Straight Racing

Two weeks after Kinta and I had our debut at Colorado Springs, Kayla and I tried out Straight Racing for the first time. Kayla seems to be quite prey driven and she has outrun every dog we've ever met, save one Borzoi. We had just one Ridgeback to compete against, her friend and half-brother Bek, but we were excited for the opportunity to compete. Straight racing works in heats, so the winner of each heat gets a certain number of points and the overall winner of all three heats wins the "race." That winner gets points towards a racing title. The number of points earned in a day is determined by the number of dogs racing and the number of races won. It is all pretty complicated and I am still learning. Kayla won the first heat of the first race. She looked great and she was driven and focused. After that something changed and she got distracted. Each heat after (we had two total races that weekend) she started out strong and took the lead immediately, but then about 3/4 of the way through turned to look behind her, slowed down and trotted or loped across the finish line. We received much feedback about the potential causes of this change, and I appreciate all of the folks who helped us try and figure out the problem. I think the bottom line is that she loves to run, but was not driven by the "bunny" used in straight racing and so was easily distracted by a multitude of factors. By working with her on her focus and training her to focus on the "bunny" I think we can resolve this issue. The weekend was still a success, though, since I brought home Kayla's first ribbons and Bek earned two more points towards his title. Go Bek! I can't wait to try this fun 200 yard dash again, next time with Kinta, too!

Katherine and Kayla

First Show

Kinta and I went out for our first show in Colorado Springs on June 7 and 8, 2008. We entered puppy bitch 9-12 months both days, plus the match Friday and the sweepstakes. While we didn't win any of the events, it was a great learning experience and an awesome first time out. We had some funny foibles, including Kinta diving for some bait and me losing the leash. I found out, too, that it matters when you enter shows. Order in the ring is determined by order entered in the show, and so my over zealousness earned us a line-leader position all weekend. That was difficult since I really had hoped for at least one person in front of me to show me the ropes. As it was, we learned a lot and it was fun to get out and see what the show world is like! There were more than 50 Ridgebacks at the show because it was a supported entry so I feel like it may have been a tough show to start with. But with that said, other shows will be easier knowing what we know now. I plan to enter in a few more shows this summer and I look forward to seeing how we grow as the summer progresses!

Katherine and Kinta