This weekends trial was held by the North Star Herding Group Club. It was a good size trial with over 600 runs both Saturday and Sunday, and over 300 excellent runs on Friday. Since I am a member of the club, I felt I needed to work at the trial both days, so was there from start to end of day. (Note-I usually volunteer to help at trials, but this one it sort of felt like a requirement) It was a pleasure to work the excellent and open rings and to really be able to study those courses as the more experienced handlers and dogs were running. There are quite a few corgis at our trials up here in Minnesota, of course not as many as the BC's, but quite a few. I love to watch them run, but I have to say some of my favorite dogs to watch aren't the BC's. I most like to watch the ones that maybe are a bit more unique in their running style, the little mini dachshund running 4 inches, and without quite enough oomph to make the a frame, the IGs that really just love to run, preferably without all the obstacles, the bassett with the zoomies. I could go on......
This was a very fun weekend, and I enjoyed myself quite a bit. While I have met lots of new people, and made lots of new acquaintances while doing agility, there is something specially nice about trialing with true friends. Playing this weekend with Garrett and Sadie, Magic's sister, and also with Lynn and Libbie was terrific. Its funny, but all three of us only managed 1 out of 4 for the weekend. But Sadie did pick up her NAJ title! Yeah Sadie and Garrett! I am looking forward to seeing the collage that Garrett is having the photographers make of Sadie's runs. She did awesome, specially considering she got measured up into a higher jump height than she has ever run before.
We didn't manage any successful runs on Sunday, but each run we had was fun. I got lost on the jumpers run, and in Standard Magic was a bit unsure about the tire-I am not sure why as he has never refused the tire before, but we sure had fun on the rest of the run. He gave me everything, and he really tried hard to do what I asked even when I would confuse him. I admit I don't care for the AKC courses, and I know its partially because I am not confident about our abilities. I know that I am the weak point of our team, and while I also know Magic doesn't care about Q's, I feel as if I let us down. And I know we need to get back to some classes, and I know I need to start working more at home too. But enough about that, lets look forward to the next trials and new challenges.
2 comments:
Don't be so hard on yourself! Magic couldn't care less what kind of handler you are, as long as you make it fun for him. Of course, if you have visions of NATCHs, CATCHs and MACHs you'll will need to improve those handling skills but remember to have fun too! Nothing looks as good as a run where both team members are having fun and nothing looks as bad as one where neither is having fun.
It sounds like it was a good weekend, regardless of the Q rate. I find positives with out the Qs too, but they sure are nice. ;-P
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