National Champion 2008

Yup, that's right! For the second year in the row, Xsara won the combined National Championship in Agility on A2/J2 Medium level. Even though we have been competing in A3/J3 for the past two trials and missed the first trial of the season due to her nail injury, we still had enough points from 9 out of 12 trials. I am super proud because the competition was a lot more difficult this year. It really gives us a nice closure for A2/J2 and now we can set new goals for the next season.




In the final trial of the season we also competed in A3/J3. In the first run we missed the teeter contact, and in jumping we were disqualified due to the wrong tunnel entry and had one knocked bar. Xsara wasn't in a great mood for running, she had an upset tummy the day before and is on a risotto diet. But looking at the videos I think we did some parts of the course quite well. Courses of this type are very difficult for us because the handler stands still and sends the dog around the same jumps, while Xsara performs her best when I run with her and pull her ahead with my movement. We need to gain speed in situations like this, so this will be our main working focus in the next weeks or months. I really hope that we will soon be able to bring the attitude she has in training to the trial field, because we do a lot better in training (well, most teams do). Here are the videos of our runs:

Agility

Jumping

We also had another Rally-Obedience trial last week. Xsara did very well, but she missed the entry into her favorite agility obstacle - the weaves! It was funny to see that many agility dogs had problems with agility obstacles in obedience, because they don't really expect to see them there. She got a very nice score considering we didn't get points for one exercise. We were 5th, but without this silly mistake she would probably have won.

We also have to tell you that we are now driving around safer in our new Hyundai Getz! Well, it's not completely new, it used to be my mom's, but she bought a new Getz this week (she is a huge fan, what can I say), and gave me a really good price for the "old" one (well, at 5 years she is not really "old" yet, but she's older that the new one). Pictures to follow!

Agility Trial in Maribor

We had another agility trial yesterday, it was held in Maribor, the second largest city in Slovenia (after Ljubljana). We had two nice runs, both clean, so that made me happy. I got a little lost in our first run and almost took Xsara to the wrong obstacle, but she was very responsive when I called her so we just lost some time, but got no penalty points. The contact on the dogwalk also wasn't perfect (she has beautiful contacts in training but not so much on trials), but it was done with her rear foot (I triple-checked it on the video). I wanted to make a front cross after the last tunnel, but wasn't able to outrun her, so I had to make a rear cros and it didn't turn out that well, but it was OK. I was still trying to play it a little bit too safe instead of just running, so that is my mission for the rest of the season - run faster, trust Xsara more and improve our times a little more so that we can go to A3/J3 next season. We have improved our times from last year for about 0.2 m/s, so there definitely is progress. Here are the videos of our trial - I found jumping (second run) quite difficult:

We Haven't Lost Our Mojo

This weekend was a lot better than the previous one! We had an agility trial in Slovenska Bistrica on Saturday and we were playing it a little more safe. We finished on the third place with two clean runs, but our times weren't as good as they could have been if I weren't so afraid of mistakes this time. However they (the times) weren't bad at all, so I was very happy with our performance. We also had luck with the weather, so we spent a really nice day with our agi-friends.

But today Xsara even surprised myself. We had a Rally-Obedience trial and I wasn't expecting anything at all, so I really wasn't nervous. Xsara worked very well and won the trial, even though there were 32 dogs in our cathegory (some of them incredibly good). We got 147 out of 150 points. Now I have to check out the exercises for RO-2 and if we know all of them we will probably try to pass the exam for the higher cathegory before the next trial (if we do pass it, we will be allowed to compete in RO-2 on our next trial).

I'm posting the video of our trial, but it's very bad quality because "our" boyfriend Gas can't seem to understand the whole "zoom in" concept :)

Veni, Vidi ... Succeedy

The first trial since January went incredibly well. Both our runs were clean and fast enough to bring us the first place in A2/J2 cathegory. The course was very muddy and slippery so I almost fell a couple of times, but I was happy with my handling - I think my directions were clear even on the tricky spots and Xsara was able to understand them on time. I have the video of our first run but it's very poor quality. I hope I will get a higher quality version and post it this week, otherwise I will just post the one I have. Anyway, I am very happy with how the trial went and with Xsara's performance - in addition the weathermen were wrong again and we had almost no rain all day, it was actually sunny most of the time. All in all, this was probably one of my favorite trials so far.

The day ended with another exciting news. We will get to doggy-sit Xsara's sister Sena this week (and in May, too). Her people even said I can try taking her to agility and if she will work with me maybe compete with her, too. Now, that would really be fun!

I'm also posting a photo of a new trick - this is not the "secret" trick I was talking about before, but I think it looks pretty cool. I haven't named it yet, but I will probably call it "get in the bowl" if I don't get any better ideas (I always add the verbal cue in the last step of teaching a trick). The "secret" trick is taking a little longer because we have a lot of other work now (with advanced RO class, agility and regular ground-work), but it's coming, I promise!

A Trial In Slovenska Bistrica

Xsara ran us the 1st place on yesterday's trial in Slovenska Bistrica. She won a trophy in the shape of a ... bone(r). I was particularly glad she did the weaves since we had been having problems with this. We also had team competitions and Xsara had a clean run for her team as well. I was very happy because of these results since the trial in Slovenska Bistrica means a lot to us - it's where we won our first trophy last year. Unfortunately I didn't have a sandwich so Xsara got my lunch - a yogurt and wholewheat bread plus a chewable treat later at home.

About Trials, Off-Courses And Weaves

We had a trial in Prestranek yesterday. Unfortunately we had an off-course on the weaves, which hasn't happened in a really long time. We were also the test team for A2/J2 M level and it was pretty good, we got 1 fault because I made a mistake. The time was unfortunately not so good since I made several other mistakes that I really didn't have to make. It's always my fault, not Xsara's. Anyhow, we did well in the Eukanuba Winter Cup and became combined champions on our level. The wins in Gornja Radgona and Železniki plus 5th place in Postojna were enough (three best results out of four trials count)to gain 1st place all combined. I think we won't be getting trophies for some time now that we are on next level, so I'm glad we successfully left the first level!

First Place!

Xsara earned another sandwich on yesterday's competition. With two clean runs and good times she placed 1st. I was particularly happy because this means we accomplished the last requirement to proceed to the next competing level. We will run on 2nd level on the first outdoors trial. To cheer us there were our breeder Neva, Xsara's sister Sena with her Aša and baby Gaja and, of course our Gašper. We were also happy to see some snow but there wasn't much of it. The day passed ever so quickly.