Mint's first agility competition

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

Mint has finally made his debut in an agility competition on Saturday at NorWest Dog Training Club Agility Ribbon Trial. This competition was also my first competition in the last two years.

As some of you may remember, Mint started agility training in April and in June I joined him in some agility classes. But we hadn't done any agility training since July until we started going to agility classes again two weeks ago.

Having Mint's first competition coming up, Mum had some concern. In the two classes we went to this month, we didn't have any chance to do the Chute (collapsing tunnel) and the Tyre (Hoop). What worried her even more was Mint's lack of concentration. In the class last week, Mint was more interested in playing with other dogs than running an agility course, and several times, when Mum let him off the leash at the start of a course, he took off toward other dogs and tried to invite them to play with him.

Mum's concern became reality in the competition on Saturday. Both of us entered two classes, Elementary B and Starters.

In the Elementary B class, Mint jumped over two hurdles and went through a tunnel, but then he took off. When Mum called him, he went back to her, but he again took off before doing anything. The same thing repeated a few times, and in the end Mum gave up! Actually it was partially Mum's fault. Her coursing was so bad that she blocked Mint's way, which caused Mint to lose his concentration.

In the Starters class, Mint again deviated from the course just before the entry to the weaves after doing one jump, and he started sniffing. Mum somehow managed to bring him back to the weaves and Mint went through the first two or three poles, but he again walked off. But, Mum didn't give up there! She again managed to bring Mint back to the weave, and this time he did brilliantly, if not fast. However, there was the Chute that Mum had worried about. As Mum had been anxious about, Mint couldn't get into it. Also, he couldn't jump through the Tyre, which had been another concern of Mum's, in his first try, although he successfully jumped through it in his second try.

Do you want to watch a video clip of his runs in his first agility competition? If you do really want to see it, here is a link to it. Also, despite these disastrous runs, our friend Pepper's human took some great photos of Mint. Thanks, Pepper's human!!

Oh, I almost forgot to report on my own runs. In the Elementary class I did very well despite Mum's clumsy handling and got a clear round! But, in the Starters class, I couldn't concentrate at all, because it was after a loooooong wait and there were some scary people filming with an intimidatingly big camera. All I could do was jumping over the first hurdle. Here is a link to a video of my clean run in the Elementary.

Whatever the results were, I think both of us did pretty well, considering our lack of practise. Now I look forward to the next competition, which might be next month!