USDAA and AKC weekend

Saturday I went to the USDAA trial in Fillmore. I had entered 12 runs for this day! Didn't really think about how many that was until after I entered. Of course I probably would have done it anyways. Started out the day running Tooney in P3 Gamblers. She came really close to getting it but ran by the teeter. She was right there but didn't take it. She avoided the teeter once at our last fun match so don't know if there is something going on there or it was just the distance this time.

Next Enzo ran in Starters Gamblers and Q'd in that. Worked his contacts some. He ran off the first aframe and then stopped on the ground on the second aframe, then on the dogwalk he stopped just short of the ground so I took the time to make him come all the way down and then the buzzer went off. He got the gamble so that was his 3rd starters gamblers Q and he can move up to advanced in that now.

Tooney did really well in the Performace National Standard. I had a couple close calls that we managed to save which made it pretty exciting and she ended up with 3rd place. Then Enzo ran in the Grand Prix which didn't really go that well. There was a 180 turn away from me after the dogwalk so I front crossed the end of the dogwalk and that pulled enzo in too tight and he ran past the next jump. I didn't really step in to send him so that was my fault. Then the jump after the tunnel I sent him over and ran to get a front cross in further down the line. That launched him over the jump so far that he actually went out of the ring and back just barely getting the next jump. The the closing line had another one of those run like heck straight lines which went aframe chute and then 3 jumps. Since I can't really leave him on the aframe yet that put me behind and he ended up pulling in to the offcourse teeter. He did actually stop on the aframe this time though!

Next, Enzo ran in Starters Standard and Q'd. He was a little sticky on the table and the end of the dogwalk again and didn't stop on his aframe but other than that he did good.

Then Tooney ran in P3 standard and missed the weave entry and also bypassed the teeter again towards the end of the run. She flew by it and took the next jump which was pretty far away.

Next was Performance Speed Jumping for Tooney which she just rocked! I wish I had video of that run. She got first in that and she actually beat a lot of really fast Border collies in that class. Of course the running aframe helps a lot. Too bad that wasn't in round 2 where we can get money!

Enzo also had a nice fast steeplechase run but he hit the broad jump. I think I started decelerating before he cleared it. He should be able to handle that but we need to train more on it. Unfortunatly the 5 faults put us out of Q range by about 1 second. The first place dog was 3 seconds faster than everyone else and that kind of wrecked the curve!

Next I ran Tooney in P3 snookers. I planned a pretty conservative course since I was tired and didn't want to run too much, a 7 and two 5's. She knocked the bar in the number 7 combo in the opening but so ended up with 40 points for a Q. She did the teeter twice in this run so maybe the run bys were just flukes. I don't think she's ever had teeter issues since she was ready to start competing.

I also planned a conservative course for Enzo in starters snookers a 3, 7 and 5. He really flew through the whole thing and the only mistake was missing the weave entry in the closing but that is ok in starters. It was starting to get dark at this point.

I ran Tooney is P3 jumpers right after that. She started out really well but went off course towards the end. After that I decided to skip starters jumpers with Enzo because it was going to be really late and completly dark by the time they got to that. They hadn't even started walking advanced jumpers at that point.

So Tooney is Q'd for USDAA nationals in PSJ and PNS now and just needs a team Q. Enzo still needs 2 Grand Prixs and 1 steeplechase. Enzo just needs one more Starters Standard and one Starters Jumpers before he can move to advanced.

The AKC trial on Sunday felt like a very easy day after all that! Tooney ran in JWW first and ran clean and placed 2nd. Enzo had a really fast JWW run (5.9 yds/s) that was 2 seconds faster than Tooney's time even jumping 20" vs 16". He had one wide turn and unfortunately he also knocked a bar so didn't Q. His time was good enough for 3rd. He was about 2 seconds slower than 1st place and 1 second slower than the 2nd place dog. Both are super fast BC's. I hope that one day I can get him up to that level but we'll see.

In standard Tooney missed her weave entry. I forget that she need just a tad more help than Enzo sometimes. Enzo knocked the second jump in standard. I should've led out past the second jump and then that might have helped. We'd been doing so many long lead outs that I wanted to give him a break since I didn't really need it to keep up in this case. Then when we got to the table, he laid down fairly quickly for him but when she got to the count of 3, he just jumped off the table. Then when I tried to get him to go back on, he started barking at me and wouldn't stop. I had yell at him hey! stop it! before he would settle and get back on the table. I had to resist laughing because it's really kind of funny but I don't want to encourage it for sure!