Why Even Pro Golfers Have Trouble Getting Their Last Agility Super-Q

SUMMARY: You got all the gambles you need for your agility championship except one, and now for reasons beyond sanity, demons prevent you from getting that last one!

Tika and one of her SuperQ ribbons. 
That 3rd one was our bugaboo.

I'm reading the book Why We Make Mistakes.

Gosh darned innate human response to stress when the outcome matters more than average, apparently. The book describes a study in which the PGA (Pro Golf Association) measured the success rates of only 6-foot putts in 15 pro golf tournaments one year without the golfers being aware of the study. 

One finding--and the most precious to our story, little darlings--was that golfers successfully made the putt if were only for a par score more often than if it were for making a birdie (one under par). Apparently because making par is just “average”, but making a birdie is a highly desirable outcome. And one stroke could make a huge difference in your final position among finishers and your take-home winnings. 

And yet--very shot you make is like that over the whole course, right? Where you might be earning a total score of 265-285 shots.  But somehow labeling the last shot on a hole as a “birdie” vs “par”decreased their ability to make the shot.

It’s like desperately trying to get hat last gamblers leg. That last super-Q in Snooker. That last anything to complete your agility championship. Or any other big title (more advanced championships, or lifetime achievement award, and so on), or cruising through the entire season being highly successful, cruising through the regionals and earning byes for the nationals, cruising through all the early rounds of the national or international championships and getting to the final round, And suddenly… 

BUT WAIT A MINUTE-- How many people get that last gamblers or that last superQ after struggling week after week or month after month (or year after year) and suddenly get the next four in a row?! What happened-- did the next ones just not matter any more?

Given my experience with four dogs, that doesn’t change even after getting those championships with multiple dogs. I’m sure that not everyone succumbs to this sort of self pressure. But it seems to be common, even among excellent teams. Ammiright?

The Jakemeister

So: Jake's ADCH, 2001

Super-Qs were no prob, but Gamblers?! I even started traveling up and down the state for hundreds of miles (which I didn't before and haven't since) trying to get that last confounded Gamblers Q. Then, one weekend in my own backyard (so to speak), my own club's USDAA event... Jake had been on enforced rest for a sore back for weeks and we had barely started trying to run full courses again. He was getting older. I really wanted that Q. I entered him in only that Gamblers class for the whole 4-day weekend... 

...and I was so busy in doing my jobs for the trial that I missed the obscene-colorful-adjective walkthrough and people were already running.  A friend told me from the sidelines what his plan was. The gamble looked nearly impossible to me. I was so sure, given those two handicaps, that I wouldn't get it that I didn't even ask anyone to videotape it. Annnnnnnnnd...

...of course we got the Q and the championship.  I had taken away my own stress level and relaxed because now it was clearly just going to have to be for fun, not for an actual Q.

Jake's ADCH gamblers course

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Zero Point Snooker Runs--the Epilogue

SUMMARY: I'll probably not compete again. Who knows. But, for now--

Backfill: Post & comment on Facebook, June 15-16, 2021

This is sort of an epilogue to Zero Point Snooker Runs from June, 2012 [hmm, my stats from that post don't match the stats here; there, I say *two* with Jake...].  I competed only another two years, and that last year, 2014, was sparse. But--here's my agility competition tracking database's info.

Posted June 15 on FB;
> Theory #1 from another discussion was that anyone who plays snooker is bound to get 0-point Snooker runs;
> Theory #2 is that no one else has ever gotten two 0-pointers on the same day with the same dog on different Snooker courses, like I did with Tika:

OK, those of you who play Snooker in agility, two questions:

1)  Estimate how many snooker runs you have done.

2) Of those, how many do you think have been zero points: A. At least one.  B. none. C. [Fill in whatever number you estimate you’ve done]

3) Have any of you had two 0-point Snooker runs on the same day with the same dog (on different snooker courses, not just reattempting the same one)?

I blame Julie Rice for taunting me into posting this!😉

A Snooker course. Snooker has three  (or more) red jumps worth one point (red flag). 
You have to start with a red jump, then take a non-red (e.g., the tunnel for 3 points). 
Er...you have to start with a correctly executed red jump.
So, if you knock the first one, you have to take a different one before you take the #3.
If the dog hits #3 after a knocked red, oops, all done.

I received several comments, including some people who've never had a 0-pointer, or maybe dogs with no 0-pointers, which astounded me. Until I looked at my own stats, which I posted in response on June 16:

Here are my stats (except for the last year or so [of competition]). Because, if I'm going to have kept track, I might as well use the info. Envy me, database mortals! 😉

• 15 out of 530 snooker runs were 0-pointers 

• 1 with Jake, 

• 3 with Boost--2 comments that I thought her first bar stayed up-- 

• the rest with Tika [who is still the #11 all-time USDAA Snooker P3 22" dog despite that]

• None with Remington! out of 46 runs--but he did get one 1-pointer. (He hardly ever knocked bars and, if he did, he was slow enough that I could redirect him.) 

• My comments on those 15 runs:
• kn[ocked] 1st bar & I didn’t realize it soon enough.
• kn 1st bar & I didn’t react
• 1st bar ticked, thought it was staying up, fell as she took next obstacle
• knocked first bar & I didn’t react quickly enough. A billion [people got the full points of] 51s...
• knocked first bar and while I was stunned he went into next obst [Jake *never* knocked bars!]
• set her up to go past 1 rather than over. Very amazingly stupid [Human].
• Ran past 1st (angled) jump & into tunnel before I could stop her.
• Knocked 1st bar & hit tunnel before I could stop her.
• Tried to do angled lead-out pivot & she ran past first jump. Dagnabbit. But a nice SL[start-line] stay!
• kn first bar & couldn’t react fast enough. Sigh. Nice SL stay, too
• thought she had gotten 1st jmp and heard it fall just as she was making perfect wv[weave] entry...
• kn first bar and I just quit crap
• moved at SL so kn 1st bar, veered to right instead of “come” with me standing still & facing her
• kn 1st bar.
• kn 1st red & over next jump before I could move.

Tika taking a 4-point obstacle.
(Brown flag = 4 --flag colors are consistent no matter where you go.
MOST flags also display the number on both sides, not just one side.)
Color rules and numbers match actual billiards-type Snooker! (except agility has fewer Reds)

Getting Through Challenges

SUMMARY: Like The Pattern in the Amber series, sometimes things are easy, and then you hit a veil...

From Facebook: First paragraph is a comment I posted Oct 27, 2019.

Lord of the Rings: My dad loved the books, my younger sisters loved the books, but every time I tried to read the first in the trilogy, it bogged me down in, I think, extreme detail, scene setting, and expository text. But in my junior year of college (or possibly a few years later) I picked it up again, and loved every word. At that point I wasn’t entirely sure which part I had had trouble with initially.

It's not that I didn't read: I read voraciously, and much of it was fantasy or science fiction. I'm sure that, by then, I had read the first 3 or 4 Amber books, and the Pattern intrigued me; but for a long time, LotR presented a veil that I couldn't get through.

[Corwin begins walking the pattern--] Then the thing began to curve, abruptly, back upon itself. I took ten more paces, and a certain resistance seemed to arise. It was as if a black barrier had grown up before me, of some substance which pushed back upon me with each effort that I made to pass forward. I fought it. It was the First Veil, I suddenly knew. To get beyond it would be an achievement, a good sign, showing that I was indeed part of the Pattern. Each raising and lowering of my foot suddenly required a terrible effort, and sparks shot forth from my hair. I concentrated on the fiery line. I walked it breathing heavily. Suddenly the pressure was eased. The Veil had parted before me, as abruptly as it had occurred. I had passed beyond it. [Read more of this excerpt.] - from Nine Princes in Amber, by Roger Zelazny

I also hit a veil when learning subtraction (though addition was simple) and division (though multiplication was simple). Eventually I earned a degree in Math, so apparently I made it through that particular Pattern.

