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Welcome to a blog about my experience as a dog owner. While I intend to focus on agility, that will by no means be the only topic!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Q x 3: More Is Better

Today, the pups and I drove 2.5 hours to Dream Park. It was an awful trip down, as the George Washington bridge was closed for the morning. Hooray for picking a random road and letting the GPS sort it out!

The trial location was very nice. The huge indoor riding arena fit all three agility rings, plus practice jumps. The crating area was sparse (concrete floors in what looked like a large equipment storage room) but well ventilated. Real bathrooms were very much appreciated as well!

Sadie, as you can tell from the title, did a fantastic job.

The agility gods were with us on our FAST run. The send was the A-frame to a jump. She took the A-frame with gusto, and as I cued her to the jump I saw her leap off the descent from the corner of my eye. She must have gotten a toenail in the contact zone, because no fault was called!

The Standard run had a tricky start, with a straight line of 2 jumps to the A-frame... but the third obstacle was another jump to the left. Several dogs got "trapped" by the A-frame. Sadie, I'm pleased to say, took my front-cross beautifully with nary a glance at the wrong course. She stopped nicely on the table, and I led out towards the next jump. She must know the count now, though. As the judge said "go" she launched, though I guess he must have gotten to the O already... Again, no fault!

Jumpers was last, and the most nerve-wracking. Last run for her title! Not only did she get the Q, it was picture-perfect. No close calls, no disconnects... just a fluid run. I have to thank Mr. Trainer here: he has drilled into us in class the a line is a line no matter what angle the jumps are at. In this case, there were three jumps at 45 degree angles to each other, but the dogs' path was still a straight line. It's a wonderful feeling, being confident about how to run a course. Mr. Trainer, thank you for making sure that your students can read a course, not just run one.

And now, because I'm so incredibly proud of my goofy girl:

That's right, I'm the bestest!

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