Trial day #2

Well I could tell you that my dog and I ran awesome today but that would be a big fat lie. Im not sure where my mind was today. It wasn't on course. Poor Miley. She probably wanted to trade me in for a new model. One that knows how to run the course. Lol Everything having to do with the trial went well, so Im not sure why I was having trouble. Also today was 20 degrees cooler than yesterday. First I had Open Standard. You took the chute and then had to come out into a 180, and loop around over the jump you first took. Well I had planned to rear cross after the chute and then front cross and pull her around. I had poor timing and pushed her off the jump and then I couldnt figure out how to get back on course. Miley took the cue to start circling. Ugh! Of course the table was next. It felt like forever ( 15 seconds) to get her to come to me, I had her sit. Then I sent her to the table. Probably risky but it worked. She got on the table sat and then I put her in a down. WhooHoo! She got on the table. The rest of the run was nice. I cant believe the judge didn't whistle me off the course. I kept waiting for the whistle but it never came. And we didn't run out of time. Its just to funny, when you are out there and your dog is running around you, it feels like forever.

Next was our Open jumpers run. I did a two jump lead out to the tunnel. Released my dog and I never cued the tunnel. SO my poor dog came right to my side. I'm standing there thinking , "what is my dog doing right here". Duh! So I finally get my brain sorta back and she gets in the weaves and finishes the course beautifully. Really, she ran the course kinda by herself. Someone said to me, that was great distance you had on your dog. ( uh, that's cause her owner didn't know if her dog was running the course right and just let her run and then the owners brain engaged and figured out the dog was right.)

Last was our Open Fast run. Not much to tell there. I messed that up to. I didn't plan the course right. Not much to tell. I was just glad we were done for the day. I have to say, I think Miley was done too. I had her massaged twice today because the massage lady thought she was tight in her thighs. When I went to get Miley after her last run to do the second massage. She was sound asleep in the crate. Didnt even open her eyes when I was at the crate.

So that was that. I hope I do better tomorrow.

GCOC, Friday

Well, it was hot as heck. I think it got up to 92 degrees and the humidity was a killer. Just sitting there can make you sweat. The poor judges, but they never complained. Today was my first time as Agility Trial Chairman. Ugh!!! It kinda started out rough. The electrical hook ups for the RV's weren't right. So no one had power last night. Some people wanted to leave. We finally got that all fixed. Then the person who had the wicket for measuring the dogs was late and then there was an accident , so she became later. Measuring was suppose to be from 7:45 to 8:15. The wicket didn't get there until 8:15. Needless to say, people were mad. Then the weld under the teeter broke. Luckily the guy who made it was at the trial because he brought us a new a-frame. So he did a temporary fix. Then the large leg for the table was missing. My husband drove up to the field and found it in the shed. We had to rig up something for the first class of the day. I hope tomorrow goes smoother.

Now for my runs. First was Novice Fast. She did well except didn't do the weaves. Everything else was great and she got 70 points, "Q"ed and took 1st place. Now we move to the abyss of Open Fast.

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Now Open JWW. She keeps looking like she is going to break her stay but she didn't. We had a great run except the weaves poles. Its funny, the run felt better than it looks on video. Im going to be in Open the rest of my life.

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Open Standard. What can I say, weave pole problems and she jumped off the table again. Do you see pattern here? LoL Also, she runs right in front of me to take the wrong tunnel entrance.
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So this evening we worked on the table. Ive been trying to make her fail on the table so I could correct it. But she just wouldn't do it no matter what I did. So I had an idea. I hope you don't think I'm a bad person for doing this but I put the ferrets in a small crate and put them just pass the table. I did a couple of obstacle and sent her to the table. She jumped on and then off. I told her "no" and brought her back and put her on the table and then praised her and released her to the ferret crate. ( she couldn't get to the ferrets, she could just sniff them). We ran it again and she got on the table but when I changed the sequence she would then jump on and then off the table again. I told her "no" and brought her back and made her sit on the table. She eventually got it. She had a few, almost off the table but she caught herself. So tomorrow when she jumps on and off the table, I'm going to tell her "no" and bring her back to the table. I'm not sure if I will get whistle off or not. Will see.