While setting up my gear, I thought this was a lot of effort for one day. Got a good spot right by the door. The first run of the day was Novice FAST, which both dogs were in. Luckily there was one dog between us. I warned the owner that Shane has a tendency to run towards the start line, so she stayed out of the ring until I had him. I lined Shane up badly for the triple and he crashed, but didn't seem hurt. We continued and got enough points to Q, but not win. I did almost the same course with Maggie and she nailed it. As the only dog in her class, we automatically won!
Still have Maggie Novice JWW and she nailed that as well. I have found that if I keep her in the crate until just before she runs she is much faster. Doesn't have time to worry about things I guess. Thanks to L-theanine, I felt pretty calm about running Shane in Open JWW. He popped the weaves and knocked a bar, but other than that he did great until the last jump. He took the jump before the last one and as he landed, the bar setter, who was sitting right between the last and next-to-the-last jump, jumped up and ran to set the knocked bar. As she jumped up, Shane turned on a dime and ran after her. I was furious to say the least. I got Shane to come to me and we left without taking the last jump so we were eliminated. If he hadn't screwed up those other things, I would have said something to the judge. The bar setter was an experienced handler who is also a judge, so I was pretty mad. Again, thanks to L-theanine, I was able to let it go.
Last run of the day was Standard. The opening sequence for Shane was jump tire with the triple off to the right. Thanks to our lousy start, I had to avoid hitting the triple and stepped aside. As I did, Shane turned on a dime, took the triple, and then back-jumped it when I tried to get him to come around. He took the triple both ways without knocking a bar. I was flabbergasted and happy as a clam even though we screwed up, so on we went. Shane proceeded to get all his contacts, of course, but knocked one bar so I didn't feel so bad about the triple fiasco. Unfortunately, after the last jump, he ran off, but there was no dog at the start line and he turned on a dime when I called. Making progress I guess.
I had high hopes for Maggie. She has been doing the teeter very well at class, but again we got stuck. This time she jumped off, but we continued on. She has such promise if I can only get her over the teeter. I'm thinking it's the judge standing there that is spooking her, so we will work on that.
At the end of a very long and cold day in a livestock barn, I was happy to pack up my gear and head home. I still had a full weekend to enjoy without agility to worry about.
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