I hit many veils in dog agility, things that I had at one time or another believed that I would never achieve: Getting a gamble. Earning a title.  Earning a more advanced title.  Understanding Snooker rules. Doing a smooth front cross. Earning a championship. Having a dog in the USDAA Top Ten.  Earning many championships with 4 different dogs. Still, I often felt that I had never truly completed that Pattern.

Once upon a time, I cared enough about it that I worked at it. But, true to my life's story, I seldom worked at it to the best of my potential. That felt to me like an overwhelming veil that enveloped all others. Sure, there were days or weeks where I concentrated on some particular skill. But then I'd slack off. Over and over.

Still, I'd say that I had a reasonably successful agility career. And I try hard not to think, "If only I had worked harder at _________."  That way madness lies.

But, whenever I hit a veil in any aspect of my life, I try to remind myself that working hard at getting through could help me to achieve the power of the Pattern, and gain satisfaction, joy, and energy to boot.

References:

• Wikipedia: The_Pattern_(The_Chronicles_of_Amber)#Amber_Pattern
• Sample agility Pattern (a Masters Snooker course):

51 Point Snooker Runs for All Of Us! A Little Delayed--

SUMMARY: Wordless Wednesday

A little cheat on "wordless" and "wednesday": A new post that I somehow never actually posted when I created its Draft version--in March, 2007! Click the link for photos ↓

51 Point Snooker Runs for All Of Us!

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Day Two of Useless Human Mom

SUMMARY: More agility dog abuse with friends.

This morning I could barely walk out to the yard with the dogs. Hobbled in from the parking lot at the agility trial site. Did a little bit of set-up at the score table and confirmed with one friend from yesterday that she'd be willing to try running Boost in Standard and Grand Prix.  I squeegeed off a table covered with morning dew--and realized that I suddenly felt much better. So I walked the Gambler's course, thinking that I'd run her, but just walking around the course a couple of times hurt enough that I changed my mind and enlisted the other friend from yesterday.

Sooooo Gamblers and Standard and Grand Prix went more or less like they had at the end of the day yesterday. Today, Boost was more interactive and happy and comfortable getting riled up by the friends before the runs, and she started out running with each of them, but did only about 5 or 6 obstacles before turning and fleeing for the ring exit. Funny, after one of those runs, after she reached me, she immediately turned around and started looking for the friend to see what she was doing. Dang dog. Too bad I can't be out in the ring, too. (Standing next to the ring didn't work any better.)

Our clearly stated goal was to try to give Boost more experience running with other people, and Qs jus didn't matter at that point, just to try getting her to run and keep her running. Better than yesterday, sure. But a long way to go!

Later in the day, the Snooker course had a ton of tunnels and an Aframe, and I've become SO tired of Snookers that consist pretty much entirely of jumps (with their associated risk of knocked bars), and I was so sad and frustrated earlier in the day that I wasn't able to run with my dog, that I decided to try running her in Snooker. It became apparent during the walkthrough that the Super-Qs would be decided by speed, because pretty much everyone (or a huge percentage thereof) would be doing three 7s in the opening.

I thought about scratching because I didn't want that much pressure, but decided to at least try it. Actually worked pretty nicely, and we got all the way halfway through 6 (out of 7) in the closing and I forgot to do a front cross, tried to rear cross a tunnel and pushed her off it. But I'm pretty sure that, even if we had finished, we'd have still lost the Super-Q on time; DANG there are some fast dogs out there! Still, it was nice, I was able to run some, she did good and kept her bars up. I did hurt a bit more while leaving the field, and I scratched her from the final run of the weekend (Jumpers) because she looked pretty tired when I pulled her out of the x-pen for Snooker.

Oh, right, she did get a Q in Snooker, but no Super-Q.

Chip did NOT stay in the x-pen today. I tried it three times and he was out in a matter of minutes, so he went back into the crate today. Today he did not want to play tug with me at all; I tried 3 or 4 times but my back hurt too much to keep at it, so I just did low-key things with treats.My

Not much else to tell; just how my friends are so accommodating and cheerful and willing to try things with my dog, and how helpful people are in keeping the trial running, and how many nice people asked me how I was doing (and i tried not to grumble about having a crappy back--at least "Back is not good, but the rest of me is pretty good").  Agility community is excellent.

My back doesn't seem to be any worse than it was before the weekend. Just on any given day it's likely to be particularly crappy.  But boy, I'm exhausted again. Off to bed even though it's early. The dogs have all been pretty quiet and sacked out, even though we didn't do much really during the day. Just being at a trial with all the stimulation I think can tire them out mentally. This is a good thing.

Agility Weekend

SUMMARY: Me and Boost

Saturday, lacking sleep again. Sunrise was eh, OK, but not worth stopping, hence just a quick blurry shot with a little Tule fog over the fields. Better than rain or darkness, though! It apparently poured at the trial site on Friday.

I did not enter everything on the two days we were there. I didn't enter Thursday and Friday at all. How far I've drifted from a couple of years ago, when it was two dogs, four days, every.single.class. I don't currently have the energy for it. And not sure whether Boost does; she was looking tired by the end of the two days.

At least we got a couple of Qs, even if it wasn't the Super-Q that I really want/need to complete her championship.

Here's how it went.

Saturday

• Masters Pairs: I couldn't find the person I thought was my partner, so I walked both halves several times. Turns out that the pairs had been rearranged, so my partner was my instructor. I asked for the easy half, and wouldn't you know it--started great, but the place where both first and 2nd half do the same thing, I then continued with the 2nd half, so off course. Doh!
• P3 Gamblers: During the opening, she popped her weaves when I ran to get ahead (didn't go back and fix), and turned back to me before going up the teeter. Seeing that a lot from her lately; odd thing. The gamble was just tough; pretty low percentage on Qs. I didn't expect that she'd do it, and she didn't.
• Masters Snooker: Got through a 4-red opening with just a couple of bobbles, then #2 in the closing was a straight chute going to a jump, and I just couldn't run fast enough to get there, so she turned back to me after the tunnel, ran backwards towards the jump, finally took it but knocked the bar.
• Masters Jumpers: Ran past a jump where I was hoping to rear cross; I might have pushed her off it, but really I think if she were taking obstacles instead of staring at me, she'd have taken it. I didn't see anyone else miss that jump. I think knocked a bar or two, also; forgot already.

Sunday

• P3 Gamblers: Did nicely in the opening until we tried getting into the weaves from the approach she doesn't do well on--turning towards the left. I had to try 3 times to get her into the weaves, so that wasted time didn't allow us to do our planned 2nd set of weaves. But I adjusted my course, we were in the perfect place to get into the gamble on the buzzer, it was basically a send to a tunnel and she did great, so a Q and actually 2nd place. The Q rate was quite high on this one.
• Perf Grand Prix: Nearly perfect. I released her early on all her contacts to keep her moving and excited. Only flaw was my fault, where I tried to push her out but wasn't enough ahead of her so she almost went off course and I had to call her back. Not a fault, though, just a time waster, although we were still 10 seconds under time (although still almost 10 seconds slower than the winner). But a Q! Her first GP of this Qing season.
• Masters Snooker: I picked a very simple course because it was one of those tiny courses with only 3 reds where it looked almost easy to do something with high points, but I thought that lots of people would crash and burn. I picked a 4-5-5 opening, but she knocked the first red, which pretty much put us out of competition for a Super-Q. Then in the closing knocked the #4 bar. So no Q, but I was right; people were Super-Qing with high 30s points and the winning dog in our height group did a 4-5-5 opening, too. 
• Masters Jumpers: Really felt good--no refusals or runouts or blatantly obvious hesitations, only one bar down. Even did a couple of rear crosses (which can be problems for us) and at the end she also kept going over the last jump rather than turning back. It was a nice way to end the weekend even if it wasn't a Q.

