Akita Agility

Parent club discussion; No acknowledgement for this Akita

2012-02-23T14:23:00.006-08:00

While I was at the Colorado Kennel Club agility trial this past weekend, I was talking with a friend who has a pedigreed agility dog, not a bullet dog, but an average agility breed. We were discussing agility and the difficulties of running with our different breeds when I asked her, does your parent breed club acknowledge your accomplishments in agility?

She responded, oh yes! With each title we achieve they’ve mailed me a very nice plaque with our name on it and a letter from the board telling me how much they appreciate my hard work in the event. I asked her what if the title you earn isn’t from the AKC? She said she didn’t think it mattered what venue you run in, our parent club appreciates all the hard work our breed exhibitors put into their dogs making the breed that much better.

I asked does your parent club acknowledge this information on their website, and she said yes, you can lookup my dogs information with pictures, titles and other accomplishments.

Then she said, I’m sure your breed parent club is absolutely thrilled that Dolcenea has, what is it now… 80 titles? I replied 83. She said don’t they have your stuff on their website? I said nope, they don’t acknowledge any of Dolcenea’s accomplishments in agility or anything else. She replied not even titles you’ve earned in AKC? I said nope, not even them. As her jaw dropped she replied... wow, that is a shame!

What else could possibly go wrong?

2012-01-19T14:15:00.000-08:00

I entered a CPE agility trial in Boulder City Nevada being hosted by LVDICE over the weekend. I left home at 6:00 am and was having a great trip until I made the HUGE mistake of stopping at the rest stop just north of Cedar City Utah. Yes I noticed all five, I repeat five, large signs bigger than my truck making sure to inform everyone stopping that your pets are NOT welcome on the grass. Which is hilarious since the grass was all dead anyway.

I parked the truck went to visit the restroom and noticed a man loading up a wheel borrow with black trash bags as I went in. When I came out he was still there watching everyone, which struck me as a little odd.

I head back to the truck and bring Dolcenea out attaching her flexi and grabbing a poop bag and step onto the side walk. Now I’m headed the opposite way of the building and behind me I hear a mans voice barking orders at me like I’m his slave, “where do you think you’re going?” I turned to look at this very disheveled man who desperately needed a shave and a bath questioning me concerning my walking direction. I said excuse me but what I do is NONE of your BUSINESS. Notice the capitalization for emphasis; I barked my response back at him with the exact same venom and nasty tone he threw at me with is derogatory remark. I’ve never understood why some men in the state of Utah feel women are property to be treated as rotten as possible whether they are their wives or a perfect stranger. I hate Utah!!!

So the argument gets heated.

This raggedy man informs me to STAY OFF THE GRASS even though neither I nor Dolcenea have even stepped one small toe on it so far. So I keep walking heading for a large tree at the far end of the parking lot and this creep follows me the entire way pretending to empty the trash cans as he goes. Dolcenea does her business then we head back to the truck and he starts in again with his nasty remarks that I must be a snobby *itch from California, I said no I’m from the Pet Friendly state of Colorado, and please don’t ever come for a visit we don’t want horrible people like you in our state. He kept yelling nasty remarks but I just loaded Dolcenea back into the truck and continued with our trip to Vegas. Because of this IDIOT I never got a chance to check the truck to see if there was anything wrong.

The horrible experiences continue.

We finally arrive at the hotel in Henderson Nevada. I take some stuff from the cab of the truck into the hotel room, turn on the air conditioning since its well over 70 degrees outside and even warmer in the room, then I give Dolcenea her cookies, food and water making sure she is settled in. I head back out to get my bags out of the back of the truck and I couldn’t believe my eyes (I know my jaw was open). Looking at the shell door of my truck it’s COVERED with some kind of oil! I look at the tail gate and it’s completely covered with oil and still dripping! I kneel down to look under the truck at the rear differential and EVERYTHING is covered with black dripping oil including the entire rear axle, springs, and wheel cylinders. The oil is actually starting to puddle on the ground, and I’ve only been parked ten minutes! I look at my watch and it’s 5:30 pm, no repair shop is going to be open at this time of night on a Friday in Henderson Nevada! UGH!

I grab my cell and frantically start searching for dodge dealers in the area, and of course they are over thirty miles away on the northern side of Las Vegas. Then I search for truck repair shops and there isn’t anything in the immediate area. So I finally do a search for oil change places and Big O tires pops onto the screen detailing it’s only .4 of a mile away, basically just across the shopping mall parking lot. I gather Dolcenea back up who is completely confused since she thought we were going to rest at the hotel for a while, you can tell by the look she is giving me as I’m rushing to put her collar back on, and we rush over to Big O not knowing what time they closed.

I dodge in asking if they could look under the truck to see what has happened! Thank goodness no one was in the place but me so they pull the truck into the bay and the young kid comes back and says to me, your problem is you’ve got oil leaking all over the rear axle. No Dugh?!? I say to him I already know that part, WHERE is it coming from? So he heads back out and now all of the technicians are looking under the truck and finally an older gentleman says it’s your ABS sensor unit, you can move it around with your fingers, the gasket has melted! I can’t believe it! I proceed to tell him I just had this EXACT SAME THING fixed in Colorado just before I left for this trip. So he tells me they will have to order and new one, they don’t keep them in stock, and they can fix it tomorrow (Saturday) as long as I have the truck in their shop no later than 4:00 pm. I tell them I’m at an agility trial in Boulder City and I’m not sure when I will be done, but I will definitely have the truck into them to get it fixed by four! So they put two quarts of oil in the rear differential and the tech tells me to stay off the freeway, the sensor can’t handle anymore vibration. Oh great so how am I supposed to get to Boulder City... walk?

With this news now I don’t dare drive over to the trial site fifteen miles away (via freeway) fore fear something else will happen, so I just go grab dinner at McDonalds (the closest place to Big O) which I never eat at and head back to the hotel. Now this problem is weighing on my mind… will this Big O really order the part, will they be able to fix the problem? Is the ABS sensor really the problem, since there was so MUCH oil on everything they really couldn’t tell where all the oil was coming from and just gave me their best educated guess? And above all why did this happen again, since I had this exact same sensor replaced BEFORE I left Colorado for this trip? UGH!

I’m so upset by the truck needing the same thing repaired yet again, and almost stranding me at the hotel and maybe missing the agility trail all together, I forget to charge the batteries to Dolcenea’s portable fans. Geez what’s next?

So I get to the trial site location Saturday at 5:45 am in the dark, no moon, no stars and no street lights to guide your way, thank goodness for GPS. I’m sitting by the grassy area of this park and I don’t see a sole around, no cars, no dogs and no agility trailer. 6:15 am arrives and I know by now there isn’t anyway I’m at the right part of this park, so I start driving through the round about’s that are strategically placed to keep you from going over five miles an hour, and I just happen to stumble onto someone parking their car by a baseball field. I park, walk across the parking lot and low and behold BEHIND all the tall trees down in a valley there is a baseball field with a locked gate and behind that gate is an agility trailer. By now it’s 6:25 am and no one is there other than me and this person unlocking the gate. About 6:40 am everyone else shows up to help unload the trailer and setup the first two rings of the day, even though the confirmation letter they e-mailed out said to be there at 6:00 am to unload the trailer BEFORE you setup your crating area!

It takes well over an hour to get all of the stuff out of the trailer and the courses built, and I’m looking around and there isn’t an agility judge any where to be seen, the trial was supposed to start at 8:00 am right after the briefing. I listened to the commotion and chatter and the show chair is saying to some workers the judge is lost and is sitting on the border of California and Nevada. Really? It’s 8:15 am and no judge? UGH!

Needless to say the trial started late. There were only 97 runs on Saturday and 87 runs on Sunday. But of course this judge decided NOT TO nest ANYTHING and there is a course change for every class type for the Standard courses totaling 4 changes for ten dogs. Unreal! Then a woman with three Jack Russell’s sets up her crating right on the corner as close to the ring as she can get. Her dogs are VERY aggressive and REACTIVE and charge the x-pen at every dog, child and adult that walks by the entire weekend.

The Jack Russell owner was busy walking the course so she had a friend take one of her dogs to potty. I thought it was odd as I looked at this woman down on all fours with a poop bag on one hand picking up the Jack’s droppings and looking at each one of them? I was half expecting her to reach into her pocket and take out an inspection label and put it on each specimen. I watched this person walk the dog back to the owner and I listened to hear the friend telling the owner that her dog was FULL OF WORMS, and then she proceeded to show her every single worm that she picked up with the poop (gagger reflex kicking in)! The owner just shrugged it off, and walked away with her dog. I guess the friend told the show chair who in turn called a vet to find out what to do. The show chair approached this handler and her Jack’s and said they may have to kick her out of the trial if the vet says it’s a problem. Needless to say I never heard another word about it and she was there on Sunday with her dogs charging the x-pen attacking and screaming at everything in sight.

The score table person was running three dogs of her own and she never got any results out until 1:00 pm for the morning runs. I finally asked her if I could see Dolcenea’s scribe sheets to make sure I didn’t need to talk to the judge about one of our runs, and this woman really got snotty with me. One of the club members came up to her and told her to stop being nasty that I was new and didn’t know how she worked. Worked? I wouldn’t call what she did work, but anyway, I wanted my results sooner than four hours after I ran. Unreal! Then to think I’m new to agility just because they don’t remember seeing me at one of their trials. Unreal!

Now it’s about 2:00 pm, the trial is taking all day long and I need to get the truck to the repair shop before they close! Talk about stressed! So the last run of the day finally arrives… the dreaded Snooker run! I was pottying Dolcenea during the briefing so as I walked the course I approached the judge sitting at the scribe table alone and specifically asked her: “can I take the #2 jump bidirectionaly in the closing?” The judge with her pompous LOUD obnoxious response yells for all to hear: “yes you can take the jumps anyway you want in the closing and the opening” and proceeds to getup from the table and walk away from me.

Now it’s time to run Dolcenea in Snookers and we get all three reds then we head to that #2 jump and I take it backwards, and the judge pulls out her whistle and blows me off the course. WTH!!! So I stop dead and remind her of our conversation at the scribe table and she yells at me in my face that she NEVER SAID SUCH A THING and SHE IS NOT GOING TO ARGUE WITH ME ABOUT IT. I called her a liar to her face and stormed off the course. This was the ONLY reason I came to Las Vegas to get the last Q needed on Dolcenea’s Level 3 Snooker title and this poor excuse for a judge who loves to hear herself talk but says ABSOLUTELY nothing steals my Q right out from under me because “she is the judge and she is right no matter what” and she knows it! Just ask her she’ll tell ya! What a B….!

Pissed off I throw everything in the truck, gingerly load Dolcenea (I don’t want her to feel any pressure because of a STUPID judge), and we fly to the Big O. I get there and the very same kid that said “your problem is oil is leaking from everywhere” says I don’t think we ordered the part for your truck. My heart sank! Really! WTH? So this same kid wonders off to ask someone else and he’s gone about ten minutes and finally comes back to say, give me your keys. I said you must have the part and he never responded. So I go get Dolcenea out of the truck and it was REALLY hot in the building, and I ask this same kid how long will it take to put in the new sensor, and he says two hours. So Dolcenea and I walk the half mile back to the hotel.

