The Weekend Report - Stick to the Plan!

Jimmy and I ventured back into the agility ring yesterday. It had been since the end of April and it was great to see my agility friends again. We only signed up for one day as it was a new location and I wanted to scope it out without a two day commitment. There were pros and cons to the building, and I was glad it was just one day. It was a longer drive than usual, and the building was very small. This meant there was not enough crating space available. Luckily it was a warm, not hot,  (and not too humid) day with a good breeze. I was able to crate from my car. The small building also meant it was way too crowded in and around the ring. It was hard to walk around and keep all the dogs at safe distances, get to the corner where the practice jump was, or even just spectate. I've never said "Excuse me" and "Sorry" so many times. On the other hand, the A/C in this building did a great job, something the large indoor soccer fields usually can't do. The ring flooring was brand new soccer turf and it was wonderful. Based on distance and crowding, I would not make this a spot I would sign up for very often.

Now, how did our day go? Jumpers was first and it went quite well. The course ran much smoother than the walk-thru felt. Jimmy ran it cleanly and quickly, earning the 1st place ribbon. Yay, Jimmy! He earned 22 points, a nice tally for Jumpers.

Standard had a tricky spot with a tunnel, and unfortunately this is where it went south for us. I walked it one way and after watching a few others run it, changed my plan. Very bad idea! It's a well known truism that you need to stick to the plan you walked and don't ad lib in the middle of your run. Every now and again it seems I need to remind myself of this fact. Jimmy came to my wrong side after coming out of the tunnel and we kind of did a dance trying to get re-aligned. Unfortunately, this earned us a refusal on the next jump.

We are in quite the double-Q drought. I was hoping it would break after the trial hiatus, but alas, no. However the points we earned in Jumpers put us just past the 750 we need for our PACH title, so there's that!

I don't have any video to share. The crowding issue made it too difficult to try and pass a camera around. Jimmy can be snarky with other dogs, especially when he is high as a kite getting ready to go in the ring. I didn't want to take my attention off of what was going on around us.

Here are the maps:

Despite the longish drive, we got home at a reasonable hour. Much to the boys' delight, I took them swimming once my car was unloaded. It rained a lot last week (like Monday thru Friday!) so our lake was in wonderful shape. Couldn't pass up that opportunity!

Tracking Jimmy's PACH progress:

Very 1st Double-Q: Saturday 06/21/2014
Masters JWW legs: 17...MJP Title 01/25/15
Masters STD legs: 16...MXP Title!10/24/14
Double Q's: 9
PACH Points: 754

AKC Nationals 2016:
Double-Q's: 2 (out of 5 needed)
Points: 236 (out of 600 needed)....
Masters Legs: 11 (out of 20 needed)