RubyStar Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Yep I saw the photos! They look nice. I need a nice warm jacket for winter trials. But would seem silly to order one if I'm not going Which is why I never ordered a WA Nationals one, as I wasn't competing then! (even though I came to watch every day). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tay. Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 People going from interstate, where are you staying? I'm terribly organised and need ideas! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canine fun sports Posted December 24, 2011 Share Posted December 24, 2011 (edited) People going from interstate, where are you staying? I'm terribly organised and need ideas! Hi Guys, I know all the cabins and camping spots at the venue have been booked. Apparently DogsNSW grounds will not be availalbe for camping but people are now being referred to The Hubertus Country Club who have 30 powered camping sites, although apparently limited showering facilities. There is not much about the comping on their website, but you can check out their facilities here: http://www.hubertuscountryclub.com/ It is quite close (15 minutes drive) from the SIEC site. I believe there is also more information on the Nationals website for other sorts of accomodation. Edited December 24, 2011 by canine fun sports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smisch Posted December 24, 2011 Share Posted December 24, 2011 Started paying for my enteries today for Den we have like 5 events entered and paid :D and little Miss has her first round of comps booked in (in my head) for ADAA so we can do some NFCs cos I want ot expose her to as much as I can. No weaves yet hoping we can get them trained, its just not been a big focus for me as I am working on instilling more confidence. Den on the other hand is looking so good :D very excited to start running him again! For anyone interested here is the latest progress! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tay. Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 smisch did you get Jess' numbers and everything else for pairs? I need Den's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canine fun sports Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Hi Guys, We are having a fundrasier this weekend out at the Sydney Olympic Equestrian Centre, as a lead up to the Nationals, to see how the location works for such an event. My question is for those who may have run up at the ADAA Grand Prix events held at the Equestrian Complex at Tamworth. What footwear seems to be most suitable for the humans? Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pie Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Oohh that sounds interesting, I'd love to hear reports back about the surface and how the dogs went Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaCharlie Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Tammy and I wore the same cleated shoes at Tamworth that we do for a normal agility trial and they worked great We had taken regular joggers with us too but preferred the normal agility shoes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaCharlie Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Thats provided the surface is packed similar I guess. The surface at tamworth is great and packed really hard, Im hoping these guys can pack it similar to that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pie Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 I hope they do because if it's anything like beach sand I am going to get to about 5 steps then will be too tired to go any further Hmmm may be an idea to get the dog and I used to running on sandy surfaces beforehand hey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spotted Devil Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Did everyone remember to order their t-shirts by today? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canine fun sports Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 I ran on the surface at Horseworld for the last Hawkesbury trial. It was packed firmly underneath but had a softer layer on top (even though a hard surface had been requested!). I ran pretty well on that in the cross trainers I normally use in agility. I reserve my cleated shoes for wet weather. If the shoes are too grippy, my knees suffer. I will probably try both at this trial. It will also be interesting to see how tired my legs get judging in the morning becasue I will have a fair bit of running to do, judging the contacts. The surface that has been requested is as hard packed as possible, but this is also one of the things being assessed at this trial, in preparation for the Nationals. Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tay. Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Did everyone remember to order their t-shirts by today? Oh crap. Nope, I forgot! Probably a sign, got to start saving my money for the actual entries . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickie Posted January 8, 2012 Author Share Posted January 8, 2012 I thought the surface was really good yesterday at SIEC . I thought I may be a little sore today, but I'm not. I arrived at 7pm & did not even sit down till 10pm, so am pretty happy to be feeling so good (although I am tired) It is such an awesome venue...can't wait to spend 5 days there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spotted Devil Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 That's great to hear Vickie! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xena98 Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 I thought the surface was really good yesterday at SIEC . I thought I may be a little sore today, but I'm not. I arrived at 7pm & did not even sit down till 10pm, so am pretty happy to be feeling so good (although I am tired) It is such an awesome venue...can't wait to spend 5 days there! Hi Vickie Did you just use normal sneakers or any particular shoes like the hockey shoes or special agility shoes at all. The fast dogs didnt have any issues at all with the dirt. just curious Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickie Posted January 8, 2012 Author Share Posted January 8, 2012 (edited) Hi Danni,I just wore normal running shoes, actually not really normal b/c they're so old they hardly have any tread left on them.The only runs I felt unstable on my feet in were the last 2 & I think that was more about fatigue than the ground. My dogs felt a touch faster than normal, didnt seem to notice the surface was different and I didn't see either of the slip once. More importantly, they don't look stiff today Edited January 8, 2012 by Vickie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xena98 Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 Hi Danni,I just wore normal running shoes, actually not really normal b/c they're so old they hardly have any tread left on them.The only runs I felt unstable on my feet in were the last 2 & I think that was more about fatigue than the ground. My dogs felt a touch faster than normal, didnt seem to notice the surface was different and I didn't see either of the slip once. More importantly, they don't look stiff today Thanks for that Vickie, it's good to know and at least I know than I can wear my sandshoes. I was just worried with the fast dogs going around the corners if they slipped so thanks for