Timing is everything

Another NKC trial in the books and what a fun weekend. I was looking forward to getting sleep that I had missing with the puppies getting up so early and I was looking forward to seeing if I could use what I learned in camp on a real course. NKC this year hauled in sod instead of dirt so grass inside in July and in fact so chilly I had to wear a sweatshirt the whole weekend LOL! We also got to run T2B which we had previously only done as a demo. It is alot of fun, very much like steeplechase and very motivating to the dogs. The long and the short of the weekend is that timing is everything. I had at least three runs where my timing was off thus causing him to be off and have an off course. This is just something I have to get use to and will adjust accordingly but it will take me some time. As I have said before, he tends to run at least a gear if not two faster in a trial than he does in class or training so trying to get a feel for what I might get is hard. The fun of trials really puts him on a major HIGH and it makes him run like a dog on crack, which I love but I need to learn how to handle. Tried to get him to tug before we went in instead of just doing attention exercises and it worked until we had to go into the chute to go into the ring and he just started sniffing. I didn't want him to hike a leg on the grass so had to borrow some cookies to get his nose off the floor and his attention back. SO, i do think he is stressing and it is definately a stress up. I am okay with this, just need to figure out how to manage it. It is funny, in all of my videos, you see me leading out taking a big breath and him doing a big yawn at the same time. We are both letting it out at the same time LOL! I did finally manage to get a EX A JWW Q and for whatever reason, feel like we are getting better at JWW than at standard. We also had a qualifying run in T2B with 4 points (i have no clue what this means, need to learn about it). He did have a couple of runs where if he would have gotten his poles, we would have had a Q so that is a little frustrating but trainable. That is if we could ever have temps less than 100. They are predicting another week of 100 or greater temps with heat indexes of 110 or greater. We usually get this in August but not july. We have had to cancel classes the last two weeks:( I also got his two official AKC measurements and he now should have a permanent height card coming. Both judges got him at 20.25 so I think that is probably the most correct and best measurement we have had so far. Now to just get those last stupid USDAA measurements thanks to that judge that measured him at 21 inches.

Timing really is our biggest issue right now. Sometimes I trust he will get something and he doesn't and I am out of position or sometimes I don't trust and baby sit and get out of position. In one run, I didn't trust he would get the flip from the dog walk to the tunnel underneath it (but sticking out further than the end of the dog walk) and I stayed too long back there and then barely made it for my front cross as he came out if said tunnel and then got stuck behind a wing and sent him way out, causing him to miss the second jump of the 180. In retrospect, a rear cross would have worked better in that situation but I am still becoming comfortable with rears. It is all part of coming together as a team and figuring each other out and I am fine with that. I am getting better at timing and better at giving him the information he needs in a timely manner. I am getting better at getting him back into handler focus before say a discrimination or an off course rather than waiting too late and reactive calling or handling. Thats not to say I am still not late becuase I had some wide turns on a couple of runs and lost him in the last JWW run over an off course jump. We are improving as we show more and even if it breaks me financially, I am going to try and go to as many shows this summer and fall so we get as much team work practice as possible. I still think our goal of getting into Excellent B by the end of this year is attainable and I still want to make it a goal next year to qualify for AKC and USDAA nationals for 2013 (unless USDAA is somewhere really, really far away).

Well, need to finish and go run while it is still cool. I have decided to start training for a 10 K in hopes it will help my 5 K times. I had to abandon running the last two weeks due to shows and camp so need to get back in the swing of things. I have my video of his best runs and best parts of runs on facebook and youtube so check it out!!!!! The facebook one has the music and as usual, stupid youtube stripped it:(