Dolcenea lays in front of the air conditioner exhausted and I lay down to take a nap and about 45 minutes later the phone rings and it’s Dottie from Big O saying come get your truck it’s done. So I gather Dolcenea up and we walk the half mile back to get the truck. Yep its sitting there in the parking lot waiting for us. Yippee! So I drive over and get dinner and take it back to the hotel; we’re both so exhausted all we want to do is curl up and forget this whole day ever happened!

One more horrible day to go!

Sunday arrives and I sleep in, no point in arriving early to help setup courses when no one else does including the judge. I finally arrive at the trial and nothing has change, the trial starts late, people are really slow to work and no one is any hurry to get things started, and the judge showed up one minute before she needed to be there. Not a good judge by any stretch of the imagination!

I over hear the jack Russell owner talking to one of the club members who has brought liquid de-wormer to give to each of her dogs right here at the trial site. I can’t believe it! No consideration for any other dog entered in this trial.

We get through the first standard run of the day, but for some reason which I still can’t figure out Dolcenea fell off the dog walk on our second standard run. She wasn’t hurt, but something at this trial just wasn’t right. We managed to get through the rest of our runs for the day with Q’s and 1^st places but it was allot of work.

I couldn’t believe watching the last two dogs run in Standard Level 1 the judge insisted on running the dogs without the scribe or the timer on the field. There was only a leash runner and she pointed out the timer didn’t start when the dog took the first jump, so the judged yelled at the leash runner to leave things alone. After the handler finished the run the judge told the handler she Q’d. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The judge saw nothing wrong with this what so ever! I was in complete shock!

I over heard the show chair talking with the judge about a complaint he received about her. So all through the Jackpot walk through I hear this judge ranting and raving saying the complainer will just have to get over it, that she is the judge for the Nationals and she doesn't really care what anyone thinks about her judging. And when she is wrong she always corrects her mistakes… blah, blah, blah. I wanted to throw up. I did check the Nationals details and she is the judge for the East coast Nationals, not the West coast Nationals, thank goodness. If she was the judge for the West coast I wouldn’t go!

We finally finished Sunday’s trial at 2:00 pm which was about three hours longer than it should have taken for only 87 dogs running. So me and Dolcenea head for home, I know we have twelve hours of driving ahead of us but I’ve had just about as much of Nevada as I can stand for one weekend, including the worse agility judge I’ve ever encountered in all the venues I run in and for all the years I’ve been running.

The truck croaks again, it was the tire this time!

It’s around 11:00 pm and I’m about 40 miles outside of Fruita Colorado when something just isn’t right with the truck. I’ve got it on cruise control and I notice that I have a death grip on the steering wheel to keep the truck from veering hard to the right. Next a vibration starts and it’s getting worse and worse and worse. So I turn off the cruise and drop my speed by 20 mph, and everything seems okay. Then all of a sudden the vibration is back and I had to drop my speed even more. Thank goodness I’m the only car on the highway, but I still have twenty miles to go to the next town/rest stop. So I limp along and finally get to the welcome center of Colorado in Fruita and I pull in and by this point the truck is jolting back and forth so badly I can’t steer it, so I’m guessing the bearing blew on a front wheel.

I park at the rest stop and get out and look under the truck and I don’t see a thing, but it’s not safe to drive, so I decide to find a hotel and call it a night! I notice a Super 8 sharing the parking lot and manage to limp over there and get a room. The next morning I call triple A and the dodge dealer, what a mess. The tow truck driver is there in 30 minutes and I get to the dodge dealer and after an hour and a half they finally find out the front driver side tire tread has separated from the inside and I have a 6” bubble protruding from the middle of the tire to the outside side wall. It was a shear miracle the tire didn’t blow! I have a lifetime warranty on these tires, so I limp the truck over to the tire repair place and they will not honor the warranty, and tell me if I want to replace the tire I have to drive to Green River Utah to get it. Well this ain’t happening! So I tell them to put the spare on and I’ll make it home on my own.

I’m finally on the road headed home at 1:00 pm on Monday and hit snow in Edwards. Freeway speed drops to 30 mph and when I hit the top of Vail we we’re down to a very slow 20 mph with a couple accidents to get through. I finally get over Silverthorne pass with it snowing so hard you couldn’t see the road, and this is where the windshield wiper on the drivers side decides it time to come off the arm and land on the hood of the truck. I had to drive leaning into the passenger side to see out the window. I pull off into a gas station and manage to get the wiper back on but it was a battle in the snow.

So I finally get home at 6:00 pm Monday night from the worst trip for an agility trial I’ve ever encountered. I won’t be traveling to Utah or Nevada ever again. And I would NEVER trial under this CPE judge EVER again!

Why does this kind of crap ALWAYS happen to me?

Draco - The Patriarch has died

2011-12-30T16:52:00.000-08:00

I lost my best friend today; his name was Draco.

Draco came into my life on March 27, 2010 when I met Robin with Washington Akita Group (Akita rescue) in Boise Idaho to pick him up. Draco was a trooper, he rode all the way from Washington to Idaho, and then I drove him straight home to Colorado.

From what WAG told me Draco was found wondering the streets of Seattle alone! Animal control picked him up and took him to the shelter where they found he was chipped. They contacted the breeder and she refused to take him back, or help financially, the only assistance the breeder gave was to let us know his name… Draco.

The trip to his forever home.

Draco was ten years old and week in the rear, so I made sure to stop at every rest stop on the way home so he wouldn’t get stiff or sore riding in the vehicle for such a long distance. I had to help him out of my Pathfinder then lift him back in when we were ready to leave. Draco was no small Akita by any stretch of the imagination; he weighed about 120 pounds and stood 29” with massive bone to go along with all this wonderful Akita bulk.

We finally arrived home and I lifted him out of the vehicle and let him walk all over the property. He immediately headed back down the driveway the same way we came in, then I realized…. he’s looking for his family. This was really hard to watch, this huge panda bear of an Akita looking up and down the driveway for his family, the very same family that threw him away! They didn’t care about him; they just turned him loose on the streets of Seattle to fend for himself, and here he was with his very first steps at his new forever home trying to find that very same family that threw him away! This broke my heart!

I went into the house and put Dolcenea in her special place then brought Draco in to show him where he would be living. He immediately settled down right in front of the couch and went to sleep. The poor boy, he was so exhausted from his trip, but now he could rest without worry. When Draco finally woke up he started investigating the house and I soon realized as the days passed that he stayed very close to the water bowl. I keep four or five of them placed around the house so at any given time all the 4 leggeds with fur can find some. I tried to get Draco to walk out into the pasture but he refused and went back onto the porch and lay by the water bucket. It was rather obvious Draco was without water for quite a while on his journey through the streets of Seattle. Too bad the family that threw him away didn’t think about this before they did such a horrible thing to such a wonderful gent!

Draco finally overcame the need to be next to the water bucket and thoroughly enjoyed walking the ten acre property. But it was truly sad to see him sitting down at the front gate longing for his family. I would walk the 1500 feet down to get him and bring him back to the house. Eventually Draco got over this hurdle too, but I know deep in my heart he loved them more than he loved me, even though they threw him away.

I can’t imagine how anyone could make the decision to throw away this wonderful Akita? He was absolutely outstanding, well trained, well behaved, didn’t have a mean bone in his body! The only thing that was failing was his health; would this family throw their kids away if they became sick? I think the answer to this question is a definite YES!

On July 29^th, Draco got to welcome three wonderful Akita puppies into this world, and he immediately bonded with each one of them. He played with them, licked them, taught them how to tear apart a stuffed toy, but mainly he taught them how to dig to China! It was really funny to watch Draco with his huge paws digging a hole as one of the puppies would stand behind him being berried by the on slot of dirt spray!

Draco was a wonderful patriarch to the puppies; he taught them manners and proper behavior but most of all he taught them respect for the next adopted rescue that came to live with us by the name of Gus. The puppies absolutely adored Draco and Dolcenea finally warmed up to him too.

Fast forward to December 2011.

Draco thoroughly enjoys walking the ten acre property, when he gets tired he would lay out on the cool driveway perusaling his property watching the puppies play in the new holes he dug. Draco loved belly rubs, chest scratches and ear rubs. Draco “woo woo’ed” every morning to say hello everyone I have arrived, or when he wanted to go outside in a blizzard, or to simply say “hey, it’s been eight whole hours, I want MORE vanilla wafer cookies”, his favorites.

For the last few months I watched Draco really having problems lifting his rear end, and some times it was so bad that I would have to go pick up his front end then go to his rear and pickup that portion just to get him outside to play with the puppies. Once he was up he was okay, but if he lay down for a long period of time he had a harder and harder time of getting up. The vet put him on pain killers to help with the spinal issues, but I could see it was taking its toll on his quality of life.

December 30^th – Friday, the saddest day ever!

Draco had really been slowing down the last few weeks, not wanting to go out and play with the puppies, not wanting to do much of anything. He spent most of his time on his temperpedic bed sleeping and when he would go outside he would bark at the door wanting back in within minutes.

I had taken Dakota over to a drop in agility field for the afternoon and when I got home I knew something was wrong… Draco didn’t come to greet me! No matter how long I was gone, Draco ALWAYS met me at the door, or would come in to see me on the couch and “woo woo” his wonderful greeting of “I missed you… woo woo”, “I’m glad your home… woo woo”, but his time he didn’t.

Needless to say I had to make the worst decision of a lifetime and say goodbye to the most wonderful Akita ever! He was a perfect gentleman, he loved everybody, he was a big teddy bear, and nothing could ever replace him in my heart.

Run Draco, you are now pain free! We are lost without you!

The morning after.

What a sad day! The puppies don’t want to go out to play, Dolcenea is moping around the house completely lost, and I can’t stand looking at Draco’s empty bed! Everything is completely out of sorts. We are all so depressed this is the worst year end we’ve ever had together! Draco you are loved and missed!

Draco born: 1/19/2000 arrived at his forever home 3/28/10 died 12/30/2011 the saddest day of my life!

2013 AKC Agility Nationals qualification changes... again!

2011-12-24T08:27:00.000-08:00

Got a call from the AKC today. The person calling said since Dolcenea is ranked in AKC as the #1 Akita in Preferred for 2011 they certainly didn’t want her to be able to attend their 2013 Nationals. They have gone back and looked at our records and realized she only has 263 speed points, so that’s where they came up with the following idea! To eliminate our ability to qualify they would add 400 speed points to their requirements on top of the 6 double Q’s that have to be earned between the qualifying period, and they knew for sure this new requirement would eliminate our ability to qualify for this event!

