I am just giddy with happiness after this trial weekend :)
First up, Panic.
We had our ups and downs - biggest down is our DW :( She is missing almost every single down contact. She has a gorgeous stop in class, but will not stop at trials. I have GOT to start marking this but for whatever reason can NOT ever remember. Or, I allow good running DWs and don't want to "mess up" our standard run or whatever class it is. Well I've got to GET OVER that and mark her not stopping so we can hopefully get a nice behavior and soon!
But other than that she had a nice weekend. She Q'd in Standard to finish her Standard Agility Champion title, two times in jumpers to finish her Jumpers Champion Silver title, and also Qd in Relay w/Sonic, and Steeplechase, finishing 2nd in both rounds. We had some entertaining snooker rounds, including her jumping over tunnels! Unfortunately I don't have that on video because I accidentally deleted Saturday's runs off of the camera.
Dexter - Only 1 Q, but a GREAT weekend for him! He was fast and happy every single run and that is really thrilling for me to see :) On the start lines, I hold him on the ground saying "are you ready?" and a few runs he almost broke out of my hands he was so eager to run!! The weave pole stress still is there, but I am not forcing anything and know he will get over it. He did Q in Starters Relay with litter sister Calypso. They are too cute together.
Spry - Oh my little Spry-belle :) After the 8/1 trial where she ran out of the ring every time, I thought I might be nuts for keeping her entered (in every class except GP) at this trial... but it paid off!!! I think getting to work outside at another location and the CPE trial in between really helped us out. She still visited some but only one time really left the ring. Every single run she improved. She still had SO much fun and maintained excellent start line stays, weave poles, and contacts. Sunday we got through jumpers with NO off courses! Overtime due to me realigning her at a few jumps, but beautiful run!! Standard we also did everything :) We ran relay w/Dave & Mocha and it was actually gorgeous!! We did not Q because Mocha had one bar, and Spry had one off course... unfortunately, after the baton exchange, she skipped the first jump and went into the chute. She came back to me, but had seriously messed up the fabric. I put her in a sit and ring crew came running to fix it, but it took a lot of time. She then ran her half perfectly :) But w/10 faults and a lot of extra time we did not Q. Oh well!
THEN, we ran snooker, and she Q'd!!!! She stayed with me and just did so well. I am SO proud of my baby girl, and can not wait to see how she matures. I know, who knows what will happen, but I think she has potential so be a very competitive girlie :) Totally different than Panic, which I look forward to. It will be a lot of fun to encounter new handling challenges!
Also, I have made a few decisions this weekend.
1) I will be stopping my attempts to run GP at nationals this year. We have been trying all year to get 2 Qs and have only gotten one, so really - even if I eked one out @ regionals, is it worth it just to go and miss my DW in round 1?? Probably not. I will run in Steeple and Team at the regional and at nationals and have fun and not stress out over GP.
2) Just running Panic @ regionals. Too many people for Spry to run off and visit, and with all the progress we've made in a short time I'd hate to backslide. With so much activity, I doubt Dexter would run that well. And now I can just focus on Panic. She will really enjoy that.
3) Dexter has been having a lot of fun running agility recently, at class, when I train him by ourselves, and at trials. However his fun doesn't have much to do with doing every obstacle on the course :) As much as I love him having fun, I'd rather him have FREE fun :) So, for now, Dexter will mostly be doing agility on a non-trial basis. I think it will help in the long run, he does WPs fine at practice, so we'll forget the stress of them at trials hopefully! He also just turned 2 and is an intact male, so I think some maturity time is not a bad idea!
Ok, videos posted soon!
8.17.2010
short & sweet - weight loss accomplishment!
I have lost 10.45% of my goal! and 2.37% of my total body-weight.
