Agility in France No.4 : Chana's 1st agility trial

Despite the cold, the agility season in the region of Rhone-Alpes started this weekend (February 11 and 12)  in Annonay, 150km east of Grenoble. The trial was held inside the "boulorome," where the national sport of Petanque is usually enjoyed. We participated on Sunday, and there were close to 80 dogs entered. It was a full day event, and you gotta love dogs or you are not a happy camper. 

It was our first trial ever in our career of any dog sports, and we came back with a trophy and a bag of food! Not a bad start, eh?

In France, at the trial you can run 4 times:

1. Open/Open Plus : standard course with contact obstacles (A-frame, dog walk, teeter). More experienced dogs run in Open Plus.
2. Jumping/Jumping Plus : jumpers course without contact obstacles.
3. Grand Prix de France : If you accumulate 3 Excellents under 3 different judges in the region, you are entitled to participate in the Sélectif du Grand Prix de France. 
4. Degrés : If your dog has a LOF (Livre des origines français)/registered, you run in 1st (novice), 2nd (advanced), or 3rd (master) degree.

(All together, it costs 13 euros, and to participate in the trial, you have to be a member of a local dog club. See my post on Agility in France No. 2.)

So in our case, we ran the first three, as Chana is not a purebred dog with a paper. There were 11 dogs entered all together in Chana's jump height (Categorie B), and in the Open and Jumping, there were only 6 (as other 5 are in Plus). I must say it was truly an ideal trial to make our debut. 

In the morning, Chana ran the Open, and did excellent without a fault. In mid-afternoon, we ran GPF, and Chana was rather distracted and started refusing taking some of the jumps. In late afternoon, we ran Jumping, and she decided that it was too much and she left the course. Hence she ended up eliminated. After all, we really need to work on focus. My theory for Chana leaving the course is that she saw someone with food. My regret is that I did not call her name when she was in the tunnel.

Despite the elimination, we still ended up on the 3rd podium thanks to the small number of participants. A lot to think about, and a lot to work on, but I am glad our first trial ended up on a positive note. Again, never underestimate Chana. Good job earning your food doggie, but you still have to work for it :). Our next trial is March 4th. Stay tuned!

Must love winter

It has been soooooooo cold here in Grenoble. I even put my ski pants on to take Chana for a walk. Ugh. I hate being cold. If this was not France, what would I have done? Here are the tokens that France offer to compensate for the weather.

1: La galette des rois (January) : I made it twice this year, and it was easy and delicious. We will have to make this our family tradition wherever we live.

2: Les soldes (January 11-February 14) : There are only two sale seasons in France, so why miss it? However, as I hardly ever go shopping, it was painful to step inside crowded and perfume-y stores. 

3: Les crêpes (February) : Candlemas (February 2) is celebrated with crêpes. The easiest and fastest meal and dessert combo. 

4: Les bugnes (February) : February is a month of crispy donuts called bugnes. I have no intention of deep frying at home, so we thank our boulangeries for their excellent work.

5: Les vacances d'hiver (February 11-26) : Schools are on holiday! In France, on top of the long two months summer holiday, kids have 1.5 weeks at the end of October, 2 weeks for Christmas, 2 weeks for February, 2 weeks for Easter. This applies to my teaching schedule as well, so I am off for two Wednesdays!

6: Free French classes (January-March) : Yes, I am taking French classes again funded by the government. It is four afternoons a week. Thank you France!

Well, to tell you the truth, I have not been able to enjoy any of the above for the last few days as I am sick again! I hardly ever take medicine nor go see a doctor voluntarily, but today I took care of myself. This is the worst year of catching colds or getting ill in my life! I think what happened is that I laxed the cleanliness level from a OCPD level to a French level. Let's look at this as I am building a stronger immune system.

C'est le pôle nord!