that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RubyStar Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 I saw smisch's videos from those grounds and they look awesome! I really hope I can make it over as it all looks like it is going to be fun! It all depends on Uni. I'd like to watch all these great dogs in the flesh, and just have a red hot go with Millie even though we haven't trained in a good 6 months Crossing my fingers I make it over Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canine fun sports Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 I thought the surface was really good yesterday at SIEC . I thought I may be a little sore today, but I'm not. I arrived at 7pm & did not even sit down till 10pm, so am pretty happy to be feeling so good (although I am tired) It is such an awesome venue...can't wait to spend 5 days there! Hi Guys, I am sure Vickie meant to write that she was there froam 7 am and did not sit down until 10pm - at least that is when I saw her arrive! The shoes you normally use for a grass ring are good. The surface was good to run on. More details in this post I also posted to the Yahoo list, Agility Australia. If you read my post there you can stop reading now! <<Here are my comments from a few different perspectives - participant, spectator, judge and peripherally involved in the organisation of the event. This email is a bit long, so you may want to grab a coffee. First of all, I would like to say thank you to everyone that was involved in making this a fantastic night. I know that most people do not realise how much work goes on behind the scenes to make any trial happen, let alone a trial of this magnitude. And this will look like nothing when compared to the work that has already gone into, and will go in to the big event in June. Our agility committee do a fantastic job, and it is worth noting that the committee, at the moment, is undermanned. There are two vacant positions on the committee so we must applaud the effort they are putting in. Thank you to Keith, Eddy, Ashley, Margaret and Vickie. They all looked pretty exhausted by the end of last night. Thank you to everyone who chipped in with the stewarding. They were a bit shorthanded occasionally, but volunteers were found when needed. Carol Daniel, in particular, did a sterling job "at the top of the stairs" of the jumping ring. The night finished a little late. But we got through something like a thousand runs through two rings in the trial. Personally, I apologise for letting my ring run a little late in the morning. Unfortunately I do not wear a watch, and had not realised that I had let things slip a little. Next time we have that sort of tight schedule, I will not allow such lengthy course walkings, and we will work a little harder at not wasting time between runs. We will be running 5 rings at the Nationals, so we should not have quite as many runs to get through each ring each day. Also, with some forward planning, we should be able to get our entrances and exits from the ring with a little less down time. Honestly, when you are putting 500 runs through a ring in one day, if you can save 15 seconds per run by having your dog ready to go as soon as the judge is ready, then everyone can go home 2 hours earlier. When the workers have to get there at 6:30am, then getting home to bed two hours earlier that night would be every much appreciated. So everyone, please, next time: be lined up at the first jump with your dog ready to start as soon as possible. The atmosphere of the "stadium" is spectacular. I think nearly all the handlers were feeling a little bit of extra excitement because of the atmosphere of the place. I am sure there were some exceptions, but all the dogs were coping with it very well. I think there were a lot of dogs that were also feeling the excitement and there were some really quick runs - quicker than these dogs normally run. I think the dogs coped well with the surface. It seemed that there were some areas that were a little drier underneath, and sometimes the footing dug up underfoot a little. But over the day this packed down well. I think the differences between the two rings (the whole area had the same preparation) was that the agility ring had the strategic pairs classes run in it in the morning and that packed it down a little to start. In the jumping ring, some areas had a little extra water added, and to me, these actually made some spots a little sticky. Regardless, I do not think any of the dogs had any problems running on the surface either at the start of the day when it was a little looser, or by the evening when it was more firmly packed. As a judge who had to run a lot of contacts in the start of the day, then do quite a few runs on it until evening, I was surprised that I did not pull up feeling sore. It is not straight sand, but is a composite that includes some rubber in it, so I suspect this has made the difference. I wondered how the dog's pads would be affected, but I checked my dogs that did several runs and they look perfectly fine. I had a stint of judging so I was able to watch lots of dogs doing the new see-saw and chute tunnel although not the lower table (for some). The only issue I saw was one dog that baulked at the chute tunnel. I am sure that dog will be fine once he he gets a little practice with it. There were absolutely no problems that I saw with the see-saw and there were no fly-offs. I think the changes to the see-saw will go a long way toward reducing confusion with the dog walk, the changes will improve safety in fly-off situations, and if I accidentally run into a see saw, I would prefer to get barked shins than to receive a concussion. So, I think it is a winner. Also, when there are significant weight differences in the participants of a class, the difference in time that it takes for the see-saw to drop will be less significant to the end result. I did find barking dogs in the indoor arena a nuisance on occasions, and felt particularly irritated when I saw handlers sitting beside their barking dogs without doing anything about it, and dogs that were left tied up alone, in a particularly open and echo-y area to bark their heads off. These dogs were being stressed, and I feel owners would do better to have their dogs crated where the dog feels more secure, or ask a fellow competitor to stay with their dogs. To answer Sue Winn's question about the off-leash are - yes it will be a different area at the National trial. The stable area, which is fully fenced and quite large, will be the off-leash area. The stables themselves will be closed off, but there is a large grassed perimeter, which just lends itself for a perimeter walk to give adequate exercise and a chance for the dogs to go to the toilet. The stadium type of set up makes it ideal for the spectators. Agility has always been a good sport spectacle, but in this set-up it made it even more entertaining. The SIEC staff that were on duty seemed to spend a lot of the night watching the dogs too! It was great to sit back and watch it all, when you were not a part of it in the ring. In summary - it was a great trial yesterday at a great venue that will be fantastic for the Nationals. I know the committee came away with a lot of knowledge about what worked well and ways to improve lots of things. I am now eagerly anticipating the big event in June.>> Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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