Mammoth Lakes Vacation Pt. 2 - ESAG Agility Trial

The real reason for traveling to the Eastern Sierras was to compete in my FAVORITE trial, the Eastern Sierra Agility Group (ESAG) agility trial!  I honestly think the dogs love it, too...  the trial is located on a large, enclosed baseball field, with lots of open space for the pups to romp off-leash, with lush, but well maintained green grass.  The club is very relaxed, but very organized, with wonderfully friendly members.  I particularly love just sitting and watching the clouds travel over the mountains between running, working and walk-thrus...  it is THE most beautiful place to have a trial.

 

On Friday, it was all EGC (Extreme Games Challenge), something both my boys love.  Alva in particular, thinks EGC is the bomb!  Once that boy gets his NATCH (if that day ever comes), he'll be entered in EGC only.  It is all flatwork: no jumps, no contacts, no weaves.  It is entirely pathwork, where the handler and dog must be in sync with each other.  It is also FAST!  Alva is not very fast, but he still loves the connection and running.  I love that HE loves it...  I can tell how much joy he feels by his endless "grrrrrr" ing on the course, something he does when he is very, very happy :-).

Alva and I earned some 10 pt. runs (which is fast for him) in Barrelers and Gaters, but mostly 5 pointers.  We didn't get anything in Chances (too hard), but we tried.  Hutch earned points in both Barrelers and Gaters, but no Chances.  He did send out to the gate, which was very good for him!  I haven't tried him in distance yet, but it gave me a little bit of hope that he might just do it someday.

Over the weekend, Alva only earned 3 Qs, in Jumpers, Regular, and his first Elite Touch n Go!  For some reason, he has reverted to avoiding the contact at the start of a discrimination again...  and badly, too.  We'll need more practice in class with those.  But for Touch n Go, the starting discrimination was the tunnel, so we lucked out.  He was so relieved and happy it was the tunnel that he ran decently fast, even though it was the second to last run of the weekend!  He was running most of the weekend, which proves to me the grass surface suits him.

Hutch earned 2 (TWO!!!) Novice Jumpers Qs, earning him his Novice Jumpers title!  I was ever so proud of him.  He had been spooked by the judge and cameramen outside the ring, and he still kept his focus long enough to run with me through the course.  And on Sunday, he even came in FIRST PLACE!  He was the only clean Novice dog in his group of 7 dogs :-)   He was spooked again in Touch n Go, but he regained his composure enough to continue running with me, only sidestepping the hoops near the cameraman and the judge.  It was a huge accomplishment for him!  I was very, very proud, and he even seemed very proud of himself as well :-D .  Others who had seen him the previous year also noticed the difference in him.  It was soooo good to hear that other people notice how much braver he has gotten.  It helps me know we are heading in the right direction.

Before we began the trip to Hesperia for the night, we tore down our set up and packed the car as quickly as we could to beat the rain.  Some mighty ominous clouds began to accumulate over the mountains, bringing lightning and thunder with them.  Here's a picture of the gathering gloom:

We drove to the La Quinta in Hesperia in a light rain and lightning most of the trip.  It wasn't a dangerous drive, but it was interesting!  When we finally left the confines of the Sierras, we also left the rain behind, heading towards a boring drive in the desert.  4+ hours later, we finally arrived at the La Quinta.  We were upgraded to a King Suite (NICE!) which was sooooo welcome after a very long day.  Sleeping in never felt so luxurious :-)  All in all, it was a wonderful vacation.  It was really tough coming home to reality, but in many ways, it was nice to be home, too.

Hope you all have great vacation stories to tell as well.
-Dayle