The Weekend Report

Jimmy and I had an agility trial this past Saturday.....

The short story: No Q's this time. We both bear a little blame.

The long story: Our first run of the day was Excellent JWW. This was Jimmy's very first time in Excellent. It was a pretty tough course with lots of side changes. It actually flowed much better in the running than when walking it for strategy. Unfortunately, this was the run I messed up. The weave pole entry just didn't seem all that difficult and I guess I was over confident. I had picked a landmark on the soccer turf where I felt I needed to push Jimmy out to to get him into the weaves OK. Alas it wasn't quite far enough and he entered at the second pole. The poles were about midway through the course, so I went into training mode for the rest of the way. I pushed Jimmy out to jumps much further than I would have if I was still Q'ing and pulled a rear cross that he read beautifully. He kept every single bar up on the whole course and completed it in 34.31 seconds with a SCT of 42 seconds. It would have been faster if we hadn't re-tried the weaves. So, all in all, I was really quite pleased with the run, even w/o the Q. It was smooth and we ran together well.

This was a one ring trial, so the second run was MANY hours later (like NINE!). Thank goodness for nearby shopping, friends to talk to, and a good area for dog walking (although it was hot). I also ring crewed for the 20 inch Excellent STD dogs which burned a good hour that was enjoyable watching so many fast BCs.

I didn't expect a Q in Open STD because we still have that table issue going on. However, our first wobble was at the teeter where Jimmy refused it on the first try. So there went our one and only strike. A bit further on, it was dogwalk to a right turn into a chute, and then a right turn after the chute to a jump. I didn't do a good jog of cueing Jim for a jump he couldn't see due to the chute fabric, so he ran past it and got another refusal. Next was the table, and thankfully he did get on without a struggle, but I could tell he was stressed so I didn't ask for anything other than a stay. He stayed standing and I walked off a few paces, told him he was a good boy, and moved on. Jump to a right turn into the weaves which he nailed nicely. I egged him on with loud cheering, Go! Go! Go! to really rev him through as fast as he could. No fear of popping him out since we were already NQ'd big time by now. Sharp right turn out of the weaves, up the A-frame, into a tunnel, then triple, panel and done! He kept all the bars up in this run too. I was pleased with his jumping this weekend. We've been doing jump chutes at home and I think it has helped. I forgot to check my times and didn't want to stick around to see it posted. It was a very long day. I don't think I will sign up for this trial again until Jimmy is in Excellent STD.