8.16.2010
More detailed post
Ok so like I said in my short post below, I'm forgetting BRAG as Spry's debut :) I knew team courses would be too hard but figured it didn't matter because I would just handle her like a baby dog and didn't care if we Qd or not. What I didn't think hard enough about was the fact that my mind would be frazzled from secretarying - which it definitely was (as evidenced from panic's runs!), and that my baby girlie who LOVES people more than anything else in the world, would have a hard time outdoors w/flagging only.
So, we'll forget that weekend ever happened, and count this past weekend's indoor CPE as her first show :)
I only entered her in Jackpot and Standard on Sunday. I debated which level to start her in and decided on 1. She can do teeter and weaves just fine but a) this club's teeter is VERY loud on their floor, and b) I really wanted her to be successful so figured the easiest possible course would be better.
Actually I'm very glad I chose 1, because the standard 1 course actually had some difficult challenges and the level 2 was of course even harder.
Comments I have from running:
Jackpot - was very, very happy with this run :) She did not pay attention to judge/ring crew at ALL (until she was done that is!). This is the first time she has ever done that jumping/biting at me thing, which obviously I don't love, but I was happy that when she didn't know what to do she focuesd on ME instead of checking out who's lap looked best to jump into. I think I didn't cue the jump after the AF so much as just run by it, so I can't blame her for not taking it, and then I think she was just fixated on me after the jump as well. She had gorgeous contacts, weaves, and start line. Didn't expect her to do the jump in the jackpot. THRILLED she came to the table instead of bursting out of the ring (exit gate was right there and open).
Standard - I was planning on releasing her when I did, but am pretty sure she was already self-releasing! Oops, can't allow that - she has SUCH a nice stay we don't want it to go away. Also I don't know why I didn't lead out farther. She barked at me when I brought her back around to do jump #2. Also a first! I decided to keep my shoulders straight at the AF contact since I noticed I really turned into her in jackpot for the AF. She *kind* of stopped but also was pretty much all the way on the ground so it realy was NOT the desired performance. I had planned on a FC at the bottom of the AF but wasn't able to do it since she didn't really stop, and then we got all confused with eachother. But again, at least she's asking me where to go, instead of choosing on her own.
Now for the next sequence, I really debated how to handle. The line from the tunnel to the two jumps was pretty tough if you FC'd right by the tunnel exit, the handler would have to diverge from the dog's path to get around the jumps, and I was pretty sure she would pull off jump #2. I decided to do it anyway and tried to get as far to the left side of the screen as possible for the FC so I could try to set a nice line to jump #2 after the tunnel. You can see it was still a challenge but she did it and I was pleased. I still should have opted for a RC on the flat between that 2nd jump and the double though I am pretty sure. She knocked that bar HARD with her front feet. I was already pulling laterally to cue the turn to the DW which was inappropriate for her. I should have waited. Similarly, I was pulling to the tunnel because I was worried about the closing line, so she skipped the wingless after the DW. Again, really can't fault her here.
The closing line was TOUGH - out of the straight tunnel to those 3 jumps at 90 degree angles. I probably should have called her to me after the tunnel to set it up better. I wanted to get some lateral distance while she was in the tunnel so she could see my motion towards the first jump, then turn hard to square up her approach to #2, and RC on the flat for the third jump. As it was, I converged hard on her for #1 and she just barely made it, and ended up doing a regular ole RC... and I am shocked I didn't get a spin before the jump or knocked bar. Maybe noticing daddy in the corner helped :)
overall THRILLED with her performance. I have to maintain her criteria for contacts and startline stay. I saw some moments of brilliance :) I think she is going to be VERY fast once we get it all together.
I would like her to stride bigger on the DW but am not too concerned because this is the first time on a DW other than BRAG's, and I like that she used a little bit of caution - she usually is not a cautious dog at ALL. Also she needs to come over the apex of the AF instead of slowing/stopping there. We will work on that.
Really happy we only got one bar. Very pleased to see her looking for me out of tunnels and doing such a nice 180 onto the DW.
