Ivy finally has that last pass we needed for JDX - gained in her first heat and qualifying for the final as well which is not something that I was expecting to happen. She's a great dog and definitely right up there for speed when I get it together, but we have had so many 'one bar runs' lately that I think it was starting to cloud my perception of how competitive we might actually be. And the best thing was .... 2 bars down in total in 7 runs - 3 jumping and agility heats plus the jumping final. If we managed to reproduce those statistics every time then I would be very happy indeed. (We won't mention her Novice Gamblers run where I totally forgot where I had intended to go with the result being not pretty, especially when she almost took out the judge after taking the spread backwards !)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUoKi7XQQqo
Here is a link to her final's run.
She jumped off her line on the jump before the run by (or the line I was anticipating she would take anyway) and it all seemed to happen so quickly that I didn't react and try and correct it. Plus looking at video I think I took one step slightly into her line which in turn pushed her line out a bit too much, but hindsight is a wonderful thing and I am very happy with her run and the time that she recorded. Beautiful course too (apart from where he put that one damn jump - LOL) and we both had a lot of fun running it.
Our Nationals road trip (aka Julia and Ivy's Excellent Adventure) started a few days beforehand when we left for Canberra on the way to Sydney.
Lovely Winter weather for a drive up the Hume and we stopped off in the tiny little town of Jugiong, which is one of my favourite places.
So on to Canberrra which was also an amazing experience, but not for the same reasons as Nationals that's for sure and not a place I intend to return to trial in a hurry. I have always enjoyed trialling interstate, especially going to Adelaide last year, and the couple of times I have gone across the border to Wagga, but I can't say I enjoyed running in Canberra. Let's start with the catalogue.
This is a $9 catalogue ....... 5 photocopied pages stapled in the corner with writing so small you could hardly read it anyway. And I had to ask for a copy as it wasn't provided at check in even though I had paid. I mean come on guys ! $9 ? To produce a cheap photocopy with a staple in the corner ?
Especially when it was available free online and the only reason I paid for one was because I knew I wouldn't have access to a printer while I was away and wasn't sure how far ahead it would be downloaded.
Moving on to the contact equipment. We are definitely spoiled in Victoria with our rubber contacts in the majority and although I don't especially like the way it seems that some clubs are almost held to ransom if they don't provide them I must admit I love having them. But even when clubs don't have rubber, the general standard of the wooden equipment is usually fine, unlike what was used here. I pulled Ivy from all her agility runs both mornings as the equipment was still wet with condensation and there was no way I was risking her on it. Slippery and bald were two words that came to mind. In the afternoons I still avoided the dogwalk (which was definitely the worst of them all) and just ran the rest of the course, leaving it out, so I could at least get some A Frame practice. Watching fast dogs slip and slide all over contacts is not my idea of safe trialling and I can't believe it is acceptable equipment for trialling there. Think I was the only person who 'voted with her feet' though, but so be it. I won't risk my dog's safety for anything.
Canberra also wins the award for the unfriendliest triallers ever. I was pretty shocked at this on the Saturday and thought maybe I was imagining it, so after relaying the day's trialling to a friend who came up on the Sunday, she decided to test my theory and say 'hello' to everyone I had tagged as having a face that might crack if they smiled. Well all I can say is that the theory was well and truly upheld as not one of them even returned her greeting and all turned their faces away and ignored her - too funny. Geez, they go on about how much they hate Victorians but we're not that scary, surely. Especially when people here always seem to go out of their way to at least greet 'strangers'. On the flip side, we met some lovely people but all turned out to be from Sydney ! Canberra seems to have this weird kind of Stepford wives vibe about it where if you an outsider you are not encouraged to make any sort of eye contact (unless they deem that you are 'someone' in the world of agility and are worth the bother of speaking too) and the general impression is 'we just want you to piss off back from where you came from' ...... don't worry, we will be ! Not an experience I ever intend to repeat that's for sure.
Just as well our time in Sydney well and truly made up for it. Met lots of lovely people and dogs and was very happy with all our runs. It was enjoyable watching dogs from all over Australia and New Zealand compete and to see the standard of some of the runs too as it most definitely inspires me to raise my level of handling and to keep working hard. Loved watching a number of 'Ivy relatives' and some absolutely brilliant kelpies as well - there were quite a number of these. Not to mention the variety of breeds competing, some that I have never seen doing agility before.
It was a great experience to run in the indoor arena, especially stepping up to the line on finals day which was an unexpected bonus. Sure, there were some problems with the venue, with not much space for crates indoors or gazebos outdoors, everything being so spread out, not to mention walking up and down all those hills from the parking lot, but the general impression is that the good definitely outweighed the bad and it was an amazing venue to compete in and I am thankful that I had the chance to do so.
Ivy certainly enjoyed herself too, especially being allowed inside in the dog friendly motel and not having those annoying kelpies around ! (So she says) We had a 'day off' mid week, as I didn't enter any of the Open events in the evenings due to having an hour drive to the venue, so spent the afternoon at Bundeena, a lovely little 'outer suburb' of Sydney right on the beach.
The beach was lovely, as was the sunshine and the outdoor (dog friendly) cafes. The whole place had the atmosphere of a quaint little 'artists village' (think of a smaller scale Warrandyte in Victoria) where everyone waves as they walk or cycle past and there is a real community feel about it. I imagine it would be a nice place for a holiday with dogs - just a pity it was a bit far from the Nationals venue as it was the original place I was thinking about staying.
I didn't get to watch too much Finals action as I left straight after our jumping final to get most of the driving home done in daylight hours, but there were some wonderful runs and it certainly felt like a privilege to be part of it. We may not have been 'successful' in regard to medals but we managed to achieve a few personal goals that I had set so our final run was just as successful in my eyes - and it was exciting to have to move on and set some new goals, which I have now done. Thanks Ivy for being my very willing partner and giving your all - I might whinge about the fact that you run like a crack addict a lot of the time, but I admit I secretly love it and you are such fun to run, I wouldn't have it any other way. So time to move on to Masters jumping and kick it up another notch - and my handling a whole lot of notches. Hopefully we get to repeat our 'excellent adventure' in Brisbane 2014, we can't wait !
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