I stopped by On The Run on Fri. to set up my kennels so I could sleep in a bit on Sat. Gracie's Open STD run started around 10am, a couple hours later than I normally have to be at a trial! The gate area was crowded and I could tell Gracie was a bit stressed at the start line as she didn't really want to sit and wouldn't shake. She shook it off quick though, ran clean and got 1st place! First bit of very happy! I even tried out a blind cross between jumps toward the end of the course. I had 2 reasons for trying it: 1) it'd be a fun challenge, if it resulted in a refusal we could still qualify and 2) I wanted Gracie on my left at the end turning toward the exit and minimizing her forward motion toward the entrance (the last jump was in the middle of the ring), safety first! It wasn't the prettiest blind cross but it worked and it's something we can definitely keep working on and trying!
Next was Gidget's Exc STD run. Here comes the frustration. As usual it wasn't pretty. Good things: got the weave entrance and took the teeter! Bad things: I pulled Gidget off the middle jump of a pinwheel trying to get into position for a front cross, Gidget popped out of the weaves after the 10th pole, Gidget danced around the table and judge before finally coming back and getting on the table, and Gidget took off for the exit after the 15th obstacle (tire) making the end just one big mess. So frustrating! How do I get her to want to stay and play with me til the real ending? How do we fix this weave mess? I swear I didn't start to take off early or change my pace at all near the end of the weaves. How do I keep myself from screwing Gidget up? Ugh!
Next up was Gracie's first Exc JWW run! The gate was once again crowded and Gracie and I were doing our usual treat filled routine in what I thought was an acceptable spot when all of a sudden a border collie butt comes flying into our faces and doesn't go away. I got Gracie turned away from the BC with her front end in my arms but there was another dog on our other side and I couldn't reach our treats anymore! So I'm standing there with a growling dog in my arms (scared!) trying to see someone around without a dog that could grab our treats and be a body blocker. Thankfully our friend Judy came to the rescue! Once I had treats to distract Gracie and could move to a better spot, all was well again (major relief!). Gracie was happy to focus on me once again and we both recovered enough to pull off another 1st place Q (more very happy!).
Last up, Gidget's Mas JWW run. I had no idea what to expect. Gidget seemed more stressed at the gate area this time, but not majorly so. We got out there and things were going good until Gidget came to a complete stop in the middle of the weaves! I got her attention back and finished the weaves without a fault! So that's how we pull of the weaves successfully! Slow and with a stop in the middle! I got a front cross in to block Gidget's obvious exit and we finished the course clean! Gidget's first Q of the year! What a great way to end the day! She got 5 MACH points too!
Hmm... I haven't covered the antsy/stressed emotions yet. I'm sure you can imagine how the day was stressful for me. By the time I got to the JWW walk thrus, I was running them as much as I could, not for practice, but to try to get rid of some of that bad energy! Ran to and from the car a couple times too. Gidget qualifying really helped the stress dissipate!
We are now done with the On The Run season and will start the Soccerblast season in May (hopefully, haven't heard the results of the draw yet)! Gidget has one more AKC obedience trial for the spring and the CAT! Summer should actually slow down for us with just agility and one CDSP/WCRL trial. I'm loving staying busy with the dogs! Happy agility!
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