Breakthrough

So I meant to post this earlier this past week, but time got away from me. I have two new updates on my Stump Kids, so I'll post them separately on here to give them each their due...

Last weekend my friend Merinda and I traveled up to Lewisburg, Ohio, for an AKC trial at Circle G Arena, known affectionately as the "Mud Hole." My goal for the weekend was for me to not get lost in any courses (re: the Nashville trial) and for Dally to continue her speed.

Well, I didn't get lost in any of the courses = mission accomplished for me. And, Dally ran beautifully all four runs! We only Qd once, and it was a much-needed Q to finish up her Excellent A Preferred JWW title, but they were four awesome runs that had me grinning from ear to ear.

First of all, here's her Q run, one that that required me to BYARF (Bust Yo A**, Run Fast) in the opening. There were three ways you could handle this run. The first would have been for me to start off on the left side, run past the first three jumps and do a front cross. The second option would have been start on the left side and rear cross that jump, or the third was to just RLH (Run Like H*ll) on the right side and do no crosses. I decided on option three because I was nervous with the front cross I would not get there in time and I could slow her down and with the rear cross she can some times do them (if she's running fast enough), but I didn't want to slow her down with confusion if she came over that jump and tried to find me. It wasn't a very pretty run, but it got the jump done and she ran fast (which made me run fast)!

Her standard runs were NQs due to little things--but she ran so fast and happy, how could I fault her?? On Sunday our standard course had a 180 towards the end. Most of the time Dally hates those and I have to work deep into the angles to keep her going. This time, she ran tight and fast--I was so happy. We NQd only because I wanted to pull her off an off-course jump and I over-exaggerated my shoulder and pulled her off the jump she needed to take. Oh well! She was so good with everything else, I couldn't have been happier. See for yourself.

Her jumpers run on Saturday was fast and happy, but she popped out of her weaves. Saturday saw a comical Corgi who decided she loved contacts more than tunnels for once.

She's now back in Excellent B for both STD and Jumpers, so now we can start earning Double Qs towards our PAX (soon-to-be PACH in 2013) and maybe see if we can qualify for the AKC Nationals in 4 inches. ;-)

Mesa's weekend was spent training on measuring table in preparations for her first trials. She's measuring right at or so close to 11 inches (the cut-off for the 8-inch jump height is 11") that any amount of relaxation we can get from her on the table will be a big help.

Next post....Mesa's agility trial debut in CPE!!!