Monday, October 10, 2005

GSDA West Coast Challenge Double Header Trial

GSDA Double Header Trial Sun Oct 9th Trial 1 (MORNING) - Trial #38 for the year. Well that theory I have about her being better in the afternoon after she's got the little bit of mania out of her system in the morning was blown out of the water today. First run up was Masters Jumping - we had a tiny wobble to get her over a jump however she did run clear and won 2nd Place Master Jumping! Next run up was Open Agility -It was a nice flowing course and I had a ball and so did she, we blitzed this course and won 1st Place Open Agility. Next run up Open Jumping - no wobbles this time and we absolutely nailed it - tiny flaw in my front cross meant she had to brake quite hard to get around me which may have cause us to fall back into 2nd place by 1.5 seconds. No matter I was happy she won 2nd Place Open Jumping - 3 out of 4 runs all clear! Masters Agility course was very hard for the fast dogs and she took a jump from the wrong side - but I hadn't really expected to go clear so again I was happy she kept every single bar up.

Trial #39 GSDA Afternoon Trial - Absolutely NO clear rounds here this afternoon. However I take responsibility for 3 out of theose 4 runs - I caused refusals to happen on both Masters Jumping and Open Jumping and also Open Agility - she kept her bars up in all three and my handling didn't come up to her standards again. Masters Agility - well that was my 2nd heartbreak for the weekend (afterthe Open Agility State Final). It was a lovely course and I went for broke - we have all our titles and I have complete confidence in her bars now so I pushed her for speed to see if she had any more gears to move up. I ran with her from the start instead of leading out and we had a ball! I handled her really well all the way and she raised her speed several levels and we were on the home stretch - just the weaves and a single bar to go. She just taps that last bar as we cross the finish line - ARGH!!!!! The judge had the decencey (or perhaps indecency!) to come and tell me she was his fastest dog by about 10 seconds on that course ARGHH!!!!!! As much as that last bar hurt I could not take anything away from the run - it was an absolute thrill and great to know how she responds to me upping the speed ante on her. Good to find this out before the Nationals next weekend!

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