Saturday, May 30, 2009

Addicted to Agility - Saturday

Today started out rainy and ended up being gorgeous! Carmen was entered in Chances, Jumpers, and Tunnelers. Bug was entered in Tunnelers.

Chances was the first run and Carmie was a bit slow and not willing to work away from me at all. Not a single dog in the Open or Novice classes got the distance challenge! I made a copy of the map and will post it tomorrow - I left it at the site tonight. I would consider that there were three distance challenges, really - Carmie got one that actually involved an out past a tunnel entrance, so I am happy about that.

Carmie was moving faster than I expected in Jumpers given the sun and I had to change plans and rear cross into the tunnel. Coming out of the tunnel we had a moment of disorientation/disconnect at the next obstacle - a jump. I acted rather quickly, for me, and went around the jump on the opposite side and got Carmie going again. It wasn't pretty but I am happy I was able to get her to re-engage so quickly. Q/1.

Tunnelers was a short and sweet course; perfect for Carmie given this trial moved faster than any other this year and it was still quite bright. I was a wreck that Carmie was going to go from tunnel to sun and not be able to see and was therefore SUPER vocal with her. Much more cheering and yelling than usual. Guess what? Fastest run we have had in a while. So....perhaps I need to cheer more - not just give more direction, but encourage her more verbally? I try to throw in a lot of good girls and yes's, but in this run I used lots of clapping (which I tend to do more of in Tunnelers as it moves so quick and I want her to be sure and know where I am and where I am going), go-go-gos, and verbal praise. Hmmmm.... Q/3 in a big class. Yay, Carmie!! She was 7 seconds under time!

This was Bug's first Tunneler run and I swear it was easier than last night's Fun Run, which is not a bad thing! He nailed it. We were very connected and he moving so well and was so responsive. I truly couldn't be happier with his performance. He's a great boy (can you see me smiling?). Q/3 (and .23 seconds faster than Carmie).

Tomorrow Carmie is entered in Touch n Go, Jumpers, and Chances. I might scratch Chances as it is later in the day and TnG and Jumpers are first thing in the morning - I haven't decided yet. Two great days in a row. How lucky am I?

2 comments:

101mutts said...

Tunnellers looked great!

You didn't come to close to matching Darlene with volume so you're good! :P

Diana said...

Good job, sounds like guys were really connected. Diana