The Weekend Report - Thank doG!

This weekend we attended an agility trial given by the Potomac Valley Golden Retriever Club. They always throw a good party!

So, of course, based on my last couple of weekend reports, you know Jimmy had a bad scare due to A/C noises sounding like thunder. He remembered the building and was even more scared the next time we went. This weekend, the trial was held at a different location. Getting out of the car, Jimmy was fine. He walked around, did his business, and seemed OK. He even wanted to head inside. Since the morning was fairly pleasant and I was parked in the shade of a building, I planned to crate from the car for the morning. A/C noise or not, the car is much less stressful. I went about my routine, getting checked in, watching some of the 8 inchers run so I could get a feel for the course, and finally doing my walk-thru for the Standard run. Jimmy and I were about midway down the 12s, so that meant at least 30 minutes to wait. I tried to time it so Jimmy wouldn't have to spend too much time waiting....and thinking! He came in the building just fine, but when we headed toward the ring gate, he started to balk. Nope, don't want to go near that! So, interestingly, he took the fear association to another building, and it isn't just the noise he's scared of. It seems he blames the queuing area as well. As luck would have it, I had thawed out raw tripe (gross!) for their breakfast. There isn't much more high value than that! So I thought, nasty smell be damned, I'm going to bring some of that along just in case....I was so glad I did! I broke off tiny little bites and fed them to Jimmy pretty much non-stop while we waited our turn. While he was still very nervous, he loves tripe, and kept focused entirely on getting another, and another, and another bite. It certainly isn't the most person friendly treat as my hands were nasty, and a few of the nearby dogs were very interested in what I had, but it did the trick. Jimmy didn't have a chance to think about the ring. He ate the last bite I had and into the ring we went. And he ran great! It wasn't a terribly difficult course and Jimmy kept the bars up. Yay! We got a Q and 21 points!  It was also my 20th MX leg so technically we now have our MX2 title although I don't think AKC tracks that.

Now started the long wait for Jumpers. The day was heating up, the sun was moving around the building and we lost our shade. I had no choice but to set up my crates indoors. This location has two buildings with soccer fields, and the crating was set up in the upper building, in the ring area. Jimmy wasn't thrilled about that, but he didn't have a choice. I settled them in and went off to do my leash-runner job for the 20 inchers. When I came back later, Jimmy was sound asleep in his crate. I guess he let go enough to relax into a nap. When Jumpers time came, he once again did not want to hang out by the ring gate. As long as we stayed a good distance back, he was fine enough to even demand some tripe in a loud voice. When it got down to the last 3 or 4 dogs, we had to queue up, so I became the human Pez dispenser of raw tripe, bite after bite. It did the trick again and we made it into the ring without him too freaked out. He ran another clean course! We had a Double-Q. Yay! This was #14!

Now, I won't bore you with another blow by blow of how Sunday went. I brought more tripe and did need it. The Standard course was quite tricky and unfortunately I pushed Jimmy just a little too far past his triple jump in an effort to keep the bars up, and that sent him over an off-course jump. I screamed for him to stop but momentum and my bad body language sent him over. Sigh. But he ran nicely and that's all that counts! I considered just heading home after that and skipping the long wait for Jumpers since a Double-Q wasn't going to happen. But I decided to stay and I was glad I did! Jumpers was a fun course that was basically a counter clockwise inward spiral. Jimmy ran it fast and clean, and we got 17 points!  That's a lot of points toward my AKC Nationals tally!

And finally, if you are still here reading this long drawn out report (I do these write-ups mainly so I can look back one day. If I didn't, all the trials would just blur into one hazy memory. I want to be able to re-live this journey to our MACH), let me show you something I bought at the trial. Some trials get lots of vendors, some get none. This particular location always gets a few, and this time it attracted three jewelry vendors! Now if you remember my long ago post about bling, you know I have a weakness for dog-themed jewelry. So when I saw this little pendant, I knew I was in trouble!

It makes me go SQUEE!

It's about the size of a quarter and I just love how the cord runs through the heart! I justified it (yes, I feel quilty!) by the fact that the club holding the trial actually pays us to do the ring work. You work two classes, they pay you $5. So over the weekend, I earned $10, which I of course applied to the cost of this pendant ;-) Yea, I'm never going to be able to retire at the rate I buy jewelry, but what the heck, I'll have some great bling as an old bag lady! (Here's the website for this vendor just in case you are interested..... This pendant is right on the home page, front and center: http://www.pawsitivelyaccessorized.com/ Lots of other nice stuff as well! I have no affiliation, I just like her products.)

Tracking Jimmy's MACH progress:
Masters JWW legs: 33  Now he's working on his MXJ4!
Masters STD legs: 20 We earned our MX2 and are working on MX3 now.
Double Q's: 14 (out of 20 double-Q's needed for a MACH.... 70 Percent! The snowball is headed downhill!)
MACH Points: 821 (out of 750 speed points needed for a MACH...... We've got our points and then some!)

Time 2 Beat legs: 7 (out of 15 needed for his T2B) 58 points (out of 100 needed) 
                               On 5/19/13, Jimmy actually WON the 12 inch T2B class! 


AKC Nationals 2014:
Double-Q's: 6 (out of 4 needed)
Points: 260 (out of 500 needed)
Masters Legs: 16 (out of 20 needed)