Snookered

We had an awesome agility weekend and both Keltic and Beckett proved that they are excellent Snooker dogs.

On Saturday, Keltic was in three runs, the first was Advanced Snooker.  It was a very small trial and they were using two rings, alternating between rings to keep things flowing smoothly. Too smoothly, I was videoing the first event for some friends and still had their cameras in my hands when they called for the Advanced Snooker briefing. I just had time to go get my course map and head over to the other ring. I had looked at the course map and had planned a very ambitious course but with only the seven minute walk through before the event started just decided "what the hay" that I would stick with that plan. I didn't think we would get very far, I wasn't even going to get anyone to video but a friend said bring your camera back so I did.(A big thanks to Lisa.)

Advanced Snooker

I think the course I planned was about as long as I could have possibly made it. We did all four red jumps (the single jumps marked with a 1), the 5 obstacle (two jumps and a tunnel) and the 7 obstacle (another two jump tunnel combination) three times in the opening and then started the closing.  Keltic ran well, he snuck in behind me once doing the tunnel for obstacle 7 and in the close, he curled in towards me after obstacle 5 but the rest of the run was beauty. I thought when he curled in after 5 that it might have been considered a refusal and the judge would blow the whistle. We had already gotten enough points by then to qualify and I was getting really tired. The whistle didn't happen so we did the teeter (obstacle 6) and finished obstacle 7 for the fourth time.  Keltic finished with 57 points (a perfect Snooker is 59 points, doing obstacle 7 four times in the opening and finishing the close) in a time of 54.93 seconds; in Advanced he has 60 seconds so we were well under time.

Video of Keltic's Advanced Snooker run

Keltic also got an Advanced Jumpers Q, his third but he doesn't get to move up to Masters as I was sure we had already qualified under two judges; unfortunately all of Keltic's Q's are with only one judge. So thanks to his Mum not checking, he will have to get one more Advanced Jumpers Q. He also got another Advanced main gamble where he was again over time but that tells me he can do them so it will only be a matter of time before he gets those Q's We will make sure that we have those Q's with at least two judges.

On Sunday it was Beckett's turn. He was entered in 4 events, two Masters Snooker, a Masters Standard and a Steeplechase. In the first Snooker, things were going well but then I did a front cross which for some reason he didn't read and he took a jump behind and away from me, really odd. In the Masters Standard, we had a funny refusal. We were heading to the dog walk but some unused tunnels (mouth down) had been placed by the fence and Beckett headed straight for them passing the plane of the dog walk.  Next up was the second Masters Snooker, I really wanted to get this one as it would be Beckett's Expert Bronze Snooker title for 10 qualifying scores at the Masters level. We get over to the briefing and find out that I hadn't read the notes correctly and obstacle 7 was not multi-directional. You had to do the tunnels in order, A,B, C although each tunnel was bi-directional so either tunnel mouth was acceptable. I had to quickly revise my plan, making up a variation of what another competitor said she was doing. We did red jump, 7 A, B, and C, red jump, then 3B, 3A, then red jump and 7 A, B and C again before starting the close with the middle tunnel which was also obstacle 2.  We nearly got a refusal on obstacle 3 when Beckett turned into me after the tunnel. I had nearly forgotten to cross for obstacle 2 and so was not in position to beat him to the end of the tunnel. 

Masters Snooker

Video of Beckett's Expert Bronze Snooker Title run

We got all the way through the close giving Beckett not only the Expert Snooker Dog title but also his 100th qualifying score; a personal goal I set this year. Beckett also got a Q in the Steeplechase. It was his 30th Q in Steeplechase, we need 50 for his Silver Expert title in that event, who knows maybe next year.

Beckett -  Expert Bronze Snooker Dog of Canada

All in all a great weekend, the weather was great and in addition to the Q's, three of our runs were Best Runs so we also came home with cooling towel for me and a Frisbee and treats for Beckett and Keltic. And we were all SNOOKERED and went to bed fairly early.