Training Troop Trial

Well, I'm pretty tired today after two full days of trialing 3 dogs. As usual, it was a fun time, complete with Hallowe'en costume contests, lots of cake & goodies & lots of great dogs!

Boo earned his Silver Award of Merit this weekend, getting his 25th Master Standard Q. This also requires 50 Masters Games, which he had already. He had a couple of nice runs, but I managed to screw up a few times, still having trouble with our timing. He also earned a Steeplechase Q.

I was happy with Blast's runs this weekend - he did the entire trial. We only managed one Standard Q, but he was much more focused (although slower) on all of his runs until the last one - Snooker, where his brain was elsewhere. He almost got the gamble, but missed the DW contact by inches - his contacts are still a work in progress... He had two 5 fault standard rounds, a 5 fault jumpers round, ran clean in team, & had 10 faults in Steeplechase, so I guess that's progress. My goal for the weekend was for him to focus, which he did for the most part. We've still got weave pole problems, he wants to avoid them, but once he's in them, they're pretty good.

Bizzie had an exciting weekend. We've been working very hard on her start lines & she did hold them for most of the runs. She broke when someone held her puppy up to watch her & she caught sight of that, but came right back. When I led out (quite confidently..) for Steeplechase, she ran past me like a bullet, but took the entire opening line correctly, which won her a prize from the judges for most memorable starters run! Other than her first run, which was gamblers, where she was like a little ping pong ball running from tunnel to tunnel, she stayed with me pretty well. She didn't earn any Q's, but she had some really nice runs. She's very quick, so I can lose her on course in the blink of an eye! Hopefully I can improve my handling so that we can work better as a team.

I really need to practice weave pole entries at speed for both my young dogs, it was a problem all weekend, but the footing is so deep, it's difficult for the little dogs, they're having to jump over mounds of shavings & it's interfering with their footwork.

It was a fun weekend - it's nice that the agility folks are very supportive of each other & always are willing to offer advice & support for each other. Thanks to those who have helped me out!