Raffle

For a change, I wasn't working score table, and since I didn't enter everything and had only one dog, I had plenty of time between working with Chip and playing with Tika to work in the rings. Which gave me a free lunch and tickets for the raffle, which, as always, I entered under Boost's name.

View from a pole setter's chair.

As usual, Boost was a good girl in the raffle and won something.

Over all, feels like we both need to get in better shape and take off some weight. So much to do, so little time!

Musing on Boost's SuperQs and Other Qing Statistics

SUMMARY: Why we don't have SuperQs

It's because we can't get through a course without a fault. As I said the other day, it's not that I'm trying to do courses that I think are very hard for us--I always default to courses that I think we're capable of doing that are still in Super-Q range. I'm not trying to *win*, ever. But the bars and the (often inexplicable to me) refusals do us in.

Tika was 5 when she finally got her 3rd SQ, and it had seemed like *forever*. The difference between Tika and Boost is that Tika pretty regularly finished one or two spots out of the SQs, whereas Boost and I almost never completely get through the course at all. Seems to me that most dogs who regularly get through Snooker courses usually get their SuperQs eventually.

Of the 113 Masters Snookers that Boost and I have attempted, 25 have been Qs--which isn't great--22%--but given that judges seem to aim for 25% of dogs Qing on any given course, I guess that's not too bad.

But getting the SuperQ by being in the top 15% of of those competing...

Among our 25 Snooker Qs, we have only EVER gotten through a complete course four times. Ever. Two of those were our two SuperQs and the other two were enough points for a SQ but missed it based on time that we wasted on course (in other words, tied with a dog on points but they had a faster time so got the superQ).

Again, it's not like we can't get through them in time or can't logically get through them--there are another 10 where we've completed our entire chosen course and finished the closing, but knocked a bar somewhere in the opening.

So getting through the course error-free is our biggest challenge. I think that dogs who can get through their planned courses regularly are much likelier to get their SQs quicker, even if they're not aggressive on points.

OK, that's enough about Snooker for the moment.

Perhaps I should move on to pondering why we've only ever Qed in Jumpers six out of 127 times (under 5%), which ultimately is what keeps us from earning our lifetime bronze award (which requires 15).

Really, maybe she should've been a herding dog. Good thing she's cute and loves to be active and engaged.

(photo by Sarah H.)

Boost's USDAA Qing percentages:

• Jumpers: 5%
• Grand Prix: 10%
• Gamblers: 12%
• Standard: 14%
• Steeplechase: 14%
• Snooker: 22%
• DAM Team Tournament: 38%
• Pairs Relay: 47%

Back to Normal, Sadly

SUMMARY: A non-Qing day, in which I go into painful detail because it's my blog.

Day 2 of the 3-day USDAA trial.

Yesterday I didn't mean to give the impression that I'm always trying to do crazy things in Snooker trying to get a Super-Q. I try to make a guess at what would be needed for a Super-Q and decide whether I can come up with a course for that purpose that we can competently do. I often don't go for 3 (or 4) sevens in the opening, for example, unless they're the simplest thing to do on the course. The problem is not that we can't get to where we need to be, or have off-courses, or don't have the speed. The problem is in knocked bars and refusals. The difference yesterday is that I did not bother trying to figure out what I thought would be necessary for a Super-Q and picked the course based only on what I thought we could possibly get through with the least amount of work on either of our parts and in fact was very close to 100% certain that it would NOT be a Super-Q. And that time, it worked for us (although had that bar she ticked actually fallen, it would've been the same old story).

Today, Boost:

• Snooker:
  Today, I also picked a reasonably easy and flowy course, got through that opening easily, and then running straight at #2 in the closing, she stopped and turned back to me and backed up past it for a refusal.  This is how it usually goes.
• Gamblers: She couldn't have asked for a better sequence of momentum-building jumps before going out to an Aframe in the gamble, and she was headed straight for it and then pulled off and came back to me. At least our opening went according to plan.
• Standard: First 13 obstacles beautiful. Then she came off the table early, darn it. Been a long time since she's done that. Then the last 4 obstacles I kinda messed up.
• Jumpers: Running past jumps.
• Pairs Relay: Refusal and a bar, both of which I can attribute to my handling, plus our partner went off-course.
• Steeplechase: I ran my little heart out. I did everything I needed to do, she did too (other than CONSTANTLY checking in with me before EVERY obstacle). It felt pretty good even though she knocked a bar. But very sad to see that, even if she hadn't knocked the bar, we'd have been too slow to qualify, the top dogs were SO bloody fast. Makes me wonder even more whether she's not feeling her best. Watching videos of our runs from last couple of weekends, she is not opening up and running full out. Or it could just be that she has decided that her running style is to check in with me more and more and more. Sigh.

 Today, Tika:

• Jumpers: Didn't want to lie down at the start, so I let her stay in a sit, which I was pretty sure was Trouble that starts with a T--and sure enough, I had barely gotten halfway to my starting lead-out position when she crashed through the first jump (I suspect she crept forward until she was too close to get over it) and raced by me to take an off-course jump. We did the rest reasonably well, a couple of wrong turns but decent, and she looked happy to be running.
• Veterans pairs relay: Again, this was for fun, not a Qing event. Tika did OK, but the restrictions placed by the judge on who had to run in what order meant that our veteran partner who was entered only in this, and for fun, had to run the side of the course that had obstacles that she didn't want to even attempt to put her dog on, so she didn't. So, technically, our team Eed.  I have things to say about restrictions on who runs which side in Relay--the whole purpose of the relay is supposed to be working stategically as a member of a team, but that takes away any possible strategy that you could ever have. And this time, actually, Tika didn't look so thrilled about being there to run. Who knows what goes through her head.

No Qs, no placements, only one really decent run all day. Back to Normal Boost Agility World.

 One more day tomorrow. At least it is refreshingly cool, even chilly, at the trial site, while it's been up in the 90s here at home.

Another One Of Those Days

SUMMARY: Second day of USDAA agility.

Well, I'm not nearly as bummed after a weekend of agility as I sometimes am. Boost had some really, really nice runs this weekend and it's just too bad that we didn't have more Qs to show for it.

Tika's Q rate was pretty good for this weekend, but I definitely noticed her increasing slowness and lack of confidence that she's doing the right thing in so many ways. But looks like we'll keep on competing for a while, yet, I guess.

Started the day with Standard. Both Tika and Boost had really nice runs and Qs, what more can I say? A friend commented, "Ellen, you got a Double Q!" Made me laugh.

Although Tika gave me a good scare--at the very last jump, as she approached it with me a little behind, she suddenly started to turn back towards me (something she's doing more often) and my heart sank--getting all the way through the entire course and then lose it to a refusal on the LAST jump?! But while she was still roughly parallel to the jump and still moving, so she hadn't turned away from it yet, she saw me and executed the most astonishing turn back to the jump from about 6 inches away and I swear went over it sideways and didn't knock the bar. Another friend came by to comment, "Tika was just messing with you there at the end." Dogs! Sheesh!

