Since the rest of the Goldears family went to Portland this weekend Sydney decided to head back to Pullman early with Nicole in order to celebrate her sixth birthday with an agility trial. Sydney earned her first leg in novice weavers with a first place finish in her class. She also had some good runs in regular and jumpers, if only those bars would stay up.

Sydney and Indy competed in the Argus Ranch CPE trial January 2nd and 3rd. Indy qualified in Jackpot with a first place run in his height class and the second highest point total in all of level 1. Sydney qualified in Fullhouse and twice in Regular earning her CL1-R title. Sydney will need to work on knocking bars in practice which cost her from qualifying in Jumpers.

Good news!  Bridget and Sydney entered in a NADAC trial in Spokane hosted by the HOODOO Howlers and completed their last legs in Touch’n'Go and Tunnelers and earn their TN-O (Open Tunnelers) and TG-N (Novice Touch’n'Go) titles!  Being back in Pullman, WA for school this maybe the last trial the team competes in for quite awhile.  Unfortunately they could not go 3 for 3, just knocking one bar in their jumpers run… but lets not downgrade their spectacular performance!  Great job Bridget and Syd!

On a side note, our friends at Starlight Border Collies also completed their last leg in Touch’n'Go to gain her novice title.  Congrats to Nicole and Ella!

Please check out our videos page to see Bridget and Syd’s amazing runs… IN 3-D!  Okay, well not in 3-D, but just imagine if it were and put the funny glasses on.

Well, unfortunately this trial didn’t go very well.  Neither team was able to come home with a qualifying run.  Let me break it down…

Jumpers:
Indy started off well though Chauncey did not.  And though there were some handling mishaps, its still clear that Indy needs to work on his weave poles.
Sydney broke her sit stay, and Bridget did the right thing by not continuing the course.

Standard:
Both teams clearly need to work on their tire.  Each dog would miss the first obstacle.  Syd got a little to excited/agitated and started running across different obstacles, and Bridget was forced yet again to end the run short.  Indy decided to end the run early on his own, by running out of the ring – forcing the judge to whistle him out.

We didn’t compete on Sunday, as Chauncey got food poisoning.  Though it was a rough day on Saturday, the AKC trial was slightly successful as we were see some improvement in Indy’s temperament around other dogs and in the environment.  We might not compete anytime in the near future, but we’ll both be practicing!

Thanks for reading!

Well the results are in from today’s NADAC Rainier Agility Team (RAT) Trial, and there is some good stuff to talk about.  Both teams worked really hard today and luckily came away with ribbons!  I think we found A LOT of things we need to work on, but overall I think it was a good day for the Gold Ears team – especially considering the heat/temperature we had to battle!

Indy & Chauncey (1/6):
1 Qualifying Run in Novice Tunnelers – placing 3rd.

Sydney & Bridget (3/4):
2 Qualifying Runs in Open Tunnelers – placing 2nd and 3rd.
1 Qualifying Run in Novice Touch’N'Go – placing 2nd.

Indy and Chauncey’s day wasn’t nearly as successful as Syd and Bridget’s but for only his 2nd trial, we will take it in stride and hopefully build on it for the upcoming AKC Trial.  Rather than working on anything in specific, Indy’s problem was more the atmosphere of the trial and his issues with other dogs and distractions.  Its also important to note that Indy would have qualified in his 1st Round of Novice Tunnelers if Chauncey had not made a handling error.

Now on to the better news, Syd and Bridget qualified in 3 of their 4 runs.  They both did a really great job, and we can see some real improvement in Syd – especially in her sit-stays.  Hopefully this is just the beginning and will translate into some great results at the upcoming AKC trial.

We updated our videos page to include the qualifying tunnelers for today, please feel free to enjoy!

That is all for now – you stay classy San Diego?

Its not official official but I think Gold Ears will be participating in the Fun Match at Argus Ranch, Wednesday the 29th of July.   I think this will better prepare us for the AKC trial in Enumclaw that we are currently entered in.

Also as a reminder, please come out and join us this upcoming weekend for the NADAC trial in Kent.  This will be Indy’s second trial, so I have pretty high expectations for him – though I am going to try to be realistic.   We’d appreciate any support, and I am sure Indy and the rest of the Gold Ears team would love to see you.