The above really didn’t happen, but this is what went thru my mind when I went to the AKC website and looked up the details for the 2013 AKC Agility Nationals qualification requirements:

2013 AKC National Agility Championship – Tulsa, OK

Qualification Info

Preferred Class Qualifications

Qualifying Period: is December 1, 2011 through and including November 30, 2012. Exhibitors should keep track of any double qualifying scores and PACH points earned during the qualification period.
Requirements: Dogs will be eligible to enter this event if they earn at least 6 Double Q's & 400 PACH points from the Preferred Excellent B Standard & Jumpers With Weaves class during the qualifying period.

Yes, this change impacts Dolcenea and me profoundly; it’s the final determining factor for us to stop running in this venue all together. What is the point in even getting a PAX or PACH when they change the qualifying rules every other year to keep those of us that barely qualify as it is with non-traditional breeds from being able to attend their Nationals event? Like what they have done with the ILP issue in the Invitational isn’t bad enough, they had to seal their fate in our eyes by changing the rules for the Nationals yet again that will keep the #1 Agility Akita in the World who holds 83 titles and counting from attending.

So Dolcenea and I will focus on venues who like non-traditional agility breeds, for example CPE, NADAC, ASCA and UKI who welcome us with open arms and we get way more agility runs for our money in these venues!

Dolcenea is only 30 legs away from her CS-ATCH in CPE Agility. Given her past qualifying record of 10 for 10 at the last two trials we’ve attended, she should be able to complete this HUGE achievement at the CPE Agility Nationals in June 2012! Yippee!

No point in going to the 2011 AKC Agility Invitational

2011-12-17T20:48:00.000-08:00

Good news: Dolcenea qualified for the Invitational
Bad news: We're not going. There isn't any point when the AKC registers a mix breed dog as an ILP purebred to the detriment of the pedigreed dogs within that breed.

There's a person running in agility with a mix breed dog and registering him with the various agility venues as a purebred Akita. When you look up this dogs information through their websites, under the breed type it states Akita, it doesn’t state All American or Akita Mix or Shepkita. This person is giving the impression to people unfamiliar with the Akita standard that her dog is purebred which in my opinion is wrong! This person is not doing the Akita breed any favors in claiming her Akita mix to be purebred, when he is clearly in my opinion a German Shepherd/Malinois/Akita mix! This person is not an Akita breeder, this person does not promote the Akita breed in anyway, and this Akita mix is the only Akita type dog she owns.

I know the various agility venues really don’t care if your dog is truly the breed you state on your registration form because they are not breed registry clubs. But when you consciously make the decision to obtain an ILP from the American Kennel Club so you can run your dog in AKC agility, your actions do indicate you’re stating your dog is purebred. Here is AKC’s description of the ILP program: The ILP program is designed to address the various reasons a purebred dog might not be eligible for registration: the dog may be from an unregistered litter or have unregistered parents; papers may have been withheld or lost by its owner; or the dog may have been surrendered, lost or abandoned, then adopted by a new owner.

I’ve been involved in the Akita breed since 1996 and I’ve co-bred one litter after 15 years taking my time to make sure I knew what I was doing. I love my breed, I'm very passionate about my breed, I protect the reputation of my breed, I work VERY hard training my breed. I’m owned by the most titled Akita ever! I’m training the three puppies from my breeding to be Akita Agility stars. The only reason I attend the AKC Agility Invitational was for the honor of representing my breed, the purebred Akita, and to display how my girl represents our breed standard and to show my pedigreed Akita can compete with the "best of the best" in agility. Then to my surprise I get demoralized in this event by a dog that has been ILP’d by AKC into my beloved breed category to my detriment. This Akita mix definitely has additional advantages from two other breeds who excel in agility that my purebred Akita does not have. This is wrong!

How can someone ethically do this to another person, misrepresenting what breed their dog is just to get invited to the AKC Agility Invitational because the Akita is a non-traditional agility breed? I couldn't live with myself knowing I had intentionally over shadowed a purebred Akita at the Invitational with a mix breed dog and stole their thunder. This person clearly does not understand all of the hard work I have put into training a purebred Akita to compete in agility. This person has the advantages of working with a dog that wants to please and wants to work with their owner, which is NOT the mind set of a purebred Akita. I would love to see this person get a true purebred Akita and try to train them to succeed in agility. Yeah good luck!

Another thing that upsets me that happened at the 2010 AKC Agility Invitational is this ILP’d Akita mix won the medallion sponsored by the Akita Club of America in honor of the purebred Akita. This means in my opinion the Akita Club of America condones this ILP’d Akita mix in representing the purebred Akita even though in reality he is a German Shepherd/Malinois/Akita mix. Truly sad for the betterment of our Akita breed; to succeed in running in Agility you have to breed your Akita to a GSD/Mal. Is this the future of the performance Akita?

I’m curious how everyone in the Akita Club of America would feel if this ILP’d Akita mix entered a conformation event at their Nationals? Would the ACA support him then? I can see it now; you have the top winning conformation Akita in the country, you’re extremely excited to be invited to the most prestigious Dog Show giving you the honor of representing your breed and showing you are a perfect example of the Akita standard. You’ve trained very hard attending 90 shows to qualify for this prestigious event showcasing all of the purebred dogs around the country. You groom your Akita to perfection; you walk into the ring to see your competition… your jaw drops! You look across the ring to see a German Shepherd/Malinois/Akita mix ILP’d as a purebred Akita. Your heart sinks! You think to yourself there isn’t anyway a judge would put up this Akita mix over your top winning purebred Akita, so you continue showing. You stack your dog for the judge, you do your down and back, the judge directs you to complete your final movement around the ring. As you’re stopping in front of the stewards table completing your circle, you watch in horror as the judge steps up to your competition the German Shepherd/Malinois/Akita mix and hands him “your” first place ribbon!

I know the above scenario is a little over the top because ILP'd dogs can't compete in conformation, but for my current situation this scenario is accurate. Now you know how I felt at the 2010 AKC Agility Invitational. And what will the ACA do when AKC decides they want more entry fee money and they start allowing ILP'd dogs to show in conformation? What then?

To say I’m upset by this ILP’d Akita mix misrepresenting my breed as purebred is an understatement at best, but what bothers me the most is why I'm being put into this horrible situation by the AKC! What amazes me is this ILP’d Akita mix has been running in AKC agility events obtaining agility titles through Masters level and none of these agility judges have made the conscience decision to bring to light this error fostered by the AKC.

Ever since I left the 2010 Invitational I've been bothered by this situation. So I've done some research on the internet and I’ve found this same problem with several other breeds, so I’ve posted one of the more recent incidences here.

I’ve been reading with empathy the posts about Lord Fenwick of Christenson aka Fenwick. Apparently the handler ILP’d this dog as a Boston Terrier and a complaint was made before the 2009 AKC Invitational.
Here is his web page: http://www.brisbeethewhite.com/lord_fenwick_of_christenson.htm .

I find it interesting the handler will have to have him evaluated by three Boston conformation judges to have Fenwick reinstated back into AKC. Why wasn't this a requirement BEFORE he was given his ILP? Why is this a requirement AFTER the fact AKC?

Here is a link to the petition/complaint about Willow: http://www.petitiononline.com/AKCILP/petition.html

Here is a link to the Dogchannel.com website showing peoples opinion's of Willow winning the 12" class at the Invitational (go to the bottom of the page):http://beta.dogchannel.com/show/akc_agility_photos.aspx

Here is a link to a thread conversation covering my concerns: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090726124606AAKE0pa

Here is a link discussing the ethics of the ILP program:
http://bbs.sitstay.com/showflat.phpCat=1,2,3,4,9&Board=agility&Number=352225&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=9&o=&fpart=all

Here is a link covering concerns about Willow and AKC's ILP program:
http://mightymitedoggear.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php?t2968-0.html

Here is a post pulled from LiveJournal.com about Fenwick which describes how I feel about this ILP’d Akita mix:

minnathered
2009-08-07 04:23 am

I want to play devil's advocate here. Let's pretend I'm a Boston terrier fan and own one or several of them. They're my breed, and I'm passionate about them. I spend good money to get the best Bostons I can find, and then I train and show them to the best of my ability, and I am pretty good at it. I love Boston terriers, I live for Boston terriers, I work to get money to spend on my Boston terriers.

I've got a good Boston that I am currently showing AKC agility. Because a) the total Boston is my passion; and b) I realize other breeds are more naturally suited to agility, I put my sights on going to the AKC Invitational because to me, the Invitational is showcasing the BREEDs, not the dogs. I already know that I will never have the best agility dog in the world because I am limiting myself to Bostons. I just want to have the best agility Boston.

The Invitations come out for the Invitational, and I look to see what Bostons are on the list. I see a name I don't recognize, Lord Fenwick of Christenson, so I google him to see what he looks like and what his breeding is. I find several websites where his very own owner/handler has posted things that indicate she thinks he is something other than a Boston terrier. And certainly by his pictures, he doesn't look like a Boston terrier. Yes, I'm going to complain.

I don't really care why his owner is running him as a Boston. From my Boston-centered viewpoint, someone who freely admits her dog is not a Boston should not be running him as a Boston. To turn one comment above on its side, as a Boston person, I don't see how someone can sleep at night knowing that they deprived an actual Boston terrier of an invitation to a breed-centric event just so they could compete in AKC agility with their non-breed dog.

Back to the real me, who doesn't really give a hoot about Boston terriers -- they're not a breed that particularly interests me. I love Fenwick, and I love Heather. I'm sorry there are not more agility trials formatted to their taste locally. But from my POV, ILPing Fenwick in order to do AKC was a gamble from the start. They got to play for a year and a half or so, and then the cards turned against them. I think AKC was stupid to accept Fenwick's ILP application in the first place, but I don't think they're wrong to act on the complaint now.

It's not much different from the Willow situation. Both dogs bear only token resemblance to the breed they're ILPed as. Both dogs are registered in different organizations as something other than their ILP breed. Both are in a position to give a false impression nationally of what their ILP breed looks like. The only breed guardians who have no right to complain are the ones who signed off on the ILP applications.

That said, yes, I still love Fenwick and want to take him home. But running AKC isn't important to me as evidenced by my purchasing a dog I knew damn well I couldn't enter in AKC events as long as she has her ovaries.

Flame suit is on!

(Anonymous)
2009-08-07 12:13 pm

The post by "minnathered" was one of the most eloquent that I've read, and I couldn't agree more. AKC should not have issued Fenwick an ILP. Any AKC judge can question a dog's ILP status if they feel that dog isn't a representative of the breed (read the ILP, now PAL, rules folks, it's right in there). Shame on AKC for originally issuing the ILP and shame on all the judges for turning a blind eye to this situation when it came to their attention well over a dozen times (every time that Fenwick competed). Yes, it's just "a game", but not many games do people kick out over $100/weekend to compete in. Games have RULES that need to be followed and when they are not followed there are implications.

