Autumn is officially on us, but thankfully I was able to take advantage of another beautiful day that we have been blessed with -- This afternoon it was in the mid-70's, a welcome warmth after recent days with highs in the 50's and low 60's. I figured I couldn't NOT set up something for the dogs, and the open September issue of Clean Run laying on the table seemed like the most obvious choice.
Secret did great, when her handler wasn't a moron. There was even one point where I managed to almost get my finger bit off when I stuck it right in her mouth. Brilliant, I tell you. She got me with a back molar, so I'm lucky it wasn't worse than it was. I tried to get a picture but my camera phone wouldn't focus -- But I did get a good shot of it on video that I included at the end of her runs.
The purpose of these drills was to work the dog around a tunnel while keeping them in focus -- ie: Not tunnel sucking. Surprisingly, that turned out to not be a problem for any of them. This was most shocking for Kaiser, who, at one point, ran PAST the tunnel when I expected him to take it. lol Lesson learned, support your obstacles.
Secret had more dropped bars than typical (of course, "typical" is none), but every single one of them was my fault. In a way, though, it's nice to see her being more efficient over the jumps, too. So often she's over-jumping and getting way too much air.
Kaiser was a good little man, but that's pretty normal at home. ;o) He wasn't quite so zippy as I like to see him, but these drills required quite a bit of handling and he tends to be more careful in those cases. No knocked bars for the wee one tonight, which is nice, especially considering the jumps were set at 12". I'll be interested to see what he does at New Berlin next month for USDAA. I thought he jumped okay the last time we were there, but now I sit and stress about lighting for him... Showing outside made it obvious that his jumping issues are largely related to indoor lighting, but there isn't much we can do living and showing in the upper midwest.
Check it out, I made Luke his own video! Normally I just skip him on these drills or throw him in with Kaiser, but the old man kind of rocked tonight, so I thought he deserved his own video. :o) These exercises are not his cup of tea, but he did awesome. Maybe he's starting to get used to all the weird stuff I've thrown at him this year?
In addition to the beautiful evening, I suppose I'm also inspired by my jealousy of all the teams headed off to USDAA Cynosport this week and NADAC Champs next week. Sniff. I am stuck at home, without even a trial to attend until the middle of next month. There is a NADAC trial in Zumbro Falls -- one of my favorite trials -- but I can't go because I have to work. Sigh.
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