That DAM Team

Xander and I participated in our first Dog Agility Masters Tournament this weekend at the Cool Critter’s USDAA trial in Palmetto, FL. I am clarifying the name of the tournament because after repeatedly referring to it as the “DAM” tournament, Buster finally asked me “why are you calling it a damn tournament?”

One could probably swear at the sheer number of runs that this particular entry results in however. On a general AKC weekend, we get two runs a day and three if we are lucky. That’s around four to six runs over the course of two days, and maybe an extra two or three if it’s a three day trial. On Saturday, we had eight runs. Yes, eight runs. In one day. Madness. Add to that the three runs we had on Friday night, and the four we had on Sunday, and that makes for a long weekend. Given that we hadn’t competed really since July, and that last trial in Tallahassee was only one day, followed by one night in Deland earlier this month, we were a little overwhelmed by fifteen runs. Still, it was a blast.

I took Friday off as Palmetto is a four hour drive south of Jacksonville and the trial was scheduled to start at 4pm. I LOVE Palmetto. It truly is my favorite venue in terms of ease of access, parking, crating, spectating, and the running surface. We even stayed at the Ramada just down the street, which was much better than I expected. Clean, quiet, with a big room, and easy to get in and out of, I had no complaints. Also, the weather was gorgeous. Basically, it was a recipe for an awesome weekend.

I had an easy drive for the most part, and arrived a little before 2pm on Friday. I was set up and ready for the Double Bubba BBQ vendor to start making lunch before the trial began. They have, hands down, the best ribs on the planet. And I didn’t even used to like ribs.

Friday afternoon was advanced snooker, steeplechase, and grand prix. We went in needing one more snooker Q for our title, and knew we would get another chance on Tuesday, so there was no pressure. Of course we Q’d, even though Xander knocked the #6 jump in the closing, so dropped us to 2nd place. Still, a new title is a great way to begin the weekend. Following this was steeplechase, and one caveat I must mention is that our armband was 22001, which meant that we were the first 22in dog in the running order ALL WEEKEND. With the exception of two classes that got shuffled, and we were either second or last. For the most part though, we got lots of experience hanging out on the start line waiting for bars to be changed, or in a couple cases, waiting for a timer issue to be resolved. We also dealt with LOTS of conflicts, which I do blame at least two NQ’s on, but it was all still very good experience. Dealing with these issues is part of the game, and I was enjoying myself so thoroughly that I couldn’t even bring myself to be upset about any of it! The temperature truly was spectacular, with a cool, dry breeze. How can one be unhappy?

At any rate, I think steeplechase and grand prix ended up going at the same time, although they changed the running order to allow the performance dogs to start in one ring, and the championship dogs to start in the other. We ran steeplechase first, and were great going into a very difficult line. I was a dork and shouted out the WRONG command, and like a good dog, Xander turned and headed the wrong way. D’oh! Somehow, I managed to call him off a tunnel and bring him back. He ran around past me and we had to do a big circle to get back on track, which ate up close to ten seconds. Still, he didn’t take anything off course, and we finished without a fault. Steeplechase is a game that has two rounds, and the fastest dogs from the first round go on to compete for money in the second round. The number of dogs that Q is determined based on the fastest time, which in this case was a blistering 29 seconds set by Gabrielle and Zing. We were lucky somehow, and managed to earn the very last placement, lucky 13. Not pretty, but a Q is a Q.

Next up was grand prix, run shortly after steeplechase, and my boy was ready to rock. The ending was VERY tricky, and took down a lot of dogs and handlers. We made it through clean and even earned 3rd place, just half a second behind Sarah’s amazing girl Kate and a few seconds behind Stuart’s awesome dog Ares. We were three for three that night, although I got partial stops on the a-frame, I was still naughty and released him quickly. That poor dog, I really can’t maintain criteria. Bad handler!

Saturday began the team competition, and my teammates were Kelly Rossi and her super young boy Nitro, along with Terri Lee and her incredible young girl Vette. We were indeed a baby dog team, although Vette already has her ADCH! Kelly and I had never done team before, so it was a fun experience. I didn’t even really know all the rules, so it was a learn-as-you-go kind of thing! Our team name was Xander’s Nitro-Charged Vette. The reason we had so many runs on Saturday was the result of doing advanced pairs, standard, jumpers, and masters gamblers, in addition to doing team gamblers, standard, and snooker, as well as steeplechase finals! It was a long, eleven hour day, but we enjoyed every minute. Our pairs partners, Gail and Neece, were stellar, and even though we took the second to last jump off course, incurring a 20pt fault, our combined time was so fast that we still qualified. Thanks Gail and Neece! This was our first pairs leg, pairs not being my favorite class. Following this was team gamblers, where we played in a manner I had never done before, which was simply an accumulation of points, with a 13 second bonus time at the finish in which your point values were doubled, but lost if you didn’t cross the finish line in time. We played it safe and earned 51pts, although we could probably have earned another 10pts if I’d been greedy. Still, it was a respectable 5th place finish, and put our team in 3rd place after the first event. Our first run in master gamblers was good, and I thought we had earned the gamble which was a jump to A-frame, turn away into a tunnel, and over a jump, but the judge called Xander for running out too far after the tunnel before turning to take the jump. The finishing jump was at an angle, and I saw her give the Q to Zing for doing the exact same thing, but not us. Oh well, judging is hard, and I would NOT want their job of standing up for twelve hours and having to make those calls! The agility gods balanced it out later in jumpers. We were first up again, in a small class, and started the first three jump sequence. The judge stopped us because of a timer malfunction, so we had to putz around for nearly ten minutes while they straightened it out. By the time we got to go again, Xander made a beautiful turn and missed one jump completely. The rest of the run was gorgeous however. I went back to our crate thinking “oh well” until Gail walked up and told me she had good news. Either the scribe missed the call, or the judge missed the mistake, but either way, we got a Q with 1st place. Go figure.

