Games & Chances

Did we have a trial this weekend? Hardly feels like it. The picture above was taken shortly before we had to leave on Friday. I took the day off work because I've been just exhausted lately and I always like the dogs to rest up before a trial, too. They were fairly antsy and restless all day on Friday and I didn't feel like they really slept all day! Of course they crashed on the couch around 3:30 or so when we had to leave by 4:30. Oh well, they ended up being fine!

Kaiser & Secret both had really nice Weavers runs! Kaiser smoked Secret by four seconds, running 5 yps through the course (pretty good for a little dog!), but Secret held her own and put in a really good time. While she runs Skilled and gets Medium Dog time, I always check her times against the 20+ times she would be scored against if she ran Proficient. I was surprised to see she was almost five seconds under big dog time! She just doesn't feel like she's running THAT fast to me. Luke and I always struggled to make time in Weavers and he was running as hard as he could. I feel like Secret just kind of lollygags through the course, but somehow her times just aren't as bad as I would expect. Must be that deceptively long stride of hers!

I lost Kaiser to a blind cross in Tunnelers, which is to be expected. Honestly, I know better than to try that with him!! As I put in the video, never take your eye off the Klee Kai. lol Blinds work just swell with Secret, so I used the same maneuver in her run and it was great. Luke & Kaiser were making a ruckus at the crate in the middle of our run and I think that somewhat contributed to her pulling off a tunnel, but we recovered quickly and finished with a decent time. Luke got to run Tunnelers with our friend, Erika --- They ran clean on a tricky course, but ended up with time faults because Luke was entered in Elite. That's better than the E they got last time, so it's an improvement!! :o)

Kaiser broke his start in a naughty way in Touch-n-Go, then took the off course tunnel right next to us. I set him up to start again, thereby earning us an E, and then got a really nice lead out! His run was lovely, save for the off course of taking the tunnel next to the a-frame at the end which I didn't bother to correct. Secret started off like her feet were stuck in the mud, but gained speed as we went. The beginning of the course was set very tight and I just wasn't able to run at all -- we know how motivating that is for her!

Because we were only running Chances today, I didn't set my alarm and we slept in until 8:00. Then I farted around the house taking my time, figuring we'd leave around 11:00 or so. The run order was supposed to be Regular (all six rounds), followed by Touch-n-Go THEN Chances.

I got a phone call from our friend, Denise, around 10:00 saying that they had just changed the run order and that Chances would follow Regular. They were already starting Open Regular! Ahhh!! Thankfully I was ready to go at that point, so I threw our stuff together and ran out the door as two more friends texted me with the news. Agility friends are awesome.

We got to FDC as Novice Round 1 was finishing up, so the dogs got to settle in nicely before their run. The course was totally doable and didn't have a dog walk! Yay for Kaiser!!!

I screwed up Luke's run. :o( I called WAY too hard with my RFP at the a-frame because he's been known to be a naughty tunnel sucker lately AND I needed him to slow down to stop on his contact. He pulled right to me and crossed the line before I could stop him. Drat.

I had my doubts as to whether or not Secret would be able to stay out between the tunnels and I know my hesitations drew her into me. For a brief moment I thought I'd be able to send her back out, but then she offered me a nearby hoop instead and we NQ'd. Oh well, that's okay -- Lord knows I don't want her to get her NATCH before Kaiser, anyhow. lol

Kaiser was a superstar! His a-frame contact could have been deeper for my liking, but the little man rocked it. This puts him just two more Q's from his NATCH! Go, go, little man! He will be the first Klee Kai ever to earn it and I would really like to wrap it up this year yet -- hard when you aren't doing much NADAC anymore, but oh well.

Sorry for the rushed post --- Dinner plans with the family tonight! I did manage to slop all of the runs into one video. No fancy music or anything. You get to hear naughty Luke & Kaiser going bonkers during Secret's tunnelers run. Sounds like they were being nasty little crate guarders to me....