Monday, July 27, 2009

SCAT CPE Trial

Saturday morning Bug, Carmie, and I got up at the crack of dawn to be on the road to CT at 5 a.m. for SCAT's CPE trial. Fortunately it was indoors as it ended up being super humid and hot.

I entered Carmie in all 4 classes (Standard L2, Fullhouse L3, Snooker L3, and Jumpers L3) and Bug in 2 classes (Fullhouse L1 and jumpers L1). We had a great day.

Both dogs had VERY nice Fullhouse runs earning qualifying scores and 1st places. Bug's course is the arrow-dashes; Carmie's course is the solid line. This Q completed Carmie's Level 3 requirements - she is now in Level 4 Fullhouse.


Next up was Carmie's Standard run. I was a bit nervous about Carmie's weaves, but it was unnecessary. She did an excellent job! Q/1.


Snooker I blew. I went Red, #3 jump, Red, #5 tunnel, Red, #2 tunnel and started the closing. During the closing Carmie went BETWEEN the tire and the tire frame. Drat!! CPE is lenient enough that you can call your dog back to complete it correctly. Well, I did not give Carmie enough room and she back jumped the tire. "Thank you." It was a nice run.

Last run of the day was jumpers. Carmie handled the serpentine like a dream. It was a smooth, fast run. Q/1.

Bug's Jumpers run was comical. I think he was toast from being there all day. I released him at the start-line and he went around the start jump, back-jumped it and went gallivanting! I got him back and he ran the course really nicely. Go figure. Of the Level 1 dogs only 2 qualified. I think between the heat and being the last class of the day the baby dogs were all done.

Bug had a massage and went "swimming" in the kiddie pool between his runs. One of the reasons I felt confident/comfortable running him was because I knew a massage therapist would be there and I could get him a massage at some point during the day. I wanted to be absolutely sure he was well stretched and we did not re-injure his iliopsoas.

Carmie had a moment or two were she didn't seem her usual 110%. However, they were fleeting and in general I felt like she felt pretty confident. Her Standard course time was 30 second under time - so she wasn't poking which she does when she has trouble seeing. I will probably trial her there again, although I don't feel like the lighting is *that* great.

My perspective has obviously changed as Carmie experiences more difficulty seeing. The last two times I was at this facility (for a UKC show and a CPE trial) I didn't notice the lighting being so gray. It wasn't just me though; there was a photographer there and she also commented on how dim it was. I did notice that one of the lights was out - so that might have contributed to it.

We arrived home around 9:30 - exhausted but happy.

6 comments:

Sara said...

Congrats on your Q's! I liked looking at your course maps, because we'll be doing level 2 CPE runs (standard, fullhouse, colors, jumpers & wildcard) in a couple weeks. It's good to get an idea of what is expected at each level.

Too bad about the snooker game. You picked a good sequence to do before the closing.

Diana said...

Congrats!!! Diana

Nancy said...

Sounds like it was a fun and Q filled day!

penni said...

Overall a great day. It sounds like it was fun as well -- until poor Bug just ran out of steam.

Katrin said...

Congrats on the great day!!!

John Heffernan said...

Sounds like you had a great weekend! SCAT always puts on a good trial.