Tuesday, October 1, 2013

FINALLY we get to talk about AGILITY

Today's category is...........drum roll please............. AGILITY.

The main reason we go to Pug Nationals is for agility, for sure. Mom loves to visit her friends, we love to show in Rally, but the "big deal" for all of us is for the agility trial, that is held on Wednesday of the week of Nationals.

Almost 10 years ago, a group of dedicated Pug agility folks convinced the national Pug club to put on their first trial. Not many people had seen agility in person, and there weren't many Pugs running agility. I wasn't even born yet!

But mom stepped up, with her friend Donna, and agreed to be in charge. The first trial was wet (it was in Washington state and had poured the night before), crazy (a helicopter was hovering low a few yards away during one of the runs, and the trial had to be put on hold until it was gone), poopy (there was goose poop everywhere, which had to be cleaned up before we ran. You know Pugs and eating gross things off the ground) and muddy (more than one handler ran out of their shoes when they got stuck in the muddy ground). But they were so grateful that the club was offering agility, they didn't care.

The group shot from this year


But it brought Pug agility folks from all over the country together, and formed a bond that is still strong to this day. Every year the trial gets bigger and better.

Some of the beautiful ribbons to be won


On to this year's trial: Mom and Donna were in charge again, and that meant last minute scrambling to tie up all the loose ends that are part of putting on a trial. We headed to the show site bright and early, and mom was off and running.

Our participation prizes from last year


The day was a blur, but here are some highlights:

1. Meme and Joe (Donna's husband) stepped up and ran a great hospitality and raffle table
2. We had 44 Pugs entered
3. We had 25 handlers running
4. We had 117 agility runs
5. 56 of those runs were qualifying runs
6. 15 states were represented
7. 18 Pugs over the age of 7 were entered
8. The judge was great. She cheered each and every run

Everybody did so good, that they ran out of qualifying ribbons!

Here are some personal highlights:
1. Arnie got another Jumpers leg, giving him another leg towards his MXJ-P
2. I rocked the course! I qualified in all 4 of my runs (a miracle, considering I've never even double Q'd before, let alone quadruple Q'd), with 2 first places.
3. Arnie and I managed to run even though we literally sat in our crates until 2 minutes before we had to run; pee, warm up, run, got back in to the crate. But we're trained professionals, so we did our jobs just fine.

Waiting (sort of) patiently for our runs

All in all, a great day. We're already planning for next year, when we get to go to Kentucky!

Here's some shots of Arnie running:


Off and running

Great shot of Arnie

Weaving, weaving

Here I come!

Arnie loves to leap out of the chute

A little close to the edge, there, dude

BIG jump

Now shots of me running:


Cutest butt ever

Full extension

Driving through those weave poles

Banking the turns, with tail as a rudder

Hit that yellow and RUN

Gaining speed

Don't worry, the ears don't drag me down

Perfectly centered

That's a big jump

Maximum efficiency for turning

Where are you, mom?

Check out the takeoff

I can jump!