Boost was in Gamblers, and for a change I couldn't come up with an opening that I liked. Had one that was kinda OK, but in talking to a friend after the walk-thru was done, decided on a different course. Not sure whether we'd have done better on my original course, but we sure couldn't have done much worse--first four obstacles were jump, jump, tunnel, weaves, and let me just say that, out of all of those, she did the tunnel just fine. Sigh. Then I wasted time insisting that she do the weaves correctly, so never even got minimum opening points, so it's just as well that my oddball handling gesticulations in the gamble portion were for naught.

Tika then got to run in Steeplechase Round 2. She was clean, but even though it had 2 Aframes rather than 2 sets of weaves, and even though the faster dog had a bar down, we still came in only 2nd! (Sad day when her clean run can't make up the 5 second fault penalty of the other dog. Missed only by .12 of a second, though--so close to winning!) Of course, there were only 3 dogs in our height in round 2. We brought home a whole $6 for that.

Grand Prix ran really well for both dogs, too. It chewed up a lot of dogs--pretty small Qualifying percentage--but I thought it ran smoothly. Tika was clean and Qed (although only 5th place of 12 dogs--10 seconds behind the 1st place!). Boost had a lovely run and I blew it by overcalling in one spot, thereby pulling her off a jump for a refusal error and no Q, but the rest was nice.

Snooker--For Tika, I just wanted a plain Q, so I picked a nice,  simple little triple loop in the opening using 6-6-6 which did not turn out to be the sign of the devil as it fed nicely into the closing and we completed it easily for 48 points and a Q and 3rd place of 7 dogs. Yayyyyyyy another one down and now only ONE until PDCH gold! It's been a while since we've Qed two Snookers in a row!

For Boost, though, I wanted the Super-Q and I was absolutely convinced that, among the 40 dogs in her class, a large number would be able to get well into the 50-point range ( 3 or 4 reds optional) and that's what would be required for the Super_Q. So I picked a more aggressive course (although one I thought we could do comfortably)--and...... in the opening, she knocked a bar, missed the weave entry  which wasted time to fix, then I forgot to do a front cross so we wasted time getting into position for the next obstacle and I therefore also gave confusing instructions on the following obstacle wasting more time, and then she knocked bar #3 in the closing. A complete disaster, jeez. And this kills me--48 points turned out to be super-Qs! Gah. Of course, even if I had just used Tika's same course, she probably would've knocked the same bars, since those were in the same path that Tika took. Ah, well.

Then Jumpers. Both dogs ran smoothly and had really nice times, except that Tika crashed through one jump, not sure why--she was still only 2 seconds slower than the winner--and Boost just tipped a bar off when i did a post turn, so neither dog Qed but I was happy with how they ran.

So, for the day:
Tika 3/4 Qs, placements of a 2nd and a 3rd, one bar down, one scare at the last jump, plus $6 for a clean Steeplechase Round 2. (And both tables in Standard this weekend were one-"Down" tables, didn't have to keep saying it over and over. Yeah!)

Boost 1/5 Qs, no placements. 5 bars down, all contacts good, 2/4 perfect sets of weaves (one entry on wrong side, one popped out at #10), one runout that was my fault, no other refusals or runouts! That last one is AMAZING to me! And I certainly can't account for that for this whole weekend by my intensive training efforts, because there has been none!

My stamina: I actually held up pretty well; maybe my dogs did OK because I was able to get to where I needed to be. I'm trying to pay even more attention to my timing and on my willingness to trust the dog and move sooner. But some weekends, my legs feel like lead... this weekend, felt pretty good. The only one  that was really hard was when I had to run Tika in Steeplechase (fast, intense course with a lot of handler activity) and then less than 10 minutes later run her in Snooker--my poor legs just wouldn't move! I obviously need more recovery time. My knee feels good, too.

So, over all, a day and weekend that definitely didn't suck.

Sunday at Agility On The Green

SUMMARY: And another agility weekend goes by.

From our running order for the whole weekend: One of these things is not like the others:

Today often felt more like a handler having a bad weekend than the dogs doing so. Both dogs ran nicely, looked healthy and happy and eager to run, although, yep, Tika can't match the speed of so many other dogs in 22" performance now.

Tika:

• Steeplechase Round 2: It had 2 sets of weaves. We can't compete on time with that these days. Placed 4th of 5, all of us running clean. Brought home $7 for it.
• Standard: Ran nicely, got all her contacts, kept all her bars up, went down pretty quickly on the table for a change--and 4 obstacles before the end, I sent her into a tunnel under an Aframe that I thought was a gimmee, but apparently she wasn't convinced because she pulled off it and jumped onto the Aframe from the side for an off course. 100% handler issue (although I don't think I'd have had that issue if she wasn't checking in with so much as she's doing now).
• Grand Prix: A killer of a course, very few dogs Qualified. She ran nicely and clean, although much slower than many of the dogs. However--out of ten  22" dogs, only two of us Qed, giving her 2nd place. 
• Jumpers: A pretty smooth run, although I was late on a couple of front crosses, slowing her down a little. Qed but placed only 5th of 8 dogs. Our time of 25.82 wasn't *horribly* behind the winning time of 22.97... but, well, 3 seconds, that's more than 10% slower. Ah, me.

Boost:

• Standard: A challenging course and there was one spot where dogs needed to make a sharp turn but instead were shooting ahead for an off course or not turning tightly enough and running past the jump. I vowed that we would not make yesterday's Jumpers mistake, where I knew it would be an issue and still couldn't fix it. So--yes, indeed, I came to a dead stop, did an RFP (reverse flow pivot--aka fake front cross), and yelled her name--and, yes, indeed, I managed to catch her and bring her in over the jump, but I think I was in her way, because she knocked the bar. The rest of the run was flawless. Another one of those "just ONE thing wrong!" courses.
• Gamblers: Almost perfect opening, but a bobble going into a tunnel--pretty sure it was a handling thing although I didn't review the video--cost us 2 points and the highest of all opening scores. Still, once again, I believe we were tied for 2nd highest of all. The gamble--I was rushed, didn't make sure Boost had a good approach line, and we weren't even close on a gamble that I think lots of people got. 
• Grand Prix: The wheels on our agility train started wobbling--she had to make about a 30-degree adjustment in her path to come in to the weaves that I was running at and yelling Weave!, and she had at least 20 feet in which to do it, but she just ran completely past them on the opposite side from me. Later, she went offcourse where tons of other dogs had gone offcourse--the strategy that worked for Tika didn't work for her.  Most of the rest was nice, though.
• Jumpers. After Tika's run, I was determined not to be late on my front crosses. But-- the wheels came off completely.

So--4 Qs out of 10 for Tika plus $7 Steeplechase winnings and a 2nd in Grand Prix. Real pity about not getting Snookers, though, so that PDCH-Gold is still aching for 3 more of them. Down to only 38 more needed for her Lifetime Platinum.  (As of mid-June, only 96 dogs have ever achieved that. Peer pressure is omnipresent when 20 of them are people/dogs you know and have regularly competed against--you know,  as Janis Joplin sang,

"Oh, lord, won't you buy me an L.A.A. Platinum?
My friends have all got one, I must raise a hat to them..." )

One Q out of 11 for Boost--the win in Pairs yesterday. She didn't even win anything in the worker raffle this weekend.

Tomorrow we'll go for a long walk to drown our sorrows and get MUTT MVR's brakes and rear windows checked.

