Crusty Classic California State Championships - Livermore, CA
The Crusty Classic, held in Livermore California this year and sponsored by DiscDoGG (Disc Dogs of the Golden Gate) was a great event! Beautiful weather, a great venue, and terrific performances all combined in making this ANOTHER memorable Crusty Classic.
My sore little boy Bailey was amazing during the Crusty Classic! He ran, jumped, and flipped while catching discs left and right as if he were a two year old pup! He showed no signs of the discomfort that has plagued him this season. At least some part of it is due to my learning of how to maximize his performance and fun by properly managing his activity throughout the day.
When the results are officially posted I will give more details (the results help me remember who did what). Anyway, Bailey managed 5th place on both days! And 4th overall for the weekend!!! And if his partner, "Dead Arm Joel", had any skill at throwing the disc he could have finished as high as 2nd on day 1, and first on day 2. That's why I am so proud of the freestyle performances my big 74 pound labby turned in on both days.
On Day #1 Bailey flipped, snatched, and thundered to the 4th best scored (as to if it was actually the 4th best, everyone has their own opinion, and should!) routine of the day! All he needed now was for his pops to through level and far in the toss and fetch.
"Joel and Bailey, you are next up!!!"
We approach the line. Bailey is as excited as he has been for a competition in years. "Ready... Go!" And away Bailey goes! And away the frisbee goes out of Joel's hand! Right... Into the grass, not more then 20 yards away. UGH! Bailey, still smiling away, happily retrieves the disc. Looks up at me, and communicates, "Go on dad, you can do it! I'll go get it!". :-) And that's what he did. We were still able to get 4 catches (5 throws!) in for the round and post one of the better T & F scores of the day. I don't remember the last time Bailey was able to chase down 5 toss in a T & F round. But, alas, we fell 1 place in the rankings. And we were out of 2nd by about 3 points. One TOSS. The TOSS I threw into the ground. :-) Oh well, Bailey didn't make me feel bad about it for a moment.
But the stars of Saturday were definitely Todd and Bella! They Clobbered the competition with a high flying Freestyle routine that just had you saying, wow... wow... over and over again. Jake, down from Washington, had the only routine that was comparable on this first day. But then Todd and Bella took to the Toss & Fetch field. It was clear at that point that this was no longer a contest. Todd & Bella scored, I believe, 17 points! I'll give more details when the results are posted. I can't remember what was a Sunday happening or a Saturday happening, right now.
On Day #2 I was simply hoping Bailey and I could come close to our freestyle performance of Saturday so that we could redeem ourselves in the Bullseye round.
Not only do we come close to our Day #1 performace, we eclipse it with a higher score, and end up with the 3rd best freestyle routine of the day!!! All those exclamation points are a result of this being very unfamiliar ground for me and my pup. We work hard to do a lot with a little, and it's nice to see it pay off every once in a while.
But this day the Freestyle honors went to Josh. He and his pup were just amazing. They hit practically every trick, and each of their maneuvers were worthy of chin touching ground!
The Bullseye round was brutal on everyone. The only person to seemingly have a handle on the event was Steve Teer. He stepped up and hit back to back bullseyes on his first two throws. One more and he can only move up from his second place standing. A perfect throw, right in the bullseye zone. But for some reason Irish just can't hang on. WOW! Still a fantastic round.
As the day goes on, no one else is able to duplicate the feat of two bullseyes.
I notice everyone having a hard time with the tail wind and I get the brilliant idea of throwing into the wind. Mind you, NO ONE ELSE had this wonderful idea. I should have THUNK twice. My first toss gets caught in the wind and flies high! At the last second Bailey snatches it centimeters from the ground for 1 point. Now I'm questioning my judgement. But I've started, have to finish now. My next throwing flies out great! Right on target, and Bailey snatchs it in the Bullseye! Ok... Ok... Maybe I can salvage this round. Another Bullseye and it ain't so bad. So I stop Bailey, and I wait for the wind to die down. Sitting there.... Waiting... Bailey's anticipation growing with each second. The wind subsides just a little, I say, "Go!" And go he does, he turns and flies off! You should know, the bullseye is only 25 yards away, speed is not a requirement here. But Bailey is so excited that he doesn't sees the disc floating over the Bullseye, until it's too late.
Oh well... No redemption.
We are definitely looking forward to giving it a shot at the Ashley Whippet World Championships at the end of this month. Pictures and full results to come soon...
