World Team in Spain: Day Seven - The Final Day of Competition
September 25: Valladolid, Spain
Today is the culmination of this prestigious agility event with the small, medium and large dogs competing in the individual agility (standard) class for a chance at the individual medals.
USA
The individual standard agility course small dogs had a multitude of twists and turns with a fast ending. The area that seemed to offer the most trouble for both dog and handler was the tunnel/dog walk discrimination but it was not the only problem area by any means. Dee Anna Gamel & Kelsi ran 15th and had a fantastic, clean run with a time of 40.85, handling the course with finesse. Andrea Samuels & Chase ran in the 35th spot beginning strong, but she was not able to hold Chase back from a wrong course into the wrong end of tunnel #6 off of the Dog Walk, coming in with a time of 42.20. Erin Schaefer & Jag, running 59th and ending with a time of 40.48 had an unfortunate 5.00 fault for a missed contact on the downside of the Dog Walk.
INDIVIDUAL COURSE CUMULATIVE, SMALL DOGS - JUDGE: JOSEP BOIX - SPAIN
| Team | Overall Score/Penalty | Placement |
| Andrea Samuels & Chase | 107.78 / 105.78 | 51st |
| Dee Anna Gamel & Kelsi | 90.85 / 100.85 | 45th |
| Erin Schaefer & Jag | 73.51 / 6.51 | 21st |
Top Eight Finish for Small Dogs (Overall): 1st: Russia(Katutis), 67.31 / 0.00; 2nd: Switzerland(Eberle), 67.61 / 0.00; 3rd: Switzerland(Schmid), 72.68 / 0.68; 4th: Holland(Ebben), 72.82 / 1.17; 5th: Belgium(Heghe), 72.05 / 1.22; 6th: Austria(Fried), 73.37 / 1.48; 7th: Belgium(Vlemincx), 72.67 / 1.63; 8th: Czech Republic(Edrova), 74.22 / 2.22 Next will be the medium dogs on the standard agility course.
USA
The individual standard agility course medium dogs had a very technical course which had many teams in a quandary. The mistakes varied greatly on this course as the teams pushed hard for the win. Jean Lavalley & Taz had a spectacular run of 38.46, clean. Karen Holik & Sizzle burned up the course with a time of 37.58, but had a contact fault on the downside of the Dog Walk.
INDIVIDUAL COURSE CUMULATIVE, MEDIUM DOGS - JUDGE: JOSEP BOIX - SPAIN
| Team | Overall Score | Placement |
| Jean Lavalley & Taz | 88.46 / 100.00 | 38th |
| Karen Holik & Sizzle | 70.88 / 6.03 | 19th |
Top Eight Finish for Individual Medium Dog Teams (Overall): 1st: Slovenia, 65.85 / 0.00 2nd: Belgium(Danckaers), 70.16 / 0.00 3rd: Belgium(Tielens), 72.78 / 0.00 4th: Slovenia(Trkman), 74.89 / 1.89 5th: Japan(Horaguchi), 74.91 / 2.78 6th: Spain(Saavedra),75.97 / 2.97 7th: Portugal(Amorim), 76.21 / 3.21 8th: Japan(Naito), 76.57 / 3.57
We will conclude the competitions with the large dogs running the standard course for their overall scoring.
USA GIVES ITS ALL ON A VERY DIFFICULT STANDARD COURSE
The individual standard agility course large dog handlers needed all the handling skills they could muster with the requirement to enter into the center of an eight-obstacle vortex four times during this very imaginative course that had a minimum of seven major challenges. Wendy Pape & Surf ran first, literally 'surfing' through the course with a time of 36.42 with a regrettable dropped bar on the double. Ann Braue & Spree were up next. They made it through the course beautifully until an unsteady approach to the broad jump gave them a fault, leaving them with a time of 43.44. Gerry Brown & Sterling handled well until the weave poles gave them a bit of trouble. Their finishing time was 43.10. Linda Mecklenburg & Stellar gave a 'stellar' performance up until the weave poles where they picked up three refusals to end with a maximum time of 75.00.
INDIVIDUAL STANDARD AGILITY COURSE, LARGE DOGS - JUDGE: BERN HUPPE - AUSTRIA
| Team | Score(Overall) | Placement |
| Wendy Pape & Surf | 75.24 / 13.82 | 44th |
| Ann Braue & Spree | 80.70 / 12.26 | 41st |
| Gerry Brown & Sterling | 76.35 / 10.00 | 39th |
| Linda Mecklenburg & Stellar | 106.74 / 100.00 | 65th |
Top Eight Finish for Large Dog Individual Teams (Overall): 1st: Germany(Vaanholt), 66.42/0.00 2nd: Germany(Cerny), 66.82/0.00 3rd: Great Britain(Munnings), 67.13/0.00 4th: Austrai(Brandstetter), 68.03/0.00 5th: Great Britain(Garret), 68.26/0.00 6th: Sweden(Emanualsson), 69.86/0.00 7th: Spain(Guillem), 70.15/0.00 8th: Spain(Molina), 70.55/0.00
Finally, we would like to thank the sponsors who gave this USA team the opportunity to compete at this spectacular venue; IAMS Dog Food Company and Clean Run Productions!
Agility Team - Small Dog - Individual Standard
Agility Team - Medium Dog - Individual Standard
Agility Team - Large Dog - Individual Standard
