Exactly as I thought… the competition is tougher this year than any in the past. The TDAA reflects as in every other venue progress in dog training and better handling. As for my own dogs, Bogie is probably a walk into the final round in the 16” division; Hazard continues her canny qualifying streak and has won placements in every event at 8”… and even won the standard class. Birdie is struggling a bit, although he is having a lot of fun. He missed a contact in Gamblers Anonymous that cost him 230 points. Otherwise I wouldn’t be fretting getting him into the final round.

Gamblers Anonymous

Gamblers Anonymous is a funky game. There are six distance challenges on the course. Before a handler runs his dog he has to roll two dice of different colors. One color represents a zero-point gamble and the other a double-value obstacle. In the illustration we see the 10 point gamble and the 60 point gamble. The 60 point gamble was the toughest on the course. Note that whatever jump the dog starts on the dog had to be directed into the opposite side tunnel on the dismount.

Well, what I did with all of my dogs, successfully, was send through the 10 point gamble while staying back on the opposite side of the 60 point containment line. Then I just faded in a lateral path drawing them over the jump onto the A-frame. Then it was a simple matter of tucking the dog into the nearer side tunnel.

Poor Birdie rolled a 1… making the 10 point gamble is doubler; and a 6… making the 60 point gamble zero value. In the game if the dog does all 6 gambles he earns a 200 point high-roller bonus. That’s why his missed contact cost him 230 points (the dogwalk was in the 30 point gamble).

Results

Look for results from the TDAA Petit Prix on the organizations web-site: www.k9tdaa.com.