Dream Fields trial

Well what do you know, our second trial in a row with a 50% Q rate (3/6). But, unlike last weekend, weave woes were upon us again. Two clean sets, two bumbled sets. Walter's the steady, reliable type in agility, except when it comes to the weaves deparment, where this boy sure keeps me guessing!

Here are all of today's runs, except Team which was filmed on my team partner's video camera which is a lot better than mine; I'll post the link to that run later.



Gamblers (NQ): A theoretically do-able gamble for us with two "out-tunnels" at a frame-tunnel discrimination. He got the first out-tunnel, but the second time I didn't give him enough of a run in so he stalled out. (I ommitted the opening of the run from the video since the camera wasn't zoomed in so a bunch of people's faces got caught in the shot. Wasn't any fancy footwork by either of us in the opening anyway.)

Snooker (Q): Opened with a 5 and two 6s so we wouldn't need the #7 weaves of the closing. Walter was feeling good! I completely forgot to do my planned front cross at #5 in the closing which led to an "oh crap" moment followed soon after by a fleeting moment of shock at no refusal having been called. Must have been within a toenail of being within the refusal zone. I love his weaves in this run - good speed and it looks like he might actually be using his rear end. Ran out of time part way through the weaves but I couldn't have cared less!

Standard #1 (NQ): Good run except botched weaves where he missed a pole towards the end then popped. Might have been due to my rushed/off sync "go-go-go" (I was out of breath by this point - dratted cold), who knows. Didn't bother fixing them.

Standard #2 (NQ): Woops! This run got off to a bad start when I didn't set up his line properly so he ran past the second jump; then when we went back around to the jump he ended up jumping over the wing. This exciting start didn't get caught on video thanks to my %^&* camera having switched itself to photo mode. More botched weaves: skipped a pole in the middle; went back to retry and he popped; finished them off by waving him through. Ugh. From looking at the video it looks like I got too far ahead of him in the weaves. Walter will have to work a little harder at training me to hang back until he's finished weaving.

Team Relay (Q): Tucker (a steady sheltie vet who has had an amazing 100% Q rate so far this year) and Walter strike again! This is the fourth or fifth time the two have teamed up, and the third time they Qd together. So, all three of Walter's Masters Team Qs to date have been with the T-man. For our first two Qs together back in November Tucker had our back, running clean while Walter picked up five faults (weave popping, no surprise), and we were under time enough to Q. This time, for once Walter ran clean (close call right before the weaves though - no idea how he managed to weave right to the end given how slow he was going) and we were under time enough (by less than a second!) to make up for Tucker's tunnel refusal. Nice teamwork, boys! The video will be posted here later.

Jumpers (Q): I was so beat by this time, exhausted by a long day and fighting off the tail end of a cold, but Walter was still doing well so we gave it a go. The leadout was a spur of the moment decision, but it worked out. The run felt good and a few of my front crosses look a tad better than normal in terms of being less late and leaning over a smidge less (goodness help me when I get a small dog - guaranteed I'll be running the entire course hunched over), though still tons of room for improvement. Nat caught this run on video too, from a different angle and on a much nicer camera. Thanks Nat! Here's the video:


Wow, after three back to back trial weekends, it feels strange that our next trial isn't until a month from now. But I have to say I'm looking forward to the break and it will surely be good for Walter too.