I just got back from AKC nationals and boy am i exhausted. It has been an exciting, weird, and tiring trip. I had planned on just going as a volunteer/exhibitor and came out of the experience with three clean runs with someone else's dog. I think my dog is mad at me now, but I had such a great time, spent lots of money and met lots of new aussie people in the process.
I traveled down to Tulsa OK on thursday. We had to check in on thursday afternoon and set up our crate space and decorate our stalls. We were set up in horse stalls in the barn next to the arena with the rings. Some states went all out with banners and streamers and blow up flamingos or sharks or whatever. We had sunflowers and the kansas state flag to decorate our area. One of the states, colorado, went all out and even had music playing that had colorado in the song somewhere. They even had flags with their handlers and dogs on each individual flag. WOW! We checked in and checked out the vendors for the weekend. I immediately bought a shirt and got all of the free stuff I could get. We then had a social gathering of all of the exhibitors and volunteers with finger foods and drinks.
Friday morning was the start of the ISC competition. This was a very important day for world team members as it showed the world team coach that they were ready for international competition. All the states were also competing against each other but it was kind of unfair because bigger states had more competitors and thus more chances to qualify for the finals. Kansas only had 13 competitors which couldn't really compete with bigger states that had close to 100 on their teams. Our team did the best that they could, but Wisconsin ended up winning with their world team member getting to compete with two dogs in the finals.
I was volunteering that day as a scribe which meant many hours of watching the judge. As a scribe, you have to write down the judges calls on what is basically a report card, so if you look away for the briefest of moments, you could miss a call. I had a judge that had a great sense of humor so he made the day go by quickly. Friday afternoon, one of our fellow competitors, who was running three dogs asked me to run one of her aussies the next day in the national competition. I had already said i would volunteer the next day, plus I wasn't sure if I wanted to run a dog, but then my trainer talked me into it. She told me it was a good experience for me to run a dog at nationals and I agreed that it was.
Nationals can be very overwhelming for a competitor. The 20 inch class, which is what I normally run in locally, had over 200 dogs with 5 walk-thrus that only lasted 7 minutes each. That means you have to memorize a rather tricky course with 20 obstacles in 7 minutes and keep it in your head for hours. There were four rings so you had to know which ring and where at what time you would run. Plus you had to make sure you were in the ring at the right time so you wouldn't miss your run. I had never run this dog before but thought he ran similar to my aussie. He had different words for his contacts and also had a start line stay problem that I knew of. I also knew he didn't like dogs in his face, so I had to manage him very carefully to keep him out of any altercations. Lucky for me, one of my aussie friends I met at USASA last year was there to run interference with me, keep me calm and keep me breathing. She stayed with me until I was the next in the ring and was an absolute angel. I was the 17th dog in so I didn't have too much time to get too nervous. I was in luck with the lead out problem because the first course i had for the day was a tunnel, so no lead out needed. I was told he wasn't a tunnel suck, but he ended up being one, and I nearly lost him after jump three, when we had to go past the tunnel entrances to get to the dog walk. I had a huge call off and then we got going. He was a shopper which meant I had to keep his head the whole time. My dog Miller is basically in handler focus at all times, which is a bitch when I need him to go away from me or go on, but this dog loved working away so I had to keep his attention at all times. When we finally finished the course clean, I thought I might pass out! My first run at nationals and I was clean!!! The crowds were huge so having all those people clap for me, plus all of our kansas supporters clap for me was phenomenal!
We had our second run for the day, which was a jumpers course that afternoon. The jumpers course was in ring 3 and had a big crowd watching. I felt better about this run as I felt like our timing was going to be better. I did need a lead out on this course so that made me slightly nervous, but again Susan was there to talk me through all of my options and how to handle him. My trainer was running two dogs, so she helped me when she could, but was basically busy the whole time. She had alot of confidence in me and told me that I was just as good as everyone else out there and that I should keep my head up. I started the course with confidence and executed all my crosses and was headed for home when I think the oxygen stopped going to my brain. I forgot where to go but somehow remembered at the last second and managed to get maverick over the last few jumps and into the tunnel and we were home free! Clean run number 2!!!I was really, really walking on air at this point.
Round 3 was what they call the hybrid round and was a cross between jumpers and standard. I felt like again we would have a good run since our timing seemed to be clicking. We were in ring 4 this time which was in a separate arena and had a smaller crowd. I was 52nd in so I was in the second walking group out of five. I went to the line confidently, but Maverick didn't seem very focused this run. He was sniffing at the start line and got up before i could even get away from the start line. He did sit back down and we started the run off nicely. I got a great front cross in on the landing side of the triple which i would have never attempted with miller! I got around the course to the teeter and that was when we had our bobble. I told him to spot and he did, but as I was executing my front cross, he took off of the teeter and i had to do a oh crap go over and a rear cross to get him back on course. I thought for sure we had a refusal but we didn't and we ended the course with a great tight rear cross to the chute and great speed on the backside jumps. He did stay on the a-frame contact long enough for me to release him and get over the last jump, with yet another clean run!!!!!!
The next round was the challengers round, which was a last chance for dogs that were on the bubble. So many dogs had already made it to the finals and the next 10 or so dogs after that got to compete in the challengers round. The course was very tough and technical and since only one dog got to move on to the finals, the handlers were running as hard as they could to make the fastest time. It was very exciting to see people running there hearts out, trying to make it into the finals. The finals were also very exciting as again the handlers had to run as hard as possible but clean. We got to see some amazing runs by some Kansas folks and even had a Kansan come in second in the 24 inch class. I will always remember this experience and hope to be back with my own dog next year in North Carolina.
At one point, we were sitting in 12th place overall with our three clean runs, but the faster border collies soon edged us out. We finished 40th place overall with over 200 dogs in our class so I am very proud of our performance. There were many aussies that made it to the finals and I cheered very hard for them, but the border collies prevailed and won not only the 20 inch division, but also the 16 inch and the 24 inch division. The challengers round and the finals round were highly exciting to watch even though I wished I was there. I felt like mentally, I could have handled the challenges that were present in the final round, but speed is a must and maverick wasn't fast enough to beat those border collies. I met alot of great aussie people and got to pet some of the top aussies in the country. I got lots of complements on my handling, which went to my head of course and I hope it helps me keep my confidence high for this weekend. I only need two more QQs to qualify for nationals and less than 200 points to get my speed points. Here's to a good agility season!!!!
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