GREG & RIA WIN THE PIDC!

Woo Hoo!

AmStaff Places 3rd @ The PIDC National Championships

The Purina Incredible Dog Challenge National Championships - Saturday, October 7, 2006 in Gray Summit (St. Louis), MO.

THIRD PLACE!

Well is wasn't quite the outcome I was hoping for, but Ria was truly an INCREDIBLE dog and captured Third Place at the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge National Finals! The entire experience was awesome and the emotional aspects were extreme - both ways. 38 hours of driving for for 38 seconds of pure adrenaline - so much so, that when I got in my car 4 hours later to head back to Florida, I couldn't even think about pulling over to sleep until after 3 AM that night.

Third Place was bittersweet - on the one hand it was a huge accomplishment just to get to the finals, even better to place. Plus Ria ran beautifully. On the other hand, I know without a doubt she had what it takes to win the finals and things could not have looked any better going into the final competition. But, one thing I have learned in my four years in this game is that it is not always your day, and things can go wrong. Despite two mishaps in our first run that were beyond our control, and with all the pressure of the event itself (at least on the handler), Ria and I each faced separate situations that could been disastrous for us, but in each case, we both held it together and pulled out a successful run. That run earned Ria a place at the podium.

Here is the play by play:

After a very non-spectacular performance in Miami a week and a half earlier, and getting a (well-deserved) tongue-lashing by several people who have helped train us over the past few years, I was determined to hit it hard the week prior to leaving for Purina Farms. My first night after Miami was a major encouragement - Ria's speed was back (must have been the intense heat in Miami that slowed her down). Our timing came together quickly and I felt like we were exactly where we needed to be as a team.

Our biggest challenge would be the fact that I knew they would put in two sets of 12 weave poles - they like them for TV. I timed Ria in practice and she gives up about 3/4 of a second in the weaves to a fast BC. So I knew we needed to make up 1.5 seconds elsewhere. I wasn't too worried, because Ria is faster over the contacts and also can out accelerate a BC on the straights.

Friday was a practice day. We each got two practice runs on the same course that we would run in the finals. I knew Ria could negotiate this course without major difficulty, but I was disappointed that there were not any areas where she could get up to maximum speed. The fastest section was the three jump starting sequence, but that ended into the dog walk which was at a 45 degree angle, and the dog walk surface was slick. Two dogs slipped off in practice and had hard landings on top of the tunnel beneath it. I made up my mind that I wasn't going to shape Ria's line for her (which would have added extra strides), I was going to trust that she knew what she was capable of and would do what she needed to do to make it. Plus, I have never seen any dog that is faster over a dog walk than Ria and there was no way I wanted to give up any speed on the the obstacle that is her greatest strength.

I ran the first practice run and Ria nailed the dog walk and executed a really smooth run. The second run I pushed her a little harder and also decided to do a little training in two areas and force a tighter line through the last 5-jumps which formed a 360. She was 2 seconds faster, but hit a stanchion in the 360. Ria had the best practice runs out there, and seeing the speed and wide turns of the competition, I knew the finals were all Ria's to lose.

Saturday morning was the big event. I have never felt such pressure before (two of us handlers were joking that while a dog can be excused for vomiting in the ring, we thought it was allowable for the handler). Ria ran second. Following the advice given me beforehand, I opted for a safe first run, just wanting to get one clean run with a decent time. This would prove to be a defining run in several respects.

