# Another great trial at Monadnock Humane Society



## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Kodi had a great day yesterday at the Monadnock Humane WCR trial. We were entered in 5 classes. He Q'd in all, got scores of 205 or better in 4 (the outlier was 198, still high enough for a title Q) Finished his ARCHEX (10 double Q's of 195 or better at levels 2&3... Kodi completed with only one score under 200, and that was a 199) and completed his first MX leg. (10 QQQ's at levels 1,2 and 3, all 195 or better)

We had to pick him up for his picture with the judge... the ribbon is bigger than he is!


----------



## Ruth4Havs (May 13, 2013)

Wow, congragulations! That is a BIG ribbon!


----------



## jabojenny (Sep 18, 2011)

Oh my what a big ribbon, but well deserved. Good job to you two, congrats!!! I volunteered my third agility trial yesterday. I'm beginning to look familiar to regular attendees and have begun picking their brains. I got to drive the judge to the airport, an hour drive, and learned a lot too, I didn't realize there were so many clubs/organizations other then AKC, the only one I remember was UKC. I really want to start thinking about getting Tim into some type of trial and most people recommended Rally over Obedience, what are your thoughts on that? I got a couple names of some people who do more Rally/Obedience then Agility so I'm going to ask them where they would recommend I go for my first attempt. I know with my daughter's swimming that there are better pools to swim in then others so I guess it might be the same thing with trial venues too?


----------



## whimsy (Apr 3, 2010)

Congrats to you and your little star!! Way to go Kodi..love the ribbon!


----------



## Pucks104 (Aug 16, 2012)

Congrats to both you and Kodi!


----------



## sandypaws (Aug 8, 2012)

A BIG congratulations to you and Kodi to go along with the BIG ribbon. Quite impressive, you two. Karen, you've done an amazing job with him but, of course, I know you coildn't have done it if you didn't have such a smart, willing guy to work with. Go Kodi, you're on fire. :flame:


----------



## Tuss (Apr 22, 2012)

Congrats KAren and Kodi



jabojenny said:


> Oh my what a big ribbon, but well deserved. Good job to you two, congrats!!! I volunteered my third agility trial yesterday. I'm beginning to look familiar to regular attendees and have begun picking their brains. I got to drive the judge to the airport, an hour drive, and learned a lot too, I didn't realize there were so many clubs/organizations other then AKC, the only one I remember was UKC. I really want to start thinking about getting Tim into some type of trial and most people recommended Rally over Obedience, what are your thoughts on that? I got a couple names of some people who do more Rally/Obedience then Agility so I'm going to ask them where they would recommend I go for my first attempt. I know with my daughter's swimming that there are better pools to swim in then others so I guess it might be the same thing with trial venues too?


Rally and Obedience both compliment each other. Rally is more "fun" than formal obedience, but obedience will give you the foundation to be better at Rally! Rally is great for the "in between" stages in obedience, when you aren't ready to compete at the next left, but still want to get in the ring. I think most people who are serious do both. If you are just getting started, then Rally is probably the most fun and "forgiving" for the beginner.


----------



## Pixiesmom (Jul 31, 2008)

My GOODNESS where do you keep all of these awards??


----------



## Ruthiec (Jun 18, 2013)

Wow, great results. Well done Karen and Kodi.


----------



## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

jabojenny said:


> Oh my what a big ribbon, but well deserved. Good job to you two, congrats!!! I volunteered my third agility trial yesterday. I'm beginning to look familiar to regular attendees and have begun picking their brains. I got to drive the judge to the airport, an hour drive, and learned a lot too, I didn't realize there were so many clubs/organizations other then AKC, the only one I remember was UKC. I really want to start thinking about getting Tim into some type of trial and most people recommended Rally over Obedience, what are your thoughts on that? I got a couple names of some people who do more Rally/Obedience then Agility so I'm going to ask them where they would recommend I go for my first attempt. I know with my daughter's swimming that there are better pools to swim in then others so I guess it might be the same thing with trial venues too?


The entry level to get in the game is lower for rally than obedience or agility. I love all three, and I compete in more than one venue in each. We don't have a lot of UKC around here (though there is some) so I haven't done any of that. For rally I do AKC and WCR. For obedience I do AKC and CDSP and for agility, AKC and NADAC, though I've heard CPE is fun, and the easiest agility venue.

You are lucky, because NJ is an area with a lot to offer besides AKC... I know there are LOTS of CDSP and WCR trials there. As far as trial SITES are concerned, yes, some are harder than others, and to some extent it depends on the dog. There is once trial site around here where the room where they set up the ring is used for doggy day care during the week. LOTS of dogs have "sniffy" issues on that floor, and my guess is it's from lots of day care dog accidents. Another site that has LOTS of trials up here is the EasterN States Exposition Center, which is the site of our HUGE multi-state fair in the fall. during the rest of the year, various buildings are used for dog shows, horse shows, etc. There's lots of room there, so the trial and show committees like it from that perspective, but the buildings are CAVERNOUS and noisy. A lot of dogs find it a hard place to concentrate. Then there are others with nice rings, but tight crating/warm-up space. You just have to learn your dog, and learn where they perform best. I'm REALLY lucky with Kodi that way... He is rarely fazed by a trial venue.

