Polski Owczarek Nizinny: Moseley's First Agility Show

Moseley's First Agility Show
This past weekend was one I had been looking forward to for a year and a half- Moseley was finally eligible to compete in her first Agility trial! It was an ASCA/NADAC sanctioned 2 day trial held in Coppell, Texas. Both Roxie and Moseley did so well I'm about to bust with pride! The first class of the day was Gamblers. This is a class where the handler gets to make up a random course with the intent of collecting as many points as possible in a given period of time. Each obstacle is assigned a point value and you can only do each obstacle twice. After 40 seconds, a whistle blows and you have to move on to the closing sequence. The timed closing sequence is predetermined by the judge and the challenge is that it must be handled from a distance. There is a line on the ground that the handler can't cross- the dog is directed through the sequence while the handler stays behind the line. Moseley stepped into the ring for her first try at competition and she started off with a bang! She flew around the course getting all her contact zones, and never knocking a bar on a jump. When the whistle blew, I was in a good position to send Moseley ahead of me into the closing sequence. She responded perfectly and made it all the way through and "got the gamble" as they say. I was so excited that we ran right out of the ring and straight over to the "cookies" so Moseley could get a treat. I didn't stay to watch the dogs we were competing against. So imagine my surprise when awards time came, and Moseley finished with a qualifying round AND 1st place!!! What a way to start off an Agility career! And it went from there. When it was all over, Moseley had a qualifying round in Novice Standard with 3rd place (against some really fast Aussies and Border Collies), and three 4th place ribbons (not qualifying) for her other Standard rounds. She was doing great in a fast Jumpers round until I crossed behind her at a jump and caused her to pull a bar. Course time was 31 seconds- we did it in 22 but didn't qualify because of the dropped bar. Moseley was definitely in her element and loved all the attention. As usual, there were many people who came up to us to ask about her and find out what breed she is. She charmed everyone and made lots of new friends. And then there was Roxie...!! She and JP were working really beautifully as a team all weekend. She didn't have a great Gamblers round but that's not a surprise. She wants so much to be right beside you that she doesn't like working from a distance. They went in for their first Standard round and it was perfect! She got a first place ribbon and a qualifying round. The same thing happened in her jumpers class on Sunday. Roxie came away with two new titles this weekend- Veteran Novice Standard and Veteran Novice Jumpers. What a good girl! All in all, we had a fabulous weekend. I'm very proud of Moseley and Roxie (and JP and me, too!) and really looking forward to more shows. Our next one will be while we're on vacation in Colorado in two weeks. Think good thoughts! Elizabeth Evans

Moseley's First Agility Show

Moseley at the agility course

This past weekend was one I had been looking forward to for a year and a half- Moseley was finally eligible to compete in her first Agility trial! It was an ASCA/NADAC sanctioned 2 day trial held in Coppell, Texas. Both Roxie and Moseley did so well I'm about to bust with pride!

The first class of the day was Gamblers. This is a class where the handler gets to make up a random course with the intent of collecting as many points as possible in a given period of time. Each obstacle is assigned a point value and you can only do each obstacle twice. After 40 seconds, a whistle blows and you have to move on to the closing sequence. The timed closing sequence is predetermined by the judge and the challenge is that it must be handled from a distance. There is a line on the ground that the handler can't cross- the dog is directed through the sequence while the handler stays behind the line.

Moseley stepped into the ring for her first try at competition and she started off with a bang! She flew around the course getting all her contact zones, and never knocking a bar on a jump. When the whistle blew, I was in a good position to send Moseley ahead of me into the closing sequence. She responded perfectly and made it all the way through and "got the gamble" as they say. I was so excited that we ran right out of the ring and straight over to the "cookies" so Moseley could get a treat. I didn't stay to watch the dogs we were competing against. So imagine my surprise when awards time came, and Moseley finished with a qualifying round AND 1st place!!!
What a way to start off an Agility career!

And it went from there. When it was all over, Moseley had a qualifying round in Novice Standard with 3rd place (against some really fast Aussies and Border Collies), and three 4th place ribbons (not qualifying) for her other Standard rounds. She was doing great in a fast Jumpers round until I crossed behind her at a jump and caused her to pull a bar. Course time was 31 seconds- we did it in 22 but didn't qualify because of the dropped bar.

Moseley was definitely in her element and loved all the attention. As usual, there were many people who came up to us to ask about her and find out what breed she is. She charmed everyone and made lots of new friends.

And then there was Roxie...!! She and JP were working really beautifully as a team all weekend. She didn't have a great Gamblers round but that's not a surprise. She wants so much to be right beside you that she doesn't like working from a distance. They went in for their first Standard round and it was perfect! She got a first place ribbon and a qualifying round. The same thing happened in her jumpers class on Sunday. Roxie came away with two new titles this weekend- Veteran Novice Standard and Veteran Novice Jumpers. What a good girl!

All in all, we had a fabulous weekend. I'm very proud of Moseley and Roxie (and JP and me, too!) and really looking forward to more shows. Our next one will be while we're on vacation in Colorado in two weeks.
Think good thoughts!
Elizabeth Evans

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