USAgility Training Center

All Breed Agility Training

Student News & Brags - 2003


Blue Star From Cindy Dahlberg with Turbo & Gunner:

Dahlberg Family
Turbo and Gunner had a great weekend at the NADAC trial in Del Mar.  We only went on Saturday, but came home with 4 Q's and 3 non-Q placements.  Turbo received a 4th Place and Q in Elite Regular Round 1 and an 8th Place Q in Elite Regular Round 2.  He had a clean run in Jumpers but missed time by 1 second! Gamblers was tough, but he made the weave pole entrance and then popped out of the last pole!  I was so pleased he worked away from me and got INTO the poles!  Awesome!
 
Gunner also had a great Saturday!  He receive a 1st Place Q in Open Standard Round 1 and a 2nd Place Q in Round 2, finishing his OAC and RS-O (ASCA Open) titles!  We struggled with time in Jumpers and were still not able to get the Gamble working away, but we will someday I'm sure!  (Pictured: all the kids relaxing at home)


Red Star From Peggy Jencks and Star:

At the SCAT AKC Trial in August, Star and I had a girl's weekend out to celebrate Star's "got adopted" day:a whole year already!  The two of us drove to Costa Mesa Saturday morning ran in Novice B JWW and Standard.  Star not only Q'd in standard but came in FIRST!  We spent the night in a motel, a new experience for her: and just like a small child, she had fun leaping back and forth from one bed to the other with her squeaky toy...don't tell the motel.  I was so proud of the way she handled all the new stuff this weekend. The agility "gods" were not as good to us on Sunday but we had a great weekend!


Blue Star From Peggy, Star and Blue after City of Industry AKC trial:

Blue and Star ran in Novice B 20" class.  We didn't have very good jumpers runs, but Standard was a whole different story!  They both Q'd with 100 points!  Blue came in 2nd place, with a little weave entry problem.  Star came in 4th place.  Today's minor issue was the table sit which lost a bit of time (she preferred down.  Both standard runs were otherwise clean.


Red Star From Diana Walker and Dottie (Border Collie)!

Dottie

Dottie and I started learning to run agility a couple years ago.  But we were having a lot of problems with her being scared of the judge and a few other things.  I was just about ready to quit because Dottie did not look like she was enjoying herself at all.  Then about 2 months ago at a trial in Bonita I watched Sandy run her Bostons in Gamblers.  That's when I made up my mind to change instructors.  That was the best thing that has happened to Dottie and me.  She goes to a trial now and is having fun!  We are having a lot of clean runs now.  Before we were lucky to get thru the course!  My first trainer did not teach a lot of things Sandy does, which had made all the difference in the world!  At Wags for Wishes we Q'd in both Standard classes!  We are now in Elite Standard and Jumpers...thanks to Sandy!


Blue Star From Barbara and Kali (May 31 & June 1 Trial):

Kali's First Ribbons
For those of you who know Kali & me from classes, you know that Kali has an attitude.  She likes to do things "her way".  Sandy has even called Kali a "spoiled brat" (can you image that?).  This was Kali's third trial & our first Snookers game.  At the judges briefing she told all of the handlers that it took a lot of runs to achieve a ribbon in Snookers, because it is the harder of the games to get the hang of.  So you can imagine my surprise when Kali won a third place!  My "attitude brat" won a ribbon in a first time game-WOW!  I definitely contribute this to the teaching & strategy pointers that Sandy gives to us in class & at the trials.


Red Star From Barbara and Kali:

Oscar and Kali with their ribbons

Then to top this week end trials off, Kali won in Standards.  On Saturday she took a third place & on Sunday, she took a fourth place.  I was a very proud handler!  The last game of the trials was the jumpers.  Kali & I worked together, the best we have ever done.  We had no course errors, however, our time was 7 seconds over, and so Kali did not get a placement in this.  THE FEELING OF HAVING RUN A TEAM EFFORT WITH KALI WAS MORE REWARDING THAN GETTING A RIBBON.  Getting a ribbon would have been nice though.
 
When you listen to Sandy (really listen),
When you let go of personal excuses of why you do what you do & do what Sandy is telling you works,
When you KNOW that you can do it,
When you put it all together...IT REALLY FEELS GOOD!
Thank you Sandy!


