CAPER'S FIRST DAY AT USDAA

Photo by Tien Tran

Jack Buhite and Libby Myers-Buhite of Santa Clara CA 
	
	CAPER-Ch Skyedance Lord a-Leaping, NA, HCT, CGC

31 August 1997



Caper had a great time at USDAA yesterday. It was his first time at this grandfather of all Agility institutions and still the largest and most respected. There, for the first time he had to jump the formidable 30" height, which most of our male Beardies and a few of our females face (The cut off between 24" and 30" is 21" at the withers).

Caper's first run of the day was the Novice Standard run. He ran it perfectly and quickly (15 seconds under SCT), not even noticing the jump heights and earned a first place in his first USDAA run ever. (It was also his fourth qualifying run in a row, since he just earned his AKC Novice title earlier in the month.) The judge, Patty Drom of Garland, TX was so impressed by him that she caught us after his run to tell us what a fine Beardie we have, so fast yet under control. (Fortunately she did not see him herding last weekend when he drove a sheep over the fence!) Our Trainers, Nancy Gyes and Jim Basic, told us today that the judge kept talking about Caper during dinner!

Caper's second run of the day was the "Play It again Sam" (a fun repeat of the Regular Course) where he earned a 3rd place.

When we got to Snookers, we were on a roll. Jack brought all his mathematical and geometrical skills to play in designing his run. For those of you who do not know about Snookers, it involves a lot of strategy in gathering points and beating the clock, something like Gamblers, but instead of sending your dog "out" you have to avoid many traps zipping from the jumps at the edge of the course, in to take one obstacle, out to another jump, in again, out and jump again, and in again, and then run a sequence of 6 obstacles planned by the judge. We watched as dog after dog never made it across the finish line or even to the last obstacle before the whistle blew. Yet, Jack was focused and certain of himself and of Caper. He knew Caper's propensity for tunnels and based the first half of his run on that. He just had to say the word "tunnel" and Caper took it. So it was jump--tunnel-chute- -jump--tunnel--jump--tunnel-- Then the course--tunnel, etc. ending on the dog walk where most were getting whistled off. Not Caper! He whizzed over the dog walk, pausing for the contact, and across the whole course and across the finish line before the timer even thought about blowing that whistle. He was first in his class and second out of the forty Novice dogs who ran the course, many of them handled by Championship level handlers! What a feeling!

His final run of the day was Jumpers. He has definitely inherited Skye's jumping gene and speed. In Novice/Starters the placements are based (as in AKC) on Time + Faults. Although he knocked two bars (minus 10 fault points), Caper still came out in second place, a full 7 seconds ahead of the 1st place dog and much more than that ahead of the rest of his class. We are directing incredibly fast dogs! As soon as he gets used to jumping at 30 inches, he will be unstoppable!

I guess we will sign him up for the three USDAA events coming our way this fall. We had decided to try him out on just one day, since he is still young, to see how he would do! Tammy Wiebe, our Specialty Judge, watched Caper's runs and thought he was doing an outstanding job. She thought we had made a fine decision to bring him alone for just one day of the Trial so that he could start out slowly (oops! a contradiction) with our full attention. We are proud to introduce Caper to the ranks of the USDAA Beardies.

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Libby and Jack:

Congratulations on Caper's incredible maiden USDAA run. 15 seconds under course
time must have made the border collies look like turtles. Breezy and I are not
known for speed, we're usually a second or 2 under SCT though this past Sunday
we did it 8 seconds under SCT (must have been down hill).

Jerry (Lu and Breezy, too)

From Jerry.J.Bergen@mailhub.hitchcock.org Mon Sep 1 22:17:51 1997
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Well done..way to go Caper...and Jack..you guys surely show everyone just how great Beardies can be..thanks..

Carol Anne and the boyz

From Woofters
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WOW! Congratulations and very well done on your wonderful successes!

Susan

From Brandmar@concentric.net Tue Sep 2 00:33:51 1997
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Hey Jack and Libby,

Thank you so much for the post about Caper at the USDAA trial. That boy is
definitely going to be a big star!! I sure wish I could have watched your
runs. You'll definitely have to invest in a video camera so those of us
unlucky enough to miss the runs will be able to watch this dynamic duo
afterward!!

Sharon P, with goosebumps from reading the wonderful account.

From jospras@earthlink.net Tue Sep 2 00:13:45 1997
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A big congratulations on Caper-How exciting-you have one heck of a great dog there-you should be very proud!!!!!

thanks for all your help

Kathy

From AGILITYDG Thurs Sep 4

Off to a BAD Start

 Bad Attitude