# Pimg runs first Masters Challenge courses- USDAA



## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

I took Pimg to her first USDAA trial this weekend in order to try out some Masters Challenge courses. Most of you who follow our agility career (if any of you do) would likely know how much I enjoy the technical and challenging handling. I was excited to have some Masters Challenge courses offered locally. We did not participate in any of the other classes, only Jumpers and Standard for Masters Challenge. The trial judge was Bud Houston.

I was a little bummed that the courses were pretty straightforward. I heard multiple say they felt Bud had "taken it easy" on them.

We ran the Jumpers course first:









Unfortunately, I pulled Pimg off of the backside on the 270 at jump #7. I did correct it by retrying and properly getting the backside. Even with taking the 5 seconds or so to retry, Pimg came in under course time at 39.82 seconds. Removing those 5 seconds to retry, she ran the course at around 5.14 yards per second. Other than the missed backside, she was the only dog to run clean without knocking a bar. It's funny to me how often we do backside jumps in CPE games just for the fun of it, yet here in USDAA where we _had_ to do it, I pulled her off... Oh well. I'm very proud of her effort; every 22" dog was eliminated on this course. The Q rate for the class was 38.5%

Oh- I was also very proud of Pimg in handling the long jump, which she had never seen before. I even had to send her laterally on that since I was trying to squeeze in to the #6 jump. Good girl!

Near the end of the day, we ran the Standard class:









Pimg did Q in Standard and came in 4th place. She ran .74 seconds slower than the third place dog, with first through third being Border Collies. She ran this course in 43.64 second, with 197 yards- 4.51 yards per second.

Overall, our first experience with USDAA. Our first experience with Masters Challenge courses. Our first time seeing a long jump. And our first time competing against primarily Border Collies only. I'd be lying if I didn't say I was hoping for the double Q, but I'm extremely proud of Pimg's efforts and I think she did exceptionally well. Even though the courses didn't have tons of backsides and wraps- they definitely had tricky spots and I was really happy to prove that Pimg has what it takes!

Here's the video of our two runs:





And since I was a little frustrated with the fact that we missed that 270 backside, I did do a little testing to figure out commitment points:


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## KristiM (Oct 18, 2011)

Nice job! Congrats on your Q, you should be very proud. They look like really fun courses.


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

Thanks Kristi! I am definitely proud!


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## kbella999 (Jan 6, 2012)

Nice runs. Pimg looks like she was really enjoying herself.


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## gmcwife1 (Apr 5, 2012)

Congratulations and thank you for posting your videos!!


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## BoTaBe (May 2, 2013)

Congratulations! Nice runs!
We know the "Border Collie problem", too! There are just so many...


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

Well done, USDAA is fun.


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## ksotto333 (Aug 3, 2011)

That looks like a lot of hard work and fun all rolled up together...good job..


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

ksotto333 said:


> That looks like a lot of hard work and fun all rolled up together...good job..


I think that would be an accurate statement! 

Thanks everyone


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