I think that Fenwick is a very talented dog, and I do not want to take away from this at all. I also think that Heather is a talented handler. However, I DO choose to compete in agility with a Boston, simply because I wanted to try to excel with a tougher breed. Yes, my border collies are much faster, but I get more of a sense of accomplishment running a non-traditional breed. Will we ever get an invite to nationals? Probably not, although my dog is only three. However, as a Boston owner/competitor and lover, yes, I do want to see the best of the best representing MY breed. And, like "minnathered" posted, if she were to see another Willow sized dog running in the NW, she'd do some digging and report it if she thought there was other than aussie in the dog's background. Sorry to say, if I saw Fenwick competing in an AKC trial that I was attending, I'd have a real problem also. I daresay that if some 12" border collie appeared on the scene or something that looked like a lab mix, was posted on other sites as BEING a lab mix, and then was invited to nationals to represent border collies as a smooth coat many border collie owners AND breeders would have a true problem with that.

Just my two cents worth.

Dolcenea at the Desert Dawg Sports CPE agility trial in Marana, AZ

2011-12-08T19:51:00.000-08:00

I loaded up the truck and Dolcenea and I drove 14 hours straight through to Marana Arizona for the Desert Dawg Sports first ever CPE agility trial. http://www.desertdawgsports.com/

We got in around 10:00 am and checked in at the LaQuinta. I was really shocked they let us get into the room, considering their regular check in isn’t until 1:00 pm. After a short nap, we drove over to the trial site to help setup the rings for the event.

I met Nancy the trial chair who immediately greeted me upon my arrival. I was surprised to see how friendly and welcoming everyone was including the judge. No one could believe I drove 14 hours to get there (straight through) and was there on time to help them setup. There was about eight of us unloading the trailer and setting up the rings, but we got done in about two hours. They made two rings with snow fencing and closing gates for novice dogs. We setup the first ring for the event, and setup a tentative second ring since there was only one judge.

I’ve always heard how hot it is in Arizona, but I must have picked the perfect weekend to attend an agility trial there. It was 50 degrees for a high and 30 for a low. It rained all Friday night, was cloudy on Saturday and freezing fog on Sunday, which never got over 40 degrees. I couldn’t have asked for better Akita agility weather.

There was only fifteen people entered in the trial, but it ran smoothly and without a hitch. The judges courses were great, and he was very patient and helpful in his briefings to make sure everyone running understood the rules of CPE. All of the club members and exhibitors were having fun, and there were numerous Q’s to be had by all. Everyone really had a great time, including me! It was really nice to see everyone clapping and cheering the running team on whether they Q’d or not, what a novelty! This club even had an authentic Mexican food vendor both days of the trial. Very impressive for such a small trial and small agility club! And they had great raffles for the best sportsman, unclaimed poop, best worker, etc. This club knows how to have fun!

Dolcenea had a fantastic time; she qualified 10 for 10 all Level 5 all 1^st places. She won the Jackpot raffle by getting 101 points and was awarded and really nice leash by the judge during the briefing for the next class. She got High in Trial in Standard 20”, and 1^st place in Games Level 5, and she finished three titles. It doesn’t get any better than that.

We headed straight home after the trial was over on Sunday. I hit snow in Las Lunes New Mexico and it didn’t stop until I reached Pueblo West in Colorado. After I hit Raton I was the only vehicle on the road till I stopped at the rest stop in Colorado City. Thank goodness I didn’t find any wildlife on the road, but there was allot of snow and they didn’t plow any of the freeway, not good. It was really hard to see where the road was.

It took seventeen hours to get home, and boy was I tired, but it was well worth the trip to actually enjoy myself at an agility trial without all the snobs and politics that I normally encounter at home trials.

If you’re new to agility I would definitely look into CPE agility for your first venue, the courses are allot of fun instead of the dull boring Jumpers and Standard courses, CPE does have these, but they have Jackpot, FullHouse, Wildcard, Colors and Snookers to keep the day of agility fun instead of mundane. And if you get a chance to go to an agility trial in Arizona, I would definitely suggest entering a Desert Dawgs agility trial, they are great people and really know how to have fun while keeping a trial running smoothly.

Another miserable AKC agility trial

2011-10-02T18:28:00.001-07:00

I should have just stayed home instead!

The hotel sucked

The show grounds sucked – tons of goat heads and burrs

The building sucked – it was really hot & muggy (they didn’t turn on the a/c)

The ring footing sucked – it was dangerous!

The courses sucked – AKC has so many requirements in their course rules the courses don’t have any flow

The course times sucked! Even with the extremely dangerous footing we didn’t get anymore time!

I hate AKC agility trials!

This was going to be the very last time I had to stay in a hotel going to an agility event, so it was supposed to be like a vacation; alas it was a joke. I booked this hotel over two months ago stating in the special request box: “room on 1^st floor by exit will have 1 dog”. I load the car drive the four hours to Casper to arrive at the Sleep Inn. I walk into the lobby to see it torn apart, the check in desk was a Costco portable table, and it smelled like model airplane glue. Needless to say I got an instant headache from the horrible smell.

The clerk walks me to her kids table to check in and she informs me the only rooms left are on the 3^rd floor. Third floor? What? I never stay on the third floor, matter of fact I never stay in a room over the first floor. Needless to say I was pissed! I told her it would be the last time I ever stayed at this hotel, but of course she really didn’t care.

So I get the room key and go back out to the car and lug in all of my luggage to the hotel lobby, push the button on the one and only elevator and get to wait 10 minutes for it to finally arrive on the first floor while holding my breathe due to the model airplane glue stench.

Next, I drive to the trial site location bring in a tarp and my extension cord and head to my usual crating spot. All of a sudden I hear a woman’s voice yelling from clear across the building telling me not to put my tarp down because they will have to re-arrange the crating area! I look around and there isn’t a sole in the building setting up their crating BUT ME! So I walk over to Lorie and ask what is up with the crating and she said oh ignore her it doesn’t matter where you crate, just don’t do it in front of the door. Of course my usual crating spot wasn’t graded when the tractor went by so I had to walk across the building to the agility trailer and get a shovel to try and level out my crating spot so Dolcenea’s crate won’t rock back and forth.

The yelling woman came over and started pushing other people around arriving to setup their crating so we all grouped together and pretty much straightened her out that she really didn’t need to kick into control mode, we were all adults and all of us know how to crate in the building since we’ve been coming to this trial for years. So now a few of us are on guard that this trial is going to be difficult.

Casper was 90 degrees all three days I was there, and the club DID NOT turn on the air conditioning in the building. It was terrible. It felt like being in a steam room with your clothes on. Then we went out to walk the course and oh my god, I couldn’t believe it. THERE WERE HUGE BOLDERS mixed into the dirt that was supposed to be the agility ring.

Needless to say the trial was a disaster; Dolcenea only Q’d in jumpers on Saturday and I didn’t run in FAST all weekend because of the horrible footing. I slipped in the ring during the Standard run on Friday, then I actually lost my footing at the #5 jump in the Jumpers course on Saturday where we had to do the wrap around the winged jump and I hyper extended my left knee and fell having to put my hand down on the group to keep me from completely landing on my face. The footing was dangerous!

After I got cheated out of my Q in Standard on Sunday I decided this was not the trial for me! I was not having any fun, Dolcenea was not having any fun, so I took Dolcenea back out to the car packed everything up and headed home. I got home just about the time I would have been running my 2^nd run of the day; being home was WAY MORE FUN!

I HATE AKC agility trials!!!

AKC agility; yes or no?

2011-09-24T18:21:00.000-07:00

I have several AKC agility trials coming up in the next three months and I’m just not sure I want to keep running in AKC at all. I’ve looked back at Dolcenea’s running statistics comparing AKC to all the other venues we run in, and I’ve noticed her Q rate has dropped drastically in AKC, especially trials I run here at home.

Two weekends ago we were in Omaha Nebraska running in CPE and Dolcenea Q’d 8 out of 10 runs in Level 4. It was 96 degrees outside on grass with 90% humidity, and she did great. This past weekend we had an AKC trial at Douglas County with 3 runs each day and we couldn’t Q for nothing. I didn’t even take her the last day of the trial; I took Dakota instead and got him some great socialization practice.

I think most of Dolcenea’s not wanting to play agility was due to the constant barking, crying, whining and SCREAMING of the dogs crated two crating spaces over. These dogs would scream as loudly as they could especially when their mom was running one of the other dogs crated in the group. I don’t understand why other exhibitors leave their dogs unattended for hours on end for the rest of us to have to listen to flip-out. Dolcenea having to listen to this for 8 hours out of the day just makes her upset and obviously from the results of the weekend ruins our chances of Q’ing in AKC events here at home.

I find it interesting I only have this problem at local trials. I don’t have this problem attending AKC trials outside of Colorado or when I attend other venue trials. I don’t understand why local exhibitors have no consideration for their fellow exhibitors by keeping their screaming dogs quiet in the crating area, or simply crate them in their cars where the dogs inside the arena can’t hear them flipping out! This is one of the reasons I do not like it when the hosting club does not allow chairs in the crating area. I believe if the clubs would allow people to sit with their dogs, the crating area would be a much friendlier place to crate in. JMHO.

One of the things that bothers me to no end at an agility trial and I find very annoying is when you have to listen to club members pickup the microphone to the PA system and yell into it rules like those of us attending the trial are six years old. On day one of the trial one of the club members picked up the microphone three separate times to remind all us children (at least that’s what it feels like) of the following rules:

1. When you’re driving thru the agility show grounds in your car “slow down”, do not honk your horn at an exhibitor crossing the road in front of you and speed off when they finally get passed. Then in their last breath they admit it was the person who works for the fairgrounds in charge of the show grounds for this weekend’s trial that actually did this stupid stunt. Really!?! Then go tell them about it don’t yell across a PA system at us exhibitors trying to enjoy the trial.

2. The next scolding we get over the PA system is pickup after your dogs and don’t let them pee on anything that human hands have to touch. I hear this every single time I attend a trial put on by this club. Really!?! The exhibitors that pickup after their dogs do it religiously and will continue to do so. The exhibitors that DON’T pickup after their dogs will continue to do so religiously and yelling rules over a PA system isn’t going to change this fact. Get over it!

3. No chairs in the crating area, if you have them fold them up and put them on the ground. Really!?! Don’t you think it might be better for the dogs being crated inside the building to have their handlers by their sides keeping them quiet so they don’t disturb EVERYONE crating by them with their obnoxious behavior? I think this is a no brainer!

Another problem I have with AKC trials is the time I have to wait between runs. At the CPE trial we ran one run every hour or so, in AKC we run one run every 5 hours. I think this is just too much for the both of us to handle. I know I get tired of waiting to run and it’s obvious by Dolcenea’s Q rate (or lack there of in AKC) she doesn’t like waiting around either.

At this past weekend’s trial we were the 3^rd from the last dog to run in 20”B class. So I walked the course then got to wait around for two hours until we finally got to run. Do you know how hard it is to remember a course when you’ve walked it two hours ago? It really sucks running in the 20”B class in AKC.

Then the other issue I find with AKC trials is the attitude of the club members and exhibitors. I don’t know exactly what it is about AKC trials at home, but club members and some of the exhibitors really take the fun out of the event. There seems to be an attitude of entitlement or I’m better than you because I run a bullet dog, or I’m Q’ing and your not, or I have a MACH and you don’t. I just don’t understand why there is so many politics at AKC trials at home. Anymore for me running in AKC trials at home has become a chore and something I’m really considering not attending.