The only place we've had trouble is at one site where we've done agility... and that's because he was "attacked" (it didn't actually hurt him physically, but it scared him to bits!!!) by a cattle dog that got loose and charged him, roaring in his face. We're working slowly up to trialing there again, but he's still pretty nervous about it, and I can't blame him.

Lots of places that have trials regularly also offer "run throughs" pretty regularly. These are opportunities to do a course under show-like conditions, but you can train, use food or toys in the ring, re-do signs that you get wrong, etc. It's a great way to figure out if you're close to ready for a trial. The next step up would be a "show and go" which is organized like a trial, but not sanctioned by AKC. Most still allow a certain amount of "training in the ring", but not as much as run-throughs. The last step before real trials are matches, which are sanctioned by AKC, but do not count toward titles. We didn't bother with those. I figured when we were ready for that, we were ready for a real trial!


----------



## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

sandypaws said:


> A BIG congratulations to you and Kodi to go along with the BIG ribbon. Quite impressive, you two. Karen, you've done an amazing job with him but, of course, I know you coildn't have done it if you didn't have such a smart, willing guy to work with. Go Kodi, you're on fire. :flame:


You are absolutely right there, Mary! If I didn't have such a talented little partner, it would be a lot more difficult!


----------



## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Pixiesmom said:


> My GOODNESS where do you keep all of these awards??


Ha! To be honest... most of them are kept the way I keep all my horse show ribbons... In a black plastic trash bag! :laugh: Dave only lets me keep the title ribbons out on display, not class ribbons. (although I did sneak his ribbons from the national specialty in there too! )


----------



## RitaandRiley (Feb 27, 2012)

Congratulation Karen and Kodi!


----------



## sandypaws (Aug 8, 2012)

While you're on the subject of trials, Karen, I got the scoop on the CCKC agility trials in Westborough. The reason they are held there is because we do not have a large enough indoor facility on the Cape and the club wants to have a fall option, as well as the trials held outdoors here in the spring. We had a meeting tonight and they mentioned that because it is a one-ring event, able to accommodate only 330 dogs, it filled up fast with a waiting list. Of course that's awesome for us. Sorry you didn't get in.


----------



## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

sandypaws said:


> While you're on the subject of trials, Karen, I got the scoop on the CCKC agility trials in Westborough. The reason they are held there is because we do not have a large enough indoor facility on the Cape and the club wants to have a fall option, as well as the trials held outdoors here in the spring. We had a meeting tonight and they mentioned that because it is a one-ring event, able to accommodate only 330 dogs, it filled up fast with a waiting list. Of course that's awesome for us. Sorry you didn't get in.


Well, it's nice that it's so close to me! Maybe next year.


----------



## Suzi (Oct 27, 2010)

Congratulations to the both of you. What a great accomplishment. That is one large ribbon.


----------



## swaye (Mar 28, 2013)

Congratulations Karen and Kodi! It was with hard work that that HUGE ribbon is now in your possession!


----------



## jabojenny (Sep 18, 2011)

Thanks for all the great info. So much to learn! I think I'll need to start some kind of spreadsheet/timeline to keep track of what is going on and what's our best fit.


----------



## TilliesMom (Sep 30, 2010)

Congratulations Team Black and White!!!! Your work with Kodi always amazes me!!!


----------



## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

jabojenny said:


> Thanks for all the great info. So much to learn! I think I'll need to start some kind of spreadsheet/timeline to keep track of what is going on and what's our best fit.


I think that until/unless you get serious about competing, just pick ONE that is not too far away, and that other people you know will be going to. (for moral support! ) Then train toward that ONE. Once you ahve the first one under your belt, it doesn't seem so overwhelming anymore, and you can start to add others as you want. I only did APDT (now WCR) rally to start with. Then I added AKC Rally, then CDSP obedience, then AKC obedience, and then the two agility venues last. (and I still don't consider us "confirmed competitors" in agility AT ALL!)

I'm still feeling my way in agility. He has his permanent card for NADAC, because he's at the very bottom of his height range, meaning he only needed to be measured once. In AKC, it doesn't matter how far under they are, they still need to be measured 3 times, so we still need to do that at each trial. I also didn't realize how FAST AKC agility trials fill, and that you can actually mail entries ahead of the opening date, they just can't ARRIVE before the opening date. (for other sports it is by postmark) So I recently put entries in the mail for two trials ON the opening day, only to find out I was in 40th place on the waiting list!!!

If you start trying to learn all that stuff for all the different venues at the same time, you'll make yourself crazy!


----------

