Dream Fields trial, EXJBronze

Been a while since we've been at Dream Fields on a Saturday, but the days were switched up from normal and I have to say it's nice to have the Sunday off to relax. Walter, however, was feeling pretty relaxed today, not his usual sharp self. His nose touches during warmups were wimpy, and overall he seemed a bit flat. Half way through the day I learned that one of Walter's fellow 22" Specials competitors was lost to cancer recently and well, that just about did it for me. Being emotional is exhausting, never mind trying to run around a course in that state.

But, life and agility go on, and Walter ran pretty well, all things considered. Watching the video back I'm asking for trouble releasing the dogwalk contact so quickly so often, so I'll try to be more careful about that. Also, what is up with my rear cross arm signal? Yikes, I'll have to get a handle on that (so to speak).

Gamblers: Ran out of time halfway through the closing and then he ran past the last jump. But, Walter the non-tunnel-suck did a nice send to the tunnel, good dog!

Snooker: A lot of dogs had trouble getting enough points before running out of time. Fortunately, Walter and I didn't have that problem: We got blown off in the opening for back to back obstacles of choice. :-D Oh well, I'm trying to not overhandle too much and if that's the price then so be it.

Standard #1: A Q, but not a particularly nice one, with two bungled rear crosses and several really wide turns.

Standard #2: Aye aye aye, this run was doomed from the start when I had to go back and reposition Walter at the startline after he moved too far to the side of the first jump. I hate feeling like I'm wasting people's time so then I rushed myself and gave up on the idea of leading out. The rest of the run didn't get much better! It's fun to have a run that's so full of goofs every now and then.

Team: Our partners Helen and Tucker went clean, but Walter missed a tough weave entry and we weren't enough under time to make up for it. Video of this run will follow later.

Jumpers: My handling of the threadle was pretty bad - poor Walter had no idea the turn was coming. And my rear cross at the end - augh! But Walter ran great especially considering it was about 12 hours into his day. He got a Q and his Expert Jumpers Bronze title (10 Masters Standards Jumpers Qs). Yay Walter! The Expert Jumper! Ha. Now if only he could get an expert handler!