Blue Star From Sandy and Lil (Boston Terrier):

LiL on DogWalk
At the SCAT NADAC Trial on 6/14/03, Lil walked away with three 1st place Qualifiers: TWO in Open Standard finishing her Open Agility Certificate (OAC) and ONE in Open Jumpers!


Red Star Pilot jumping From Kathy and Pilot (Aussie handful):

Pilot actually put it all together in Novice Standard on Saturday at Wags for Wishes and earned a 4th place Q, his first leg in Novice!  The rest of his runs did not produce Q's but he is definitely catching on to the purpose of the game, paying much better attention, and holding his start line stays...Now if I could learn NOT to be distracted by his barking!  "Wags" was a great chance to see unusual dog sports like carting and lure coursing!  (Pilot, the "confident", couldn't follow the lure unless I ran with him : I wasn't really PLANNING to run the course myself!)
 
PS to Wags for Wishes...Much to my surprise, I received Pilot's AKC Novice Jumpers title certificate in the mail today: I left the trial early, thinking we had NOT qualified in Jumpers on Sunday!  Onward to Open!


Blue Star From Sandy and Geronimo:

Geronimo
Going for...and GETTING the Blue in Novice B Standard 12" Class at Wags for Wishes!


Red Star

Star From Peggy with True Blue and Star (Border Collies)!

Star was awesome this last weekend at Wags for Wishes!  She Q'd and placed third in Novice B 20" JWW on Saturday.  She has been to just two AKC trials and this was her first Q!  Just one year ago this week, she was left at the animal shelter, adopted out and returned just two days later.  Apparently she had just a little too much energy for the average pet home.  She was born to fly!!!  I couldn't ask for a better new team mate!
 
On 6/7/03 in the City of Industry High Desert Agility Club's AKC trial, True Blue earned his NJP, placing 2nd in the 16" Class with a clean run!


Blue Star From James and Oscar, April 18 & 19, 2003, after his 3rd trial:

Oscar's First Ribbons
Oscar is an 8 yr old Australian Shepherd, with a beautiful tail.  At his third Agility trial Oscar distinguished himself by placing fourth with a qualifying run in the NADAC/ASCA dual sanctioned agility trial sponsored by the Ups 'N Downs Agility Club.  This is his first Novice qualifying score.  To say that I am proud of him doesn't seem to adequately sum up the intense surprise and overwhelming ("WOW"!) of the moment.  Sandy Crook, our trainer attempted for several minutes to explain and convince me as to just what Oscar had accomplished.  Now I'm not sure I have any buttons left on the front of my shirt.  Oscar seems to know he has accomplished something important, as when I attached the ribbons to his collar, he did parade around a bit and posed rather well for his picture.  This is our first ribbon, and I am quite excited and impressed with Oscar.
 
Thank You Sandy, all of your hard work at getting through my thick skull is working out quite well on the field.  I am beginning to understand my right or left may not always be Oscar's perspective.
 
Please, don't lose patience, just get a bigger hammer.  Thanks again, Sandy. : Respectfully, James


Red Star Oscar's Snooker Ribbon From James and Oscar:

May 31 & June 1, 2003, after his 4th trial!
 
Barbara Hynal was Oscar's handler for this trial.  Barbara and Oscar worked very well together as a team for the short time they practiced together.  They did well enough for Oscar to capture fourth place in Snooker on 1 June.   This was quite a surprise since the judge told all of the handlers during the briefing that it took a lot of runs to achieve a ribbon in Snooker.  This was Oscar's first Snooker run.  Sandy Crook is a very thorough trainer, all of her prodding during class really paid off at the trial.  Thank You, Sandy!


Blue Star From Jen Shaul and her multi-talented, Duke (Entebucher):

Cool Duke Duke and Jen, BIS
Duke had a GREAT weekend at a Rare Breed conformation show!
He took:
Small Red StarFOUR Best of Breeds
Small Red StarTWO Group 2nds
Small Red StarTWO Group 1sts AND
Small Red Stara BEST IN SHOW!!


Red Star Recent Brags from Cindy and Turbo!:

Turbo and Gunner
At the Ups & Downs NADAC trial (4/19): Turbo earned a 2nd Place and Q in Elite Reg.  Round 1, his first Elite Leg!
 
