Day 2 at USDAA Nationals starts a bit earlier, courses open by 7 am for walking. The day started with Power & Speed. On this course, you run a short section of mostly contacts and weaves. If you get through without fault, you go into the speedy jumpers section of the course. Your time in the Speed portion is the only thing that counts for placements, so you can take your time in the Power section and work the contacts, making it a nice warmup for the Grand Prix course.
We had to walk the Grand Prix course at the same time, and Jumpers a little later. They ran the 16" dogs first in both P&S and GP, and second in Jumpers, so once again, we were finished all our courses fairly early.
The Power and Speed course was challenging and not many folks got through clean. There was a tunnel-Aframe trap right at the start that caught a lot of dogs, but most folks made it into the Speed portion okay...but that's where the problems started. We had an line of 3 jumps that had to be done in an S, quite a few dogs had run-bys and back-jumps in here. A short zig-zag, and you came into the really tough part where you had to get the dog in the right side of a c-shaped tunnel, with a tempting jump off to the side. Many dogs went over the jump, and many other dogs pulled in too much to the wrong side of the tunnel. That's where Taz and I blew it. He was lined up nicely for the right end, and just cut across to the other side. Dogs that made it through there had a long run around the outside, with some pushes and pulls near the end when the handler was getting tired and falling behind. Today it's very hot, getting up to 90 degrees, so this was quite a "warm-up" for the handlers.
The Grand Prix course was very challenging. 2 jumps straight with a tunnel under the Aframe directly ahead, while you had to turn the dog to the teeter. Over a jump and around the Aframe to the other end of that tunnel. Straight through and over a jump. A turn off the jump ahead to another jump onto the dogwalk. Off the dogwalk over a jump and then a push out for a 180 degree turn for another jump. A turn away back to another jump and then a pull into the chute. An abrupt turn to the weaves, and then through the tire and jump, and then a very tough pull in away from the tunnel to get the Aframe. Off the frame to a jump, straight to another tunnel and then back out over a jump to finish.
Problems were many and we had a lot of top dogs go out early. A number of missed contacts on the dogwalk, including Jag and last year's 18" winner Patty. They get to try and win tomorrow to get in as a wildcard. Plenty of missed contacts on the Aframe as well. A number of dogs hit the tunnel at the start, or got a refusal at the teeter running by it towards the tunnel. A lot of dogs went wide around the Aframe and headed towards a jump rather than the tunnel on the other side, but most handlers got them back safely. There were a number of off-courses in the Open dogs here though. The 180 degree turn caught a few dogs, who got refusals for missing the second jump, some also backjumped it for the off-course. The turn to the weaves didn't give most people too much trouble, as the handlers just pulled them in nicely off the chute before turning them back.
The tunnel-Aframe trap at the end was deadly. Marq and Wyatt went off-course here, as unfortunately so did Taz. I got him nicely lined up for the Aframe, and at the last second, he totally switched direction on me and took the tunnel before I could react. So that's it for us this year, not the way I wanted it to end. But I certainly am in good company.
Power & Speed Results
12" Dogs
1 - Hanna (Border Terrier)
2 - Flint (PWC)
3 - Cody (Pomeranian)
4 - Sophie (All American)
5 - Fidget (Border Terrier)
6 - Pippin (CWC)16" Dogs
1 - Shimmer (Sheltie)
2 - Scamp (Tibetan Terrier)
3 - Boogie (JRT)
4 - Riley (All American)
5 - Squiggles (Beagle)
6 - Sasha (Cocker)
7 - Elvis (All American)
8 - Abbi (Kees)22" Dogs
1 - Blu (Aussie)
2 - Larrie (BC)
3 - Ajax (BC)
4 - Skye (BC)
5 - Jenny (All American)
6 - Focus (Aussie)
7 - Pixie (Kees)
8 - Sammie (BC)
9 - Rip (BC)
10 - Sassy (ACD)26" Dogs
1 - Wicked (BC)
2 - Brumby (Aussie)
3 - Timeflies (BC)
4 - Dreamer (Flat-coat)
5 - Chukker (All American)
6 - Ranger (BC)
7 - Scud (BC)
8 - Dodger (Aussie)
9 - Lilly (Malinois)
10 - Troy (BC)Okay, some Grand Prix results. I'm going to try and give you all a bit more info here, in terms of who is in contention. I can't list everyone, but will try to give the faster clears in each class, and other highlights and dogs that still could get in as a wildcard. So, here's the 16" class first:
1- Kaos (Sheltie)
2 - Heather (Sheltie)
3 - Dustin (JRT)
4 - Morgan (Sheltie)
5 - Ginger (JRT)
6 - Banchor (Sheltie)
7 - Casey (Sheltie)
8 - Kimi (Mini Scnauzer)27 clear rounds total. Some other dogs that went clear: Duncan, Spot, Scamp, Lily, Shooter, Guy, and Squiggles. Some fast 5 fault runs by Shimmer, Spree, Sam, Jag, Lovies, and Ace. A fast 10 fault run by Patty.
