Agility at Sheepiepalooza
There were four dogs entered in the Open level in both the Standard course and the Jumpers with Weaves course. Open - Standard results: 1st place - Kodi & Kathi 2nd place - Sybil & Kristine 3rd place - Marley & Kerry 4th place - Harry & Judi Open - JWW results: 1st place - Kodi & Kathi 2nd place - Harry & Judi 3rd place - Sybil & Kristine 4th place - Marley & Kerry Below is a picture of Sybil running through the weaves on the Standard course: 
and another shot from the Standard course of Marley on the teeter: 
We offered Pre-Novice level (for dogs not quite ready to compete) course in both Standard and Jumpers With Weaves with only part of the obstacles to make things more manageable. These up and coming dogs did a great job along with their handlers. All nine entries in the Standar course successfully fininshed the course. Although there were seven dogs entered in the JWW course only four completed the course. Pre-Novice B - Standard results: 1st place - Liz & Kristine 2nd place - Macy & Kerry 3rd place - Che & Kristine Pre-Novice A - Standard results: 1st place - Simon & Pam 2nd place - Tonks & Allison 3rd place - Heart & Val 4th place - Sadie & Jan, Chewie & Dawn, Garfunkel & Randy Pre-Novice B - JWW results: 1st place - Liz & Kristine 2nd place - Macy & Kristine Pre-Novice A - JWW results: 1st place - Simon & Pam 2nd place - Chewie & Dawn All dogs received a placement ribbon, a certificate of participation and a ribbon shaped cookie plus the pleasure of not being the only sheepie clown in the ring. 
They all did a fantastic job so let's give them a big cheer:  
Afterwards we set up a Sub-Novice ring for dogs to try Agility on some simplified obstacles: mini A-frame, channel weaves, mini dog walk, mini tunnel and a low jump. The participants got a chance to see that while the dogs do not do these things willingly at first with a little bit of encouragement they soon were taking the obstacles with very little prodding. We were very encouraged by what we saw and hope to see some of these dogs in Pre-Novice at next year's Sheepiepalooza after some agility classes. The channel weave method teaches weaves by opening them up about eight inches apart to form a channel. The dog runs down the middle of the channel and over time the weaves are moved in little by little until they form a straight line and the dog is weaving between poles. Below Sydney tries the channel weaves. 
Some dogs are very unaware of their back end when walking on a 12" wide dog walk so we used a mini dog walk to help them master walking on the narrow plank. Below Martha gives it a try: 
The tunnel looks easy and in the end is usually a favorite obstacle with dogs. But in the beginning it can take some coaxing to get the dog to go into that dark space. We started with a 3' tunnel and held the dog at one end while the owner called the dog through from the other end. Eventually you work the dog up to a longer tunnel and as confidence builds then you can curve the tunnel for them to run through. Below Baxter shows that he can do the mini tunnel with just a few tries: 
Cheers to our future agility dogs! |
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| Neat! That looks like it would be fun to try. Crongrats to everyone. |
| FUN FUN FUN!! Congrats to all those who entered-- and again thanks for the sub-novice!! It really is inspiring to be able to actually SEE what is involved! Kudos! |
This was great fun! We really enjoyed both watching those who competed and trying it out for ourselves. Thanks so much for making it available to us!  |
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