Competing in Agility – the way I see it

2011-08-03T09:28:00.000-07:00

I read through e-mail posts by agility exhibitors on how wonderful the trials are, how they really enjoy attending the various venues, how helpful everyone always is, and how they can’t wait until the next trial! This is all great and wonderful but for some reason when I attend agility trials, local or otherwise, my perspective on “what goes on” is very different from everyone else.

In this writing I’ll cover the side of agility I experience at each trial that other exhibitors don’t seem to notice, or care about, or talk about on the agility e-mail lists. I’ll discuss the things that make competing in agility more of a chore than something I enjoy considering it’s a hobby I have to pay to get into.

Let me preface this blog by giving the reader some insight into my agility career to date.

I travel alone, always have always will. I usually stay in a hotel, but not the same chain every time. I drive to the trial locations, I will NOT fly my beloved Akita anywhere, I don’t trust airlines! I’ve been competing in agility for eight years now, traveling to Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and at home in Colorado. And I always run with my beloved breed the Akita! Dolcenea is the third Akita I’ve put agility titles on.

I compete in AKC, UKC, CPE, ASCA, USDAA, DOCNA, UKI, and NADAC. I may well have the only non-traditional agility dog titled in every agility venue living in Colorado (well at least in my mind). The most extreme agility traveling I’ve done consisted of 5 states in 11 days which included one Breed Nationals in Missouri where I brought the agility equipment for the event. I’ve qualified for and competed in the AKC Agility Invitational, DOCNA Nationals twice and CPE Nationals this year. In CPE and DOCNA Dolcenea won High in Trial in the 20” Standard Division. Last weekend I attended my 114^th weekend of agility trials.

From all of this “hands on knowledge” I will describe my experiences competing in agility – the way I see it. I will detail the minutia I go through at agility trials; it may vary depending on the venue itself, and whether it’s a large or small trial. But in general most of the trials are pretty much the same with the exact same experiences happening almost every time.

Disclaimer: if you don’t want to read ranting and raving stop reading now!

Setup & Crating – it’s the worst!

Setup:

When I think about the next agility trial coming up, the dreaded chore of “setup & crating” always weighs on my mind. I really don’t like it when you have never been to an agility trial in a particular area before, or facility, or even state, and you follow the clubs premium details but other people don’t.

Some clubs e-mail out a judging schedule/confirmation letter detailing setup times as follows: “setup & crating; (any given day), building will be available from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm, please conserve space and no x-pens allowed.”

You arrive at 4:00 pm on the specified day and the entire crating area is FULL and you get to crate in your car parked six blocks away. Why do clubs have one set of rules for their club members, their friends, their family members, and a completely different set of rules for someone who has never trialed in their event before?

As you’re standing in the FULL crating space at 4:05 pm wondering to yourself; how did 200 people come into this facility and take up ALL the crating space in a matter of 5 minutes? Well it’s rather obvious the club members, their friends and family have “perks” that the rest of us are not privy to. Then you look around noticing all of the 9’x6’ mats covered with portable recliner chairs, several bags, a couple coolers, surrounding one little 2’x2’ crate. Why in the world does someone need to take up that much space for one small crate leaving me to crate in my car?

As you turn to leave with all the crating stuff you carried in because you have no place to put it, you look around and realize you can count at least five x-pen setups? What’s up with that? In the confirmation letter it stated “no x-pens allowed”. Of course, how silly of me, this rule doesn’t apply to club members, their friends or family, it only applies to me the exhibitor from out of town, or the newbie, or just someone who actually reads the confirmation letters and follows the rules detailed within its pages.

Then there’s scenario number two. You arrive at 4:05 pm and by gosh by golly you’re lucky enough to get the very last crating spot available, which of course is the worst crating spot in the building (that is why it hasn’t been taken yet) right between the trash cans and the women’s bathroom door! So you think to yourself at least this is better than leaving my poor dog in the hot car all day. So you go back out to your car and bring in only the bare necessities; your crate, your agility bag and water for your dog. Since there isn’t room for anything else in your tiny crating spot you only have to make two trips back and forth to the car instead of the usual five. Now you get to leave your stuff in a strange place hoping the building will be secure and everything will be there as you left it when you come back in the morning.

You’re exhausted from driving 12 hours get to the trial site, upset that ALL the crating was already taken even though you arrived on time for setup, but slightly relieved you did manage to get a spot no matter how tiny it was. Now you get to drive to a strange hotel room to “try and get some sleep”. The alarm goes off at o’dark thirty even though you’ve really only slept maybe three hours. You do your normal morning rituals and then drive over to the trial site to realize, now that everyone has arrived, you get to park out in BFE. No biggie you think to yourself, at least you get to crate inside… right?

You walk into the building headed to your tiny crating space with only your dog since you know you don’t have any room to bring in anything else you may need, and all of a sudden reality hits you right between the eyes, just like being smashed in the face with a snowball!!! Someone has moved your stuff!!! Yes I repeat… while you were gone, a stranger came along and moved your belongings and shoved them out in the isle way for everyone to trip over! Talk about feeling violated, and now “your stuff” is right in the direct path of the women’s bathroom door and you have lost the only spot left to crate in because “they” needed more space. The only options left is to crate in the stair well and hope the fire marshal isn’t on duty that weekend, or to take yourself and your poor dog back out to BFE and sit in a hot car all day and walk the mile back and forth to check to see when you will be running.

Then there’s scenario number three. You arrive on time to setup your crating with everyone else and there is AMPLE crating for everyone! What a shock! You wonder over to the wall area making sure you are far away from the entrance/exit sections and you choose what you hope will be a nice quiet spot that is just down from the entrance door to the parking lot. While setting up your spot you keep in mind to conserve space because the premium said it would be tight crating, so you only put down your small tarp that just fits under your crate measuring 4’x4’ so everyone else can fit in the crating area. By now five other people have come and put down their tarps and brought in theirs crates and have setup next to you leaving maybe a one foot gap between your tarp and theirs so you don’t feel like a complete sardine, then everyone leaves their stuff and heads home.

The morning of the trial arrives and you walk to your crating setup to find out someone has moved your tarp over on TOP of your neighbor’s tarp and SHOVED their huge soft crate in to your crating space FORCING room for their crating setup! You look around to see if everyone’s crating space has been adjusted like this and you realize, nope, no one else’s setup has been touched, just yours! You think to yourself, how rude! So now you and your neighbor have to share a chair and take turns being able to get your dogs in and out of their crates, all because this rude person who forced their crating on you didn’t want to walk any farther into the building to find a crating spot suitable for their needs. Unreal! Then this rude person feels you have no right what so ever to be upset they have pushed their way into your crating spot while you were away because they didn’t show up on the day setup was open to everyone! This rude person decided to wait until the last minute to arrive at the trial and then just take over an area that they like to crate in! Go figure!

Crating in general:

I never like the crating areas we have to crate in at agility trials. I can’t count how many times people leave their dogs in their crates hour after hour after hour because they are working classes, setting up rings, working the score table or just shooting the poop and their poor dog(s) gets forgotten. Being the conscientious handler I am I always stay with my dog in the crating area even when I have to sit on the floor because the club doesn’t allow chairs in the crating area. I get to listen to all the lonely/forgotten dogs whine, cry, howl, tear at the crate door, or snarl at a dog passing by. It’s pathetic! If the temperature outside isn’t above 60 degrees I will always try and crate outside in my car so I don’t have to go through this horrible experience. And sometimes you have the nasty handler that is too damn lazy to bring another crate and will shove two large dogs into one small crate and leave for the day. I can’t count how many times I’ve had to walk to a crating or x-pen setup and breakup a dog fight between “friendly crated dogs”. Then finally the owner of these dogs shows up and says “oh don’t worry about it, it happens all the time, they’ll work it out”. This is a person I DO NOT want to be around, or to be around my dog! Lucky me I always end up crating next to them!

The only reason you even entered this trial was you thought there might be a chance of Q’ing because you like the judge, you have ran in trials they judged before, and you like their courses. But all that fades away when the agility trial minutia monster rears it’s ugly head. All you want to do now is get back in your car and drive the 12 hours home!

Running in agility with a non-traditional breed is difficult enough, but when you ad the hassle of traveling 12 hours to the trial site, staying in a strange hotel, going to a new trial location you’ve never been to before, then you arrive on time to setup your crating spot to find out everything is taken, or having your stuff moved by the “locals” really takes the fun out of the whole event which you haven’t even ran in yet. These experiences really can ruin your chances of having a good time at this event!

Check-in and course maps:

Checking in isn’t too bad in small trials, but if you're entered in a three ring trial trying to find the correct course maps for the classes you’ve entered can be difficult when you have Novice, Open and Excellent maps out for FAST, Standard, Jumpers and T2B classes. So you finally get past the course maps section, then you get to try and find “your” specific arm band number on the pre-printed labels. You never know if they are filed by number, by dog’s name, or by handler’s name each club/venue does it their own way. Then you get to try and find your dogs name on the gate sheets, and just try to find something to write with to check in your dog that actually writes. Now keep in mind while your trying to get all the above done so is 332 other people right along with you!

Briefing and walk thru’s:

Briefings: You hear the whistle and you head for the general direction the sound came from. Since you are shorter than everyone else you find yourself in the back of the huge crowd gathered surrounding the judge. Unfortunately I can never hear anything the judge says during the briefing because I always find myself surrounded by the group of people that “can’t stop talking”. No matter how many times the judge or the show chair says everyone please listen, “this group” thinks those words DO NOT apply to them. Then you have some people who prefer to walk the course while the briefing is going on which annoys the judge, so the judge won’t start the briefing until ALL of the exhibitors are paying attention to them. So a five minute briefing turns into a 20 minute dissertation.

Now for the walk thru’s:

There’s nothing worse than hearing the words “general walk through” yelled from the side lines then see 3,299 people swarm a 100’x100’ area with 20 different sized obstacles set out to block your path. Now bear in mind I’m 5’4” tall and feel like I’m always the shortest person entered in the trial. Trying to see around everyone else who towers over you as the group is walking the course is impossible. Especially if someone in front comes to a complete stop, or practices a front cross at full speed and slams into you, or worse yet they slam into another person who ends up slamming into you. It’s a battlefield; we should get combat pay for entering. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve had people hit me in the face, neck, chest, shoulders, back or head with their hand as they are turned the other way trying to figure out which way to run the sequence.

Then you get the exhibitor’s who “haven’t seen one another in ages” that stop right in the middle of the walk through to hug. Or the group who stop to shoot the poop and stand STILL right in the middle of the worst sequence of jumpers course design you’ve ever seen. Or the agility instructor who’s students are still not quite sure how to run the sequence, so they go over the same section in the course walk through over, and over and over again.

Why does this ALWAYS happen to me?

Random draw entries:

There isn’t anything “random” about random draws!

