Kohl's Last Agility Trial ...
7/22/2010 11:23:41 AM
Last weekend we were at the Washington State Obedience Training Club, Inc. Agility Trial at Argus Ranch. This is the last agility trial that Kohl is entered into, Stephen has decided to retire Kohl :-( Kohl's heart really isn't into competition work, as I found out when trying to do competition obedience with him, Kohl excells at his therapy work and just being Kohl. However, he went out in style and we are very proud of his achievements which taught us both a lot and paved the way for Sky.
If Sky had been our first poodle we are both sure that things would have turned out very differently! Kohl is the perfect 'starter poodle' and that's exactly what he has done, he has gotten us started on the obedience and agility trails (or should that be trials!). He will continue to accompany us to the thrials as a spectator and he's sure to pick-up some therapy work while there too.
Here's how the cousins got on ... last Saturday (7/17/2010)
Despite getting to the venue early, Stephen nearly missed his first run as he was chatting with friends and totally distracted from what was happening in the ring! Poor Kohl was pulled out of his crate at the last minute and made it into the ring just in time. Stephen had to run him 'naked' (Kohl not Stephen!) as Kohl wasn't even wearing his 'competition collar' (flat buckled collar without tags). This proved to work well as a strategy for completing the course in the fasted time ever for Kohl and qualifying for the first time in JWW Excellent A Preferred. He only lost 3 points due to time penalties and won the class.
Unfortunately, I didn't get Kohl's finest hour on video as everything happened so quickly and I really wasn't prepared. I was delving in my bag to get the camera out, looked up and there was Kohl coming towards me through the weave poles! So I didn't get to see much of Kohl's finest hour :-(
We had more time to prepare for the STD class but that also meant that Kohl had more time to 'think' about it and decide that he'd done all he was going to do that day. I hid from view so that he wasn't distracted by my presence but it wasn't good enough to motivate him. Apparently, it wasn't a good run and Stephen had no regrets about making the decision to retire him.
Sky, on the other hand, has no inhibitions about performing in front of anyone! We found this weekend that he is a bit of a showman and has a blast in the ring. He was let down in Novice JWW by his handler who had underestimated his speed and tried to use the same tactics that he used with Kohl ... needless to say that this didn't work, you can see the results here.
By the time they competed in Standard, Sky had decided to put on a real performance and launced himself off the dog walk in a similar fashion to the way he launched himself off the A-frame in the previous trial. After this faux pas he started to behave and hit all his contacts, however, the pair of them messed up the weaves and then took an extra jump before the table :-( Boy is he fast ... take a look here, he certainly lives up to his name ('Sky's the limit' or should that be 'Reach for the Sky'?).
On Sunday, Stephen took Sky to our trainer's to concentrate on his contacts, needless to say, he performed perfectly without a crowd and all the exitement that a trial brings. Maybe he should be in the circus performing in front of a big crowd who will appreciate his antics!
We're off up to Bellingham his weekend to compete at the fairground in Lyndon so we'll see what happens ...
