Purina Incredible Dogs--60 weaves (long)

Just got back from the Purina Challenge. Hot, hot, hot. In the low
90s--and very humid.

Some of you may know that Cala was invited to do the 60 weave race at
the Incredible Dog finals. Never having been to anything like this, I
really had no clue what to expect. Those of us invited from the local
area were called "Wildcards" because we didn't have to go through a
Regional to get into the National. The only other dobe competing in any
event also in the 60-weave; he took Silver in the Northeast Regional.

Friday we had our seeding races. We were not divided by height. We could
try up to 2 times, and the fastest time was our time. Taking the advice
of some other dobe people who have done this, I had never practiced
60 weaves. Last week I'd set up 24 and I did a grand total of 3 reps of
those. Mostly we've worked on entries and exits. One of the tricks is
that there are electronic timer poles at both ends, only about 3 feet
away (to the side) of the first and last poles. So the dog needs to
break the barrier first on both ends and needs to not be confused by, or
try to weave, the timer pole.

There was an amazing Mal there, wait till you see her on TV. She's from
the San Deigo area. She practically weaves on her head! The front legs
go through and the back ones are way off the ground; it's very odd. But
she's blazing fast--in the seeding run she did 60 in 12.2 seconds, which
bests Marcus Topps' world record time--and Juice is a lot smaller (a
small BC) than this dog.

The weave pole challenge both days was at 1:00. Have I mentioned it was
hot? Much to my surprise, Cala did all 60 the first try Friday and had
13.75 seconds for a second place seed.

I came to the "staging area" today complete with bowl, water, and
icy chamois. My goal was to just try to get through all 60. The way they
ran it, head to head, 1st seed competed against 8th seed, 2nd seed
against 7th, etc. So for some of us, that might mean as many as 3 runs.
I didn't even know it was head to head until Friday! I was also in the
last slot to run the quarter finals, which meant we wouldn't get much of
a break between runs at all.

First run, Cala had a great entry and just blazed through. I ran her
offside (her on my right for non-agility folks). My lane was actually
very tight to the left hand wall at the finish line. That meant that
Cala came out of the last weave, wrapped around the timer standard, and
practically flattened the cameraman--it was very narrow spacing! Kudos
to him for staying rock still in the face of 60 pounds of hard driving
Doberman. She won that heat against an aussie. Then the really fast Mal
popped some weaves during her run. I think that the humidity was a lot
for those Western dogs to cope with. In the semis, I raced a very nice
little sheltie. And again, Cala was clean and won.

It was very short time between runs, basically I came off the field then
went back on. They did the consolation run (for Bronze) right away, and
we had to get back out there. The Sheltie won the bronze. Everybody was
hot. My competitor this time was a local with a nice BC called Kamakazi.
Cala's back was almost too hot to touch. She got tangled at the start,
but didn't pop. I think she slipped slightly at another place, but was
able to recover. She was getting tired. But out of my peripheral vision
I could see her moving ahead...I got her through that last pole, and she
got the Gold. And immediately jumped into the pool of ice water right
outside the ring.

I'm really not sure of her final time and I have no clue of any of her
times in the quarter or semi-finals. I know it was faster than
yesterday--13.2? 13.4? I guess I'll find out at some point. We got a
honking heavy piece of crystal and you all will be able to see my dumpy
self on NBC in January. Cala is much prettier than I am! Oh, and at the
end, if it looks like I'm wiping away tears I am--but not those kind of
tears. The tears you get when a great gout of sweat lands directly in
your eyes and stings like hell.

Would I do it again? Maybe. I'm not sure. But it was fun and I was SO
proud of Cala--in the end I think she was going on grit and
determination and drive. She is tired but fine, no heat, lumps,
or bumps. I'll have my acupuncturist look at her next week but I'm
predicting no problems. I think one reason is that the weaves were set
at 22" and the extra inch makes a huge difference.

Sorry this got really long, I'm tired and I need to stop rambling!