Gracie's Second Trial

Such an improvement from last time!  Gracie and I did lots of mat and heel work between runs to help with her focus.  I was armed with DAP, a Thundershirt, peanut butter, and Gidget to help keep Gracie calm and out of trouble.  She actually pottied for me and I don't think I saw even the tiniest reaction the whole day, so everything seemed to be working.  Standard was up first.  Gracie was super nervous at the start line again, just wanted to sniff and wouldn't sit.  Then when I released her, she forgot what a tire was.  This was not surprising to me as she usually sees a 16" tire in class.  We'll need to work on the 20" tire as I plan on sticking with CPE for awhile.  She had to go check out the dog walk before coming back to me to restart.  Once I got her going she did pretty well.  She ran past a couple jumps and got sucked up the A-frame instead of being sucked into a tunnel like she was supposed to.  She followed her nose to the door of the ring at the end, thankfully she came back quickly and there were no dogs out and about at this wonderfully small trial.  NQ but I was very happy with the improvement from last time.  Gracie was the only Level 1 dog in Standard and she got a time, so she got 1st place!

Colors was second.  One course option had the dog walk and the other had the A-frame.  The path to the A-frame was a little more direct so I chose that path in hopes that she'd complete the line of jumps leading up to it.  Once again she forgot how to do the tire briefly, then after fixing that she took the long route to the second jump.  After that she was awesome!  Every obstacle completed with no extras or out of orders... hey, that means Gracie got her first Q!!!!  I was very very proud of my girlie!





I ran Gidget at this trial too, just for fun.  There were no chutes in the Standard or Colors courses, so we couldn't work on that, but we still had a good time.  I started her in Level 3, and the course was certainly doable for her.  Except she didn't feel like finishing the weaves til her 3rd attempt and the teeter was just out of the question.  Some teeters she'll do, some she won't.  Another thing we have to work on.  She also jumped the A-frame contact, grr.  So NQ for her 1st run.

Gidget did Level 3 Colors too.  We had the A-frame/dog walk options again.  I went with the dog walk for Gidget since she'd jumped the A-frame contact earlier.  No need to let her practice that bad behavior.  There's an open contacts class coming up at the end of the month.  We will be working that A-frame with a clicker and trying to get her super excited for the teeter.  There were only 6 weave poles on this course, so no issues there.  Gidget was a little bit on the slow side (I've seen much worse from her).  I imagine the change in routine (I was gone Thur. and Fri., the girls didn't go to class at all that week, a friend drove both girls to meet up with me for the trial on Fri., and she's not used to traveling with Gracie) wore her out a little more than she's used to at a trial.  She still Q'd with plenty of extra time and did everything I asked perfectly.  She's such a good pup!

So we've got a few things to work on:
Gracie: Nervousness at the start line
             20" tire
            Continued focus work
Gidget: Teeter
             A-frame contact
            A little extra weave practice
            Chute (gotta keep that up!)
            Consistent speed

Lots to do, 2 very good dogs to do it with!  Happy agility!