I always feel a sense of urgency at USDAA trials, mainly because there are just so few of them. The opportunities to get those Qs are so few and far between so much pressure is put on each run and I hate that in a way because I LOVE USDAA. The good news is the columbia club is wanting to put on two trials a year and it sounds like we are going to be adding a new USDAA club in the MO/KS area very soon so more opportunities for USDAA YIPEE! We entered the weekend needing one standard Q to move up to advanced, but I went ahead and entered everything just for fun. Ended up finishing his starter's snooker title and his standard title thus moving us up to advanced for the december shows. Was a little worried as this is a very different surface and i had heard a lot of dogs were getting pad burns due to the mats wearing out. I have trialed on this surface before and Miller had no issues but he is also slower and more careful when he runs. The very first run was jumpers and a FUN course but deuce dropped the first bar. Probably needed to remind him he was jump 22 and not 20. Great run anyway so was happy we were starting out strong. Second run was standard and gorgeous run till the very last bar. Had the bar setter sitting right as they were coming over and I think he saw her and he loves people and just put his back foot down. No biggie, not her fault, training issue for us, but dang, I think i would rather have the first bar than the last bar. Stings a bit more when it is the last bar in my opinion.
We also had round one of steeplechase which had two a-frames. Was hoping with the maturity I had been seeing that steeplechase would be a little better than previous attempts. Well, it was better but still not a Q run. Missed his weaves, no big deal, flipped him back in and got them and then was going to the finish when he ran around a jump and took the finish jump. E:( Oh well, it was certainly better than previous attempts so we are improving. He just seems to still struggle alot when I run balls to the wall. His brain still seems to ooze out of his head when we run as fast as we can. I see it in FAST, the two tournament games in steeplechase, T2B, and of course in snooker and gamblers where there is a an opening and closing. I didn't see it as much in grand prix this time but he did have several mistakes. I felt like the grand prix was much like an excellent B course, not really hugely hard yet me managed to stink it up. He was previously in a phase where he was so sensitive to the rear cross cue that he was anticipating it and turning before jumps or trying to read between the lines and think we were doing a rear when we weren't and now we are back to him not reading them at all. AH, the fun of running a baby dog!
Overall, the weekend was a success in my mind. He had way more great runs than bad and only missed two weave entries all weekend. Much improvement in several areas although much to work on as well. Wide turns are killing us in the placements. When he is tight, he beats those awesome BCs (well some of them anyway) but when he is loosey-goosey, we get 3rd or worse. I think baby-D enjoyed his weekend without his sister and i will probably have a few more of those so we can gel as a team and daddy and stella can bond. Looking forward to a couple of weekends off and then some more AKC trials. December will be all USDAA and while I hate driving 6 hours for a show, guess we will be making the trek to st. louis hopefully not in snow:)
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