I think she is going to challenge my handling skills and really help me grow. She is going to be *totally* different than Panic, who just made life waaaaay too easy for me :)
So, we'll forget that weekend ever happened, and count this past weekend's indoor CPE as her first show :)
I only entered her in Jackpot and Standard on Sunday. I debated which level to start her in and decided on 1. She can do teeter and weaves just fine but a) this club's teeter is VERY loud on their floor, and b) I really wanted her to be successful so figured the easiest possible course would be better.
Actually I'm very glad I chose 1, because the standard 1 course actually had some difficult challenges and the level 2 was of course even harder.
Comments I have from running:
Jackpot - was very, very happy with this run :) She did not pay attention to judge/ring crew at ALL (until she was done that is!). This is the first time she has ever done that jumping/biting at me thing, which obviously I don't love, but I was happy that when she didn't know what to do she focuesd on ME instead of checking out who's lap looked best to jump into. I think I didn't cue the jump after the AF so much as just run by it, so I can't blame her for not taking it, and then I think she was just fixated on me after the jump as well. She had gorgeous contacts, weaves, and start line. Didn't expect her to do the jump in the jackpot. THRILLED she came to the table instead of bursting out of the ring (exit gate was right there and open).
Standard - I was planning on releasing her when I did, but am pretty sure she was already self-releasing! Oops, can't allow that - she has SUCH a nice stay we don't want it to go away. Also I don't know why I didn't lead out farther. She barked at me when I brought her back around to do jump #2. Also a first! I decided to keep my shoulders straight at the AF contact since I noticed I really turned into her in jackpot for the AF. She *kind* of stopped but also was pretty much all the way on the ground so it realy was NOT the desired performance. I had planned on a FC at the bottom of the AF but wasn't able to do it since she didn't really stop, and then we got all confused with eachother. But again, at least she's asking me where to go, instead of choosing on her own.
Now for the next sequence, I really debated how to handle. The line from the tunnel to the two jumps was pretty tough if you FC'd right by the tunnel exit, the handler would have to diverge from the dog's path to get around the jumps, and I was pretty sure she would pull off jump #2. I decided to do it anyway and tried to get as far to the left side of the screen as possible for the FC so I could try to set a nice line to jump #2 after the tunnel. You can see it was still a challenge but she did it and I was pleased. I still should have opted for a RC on the flat between that 2nd jump and the double though I am pretty sure. She knocked that bar HARD with her front feet. I was already pulling laterally to cue the turn to the DW which was inappropriate for her. I should have waited. Similarly, I was pulling to the tunnel because I was worried about the closing line, so she skipped the wingless after the DW. Again, really can't fault her here.
The closing line was TOUGH - out of the straight tunnel to those 3 jumps at 90 degree angles. I probably should have called her to me after the tunnel to set it up better. I wanted to get some lateral distance while she was in the tunnel so she could see my motion towards the first jump, then turn hard to square up her approach to #2, and RC on the flat for the third jump. As it was, I converged hard on her for #1 and she just barely made it, and ended up doing a regular ole RC... and I am shocked I didn't get a spin before the jump or knocked bar. Maybe noticing daddy in the corner helped :)
overall THRILLED with her performance. I have to maintain her criteria for contacts and startline stay. I saw some moments of brilliance :) I think she is going to be VERY fast once we get it all together.
I would like her to stride bigger on the DW but am not too concerned because this is the first time on a DW other than BRAG's, and I like that she used a little bit of caution - she usually is not a cautious dog at ALL. Also she needs to come over the apex of the AF instead of slowing/stopping there. We will work on that.
Really happy we only got one bar. Very pleased to see her looking for me out of tunnels and doing such a nice 180 onto the DW.
