Silaria
Forums Sage
This past weekend Edan competed in his first TDAA (Teacup Dog Agility Association) trial. For those not familiar with Teacup, it's agility designed for dogs 17" and under. The equipment is smaller and the obstacles closer together than on a standard agility course. The idea being to provide the small dogs and their handlers the similar challenges the larger dogs have on a full size course. (Pictures of TDAA equipment next to standard equipment: http://www.k9tdaa.com/TDAAequipment.htm)
I wasn't sure how Edan was going to respond to the smaller equipment so we went to the run thrus on Friday night. Aside from a minor incident with the Teeter, the size difference didn't even phase him. With the Teeter, he wasn't expecting the shorter length or shorter drop. He went flying across at full speed, the Teeter hit the floor and he fell off and onto his side. As I gave him a quick once over, I told him he was a good boy and put him right back on the Teeter two more times and he crossed it both times without a problem.
Saturday there were 5 runs - 3 Standard runs and 2 Games.
The opening run was the game "Pairs Jumpers". This is based on USDAA's Pairs game except it uses a Jumpers course (jumps and tunnels only) versus a Standard course. I was paired randomly with a Min-Pin who was in her first trial. Unfortunately, we didn't Q (too many faults by the Min-Pin which put us WAY over course time) but we did finish First in our height.
The 2nd and 3rd runs were Standard; same course for both runs but for the 2nd Standard run, you ran the course in reverse. We Q'ed and received 1st Place for both runs. I don't have my exact times with me but they were 35.x and 44.x respectively.
The 4th run, a game called "Group Choice", was A LOT of fun. The idea is to run the obstacles in groups - all jumps, or tunnels, or contacts, or weaves - before moving onto the next group. Small dogs had 60 seconds, large dogs had 55 seconds. (Yeah, it was odd to think of Shelties as a "large" dog but in Teacup, they are large.) A Games 1 level, you only need 2 groups. Based on the course layout, we did the contacts then all the tunnels. Once again we Q'ed and finished 1st.
The final run of the day was another Standard run. By this point, Edan was a bit on the tired side and was running a bit slow. I made the mistake of getting too far ahead of him on the Teeter and he jumped off before reaching the pivot point. (Keep in mind, this Teeter is only MAYBE 3 feet off the ground at the pivot.) Because of the 4 Paw Safety Rule at level 1 (once a dogs 4 paws are on the obstacle it can't be retried) we ended up with an NQ and 3nd place. Unfortunately, the NQ meant we didn't earn the Teacup Beginner Agility Dog (TBAD) title that day and couldn't move up to Intermediate for Sunday. (You need 3 Q's to advance at the Beginner and Intermediate levels.)
After a night of rest, we were ready to go on Sunday. It was a slightly shorter day with only 2 Standard and 2 Game runs planned.
The day opened with the first game, Twelve-Tone Row. The idea was to earn at least a minimum number of points (based on level) by only hitting 12 obstacles; large dogs had 55 seconds to do this. In our case, at Games 1 level, we needed 35 points. We had a BEAUTIFUL run for first thing in the morning; a GREAT warm up for the day ahead! We finished with 10 seconds to spare... and did NOT Q.
Why??? Because mommy was still half asleep during the briefing and missed the Judge saying the weave poles had to be the final obstacle. 
Ah well... moving on. It was, as I said, a GREAT warm up for Edan and he was HYPER after that run.
We sat through the Superior and Intermediate Standard runs waiting for our turn to run the Beginner Standard course. Like the day before, the two Beginner runs were mirror images of each other. For our 1st Beginner run of the day, we go and nail the course - 37.35 seconds. Good for a Q and our TBAD title! We placed 2nd to another Sheltie named Molly - her only good run of the day.
Since the Superior and Intermediate runs already happened for the day, I couldn't move up and made my final Standard run of the day another Basic run - ring time is ring time. We Q'ed and received 1st place for that run as well.
The final run of the weekend was another game, Touch and Go. Touch and Go is a game with all Contacts and Tunnels. You run a numbered course as fast as you can. The idea is to hit all your contacts and be FAST. We Q'ed and placed 1st in this game... making us 1 short of the G1 (Games 1) title; if only I had been awake for the earlier game. *shrugs*
Over all, it was a FANTASTIC weekend! 4 Standard Qs, 2 Games Qs and a bunch of 1st places - with a 2nd and 3rd thrown in for good measure. I do have video to upload of all but 1 run - my TBAD run of all things. (DH forgot to tape it.) I'll let everyone know when I have some "Sheltie Agility TV" online.
