The Agility Gods have finally taken pity on us ......
 ......  359 days ..... and 84 attempts in the agility ring since our last ribbon ...... Team Harrington has had a QUALIFYING run! It was not the prettiest thing we have ever done but we got the job done.  Here is Harry with his pretty new ribbons:  As we have mentioned before, our favorite class is FAST because it allows us to have mistakes and caters to one of Harry's strengths, the ability to work a distance from me. Since we have moved up to the Excellent level the courses have been riduculously hard. I would have taken it personally except most of the times very few dogs at that level have qualified. Often the courses don't flow and any decision about when to complete the bonus is removed by the placement of the finish line. Here is the video of our run - He needed to complete the bonus area of right end of the tunnel followed by two jumps without me crossing the line plus gather an additional 26 points on the rest of the course before the buzzer. Every full second over is a one point deduction. There are no faults or wrong courses which is also beneficial to us. He dropped the first bar of course.  But the biggest problem many people had was getting their dog into the correct end of the first tunnel due to the angle coming out of the tire. It was a very necessary 8 points. Several people who botched this could have fixed it by putting the dog over another obstacle before retrying the tunnel. I remembered to do that, although I should have shaved time by doing a wrap since the tire was bidirectional. Harry and I are usually strong on the bonus area and that is where we shined. Most people were not able to get their dog over that second jump and several that did could not get it done with enough points and time. I almost lost Harry to the final jump which would have stopped the clock but thank goodness I got him back and over the teeter for the needed 6 points. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FDbct5R3x0 He finished the course in less than a second over course time so no point deductions and gathered 63 points when only 60 were needed.  |
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Congratulations Team Harrington!!  Perseverance pays off. Both of you did a great job!!!!!! |
| Good Job..Harry.. (and Judi) |
| WAHOOOO!!!! GO TEAM HARRY!!!!!  GOOD JOB GUYS!!!!!!  |
gotta luv that.  congrats judi and harry. |
| Great Job Judi & Harry! Cindy |
What wonderful news!!!! I am  with envy!CONGRATULATIONS! |
| CONGRATULATIONS!!! Great Job to both of you!!! |
| Very nice! I had to make it full screen and watch it to see everything.....the view is great but worked my vertigo a bit..  I love how you kept your cool and redirected Harry to make up for the oops things - totally saved his hairy Harry butt!! Great send as well...you timed it right to keep his momentum going...and then the save to keep him from taking the 3rd jump and stopping the clock - good work! |
| Congratulations! I always LOVE Harry-poking-his-head-out-of-his-crate shots! I'm a bit confused about how it works, so he's qualified for? I can't wait to watch the video when I get home. |
| Great Job Team Harrington |
| Yay Harry and Judi!!!! |
| Way to go, guys! Kristine |
| Thanks everyone. It is such a relief to have broken our losing streak. Unfortunately, we came so very close again today (closer than other people) but he dropped a bar. We were going for our title. It was a course made for our Hurricane Harry. Distance is our only strength. Oh well, there is always 2012 since we won"t see another FAST course this year. Baba wrote: I'm a bit confused about how it works, so he's qualified for? For most performance events (agility, obedience, rally, herding) you need to have a Qualifying (passing) score on the agility or rally course, obedience exercises, or herding skills. Each Qualifying score counts as a "leg" towards a title. There are titles for several skill levels. Usually the first few levels require three "legs" to earn a title. Currently, Harry has earned his Novice and Open titles in this particular agility event. He just earned his second leg towards his Excellent title in this event. If we had qualified today he would have had a new title because it would have been the third leg.  Those Qualifying scores are referred to as a Q. Does that make it any clearer? |
| I am so very very pleased for you both. I hope he will be giving a demo and maybe give a talk to the other sheepies at next year's sheepiepalooza about his agility experience! |
Mady wrote: I am so very very pleased for you both. I hope he will be giving a demo and maybe give a talk to the other sheepies at next year's sheepiepalooza about his agility experience!  And plan on coming to the national in Wisconsin next year and watch the OES only agility trial.  I have a small brag. I shouldn't tack it on to Harry's thread, but I'm lazy. Sybil also got a Q and blue ribbon this weekend in excellent standard, meaning she has two legs each in standard and in jumpers. She could have finished both titles if she could convince herself she can weave reliably even if the judge is right by the weaves Judi - I'll trade you a few runs of no dropped bars for a few runs of doing the damn weaves and we'll call it even and both come out ahead. I don't have a pretty picture with her ribbons, but I picked up a coupled of fun pictures from her runs and will scan them when I get a chance. Oh, and start a separate thread - sorry.  Judi, I saw you'd tried T2B. How did you like it? We plan to offer it and FAST at the national. OK, time to zzzzzzzzzz Kristine |
| Congratulations Kristine and Sybil too! When are these Nationals in Wisconsin? Do they have a beginners agility? Hmmm, maybe there is another road trip in our future. Interesting how a sheepdog forum can make me visit places that I had never thought to visit before! |
| The OESCA national next year will be held Sept 17-20 in West Bend, Wisconsin, just northwest of Milwaukee. Tentative schedule for now (herding is a bit up in air still, so don't quote me): Sunday or Monday Sept 17: herding (and OESCA annual match) Tuesday Sept 18: OES only AKC agility trial (following health seminar and followed by the Top 20 - it'll be outside on grass and we're thinking of having a picnic. Mostly for the spectators. Unless Sybil decides to leave the ring and help herself )Weds Sept 19: OES only obedience and rally trials (indoors - following sweeps and class dogs - i.e. conformation judging) Thursday Sept 20: class bitches (conformation), then the rescue parade, and then the Best of Breed judging, followed by the awards banquet in the evening. Friday Sept 21 - WI regional specialty - almost certainly breed only I don't know about beginners, but there will be Novice agility classes amd I know Canadian OES are more than welcome to compete, as we had one of your countrywomen competing with her OES in rally and obedience last year. You do have to apply for some kind of number from the AKC, same as I'd have to do if I wanted to say compete in obedience in Canada, so you'd need to plan ahead some. But you still have time. Mady only needs an AKC number if she actually wants to compete. She's more than welcome to hang out, visit and spectate without any additional paperwork. I'll warn you though - if you come you will want to participate in some way. And to bring this back to our hero, Harry - sort of, at least (sorry, Judi ): in 2013 the OESCA national will be in St Louis at Purina Farms, Harry's stomping ground.Kristine |
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