Well, Duh.

SUMMARY: Why did I think this was a good idea? Again?

This weekend's trial is a 3-day trial, starting with the 5-class Team event this morning. I did not enter Team--I don't need to take yet another day off work, I certainly don't need any Team Qs with either dog, blah blah. So I *was* going to enter only Saturday and Sunday, and that's how I sent in my entry.

But as a bonus, they also offered Snooker Friday evening. I thought and thought about it, and, well, you know, Tika still needs 3 Snooker Qs to complete her Gold PDCH, and Boost, as always, needs SuperQs. So, I thought, well, really, Monterey's not that far, and I'm planning on commuting anyway, so what if I just drive down Friday evening for the Snooker?

So I signed up at the last possible minute.

Soooooo there I was at 4:00 this afternoon, still having had to miss a couple of hours of billable work, sitting in Friday traffic, thinking, "Monterey is an hour and a frigging half *without* traffic. What was I thinking? What what what what WHAT? Three and a half hours of round trip driving, with one Snooker run for each dog in the middle! WHY did I think this was a good idea?"

And then saying out loud to myself, "Well, SOMEONE better get at least a Q this evening or this whole trip will have been completely wasted." (Along with $23 of gasoline, plus the entry fees, plus the time off work...)

Back in the days when Jake desperately needed Gambles to complete his USDAA championship and Remington needed gambles for his NATCH championship and Standards for his USDAA MAD, I started doing this stupid thing-- this thing like driving to santa barbara for a one-day competition because they offered gamblers or standard. Driving to nevada because they offered gamblers or standard. Like that.

Like it would help.

Because I always ignored the fallacy of this idea, which is, the REASON we need those Qs is because we aren't very good at GETTING them, so if I drive 6 or 8 hours to get to an event, wearing myself out, and then stressing myself into "We'd better get a Q or all this effort would have been wasted," that it would make it MORE LIKELY that we'd get a Q?!?!

So, of course, in Boost's run, we got through a four-red opening with some bobbles but no major mishaps, and 2 to 3 in the opening, and then I called her to go over jump #4, pointed at it and yelled "hup" as I ran pall mall forward, and then because it was right in front of her and very obvious, I turned my head away to check for my next position--and, yes, you guessed it, she ran right past the blessed jump. Not even a Q. Crap!

And then 5 minutes later with Tika, after the fourth red in the opening, I sent her into a straight tunnel--and tripped and fell flat on the ground, tried to get up and stumbled back down. Tika, getting to the other end of the tunnel and not seeing me, discovered that she could see me THROUGH the tunnel so of course came right back through it for an off course and crap!!!!!

So I'm home. Someone please remind me next time I think that something like this is a good idea.

Gah. Well, to bed, then 90 minutes driving back down to monterey in the morning. At least now my canopy and all are set up (except the crates, which I forgot) so I don't have to do THAT tomorrow. Yay, can sleep in an extra 30 minutes.

Sheesh.

Snooker Point Averages

SUMMARY: While I'm having fun with my database--

NOTE: In USDAA, you need 37 points for a Q; in CPE, only 32 at the highest level, down to merely 24 at the lowest level.

The maximum points in a CPE Snooker is 51; in USDAA it might be 51 or it might be 58.

Boost's Snooker stats:

• CPE: 45% Q rate (10 of 22--8 of those >=37 so Qing in USDAA); average points/run: 29.5
• USDAA: 13% Q rate (16 of 120); average points/run: 25.5 [deep sigh]

Remington:

• CPE: 33% Q rate (2 of 3); average points/run: 24.3
  
• USDAA: 20.5% Q rate (8 of 39); average points/run: 27.4

Tika:

• CPE: 73% Q rate (43 of 59--38 of those >=37 pts); average points/run: 38.15
  
• USDAA: 50% Q rate (88 of 176); average points/run: 32

Jake:

• CPE: 63% Q rate (19 of 30--17 of those >=37 pts); average points/run: 31.8
  
• USDAA: 61% Q rate (37 of 61); average points/run: 35.12 

You can see why I always expected Jake to make Top Ten in Snooker, at least in performance where his Q rate was 66% and SuperQ rate was 25%. Just not enough dogs competing in performance in our area at the time to get the Top Ten points. But I can still picture him running through a course, ears flying in the breeze--and never* knocking bars!

*What, never? No, never! What, NEVER? Well...hardly ever.

Zero Point Snooker Runs

SUMMARY: Just for fun.

We were talking about that again this weekend--the infamous 0-point Snooker run. Some dogs never have zero-pointers in their whole careers. How sad is that?

I've told to death the story of how Tika got TWO 0-pointers on the SAME DAY (April 20, 2003--novice Snooker and Team Snooker--both jump-tunnel start where she knocked the jump and I couldn't stop her before she went into the tunnel). I have yet to hear of anyone else who has matched this feat.

In her career, Tika has done

• 178 USDAA Snooker runs, 9 of them 0 points (5%)
• 68 CPE Snooker runs, 1 of them 0 points (1.5%)

Jake ever did:

• 69 USDAA Snookers, 1 for 0 points (1.5%)
• 30 CPE Snookers, 1 for 0 pts (3.3%)

Remington:

•  44 USDAA Snookers, NO 0-pointers
• 3 CPE Snookers, NO 0-pointers

 The Booster:

• USDAA 3 of 124 (2.4%)
• CPE 0 of 24

 How do your dogs stack up in their lifetime membership in the zero-point Snooker Club?

A NAF Weekend in USDAA

SUMMARY: YAAT (yet another agility trial)

We're heading out of town to Turlock this weekend for another 12 runs per dog. Or 13 for anyone who Qs in Steeplechase and gets to go on to Round 2.

That's a pretty full weekend for me, no matter how many dogs will be there.

There are about 65 to 75 dogs entered in Masters and Performance 3 (P3), the tracks in which Tika and Boost run. As expected, not a huge trial:

• Tika's group (22" P3) has 5 to 7 dogs competing. For 5 dogs, only 1st & 2nd get top ten points; first three places if 6 or 7 dogs compete.
• 
  
• Boost's group (22" Masters) has about 25 dogs competing. Mostly I care only because that means there'll be 4 SuperQs available in the one Snooker run of the weekend.

I'm splurging and going out early, that is, Friday evening, and staying in a hotel. It's cold. I'm tired. I hate getting up at 4 in the morning. It might be raining Saturday. Just don't have those chops any more for setting up and sleeping in the van (or a tent) with the dogs in that situation. Am I getting old and wimpy or what?

For Boost, just hoping for Jumpers Qs, Grand Prix Q, and a Snooker SuperQ. No titles on the line, really--welllll if she Qed in both Jumpers, that would be her Jumpers Masters title, but really, 3 Qs in 80 tries, what are the odds? (Although if you count from when she got her first Q, that would be 3 Qs in 41 tries, so that doubles our odds, yeah!)

Heh. I'm trying to be better at thinking this way:

(Anonymous image from facebook.)

For Tika, it's just Qs Qs Qs. A Gamblers Q would give her 35 Performance Gamblers Qs, which would be Gamblers Gold. That would be nice, but just a bonus while getting, yes, Qs Qs Qs. Hope I'm up to all those runs!

Weekend Snooker Report

SUMMARY: With videos.

