Wow, wow, wow what a week my dogs and I have had. We just wrapped up the USDAA Nationals. This year it was a 5 day event in a new venue in Louisville, Kentucky. Great show site, yes it needed some work on the footing for the dogs, but I trust that Ken and the USDAA will make the needed adjustments for next year and make it even better.
I myself had a magical weekend. It didn’t start out quite so with me running into the seesaw in Team Gamblers. If you haven’t seen the video here it is.
I recovered nicely and my dogs performed brilliantly all weekend. When the dust settled (literally) Encore won her first National Championship with a Grand Prix win in the 22″ class while Feature won her first 2 National Championships winning both in Steeplechase and in the Team Championships.
What a thrill to win all three USDAA Championships in the same weekend and how fitting it happened in Louisville Kentucky the home of one of the legs of horse racings Triple Crown.
And as if that wasn’t enough– Feature had such a spectacular weekend she ended up being the highest pointed dog of the more than 600 dogs covering all of the heights categories (in the four team class scores combined). Along the way she ended up winning 2 of the 4 classes and coming in the top 5 in the other 2. So proud of both of my red girls.
Here are some videos of the event. The first big win was Feature’s Saturday night Steeplechase win.
Next came our team victory on Sunday morning. Feature and I lead off, Kim and Recess ran second and Terry Smorch and Presto ran the anchor leg. Terry and I have teamed together for this event for many years and although coming close have never been able to pull off the win. What an awesome feeling to win such a big event with two good friends on your team.
This was followed up by a very special Grand Prix win for Encore and I. Encore has come close to winning this event on more than one occasion. I am so proud of what a strong performance she put in to win the class by almost a second and a half!
Today I am grateful to my heavenly Father, who I know makes all things possible in my life.
Made me tear up seeing the last run, so deserved and the perfect song….it is, about “the climb”, and you climb with grace Susan. Bravo!!!!!
Mary M,, Tala, Oliver, Dabner & Bobby all want to congratulate you and the red girllies 🙂
Congratulations,
So excited you will be with us in Oz soon. Please tell us all about it.
joR
Thoses videos of your runs were so wonderful to watch, now to put it in slow motion to learn how to run great dogs.
WOW! You and your girls are truly inspiring, CONGRATULATIONS! I’m thankful that I was able to take this course and able to watch you and the girls work your magic!
Susan, you are an inspiration. I love watching your run “all out” every time you step into the ring. The connection you have with your dogs is apparent in every single run!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
Congratulations on your Triple Crown! You and your dogs are amazing and we are all winners for having the pleasure of watching you run.
So happy for you and the girls Susan, but especially thrilled for Encore, she is an amazing dog, I have always loved her and she really deserves this recognition for the brilliance she shows all of us when she runs with you.
You’ve had a great year and you have put in huge amounts of work to get where you are. I for one would like to thank you for your help and support over the years.You manage to prepare yourself and your dogs for these big events without forgetting about your students and their dogs along the way.We are all very proud of you and the girls and we are celebrating with you!
Thanks to Lynda for the video taping as well!!! It was great to watch it on the blog!
CONGRATULATIONS!!! BRAVO to you and your girls!
Good work…you are such an inspiration for me and many others.
Love to see you run!
Congratulsations on all your wins. Truely amazing and beautiful.
Congratulations, Susan! What amazing runs with your red girls! Thank you for sharing them with us here.
Oh MY… I am still floating on your victories!! I will live vicariously through you for the day, LOL. You handled the courses so well, you make it look terribly uncomplicated but those of us in Agility know just how many skills you used to pull that off. YOU ROCK! LOVE Feature and Encore, they are SO happy!
That you for sharing your runs on this form. They are very inspiring and an absolute joy to watch!!
You, Feature and Encore were brilliant! It’s so exhilarating to watch your runs. So much confidence, joy and pride are there. Congratulations!!! 🙂
Tears of Joy for you and the red dogs.
Way to go girls….that was magic!!!!!!
Warmest wishes and many congratulations.
absolutely awesome !! congrats to all those beautiful runs !!
thanks to modern technology I was able to watch your runs 🙂
I am pretty sure I am going to watch them again and again … just the right inspiration for ‘my’ nationals over here next weekend 🙂
thanks Susan !!
YOU and the red dogs ROCK!!!!! Congrats on your wins… truly an awesome team to aspire to!
Congratulations! What a fantastic championship!
Thanks so much for sharing with us!
What an exciting weekend! I watched on live stream, and was especially excited to see you and your girls compete in real time Sunday. What a joy! It’s especially exhilarating to have such a stellar role model who represents a lot of us ladies who are close to or have broken that 50-year-old barrier. 🙂 You are an inspiration to so many. Congratulations to you, Encore, and Feature. I’m thrilled for you!
I am speechless,teary eyed and in awe.Beautiful runs,just beautiful. Huge congratulations!
Thank you for sharing your videos with us! What an inspiration you continue to be to everyone. Congratulations on your magnificent success in Kentucky!