At the AKC trial in Chino (5/10):  He Q'd in Ex. B Standard for his 6th MX Leg, and Q'd in Ex. B Jumpers for his 8th MXJ Leg.  This was his 4th Double Q this year which gets us into the AKC Nationals in Long Beach!  We've achieved our goal for the year!


Blue Star Recent Brags from Cindy and Gunner!:

At the Ups & Downs NADAC trial (4/19): Gunner earned a 3rd and Q in Open Jumpers finishing his Open Jumpers title.  He also earned 2 Q's in Open Regular...a first place and a 5th place!


Red Star From Sandy and the Bostons!:

Janie - Face Plant

Janie ran fast and Q'd in Excellent B Jumpers with Weaves 2 days in a row at the recent AKC trial!


Blue Star From Sandy and the Bostons:

LiL Lil Qualified with all 1st Places in Open Standard (finished her title), Open JWW (finished her title) and Excellent A JWW, earning her first Excellent JWW leg!


Red Star From Sandy and the Bostons;

Geronimo

Geronimo (the "puppy") ran full courses and ended with a 1st and Q in Novice B JWW!


Blue Star From Sandy and Katie (Boston):

Katie
At the USDAA Trial in January Katie earned a 1st and Q in Advanced Gamblers and is now in MASTER Gamblers!  She also earned a 2nd and Q in Advanced Pairs!  She's a gamblin' Boston!


Red Star From Peggy & True Blue (Border Collie):

Blue at Del Mar
Blue has a New Title!  He finished his AKC NAP!


Blue Star From Peggy & Winston (Border Collie):

Winston
Winston has TWO New Titles!  He recently finished his AKC NA and NAJ!


Red Star Stella From Tina & Stella (All American):

At the NADAC trial held by up Ups and Downs on April 19 & 20, 2003, Stella earned the first leg of her Novice Jumpers title with a 4th place ribbon!  It truly was a Happy Easter for both of us!


Blue Star From Ginny & Minnow (All American):

Minnow finished her Novice Gamblers AND Novice Standard titles at Ups and Downs.  She ran with Robyn Bodecker on Saturday, getting her first legs in Novice Gamblers and standard, then ran with me on Sunday, getting her second gamblers leg AND the two other standard legs she needed to title.  All her standard legs were clean both days and her gamble on Sunday was a 1st place, the ONLY dog to qualify in her jump height!  A big thanks goes to Sandy for this one!: Ginny Muth


Red Star From Joan Keif & Scoobey Doo (Great Dane):

Scooby got a fourth in Novice Gamblers at the Ups and Downs trial!  I was pleased with our performance.  We did better than the last trial and got lots of encouragement from other competitors.  We're going to keep working at it!  Looking forward to the USDAA trial the end of May!  (Web master's note: We happened to set up very close to the rings and we LOVED watching Scooby enjoy agility...even though he has to crawl thru tunnels!)


Blue Star From Lois & Fire (Keeshond):

Fire Fire
Fire and I earned TWO qualifying scores in Open Regular at the Ups and Downs trial over Easter weekend!  She's now completed her Open Regular title and moves up to Elite!


Red Star From Dan Roy & Nala (Aussie):

Dan Roy and Nala
Nala recently earned an AKC MACH title!
 
Thank you Sandy Crook and USAgility for all of the great instruction!  You provided a solid foundation for us to be a successful agility team!  Your words ring true every step of the way.  Nala's recent MACH is a milestone that we could not have achieved without you!  (She's pictured here with her NADAC 2002 Champion trophy).
 
Yours truly, Dan and Nala


Blue Star Bella From Carla Power & Bella (Welsh Corgi):

Bella was a star at the NADAC Trial in Dehesa!  She received 2 Q's and 2 FIRST PLACES in Gamblers, as well as 2 Q's and 2 FIRSTS in Jumpers!  Now Bella has titled in both Gamblers and Jumpers and will be moving up to Open.  We all had a really good time, despite the bad weather.  I want to thank Sandy for all her training!  If it wasn't for Sandy's directionals (teaching us our lefts and rights), Bella would never have Q'd!  Thanks again Sandy!


Red Star Recent Brags from Monica & Pepper (Aussie):

At the Belgian Tervuren Club AKC Trial in Pomona, Pepper received a 2nd Place and a "Q" in his Open Standard Course...only his second trial at the OPEN level!
 