Team Snooker:
This was a 3 or 4 reds class; I couldn't come up with anything I liked with 4 reds that was comfortable enough for Team, so I opted for 3 (with 6-7-7 in the opening):

• Tika: When I sent her to one red and then turned and ran, she turned also before taking the red and I had to get her turned back around to take it. As a result, we ran out of time partway through #7 in the closing, which dropped us from winning to 4th of 13 dogs.
• Boost did an OK opening, but then, in a weird flashback to last weekend where #4 in the closing was also two jumps and the first one was also basically parallel to our path, I did not succeed in pushing her out over the jump for a refusal, so whistled off. 

Sunday Masters/P3 Snooker:
This one had only 3 reds--thank goodness, I'm just tired of always having to decide whether a 4th red will help me or hurt me on top of the basic strategy. I had a 7-7-7 (double tunnels) opening plan for 51 pts and a 7-7-5 (5 was Aframe) opening plan for 49 pts. I figured that the first was completely doable for a fast dog but probably not for Tika any more, so didn't want to try it unless I had to (meaning other dogs had done it successfully).

• By the time Tika ran, most of the dogs in her class had already run and only one--a very fast Catahoula--had gotten the 51, and the next highest was 46. I wanted Top Ten points, but decided that 2nd place (for 5 top tens) would be plenty good enough and stuck with the 7-7-5. We made it with only a couple of seconds to spare, so I'm glad I didn't get greedy. (We won't mention where she stood up from her down-stay to go searching for treats. At least she didn't take off after me.) And look at that nice right-angle rear cross approach to the weaves! She's such a good girl.
  
  
• By the time Boost ran, there were already 9 dogs with 51 points, and only 12 super-Qs available, so I went for the 7-7-7 plan. I was glad to get all the way through it with her--unfortunately, we ran out of time as we started our final #7. That's because we had trouble getting to and from the farthest red (the 3rd one we did), plus she turned the wrong way after #2, slowed to look at me for a while before #4, turned in front of me before going to the weaves at #6 and all those little things added up to the time we needed to complete the course. So 44 points for a Q but no Super-Q. Frustratingly, no one else got 51 and a 49 (my 7-7-5 plan) would've been a superQ. So close!
  
  

Monday Masters/P3 Snooker:
3 or 4 reds again. I decided on a 6-7-7-2 plan for the opening.

• Boost: A couple of wide turns, a knocked red that I recovered from but not gracefully, she didn't catch a rear cross and turned the wrong way--again, we got through to #7 and ran out of time about pole #7 of 12, sigh. In this case, Super-Qs were 52 points, so even if we'd completed the weaves, without our 4th red and that extra 2 points, we'd have not Super-Qed. But so close...but just a 43-point Q. But check out those great, difficult sends to the weave poles then executed at a distance! Happy weave pole mom!
  
   
• Tika: Well, after that first red where I pulled boost between the next red and the Aframe to the teeter? I pulled Tika the same way but hadn't stepped far enough towards the Aframe, so instead of the teeter, she did the red. Whistle. Crap.

Boost Snooker Issues

SUMMARY:Are the problems really what I think the problems are?

Just a little review of our snooker runs for 2010/11 to be sure I'm not focusing on the wrong things.

Here's my snooker code:
a/b/c/d+x-y
means
a/b/c/d which numbered obstacles we completed in the opening, so for example 7/7/6 means we did 1-7-1-7-1-6; 7/0/1 means we did 1 then 7 then screwed up the next red for 0 pts, then 1 then 0 pts for whatever we did after that 3rd red.
+x-y which obstacles we got through in the closing (e.g., 2 thru 6, 2 thru 3, 2 thru 7)

•  "1/23/2010","7/0/0+2-7 Knocked two of the 3 red jumps in the opening, got through the closing.
• "2/13/2010",Off course pretty early.
• "2/14/2010", got only 1 point, didn't note what went wrong.
• "4/16/2010","0/7/7/7+2-4, knocked the 1st red in the opening; I fell partway through and was down for a bit and we ran out of time.
• "4/17/2010","7/7/1+2. Weaves in opening bobbles bobbles bobbles, so didn't get credit for one of them and caused us to run out of time before #3 in closing.
• "4/18/2010","7/6/6/ Perfect opening! In closing, sent to back side of tunnel and she hesitated before going in for a refusal.
• "4/24/2010","7/6/5/0+2-6 knocked 4th red in opening, bobbles so ran out of time in closing after getting through #6.
• "5/1/2010","7/7/0/7+ 2-3. Knocked 3rd red in opening. Took my eyes off her for # 3 tunnel in closing, she turned wrong way then ran past jump #4 for runout.
• "7/3/2010"," 7/0/7+2-6  Lots of “this jump?”  on 2nd red and then knocked it, more “this jump” on 3rd red, so out of time in closing on #7.
• "7/4/2010","3 reds. 7/7/6+2-3. Lots of running past jumps in opening; got them but used lots of time;  backjumped #3  in closing when I didn’t get in my front cross
• "7/17/2010","5/6/7/4+2. Lots of time-wasting “this jump?” in opening, knocked #3 in closing.
• "7/18/2010","0/7/7+2-5. Knocked 1st red. In closing, couldn't pull her off wrong obstacle when going to #6.
• "8/28/2010","Bleh, a mess."
• "8/29/2010","5/6.  Knocked 3rd red and couldn’t recover.
• "9/6/2010","6/0/6/1+2-7. In opening, knocked 2nd red and #4.  Got all through closing.
• "9/11/2010","6/5/5/5+0. Beautiful opening, then knocked #2 in closing.
• "9/12/2010","6/6/1/3+2-7. In op, missed wv entry so didn’t get 7 pts. Otherwise nice (but not enough for Super-Q)
• "10/9/2010","1/7/1+2-7; In opening, knocked bars on 7 and 5. Got through closing.
• "11/13/2010", Did whole course well, really nice run, but I did same red 2x so almost all our points were taken away. Figures.
• "11/14/2010","5/0/7/4+2-3. Bobbles bobbles, knocked bar on #5 in opening, not sure why didn't get to #4 in closing (out of time?).
• "1/23/2011","4/5/6/2+2-6. Didn’t come on call  so took 2 inst of 6 in opening. In closing, went in wrong weave entry on #7, which would’ve been SQ even with the 2 in the opening.
• "2/12/2011","5/7/0+2-7. Kn bar 3rd red in opening, otherwise not bad.
• "2/13/2011","7/7/6/5+2. Mostly nice. Kn bar #3 in closing. 

So--would I say that knocked bars are our biggest problem? Yeah, I'd say so.

Maybe Practice Is A Good Thing

SUMMARY: A not-very-successful or satisfying agility day. (Plus Gamblers and Snooker course analysis.)

Saturday started with the alarm at 4:30. I was SO tired. And--wait--hadn't I kinda said I wasn't going to do this part any more, this getting up so early being among the things I like the least about agility? Maybe I'll pull the blanket back over my head and go back to sleep.

Uhhh, nah, can't, promised to be score table czar. Plus the dogs are on to me.

