AKC is fine by me!

We have an AKC trial this weekend.  It’s close enough to drive there and back both days, and I’m EXCITED!  A lot of great people and dogs I know will be there, and I know Layla would be really excited too if dogs got the concept of upcoming events.  (She’ll be READY the minute she sees the agility bag come out Saturday morning at the crack of dawn though, dogs get that!)

In honor of my present, and Layla’s near-future,’ OMG WE’RE GOING TO A TRIAL’-ness; I started thinking about the things I really like about AKC agility (certainly not to the detriment of any other agility organizations).

This is Layla after a day of trialing.  Layla AT a trial is more like schizophrenics at Starbucks.

Layla and I do best with a familiar routine.  In AKC I always know how long I’ve got to walk the course, I know it will be five minutes until the first dog on the line, and I often know before the trial the running order and who we will follow and what breed they are running.  (If you’re running after us, “All-American” means looks like a Border Collie with a hint of God-only-knows).  This helps Layla since the less harried I am, the less harried she is.

I love watching other dogs run AKC courses; I think AKC courses are generally lovely and even most NQs are a pleasure to watch.

My experience was that they measured Layla very fairly and carefully, the two people who measured her genuinely wanted dogs to get the best measurement possible.  And Layla was right on that 18” line, and I am very happy she gets to jump 16” as opposed to 20”.  And some agility organizations, nice as they are, jump dogs overall at heights I'm not comfortable with, but that's personal preference.

I like choices and there are a lot of AKC trials within a feasible travel distance from here.

The judge asked to speak with me after a run one time, and she gave me calm and kind advice.  It was a pleasant exchange, and helpful.  She just pointed out that I was louder in calling out commands on the first half of the course and we were shaky, but my voice was much softer on the second half and that part looked very good.  I told her I was working on that and she said “I can tell”.  It was all good.  Even when I tried the teeter twice in a run, and the judge that time blew the whistle on me, it was just matter of fact, nothing snarky.  I can deal with that, no worries!  I had such a fear of the judges at first (they're all dressed up after-all); but I’m more at ease now.

When we first started in agility, I heard through the grapevine that the people at AKC trials were so snotty that it was like a mucus volcano.  But there are snotty people everywhere in life, and I really haven’t encountered many at AKC trials.  OK, this one dude at one trial made a couple of us want to barf, but the fact that he was an anomaly was what made him so irritating.  I’ve gotten a lot of support at trials, even from folks I don’t know.  I’ve had a couple sit down to eat lunch with me, then figure out later all the amazing things the husband had accomplished with his dogs.  The guy’s a big deal, why would they decide to sit down with me?  I guess I was just there.

Over-all we are having a good time, even with my sometimes handling from hell.  As I’ve been told many times, I’ve got a “lot of dog”, (bitch, really, LOL), but I am still conscious and moving around, so maybe each time can get better, or at least tell me something.  I’m hoping this weekend will be on the better side.