Last weekend's trial

I did one day of CPE last weekend, Saturday only (Sunday I went to the Daytona 500, great race, great time!!)

I entered Lonya in 3 runs, just for more exposure.  She Q'd in Jackpot, where she got the "harder" distance challenge (even though I tried to send her to the easy one...I ended up quite far away from her at the end).  She worked with me okay after that, and did a nice dogwalk contact.  Her first Standard run was pretty good.  Good DW and Aframe, but bailed on the teeter.  Some baby dog errors too.  Second Standard was okay, until the end.  She just wouldn't take the Aframe, she was stuck in the tunnel vortex.  I ended up downing her and taking her out...

Sparrow did great again!  She Q'd 4 out of 5, and now only needs 11 legs for her C-ATCH.  Her only NQ was in Jackpot, she was VERY close though.  She got the distance no problem, but it was a hard course for use to get enough points on.  She missed the down contact on her Dogwalk, and we ended up 3 points short.  She Q'd in both Standard runs, even though she was slow.  It was hot (for her) and she was pokey.  Especially in the weaves!  And, she did look at the judge a few times (she's a friend of ours!).  Wildcard was okay, I had to ask her to weave twice, since I didn't like the 3rd #2 option.  I normally wouldn't ask her for 2 sets of poles.  And her snooker run was very nice.  I was able to plan a pretty smooth course for her, and we needed to get through #6 in the ending to Q.  She got all the way through though, so Q'd no problem.

Here's the video!



Here's what she needs for her C-ATCH...

3 Jackpot
3 Jumpers
2 Standard
1 Colors
1 Snooker
1 FullHouse

There are 2 trials in April...I can't do all the days of both (silly work gets in the way).   But, if she runs perfect (in Jackpot and Jumpers at least), she could C-ATCH at the second one.  Very exciting.  I know I'll cry when she does it...and I hope that Kal will be watching.

Agility this weekend

Lonya and I had 2 days of agility in Vero Beach this weekend.  It was a new trial site for both of us, under cover on dirt.  She hasn't run well on dirt so far, but did somewhat better this weekend.

Friday her JWW run had a REALLY nice ending but she had a couple of refusals and didn't get her weaves.  She ran with me for the most part though, which was good.  (She did have to go sniff the judge once).

Sat JWW was also pretty nice, she had some refusals, but did her weaves.  No visiting though.

Friday Standard was a mess.  She was not focussed at all.  I struggled through it, but at some point I need to decide if pulling her should be an option...she never really settled in to work for this run.

Sat Standard was better, a little bit a least.  I got a little more harsh with my voice when she started acting squirrely, and she settled a bit.  She did her Aframe contact (both days actually), but totally flew off the teeter (coming out a tunnel to it).

I was a little frustrated on Friday after Standard.  I know she can do this stuff, and that she just needs more exposure to trials, but I do wonder if I'm pushing too hard.  She doesn't seem to be stressing, more just doing her own thing.  I am interested in seeing if it's just the dirt or more than that...our next trial is on dirt, then a couple on grass.

We had our first motel stay, and she did pretty well.  She was pretty clingy in the room, wanting to sleep ON me instead of just near me.  But, Sparrow and Cheyenne are both pretty good travelers so I'm sure that helped.

Catching up

I haven't been updating the blog very well!  Things have been busy, which is good.  This has been one of my only weekends where I don't have dog stuff...and I find myself torturing myself by re-reading all the stuff I wrote about Kal.  I still miss that dog every single day...  It will get easier at some point, I know.  It has too.  But, it still hurts a lot, and I feel gypped that I lost out on so much time with him, he was taken from me far too young.  I still feel a pain when I see a male GSD...of any color.  I really miss having one.

I'm waiting on Lonya's OFAs to come back.  I'll call them again next week to see if her results are in.  I hope it's my turn to have some good luck.  I really want to have a litter.  She's progressing in agility.  She hasn't Qd in a couple of trials, but some of her runs have been close.  She stands at 2 OAJ legs and 1 OA leg.  We do our first overnight trial next weekend, where we'll stay in a hotel for a night.  Not sure what she'll think of that!  I plan to have a crate ready in case she can't settle!

Sparrow got her NA a couple of weeks ago.   She needs one leg for her NAJ.  Not sure I'll do much more AKC with her after that.  I think she'll stick with CPE.  She's doing great there, we did 1 day of CPE last weekend and she Qd 4 out of 5, running really well!  Lots of fun for her.  We need 15 more legs for her C-ATCH, then I think I'll just stay in level 5 with her and go for her C-ATCH 2 (or not, just let her play around).

Here's the video from that day...




I need to be better about keeping up with this...fingers crossed that I do it!