Good thing I didn't, because I'd have missed our best run of the day. Here's how the day went, in order:

• Tika  Gamblers: Very good opening and got the gamble. First place, Q, only dog of 8 in P3 22" to get the gamble. In fact, one of only 5 dogs out of 38 in Pf to get the gamble. In fact, one of only 14 of 90 dogs total to get the gamble. Pretty low Qing rate.  (I'll talk more about the gamble at the end.)
• Boost  Gamblers: Didn't stay at start line. Took her off and put her away.
• Tika  Jumpers: Didn't stay at start line. Took her off and put her away. Were they, like, plotting against me?
• Boost Jumpers: Left start line as I was raising my arm, but decided to run her anyway. Except she ran past roughly the 3rd jump and we were therefore immediately offcourse and E'ed. The rest was kind of OK except for one refusal problem on the incoming jump in  a serp.
• Tika  Standard: An almost gorgeous run. But judge called our dogwalk up contact. Dang up contacts! Just, dang them all to heck! I do not like them, Sam I Am! I wish they'd stop faulting them. So, no Q or placement on a fairly straight-forward course in which neither Tika nor I really did anything wrong. (Except she didn't want to go down on the table so lost several seconds there--still well under standard course time but wouldn't have placed with that delay.)
• Boost  Standard: Lovely beginning--including start-line stay--for 4 obstacles. Then she came off the side of the teeter when I crossed behind, and wouldn't lie down when I kept telling her to while trying to get in front of her. The judge whistled us off for training in the ring. (As she really should have.) 
•  Tika Snooker: Tika did everything I asked, except that I ran the wrong course at #6 in the closing. Enough points for a Q but no placement or Super-Q. It's not a straight-forward course, and people are crapping out all over the place just trying to get through the opening. Performance 8/12" left an unclaimed Super-Q; so did Performance 16". (That's because not enough people Qed--and SQs go to only the top 15% of competitors, so you know the Q rate was low!)  But, of course, in *Tika's* group (Performance 22"), 5 out of 8 just HAD to Q, competing for a mere 2 SQs. Dang those 22" Performance dogs! (I'll talk more about the snooker at the end.)
• Boost Snooker: Got away from me at one point in the opening and took a 2-pointer instead of a 6-pointer, but that's OK, because so many people were crapping out completely. Got all the way through #6 and all she had to do for her first-ever super-Q (with a mere 48 points!) was one set of weaves. Aaaaannnnnd she skipped the first pole. Crap! So, yet another plain garden-variety Q.
• Tika Pairs: Tika and partner ran really well. Yay! So did another pair, who beat us by barely more than one second. But I'm happy with the run and happy to take 2nd out of 11 teams.
• Boost Pairs: Boost's partner does very well. Boost knocks 2 bars but only one ended up on the scribe sheet. Do I talk to the judge about it? I don't, and here's why: We Qed with or without that fault, and our placement remained the same with or without it. So it made no difference. Happy about the Q, not thrilled with 2 bars.

Summary:
Three Qs for Tika, one 1st (our only Top Ten Points), one 2nd.

Two Qs for Boost: Pairs and basic Snooker, both of which she has a zillion of and I don't care so much about.

I should practice more on fixing our weaknesses. Duh! For weekend:

• Tika one start-line stay complete blow-off (my back still turned, still walking away), boost one like that, one when I was raising my arm but said nothing.
• Table down crappy: Tika (since boost never got that far, don't know whether hers was, too.)
• Cross-behind screw-up on teeter: Boost
• Bars down: two in one 10-obstacle run: Boost
• Serpentine FAIL: Boost
• Forgotten course: One, plus one where I stood flatfooted while dog was in tunnel trying to remember--fortunately did so in time to save an off-course, barely.
• Weave entry fail: Boost. (Hmm--the only one she actually got to do all weekend!)

Attitude:
While waiting for my turn to run Boost's first run of the day,  I realized the following and commented  to a friend: I was really looking forward to my Sunday hike and not so much to the rest of the day of agility. I really need to decide what to do here. I enjoy being around my friends at agility. But my enthusiasm level has waned so much. But I've already committed to being pairs and/or DAM team partners and/or score table czar for the next 2 or 3 trials. Just have to fish or cut bait. Still thinking about it.

By the time we got whistled off in Standard, I felt pretty grumpy. Had to just shut my mouth and not talk at all because I knew I'd just whine. Luka's Human Dad helped perk me up a bit--with the trial being a one-ring trial--and everyone can't work at once--he was at loose ends and so watched several of my dogs' runs (fun having classmates, former classmates, and friends around to give feedback). He was in a good joking and jollying along sort of mood and pulled me with him. That, along with laughs and good random conversations with friends at the score table, helped me survive the day.

Masters Gamble:

Most people either did a loop with weaves and dogwalk, with teeter thrown in or not. Some got in 2 of those loops. Or they did an up and back through weaves with or without the teeter at the other end. Pretty much everyone tried to end up in the tunnel as a lead-in to the gamble, because it was a looooonnnng way from #1 to the #2 tunnel. Not a lot of dogs managed that part successfully (bigger, faster dogs got it more than smaller or slower dogs). The second hard part was turning the dog after #3 to the Aframe. Most dogs that made it that far either took the #1 again or, because they had come so far out towards the #1 when they finally turned towards the Aframe, were already too far along to make the turn and ran past it. And the heartbreaker, one do who did it all but missed the Aframe down contact.

Pleased with Tika and myself on that run; I SO ran out of obstacles before the first whistle, which means my planning wasn't perfect, but boy, was she wired for her first run in so very long and running fast! But I managed to find something to do that didn't go too far afield (the jump I labeled 10). When the whistle did blow, I kept my cool and am proud of that: I wanted to do the tunnel again to lead into the gamble, and even though the whistle had gone, I followed through on that and things worked great. Ended up even having plenty of time left over. I wish I could've run Boost--had a more aggressive course planned.

Masters Snooker:


The closing 2 through 5 was fairly straight-forward, but nothing else about this course was. Clever layout on the judge's part. Almost too clever; you'd like all the Super-Qs to be claimed, at least, and they weren't in two of the groups and barely claimed in a couple of others.

My numbers marked my plan. The fact that I did #6 backwards twice in the opening is what led me to do it backwards in the closing, too. Stupid, because I actually went back in at the end of the walkthrough to walk JUST 5-6-7 a couple more times to remember to do the #6 correctly. Dumb dumb dumb.

Most people tried some variation of my opening: 4, 5, 6, and either 6 or 7 after that. Some skipped the 5 and did 4, 6, 6, 7. Out of all the dogs competing, only 2 dogs got 53 total, which was probably 4, 5, 6, 7. Faster dogs had plenty of time, but I didn't like the entry to #2 if we finished with #7, so I went for the two 6s (would've been 52 pts if we'd finished).

Fortunately, my visit with my cousin and the next day's hike were WONderful. More on that in another post.

Down in Cool Carmel

SUMMARY: USDAA weekend again

It's supposed to be approaching 100F (38C) on Saturday here at home, but only in the high 70s F (25ish C) in Carmel-by-the-Sea, where this weekend's SMART trial is being held on the beautiful Quail Lodge turf.

I guess I shouldn't be counting my chances for Top Ten points, since we crapped out so thoroughly last weekend. BUT--I will anyway. Two each gamblers, snooker, jumpers, and Standard.

For some reason there are always more dogs in P3 Snooker than in the other 3 classes. Are people keeping their dogs in Snooker to get elusive Super-Qs before they retire completely? It's a puzzle to me.

Boost, well, sigh, we need Super-Qs and Jumpers Qs.

This week I did one day in the park where I jogged and sprinted. That's one day more than I've done in months. In class Tuesday night, my legs were so leaden I couldn't even run a complete in-course class. I don't know how I've deteriorated so badly. Seems like I've never recovered completely from 2 weekends ago, followed by my evening hike 2 days after that. It's odd.

I've been practicing "outs" and gambles in my back yard, a little. Pulled out some old gamblers course maps from my files. I dunno why--it's Jumping I need to work on with Boost. But hard to do in my back yard.

Excuses, excuses.

I will go, I will work the score table, I will run, I will enjoy not being at home in the un-air-conditioned house, I will have fun with my dogs and my friends. That's the plan, anyway.