I’ve entered the same random draw trial for three years in a row now. The first year I didn’t include a volunteer slip and of course didn’t get into the trial. The second year I included the volunteer slip stating I would prefer not to work the Excellent level courses and didn’t get into this trial either. The third year I entered the trial and included a volunteer slip saying I would work anything they wanted me to and I didn’t get into this trial either. By this experience alone I know for a fact there is nothing “random” about a random draw trial.

According to Google.com the word “random” is defined as: 1. Made, done, happening, or chosen without method or conscious decision. 2. Governed by or involving equal chances for each item.

When a club can select entries out of a hat pulling one envelope out at a time opening it to see “who” the entry came from and checking to see if there is a volunteer slip included with the entry, there is nothing random about this process! The club then has the “option” of accepting this entry because they now know “who” the worker is, or putting this entry on a wait list which pretty much assures you don’t get into the trial!

The powers that be in the club select the individuals they want entered into the trial, it’s that plain and simple. And if your not “one of the favorites” you don’t get in. I will NOT enter random draw trials anymore! When I read on an agility trial premium “method of entry - random draw”, I throw the premium away. Thank goodness I have the luxury of choosing what venue I want to run in and what state I want to travel to and I’m not STUCK entering local trials that have turned into random draw entries.

In summary, everyone experiences things differently, and I know my experiences at agility trials DOES NOT reflect the experiences of others. For some reason I always find the idiots, or they always find me. My worst experience at a trial was in Wichita at an AKC trial where an exhibitor was in such a hurry to potty her dog before she was the next dog in line, she kicked open the door and hit me square in the mouth with it. Did she apologize for her actions? No! Did she even know that she hit me in the mouth with the door? No! When I brought this to her attention was she sorry? No! And what do you think her response was…? She informed me it was all my fault for being in her way! Really? No concern for my well being what so ever! No remorse for giving me a fat lip!

So the moral of the story for going to agility trials is, try to have fun, but know it will be an up hill battle all the way!

July 24, 2011 - OMG what a horrible trial!

2011-07-24T08:39:00.000-07:00

Everything was so screwed up I really don’t know where to begin the story.

The trial confirmation I received via e-mail stated crating setup was Thursday from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm, so I left my house at 6:30 am knowing I would have at least an eight hour drive straight through depending on the road construction in Wyoming. I stopped at the hotel first to check in with only a few minutes to spare, and then drove to the trial site to setup. I pulled into the parking lot of the trial site at 3:50 pm with EVERYONE else and walked into the horse barn to find out where we would be crating since there were no details in the e-mail.

There were several women whom I assumed were club members walking around completely confused trying to figure out where to put the crating area. Now mind you we are in a commercial horse facility, with horse stalls (and horses in each one of them) on every wall and with several isles of horse stalls on one side of the building and an indoor arena in the middle of the horse stalls with a 5’5” solid wood plank wall surrounding the arena!

So I stood in back of the crowd and waited for the “powers that be” to make a decision on EXACTLY where they wanted us exhibitors to crate. As I’m listening to the many confusing discussions going on, this woman who I will call Cruella finally makes the executive decision and announces to the crowd gathered that we can crate ANYWHERE along the wall of the arena across from the horse stalls, but to crate very close together since it is going to be very tight quarters and to stack crates if you can. So everyone scatters to find a place to crate.

I head to the other end of the building a long way away from where these women were standing and lay down my tarp and plug in my extension cord, then head back out to my car to bring in Dolcenea’s wire crate. By this time everyone else has laid down their huge floor mats, you know the kind that are 9’x6’ and take up allot of room. I’ve only brought in a tarp big enough to fit right under Dolcenea’s crate without any additional coverage. And I’ve only taken up a spot that is right next to 6 bags of sawdust that are laid on top of each other sticking 4’ out into the isle way. So my crating spot is about 3’x4’ and everyone else that is a club member and friends of club members have taken up a spot 4’x 12’ or bigger.

Cruella and her entourage bring out red tape and start marking off a 4’ path measured from the solid wood arena wall out into the isle way, and tells everyone crating they have to stay back behind the red tape, that the remaining 6’ space will be used to bring the horses in and out of their stalls while the trial is running. I think to myself, boy I certainly wouldn’t want my horse walking between all of these barking dogs!

As I’m setting up my wire crate all of a sudden this Cruella woman walks over to me with her group of cronies as several on-lookers turn to watch, and one of her cronies tells me “You can’t setup your crating it’s not 4:00 pm”, I pull out my cell phone as she’s making this comment to me and it shows 3:58 pm, so I reply it’s 4:00 pm according to my clock moving the cell phone so she can see the time. Now keep in mind there are at least 30 other people setting up their crating areas and Cruella and her main crony have decided to single me out because I’m a NEWBIE in their eyes and can be bullied, they think! They don’t know me from Adam! I’ve never been to one of their trials ever before, so I’m fare game!

The next thing I know Cruella with all of her cronies and the on-lookers still watching proceeds to RIP MY FACE OFF! She’s YELLING at me with her hands on her hips and her head swinging back and forth for emphasis: “you can’t crate there”, pointing to where I’ve laid my tarp. I calmly ask why and she yells at me “we need that space for someone else!” I ask who? Then she gets even madder and barks back “the score table!” Just as she gets the words out of her mouth one of her cronies taps her on the shoulder and says the score table person already has their spot they wanted at the end of the arena on the corner by the big door. So Cruella then turns and GLARES at me, like her anger and hatred are all my fault! If looks could kill I would be six feet under! At this point in time I’m thinking that her head is going to start spinning around just like the girl in the Exorcist! Her eyes are bulging out of her head, she’s foaming at the mouth, her face is beet red, veins are popping out of her neck and then with the worst venom I’ve ever heard coming out of a woman’s mouth she screams: “you can’t plug into that electric outlet, pointing to where I’ve plugged in my extension cord!!!”

I calmly ask why and she screams at me that “they need it for the score table!!!” I calmly explain there are 4 electrical outlets in this one area and I’ve brought a 50’ extension cord with 4 additional plug ins that everyone who wants to can plug into. Cruella gets absolutely FURIOUS (I’m expecting her to have a stroke on the spot she’s so angry and full of hate) with me and raises her yelling and screaming to a full ROAR DEMANDING I leave the space and unplug my extension cord immediately. Needless to say I DIDN’T MOVE! I calmly explain I’m setting up my crating spot just like everyone else and I remind her she said we could crate “anywhere along the arena wall”, and I need electricity for my fan so my Akita won’t over heat. She screams at the top of her lungs “we never put in the premium exhibitors could use the electricity!” and now she has stepped into my personal space placing the end of her nose right in front of mine and screams “if there are any electrical outlets left over all of you idiots can fight over it” then she turns and storms off leaving me standing there with my mouth agape and all of her cronies and the numerous on-lookers staring and glaring at me like everything that had gone wrong that day was all my fault!!! I felt like I had just been attacked and ripped apart by a lion and the beast walked away with a full belly and what was left over went to the on-looker vultures. Not one person of the 15 or so standing there came to my defense!

Cruella walks 4 feet away to setup her crating area and I and everyone in the area can clearly hear her blaming me for everything that has gone wrong:

1. The times for the exhibitors to setup crating in the building in the trial confirmation were wrong, it should have read 5:00 pm not 4:00 pm, and I should have known that and not arrived to setup my crating until 5:00 pm!

2. The premium was wrong, it had the wrong address on it, and I should have known that.

3. No one showed up to help setup the rings and unload the trailer, and how dare I want to setup my crating until these chores were done! And none of the exhibitors should be in the building until the ring is setup, and of course this is also my fault!

4. She doesn’t know where to set the agility equipment so NO ONE can crate on either end of the arena. (so we only ended up with a 4’x 100’ crating area for 150 people) and someone put up their soft crates in the area at the end of the arena , and she thought it was me, so this was all my fault too!!!

5. She doesn’t know how to turn on the building lights.

6. She can’t find the girl who owns all of the loose dogs running around the facility upsetting all of the exhibitors’ dogs.

So of course when I come to the trial Friday morning someone (I find out later it was one of Cruella’s cronies) has unplugged my extension cord and thrown it on the ground, and they have plugged in several extension cords to use up all of the outlets! So I reach up to the electrical outlet and unplug their extension cord and plug it into mine, then plug mine back in, and proceed to plug in my fan and everything works fine. The cronies don’t know the difference. BUT all of my stuff has now been shoved against the 6 stacks of sawdust and I’ve got 2 soft crates JAMMED up against Dolcenea’s wire crate so tight I can’t get the crate door open. So I had to move the 6 bags of sawdust over 5 inches so I would have enough room to get the crate door open.

Mind you as I walked down the isle way and looked at all the club members setups and all of their friends they had taken up all the space in the world! Several portable chairs, electrical fans, and coolers spread out all over their crating area but me and my friendly crating neighbor were slammed right on top of each other thanks to Cruella and her cronies! I had to guard my stuff all day Friday to make sure the cronies didn’t come and move my stuff or the sawdust bags again, or unplug Dolcenea’s fan!!! It was over 80 degrees in the building.

The main reasons I went to this trial was because the judge was a local judge and that I had never been to Montana ever before. I had always heard how beautiful it was and that I would just love it once I got there! What a huge mistake this was!

I spoke to my friendly crating neighbor and she told me that Cruella had also ripped her face off earlier because in the premium she received they had posted the prior agility location that the club usually used and that is where she drove to. But when she got there and didn’t see any cars she knew something was wrong, so she asked the owner of the facility and they said they didn’t allow the club to use the facility this year, but she didn’t go into any details why. So this friendly neighbor who knew Cruella called her on the phone asking where the trial had been moved to and Cruella proceeded to lay into her telling her how stupid she was not knowing and finally gave her directions to the new location. The friendly crating neighbor said she would never come to one of their agility trials ever again.

The show chair didn’t even show up on Thursday or Friday, can you believe that?

Cruella’s cronies spent Friday talking about me behind my back; at ring side, at their crating area, walking by my crating area, walking to the port-a-potties. They would point fingers at me to their friends and laugh, like I’m stupid and don’t know what they are doing. Cruella’s main crony that was crated one crate over from me found GREAT JOY in asking me how my run was when she knew Dolcenea didn’t Q, then she would laugh about it and smirk to all of her friends that the Akita wasn’t an agility dog! This happened right after our standard run on Saturday, and that is when I finally had had enough and LEFT!!!

(the above picture shows the isle way for horses, dogs and vehicles that we had to crate in & the arena wall)

Needless to say this is the worst trial I’ve ever attended where the people attending including club members and their friends and family members were the meanest, nastiest and cruelest people I’ve ever met and I certainly will never return to Montana ever again!

No matter where I go for agility trials I ALWAYS find the worst most hateful psychotic horrible human beings on the planet. And I can’t believe that these same people believe they have every right in the world to treat you as rotten as possible and they feel good about it!

And to top of the worst day in agility trial history for me it all had to happen on my Birthday! I hate agility trials!!! And people wonder why I try not to talk to anyone at agility trials….DUGH!

