NADAC trial in Pearblossom

We had a trial in Pearblossom-a NADAC trial that was chosen because they allow some training in the ring. Originally a bunch of people from my agility class were supposed to come, but unfortunately no one ended up being able to come except for Denise and Kody-who did wonderfully and got their novice jumpers title-but ran right before Breeze and Liz so she got gate guard duty for Liz's run and there was no one to video any of our runs. It was really neat to see Kody and Denise who are both new to agility do so well.

So I will have to recap the action with no video proof to back up what I say, LOL!

First run: Chloe-standard novice.
This run was going to be a shoe in for Chloe to get her last leg to get the standard title to go with her novice jumpers. I entered FOUR standard runs figuring I could move up or not run the last two. OOOH well, so much for such plans. The course was VERY EASY, and very straight forward, and I felt very confident and had no trouble making my plans. Chloe has done agility for a long time so this should have been a piece of cake.
HUMMM...what went wrong??? Who knows? Maybe it was the heat, she hates the heat and it was very hot, maybe she hasn't run that much lately? Maybe I did contacts with her just ran her over the Aframe and the dog walk once in the morning before we went because it has been awhile since she did the contacts.
So the course was two jumps to a tunnel that was under the Aframe. The angles were nice so the Aframe was not meant as a real trap.....but it was a great one for the Chloe who always remembers the last obstacle that got her treated and always runs after those. So we go over the two jumps and I go way deeper then I would have to show her the tunnel, I am telling her "tunnel, tunnel" and she sort of backs up and makes a sharp turn to catch the Aframe. Yep, she had to work for that, LOL. Of course the run went downhill from there. I knew we had NQ'd so I decided to just run for fun, I directed Chloe to the tunnel, then over the nice two jumps to the weaves. A really nice little sweeping angle, a very easy entry, a real no brainer. Well, Chloe jumped in at the third pole, and started her weaves. So I put on my cheery, happy voice, at least that is how that voice sounds to me and called her back. Chloe stopped cold and looked at the poles and then looked at me, like I do not know what these are, then tried to dive in at the third pole. I said, Chloe lets move on, and headed for the last of the course which should have been a jump, then the tunnel and her beloved Aframe to two jumps and then to the blessed EXIT where it could all be over. Well, Chloe jumped one jump turned her head and saw a jump that was on the way to the entrance and she was out of there. YIKES! Then I was all thrown so I was going to head out the entrance, because it was right there and I just wanted to get out, well, I didn't realize the leash was on the other side of the field and you never leave without the leash (I had thought I would sneak out, carry her over to the other side), well, I really, really, really ticked off the judge for that. OH well. The worst part was that they just changed the course and run it backwards, so as soon as we got out of the ring it was time to walk the next run.

So the next run went beautifully, Chloe was not her most happy self, a little slow, but doing OK. We got to the second to last obstacle which was a TUNNEL, right next to the Aframe, and do I need to say what happened? I went right up to the tunnel and really tried to block the aframe, Chloe ran around me to make sure she got the Aframe. So our titling dreams were out the window for the day.

Third run was a run with Breeze.
OMG!!!
BAD THINGS:
she ran around the first jump so we did not Q, although we had enough time I could have ran her back and started over, I saw a few people do that, but....that is not my style.
GOOD THINGS:
SHE HELD HER START LINE-she was a ROCK. We have had so much trouble just recently and we have been working on that pretty hard, the rest of the run was a success no matter what happened.
Where Breeze has been sometimes going to a tunnel and she stops and waits until I get up there and really help her in, she went over a jump that I rear crossed, she read the rear cross-a soft cross that sometimes is a little harder for her, but she glanced at me and then I said TUNNEL and she dived right in. The last three jumps were a LONG line of jumps and Breeze likes to go over two and look at me, do a few turns, then figure out what to do, but none of that on Saturday, she hit those jumps and drove to the last jump.
The excitement of the trial only seemed to make her better.

SO GET THIS, We did not Q but Breeze completed the jumpers course in 16.11 seconds or 6.39 yards per second, the fastest time in the trial.I went to look at her time because I was curious as to how fast she can actually run when it is timed and when I walked in before I said anything the girl at the computer said That is one FAST border collie! LOL, then I looked at the time and I realized, she is fast! Just sort of fun when my biggest problem used to be would we make time?


The greatest thing is that this whole run built my confidence up a lot, Breeze was running fast, and there was a lot of ground to cover but I did not feel rushed and I didn't feel panicked at worrying about how to get where I needed to be. It was a nice, really easy flowing course, so not a huge challenge but things fell together for us.

Fourth run-Lizzie's run
Remembering who Liz is, we met our goals there. This is the first time Liz had been to this location. This is the first time Liz has worked without food or treats. We had to go pretty quickly between Liz and Breeze so there was not a lot of time for connecting. Liz completed like six jumps. Liz held her stay, started when I released her, completed two jumps, got a little spacey and wild eyed and raced around the next jump, so I got her back and we did two or three more jumps, the spacey eye returned and I knew I had to get her to do something and then make it my idea to leave. So I got Lizzie over two jumps in a row and knew it was time to Quit. I called Liz, and picked her up and carried her out. I hated to do that because I do not usually carry her and I did not want her to think she was a bad girl, but with no treats and no cookies I was not sure I could keep her with me to the gate and I did not want to end with any type of zoomie.