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Originally Posted by Britster  Whoohoo! Go Lizzy! She sounds like she did GREAT! Especially for a first trial.  Thanks for the update, I was looking forward to see how she did.
How do you even enter a trial? I think I'd be really nervous. How much training did you actually have to do, etc? What are the general rules? |
I've had Lizzy in classes for about a year and a half. I've been lazy about training her on weave poles and decided I wanted to try Susan Garrett's 2 X 2 method of training weave poles. So I got the video, six of the poles, then just never got around to training her. I am working on it now. I want to start AKC agility again soon. I really enjoy the training, and I forgot how much fun trials are.
It's been five years since I trialed at all. My last agility dog was diagnosed with lymphoma just after getting her novice title. It was chemo or agility, a no brainer. After that, I didn't have a dog to do agility with, all of them were too old. Until Lizzy.
So, I have to start learning rules again. They have changed. Just recently, the AKC dropped the sit or down on the pause table, now the dog just has to get on it. In USDAA, the dog has to down on the table and NADAC dropped the table altogether. The big stuff the judge usually reminds people about in the judges briefing like having your dog on collar going in and out of the ring, stuff like that. When I entered this trial, I had to look up each of the types of run to see what obstacles where in them and the rules. I'd never heard of Touch N Go!
I imagine the season for agility in your neck of the woods is going to be summer, unlike down here. It may start for you in late spring, and end in the fall. I know the Cleveland All Breed club has four days of agility at the beginning of Dec during the big IX shows. They also had a show in the spring at their club site. So did the Youngstown club, if I remember correctly from when I lived in Cleveland.
I would talk to your trainer, as you progress, she may mention up comming trials. You can find events on the respective association websites too, and the Clean Run website has them. You need to register your dog, but in the case of NADAC, you can register and enter pretty much at the same time. In my case, I found out in class about the NADAC trial and went to their website to enter. I found the event and went from there. Some trials fill early, so it helps to start planning in advance. I entered this trial on the closing date and got in, but in some areas and for some trials, that isn't possible and I am going to bet you are in an area where it won't be possible. So trial opening dates will be important for you to be aware of when you get ready to trial. If Jackson isn't AKC registered, you can still ILP him with AKC or do the Canine Companion thing (I think that's what it is).
For me, turning Lizzy loose the first time made me the most nervous. The best moment in agility for me is always when we have the first perfect "clean run" whether it's in class or at a trial. It feels like we finally got all the dance steps right.