Look! This is what the windshield of my car looked like when we left the trial today! The weather was so super awesome today... It started up mid- to late-morning and Mother Nature couldn't decide what she wanted to do. We experienced freezing rain, sleet and snow over a period of a few hours and it made everything a giant mess. I'm lucky that I live locally, as many of the people attending the trial opted to stay over an extra night to avoid driving in dangerous conditions.
Other that that little inconvenience, we actually had a really good weekend at our NADAC trial!
Secret was just WEIRD yesterday. I think she was abducted by aliens and had her brain swapped out -- with a dog who LIKES EVERYONE. She was in a mood yesterday, that's for sure. She whined & wiggled at nearly everybody she saw. Every dog was her best friend whom needed to be played with. In addition, she was also kind of needy with me and kept jumping up onto me for attention.
Her first run (Regular) was just nuts. She came out of a tunnel, took a sharp turn right and ran behind the tunnel to go visit the bar-setter sitting in the chair! Um, what?! Has she EVER done that? There were at least two other times on course where I thought I was going to lose her to visiting, plus she almost went and said hello again to her new favorite bar-setting friend when she came out of that tunnel again later in the course. Oh my goodness. Thankfully she was more back to normal in the second round of Regular and got a Q.
Chances was a total bust. Right as she started (hoop to a-frame) a ring worker knocked over the gate next to the a-frame, so she had a big-time spook and shut down. I could barely get her to do anything at that point. It didn't help that the course was HARD -- I should have scrapped the distance attempts and just ran with her to make her happy again. Oh well. No NATCH for us this weekend (she needed two Chances Q's).
Secret ran great in Jumpers. She surprised me with her speed right off the start line and she kept it up nicely throughout the course. Poor Secret had a major face-plant on a spot of the course that didn't even require a big turn. I'm not thrilled with how the turf is holding up at Family Dog Center. It is getting slicker and slicker and it seems like dogs are crashing left & right. Secret held it together, though, and still had a very nice time (two seconds slower than Kaiser, who was the fastest of all Elite dogs!).
I don't have any video from today, but today went well, too! I think I made a good decision to keep Secret out of Regular today. She wasn't feeling it in Jumpers this morning. She had a very nice run, but it was definitely lacking the zip of yesterday's run, especially for the first run of the day. Was she sore from her wipeout yesterday? Could be. Or it could be because she and Kaiser ran like crazy loons for about two hours last night after we got home...
Chances today was much more doable and Secret nailed it without a problem -- nice and smooth. That means just one more Q for her first NATCH!
Luke was only 1/4 yesterday, but nothing was really a train-wreck. He took the tunnel under the dog walk in the first round of Regular and I twitched in Chances to pull him off the tunnel just before he was going to enter it. Jumpers was my fault, as usual. Too much push, not enough notice of upcoming turns.
Today was great, though! He had a smoking fast & clean Jumpers run -- fastest of my crew and one of the top times of the day. The Chances course today was one of those that Luke can do in his sleep, although it did have the dog walk/tunnel discrimination and apparently those are optional for him these days. ;o)
Luke would have preferred to have gotten to play in Regular today, but he seemed to be okay with sitting it out this time. I'm sure it helps that it's at the end of the weekend. I'm going to feel bad for him in Cannon Falls at the USDAA trial when his two runs on Sunday are the last classes of the day -- that will probably be a little harder for him!
Kaiser had a FANTASTIC weekend! Especially considering that he hasn't done a stitch of agility since our last NADAC trial in December. I am thrilled with how consistent he was throughout the weekend. He stayed fast and happy, was listening to all of my turning cues and he didn't get called on a single contact all weekend! I need to trust his dog walk more, too, and trust him to run to the end and stop. He did a GREAT job with that and we greatly reduced time wasted from stopping too high and creeping down. There were several times when he went sailing across the dog walk and I thought for sure he'd fly off, but he skittered to a stop and looked at me -- generally just above the line, but that's better than stopping at the top while I hover! Good boy, Kaiser.
Kaiser got ALL FOUR of his Standard runs this weekend! That makes him my only dog who is 100% qualified for Champs, since he actually has his games Q's, too (Secret & Luke have plenty of Regular, Chances & Jumpers, but zero Tunnelers, Touch-n-Go or Weavers since I don't enter them in those). If he keeps running the way he has been lately, that little fart may do really well at Champs this year (hence why I really, really want to go). He still has the speed that he had in 2011, but he's gained a lot more experience and consistency since then. If we can avoid the "Klee Kai moments" that we experienced in 2011, I'm sure he could make the finals.
Kaiser went 3/4 yesterday and 5/6 today -- No Q's in Chances either day, unfortunately. Today he should have had it, but I thought he was going to come back out of a tunnel on me and moved in such a way that he apparently thought I was rear-crossing. He turned the wrong way, then came back to me through the tunnel. The rest of the course was smooth sailing for him -- and with a dog walk, of course!
In addition to the normal classes, Kaiser also got an Elite Hoopers Q (strategy) and a Touch-n-Go Q for his Outstanding Elite title. He's getting closer to his V-NATCH. Guess we need to keep entering the games classes to get that finished off...
Everyone is sacked out now after our fun-filled weekend. We have the next two weekends off before our fun in Cannon Falls.
Secret may get to have a play date at that trial. Yesterday a woman brought her 14 week old (male) border collie puppy by the dog center in an attempt to find suitable playmates for him. Apparently her dogs aren't very nice to him and he hasn't had much exposure to other dogs. We didn't have many puppies at the trial this weekend, but I told her that Secret tends to love puppies -- and border collie puppies especially.
We took the two of them outside and Secret really was wonderful with him. She was play bowing and scooting away from him to try to get him to play, but little Tweed was pretty overwhelmed by the whole thing. He got better, though, and his owner felt it was a very good experience for him. It sounds like they may be at Cannon Falls and she asked if Secret could come "play" with Tweed again. Puppies make her happy, so why not?
I want a puppy....
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