I think she is going to challenge my handling skills and really help me grow. She is going to be *totally* different than Panic, who just made life waaaaay too easy for me :)
8.10.2010
p90x lean - day 3 - Shoulders & Arms and Ab Ripper
Ok so I don't look like this quite yet. Not sure I want to either!! Anyway, we did Shoulders & Arms and Ab Ripper yesterday. Or should I say, we did Shoulders & Arms and *attempted* Ab Ripper! Shoulders & Arms was not bad and I enjoyed it as I expected too. My favorite moves were actually in the "bonus" section. The Congdon Curls and the Side Tri-Rises were the best :) I liked the latter because they also worked my lats pretty well!
The hour went by pretty quickly! It really helps that the warm up is about 8 minutes and the cool down is 5 or so. Then... onto ab-ripper.. this was NOT so fun! It's about 15 minutes long, but only got through 5 minutes of it. I felt like I couldn't do any more of it, but lo and behold my abs are not sore this morning, so I'd better push it harder next time!
I was talking to someone at the office about p90x this morning, and it's crazy how excited I am about it! It's great doing a different workout every day.
We have yoga tonight. It's the one people complain about the most... it's an hour and a half long which is looong plus I felt like the 15 mins or so we had of it during cardio was a killer! Just gotta push through.
3 days down, 87 to go!
8.09.2010
p90x - day #2 and weekend
Friday, I called Andy again on my way home so he could get our workout ready. We did day #2 of the lean program - Cardio X. I was pleasantly surprised by my ability to do the whole thing! Each time I thought I was hitting a blocking point, they moved on to a new section. The yoga part was really hard - it always surprises me how much it is hard on my arms just keeping them up and extended for so long. Also doing the warrior poses I was finding the outer part of my ankles were hurting, so I probably need to do some ankle strengthening exercises. Sometimes when doing tight turns in agility I also notice my ankles feel a little weak. Any good suggestions?The Kenpo section of the cardio workout was great! I felt like a limp noodle during the kicks (note to self - if attacked, a side kick will NOT be an effective mode of self defense, for now at least!) and I'm sure I looked ridiculous, but boy was the sweat streaming! The plyo section was also not as tough as I'd anticipated.
We had all intentions of continuing our workouts throughout the weekend. We were vending @ Flashpoint's CPE trial. However it ran pretty slowly and we weren't done until 6pm on Saturday and maybe 530 or so on Sunday... and it was pretty warm out there. We both felt drained and not at all like working out. I'm nearly certain if we had we would have psyched ourselves out for this program... Sunday especially was fairly miserable outside all day - high humidity meant near constant sweating. Not so pleasant. And realistically we are going to be gone almost every weekend, and probably not working out at the Red Roof Inn. So I think our "90 days" will take longer, but that's ok.
Today is day 3 - an hour of shoulders and arms, and 15 mins of ab ripper. Ab ripper scares me, but I can do it! I'm looking forward to shoulders and arms. Looks like lots of tricep exercises which I badly need, and usually enjoy :) I'll post tomorrow and let you know how it went!
8.06.2010
p90x - day 1 - core synergistics
Well, Tuesday night Andy and I were woken by the storms and Dexter stressing kept us up. So we turned on the TV - and it was 3am or so, so of course infomercials were on. Well we watched the P90X one again. It convinced me to give it a real try. It's a hard workout so I have let myself get discouraged before and never even really complete one :) BUT there was one guy on there who was pretty overweight/out of shape to start with and he just emphasized it doesn't matter if you can't do all the moves at first, just keep moving and trying. So it inspired me to go for it!
