USDAA trial this week-end. It was quite small for USDAA. The weather was
unexectedly cool and it rained a bit on Sunday.

We had a lot of almost Qs and almost titles, but one actual Q for our
Advanced Snooker title.

In Starter's Standard Tsuki did his weaves, a squeaker of a contact on the
dogwalk, a good contact on the a-frame, a slow but acceptable down on the
table. We headed for the final two jumps. I'm not 100% sure we got that
dogwalk contact so I'm not exactly celebrating but I'm feeling good about
the run. Tsuki rarely drops bars - but he did this time. No Q, and the
dropped bar was the only fault. We were 8 seconds under time.

In Masters Pairs my partners dog went off course - an elimination - but
we've done that as was - that's the breaks. Tsuki did his part well
enough but they won't give us a time with the E so I don't know how fast
he was.

I needed one Advanced Snooker leg for my Advanced Snooker title. We had
only one judge so we walked the course while she was judging in the other
ring. The number 7 obstacle was the teeter. Ordinarily I'd use it because
Tsuki's teeter is very reliable. But it wasn't in a good location so I
went with a 5 (triple) and two 6s (jump combination). It went fine until
we got to the closing sequence. As soon as Tsuki took the 2 jump we got a
whistle. Turns out I had walked the course wrong and the jump was
supposed to be taken the other way. Well it wasn't marked correctly
according to my training, and I thought the flag position was in the
rules. It isn't (or I didn't find it) but the rules DO require a briefing
which we didn't get. I mentioned it to the trial secretary who mentioned
it to the judge. The judge agreed that those of us who got whistled off
at that point could re-run. yay! Tsuki was very ... um ... relaxed at the
start line. Like as in lying on his side. But as alwyas he took off like
a shot. Although I was not told to do so I thought it only fair to do the
same strategy since I wouldn't have changed it if I had gotten the
direction correct in the first place. Which meant I had to put up with a
little less than perfect positioning. But I got him through the course.
We qualified with first place! So now we are in Masters Snooker. And if
you had told me that at the beginning of the year I would have thought you
were nuts!

Sunday Starters Standard Tsuki did very solid contacts, not just toe
nails. His weave was quite nice, until he popped out at 11 but he fixed
tha quickly enough. But he was slow on the down on the table. I thought
we had a clean run. I was thrilled. That would finish our Starters
Standard and our AD (Agility Dog) title. But I was wrong. We were 1.24
seconds over time. *sigh*

And in Advanced Jumpers I was certain we had completed our title and could
move up to Masters. It was a wonderful feeling run. Unfortunately I got
disoriented and retook a jump instead of taking the one to the right of
it. I didn't even know I had done it until I saw our score and found
someone who could tell me. Boy was I disappointed. Oh well, next week.

And for the Freeway report. Gosh that dog has a wonderful recall. There
was a big field I turned him loose to play in. He really really wanted to
play with some dogs but their owners didn't want him to. And I called him
and he came running back full blast. I got to call him off several dogs
during the week-end, and usually long before he even got to them. And
when I say "call-off" I mean merely running up the way one expects in a
free-play area. For the short time I've had him it was a delightful thing
to see as it meant he got more freedom. And he may have shorter legs than
Tsuki, but he's fast. Nearly as fast as the Kelpie he was playing with,
and absolutely as agile.

--
Diane Blackman
http://dog-play.com/
http://dogplay.com/Shop/