At the recent NADAC/ASCA Trial in Dehesa: On Saturday, in Novice Gamblers Round 1 he placed 4th, Gamblers Round 2, he placed 3rd, in Standard he placed 2nd!  On Sunday, he took 3rd in Novice Jumpers Round 1, 1st in Novice Jumpers Round 2!: ALL Q's!  This was an exciting weekend...all of the action in one ring and IN THE RAIN!  Team Gallina earned FIVE Q's!  Pepper will now move up to Open Jumpers and Gamblers and needs only one leg to move up to Open Standard.  Sandy and the USAgility Team support one another...even in the pouring rain!


Blue Star From Sandy and Janie (aka "Calamity" Jane) (Boston):

Janie Face Plant
Janie was the only Qualifier (1st Place) in all jump heights in Elite Gamblers today (3/15) in the rain at the Australian Shepherd Club's NADAC Trial.  We ended the day by running in the rain to Qualify (10 points) in Standard with a 1st in the 8" division!
 
NEW!  At the Ups and Downs Trial Janie won the Elite Gamblers 8" Class on Saturday!
 
(Darn, that tunnel was slippery....well, that's why they call me Calamity Jane!)


Red Star From Jen Shaul & Duke:

Duke
Once again, Duke and I qualified for the USDAA Grand Prix Dog Agility Championships for 2003!  Yahooo!


Blue Star From Pepper and Monica:

Pepper
First news in 2003 for Pepper!  At the AKC Trial in Pomona on Saturday, Pepper took 1st Place and Q'd in his Novice JWW run!  This finished his NOVICE TITLE!  And it was the first time he received a 1st Place and Q in the same run!  He's now an AKC Open Agility dog.  On Sunday his Open Standard run felt really good as we were running...it turned out to be a 4th and a Q:his first Q in Open!
We had a great weekend! Team Gallina loves agility!


Red Star From Peggy Jencks and True Blue:

Blue At the AKC Trial at Industry Hills, True Blue completed his Novice Agility Preferred title with a perfect score of 100 points, AND a FIRST PLACE!  He also got his first Jumpers Q with 100 points and a SECOND!  He is very shy and this is quite an accomplishment for him!


Blue Star Two Brags from Brian Hall and Harpo:

Harpo
At the USDAA Trial in Chula Vista on Jan 18th, Harpo did very well!  In our first trial in the Advanced class, Harpo won a FIRST Place in Advanced Standard, a SECOND in Advanced Gamblers, and a THIRD in Advanced Jumpers!
 
Also, at the AKC Trial at Rohr Park on 3/29.03, Harpo placed second and finished his AKC Novice Agility Title!


Red Star From James Jarvis and Oscar:

Oscar Weight Pull
Thank You, Sandy! 
 
Oscar and I were your typical "Master/dog" relationship.  We tolerated each other rather well, from our typical positions.  Through your Guidance, Oscar and I have learned respect for each other and to work together as a Team, through the professional training you impart to your students, human and canine.  Oscar has learned to concentrate and focus on the task at hand, as have I.  Granted, our first trial was not your first love, agility, as you have trained us.  However, "Weight Pull" requires all of the concentration devoted to agility, albeit none of the grace and poise.
 
Through your professional training skills and demand for excellence, Oscar has developed the determination, endurance and strength to excel.  Prior to placing ourselves in your capable tutelage we were both avid "couch potatoes".  Not today.  On January 17th and 18th, I entered Oscar in the American Bull Dog Associations Weight Pull Trials at Ontario CA.
 
At 7 ½ years of age, Oscar was the oldest dog there actively engaged in pulling, and with only 5 weeks of dragging 20 pounds of weight about 100 feet twice a week.
 
Oscar not only qualified at 320 pounds, he continued two more pulls.  One at 440 pounds and his last 560 pounds, He did manage to move 680 pounds 2 inches, at which point he looked over his shoulder at the cart and turned to look at me with an indignant expression of "You've got to be joking"!  Each dog is anticipated at the peak of condition to pull 20 times his or her own weight over a measured course of 16 feet.  For Oscar at 72 pounds, that would be 1,440 pounds.
 
Unfortunately, for Oscar, there will be no ribbons until he is able to achieve that weight.  However, he has earned 1 point, 0.5 each day for his pull total.  YES!  I am very proud of him.  Sandy, your classes have taught Oscar and I to become a TEAM.  Thank You!
 
Respectfully, James Jarvis