The day started off great. The non-traditional Jackpot offered very interesting options. The judge had three separate distance gambles set out. The one at the way back, worth 20 points, consisted of a curved tunnel, weaves, and then a jump. The one to the side, sharing the last jump of the first gamble, was a jump to an A-Frame, to a curved tunnel that was sitting under the A-Frame. That one was also worth 20 points. The final gamble, worth 15, came in on a diagonal off of those two, again sharing that same jump, and it was a serpentine of three jumps.
I elected to have Tessa do the serpentine. I knew she could do that, and, given that there was a 5 point jump combo that we could use for points, I knew we didn't need the extra 5 points we could have gotten from one of the other two gambles.
The run went beautifully!! I have no video, but this is how it went:
Tessa and I started off taking two jumps and then she went into a gently curved tunnel. As she was in the tunnel, I booked to set myself up to send her into the serpentine. The judge was sort-of in the way, but he moved.
The serpentine was lovely!!
After the serpentine, I had Tessa come back around to take that same jump and that set us up for the A-Frame. You could only get points for one distance gamble on the course, so we did not attempt this as a gamble. She did the A-Frame, and ran off to take a double that I did not intend for her to take!!
Back on track, she did the jump combo, and went back into that gently curved tunnel.
Then it got . . . interesting!
The judge really seemed to like hanging out in that particular section of the course. And, from the other runs that I had watched, it did seem that a lot of people didn't end up in that particular area. Well, as Tessa came out of the tunnel, he was right smack in her path! It took him a few seconds to realize that I needed him to move, so when Tessa came out, there he was.
That girl didn't miss a beat! She glanced at him for a second with a happy, curious expression, and he quickly stepped back. Then she got right on track, took the jump combo again, did the double (this time cued!), and then we finished on the table!!
It was a Q - our second Level 5 Jackpot Q!
Also a huge personal Q in running by the judge, not caring that he was in her space!
Next was Snooker, and it was TIGHT!! This was the second trial in a row where the judge had smooshed the entire Snooker course into the equivalent of half the ring. I am not sure what this is all about, or if it is becoming a "thing", but it is extremely challenging with a bigger dog.
Tessa did awesome. I got messed up. The course was marked by flags with numbers on them. That is normal for Snooker. But the flags were double sided with the numbers. Obstacle #3, which was not bi-directional, was immediately after a bi-directional tunnel for #2. So, whichever way the dog came out of the tunnel, it looked like you were in flow for Jump #3.
We did it backwards, even though I had walked it properly.
I am generally a good sport about the "things happen" elements of Agility, but this royally ticked me off. I feel that the course part of the game should be marked clearly. If that ever happens again, I will ask the judge, during walk-through, to mark the direction that the third obstacle must be taken clearly!
I checked, but can't seem to find any CPE rule stating that, in course games, the course markings must be clear. But there should be such a rule . . .
Livid as I was, I had to pull it together to run our third Snooker. That one was better. The judge had three straight tunnels in the course, and #2, which was one of those straight tunnels was not bi-directional, and the flag was clearly sitting at the end of the tunnel that you had to enter. So, the course was marked in flow.
Tessa did an absolutely lovely job, and we got the Q - our first Level 5 Snooker Q!!
Aside from that one blip, it was an excellent day!
Now our "Magic Number" is 13!!
We need:
1 Fullhouse
2 Standard
3 Wildcard
3 Jackpot
4 Snooker
Onward and upward!
No comments:
Post a Comment