I wasn't sure how Edan was going to respond to the smaller equipment so we went to the run thrus on Friday night. Aside from a minor incident with the Teeter, the size difference didn't even phase him. With the Teeter, he wasn't expecting the shorter length or shorter drop. He went flying across at full speed, the Teeter hit the floor and he fell off and onto his side. As I gave him a quick once over, I told him he was a good boy and put him right back on the Teeter two more times and he crossed it both times without a problem.
Saturday there were 5 runs - 3 Standard runs and 2 Games.
The opening run was the game "Pairs Jumpers". This is based on USDAA's Pairs game except it uses a Jumpers course (jumps and tunnels only) versus a Standard course. I was paired randomly with a Min-Pin who was in her first trial. Unfortunately, we didn't Q (too many faults by the Min-Pin which put us WAY over course time) but we did finish First in our height.
The 2nd and 3rd runs were Standard; same course for both runs but for the 2nd Standard run, you ran the course in reverse. We Q'ed and received 1st Place for both runs. I don't have my exact times with me but they were 35.x and 44.x respectively.
The 4th run, a game called "Group Choice", was A LOT of fun. The idea is to run the obstacles in groups - all jumps, or tunnels, or contacts, or weaves - before moving onto the next group. Small dogs had 60 seconds, large dogs had 55 seconds. (Yeah, it was odd to think of Shelties as a "large" dog but in Teacup, they are large.) A Games 1 level, you only need 2 groups. Based on the course layout, we did the contacts then all the tunnels. Once again we Q'ed and finished 1st.
The final run of the day was another Standard run. By this point, Edan was a bit on the tired side and was running a bit slow. I made the mistake of getting too far ahead of him on the Teeter and he jumped off before reaching the pivot point. (Keep in mind, this Teeter is only MAYBE 3 feet off the ground at the pivot.) Because of the 4 Paw Safety Rule at level 1 (once a dogs 4 paws are on the obstacle it can't be retried) we ended up with an NQ and 3nd place. Unfortunately, the NQ meant we didn't earn the Teacup Beginner Agility Dog (TBAD) title that day and couldn't move up to Intermediate for Sunday. (You need 3 Q's to advance at the Beginner and Intermediate levels.)
After a night of rest, we were ready to go on Sunday. It was a slightly shorter day with only 2 Standard and 2 Game runs planned.
The day opened with the first game, Twelve-Tone Row. The idea was to earn at least a minimum number of points (based on level) by only hitting 12 obstacles; large dogs had 55 seconds to do this. In our case, at Games 1 level, we needed 35 points. We had a BEAUTIFUL run for first thing in the morning; a GREAT warm up for the day ahead! We finished with 10 seconds to spare... and did NOT Q.
Why??? Because mommy was still half asleep during the briefing and missed the Judge saying the weave poles had to be the final obstacle. Ah well... moving on. It was, as I said, a GREAT warm up for Edan and he was HYPER after that run.We sat through the Superior and Intermediate Standard runs waiting for our turn to run the Beginner Standard course. Like the day before, the two Beginner runs were mirror images of each other. For our 1st Beginner run of the day, we go and nail the course - 37.35 seconds. Good for a Q and our TBAD title! We placed 2nd to another Sheltie named Molly - her only good run of the day.
Since the Superior and Intermediate runs already happened for the day, I couldn't move up and made my final Standard run of the day another Basic run - ring time is ring time. We Q'ed and received 1st place for that run as well.
The final run of the weekend was another game, Touch and Go. Touch and Go is a game with all Contacts and Tunnels. You run a numbered course as fast as you can. The idea is to hit all your contacts and be FAST. We Q'ed and placed 1st in this game... making us 1 short of the G1 (Games 1) title; if only I had been awake for the earlier game. *shrugs*
Over all, it was a FANTASTIC weekend! 4 Standard Qs, 2 Games Qs and a bunch of 1st places - with a 2nd and 3rd thrown in for good measure. I do have video to upload of all but 1 run - my TBAD run of all things. (DH forgot to tape it.) I'll let everyone know when I have some "Sheltie Agility TV" online.
Last edited:
)