Trial Weekend Recap

This wrap up is mostly going to be a summary in pictures because it's late, I'm tired, I have to work tomorrow, and because pictures and video are effective. The best thing I can say is that this weekend was a blast. I got to hang out with some of the coolest dog people I know, learned a ton, got to see our friends, Shana and Pixie, run in their very first trial ever and see them Q in Snooker, and hung out with the most awesome black and white Great Dane on earth.

Each day we were entered in all five runs. The days break down as follows:

Saturday (Tall > Small):

• Jackpot
• Standard
• Wildcard
• Colors
• Snooker

Sunday (Small > Tall):

• Full House
• Standard
• Colors
• Snooker
• Jumpers

Going into this trial, Vegas was entered in level 3 for all events except Snooker and Jackpot. We needed one leg of each to complete our level 2 title. I'm happy to say my "little" rockstar did just that on Saturday. She also broke a personal record with a 100% Q rate on Saturday. Needless to say, it was a very exciting day. Without further ado, here are the courses and videos from day 1.

Today (Sunday), we were very tired - or at least I was. Full House was our first class today and we had a decent plan mapped out but I wasted too much time on the weaves so that cost us time for enough points to qualify. Nonetheless, I can't be sorry. Vegas needs to learn to be consistent in weaving in trials. This weekend she really showed promise and growth. I only had to restart her twice and the rest of the time she nailed her entry and stuck them like the great girl I know her to be.

The funny story of the day and for what I do not have video for is regarding our colors run. I had selected the color I would run, walked it about four times, then changed my mind. I walked that course a couple of times but then had to wait for what was probably an hour to run. I went in the ring, took Vegas over the first two jumps then gave her the signal for a hard right and sent her over another jump. I realized as I did it that I was in the wrong spot - I think that's one of those learned/muscle memory things - and stopped, looked around, and said, "I think I just went off course." Vegas, fortunately, was just standing there wondering what I was doing. When I finally figured out what I should have done, I knew I'd blown the course and was so flustered with myself all I could do is laugh and say, "I guess we're done!" We headed out of the ring, laughing all the way (Ha, ha, ha). It was one of those moments that probably all agility handlers have at one time or another and I am so grateful I could laugh about it instead of beat myself up or stress over it. It was mostly just funny as the epiphany I had after jump three was so readily apparent and my mouth just spoke what my brain was realizing.

The rest of the day was a blast. We were all tired and itching to get home and crash, yet we are diehards. We stuck it to the end. And here are the courses and videos from today.

 





And the last piece of agility news to share is that we got our AKC NAJ title certificate in yesterday's mail. That was super exciting and we now know we'll be getting another one soon, too, for Vegas' NA. Such a proud mama that girl makes me. She is such an agility phenom and virtually everyone that meets her loves her. She's irresistable to people and so soft and sweet in her personality.

Here is a video I took of Vegas running back to me. In between runs yesterday and today we practiced sit/stays, stand/stays, and unfocused stay commands. As is obvious in the video, the girl can really move! She has to be motivated and quite often that means getting back to the mom!