Thanks for sharing those great videos..Great way to inspire me on this cold raining Monday morning..margie
Please tell us that smacking your breast into the sharp end of a teeter has not now become part of your roster of contact distraction training moves! Ouch! The dog and the girl kept going. Nice.
Congrats Susan, you and your team mates, canine and human, look wonderful. You do us proud.
Whooooo HOOOOOO!!!! Congrats!!! Knowing what that must have meant to you had tears in my eyes while I was watching those videos! I am so happy for you and your dogs ;-). Beautiful runs, and beautiful team work!
All I can say is “WOW”!!!
Amen!!!! What a great weekend!!! So very happy for you and the girls!!! Very thankful I was able to watch from my computer and cheer along :-).
Awesome runs this weekend with your girls! I am grateful I was there to see them in person. Congrats!
As I sat home this year and listened and watched the Worlds and the USDAA Nationals, I knew it was your year. Your dogs performance is so reflected in your relationship with them. You truley deserve the honors you have received and it is inspiring watching your runs with those amazing dogs. Congratulations on all of your acomplishments this fall!!!
Congrats!!! Great runs!
Encore’s GP run gave me goosebumps! You and your dogs are simply awesome and such an inspiration!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
& thank you for always sharing.
wow, fantastic weekend, congratulations!
Congratulations — awesome performances, and I love to hear your thoughts about them. It’s wonderful to see consistency paying off in the biggest way!
Right on Susan Garrett! Enjoy the view!
Congratulations again, Susan. All those runs were amazing, but I was especially delighted with Encore’s GP win. She’s been one of my absolute favourite BCs from the day I met her as a pup, and I’ve always loved watching you with her. This was truly her moment to shine — and she shone like the sun!
Lovely choice of music; it really said it all.
What a magical five days in Louisville!
Susan, you are such an inspiration with your handling and your relationship with your dogs!! What a deserving “triple crown”
JUST AWESOME!!!! Congratulations!
Truely fabulous. Hope you are still basking in the the thrill of these THREE amazing wins.
HUGE congratulations!
Susan, it was a thrill to watch you and the girls on the live stream this weekend. The intensity, focus, and precision you brought to your runs was mind-blowing. I am so happy for you on this wonderful, well-deserved success.
Awesome! Congratulations!
I have to ask — are you doing a true running contact now or some form of instant release…because it sure looks like a running contact!
Thanks
@Michelle Encore is my second dog (DeCaff was my first) that I have trained two different behaviours on the dogwalk. I can cue either a run or a stop at the end (but I must cue it before the dog gets on the obstacle). I recently taught Feature a run on the dogwalk as well. I will never have just a running dogwalk because I am 5’2″ tall and almost 50 years old! There will be courses that will require my dogs to stop at the end — hence I keep both behaviours sharp for my dogs. The downside of this is that my running contacts will not be quite as fast as a dog trained only to run (my dogs may be as much as 2/10s of a second slower). But I am happy with the flexibility of having both behaviours plus the faster the dogwalk gets the more reckless it can become — ie potentially more injurious for the dog.
I knew that you had taught Feature both the stop and running DW behaviours and must say that I agree 100% especially wrt the potential for recklessnous and injury. I taught these DW behaviours to Spree and Bezel years ago and still feel it was right for both my dogs to execute. At least it was for me for the very same reasons you describe
Thank you so much for your response!
Congratulations for the brilliant runs with both girls!!
Love the excited commentary by your cheer squad and the camera operator (Lynda I assume) 🙂
That see-saw incident looked like it would have really hurt! Very cool how Encore just keeps right on doing her dog walk 🙂
Truly amazing. Beautiful, smooth and you made it look so easy! lol You and your girls really are an inspiration and whenever I watch one of your runs with either of your girls I get goosebumps!
Congratulations to you and the girls, Susan! Brilliant runs! Thanks for posting the video for those that couldn’t be there!
Excellent lesson and so difficult to remember. In the first teeter video, I see you are keeping your eye on your dog the way we all should !!
Proud to be a Recaller!
I want to know how do I order my “Every Day is Game Day” shirt? and looking forward to connecting back again.
Welldone to you and the girlies Susan – it’s a joy to be able to watch you all run.
Lindsay you are right the internet is a blessing!
I was offline all weekend, and just read the magical, wonderful news! Congratulations to you and your fantastic girls.
Congratz on your achievements.
funny that team competition, handing over a stick.
We do it the other way around, as we are not allowed to have anything in our hand when we run a course, we take the stick out of the hand of the next runner.
Today I am grateful for internet connectivity which enables me to watch and learn from your fantastic partnership with your dogs. You make your rounds look so effortless, as if you are dancing with your dogs.
Congrats on a fabulous weekend!!
Weeping! What wonderful achievements, but so much more importantly, what fabulous relationships you have with your dogs that make all things possible. Congratulations and thank you for the inspiration you constantly provide 🙂
congratulations..superb
you’re also a inspiration for me as schutzhund practitioner…
I’m learning so much from you and working at applying it every day. You’re truly an inspiration to those of us with agility dreams.