UKC Premier

I had a wonderful time this last week.  I could write a novel about it all but I doubt you want to read all that, so I will just give the basics.

Grace and I ran UKC agility together for the first time.  She did wonderfully.  For thiose unfamiliar, UKC agility is scored similarly to obedience where you start with a 200 and are marked points off for any issues that may occur such as off courses, or not entering or exiting an obstacle straight.  Grace and I ran 5 times over the 4 days, earning qualifying runs all 5 times. We earned the following scores 200,195,184,200,193.  A couple of issues we had that got points taken off were overshooting the table and falling off, then re-entering on the wrong side, bouncing off the side of the teeter instead of exiting straight off,  and once she got caught in the chute so she backed out then barrelled through it.  It was quite funny because you could tell she was mad that she got stuck, and in typical Grace fashion after she was out of the chute she turned back to bark at it for slowing her down.
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On Friday Grace also ran one run of Level 1 rally where she also qualified.  I had entered this because I was really hoping that Grace could maybe earn a total dog award, and when I sent my entries, I was not confident in our ability to run in agility.  To do that a dog has to qualify in a performance event and do well in the conformation ring. Since I couldn't handle both Grace and Peace, Grace got to play with a new friend Mike who she showed her beautifully.  So Grace got to be in the total dog parade of qualifiers and compete for the best total dog award.

Peace also did wonderfully this weekend.  She placed 2nd in weight pull on Friday for her performance event so also was able to do the total dog parade and conformation contest. She did not ultimately place, but she did make the cut in the herding group for that.  The steward told me afterward that the judge commented that he really had liked her. Peace also won BOB at the Top Ten invitational Thursday (I cried) as well as earning 2 wins towards a grand and BOB on both Friday and Saturday.  Sunday she did not win, but that did not dim our excitement at all.  3 BOB's over a 4 day weekend was incredible.

There were so many people there from MN, WI and IA that it seemed like I was constantly running into people. Everyone seemed to have a great time. I met some new people, made some new dog friends and want to do it again. Soon. I know Grace does, she wants to play with Ryan Newman (Dwysans Hot Wheels) again. I have never seen her flirt with another cardi in quite the same way. She was smitten!  Anyone else already thinking about Gateway?