Okay, the TDAA Petit Prix is over and I am on the road. I didn’t really make it very far… to Champaign-Urbana to be exact. I’ve holed up in a Red Roof Inn for $37.95 a night. And my poor tired puppy dogs are already crashed like a bomb has gone off. It was a long tough day for them.

I’m delighted to report that the second day of the Petit Prix went pretty well for us. After the semi-final rounds, six of them altogether, all three of my dogs led in points; yes, even Birdie. Well, Birdie has always been a slow starter. We were kinda in the Zone today. The pivotal class was snooker, which I won with all three of my dogs in their respective jump heights. I’m an old USDAA player… so you might say I was doing a bit of “teaching”. You don’t play for the Q; you play for the win.

The final rounds consisted of a standard run and a game called “Tunnel Vision” which is the invention of Darlene Woz, a grand lady in our sport, who has invented a number of fun games. So it went down like this, Bogie and Hazard won their standard rounds, and Birdie took a second. And in Tunnel Vision, well heck, all three of them won I guess. I’m happy thrilled and gratified to report that all three of my dogs won their respective jump heights.

It’s bitter-sweet for me. This is both Bogie and Birdie’s last agility competition ever. I intend for them to be retired forever after. They have been my constant companions and agility partners for many years now. They were so happy to be out there working I could just about cry now. Hell, I am crying now.

And young Hazard beat every dog in the building in Tunnel Vision. She was the only dog to finish the bonus round in the game… and even had five seconds to spare. How did she beat my old agility warriors, Bogie and Birdie? There’s just no explanation for it. And the thing that really amazes me… I know she wasn’t working at full speed. Certainly that’ll be coming as her confidence grows.

The competitors at the Petit Prix are such a bunch of wonderful people. I feel enriched just to be around them. There are some young dogs coming up that have terrific agility careers in front of them. I know that we’re in the early days of the organization, and the competition will get tougher and tougher every year. I’ve seen it happen in every venue.

Eye of the Storm

I have a long drive home tomorrow. I have some course revisions to do for a USDAA trial I’m judging next weekend in Madera, CA. I get back from California on the Monday next just in time for a four-day camp at Country Dream. That’s how October seems to go for me. But this week is a few days clear for chores and such. It reminds me of a James Clavel novel… (Taipan?) when a typhoon hits with fury and destruction. And then the eye of the typhoon passes over and all is calm and peaceful, until the back side of the typhoon smashes in with equal fury.

Yes, that describes October for me.

Tunnel Vision

If you really want to understand the game (good luck!) the briefing is below.

My major concern in running my dogs was… running. There’s something about a course like this that suggests micromanagement… even shrill terror in handling the tight transitions. So largely my strategy was to turn on the gas and trust my dogs to do what they were trained to do. Movement is direction. Movement is motive.

In the initial turn from jump #2 to #3 the dog faces a wrong course jump only about 8’ away. This is followed by a long transitional run to get the dog into a pipe tunnel. I pretty much wanted the tunnel to the far right to draw back to the #5 jump because the two final tunnels lent themselves to a short transition on the back-end.

From a strategic point of view I had to remind myself that any faultable error was only a speed bump. About the worst thing I could do was have a melt-down. So you pick yourself up and go and endeavor to make it up on the bonus round.

The 10, 12, 14 clump was an exercise in remembering the correct sequence. My strategy was to take the inside tunnel first to draw around for the #11 jump, and then do the right-most tunnel, then the #15 jump, and then the left-most tunnel.

And then the strategy is to race through the finish *and* if possible, do the bonus sequence. One of the rules was if the dog starts the bonus sequence then he has to finish the bonus sequence whether or not time expires. I figured that if my dogs could do only four hurdles it would pay for the time it took to finish the sequence. Anything left over was gravy. Well, Birdie got 8 bonuses, Bogie got 10, and Hazard finished the lot.

This was a very fun game. It was an unusual selection for a final round game as that it was kind of a mind blower. It is worth remembering that the TDAA is as much about the games, nearly any you can imagine, as it is about the standard runs. Following the numbers is one thing. Anybody can do that. But games will tell the tale.

Briefing

Tunnel Vision is a game played with only tunnels, jumps, & weaves on the course.  The obstacles are taken in numerical order with these exceptions to a normal numbered course:

All obstacles can be taken in any direction

Each clump of tunnels may be performed in any order or direction as long as each tunnel is performed once. The dog entering the same tunnel twice, from either direction, will be faulted for off course. Not using each tunnel at least once will be faulted as a failure to perform.

The handler must remain behind the containment line for the tunnel performances. The handler may not cross the line until the dog has returned across the line from the tunnel performance.

Course time will be 60 seconds. Each dog starts with 100 points. Course faults & time faults will be deducted from the points. Bonuses will be added to the total points. Faults and bonuses are described below.

With time left on the clock, the handler can elect to do a jackpot run for bonus points. The jackpot run is the inner circle of obstacles minus the tunnels. If the dog starts the inner circle of obstacles, the dog must complete the run, which may then incur time faults. The dog will earn 5 points for each obstacle, unless faulted, until time expires. If the dog takes a tunnel during the jackpot run, there will be no penalty except for the loss of time it takes the dog to complete the tunnel.

Bars will not be reset during the run. A bar that is knocked in the original run will incur 5 faults. If the handler attempts the Jackpot run, the dog must be directed through the uprights of the jump, but will not earn points for that obstacle.

Table stops the time and is live throughout the game.

The game is scored points – faults +  bonuses, then time. Highest points wins.

Faults are as follows:

·        Dropped bars or missed weaves – 5 faults

·        Wrong course or failure to perform – 20 faults

·        Stepping over the line – 10 faults

·        Time faults – Whole seconds over the maximum time will be deducted from your points. Any whole seconds remaining, will be added to your points.