Monday, September 29, 2008

Addicted to Agility Trial

Carmen and I ran Saturday in Addicted to Agility’s trial. We entered Jumpers, Regular, Tunnelers, and Touch and Go. I scratched Carmen from Regular (due to the lack of fully trained weaves) and tried running Ike. He politely told me, “No, thanks.” Just throw something at me.

Saturday Carmen Q’d in all three of her classes. I was particularly happy about Touch N Go. Last weekend we had an off course into the tunnel beneath the dog walk. This weekend I was able to call her off the dog walk! Woo-hoo. Amazing what an alignment does. Last weekend I had to beg her to take contacts – this weekend I had to call her off them! Hopefully I will be quicker on the uptake next time she acts wonky about her contacts. We do need to work on discrimination. I want Carmen to take the obstacle I call (verbally and via physical cues), not the one she prefers! ;D

We finished our Novice Tunnelers title on Saturday in the pouring rain. Yippee Carmen!!

Carmen and Bug saw Cheryl on Saturday. Carmen’s pelvis held (and I remembered to bring arnica to the trial to give her and Bug after their adjustments). Poor Bug - BOTH sides of his pelvis were out of alignment. Oi!! Not good – no wonder he was bunny hopping Tuesday. Cheryl made one adjustment and I decided I would come back to the trial again Sunday in order for her to do the other side. And since I was going to be at the trial I opted to enter Carmen in Jumpers. And she ran awesome! I did a two jump lead out and she was rock solid. She finished her Novice Jumpers title with a first place Q. Yay, Carmie!!

Carmen’s YPS (yard per second) is also improving. Last weekend she was averaging 3.99 this weekend she was averaging 4.10. Not a huge difference, but I am hoping as our relationship evolves and we both become more comfortable it continues to increase.

Other highlights of the weekend included seeing Bug’s half-brother Ransom and the boys having an opportunity to play. Ike also played with Ransom – more so than he does with Bug (odd dog!). And Bug apparently likes Obi so much he has decided that all FCR rock. He befriended Astro (FCR) this weekend – they had a great time wrestling and rolling about. Even Carmen started playing with strange dogs. She befriended a black poodle puppy!! (I thought perhaps it was the end of the world?)

And we got to see classmates Matt, Julie, and all-American Callie play at their first trial. Callie’s weaves even earned an “oh” of appreciation when I was scribing one of her regular runs. They took home their first Q in Touch and Go. Congratulations! Hopefully they will be hooked.

I can’t tell you how proud I am of Carmen. I have to say, having a dog that enjoys running in trials this much makes the sport of agility that much more addictive!

7 comments:

Dawn said...

Sounds like you had a great weekend. NADAC is so much fun and the dogs seem to really love it.

Sarah said...

great job, let the addiction continue :)

Diana said...

Glad you guys had fun! Diana

Katrin said...

Congrats!!!!! I already heard from Matt that they are going to enter Callie in the Act Up trial! LOL Sure is addictive!

Marlene said...

mmmmmm...I thought Ikey told you....once every 6 months? 7 days = 6 months? hehehe.....

Yeah Carmen!Congrats!

Katrin said...

THANK YOU Marlene!!!!!

Jules said...

I know, I know....I am so greedy!

But I was proud of myself for saying on obstacle # 4 "Gatcha - you do not want to be here" instead of obstacle # 13. Progress is slow, ladies.