Agility Planner for my life.

We have been straying from the Super Important World of Dog Agility lately, and, as you all know and can hardly wait for, Show Season is upon us. Soon. Coming up. In a little bit.

First of all, you should know that even though I call dog shows Dog Shows, they are actually referred to as Agility Trials in the dog agility world. A Dog Show generally refers to the kind of dog show like Best in Show where there are tiny little choker chains and polyester suits worn with hose and sneakers and prancing about in a circle. And much brushing of the dogs. An agility trial is nothing like this. First of all, you wear Sporty Clothes! And there is no prancing about, just flat out running and doing highly skilled feats of danger and demolition over jumps, contacts, tunnels, and so forth. There are 18ish obastacles out there usually on a course and you are always done in less than a minute! Hopefully. Otherwise you are looking at a nasty time fault. There is much keeping in shape for dog agility!

I am not sure why it is called a trial. I think this is the case in other dog sports as well. That word sort of gives me the creeps because of LA Law and Law and Order and I think lawyer show when I hear trial. I am so used to the world of Horse Shows and a Dog Show seems very much like a horse show (you wait and wait and wait and then all of a sudden you have all these turns all at once in different rings at the same time and you are Freaking out! and sweaty and hot and dirty) that this is just what I call them. Also, in agility, you do not really need to brush your dog. Even if your dog rolled in carcass the morning you are leaving, you are not required to bathe them. I probably would though, due to the car ride to the Dog Show.

So, in other posts in other months you have learned about the USDAA and the CPE and the ASCA and AKC and all the venues. So you understand that now. This is what we are gearing up and practicing for and marking our calendars. Because I have a binder and I have organization when it comes to Dog Agility, I can easily find this on a post it.

August 5-USDAA in Camarillo. Maybe. If it can combine with going to visit my parents. A long drive. Must figure out in 2 days because entries will close!

August 25/26-USDAA in Prunedale aka Prunetucky. This can even be 2 days, if I only enter in the morning for Saturday and can go to work in the afternoon. Because it is put on by my dog club and Prunetucky is right around the corner from Watsonville!

Sept 1/2/3-USDAA in San Jose. We can go to this one Sunday and Monday. It is a Regional! Big, huge giant event with dogs from all over trying to get last minute Q's to go to the Nationals. Lots of stressed out freaking out at the one. Big Steeplechase.

Sept 16-USDAA in Turlock. Maybe go to this. I hate Turlock. It is the central valley. It is hot and right by trains and Ruby, who also talks to witches in her spare time, freaks out at train noise and is getting worse in her old age of almost 7. These ones are always done like at 8pm at night and I just do not love the Turlock.

Sept 23-USDAA in Woodland. This is sort of far, almost 2.5 hours. It is near UCDavis. I would rather drive there than Turlock though. I am programmed to drive to UCDavis in my sleep from grad school days.

Oct 7-we have a choice here! Look at all that USDAA we have been doing. We can go again, to Dixon, also known as the spot where Otterpop first freaked out at a dog show and doesn't like it there and Ruby always seems to come up lame partway thru Sunday, or take a break and go to a fun, partially indoors CPE in covered arena which makes the dogs go Super Fast, at WAG in Elkgrove. Yes, the place is named WAG. These dog agility people bought an old cow ranch just for the sake of Dog Agility!

Nov 23-25 Thanksgiving Weekend, and if we so choose, a CPE in Elkgrove.

This would mark the end of our season until I think March or maybe February. Now you know where we will be every weekend! That's not so bad. I need to check and see if there is anything else to enter in October because this is a good time for dog agility, that sucks that there are 2 good shows on the same weekend. I have to research what happened there.