Loads of fun (but still no NATCH)

 I almost gave up on trying to get all three dogs in one shot with their ribbons.  Oh my lord, Secret is such a bitch.  This is as close as I could get Kaiser and Luke to her.  lol  Poor boys, having to live with her.

Today wrapped up a fun-filled weekend at Family Dog Center here in La Crosse!  The courses this weekend weren't that bad.  The Jumpers courses, as usual, were certainly the most fun/interesting to run.  The Regular runs had their ups and downs, but the dogs had fun and that's surely what matters most.  No matter what, I'll never be able to say that my dogs dislike NADAC courses.  It's always good to have fun trial experiences!

Secret was a happy girl in general this weekend.  She was also a very BARKY girl in her crate, despite being covered up at all times.  In addition to barking at what seemed like any dog that went by (especially herding breeds), she also has begun to bark when I take the boys out to run.  Jealous?  Or just likes to bark?  Probably both, but I do think she's starting to WANT to be out there playing with me.  That's wonderful!

Secret started out the morning with a WONDERFUL Jumpers run.  She had the 2nd fastest time of all dogs in Elite (behind Flint, the world's most amazing Australian Shepherd) and clocked 5.9 yps.  I do believe that's probably her best ever!  There was one hitch when I over-handled a turn with a tight off course possibility, but after that it was smooth sailing with lots of pretty front crosses and a blind thrown in for fun.  I love watching this run on video, she's really moving nicely!

The baby dog was the only one of my three to get Chances today.  It wasn't nearly so easy as yesterday's course, but nor was it one of the hardest we've seen.  Secret was a GOOD DOG and redirected perfectly after I called her too hard and pulled her past the jump.  For real, she's now just FOUR Chances Q's from NATCH.

Secret saved my butt and ran clean despite my super crappy handling in the first round of Regular.  There was this nasty hoop box that just called for an off course moment, so I was way over-handling.  I also ran like a freak in the opening sequence because everything was all squished in one place and I didn't know where to put myself.  lol  Secret almost went off course to the weaves and then kind of lost trust in me for a bit after that.  Thankfully I convinced her I wasn't a nutcase, until I almost shoved her off course again.  ;o)  Man, I'm glad she's becoming so forgiving of my mistakes.

Round two of Regular was much better, though, and Secret was a champ.  She went Q/1st in that class, for a PERFECT DAY!  Yay!!  Good girl, Secret.


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So yup, Secret bumped Luke off his "perfect day throne."  And apparently Luke gladly relinquished it, as he was lucky to squeak out a 5 pt Q in Regular today and that's it!!  I hate those darn half Q's, but in cases like this I guess I'm glad to get anything. lol  Plus it balances out the one he got at the MMBC trial, so it's all good.

Jumpers was my fault for sure.  I caused a knocked bar and then just did all sorts of stupid things because I tend to mentally quit at that point with Luke.  I don't know why I do that with him more than the others, but I don't think he cares and at that point all I care is that he's having fun out there.

Chances was just kind of naughty.  I called, perhaps a smidge late, Luke looked at me, looked at the tunnel, looked at me and took the tunnel.  You darn dog.  You're lucky I love you so much.  :o)

I was trying to stay way lateral in Regular 1 because of the crowded landscape and apparently to Luke this meant, "jump off the side of the dog walk right above the yellow."  We held it together nicely for Round 2, but my mistimed flailing arm totally caused the knocked bar.


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 Kaiser, Kaiser, Kaiser.  He started his day with a great Jumpers run!  I think he was probably third fastest behind Secret, and that was with a fairly quirky bobble at the wonky turn.  He's Kaiser, after all.  The course had a super fun zippy ending, which always makes him happy.

I swear I didn't psych myself out today for Chances like I did yesterday.  I don't even think I screwed up the run.  I called him WAY early, but he could see that off course tunnel while he was in the other tunnel and I guess that's just what he wanted to do.  He is a Klee Kai, after all.  ;o)  The course he made up was very pretty, even if it wasn't the right one.  Several dogs actually took that route -- I joked that if that would have been the designed course, you know we would have had dogs sucking in to the jump left and right!

We still couldn't manage a Regular Q today.  We got close, though!  Apparently Kaiser didn't like my front cross following a jump after the weave poles and he took a detour to the dog walk.  And he'd gotten his dog walk contact prior to that, so we should have been golden.  Oh well.  It wasn't the dog walk that got us on the 2nd round, either.  Kaiser hit the a-frame wonky at the start and just didn't have quite the necessary "oomph" to pop into the yellow, so he got called there and then took the darn tunnel under the dog walk that he'd just taken as an off course option in the last round.  Leave it to Kaiser!

We ended on a high note, though, with a lovely Hoopers run for a Q and his Open title (yay, I can fill in that spot on his record sheet and leave Open behind!).  It wasn't his fastest run by a long shot, clocking 5.5 yps, but it was a nice steady run with a zippy and fun finish.


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After the last trial where Kaiser didn't get his NATCH, I ordered a shirt from GreatDanePhotos to make myself feel better.  This time my consolation prize was a new tire.  :o)

Family Dog Center randomly has agility equipment set off to the side at trials which is for sale.  I saw the tire laying there yesterday and pondered it for a while.  It's a small tire (I measured it today, it's 18") and I thought it would be good to have the dogs practice on a USDAA-sized tire.  At the last trial Secret over jumped and plowed her head into the top of the tire.  Hopefully practicing on a smaller tire (vs. the stretched out 24" one I have) will help the dogs to stay thoughtful about their tire performance.  I have no plans of asking Luke to even attempt the small tire, though....

I think most people have a 20" tire by now, but this will do. And look how pretty it is!  Mine is starting to look pretty beat up.

The only surprise I had was that my side lines apparently don't come off my other tire because the hanger hooks don't fit through the rings.  Whoops.  Well, there goes that idea.  My tire also has the hanger hook attached to it that loops through the adjustable cord on top -- the new tire just has an open ring.  Whoops again.

Carabiner hooks to the rescue!  Thankfully I had several spares laying around.  Five hooks and some parachute cord later and I have a functional (albeit not terribly "safe") hanging tire.  Sweet.