My sore little boy Bailey was amazing during the Crusty Classic! He ran, jumped, and flipped while catching discs left and right as if he were a two year old pup! He showed no signs of the discomfort that has plagued him this season. At least some part of it is due to my learning of how to maximize his performance and fun by properly managing his activity throughout the day.
When the results are officially posted I will give more details (the results help me remember who did what). Anyway, Bailey managed 5th place on both days! And 4th overall for the weekend!!! And if his partner, "Dead Arm Joel", had any skill at throwing the disc he could have finished as high as 2nd on day 1, and first on day 2. That's why I am so proud of the freestyle performances my big 74 pound labby turned in on both days.
On Day #1 Bailey flipped, snatched, and thundered to the 4th best scored (as to if it was actually the 4th best, everyone has their own opinion, and should!) routine of the day! All he needed now was for his pops to through level and far in the toss and fetch.
"Joel and Bailey, you are next up!!!"
We approach the line. Bailey is as excited as he has been for a competition in years. "Ready... Go!" And away Bailey goes! And away the frisbee goes out of Joel's hand! Right... Into the grass, not more then 20 yards away. UGH! Bailey, still smiling away, happily retrieves the disc. Looks up at me, and communicates, "Go on dad, you can do it! I'll go get it!". :-) And that's what he did. We were still able to get 4 catches (5 throws!) in for the round and post one of the better T & F scores of the day. I don't remember the last time Bailey was able to chase down 5 toss in a T & F round. But, alas, we fell 1 place in the rankings. And we were out of 2nd by about 3 points. One TOSS. The TOSS I threw into the ground. :-) Oh well, Bailey didn't make me feel bad about it for a moment.
But the stars of Saturday were definitely Todd and Bella! They Clobbered the competition with a high flying Freestyle routine that just had you saying, wow... wow... over and over again. Jake, down from Washington, had the only routine that was comparable on this first day. But then Todd and Bella took to the Toss & Fetch field. It was clear at that point that this was no longer a contest. Todd & Bella scored, I believe, 17 points! I'll give more details when the results are posted. I can't remember what was a Sunday happening or a Saturday happening, right now.
On Day #2 I was simply hoping Bailey and I could come close to our freestyle performance of Saturday so that we could redeem ourselves in the Bullseye round.
Bullseye is a competition where you score points by having your dog land in the highest scoring zone. The field is setup similar to a dart board, with the highest value and smallest size zone, called the Bullseye zone, being directly in the middle. The middle zone is worth 5 points. The next zone, and second smallest zone, encircles the Bullseye zone and is worth 3 points. The final zone is the largest and least valuable and this encircles the middle zone. You get 1 point for landing in this zone. Each team gets a total of 3 throws. 15 is the maximum score.
Not only do we come close to our Day #1 performace, we eclipse it with a higher score, and end up with the 3rd best freestyle routine of the day!!! All those exclamation points are a result of this being very unfamiliar ground for me and my pup. We work hard to do a lot with a little, and it's nice to see it pay off every once in a while.
But this day the Freestyle honors went to Josh. He and his pup were just amazing. They hit practically every trick, and each of their maneuvers were worthy of chin touching ground!
The Bullseye round was brutal on everyone. The only person to seemingly have a handle on the event was Steve Teer. He stepped up and hit back to back bullseyes on his first two throws. One more and he can only move up from his second place standing. A perfect throw, right in the bullseye zone. But for some reason Irish just can't hang on. WOW! Still a fantastic round.
As the day goes on, no one else is able to duplicate the feat of two bullseyes.
I notice everyone having a hard time with the tail wind and I get the brilliant idea of throwing into the wind. Mind you, NO ONE ELSE had this wonderful idea. I should have THUNK twice. My first toss gets caught in the wind and flies high! At the last second Bailey snatches it centimeters from the ground for 1 point. Now I'm questioning my judgement. But I've started, have to finish now. My next throwing flies out great! Right on target, and Bailey snatchs it in the Bullseye! Ok... Ok... Maybe I can salvage this round. Another Bullseye and it ain't so bad. So I stop Bailey, and I wait for the wind to die down. Sitting there.... Waiting... Bailey's anticipation growing with each second. The wind subsides just a little, I say, "Go!" And go he does, he turns and flies off! You should know, the bullseye is only 25 yards away, speed is not a requirement here. But Bailey is so excited that he doesn't sees the disc floating over the Bullseye, until it's too late.
Oh well... No redemption.
We are definitely looking forward to giving it a shot at the Ashley Whippet World Championships at the end of this month. Pictures and full results to come soon...
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