# Solstice made it to PIII!



## TwoBigEars (May 11, 2013)

We had a three-day USDAA trial this past weekend, and it was pretty productive for Solstice. She finished her PII titles in Relay, Snooker, and Standard, as well as her overall PII title. So we got to move up to PIII partway through the weekend, and then she Qd in PIII Jumpers and Gamblers! 

I'm rather excited about the Gamblers Q, as my last dog that made it to PIII was not a Gamblers dog at all, so Gamblers was the major thing holding him back from ever getting a PDCH (he managed just two Gamblers Qs by the time he was retired). Still a distant dream for me and Solstice, but we made our first tiny steps there! We missed Qs in our two PIII Standard runs by just one fault each. An off-course in the first run when she naughtily cut in front of me to take a tunnel instead of the A-frame, and a popped weave pole in the second.

Overall we ran pretty well and Solstice was looking less nervous and more happy in the ring by the second day. I tried to concentrate less on Qing and more on "let's see if we can try this handling thing" or "can you do this weave entrance on your own" and stuff like that, so I was able to test some things out to see if she was ready to handle them in a show yet. I'm trying to do less baby-sitting and more running to keep her moving, though I obviously still suffer from "I think I'm running fast when I'm actually not".  And there is still a limit to how fast I can run and how far ahead I can get before she starts missing obstacles. But we do seem to be moving faster on course now, so hopefully we'll keep improving our speed. Maybe I need to start practicing sprints or something...

We did have major issues with her startline-stay (as in, no stay for most of her runs) but she breaks out of fear of the people and dogs behind her, not "I want to runrunrun!" like Ryker does. It's annoying, but I'm not too worried because I think of all the issues we had when she first started showing (fear of the chute, missing weave poles, fear of the ring crew and judge, etc) that are largely gone and I think our startline issue will go away as well as she gets more comfortable in the show environments.

Anyway, enough babbling. Here's video of some of our better runs. 















No news from Ryker. I had originally entered him in a few runs at this trial, but after he was such a butthead at the trial a few weeks ago I pulled him out. No trialing for him until I can get better reliable behavior at fun matches.


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

Really enjoyed those runs! Solstice sure is a looker! Nice work!!


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## erfunhouse (Jun 8, 2013)

Awesome for you guys!!! Love the videos! Absolutely LOVE the videos!!

Can I ask- is there a video that explains all these different things? The Snookers, Gamblers...what are they?


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## TwoBigEars (May 11, 2013)

Thanks! I don't often video because I feel so awkward watching myself run, but oh well. 

I'm not sure if anyone has a video that explains the differences, but I'll explain them. You can also find videos of them on Youtube to see samples.

*Standard* - a numbered with all of the obstacles. Do the obstacles in order with no faults to qualify.

*Jumpers* - a numbered course with just jumps and tunnels (sometimes tire and chute).

*Relay* - a standard course split into two halves. You run this with another dog and handler team. One dog runs the first half of the course, the other dog runs the second half.

*Gamblers* - a course with two parts. The opening period, where you get to make up your own course and gets points for whatever obstacles your dog completes successfully (dropping a bar, missing a contact would be zero points for that obstacle). Then the closing period, which is a distance handling challenge. There is a line marked on the ground where you have to send your dog out to complete a short sequence while you stay on one side of the line. To qualify, you have to get a certain number of points in the opening, and complete the distance challenge without faults.

*Snooker* - also a class with an opening and closing period, but more complicated than Gamblers. The opening is first, but it's easier to explain the closing and you have to understand the closing to understand the opening. In the closing, there is a sequence of obstacles worth 2-7 points. You complete the obstacles in order of point value, lowest to highest. 

In the opening, you get to make up your own course but with a lot of restrictions. In addition to the 2-7 pointed obstacles (the "colors") there are "red" jumps on the course worth one point each. To start the course, you have to take a red jump without knocking the bar. Then any one of the colored obstacles. Then another red jump and color. And so on. Three red jumps are required, but the judge may put out more. So basically a red-color-red-color-red-color sequence until you finish the reds. You can only take each red once. Then do the closing. If your dog ever knocks a red bar in the opening, you have to find a red jump you haven't done yet. If your dog knocks the bar of your last red jump, then you start the closing with the #2 obstacle. Snooker is the most complicated game, but it's a lot of fun once you figure it out!


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## erfunhouse (Jun 8, 2013)

Omg!!! So much to remember!!!!!!!


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

Well done, she is a beautiful dog and you make a great team!


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## KristiM (Oct 18, 2011)

Congrats! Good job


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## BoTaBe (May 2, 2013)

Wow, great runs! And nice congrats! Congratulations! 

And thank you for explaining the different runs, it's really interesting because it's so different from our "system" here.


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

congrats!!! beautiful dog great runs!


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## BoTaBe (May 2, 2013)

BoTaBe said:


> And nice congrats!


Ups, it was supposed to be CONTACTS!


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## avonbankcollies (Nov 17, 2012)

Congratulations,great runs!! I loved the video what a gorgeous dog


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## TwoBigEars (May 11, 2013)

Thanks everyone!


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