I'm not sure how we did it. Blame it on the full moon, or just Tripp being Tripp, but he was absolutely wild this weekend. We started Saturday with Rally trials at Finish Forward Dogs, working on his championship points. I didn't get any "Poodles Gone Wild" video footage, but while part of me regrets not having that reference to decifer his unusual behavior, another part is glad there's no evidence of a crazy dog winning the whole show. LOL Truly, it was unusual behavior for Tripp in the obedience ring, and actually he did well in the first class, earning a 99 & 1st place, but then it seems he spotted the a-frame (even though it was against the wall and behind fencing) and went into agility mode. From then on he was breaking position and barking like mad. Lucky for us, UKC apparently has no rules against barking (AKC does). Somehow, even with all those faults, we managed to score a 95 in the second class. Our 3rd class went slightly better, with the same behaviors but fewer incidents, and we scored a 98 & 3rd place. I was still not impressed with all the barking & running around and asked Tripp to please behave for our final ring time. He listened and gave a nice performance, though it took much willpower! He reeeally wanted to take off again, but stayed with me, and of course that intensity made for an extra flashy run. We ended with a perfect 100 & 1st place, which was earned by a time tie-breaker. Competition was stiff with many great teams scoring high. Tripp was just quicker. For special awards, the club as usual offered High in Trial for both trials that day, as well as High Combined, which is the first I recall seeing offered for rally. It is for the highest combined score in levels 2 & 3. In the morning trial, another excellent team took HIT with their perfect score, but to my surprise Tripp & I won High Combined. (I actually had to ask what it was. LOL) Well this is something new! Very cool. Incidentally, our combined score was 194 out of a possible 200. The same awards were offered at the conclusion of the afternoon trial, and I sat vaguely listening to the judge announcing the winner for HIT & HC - the same winner as last time... Wait, what? Who me? You mean both?? Very, very cool! :-) We nailed both awards for the same trial. So, we hit a couple bumps, but it was a really nice finish to the day. Oh yes, our afternoon HC score was 198. Not bad, not bad at all! As of this event, our rally championship point tally stands at 82 points - we need 100 for UROC title. (Points are earned based on score - 1 pt. for a 91, 2 pts. for a 92, and so on.) We have surpassed the required points in each level (must have at least 40 in level 2 & 20 in level 3), so we can earn the remainder from either one, although I will likely continue entering both to work towards URX, which requires 10 double Qs (we have 4 so far)... although that will depend on next year's show schedule and finances. My fleeting hope of making rank in UKC's Rally All-Stars was dashed earlier in the year. This is an annual list of the top 50 highest scoring teams in the country. It is divided for each level. We made level 3 rank in late winter with our first trial, but come spring we were quickly bumped off by teams who apparently have far more opportunities for competition. Unfortunately we are not so lucky here, with only a few trials to attend in the region. As it currently stands, the #1 team (a Poodle, by the way) has over 500 points (I am baffled at how they accomplished that - must compete every weekend!), although the lowest at the moment is only 46 in level 2 and 50 in level 3. Perhaps there is hope yet... We are up to 47 points now in level 2 and 51 in level 3. So just maybe we'll make the list again, at least briefly. However, this was likely our last trial of the year, so I'm sure more active competitors will take the lead. Oh well. It was a cheap thrill while we had it. Here is our win photo, with his haul of ribbons from the day! Marshland Obedience Club Sept. 29, 2012 Judge: Barb Burri UKC Rally Obedience Trial 1 - Level 2: 95 Level 3: 99, 1st place High Combined score Trial 2 - Level 2: 100, 1st place Level 3: 98, 3rd place High Combined score Highest Scoring Dog in Trial On Sunday, we entered an agility trial at All Dog's Gym. Tripp had a little more fun, of course, but our results didn't turn out nearly as good as they did in rally. His behavior was no less crazy, although he's always wicked amped up in agility. Still, he was a bit more over the edge than usual. As always though, he proved to put on an eye catching performance regardless of scoring badly. And as usual, most of the faults were due to my handling, but a couple were all him!
I included details of our performance (and my frustration ;-) in the video description. For best viewing, and reading about the day, go to http://youtu.be/Z7Wae7ofP_Y.
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