June 20, 2011 - Texas agility trial

2011-06-20T08:18:00.000-07:00

Packing up the car to head to Texas for this weekends AKC agiity trial. The weather is going to be hot; 103 listed on weather.com all 3 days. eek! Thank goodness we're in an air conditioned facility!

First day at trial:

It's 105 degrees here in Texas and it's about 85 in the crating area! Needless to say we're not having a very good day today.

Second day at trial:

It’s very hot in the building and even hotter where I finally ended up crating.

The air conditioning doesn’t seem to be working.

Third day at trial:

I was done running in the trial by 11:30 am! The club was so wonderful; they moved me up in the running order so I was the first dog to run in jumpers so I could get an early start driving back to Colorado!!! They did this all on their own; I didn't ask for it, they just made the accommodation!!!! WONDERFUL PEOPLE!!!

I was the 4th from the last dog in each class all weekend until I got to the Jumpers class, the last class for me on Sunday. I walked up to the gate sheets to check in and couldn't find Dolcenea's name??? So the gate steward started helping me and said "wait a minute, you are the first dog in"! I said that can't be, I've been 4th to last all weekend, and she smiled at me and said not this time!!!! I have NEVER had a club take into consideration WHERE the exhibitor was traveling from and make running accommodations for them so they could get an early start on their long drive home!!! This club was OUTSTANDING!!!

Trial highlights:

‎30 people came up to me on Sunday to tell me how absolutely beautiful my Akita was. They would say they had NEVER seen an Akita run in agility and my girl was absolutely awesome! One guy said he knew she was a champion by the way she composed her self running the course and she was stunning to watch run. Several of them said seeing Dolcenea run agility gave them a better perspective on the breed.

No Q;s for the weekend, we had some outstanding runs, but overall a really great trial!

CPE Nationals June 2011

2011-06-10T07:51:00.000-07:00

I can’t remember where I found out about CPE agility, but somewhere along the line of running in 7 agility venues I decided to add another one so we could compete in their Nationals planned for June 2011 in Lake Elmo, Minnesota.

We had to qualify for Nationals, so our quest for National status begins:

June 2010 Dolcenea and I entered our very first CPE agility trial in Iowa. It was a three day trial and we entered 12 runs at Level 1; we did not grandfather in. Dolcenea Q’d 11 for 12 all 1^st placements! It was 95 degrees and 95% humidity… yuck!

July 2010 Dolcenea and I entered our second CPE agility trial in Las Vegas Nevada. We entered 10 runs in Level 2 and Q’d 10 for 10 all 1^st placements. It was 125 degrees outside but a very comfortable 68 degrees in the air conditioned agility facility! It was a great trial!

August 2010 we entered our third CPE agility trial in Cleveland Missouri. We entered 10 runs in Level 2/3 and Q’d 9 for 10 with all 1^st placements. It was hot at this trial too!

April 2011 we entered our fourth CPE agility trial in Wahoo Nebraska. We entered 10 runs in Level 3 and Q’d 9 for 10 with all 1^st placements. This was a great little town.

Finally! After all the above traveling and trialing we have now obtained all of the legs necessary to qualify for the Nationals! Yippee!

The Nationals finally arrives!

CPE Nationals day 1: Setup and check-in

We made it to the hotel, found the fairgrounds, located our stall and proceeded to start hauling in all the crap I lug around each and every weekend. I looked around for the electrical outlet I was promised and being only 5'4" tall, I never managed to “see” one. Really strange? The stall coordinator said to bring an extension cord for electricity! I'm looking all over, behind doors, walking into other people’s stalls looking around corners and no electrical outlets to be found?

So I wonder over to the 2nd section of the horse stall building and notice that another person has plugged into an electrical outlet that was conveniently located at eye level on the main entrance wall. I think to myself, don’t tell me there is only one electrical outlet in a building the size of a football field? You’ve got to be kidding... right? So I head back to my part of the building; walk to the main entrance area to see if there is an electrical outlet at eye level like what I was just looking at, then I notice the problem! The electrical panel that is identical to the other side of the building is ripped completely apart and wires are sticking out of it everywhere! Obviously not a good sign! Oh crap!

Discouraged I head back to my stall. As I’m standing in an empty stall pondering what I should do I notice the lighting above my head was buzzing. So I look up glaring at the offending noise thinking boy this is going to be a long weekend having to listen to that all day, then I realize OMG there are electrical outlets in the rafters of the building about 20 feet over the top of my head! What? Why would anyone install electrical outlets in a horse barn 20 feet over a persons head in the rafters? Now I'm in trouble! How in the heck am I going to be able to get my extension cord plugged into an outlet that is 20 feet off the ground? I start looking around for an idea. I see a plastic barrel sitting in the corner of the doorway and think maybe I could turn it upside down and stand on it to reach the outlet. Needless to say, I’m not that good of an acrobat, and I certainly don’t need a broken leg before the trial even begins! Second Idea that comes to mind; drive my car into the isle way and climb on top of it to plug in? Probably not a very good idea, some of these people don’t look like they would appreciate me trying to maneuver my large vehicle down the size of a bike path requiring them to move their stuff out of the hallway and into their stalls. I’m still pondering why anyone in their right mind would install electrical outlets in the rafters of a horse barn???

So I wonder outside and happen to notice a young kid driving what looked like a fairgrounds maintenance vehicle. I chase him down and ask if he can help? He says, oh sure no problem, we plug into the rafters all the time (now this is the strangest answer I’ve ever heard anyone say at a horse barn) I'll go get a ladder and meet you over at your stall. Wonderful! I’m thinking to myself… problem solved! Yippee!!! So I meander back to my stall thrilled with the notion of not breaking my leg on the first day, and not pissing off my stall buddies with my car parked in their way.

Now I’m waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and waiting, listening to the wonderful buzzing from the rafters. Twenty minutes goes by and he finally shows up on the other side of the building dragging a 12' ladder in one hand. I quickly approach him before anyone else can get is undivided attention and show him what I'm trying to do. Like a professional roper, he grabs one end of my 50' extension cord swings it over his head like he’s aiming for a steer and flings it up and over the first set of rafters. He goes to the next set, grabs the end of the extension cord and once again with grace and ease slings the end of the extension cord over the next set of rafters. Now we're in the stall next to the hallway and once again he grabs the end of the extension cord slings it straight into the air and hits the electrical outlet straight on the top of the box! I say to him you must have done this once before, and he responds yep, every time there’s a horse event. He had my extension cord plugged into an electrical outlet 20 feet above my head and 30 feet away from my stall in less time than it takes me to eat a candy bar!

I thank him profusely and tell him to just leave the ladder in the hallway because I’m sure everyone else will need it if not his services that’s for sure. I no sooner get the words out of my mouth and another guy walked up and said hey young man can you bring your talents over here, and he was off roping rafters for yet another shorty like me!

So after the rafter rodeo event was over, I checked in, got my arm band number, grabbed a running order for tomorrow and received the BIGGEST welcome bag I’ve ever seen. These guys managed to stuff 20 pounds of dog toys, treats, leashes, collars, samples, balls, “you name it, its in there”, into a 5 pound bag. Then handed me another bag full of Minnesota stuff, and yet another bag embroidered with the welcome slogan of the CPE Nationals trial on it.

Not bad for a first day at the rodeo…. oh I mean agility trial check in and setup!

CPE Nationals day 2:

Dolcenea Q'd 2 for 3 in Standard & Jumpers, but I screwed up Jackpot. I found a tic on her 2 dogs before we ran and it creeped me out! Thank goodness she is in full coat and it didn't make it to her skin, but it was in her fur, BIG mistake on it's part! Nasty things!!!

Anyway I wasn't focused during our run and I didn't get the send correctly and she ended up taking the wrong finish jump, but it was a BEAUTIFUL run!

And yesterday she got three 1st places!!! They didn't have the results up for today, so hopefully they will speed things up tomorrow since it's the last day. I would really like to know how we did before I head back to Colorado.

One more day to go (thank god) my feet are killing me from all the walking to the rings, to the horse barn, to the score table!

CPE Nationals final day (yippee!):

Dolcenea Q'd 2 for 3 today in Colors and Standard, but we got robbed out of our Snooker Q!!! I sent her into the tunnel and the next thing she sees is the jump setter charging her from the side as she's exiting the tunnel!!! I was pissed to say the least! Judge wouldn't do anything about it and neither would Linda.

Dolcenea got two 1st places yesterday, and two 1st places today!

Dolcenea finished her Fullhouse title on Friday, and she won High in Trial for Standard Level 4 20" division for the whole trial.

I'm glad it's over! Got to the trial site at 6:00 am and left at 8:00 pm!!! very very long day! Dolcenea is pooped and my legs hurt so bad from walking the entire fairgrounds a million times; I must have walked 30 miles this weekend!

I plan on sleeping for a week once I get home!

CPE Nationals final results:

Dolcenea won HIGH in TRIAL Standard 20” division level 4!!!

Dolcenea qualified in 7 of 9 runs in Fullhouse, Wildcard, Colors, Jumpers and three rounds of Standard ALL with a 1st placement!!! And to make the trial a complete success she finished her 77th title!!!

Mr. Lancaster and the Colorado Flag

2011-06-08T14:21:00.000-07:00

I'd pretty much given up the idea of decorating my stall (crating area) at the CPE Agility Nationals, after driving to 7 stores in two days without any success of finding a Colorado flag.

I headed out on my road trip listening to a Fanny Flagg CD to get me through the next eight hours. Just before the Julesburg exit, I read the words "welcome center" on one of the road signs and the thought of a Colorado flag popped back into my head.... just maybe they might have such a thing? Considering there were 2 of them flying next to the U.S. flag out front of the building that I could see as I was whizzing by coming up on the exit.

So I drive up to the front of the building, park the car, tell Dolcenea I'll be right back, and meander into the "welcome center". This lady walks up and asks if she can be of assistance, I said sure if you have a Colorado flag I can purchase. She gave me a puzzled look and I proceeded to explain to a complete stranger that I was on my way to Lake Elmo Minnesota representing Colorado in an Agility trial and I needed a Colorado flag in the worst way.

An older gentleman entered the conversation and asked "what is a CTE nations?" I chuckled to myself and thought yeah it does sound pretty odd, so I proceeded to explain to him what is was and why I would be attending. Another lady was sitting at a computer screen and proceeded to pull up a website selling Colorado flags. She said pointing to her screen, you can buy them here. I said that is great but I need it right now, I'm on my way to Minnesota and I don't have time to try and find one online.

The next thing I know the first lady I spoke to as I entered the facility was handing me a sticky note with a gentleman’s home phone number on it by the name of Mr. Lancaster. She said with a smile on her face, if he can't find you one, there aint any to be found anywhere. I thanked each of them, then headed back out to the car quickly, since I had been gone much longer than I had planned and I'm sure Dolcenea would like to go potty too. I drove to the area marked for pets so Dolcenea could see what was huntable in the grassy area marked "pet exercise area".

