Resurgence of Cinnamon the Agility Beagle!

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

I did it! I did it! I won in an Agility trial for the first time!!

I entered my first agility trial two years ago just before I turned two years old, but I had to stop doing Agility a few months later because I started having pain in my hip joints. After retiring from Agility, I started doing dog dancing instead, with restriction that I must avoid jumping moves, and in fact my training in dog dancing has helped improve my hip condition, as the muscles around my hips strengthened through regular exercises.

Because I don't feel much pain in my hips anymore, my humans have decided to let me do my favorite dog sport, Agility, once again. But, this time they are doing it with caution. When I was doing Agility two years ago, I practised it almost every day, but now I practise it only once a week in order to avoid too much stress on my hips.

As I reported on this blog earlier, last month I made a come-back in Agility trials after a two-year break. Although I got a clear round in Elementary B in the trial, my run was far too slow to get placed, partly because of my Mum's clumsy handling. Two weeks later, I went to another Agility trial but couldn't get a clear round because of a refusal at a tunnel.

This weekend we went to my third trial, in Cambridge, about 150 km away from our house, and both Mint and I entered three classes, Elementary B, Jumpers C, and Starters.  Elementary B is a class for new handlers with new dogs, who have got no previous wins.

Our first runs of the day were in Jumpers C. Mint went first and I went after several dogs following him. Mint started nicely but missed a jump near the end of the course and had to retry it, resulting in not a clear round. I ran wonderfully and Mum looked super happy when we finished the course. But...it turned out that Mum had made a critical mistake of missing a jump, resulting in a disqualification! Silly Mum again!! 

Cinnamon

Then we ran in Elementary B. This time I went first and Mint went after several dogs following me. Both of us did really well, and in fact I WON it and Mint got the 2nd Place!! It was also Mint's first clear round!

After a long wait, Mint entered an Obedience trial in Elementary class. But, he was tired from the two agility runs already and looked absent-minded, according to Mum. His heelwork was so so, but in the recall he didn't sit in front of Mum straight away and instead he walked around Mum before sitting nicely in front of her. I had been entered in the same class, but I didn't do it because I had my next Agility run at the same time. Also, Mint couldn't do the Stays in the Obedience trial, because it collided with his next Agility run.

Mint

I did very well in Starters too and got another clear round, although I wasted a few seconds because of Mum's mishandling again. (Later it turned out that I had got a ribbon for the fourth place!) Mint ran very well too, but he couldn't go through a collapsible tunnel, the second obstacle from the last, and he got disqualified.

All in all we did wonderfully. Don't you think so? I wanted to show ribbons we got in the trial here, but I can't because we couldn't stay until the prizegiving so we had to ask someone else to take them for us and bring them back to Auckland.

Our next Agility trial is in January in the New Year. In the next trial we are not eligible to enter Elementary B anymore now that I have won once. But, I hope I can report good results again.