For the 22" Dogs:
1- Scout (BC)
2 - Ajax (BC)
3 - Riot (BC)
4 - Ringo (BC)
5 - Stoni (BC)
6 - Blu (Aussie)
7 - Alice (BC)
8 - Asti (BC)36 total clear rounds. Other notable clears by Dice, Fate, Roxanne, Snap, Peggy, Buddy, Dory, Lyric, Fletch, Quest, Mattie, Charm, Nifty, and Chase. With fast 5 fault runs are Cady, Pixie, Eejit, Zoe and Tory. With fast 10 fault runs are Flurry, Castle, and Tango. Linda Mecklenburg had a beautiful run with Awesome, but he missed the last jump! Also E'd were Secret and Maggie.
Also going on was Jumpers. It was a relatively straightforward course, which was nice since for many of us, we were concentrating more on the Grand Prix course. As for myself, I let my friend Julie Norman run Taz, as she had to come without a dog and had done well running Taz before. The course had a fair number of 180 degree turns, and twice through the weave poles. Taz was running great for Julie, but missed the entry on the poles the second time. He does not like to listen once he thinks a strange handler has messed him up, so followed that up with an off-course. Not a good day for Taz, 3 off-courses. Here's the rest of the results:
12" Dogs
1 - Junior (Papillon)
2 - Moose (Papillon)
3 - Flint (PWC)
4 - Blizzard (Bolognese)
5 - Pete (All American)
6 - Devon (JRT)
7 - Madison (JRT)
8 - Sparkle (Sheltie)16" Dogs
1 - Dustin (JRT)
2 - Kaos (Sheltie)
3 - Elvis (All American)
4 - Patty (Sheltie)
5 - Casey (Sheltie)
6 - Shimmer (Sheltie)
7 - Heather (Sheltie)
8 - Boogie (JRT)22" Dogs - Difference from 1st to 10th place was only 5 seconds!
1 - Ajax (BC)
2 - Wicked (BC)
3 - Secret (BC)
4 - Awesome (BC)
5 - Cap (BC)
6 - Stoni (BC)
7 - Curry (BC)
8 - Nifty (BC)
9 - Spin (BC)
10 - Swift (BC)26" Dogs - only 4 seconds from 1st to 10th!
1 - Timeflies (BC)
2 - Mick (BC)
3 - Spring (BC)
4 - Flurry (BC)
5 - Whist (BC)
6 - Boz (BC)
7 - Toad (BC)
8 - Suede (BC)
9 - Todd (BC)
10 - Zoey (BC)Okay, here's the rest of the Grand Prix results:
26" Dogs
33 clear rounds
1 - Toad (BC)
2 - Spring (BC)
3 - Flash (BC)
4 - Troy (BC)
5 - Caper (BC)
6 - Suni (BC)
7 - Whist (BC)
8 - Timeflies (BC)Other clear rounds put in by Jazz, Dodger, Cajun, Mick, Scud, Taz, Annie, Sierra, Disney, Topper, Panda, Cocoa, Brumby, Jeremy, Jagger, Ravin, Jordan, Chukker, Spiffy, Lilly, Dreamer, Calvin, and Tess. Some good 5 fault runs Lacey, Jessie, Piper, Lazer and Duffy. 10 faults from Rival, and plenty of E's of course, including Recce who came off the Aframe badly and had to be helped off the course. Hopefully, just a jammed toe and he will be okay, will let you know if I hear anything more. Winner of the "skin-of-your-teeth" award goes to Bill Newcomb and Flash who leaped in the air to miss the tunnel and get back to the Aframe, it was amazing to see! Overall, this class did the best, many exceptional runs. Round 2 should be great!
12" Dogs
1 - Stitch (PWC)
2 - Twister (JRT)
3 - Parker (CWC)
4 - Zoe (JRT)
5 - Kelli (JRT)
6 - Fancy (PWC)
7 - Sam (PWC)
8 - Sparkle (Sheltie)Other clear rounds from Devon, Chipper, Jingles, and Rusty. Under 5 seconds time faults were Pippin, Moshe, and Chewbacca. With 5 faults were Bear, Cricket, Kelsey, Pete, Flint and Spike. Also into Round 2 is Flame and Scally. Some unfortunate E's included April and Junior.
That's all for today. Not the best day for Taz, 3 off-courses. We'll have to hope for better luck tomorrow in Steeplechase and then look forward to next year's National in San Diego. For now, we'll root for all my good friends that are making a run for the Championship.