AKC?

Do you remember when we got to play agility outside? I remember it like it was yesterday. Oh! That's because it WAS yesterday. Seriously, Mother Nature is an evil bitch this year. Granted, I have to admit that I don't have it nearly as bad as my friends in MN (they got like a foot dumped on them this past week), but this is still some sort of cruel joke. It's like the winter that will never end.

There is a NADAC trial in Lindstrom, MN this weekend. Yesterday morning it was something like 14 degrees in the unheated horse barn where the trial is located. Not only that but there is a foot of snow to deal with outside. Yeah... Can't say I'm missing attending that trial this year!

There is a USDAA trial in Duluth, MN in two weeks. Do you seriously think this winter will let go in time for that? I have my doubts. Duluth is too far for me to consider going anyhow, but I'd be pretty hesitant to enter an outdoor trial before JUNE this year. lol

Yesterday (you know, before all that white crap hit us) I set Secret up to take the photos required to be submitted with the AKC PAL registration. This is something I've kind of been sitting on for the last two years but I never actually did anything with it. Now that Secret has her NATCH and is on her way to her PDCH, I've kind of been exploring our options with other organizations. Since CPE doesn't really appeal to me in the least, I figured AKC is probably the next most likely thing to try. I'd love to try ASCA eventually, but there just aren't a lot of opportunities and they always seem to conflict with something else I'm doing.

I've always been pretty ho-hum about AKC in general. Let's face it, when I first started agility it wasn't even an option for me because they didn't accept mixed breeds at the time. Then there was that whole fiasco of how they went about bringing in mixed breeds (thank god the whole business of "separate but equal" never panned out). Kaiser was just starting to compete around that time and he was an intact male of an unrecognized breed, so AKC still wasn't even on my radar because I wasn't going to show one dog and not the other.

Fast forward to today... Luke still won't show AKC because they don't have a Veteran height option and the lowest he could jump would be 20". Kaiser, however, technically COULD show in AKC now that he is altered... But standing at 14" tall he is *right* on the edge of being able to jump 8" Preferred and I don't know how badly I want to go through the stress of measuring again. I suppose we could try and I'd just run him FEO if he measured up. Ugh. I so hated going through that with him because it was stressful for both of us. Granted, he's come a long way in his sociability, so maybe he'd be more relaxed now and make it easier to get that 14" measurement. We've gotten it in two organizations so far; fingers crossed for a third?

As for Secret, I've always thought that AKC courses would appeal to her. I also think that having only two runs per day (or three if they are actually offering T2B -- nobody plays FAST around here anymore) would be just her thing.

I am undecided about running her at 24" in the standard division or having her jump 20" Preferred. When you think of it, it would just be 2" higher than her USDAA height... But there would be spreads to contend with, which we've never actually had before. I suppose since we take the height drop in NADAC and USDAA it would make sense to take it in AKC. If winter ever leaves us I'd like to play around with this at home some.

Of course, though, I've completely procrastinated and put this off for far too long -- seeing as there is an AKC trial here in La Crosse that closes on the 27th (and surprisingly, AKC trials here don't fill -- the trials in the Cities get like four times the number of entries they can accept and always have to do a draw!). The odds of me actually getting Secret's PAL registration through on time are pretty much slim to none at this point. I do have an e-mail into them to see if they have any options other than mailing. You can do the Canine Partners registration online which is handy, but the PAL registration is stuck in the 80s with the whole mailed in registration and pictures requirement... Sheesh, to do that I'd first have to get these photos printed at Walgreens or something and then send everything in! Yeah, get digital, AKC...

So that's where my thinking is at these days. Just a rambling post while the satellite was knocked out for the last hour thanks to the snow..