We did day one yesterday. On Saturday, I did something to make the muscles over my left hip really sore. I think it was carrying the AF w/Dave that did it because I was hitched over to the side and stretching out those muscles to do it. Anyway it was feeling better until I was waiting on the elevator yesterday, and just STANDING there somehow I tweaked it again. Not a good way to start the first workout! Oh well. We're doing the "lean" version of the program which is more of the cardio and a little less of the muscle building than the traditional. So the first day of this program is core synergistics. I was scared by the name! I figured it would be a lot of ab stuff which would hurt my lower back. I was pleasantly surprised to find out I was wrong! Lots of push-ups/plank stuff though. Definitely couldn't keep up all the time and next workout I need to do a better job of doing SOMETHING if I can't do what they do for as many reps - instead of laying there on my stomach panting on the floor. That's not super productive :) I will say after the workout I felt like it was good but I wasn't going to be super sore. Then I went off to agility and ran the girls & the dude - continuing to keep moving probably kept off some of the soreness for a while. This morning though, I can definitely feel it in my chest, abs, hamstrings, biceps & triceps, and back! So I guess I did get a good workout.
Today is cardio x. I'm not awesome at doing long bouts of cardio, but I guess that's why I'm doing this, to improve! It's only 43 minutes, so I can do it. Last night's was 57 minutes. I have to say, doing the bootcamp - even though I didn't complete it - I think really helped me. I don't think I'm necessarily still in any sort of better shape, but mentally I know I can do a hard full hour work out. In the past I would have seen 57 minutes and given up around 20. For whatever reason, I'm really excited about this. We took pictures and measurements yesterday. I took a starting weight this morning (actually a few pounds less than I expected). But yesterday I was being kind of bummed out and depressed at work. And then I talked to Andy and we decided to do day 1 yesterday, and I got pumped and it really elevated my mood for the rest of the day! And now this morning I don't feel tired and discouraged by the work day like I usually do. I feel energized and ready to work out again tonight!
As someone on a p90x blog that I read yesterday said "1 day down, 89 days left. I can do anything for 89 days."
We did day one yesterday. On Saturday, I did something to make the muscles over my left hip really sore. I think it was carrying the AF w/Dave that did it because I was hitched over to the side and stretching out those muscles to do it. Anyway it was feeling better until I was waiting on the elevator yesterday, and just STANDING there somehow I tweaked it again. Not a good way to start the first workout! Oh well. We're doing the "lean" version of the program which is more of the cardio and a little less of the muscle building than the traditional. So the first day of this program is core synergistics. I was scared by the name! I figured it would be a lot of ab stuff which would hurt my lower back. I was pleasantly surprised to find out I was wrong! Lots of push-ups/plank stuff though. Definitely couldn't keep up all the time and next workout I need to do a better job of doing SOMETHING if I can't do what they do for as many reps - instead of laying there on my stomach panting on the floor. That's not super productive :) I will say after the workout I felt like it was good but I wasn't going to be super sore. Then I went off to agility and ran the girls & the dude - continuing to keep moving probably kept off some of the soreness for a while. This morning though, I can definitely feel it in my chest, abs, hamstrings, biceps & triceps, and back! So I guess I did get a good workout.
Today is cardio x. I'm not awesome at doing long bouts of cardio, but I guess that's why I'm doing this, to improve! It's only 43 minutes, so I can do it. Last night's was 57 minutes. I have to say, doing the bootcamp - even though I didn't complete it - I think really helped me. I don't think I'm necessarily still in any sort of better shape, but mentally I know I can do a hard full hour work out. In the past I would have seen 57 minutes and given up around 20. For whatever reason, I'm really excited about this. We took pictures and measurements yesterday. I took a starting weight this morning (actually a few pounds less than I expected). But yesterday I was being kind of bummed out and depressed at work. And then I talked to Andy and we decided to do day 1 yesterday, and I got pumped and it really elevated my mood for the rest of the day! And now this morning I don't feel tired and discouraged by the work day like I usually do. I feel energized and ready to work out again tonight!
As someone on a p90x blog that I read yesterday said "1 day down, 89 days left. I can do anything for 89 days."
