fredag 4. oktober 2013

Karmøy - 28-29 September 2013

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. - Thomas A. Edison

This weekend it was Karmøy who was the host for the last competition in September. Karmøy is located almost as far west in Norway as you can.

Saturday:
Since the competition started at 10.00am on saturday, both Elisabeth and me decided that we could drive up on saturday morning. We started at 07.00am and arrived at the location at 09.15, after a nice ferry ride and a stop at a food store for some breakfast.

First run of the day for me, was the Agility 2 small course. It was a good course, with a few challenges that I liked and lines that I tried hard to hit. In my eyes it could possibly be a bit harder, but that's just my opinion. Leija jumps the last few weaves which gives us a fault and I spend alot of time going back. After the fault, I clearly see my motivation drop and I focus less on everything. Whenever I get a fault, I can see myself holding the contacts longer, forcing Leija to stay and this automatically gives me a slower time than I normally would get.
 

Second course for us this day, was the team course which I ran with Leija. Seeing that I haven't started agility with Niili, it's mostly Leija who does agility and teams, as teams have to be agility courses in Norway to be valid in national championship qualifiers.

Leija takes the start really good, but a wrong position from me fucks everything up. I lose my own focus because I have to adjust my timing and position to follow up Leija correctly. It looks like I manage to do this, but then I screw it up down from dogwalk, giving Leija a chance to choose her own tunnell entrance. Result of this, DQ.


Course number three was Jump 1 with Niili. I liked the course very much, as it gave us both good speed, but I could not let go of my focus with Niili. Lose focus for 1 second with these two dogs and they run a totally different course or line that you had planned. Seeing that we are still learning the flat tunnel, I don't go back to fix the denial on that obstacle, giving us a refusal with a follow up DQ.


Last course of the day was Jump 2 with Leija, and what a course it was! Leija runs like the wind.. She can be even faster!!! I give some slowness to the high grass, but still!!! And then I drop my focus for a milli-second!!!! Result: DQ!!


My thoughts of the day::
Sunday:
After a good and relaxing evening with Lene Cecilie Olsen & Einar Fossum, I was ready for a new day, hopefully without frustrating handler mistakes, like the jumping course on saturday.

First course of the day was Jump 1 with Niili. It was a course with some luck for my part. Niili had several "near-drop" bars during the run and I was pretty happy when I found out that it was a clean run. I blame the tall grass. I see that I can run even faster with Niili during these courses, as she is almost as fast as Leija. Weaves need a lot more work, but even with the slow weave during this run, she still ran 3,76m/s!!!


Second course was Jump 2 with Leija. For me it was a cool course, and it was my own fault she jumps back on the obstacle before the weaves. I need to learn to give Leija more space, but we also need to train more on the "in-between" obstacle. Result; DQ


Last course of the day was agility 2 with Leija. For the second time in all of our competition career, she dropped a bar :O. It was a good course, but like I've said previously; when we get a fault, I spend extra time on the contacts to make sure it's done correctly.

However, with that being said, I think it was a good run. I have some work to do on the turning, but it is a work in progress. After the A-frame, I lost Leija for a split second and she chose the "wrong" tunnel entrance. Luckily it was optional, but I still lost my "handling", which ended in a weird finish of the run. Result; 1st Place, 5 fault, 3.4m/s.


T-t-t-t-that's all folk's.. Next competition for us is Stavanger 12-13 October, with Stefanie Semkat from Germany as judge. I'm really looking forward to that competition, as Stefanie claims that I will run my ass of on her courses...

So, CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!!!!
Tommy, Leija & Niili
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tirsdag 1. oktober 2013

Arendal - 21-22 September 2013

If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts. - Albert Einstein


Theory; A dog is supposed to pick up obstacles whenever you show them where to go!
Fact; If a handler don't show the correct handling, the dog will run on the outside.

Theory; When you train your dog, there is results in competitions!
Fact; Unless you show your dog the correct lines, the results will not come.

We spent last weekend at Hove Leirsenter in Arendal, on their annual fall-competition. As always, it was a great competition, socially and the location is great. Results could be a lot better, but then again; we can't always be winners.

Saturday:
Started waaaaaay to early for my part, as I woke up at 05.10am and didn't have the first course walk until 09.08am. I spent the better part of the morning walking the dogs, eating breakfast and generally relaxing.. It was unusual to have such good time before a competition.

First course for me was Jump 1 with Niili. The course had the flat tunnell in it, and Niili does not know that obstacle 100% yet. Result of this was of course the DQ.


Second course was Jump 2 with Leija. I believe that I had a good idea for the start, as most of the other handlers chose to break the dog between #2 and #3 on the top of #2. However, I used my body the wrong way and it gave Leija the possibility to have a WIIIIIDE turn. And when she "refuses" to pick up a obstacle, my enthusiasm drops like a fly meeting a zapper, causing a DQ.


Third course of the day was Agility 2, again with Leija. The course itself was super cool and I would've loved to actually finish it, but Leija somehow wanted it different. She jumped the downward contact on dog-walk, made a refusal in to the weaves and skipped the last two/three weaves. Result: DQ


Last run of the saturday was the team run. It was a great run. Leija follows me good, takes the contacts and generally pays attention. Unfortunately she gets a refusal on the zee-zaw and completely disregards the flat-tunnel. Result: DQ


That was the saturday. My thoughts for the day;
Sunday:
Started sunday with a Jump 1 course with Niili. It was a fast course, that was going perfectly until the wheel, where I pushed too hard and made her have a refusal. As I do the runs with Niili just for fun at the moment, I didn't focus too much on picking it up correctly after the refusal, so we get a DQ. But it was a FUN course.



Second course was Jump 2 with Leija. Here I was hoping for a fast course with alot of running for both myself and Leija. It was really a course for both of us. Unfortunately for us, Leija decides to refuse to pick-up obstacles, giving us two refusals before I decide to just DQ her. I will not focus on anything positive in this course, as it was a total disaster.


Last course for us this day, was the Agility 2 course. This was once again a fast course, and a course I really liked at most of the part. Distances could be a bit small for a faster dog, but we managed. I really need to start looking more at my dog when I do unfamiliar switches. Because of this, I get a refusal on the dog walk, but we manage to finish the course. This gives us a 3rd place, but a rather slow pace.
 
 


That's all from the Arendal competition. Our next trial now, is Karmøy next weekend. It's going to be interesting to see what will happen.

Tommy, Leija & Niili
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