The Weekend Report - Oh, The Irony!

This weekend was our last agility trial of the year. It was held by the Capital City Cocker Club. They are a very fun bunch and put on a great trial. It was held at an equestrian center so the footing was great. Last year the place was a bit dark and too dusty, but the club had them water it down better this time. The place also made sure all the ceiling lights were working properly. It was quite improved this year!

On Saturday, I have to say Karma was having her fun with me. As you know from previous agility posts, Jimmy doesn't like the table. But it seems to be improving. If I can fit in a front-cross, he seems to pop right on. Well, Saturday's course really didn't need a front-cross, but I tried to throw one in any way. It was so poorly planted, I blocked Jimmy's approach to the table and nearly made him miss the table. He just about broke the back refusal plane and hesitated about getting on. A stricter judge would have called me with a refusal, but this sweet judge let it slide, and we ran the rest clean for a Q!

A bit later, it was time for Jumpers. It wasn't too difficult and of course I had my fingers crossed for another Q. I led out and released Jimmy. He made it one jump before a Doberman in the Standard ring SLAMMED the teeter so hard, it sounded like a shotgun blast. I didn't even know what the noise, it was that loud. It even echoed. Well, Jimmy is quite scared of fireworks and gunfire, and he just plain froze. He kept waiting for more of the same. He of course got called with a refusal for stopping. With much coaxing, I was able to get him moving again. We ran clean but over time......I guess Karma decided the first judge was just a bit too nice and decided to prevent a Double Q :-(

The club offered the optional Time 2 Beat, so we had signed up for that. It was in the same ring as the Jumpers had been, and I was happy to see Jimmy had let go of his fear. We ran cleanly and earned another leg and 7 more points.

Sunday started with Standard again. It was chute to the table this time and absolutely no way to fit in a front-cross. I just had to go with it. Jimmy slowed noticeably before getting on, and it looked like he was getting ready to sass me. But he did hop on, I praised him, and off we went to another Q! Yay!

Jumpers was a tricky course and all was going well until a double jump about 3/4s through the course. Jimmy nicked the top bar and down it came.....Heavy Sigh...

After such a long struggle with Qing in Standard, it is so ironic that now we are having difficulties getting a Jumpers Q! But I am very thankful that we have made such great progress on the table. This was the 6th Standard Q in a row! That means success on the table as well as success on the dogwalk contact.

Jimmy had a professional massage before going home. Anne said he definitely had some tightness in his iliopsoas muscles and spent a lot of time trying to work it out. She said it was time for Jimmy to take a break. Good thing the season is over for us! I guess Wilson will be filling in for class again for a bit! And speaking of Wilson, he got to run a Jumpers course on Saturday. He was quite happy to play and even did his weaves! Alas, he took one bar so we did not Q, but it was fun none the less!

Here's Saturday's Standard run with my messy table handling front and center:




Tracking Jimmy's MACH progress:
Excellent B JWW legs: 24  Now he's working on his MXJ3!
Excellent B STD legs: 13. We earned our MX and are working on MX2 now.
Double Q's: 8 (out of 20 double-Q's needed for a MACH.... 40 Percent!)
MACH Points: 561 (out of 750 speed points needed for a MACH...... 75 Percent!)

Time 2 Beat legs: 6 (out of 15 needed for his T2B) 48 points (out of 100 needed)