Deuces!

Picking up from the last post which covered day one of our first agility trial, here is blog post numero deux...

Day two started with a tough morning. Zainey and I both wanted more sleep and having been woken up at 3:00 a.m. for a random visit with the vomit fairy (she came for me, not the dog), I especially was not happy about the early start to our day.

Before zonking out Saturday night though I realized that we had a gap in our ribbons so I started Sunday with a plan; IF she wasn't too freaked out to run and IF we ran well enough to qualify and IF we were lucky enough to place, I wanted a 2nd place red ribbon since we earned a 1st and 3rd place on Saturday.

Well, here are our THREE 2nd place runs that earned us our red ribbons ...

                   Oct. 30 Standard Level 1

I didn't even know if we could run this one, she was shaking with nerves right before, but I trust I know her well enough and that once she got going, she'd enjoy herself. I was right.
Break Down:

1. ZERO start line stay. She wasn't comfortable enough to sit there with her back to the action and that's pretty common for a nervous nelly, so we went with plan B and ran together
2. Good tunnel entrance discrimination
3. Decent front cross at the middle blue jump
4. Finished strong and relieved (both of us)

                   Oct 30. Jumpers Level 1 2

Above is another jumpers course that we both had fun with.

Break Down:

1. Start line stay getting worse. That 'shake-off' is doggy body language indicating that she was really trying to calm her nerves and was NOT in a place mentally for a sit/wait - so away we ran!
2. What's up with the size of my butt!??!?!
3. I had a couple of decent front crosses around that middle area of jumps and it can be tough to get out in position to front cross an obstacle when your dog has a good stride, so yea for me!
4. Another good finish!

                  Oct. 30 Colors Level 1 2
Do I really have to share this video?
Break Down:

1. A complete refusal of start line stay, little miss thing went around it and no matter how many times I've read the 8,000 page rule book, my mind still went blank. What do I do? Is it an automatic disqualify? Should I call her out and end it there? WTF!? 
2. RECOVER. I did the right thing. Get the dog (no touching), go back around the start jump (no back-jumping) and run with her since a start line re-position is not allowed at that point.
3. Throw in a bad position at a rear cross jump, a distraction and bad cue at the tunnel, and a snafu at a basic jump and you've got some fun viewing!
4. We finished it though and those last three jumps couldn't have made her happier! 

There's your wrap up of the trial. Patty has already talked us into our next trial which will be in the beginning of January in Elk Grove. Zainey and I have some work to do, primarily on her start line stays so I can get a decent lead out and also on her ability to 'go out' and take obstacles at my direction without me having to babysit each move. Those are two tough things to train as those issues are both rooted in her insecurity and need to be close to me, where she feels safest. We'll get there though, her confidence is already building and I believe it will continue to do so. I will of course be working on my own handling issues as well.

Yea for Patty for being there for me throughout the trial and our trainer Susanne who was there on Saturday and was a huge help in both reviewing the course maps and reminding me to breathe! The people at the trial couldn't have been nicer or more helpful and I hope I thanked them enough.

Considering the fact that my two goals going into the weekend were a.) get Zainey measured for her jump height by the judge without eating her face and b.) have Zainey at least run around a course or two without completely shutting down... I think it's fair to say we did pretty darn okay! ...

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

One last thing, I'm really not going to make a habit of these long posts.
Who even reads posts this long anyway!?
Hello?!... You still awake?