Trial Report!

Gidget and I were in our first outdoor trial this past Sat.  The weather was perfect!  Our day, however, didn't start out near as nice.  To start with I was not in the best of moods, never good when you want your dog to be happy and having fun.  I did my best to put that behind me, and after watching some nice excellent runs, got Gidget out to warm her up.  We walked around a bit, ran a tad, did some tricks then checked out the practice jumps.  Then it was time for me to walk to course and get ready.  I got Gidget back out a minute or two before the open STD class started since there were only 7-ish dogs before us.  So we watched the smaller dogs run and then it was our turn.  Well Gidget was slow and out of it again.  It took 3 tries to get the weaves and the chute was out of the question (though I can't blame her on that one, it did look kinda funny).  We made it through the course but I was rather bummed with the performance and knew I had to do something different.  So for our JWW course I didn't get Gidget out (besides a short walk/potty break) until it was practically our turn.  We did some quick tricks to warm up (like we do in class) watched maybe one dog and then we were up.  Did that ever make the difference.  Gidget was happy, quick, and focused.  We almost had a perfect run... until that last jump.  I was told I stepped into her path just a bit, enough to send her around the jump which she then backjumped.  Oops!  Oh well, I was very happy with my Gidget!  It made me feel 10 times better to know that I may have just figured out my dog and what she needs at a trial.  Our next trial is a whole 5 weeks away, so I guess we'll get to test it then.  Happy agility!