably should have started pulling her from the ring when this happened. Im going to have to fix this.  It caused us to go off course multiple times. If she had just stayed, we would have had a chance.

Next up was  Last chance Master Heat.
This course was not that hard but Java was jumping everything in extension. That was the theme of the day for her. After 12, she took the dogwalk. The only thing that was nice was 8 to 9.   It wouldnt have mattered because I really didnt know how I was going to get from the running dogwalk to #20.  LOL

Next was National Championship Rd1 jumping.
 I really thought we could get through this.

We were so close too.  I was ahead going to 17 and I thought my lateral motion would be enough for her to come with me.  LOL, it wasnt.



Last for Thurday was Snooker. You needed 25 points to advance to the finals. So I had my plan and figured we needed to get at least to #5 in the close.


Again, she was jumping everything with extension. I kept having to call her back. At #5 she back jumped and we heard the whistle. Ugh!!


Well that was disappointing.  But then that night the posted the results and we had 25 points. I forgot about the red jumps being 1 point. So we had enough points to make it in. We were in last place but thats ok. LOL

The next day was a long day.  We walked the four courses again in the morning. Then started running.

Last chance Master heat jumping.

I really wanted to do well on the course. I focused all my energy on this course.  I worked this ring, so I could watch the dogs and see the problem places on course.
We almost made it through.  We got to #18 and I thought I had her to the back side. Her nose was to the backside and all of a sudden, she twisted her neck and took the front side. I dont even know how she did it. LOl   I was so disappointed.




Next up was a really tough course. Biathlon jumping. I worked this course too. Lots of E's.
#2 is a wall jump. So your dog is blind coming over that jump and then all of a sudden need to know where to go. We Ed right there. I thought I had Java and all of a sudden she took the tunnel.  What got most dogs was #17.  You had to run the line from #14 to #17 but you couldnt beat your dog to the correct tunnel entrance.  I saw a lot of people "down" their dog right before the tunnel, and they made their dog wait until they got there.  They got a 5 second refusal but I guess that was better than "E"ing.  I saw one person get it and they turned their dog to the left at #14, most of us turned our dog to the ring. She did make it down the line and she was running a border collie. It was beautiful.

Next was SpeedStakes.  This was a hard course for me to remember.

It seemed all jump, tunnel, jump , tunnel, ect.  I kept walking #15 and then the tunnel, instead of #15 , #16 and then the tunnel.  I was so worried I would screw this up when I ran. But some how Java and I made it through. LOL



Yea, we got to go to the finals!!!  And this time we werent in last place. We were 11th.


For some reason, I was really nervous.  I think its because everyone is watching and they have the course in one big ring.




We made it through without Eing.  I know it was a pretty straight forward course but people did make mistakes. I was most worried that I would push Java off # 8,  and pull her off #15.  Multiple dogs missed 15.   We did pretty good but  I didnt give her any turning cues coming out of the # 7 tunnel. She saw all my forward motion when going into the tunnel and she continued that when she came out. So then I had to call her back and she was wide again after taking # 8.  Time goes so slow when you are fixing something like that. I just kept hearing the seconds tic away.  I tried really hard to make sure all the rest of the turns were as tight as they could be  The rest was beautiful.  We  ended up being 7th.  I cant saw I wasnt disappointed. If I had just let her know the turn was coming out of the tunnel, we might have placed. She was fast enough.  The best part was hearing people cheer for you as you came down the last line.  So exciting!!.

I have no idea what I ran on Saturday. I  do know we ran in the finals for the  games, Gamblers. It was again in a big ring.  We were in last place, so I didnt think we had much chance here.

I changed my mind multiple times about how I was going to run this course.  I didnt do any dogwalks because if she missed, then that was a waste of my time out there.  Here was the hard part. Dogs were not coming out of the  white circle #3 tunnel when you expected them to. I couldnt figure out what was going on.  When I ran Java, I pushed into her but it was to soon,because she didnt come out of the tunnel when I expected her to.  So she didnt take the white circle #4 tunnel. So no Q.  I think only one 16 inch dog got the gamble.  It was really weird, that #3 tunnel. A world team dog actually turned around in the tunnel and came back out the why she went in.
So after my run, when I went back into the stands to watch, thats when I saw what was happening with the tunnel. The tunnel was really long. It was staked down with these tunnel wraps. But they couldnt seem to get tight enough. Dogs that were really driving, the tunnel would accordion, under the dogs feet. So then the dog didnt come out when expected.  After the dog would leave the run, a ring crew  would go out and spread the tunnel back out again.   It was crazy.  I know the person next to me saw this happening too. Not sure if anyone else saw this. I was hoping it would show up on video, but I cant really see it.  But I know it happened.



Still if was fun to run.

Sunday they let everyone run the challenger round, to try to get into the finals. (If you were already in).  Again, she broke her startline, and it was a mess for a little while. Then we got it back together. LOL



Miley had a tough time.  She was stressing. On Friday, by the end of the day, she was just stress running around the ring. So I pulled her.  I dont think she ran much after that.  

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Last weekend in Gainsville

I went to a trial in Gainesville Ga. last weekend.   It rained all weekend. In fact it rained all week too.  Im so over all this rain. In good news, its sunny today.  Today Im going to Perry Ga for the UKI nationals.  We arent really good enough for these tough courses, Im more going to help. Im signed up to run but I probably wont make it to anything on the weekend. But thats ok. My friends are in charge of this trail and they always come to our trial and work really hard, so I feel its only right that I come help them. Besides, they are both just the nicest people.

Anyway I bought some pictures!




We didnt get many Qs.  But there were many weekends, that I never Qed. So that fact that I get Qs, is just amazing to me. 

Java only got one Q in JWW. But with a nice run and 1st place. 





Miley finally got a Q this weekend too!.  Its been a while for poor Miley.





My hotel room also was not nice.  I didnt take my RV because I had to travel at night on Friday night, and its hard to drive at night, IMO.