Baxter entered his second AKC event this past weekend. We entered Time 2 Beat, Jumpers with Weaves, and Standard for Saturday and Sunday. Time 2 Beat is an interesting and new event for AKC. There is one course and all the dogs run it. It is typically a higher level difficulty and dogs from novice to excellent compete to get the fastest time. Points are given based on your dog's time compared to the fastest dog.

Baxter qualified in one of the Jumpers runs to get his novice Jumpers title! We qualified in T2B both days, but NQ'd both days in Standard. Here is a break down of each run:

Saturday:

T2B - This was the first course of the trial for us. Baxter rocked it! It was a pretty easy course, very flowy. The video comes in at about the third obstacle. You can hear Ziggy "cheering" on Baxter in the background. Plus side, solid weave entry and he made his A-frame contact. Couldn't ask for a better run. We came in 5th place and got 6 points! Very proud!

Jumpers with Weaves - NQ'd. In the video, you can see Baxter run to the jump ahead of him instead of the jump we were suppose to take. In an almost Abbott and Costello bit, he ends up back jumping. I should have given him a "here" command to ensure he'd take the right jump. Plus side, solid weave entry and I had some good distance from him to the tunnel send.

Standard- NQ'd. I tried to do a front cross when Baxter was coming down the A-frame. I think I was late getting there and he had built up a lot of speed on the way down. That lead into messy weave attempts. The first two attempts I didn't push to the end like I did when we finally suceeded. I also need to work on getting him not to re-enter the weaves when we mess up. The three weave attempts for novice go very quickly when you use up two at a time. Baxter also apparently didn't fully jump the board jump. Plus side, made all his contacts and found the table dispite my confusion and misleading command. I had gotten a bit lost on the course at that point.

Sunday:
T2B - Rocked it even though Baxter broke his start to run over to see a dog that was playing outside the ring. Thankfully he didn't take the first jump, so it didn't affect his score. This was a longer course than Saturday and a little more challenging. This course required us to take the teeter twice. On the second go, you can see Baxter hesitate to complete it, thus completing his "teeter quota" for the day (see Standard explanation below). You can't see it in the video, but another solid weave entry and completion. We came in 6th place gaining 7 points!

Jumpers with Weaves - Qualified with a second place finish. Did a nice lead out in the beginning that placed me between jumps two and three. Did very well except for Baxter's breakaway into nothingness. I was behind him and not in a good place to direct him to the next jump. He usually takes his "go ons" very well, but may have been confused by my placement and the fact that he didn't see any jumps to take. Although we finished second due to the 5 points lost to the break away, his time was 28 seconds and some change, still 4 seconds faster than the first place sheltie. Another great weave pole entry and good speed for the run.

Standard - NQ'd. Baxter didn't want to do the teeter. He did it twice in the Time 2 Beat that morning, meeting his teeter quota for the trial. I think he will only give me two teeters a day. I also messed up the last tunnel because I provided no noise for him to follow, so he came back out the entry side. Plus side, made all his contacts, weaves went great, and he cleared the broad jump.

This was also Ziggy's first trial, although he just stayed with my parents and watched from the sidelines. He was especially good and didn't bark too much. He was super cute at the end of each day napping on the bleachers. Makes me wonder if he's going to have the stamina to run on those long long trial days. We'll see. =)

Ziggy wants to know where his ribbons are!

Here are links to the professional pictures taken during the two standard courses:

Standard Course Saturday

Standard Course Sunday