Rankine and Aaron continue their quest for USDAA National qualifications at this weekend’s Southwest Agility Team (SWAT) trial in Albuquerque, New Mexico.   Today, Rankine will be competing with Ayr (the border collie) in performance versatility pairs with hopes of earning a qualifier that will allow them to compete at USDAA Nationals which will be held in Denver, Colorado.   Rankine will also be trying to earn qualifiers to complete his performance agility championship and perhaps a Grand Prix or Steeplechase qualifier.

Updates to come throughout the weekend – lets hope it’s good!

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The USDAA Nationals will be in Denver CO this coming October.  Rankine and Aaron are working hard to qualify.  At 5 years old, he is in his prime, but his owner’s admit that raising 2 young children, holding full-time jobs and keeping up competitive training is difficult.  We do our best and some weekends you hit the agility jackpot.  This weekend Rankine qualified in USDAA Steeplechase, pairs, snooker with a super Q and jumpers.  Oh yeah, his 12 year old brother TJ also earned snooker and jumper Qs.

Now if only we can earn a Team and Grand Prix qualifier.

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Hey Denver Area dog agility fans, here are a few upcoming, FREE, dog agility events in the Denver metro area…

• June 10th -12th Front Range Agility Team AKC dog agility trial at the Douglas County Fairgrounds
• July 2nd -4th Front Range Agility Team USDAA Regional dog agility trial at the Schaefer Sports Complex (Hwy 285 and Kipling; 9750 W. Hampden Ave.).  This is the event to attend if you are looking to see some of the best dogs in the region.   Teams at this event are looking to qualify for Nationals and even World Team.
• July 8th -10th Mountain Dog Sports NADAC trial at Fairmount Park in Golden, Colorado
• July 15th -17th Mile High Golden Retriever Club AKC dog agility trial at the Douglas County Fairgrounds

These events are all FREE to the public. Tips:

• Clubs are always looking for volunteer help, so if you are enjoying the show ask if you can assist with jump setting or leashing running (talk about a front row seat).
• Please do not bring unentered dogs.

If you don’t live in the Denver Area, check out the USDAA, AKC, and DOCNA websites for a listing of events in your area:

• USDAA Events
• AKC Events
• DOCNA Events

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If you’ve checked out the Online Dog Coach video lesson library you know that we have lessons like Circle and Bow that are designed to teach your dog a trick, but also serve as great warm-ups for activities such as agility.  That being said, as I was warming up TJ for his standard agility run a few minutes ago, I bent over and was greeted by a sharp pain in my back.  Now, I sit here writing this blog with an icepack on my back and the hope that my agility friend will be successful running TJ.   

So, I thought it would be a great time to remind the Online Dog Coach community that warm-up activities are just as important for us humans as they are for our four legged friends.   There are a variety of simple warm-up activities that can be done in a few minutes without equipment.   If you are looking a great resource that is tailored to agility competitors, check out Lori Hansen’s Human Agility Training Video.   Lori has great warm-ups and activities to help prevent injury and improve footwork in the agility ring.  I have had the opportunity to train with Lori as she is a Colorado local; I only wish I had practiced what I already know!

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This weekend Diane, Steve, Judy, Dave and Donna along with Yazzie, Ryder, Hunter, and Eli hosted a dog agility demonstration at the 3rd Annual Intermountain Humane SocietyDog Walk at the historic Meyer Ranch in Conifer, Colorado.  We had a blast sharing the sport of dog agility with fellow dog lovers.    Needless to say the dogs were a little tired from a day of demoing so this evening we took it easy practicing start line stays while the sun started to set in the Colorado mountains.  Update from the injured reserve list … Rankine gets his stitches out tomorrow and will be as good as new!

Speaking of Colorado our dinner theme tonight was Colorado grub.  Our menu included buffalo corn bread casserole, anasazi bean and squash harvest medley, western BBQ chicken, quinoa poppy seed muffins, and Donna’s famous peach cobbler.   The dishes were all delicious, but the award for best new recipe goes to Aaron for the buffalo corn bread casserole.  On a personal note, Aaron is quite the chef preparing dinner at our house almost every night.

Western BBQ Chicken – This recipe is a Judy creation from the Western BBQ Chicken Pizza recipe from Colorado Collage and the Norelco Microwave Ove Cookbook.

Sprinkle chicken with salt, pepper, and garlic.  Let marinate in the fridge several hours.  Mix together remaining ingredients except the onions and green peppers to make the BBQ sauce.  Place chicken in microwave dish layering & coating with liquid BBQ sauce.   Place onion and green pepper on top.  Cover and cook in microwave on high 20 minutes stopping halfway to turn over the chicken.  Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

• 3-4 Chicken breast cut in to serving size pieces
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped green pepper
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup catsup
• 1 tbsp corn starch
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp mustard
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Anasazi Bean and Squash Harvest Medley – This recipe is from American Food – A Celebration Collins Publishers 1993.

• 1/4 cup dried Anasazi or pinto beans
• 1 piece Hubbard squash (about 1 1/4 lb)
• 1 cup long-grain brown rice
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp sugar
• 6 green onions, chopped
• salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Quick-soak the Anasazi beans by placing them in 1 cup water in a saucepan and slowly bringing to a boil.  Boil for 4 minutes.  Turn off the heat, cover and let stand for about 2 hours.  Drain.  Place beans in water to cover, bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 1 hour or until beans are tender but still firm. Drain.

Either microwave the squash for 6 to 7 minutes, until soft when pierced with a fork, or cut into several pieces and steam fro 15 to 20 minutes until soft.  Remove rind. Dice squash.

In a saucepan, bring rice and 2 1/2 cups of water to a boil.  Lower the heat, cover, and cook for 45 minutes.  Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 10 to 15 minutes.

Mix together the vinegar, oil, sugar, salt and pepper to make the dressing.  Toss beans, squash, rice, and green onions with dressing to coat. 

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