Western Classic Wrap Up

Well it was a mixed bag for my two furballs this weekend. This is Cypher’s first ever Western Classic and I am really pleased and satisfied with how he ran, his runs have been improving every time we stepped into the ring. He went clear in Masters Agility for his 5th pass and he just had a couple of unlucky bars down one in Open Agility and one in Masters Jumping. In Open Jumping I *think* (I didn’t actually see him move) he may have got up at the start and moved closer to the first bar and then sat down again because he knocked the first bar. C’est la vie as they say. He ran very well for me apart from that and I was pleased with his focus which is definitely increasing each time.

Raven did not manage a single clean run the whole two nights apart from her Strategic Pairs run which we did with usual partners Sue and Nifty. That said though I have still been extremely proud of how she worked for me this weekend. Open Agility was a tough one (see post below) and for some unknown reason she ducked behind me on a relatively simple lead out and headed off for the aframe. She didn’t do it but she caused a refusal call on the 3rd jump. We then had an off course after the aframe (I realised afterwards I should have taken the cross behind on the aframe option) and her striding took her over the down dogwalk contact. Then in Masters Agility she was brilliant absolutely flying, did the most spectacular running dogwalk contact I have ever seen her do had to then do a sharp right turn which I cued a bit late for her she still dug in and really fought to do the next jump, amazingly cleared it but by the time I realised what an impossible angle it put her on for the next jump it was too late and she took it from the wrong side. Not her fault at all and I was extremely pleased with what she had done. Masters Jumping I just wasn’t quite in the right mindset with her, she also became extremely hypersensitive to my body position and pulled off the #4 jump probably due to the fact that I had my mind on the next tunnel move and didn’t really give her the usual commitment position to go do a jump. We had a few those hiccups on the Masters Jumping course. It was a nice course though and Cypher ran it very well we just took one bar down on the way home. In Open Jumping we were going great guns till on a slightly pinwheel type turn she face planted on landing from one jump and just didn’t have enough room or time to get up over the next jump though she tried as hard as she could. I couldn’t fault her for that so we kept going and finished the course. Again a lovely flowing course that we just had some bad luck on.

Sunday night was the teams event and I ran 3 out of the 4 dogs on our team, my two plus Rumour the Sheltie. The conditions were not the best in terms of the sun hitting the course badly, if you looked back at your dog on the lead out all you saw was them squinting their eyes badly and trying to sight you. I ran Rumour first and she didn’t want to go near the judge on course which caused a few distractions issues, she popped the 2nd last weaver and also had a couple of off courses. Cypher ran next and did a nice solid clear round, Tag was after him and Robyn ran him for a steady but one bar down (handler error of course! *g*) and then Raven came out. Well she was feeling a bit frisky and feral at this point, so for the second time this year she broke her start, flew by me and then I had to use seat of pants handling which caused her to drop a bar. But other than that she ran a rather uncontrolled but clear course. Onto jumping and Rumour was a bit more improved although again her start was slow due to us running towards the judge, but when I took off on her she came with me!! She ran pretty well after that apart from one off course where I just took my eyes off her for a split second to sight the line home and she was off over another jump! I was happier with her this time though. Cypher again was the team anchor putting in another solid clear round no hiccups, then Raven came out and she was listening well I just didn’t get my line exactly right on the way home and she copped a refusal. Robyn had to run from the showring to the agility ring last night and was the last person to run with Tag. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be a repeat of his clear round in Open Jumping the night before and Robyn got a bit lost! He had a good time anyway finishing off with her. It does suck majorly though when these events clash all the time, you’d think the organisers might think about the fact that Border Collies (the most prominent breed in agility) might be involved with both disciplines and perhaps it would be a good idea to schedule them on different nights! I know I would have entered the show with Cypher and Spryte had they not been on the same night!

Next it was Novice Strategic Pairs and I ran Rumour again for Andrea while she ran Rosie. We had a very smooth run but unfortunately rumour ran under her first jump on her first sequence which cost us a few seconds, we still ended up with 2nd place so that was nice. Then onto Excellent, I ran the gorgeous GSP Emmy for Lisa, who ran Sabra, again it was a nice round; we got an unlucky call on the dogwalk contact so Sabra had to come over and do it however the girls were still fast enough to make the time and there were no other hiccups. Then it was Raven and Nifty’s turn, Raven was more than just feral by now it was like trying to control a severely ADHD/ADD child with high levels of caffeine consumption!! We’d considered this in our strategy I believe which is why Nifty did most of the course and I just tried to hold on to Raven who was dancing around like a jack in the box waiting for our 2nd part! I think Nifty may have had a couple of spins round jumps and Raven was trying to do much more than her share however for the most part it was pretty smooth and we went clear but oddly not in the top three placings which is very unusual for those two to say the least. Nevermind a pass is a pass!! Cypher and Sage were next up and despite me having a blank and not remembering my team mate was the one who started we flew around that course and went clear for third place and our third pass so that was cool. Strategic Pairs is great fun and probably one of the best spectator events there are!

So the last night (Monday night) is the Obedience and I had Cypher in his first Novice trial ever! Raven was also in UD for about her 5th or 6th attempt. As I have been working Cypher's heelwork over the last few weeks I have noticed that he heels well when first grabbed out of the car and straight into work. I went with this strategy at the obedience trial....let's just say the "No Warm Up" approach is not for him! He was happy and up and doing heelwork in some parts but in others he was just away with the fairies. So I just asked to finish with the recall which he did very nicely and we left. We shall aim to be ready for the Novice Obedience at the Royal I think instead! Raven worked very well for me last night and passed most of her UD exercises. Seek back was good (apart from the dropping of the seek back article which she promptly picked up), directed jumping was nice and very enthusiastic as the judge noted, passed her scent discrimination without dropping a single article and we then went into the signals exercise. She actually passed the signals part but failed the heelwork as I had to call her back to heel when we heeled off and she trotted off to the box (for some reason she thought we were working on her box!). She also passed the directed retrieve with the gloves. So all in all she didn't do too badly and that is the furthest we have gotten with the UD round. So there is still hope we may get there one day! So that was it for another Western Classic, not a huge success but some very nice performances by Cy and Rave. We now have to wait till the 24th for our next trial which I have to say is not good!!! We only have about 5 trials left before we head over to Adelaide! ARGH!!!! So much to do and so little time....damn this thing called work!