Snooker Day!

SUMMARY: General Snooker strategy for Super-Qs, plus, OK, what exactly IS a Super-Q?

Thanks to Mary and Maralize, whose comments and questions led me to these writings.

Lots of talking here; pick your topics!

What is Snooker, anyway?

Here's a summary:

The field contains 3 or 4 "red" jumps worth 1 point each, and 6 other obstacles worth 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 points. For example:


You have a set period of time, usually around 50 seconds, in which to accrue points by following first an opening sequence consisting of red, number, red, number, red, number, and then the closing sequence of 2 through 7. (Sometimes you can do a 4th red, number in the opening.) You may repeat the numbered obstacles, but you cannot repeat the reds; for example, do the 1st red and #7, then the 2nd red and #7, then the 3rd red and #4. Then 2 through 7.

During your allotted time, you must earn 37 points for a Qualifying score (a "Q").

If you take an incorrect obstacle, you are whistled off; if you fault an obstacle in the closing, you are whistled off.

Placements are determined by your points.

There are a lot of additional rules and gotchas; if you don't know how to play Snooker, and want to read my previous in-depth post about How To Play Agility Snooker, including why it has the same name as a billiards game, feel free.

What exactly is a Super-Q and how many do I need and why?

Whenever USDAA Masters Snooker plays at a trial, the mysterious word "Super-Q" repeats obsessively.

A Super-Q means that you place in the top 15% of the dogs in your height group. (They round up, fortunately--but when I'm working at the score table, I always look at the Super-Q cheat sheet to be sure I'm giving the right quantity.)

Point ties are resolved by your time. That's why you always race for the finish line when you're done, no matter how many points you have (assuming you've gotten a qualifying score).

Super-Qs apply only to Masters (and P3) Snooker. To earn an ADCH or your APD, 3 of your 5 Snooker Qs must be Super-Qs. Once you've earned the 3 Super-Qs in Masters towards the ADCH, you never again need another Super-Q in championship for anything except glory, no matter how high you go in titles. Ditto with the 3 in P3 towards the APD.

Super-Q caveats

There are two gotchas that can make it slightly more complicated:

• You have to earn a Q to earn a Super-Q. For example, if there are 20 dogs, there would normally be 3 super-Qs. But if only 2 dogs qualify, well, there's a Super-Q that never is awarded, oh well! (Hence, it's a Super Q--because you already have the Q but now it's an extra-special Q.)
• If there are fewer than 7 dogs in either of the open heights or fewer than 5 in either of the mini heights, they have to combine the heights (but only open with open and mini with mini).

For example, let's say:

• There are 20 16" dogs. Normally there would be 3 super-Qs with 20 dogs.
• The top three 16" dogs (let's say, Luka, Wave, and, oh, Sizzle) get 59, 58, and 51 points.
• Meanwhile, the top 12" dogs score 52, 50, and 49.
• There are only four 12" dogs. Therefore they have to combine the 12" with the 16".
• Now there are 24 dogs, which makes 4 Super-Qs. the Super-Qs will be the top 3 16" dogs, plus the top 12" dog with 52 points (because the top 4 dogs in the combined heights have 59, 58, 52, and 51 pts).

That's probably more than you need to know, but I'm being complete here.

The info on Super-Qs is in the USDAA rule book chapt 6 in the Snooker section's "Qualification" subsection.

Tournament events: Other scoring with percentages

You might be thinking that some other classes are related to Super-Qs--for example, in Steeplechase, you have to be within 25% of the average of the top 3 dogs to Q; something similar for DAM. Those aren't super-Qs; those are just how you earn Qs in those events. Grand Prix  uses percentages only in Round 2 at the regional--top 50% (?) in round 2 get a bye into the semifinals at the nationals. Or that's what the calculation was; they dink around with these things periodically so who knows.

Must I always go for all 7s in the opening?

So--a friend who has earned her three Super-Qs now wants to go for Top Ten points (that's over all dogs over the whole year--a 1st place earns more top ten points than a 2nd place, etc.). So she commented something like: "Now I must ALWAYS go for all 7s in the opening, no matter how many reds there are and no matter what the course is."

I said that that was not the right approach towards earning Top Ten placements (which are more or less synonymous with Super-Qs).

My point is that, if you try for an impossible course or try one that you have slim chance of doing, you're normally worse off than if you go for somewhat lower points but a sure thing. I will always *look* at the all-7 opening, but I don't nearly always pick it, and neither does anyone else.

I *do* always pick a slightly aggressive course to push myself and my dog, because most other people will be doing so, too. And I just like getting placement ribbons, so a mere Q isn't good enough. :-) On a very challenging course, lots of dogs will crap out trying to get more than they're really capable of. (Look at me and Boost--oh, ok, well, don't--)

She further put herself out on a limb by saying that, nowadays, with the crowd we have, someone ALWAYS does all 7s in the opening and gets all the way through the closing, so she has to always try.

I said, NEVER and ALWAYS are two concepts in agility that are likely to be easily disproved. And, being the database geek that I am, I was able to quickly pull up some numbers from our local trials:

(1) In Masters 22"/26", since January '08 (in trials I've competed in of course), I count 50 times we've run snooker, and I count only 17 of those where I'm pretty sure that "all 7s" were done in the opening by the winning dog. It's probably less than that; I'm going by the note of 24 or 32 opening points (which is three or four 7s) but of course a 24 opening can also be gotten by, say, 3/3/7/7.

(2) So--that's to *win*. How about simply to earn *some* Top Ten points? Well, of course, winning gets you the most, but as I keep saying, some is better than none. Back to the database:

Among my dogs, I've earned Top Ten points on at least 34 snooker courses; 22 of those were also super-Qs.

Are they all 7/7/7 plus 2-7? No way. Here are the ones where I specifically noted what I ran.

6/7/7 +2-7
7/7/7 +2-7
7/7/5 +2-7
7/7/6/6 +2-6 (4 reds req'd)
5/6/7/7 +2-7 (4th red optional)
7/7/7 +2-6
5/4/4/2 +2-7
7/7/7 +2-7
5/4/3 +2-6 (no Q but a 1st place! still get Top Ten pts!)
1/7/7 +2-7 (1 means we faulted the point obstacle)
7/7/6/6 +2-7
7/7/3 +2-7
7/6/1 +2-7
7/7/7 +2-7
6/6/7/7 +2-5
7/7/7 +2-7
7/7/6 +2-7
5/5/7/7 +2-7
7/7/7 +2-7
4/7/7/7 +2-7 (4 req'd)
4/5/2/7 +2-7
5/7/7/7 +2-7 (4 req'd)
6/7/7/6 +2-7
3/5/7/7 +2-6
0/5/7 +2-6 (0 means we knocked a red jump)
1/7/7 +2-7

So only 6 of these 26 runs used all 7s and completed the closing. It is possible that one needed even fewer points than that to get top ten points; my records aren't THAT detailed.

The Snooker Video You've Been Waiting For

SUMMARY: Bay Teamer Silvina and Maja demonstrate amazing calm in a difficult situation while earning a perfect score in Snooker.

From Sunday evening at the Turlock USDAA. This was one of the most amazing runs I've seen. Check out that teeter execution as Silvina's puppy T-Cam can't wait to join the fun.
View it now.

(I should note that T-Cam is Boost's full sister, but from a litter 4 years later. Yes, Boost has lost self-control with Tika at home many times and at class once--and, yes, Tika kept going with the distraction. But never in competition and I don't think ever with that teeter--)