The Streak Continues

Happy Secret was back this weekend! Yay!! In our solo day of trialing on Saturday, Secret managed another perfect day, running 5/5. But wait, you say -- Isn't she in Elite Chances now? Why yes! Yes she is! :o) I was dumbfounded that she managed to get another Elite Chances Q! Yay baby dog!

I can't help but believe that the trip to the chiropractor on Wednesday played a large part in the return of Happy Secret. I feel so bad for her when we go in and find out that she's completely out of whack. And following all the activity, weaving & jumping required of her at Champs, it's not out of the question to believe she was messed up by the time the trial the following weekend rolled around. So yes, I think we'll have to keep up with the pre-trial adjustment schedule. Yay... Another thing to budget in to trial costs. Oh well, been there/done that with Luke. We'll figure it out.

I really limited the activity for all the dogs in the days before the trial. I figured it couldn't hurt, and as I'd hoped, Secret came out just raring to go in the first round of Regular. Even her weaves weren't half bad, although she still wasn't driving through them and thus had some double-stepping action. Oh well, we'll continue to address that. The rest of the course was really nice, though.

Considering she started the last trial in a similar fashion, I wasn't about to take anything for granted. I'd be lying if I said I didn't worry that she'd come out and crash in round 2 again, especially since there were only four dogs between Luke and her and she typically needs a bit more prep time to get "up" before her runs.

But no worries, she was still a happy girl in round two! She was nicely forward throughout the run and even turned on the speed in the home stretch to double-stride the last line. Whee! Go Secret!

I finally manged to not run the wrong course in Touch-n-Go, so we got our first Elite Q there at last. Luke doesn't run TNG anymore, so I had plenty of time to spend with Secret prior to that run. Unfortunately we got to the line and then got held up for quite a bit of tunnel fluffing. Secret + Wait = Shut down. All things considered she still had a nice round, but I felt like I was back to pulling her around that course a bit more again. She was well under time, though (like 10 seconds), so no worries.

Chances wasn't a wickedly difficult course, but it did require keeping the dog out for two separate sends while layering. Secret came out of the tunnel at a trot and I thought, "Oh crap, there that goes," because I didn't figure I could keep her out without impulsion. Once she figured out where I wanted her to go (through a hoop and into the next tunnel) she sped up again -- And then again looked at me questioningly when she came out. Again the light bulb turned on for her and she finished the course very well. That was some big distance for the baby dog, so I'm very proud of her! To think, only one Q away from her Elite Chances title already! Oh man, we have to get on the rest of those Versatility Q's. lol

Jumpers was the last run of the day. Unfortunately for us the bar setter was sitting RIGHT NEXT to where I needed to line Secret up for the first jump. And it was a man. Oh, that's nice. I briefly thought of asking him to move, but I figured she needs to get over it (after all, she's done great with the judge issues!). So the Jumpers run wasn't as speedy as I would hope, but she got over her issues and seemed to speed up a bit as we went along.

Oh! I just figured out YPS for that run and it was 5.53, so I guess it wasn't as bad as I thought. lol

Thanks to a wonderful group of friends, I managed to get every run recorded at this trial! Yay! Here is Secret's video:



I had high hopes for Kaiser because we went to open agility at FDC on Wednesday and he had really, really lovely dog walks over & over again. Sigh. We're still struggling at trials (and to be honest, there were more issues than just the dog walk!). BUT -- he got Chances, so I don't really care about the rest! Ha! Finally a Chances course without a dog walk.... I swear the last six times (at least!) that we've ran Chances it has had a dog walk and it was starting to get pretty demotivating. Now we just need seven more courses without dog walks to finish his NATCH. :o)

Kaiser also finished his O-WV-E title. He loves Weavers, but I've been keeping him out of it because he's so far behind in his TNG points. Secret won the Q raffle at the last trial, though, and I figured Kaiser was the only one capable of running six classes, so he got to run Weavers. At least it gave him his second Q of the day!



And finally, Luke. We have just really clicked as a team lately and we're having loads of fun together. I ran with him in the first round of Regular because I didn't think that the "out tunnel" under the dog walk was going to be doable for us (amongst the other challenges!). I did go for the bonus line in Round 2 but started poorly and caused a spin almost right away. You only get bonuses if your dog completes the course entirely in flow so we lost it there, but I kept going for the practice. I wasn't able to keep him driving through the weaves this time and he popped right away, so I opted to step in to save the run at that point (since it didn't have any faults yet). I handled the last half of the course from half-way up the ring.

We're on a roll with the Chances Q's again and Luke handily got this course (although that a-frame contact was kind of naughty....). Just two more until his NATCH 3, so I'm hoping we can finish it off at the next La Crosse trial, we shall see!

I went for the bonus line again in Jumpers. It was a very doable course. The only challenge I really saw was going to be driving him up and away from me for the last part of the course. My timing caused a dropped bar just prior to that, though, then he dropped another bar and spun back at me before going on to finish the course. But hey, two bars and a spin? I'll take that! Some day, some day....



Next trial is December 10 & 11. The snow is gone again and I haven't brought in the equipment yet, so I figure I should still try to get some training in before that happens!