8.03.2010
addendum to previous post
I forgot poor dude-man! He ran only in steeplechase. He actually did great! I got in his way for a FC because of our lack of start line stay, and he came behind me for another FC but went in the tunnel anyway... He didn't do his weaves, but other than that he was awesome :) He had fun and isn't scared of stuff anymore. He had decent speed. AND he did all of this after sitting in the pen for like 11 hours without getting out for more than just potty walks. I didn't think I was goign to get anything out of him considering each time I came over to the pen he was passed OUT. So yay for dude man, and can't wait until he gets over the weave stress (but he got over the contact stress so I know he can do it!)
8.02.2010
BRAG all tournament trial wrap-up
Trial Report time! (enjoy, Kathy!)
I got everything packed and I showered on Saturday night so I could devour every minute of sleep possible Sunday morning, figuring I would need it! I got up at 5:30 and was out of the house by 5:55. Stopped by mom's house to drop Fancy off for my dad to watch during the day, and we were off to the show! We got there a little before 6:30 and started unloading the day-of type stuff, got the score table set up quickly, and began check in and measuring. We started with the first run at 7:35 I think, scheduled to start at 7:30 so that's really not too bad!
Started out with Team Gamblers. I wasn't thrilled with the course - didn't give a lot of great options that had safe contact approaches. Panic did well, tied for 3rd. I was pleased with her during this run. Then... Spry's debut! She held her start-line stay very beautifully and let me lead out. Unfortunately there was quite a distance between what I was taking as obstacle #2 and #3, which was good for distractions! Actually I am pretty sure she passed up jump #2 anyway. She noticed Mike Lifer taking photos (clear on the other side of the ring, I might add!) and ran off to visit. Then she visited Drew. I was able to get her back and she was a little crazy, but then I got her a little settle and did an AF. Unfortunately as she approached I slipped and fell! She ignored that and went on over and I got up and she did a lovely "feet" (much to the surprise of everyone watching I do believe!). We clearly didn't have enough time to do the whole gamble but we did 3 obstacles in a nice fairly controlled manner. This was her best run of the day :)
Team Jumpers - Panic ran great but I directed her into the wrong end of a tunnel unfortunately! Spry visited ring crew again but I got her back and we did the weave poles, very nicely if I do say so myself! We then did a few more jumps but the people were just too tempting, so we left.
Grand Prix - oh grand prix... I did a FC coming our of a tunnel to some WPs and she ran by the entrance. I don't know if I blocked her view or if she thought I was going to keep rotating to the teeter or what, but when I ran Sniper for Jayne he did the same thing so obviously I did something wrong here!! And she missed her DW. Phooey, we really need one more of these...
Team Snooker - I had such an awesome plan. And then on the start line I waffled - should I wrap the 1st jump of the 1st color to the left or right? I decided to go left, Panic decided to go straight. To another color. TWEET! Sweet - one point snooker :) Spry - I came up with a nice baby dog plan (that worked quite well for mom and Fada!). Spry saw a group of 4 people sitting on the ground about 30' from the ring. ZOOM. "Thanks Elaine, we're done!" Whoa - ZERO point snooker! They were very good and neutral though so no rewards for Spry for visiting.
Team Standard - Panic ran very nicely here (helps that there was no DW!) and did run around a slightly offset double at the end because I just ran and gave a slight hand signal but no verbal. Bad mommy! Other than that it was good, but I can tell she is getting tired and slowing down. Spry - It started jump-tire. Tire was the one obstacle I wasn't sure she'd do because she's had very little practice on it. She did jump-tire very nice but when I cued a 90 degree turn after to the teeter she just kept on going, and going, and going out of the ring... *sigh*
Steeplechase Rd1 - Panic did pretty well! Again she was pokey, but I was happy with this run. She seeded 3rd for finals. I came up with a short path of jumps to get Spry in and out of the ring successfully... well she went out of the ring alright, just like all of the other runs.
