Thursday, August 06, 2015

AKC Summer Classic

Photo by Next to Wild Phography
Kili and I attended our first non-local trial! We are so fortunate in Edmonton to have so many local trials that it really isn't necessary to travel at all. It saves a lot of time and money in gas and hotel fees. Locally we can attend at least one weekend trial per month, and often there are small evening trials as well. However, the Alberta Kennel Club Summer Classic is a CKC show (there are only a few of those per year in Alberta), and it is also the largest outdoor dog show in Canada! They host conformation, rally-o, obedience, and agility events over 4 days. The show is held at the world renowned show jumping facility, Spruce Meadows. I grew up watching Spruce Meadows on t.v. as a kid, and I always dreamed of going. I just never imagined the first time I went would be for a dog show!

We should get some SuperDogs out to jump this thing!

Kili and I attended only 2 days of the trial as I had to work. We weren't able to get an agility practice in during the week between SuperDogs and the trial, and it's a bit of an adjustment to make from "FAST FAST FAST" back to "fast but controlled". Kili had some "moments", however overall I was really happy with her performance. She had a 50% Q rate in both Standard and Jumpers, and completed both her Novice Standard and Intermediate Jumpers titles. She had one spectacularly awful run, a couple of absolutely flawless runs, and a couple of runs in between.

Photo by Next to Wild Photography
Photo by Next to Wild Photography

Photo by Next to Wild Photography

We were fortunate to have some beautiful weather and such a beautiful venue, as well as some friends we knew from Edmonton to bench with. We even ran into quite a few of our new friends from SuperDogs. The only slight downer was the extreme heat, especially since the greyhounds don't handle it particularly well. The second day was especially hot as there was very little breeze. I was able to keep Kili from overheating with her awesome little crate fan and her cool coat, but the heat still really sucked a lot of energy out of everyone!



Sadly, the only video I got were of so-so runs. In the Intermediate Standard run she popped her weave poles for no obvious reason (though this is a bit of a trial related problem we've been having about 50% of the time) and then completely ignored me when I tried to call her off the wrong tunnel entrance. In the Intermediate JWW run, although she Q'd it was far from pretty. This was her 4th and last run of the second day, and it was an absolutely sweltering day. She was exhausted and hot and slow. I had to baby sit her weave poles. But she listened to me, didn't pull any bars, did her best for me, and got the Q... can't be unhappy with that!


The best part of agility trials is the really tired dog at the end of the day!
Kili chilling out at the hotel.

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