As I was watching Dolcenea hunting, I looked at the sticky note in my hand and reflected on the conversation with the two ladies and a gentleman, and thought what the hell, why not, I'll see what Mr. Lancaster has to say. So I pulled out my cell and dialed the phone number as Dolcenea was poking her nose into yet another golfer hole blowing air into it testing for something to hunt. A gentleman answered the phone hello, and I proceed to tell Mr. Lancaster that I'm at the "welcome center" and the ladies inside gave me his number in search of a Colorado flag. I went into the sorted details and the next thing I knew this older cowboy was parked next to my car in his red dodge flatbed with a border/aussie mix tied in the back shaking my hand and helping me fold up a brand new Colorado flag!!!

I asked Mr. Lancaster how much he wanted for the flag and his expedited delivery and he said either drop it off on your way back through or mail it to me when you get a chance. Then he handed me a little piece of paper with his home address on it. I profusely thanked him for his trouble and the use of his flag! Mr. Lancaster wished me the best of luck in whatever it was I was needing it for and he drove off.

So my faith in humanity has been restored, there are still wonderful people in this world that will stop everything they are doing in their lives to bring a Colorado flag to a nut that calls them at home on her cell phone.

And they say chivalry is dead! Not even close!

AKC Agility Invitational December 2010

2010-12-04T06:36:00.000-08:00

Dolcenea and I worked extremely hard to finally qualify for the AKC Agility Invitational so we could compete in this prestigious event and be an excellent representative of the purebred Akita while Dolcenea was in the prime of her agility career. This was a goal I had planned for Dolcenea long before we ever entered our first agility trial together.

I started Dolcenea working towards this goal entering her in our very first AKC agility trial in January 2008. She completed her Novice titles by August, her Open titles by November, her Advanced titles by June, 2009 and finally finishing the last Masters legs needed in Utah, Wyoming and Kansas to qualify for the big event by the deadline of June 30, 2010!

It was a very long road filled with tons of hard work keeping a female Akita motivated enough to complete the difficult requirements to qualify, since the rules for entry into this event are based on "bullet dog abilities". I knew it was going to be an uphill struggle all the way!

Agility doesn't come easy to Dolcenea; it is something I have to work at three times harder than she does to complete the course. Usually I have to run the outside course if I want her to qualify or at least come in under standard course time. Dolcenea is a true Akita in every characteristic of what makes an Akita an Akita. Once she has completed an activity, for example the Standard course, she doesn't see any reason what so ever to go out and do it over and over and over again. Akita's are extremely inteligent and know there isn't any point in repeating anything just to please their handler.

The day finally arrives!

It was a 16 hour drive to get to Long Beach and $200 a night for the hotel. Considering how big this event was, I figured this was part of the dues of entering, but I was not prepared for what was to follow!

Upon my arrival I had to find exactly where in this huge facility the agility was located, thank goodness I came a day early to get acclimated. The map I printed off from the website didn’t look anything like the directions I was given when I walked into the wrong end of the building! I finally made my way through the maze of the convention center to be pointed to the crating area. It was a sectioned off area with waste high curtains and not much else, sandwiched between the end wall and the back of the very tall bleachers. The crating spot with my name on it was a taped off area measuring 3'x5' without any room to spare. The spot was surrounded on three sides by wire crates and a very small isle way to get through on the final side.

Dolcenea is not a small Akita by any stretch of the imagination. She measures 24” at the shoulder and weighs in at a very muscled 90 pounds, so she has to have a crate big enough to accommodate her stature. I brought her smaller wire crate just in case space was limited, and boy was it ever! Dolcenea's smaller crate measures 3'x4', and there wasn’t room left over for anything else! I had to borrow space from the dog in the next spot just to put her two Yobi battery operated fans on the floor facing her crate. Dolcenea was not happy being sandwiched between three barking dogs. I had to move the persons chair crated next to me to get Dolcenea into/out of her crate.

There were spectators walking thru the crating area poking fingers into the unattended crates trying to pet the dogs, and usually these fingers were attached to a very small child. Dogs were escaping from their crates trying to search for their parents, I caught 2 of them myself, since I stayed with Dolcenea at our tiny crating site and most of the other exhibitors stayed in the bleachers. It was really hot in the building, no air conditioning or air movement at all. I had both battery fans going to try and keep Dolcenea cool with her cool coat on and she was still panting, from being hot and nervous due to the very cramped crating quarters. I asked to be crated by an electrical outlet so I could bring a larger electrical fan to keep her comfortable but alas that didn't happen.

The potty area left allot to be desired! They brought in sod and built a 20x20 potty area for all the conformation, obedience and agility dogs to use and placed it right outside the entrance/exit door. The smell at the door was not pleasant, you had to hold your breathe because of the smokers and the urine smell. It was bad!!!

Dolcenea would not go potty in the sod area no matter how much I tried to coax her, she held herself everyday until we got back to the hotel and walked to the very small grass area in front of the bank next door.

Walking to the ring to run was impossible because of all the spectators standing in the isle ways by the bleachers. To get to the start line you had to have the gate stewards part the crowds and make you a path through the swarms of people and guide you to a place to stand to wait for them to call you to the start line.

At 1:00 pm I drove into the unloading area on Saturday and was told it was closed and they wouldn't let me in. Unreal! So I had to go park my car in the pay to park lot, walk the mile to my crating setup and pack everything I needed and then walk the mile back to my car, Dolcenea was not impressed.

Now it’s time to actually run in this event!

Shock #1: came when I arrived at the ring for our first run of the event and saw the other Akita entered. This dog was stunning!!! He was small statured with oval bone, had excellent length of shoulder, a deep narrow chest, perfect length of stride, and a wonderful temperament wanting to please his mommy without exception. He had exceptional drive weaving faster than any bullet dog I’ve ever seen for his size! He tore up the course like he had springs on his paws and wings on his legs and he was an ILP’d Akita (German Shepherd/Malinois/Akita mix).

I knew I was doomed!

I didn’t know AKC allowed ILP’d dogs to compete against Pedigreed dogs in the Invitational? Dolcenea couldn’t compete against this other Akita in any way, shape or form, he ran circles around her... literally! He has the benefits of the German Shepherd/Malinois gait and structure (covering the maximum amount of ground with the minimum number of steps) and Dolcenea doesn't.

Dolcenea is built like a pedigreed Akita. Massive head in balance with body, thick muscular short neck, moderate layback of shoulders, heavy bone, wide and deep chest, with moderate angulation. She would much prefer to be sleeping on the couch rather than pleasing mom by running agility. She does things her way if at all, and she absolutely hates the weave poles!

As we stood in the general area to enter the ring for our runs, the gate stewards would ask me where the other Akita was? I would point him out and they would say that is a German Shepherd not an Akita. I didn't know how to respond other than to say he's an ILP.

Shock #2: they made us 20" Preferred dogs run in the 24" division and we were not given the 5 extra seconds for Preferred time, we had to run with the 24" division time, so Dolcenea was always over time. Then on Sunday the Jumpers course had a broad jump in it, and I didn't care for Sunday's courses at all.

Now keep in mind this is a HUGE event; tons of people, dogs and noise all going on at the same time. It’s rather overwhelming anyway, and then to add the crating, potty, unloading minutia, there was no way I could expect Dolcenea to perform perfectly considering all these difficulties! I'm glad I went to experience it, but at this point in time I wouldn't ever do it again. I still don't understand why on Friday for the FAST warm up run we ran with the 20" division, but for the STD and JWW on Saturday & Sunday we had to run in the 24" division. This blew me away; I couldn't believe how the AKC changed the rules for the invitational!

What is the point in running in the Preferred class to qualify for the Invitational then to have to run the courses on Regular class time in the event itself not being given the extra 5 seconds for Preferred? I just don't get it? If I would have known this was the case I wouldn't have entered this event at all. Dolcenea and I need those 5 extra seconds to qualify, and what is the point in entering an event like this if you don’t go there to qualify!

After this experience my whole out look on AKC agility has changed. Qualifying at the Invitational was one of the goals I had set for Dolcenea to achieve and succeed at and it didn't happen. It's difficult enough running the only pedigreed Akita in agility that competes at our level. This was our 95th weekend of agility trials since Jan 2008, but to have to endure the minutia to run in this trial setup us up for failure right from the start.

I don't understand how the AKC can ILP a dog as a specific breed to the detriment of the pedigreed dogs running agility in that breed. Is it fair to classify a dog which clearly has additional physical benefits and abilities as a non-traditional agility breed so they can enter the Invitational.

Details about our history in Agility

2010-10-01T16:25:00.000-07:00

Dolcenea began her agility career in 2008 by competing in AKC, UKC, NADAC and DOCNA trials attending 19 Agility events in Colorado and Wyoming.

In 2009 we expanded our competion to include USDAA and started traveling more out of state. We competed in 35 agility trials including one Nationals event.

In 2010 we expanded again to include ASCA and CPE and competed in 39 agility trials and two Nationals event.

In 2011 so far we have competed in 21 Agility trials and won High in Trial at the CPE Nationals, and in two different ASCA trials.

Since CPE agility trials are not held in Colorado (and probably never will be) we have to travel to Nevada, Nebraska, Missouri, Minnesota, and Iowa. For the rest of the agility trials we travel to: Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Kansas, New Mexico, Arizona, California and Texas, for National events and regular agility trials.

Dolcenea is the only Akita titled in every agility venue, the youngest Akita to title in agility, and she is the only Akita competing at her level in each venue!

With this last weekends agility event we have attended 114 agility trials since Dolcenea's agility career began. And this number does not count any of her entries into Rally, Obedience and Conformation trials!

Introduction

2010-09-01T15:34:00.000-07:00

Where to begin; maybe the best place is to try and list some of Dolcenea's many accomplishments to date:

The first thing is her name:

Int.CH UACH U-CH Prairie's Beyond Doubt

RA,MXP2,MJP,XFP,S-ISA,S-IJA,S-BGA,S-ISLA,S-INACMA,EAS,TNS-E,OJC,

TG-O,O-TG-NS-NJC,O-OAC,O-NCC,S-TN-N,PS1,PJ1,PG1,PS1,JS-N-OP,

RS-N,GS-N-OP,CSL3-R,CSL3-H,CSL3-S,CSL3-F,BID,FFX-AP,FFX-AG2,VAX

To date Dolcenea holds 77 titles! She has 16 titles in AKC, 4 titles in UKC, 21 titles in NADAC, 8 titles in DOCNA, 3 titles in USDAA, 5 titles in ASCA, 12 titles in CPE, 1 title in UKI, and 5 misc titles.
Here are some of her accomplishments:

Won High in Trial at two different ASCA trials in May 2011.
She qualified for AKC Agility Invitational for 2010 and 2011.
CPE Nationals 2011 - she won High in Trial Standard 20" division Level 4!!! She qualified in 7 of 9 runs in Fullhouse, Wildcard, Colors, Jumpers and 3 rounds of Standard ALL with a 1st placement!!! She is Qualified for 2012
DOCNA Nationals 2009 - she won the 20" S-I Standard Division! Qualified for 2010.

Dolcenea is the first Akita ever to complete many of the above accomplishments, and in all the titles she's completed she was the youngest Akita ever to do this!