Team standard ended up being the same time as advanced standard, and with the stress of another conflict, we went into team first. It was a heartbreakingly beautiful run that was spoiled by another bad handling maneuver on my part. I didn’t fully support a jump which led to him running past it. If I’d been thinking more quickly, I could have pulled him around and only earned a refusal, but I panicked and he back jumped. I earned our team a big fat E. Bummer. The difficult thing about team competition is the guilt that goes along with making a mistake. Normally, you just hurt yourself, but in team, it affects your teammates! The biggest lesson I learned about team this weekend was to get a score on the board! Even if you earn faults, don’t get an E! Luckily, Kelly and Nitro saved us with an awesome clean run and 4th place. Yay Nitro!

At any rate, we immediately had to go into advanced standard, and after the rush of team, he crashed the tire, which was the very first jump, and I decided to take him off. I did find myself frustrated after these two setbacks, but we recovered with a yummy rib from the barbeque vendor, which Xander got a little piece from. Since these were all MY mistakes, I was never upset with him, just with myself. Still, being in paradise and doing what I love meant that I didn’t keep my foul mood for long.

Steeplechase finals came next, and we discovered another hole in our training. The weaves were followed closely by a broad jump with no real room for building speed to get over it, and he landed on the third plank. This earned a fault, and resulted in me having to collect him again to finish. The rest of the run was pretty, but we have yet to run the finals clean. One day…one day. Team snooker was the last run of a long day, and although we had a great plan, Terri and Vette saved the team by being the only one to make it through to the finish. Xander knocked a bar on the third red jump, and I did manage to stop him long enough to figure out what to do next. We got the fourth red and made it to the closing, but I turned him away prematurely and he was whistled off for a refusal on the #2 jump in the closing. Still, we got a score on the board, even if it was only 22 points.

Sunday arrived before we knew it, and we started with team jumpers and advanced standard again running at the same time. Again with a conflict, we ran jumpers first and encountered a nasty angle to the broad jump. He landed on the third panel again, which meant that we will definitely be practicing the broad jump. Still, we got another score on the board, and Nitro ran clean again. Sadly, we rushed right into standard and had a fabulous run going until we came to the a-frame. We had iffy a-frames all weekend, due to my eagerness and lack of consistency, and he finally missed one. This was his first ever missed contact of any kind, in any trial. We really needed a standard leg, as we ONLY HAVE ONE, but no dice. Sigh. It is totally my fault though, so I can’t be mad at him. He nailed the dogwalk however, and I had him hold it, so at least there was that. He had also had a wonderful send ahead on the dogwalk in team standard with a beautiful contact, so the a-frame is really our biggest issue.

Although we already earned our advanced snooker title on Friday, I decided to run snooker on Sunday to practice the a-frame, which we did twice. It was not ideal, but at least he got them and did pause if not stop. We Q’d with 1st place.

After a looooong weekend, team relay was the last event. I have never done a three dog relay, so it was truly a unique event. Our team was in fourth place standing going into the final run, so we ran fourth to last. Our plan worked well, and both Nitro and Xander ran clean, although we had an iffy teeter and an almost off course. There was an extremely difficult turn near the end which resulted in faults for every team prior to us, but I did a front cross and was the first person to run clean. I even heard the judge say “nice” as I did it. However, I almost sent him into the weaves, but called him off at the last second, and that was followed by the VERY questionable teeter. Somebody was a little amped! Vette was last dog, and was called on her teeter, which we all thought was totally legal, so I think the judge just wished she’d called mine, so called Vette’s instead! She also ran past the last jump, but Terri skillfully pulled her around without incurring an off course, and we were done! The announcements were made immediately following the final few teams, and we maintained our fourth place standing to earn our first DAM Q! This was also Kelly and Nitro’s first! Terri used the front cross maneuver we had talked about with her aussie Bella, and that team came in first. Go Terri!

The final tally for the weekend included a Q in all three tournament classes (steeplechase, grand prix, and DAM team), as well as two snooker legs (for his advanced snooker title +1), an advanced jumper leg, and an advanced pairs leg. Hooray! And I learned so much from watching the other dogs and talking to the other handlers. Xander is longer and taller, as well as much heavier (with muscle) than his competition. He has so much heart, and tries so hard in spite of not being able to turn as fast or as tight due to his length and weight. He outweighs the females by nearly ten pounds, and is MUCH longer than dogs like Kate, Nitro, and Vette. I am eager to see how our core strengthening continues to improve his ability to turn and how that will affect our competitiveness. We really need to work on the broad jump and continue working the a-frame, but I really think we are making great strides as a team. I received a number of compliments from some highly respected handlers, so I was very proud of my young boy and continue to have high hopes for him. Can’t wait until our next show!