Team Relay - one of the ONLY team relays I've done where Panic and I haven't done totally goofy things! All team members ran nice and clean (Sniper & Furley) and we got 2nd in this class, and our team ended up Qing despite my attempts to sabotage with a jumpers E and a 1 point snooker :)
Steeplechase Rd 2 - Panic did pretty nicely and I tried to push her but she was really beat by this point (as was I!). I did leave her in the poles to execute a FC in front of the next jump, which is something I don't usually do in trials because it usually doesn't work and she pulls out. But she stayed in! Great to know, and something I will start throwing in more because there have been many situations I wish I had this skill but didn't yet. She ended up 3rd here too, just behind 2nd place but about 3 seconds behind 1st place.
Overall - Panic had a good day, MY brain was frazzled all day long and I was having a hard time focusing. So all of our mistakes are squarely on me. I was happy with Spry's first run, and not even that bummed about the 2nd. She got worse as the day wore on though. Luckily no one pet her when she ran out of the ring. She used to not be able to work at the building with anyone else there and we got over that, so we'll get over this too... I will add more distractions at class though, such as people sitting on the ground, and eventually hopefully very close to where she is working. I will try to get her outside to a few places as well just don't have a lot of opportunities for that other than our backyard. I'm not upset/disappointed with her at all. She is a baby baby dog and I know has the obstacle skills down. I am THRILLED that even with all her excitement she held every single start line stay, had a beautiful contact on the one contact we got one, performed her weaves, and also a tire!
It was my first time as secretary. Pre-trial it wasn't bad at all, although I barely got any sleep Sat because I kept going over checklists in my brain. At the trial it wasn't bad either since I've worked so closely with my mom for so many trials. The only bad thing was being the punching bag for the one upset exhibitor! But I think I handled it ok, and it really didn't stress me out too much since there was nothing we could do anyway. After steeple rd 2 we ended up with over 560 runs, and I honestly don't know what time we were done, around 7pm? That's a long day, but considering how long some 330 run AKC trials can last when they only have 3 courses to set, I think it's not too shabby at all. I never felt like we were lacking for workers, and I didn't personally hear any grumbling from exhibitors. I think our new rubber contacts went over well, and I know I was glad to have them for some of the contact approaches we had. I hope we have this trial again next year if nationals are again close. Maybe 2 judge/2 ring with splitting up people into groups like a regional??? We'll see, hard to think about that now when every single muscle in my body is still aching :)
I got everything packed and I showered on Saturday night so I could devour every minute of sleep possible Sunday morning, figuring I would need it! I got up at 5:30 and was out of the house by 5:55. Stopped by mom's house to drop Fancy off for my dad to watch during the day, and we were off to the show! We got there a little before 6:30 and started unloading the day-of type stuff, got the score table set up quickly, and began check in and measuring. We started with the first run at 7:35 I think, scheduled to start at 7:30 so that's really not too bad!
Started out with Team Gamblers. I wasn't thrilled with the course - didn't give a lot of great options that had safe contact approaches. Panic did well, tied for 3rd. I was pleased with her during this run. Then... Spry's debut! She held her start-line stay very beautifully and let me lead out. Unfortunately there was quite a distance between what I was taking as obstacle #2 and #3, which was good for distractions! Actually I am pretty sure she passed up jump #2 anyway. She noticed Mike Lifer taking photos (clear on the other side of the ring, I might add!) and ran off to visit. Then she visited Drew. I was able to get her back and she was a little crazy, but then I got her a little settle and did an AF. Unfortunately as she approached I slipped and fell! She ignored that and went on over and I got up and she did a lovely "feet" (much to the surprise of everyone watching I do believe!). We clearly didn't have enough time to do the whole gamble but we did 3 obstacles in a nice fairly controlled manner. This was her best run of the day :)
Team Jumpers - Panic ran great but I directed her into the wrong end of a tunnel unfortunately! Spry visited ring crew again but I got her back and we did the weave poles, very nicely if I do say so myself! We then did a few more jumps but the people were just too tempting, so we left.