The opening sequence was perfect, Ria cleared the first 3 jumps and flew over the entire dog walk in only 5 strides, reaching the down yellow within the first 4.6 seconds of her run! Just as I'm guiding Ria down the down side, I feel something hit me in the back. I make the 90 degree turn to the right to take the double and as I run towards it I feel a tug on my shirt and then something hits me in the foot. First I thought is was Ria and then I thought it was my shoe coming apart. Ria heads into the tunnel, and I quickly move to execute my front cross. As I turn I realized its the bodypack of the microphone they make the handlers wear that had broken loose from my belt and was hitting my foot and legs several more times and was swinging wildly at the end of a 5 foot cord. It's a miracle it didn't wrap around my legs and trip me. Just as Ria is exiting the tunnel and is heading back for the double, the bodypack comes whipping around my body towards Ria. On the slow motion of the video my son shot you can see the bodypack come within 6 to 12 inches of hitting Ria as she jumps over the double the second time - it looks like the bodypack actually hit the wing of the jump. I reached for the wire as she turned 180 degrees to enter the weaves. Four obstacles after coming lose I finally grabbed the body pack and shoved it into my pocket. It was only 3-1/2 seconds total time but it seemed like an eternity, and I even wondered if I should keep running. We definitely lost some time in the confusion as I didn't get back to driving Ria with my voice until she was mostly though the weaves. It was probably the best test of maintaining my focus I have faced in the middle of a run (not counting the 3 or 4 times I have gone head over heels).

Then towards the end of the run, Ria hit the teeter fast, which again was at an angle. She had her front paws already in the yellow as the teeter began to fall. With loads of momentum and before the teeter even dropped a foot, Ria's left rear foot slips off the teeter to the left side. Most dogs would have bailed at that point, knowing they were headed for a major crash. Amazingly, Ria is determined to hold that teeter and keeps three paws on the yellow as her body is literally falling off the teeter, all the way until the teeter drops, and then takes the entire shock of the slam with only her right two paws on the board. Her rear end hit hard and then flipped her rear up high in the air, but she maintained control and made the next jump. She lost time and all her momentum, but it has to be one Ria's most agile moments.

Even with the time lost due to the mic and the teeter, Ria's time would prove good enough to hold onto third place. The next dog edged our time by 0.3 seconds.

I pushed Ria harder on our second run. The fatal mistake came at the 180 from the double to the weaves. I turned Ria too tight and she knocked the bar of the double (with the two practice runs, and the double in the course twice, it was her 8th time over that jump, and she had made it the first 7). There went any hope of winning. That part was heartbreaking.

We thought we would have second place for sure, especially as we watched the last border collie run. The dog looked wide and seemed to crawl down the contacts, but managed a full 3 seconds faster than any of that dog's previous runs. I'm anxious to see the TV coverage to analyze how he turned such a fast run on that one. So that bumped us down to third place.

Part of me was ecstatic that we even placed at this event, but part of me felt like a NASCAR driver who knows in qualifying that he has the car that can win it all, and then loses a tire in the big race. But that's all part of the game.

There were other highlights as well. The crowd went absolutely wild for Ria - in the ring, and out! She got a lot of face time with the spectators. I had her out on the hill watching some of the other events when I heard a mother frantically call out to her daughter. I looked down just as this 5 year-old girl rushes up to Ria and grabs her tail in both hands and pulls. Ria showed the dozens of people watching what makes her even more "incredible" than being an agility star, as she didn't even blink. (I did explain to the little girl that Ria was special, and she should never do that to a dog). Ria worked the crowd for the next couple of hours - she is a major ham and lives for attention.

Another high point was at the awesome dinner the night before. They put together a video of highlights from last year's finals and this year's Western and Eastern regionals. The segment from St Pete highlighted Ria's run. She definitely has TV camera appeal when running (I know - she is my dog, what else would I think). It was quite amazing to see Ria run like that with various camera angles and everything, up there on a giant screen. I got pretty choked up and was a beaming proud papa!

The whole experience was such a high, and although we didn't win it all, I could not be more proud of my little Am Staff - especially after all she has accomplished to get there in the first place, and to then have the first run that she did. It's a memory I'll have forever and hopefully I learned something that will help prepare us for the intensity of the Nationals.

The PIDC finals will air on NBC in a 90 minute HDTV special on January 7th. The Eastern (and Western) regional will still air on Bravo, sometime in December.

I attached some stills from the video: her explosive start, her amazing teeter, and the mic mishap.

The video of her first run is mostly the backs of people's heads (Nick is only 9), so I posted the video of her second run (which was similar, except for the mic, teeter and double jump). If the bandwidth limit is reached, wait an hour and try again.

Watch The Video Here !

Greg & Ria