2009 World Agility Championships

Day One – September 18, 2009

Small Dog Team Jumping

The last Jumping class for today was for the Small dogs. Melanie Del Villagio and Dara were the lead off team for the AKC/USA team. Their World Team experience was readily apparent as they deftly ran a course that had caused much grief for many other teams. Dara was very responsive at each decision point and Melanie was very clear on her part. They finished with a clean run and a time of 32.08 seconds.

Dee Anna Gamel and her Shetland Sheepdog Kelsi were next up. They had a strong start and worked well together through obstacle #11. Unfortunately, at the #12 tunnel, Kelsi exited and could hear Dee Anna, it seemed and took the quickest path back to her – which was through the tunnel. The tunnel created a change of lead that had most dogs spinning to the left side as they exited and their handlers were set up on the right side. This is a very noisy show, with lots of cheering, clapping, air horns and a multitude of other noise makers. It can make it hard for dogs to hear. Unfortunately this was an elimination. They ran the rest of the course clean.

Our final dog for the Small dog Jumping was Wave with Marcy Mantell. Marcy and Wave were flying through the course when they got to tunnel #7. Wave came straight out of the tunnel and took a wrong course over jump #9. Wrong courses are an elimination. Tomorrow they will run the Individual Small Dog Jumping and the Team Small Dog Regular (Standard) courses.

Medium Dog Team Jumping

At the FCI World Championships each class has a course designed specifically for them, so the Medium dogs were presented with a very different course than what the large dogs had run. The course required solid communication skills between dog and handler due to difficult obstacle discriminations and four push outs.

After walking the course for their 8 minutes the AKC/USA Team was 16th in the running order and had a lot of time to watch how the course was running. The first challenge for many teams was from obstacle #5 to #6. Avoiding the off course double found dogs pulled a bit short and they would miss the weave entry. Jumps #11-12 and then into the #13 tunnel continually got the crowd to their feet as they would cheer for those who successfully got the push out to #12 and avoided the wrong course into the tunnel. Or the crowd would do their consolation clap for those who took a wrong course at this corner.

Ashley Deacon and his Pyrenean Shepherd Luka came to the line first for our team. They worked quickly and cleanly through the course. Ashley chose to turn Luka to the outside of jump #10, which set up a nice angle that took Luka between tunnel #13 and jump #12, to make the final push out and 270o turn back over #12. From there it as was a quick finish for them. Their course time was 29.58. Ashley and Luka finished 6th out of the 78 dogs that ran.

Veteran world team member Jennifer Crank and her Shetland Sheepdog Blaster stepped to the line next. Jennifer and Blaster made quick work of the opening sequence and then headed into obstacles #11-12 and #13. Jennifer took Blaster on an inside turn over jump #10 and then made a tight turn over #11 look easy. Blaster easily went over #12, then into the tunnel and they were on their way to the finish. They completed the course with a time of 33.00 and a clean run.

Shetland Sheepdog Sizzle and his handler Karen Holik were the final run for the AKC team. They had a great opening sequence, but in an effort to avoid the off course double from #5-6 Sizzle wound up missing his weave pole entrance. This is only a 5 point fault, not an elimination at this competition. Karen opted to take Sizzle on the inside of #10 and he turned a bit wide over #11, but he responded well to Karen’s direction and they were on their way to running the rest of the course clean. Final time was 33.72 seconds.

Out of the 36 teams the AKC/USA team is in 9th place. France is in 1st, Switzerland 2nd and Finland 3rd after the Jumpers class.

Opening Ceremonies & Large Dog Jumping

What a wonderful day in Dornbirn, Austria. The sun has come out and the fields and mountains are a beautiful green. It is just the way to start the 2009 FCI Agility World Championships at the Dornbirner Messe. It is usually a hockey arena, but for the next 3 days it is a venue for the top dogs and handlers in the world to showcase their talents. The AKC/USA team was fortunate enough to get to practice on the surface being used this weekend before it was rolled up and reinstalled in the arena.

The AKC/USA Team supporters were out in force early this morning decorating their area of the stands for the weekend and decorating themselves. There is a lot of red, white and blue for the team members to see up in the stands.