Grand Prix - oh grand prix... I did a FC coming our of a tunnel to some WPs and she ran by the entrance. I don't know if I blocked her view or if she thought I was going to keep rotating to the teeter or what, but when I ran Sniper for Jayne he did the same thing so obviously I did something wrong here!! And she missed her DW. Phooey, we really need one more of these...
Team Snooker - I had such an awesome plan. And then on the start line I waffled - should I wrap the 1st jump of the 1st color to the left or right? I decided to go left, Panic decided to go straight. To another color. TWEET! Sweet - one point snooker :) Spry - I came up with a nice baby dog plan (that worked quite well for mom and Fada!). Spry saw a group of 4 people sitting on the ground about 30' from the ring. ZOOM. "Thanks Elaine, we're done!" Whoa - ZERO point snooker! They were very good and neutral though so no rewards for Spry for visiting.
Team Standard - Panic ran very nicely here (helps that there was no DW!) and did run around a slightly offset double at the end because I just ran and gave a slight hand signal but no verbal. Bad mommy! Other than that it was good, but I can tell she is getting tired and slowing down. Spry - It started jump-tire. Tire was the one obstacle I wasn't sure she'd do because she's had very little practice on it. She did jump-tire very nice but when I cued a 90 degree turn after to the teeter she just kept on going, and going, and going out of the ring... *sigh*
Steeplechase Rd1 - Panic did pretty well! Again she was pokey, but I was happy with this run. She seeded 3rd for finals. I came up with a short path of jumps to get Spry in and out of the ring successfully... well she went out of the ring alright, just like all of the other runs.
Team Relay - one of the ONLY team relays I've done where Panic and I haven't done totally goofy things! All team members ran nice and clean (Sniper & Furley) and we got 2nd in this class, and our team ended up Qing despite my attempts to sabotage with a jumpers E and a 1 point snooker :)
Steeplechase Rd 2 - Panic did pretty nicely and I tried to push her but she was really beat by this point (as was I!). I did leave her in the poles to execute a FC in front of the next jump, which is something I don't usually do in trials because it usually doesn't work and she pulls out. But she stayed in! Great to know, and something I will start throwing in more because there have been many situations I wish I had this skill but didn't yet. She ended up 3rd here too, just behind 2nd place but about 3 seconds behind 1st place.
Overall - Panic had a good day, MY brain was frazzled all day long and I was having a hard time focusing. So all of our mistakes are squarely on me. I was happy with Spry's first run, and not even that bummed about the 2nd. She got worse as the day wore on though. Luckily no one pet her when she ran out of the ring. She used to not be able to work at the building with anyone else there and we got over that, so we'll get over this too... I will add more distractions at class though, such as people sitting on the ground, and eventually hopefully very close to where she is working. I will try to get her outside to a few places as well just don't have a lot of opportunities for that other than our backyard. I'm not upset/disappointed with her at all. She is a baby baby dog and I know has the obstacle skills down. I am THRILLED that even with all her excitement she held every single start line stay, had a beautiful contact on the one contact we got one, performed her weaves, and also a tire!
It was my first time as secretary. Pre-trial it wasn't bad at all, although I barely got any sleep Sat because I kept going over checklists in my brain. At the trial it wasn't bad either since I've worked so closely with my mom for so many trials. The only bad thing was being the punching bag for the one upset exhibitor! But I think I handled it ok, and it really didn't stress me out too much since there was nothing we could do anyway. After steeple rd 2 we ended up with over 560 runs, and I honestly don't know what time we were done, around 7pm? That's a long day, but considering how long some 330 run AKC trials can last when they only have 3 courses to set, I think it's not too shabby at all. I never felt like we were lacking for workers, and I didn't personally hear any grumbling from exhibitors. I think our new rubber contacts went over well, and I know I was glad to have them for some of the contact approaches we had. I hope we have this trial again next year if nationals are again close. Maybe 2 judge/2 ring with splitting up people into groups like a regional??? We'll see, hard to think about that now when every single muscle in my body is still aching :)
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