As in tradition the morning began with the parade of countries. Each country is announced as they march in to the traditional Olympic music. As the AKC team came in, they also paid a tribute to their team member "Focus" MACH Hob Nob Sharper Image, who passed away suddenly last week, by carrying posters with his picture on them. Focus and his hander Geri Hernandez placed 4th at the 2008 FCI Agility World Championships. The mayor of Dornbirn welcomed everyone to the city. And with the formalities over – the competition began.

The first event for the morning is Large Team jumping. There are 29 countries entered in this event. Each team has 3 members on it so to keep the walk-throughs manageable there were 3 walk-throughs of 8 minutes each. At the Championships each team’s coach may walk the course with them and Coach Nancy Gyes was right there with our team analyzing the Jumpers course.

AKC/USA Team was the 13th to run. New team member Channan Fosty and her Border Collie Icon made quick work of the Jumpers course. They had to wait a couple of minutes on the course to start due to a problem with the timing/scoring system, but it did not prove to be an issue for them. Channan & Icon posted a time of 30.59 which puts them in 5th place out of the 87 dogs that competed.

Next to the line were Denise Thomas and her Border Collie Zippity. With the loss of Focus last week Denise and Zippity were added to the Team Competition. They were to compete in Individual and now will compete in both categories. When Denise and Zippity came to the line they were also delayed for a timing problem. Once that was solved there was a new issue that took Denise & Zippity off the line. They waited for over 5 minutes while the scoring area and the organizers sorted out a problem. The AKC/USA team misunderstood the numbering system for their bibs. They put them on in the order they would run. It turned out the each number 1-2-3 was specifically assigned to a dog, not a running position on the team. The team members had to switch numbers to correct this problem. Channan’s run stood as a valid run even with the mix-up. After this extensive delay Denise & Zippity took back to the line. Zippity was ready to go and the first 5 obstacles went well. At the weave poles Zippity popped out. This is only a 5 fault error and Denise immediately restarted her. Unfortunately at the threadle from #12-13 Zippity took #13 in the wrong direction. This is an elimination error, a tough start for a new team competing at the World Championships. Zippity was running well and has 3 more runs to look forward to for the weekend.

The anchor team is the 2008 Large Dog Individual Gold medal winners Marcus Topps and MACH2 Peak’s Juice. Juice showed why they were Gold medal winners last year. She and Marcus worked confidently through the course. The bar rattled at jump #13, but it did not come down. Juice had plenty to say while running the course as she barked happily through all the obstacles. Once again they put in a flawless run. When the Large Dog Teams were all done Marcus and Juice found themselves in 1st place with the fastest time of 87 dogs that ran. There time was 29.55. The next closest was Silvia Trkman and her Border Collie from Slovenia with a 29.99.

After all 29 teams ran the AKC/USA Team is in 12th place overall. The top 3 countries are Germany, Russia & Spain in that order.

Large Dog Team Agility

The final class of the day was Large Dog Team Agility (Standard class). The course designed by Judge Manuel Alff was one of the most technical courses that anyone can remember seeing at the FCI Agility World Championships. This course and all of the others from the day are posted on the AKC website.

The first team to take on the Agility course for the AKC/USA was Channan Fosty and Icon. Channan and Icon had a miscommunication at the beginning of the course and he came under jump #1 then went on to take jump #2. This caused an elimination.

Denise Thomas and Zippity had shaken off the Jumpers run & had a GREAT STD run. They did get called for an up contact. That call is only 5 faults at this event. They worked the tough sections of this course beautifully. They were back in sync.

Marcus Topps and Juice fell prey to the wrong course tunnel as they turned from number 4-5. The rest was very well done, but a wrong course is an elimination. Many dogs found their way into tunnel #12 on their way from 4-5. Juice and Marcus ran the rest of the course very well.

The winners of the Large Dog Team Agility were Russia in first, Italy in second and Great Britain in third.

This year's Large Dog Team Champions are Russia with no course faults. The Silver Team is Italy with 5 course faults and the Bronze Team in Great Britain with 30 course faults. The Champion is determined by combining the scores from Round 1 and Round 2. The AKC and their sponsor I Love Dogs, Inc. would like to congratulate all the winners of Large Dog Team agility and all of the exhibitors for an exciting first day at the Championships.