Was suppose to work today but woke up very tired and very icky feeling and since this is technically a holiday, I took it. Hubby is down in his back so he didn't get any work or moving done this weekend while I was gone. Heck he didn't even get back into our house till saturday. Let me say that the floors as AMAZING and well worth the pain and I am very, very glad to be back in our house for good. Hubby is working on the kitchen subfloor all day today and I am moving the little stuff back that I can and dusting. Taking a break right now resting so I can teach for two hours tonight. Trying to finish up this session so I can have the winter with my advanced students. Oh yeah, guess I was going to talk about this weekend so better do that now!
We had our first team experience since the first debacle with the 22 inch spaced weave poles. We had a good team, a BC that is the same age as deuce and a four year old aussie. We were A Flurry of Double Ds (dixie, deuce and flurry LOL). We had the speed demon, the steady, and the wild card deuce. Gamblers was a bit of a warm up and my brain wasn't in it for some reason. We weren't allowed to do contact to contact and on my way from the dog walk to the aframe I meant to take a jump but didn't so got a big fat zero for my a-frame. Didn't get the gamble either as he turned the wrong way going in and took an off course jump. So got a big fat 20 points, ick. Luckily one of our teammates got the gamble and the other got more points. Deuce and I still fight in gamblers and it has become our waterloo (along with steeplechase but more on that later). He wants to run 100 MPH because I am running and sometimes that means his brain goes out the window and he ceases listening. Even when I try running slower and collected, he still sees all that space and goes YAHOOO! I get the same thing in FAST. Just need to practice more i guess. Anyway, jumpers was next and it was a bugaboo of a course. Very tight, very weird and very trappy with a tough weave pole entry. Got the weave pole entry with me a mile behind and I think I was so in awe that he got it that I stopped handling and was admiring and he took an off course jump. I had pulled him and turned him on the flat but he just angled himself right out to the broad jump. Silly puppy. My BC teammate got an E too so we had two Es and one good run by our steady eddie. Standard was next and it was a very straight forward course. For whatever reason, as we were coming off the a-frame, Deuce locked in on the teeter and even though I was saying go tunnel, took off across the arena and took the teeter and into a beautiful two on two off. Silly boy, letting your team down with yet another E. Again luckily the rest of the team had great runs. Now I am feeling pretty low, perfect weaves on all courses but I am the rock that is holding our team down. I don't want to be the dog that no one wants in team because I can't seem to keep him off of wrong courses. Snooker was next which is my favorite game and booyah, he got the second highest points which helped because our BC got a big fat 0 and our steady eddy only made it through the 5 in the closing. Last was relay and we had a clean run and a third place which boosted us over the line and into the Q zone. Out of 850 points minimum we had to have, we got 865 LOL! We are renaming our team to Those who Squeak by:)
Saturday was 5 runs and i was a little nervous. Deuce was doing alot of weird things and I wasn't sure why. Maybe I was nervous the day before because it was team, but he usually handles my nerves fine. Jumpers was our first thing and we needed this Q to move up to Elite. He ran a gorgeous run, smooth and fast but with one bar. I will take it though, it was my old deuce running. He was again a little loosey goosey in gamblers and because he took another jump as the gamble buzzer was sounding and i had to reset him, the ending buzzer sounded as I was holding his teeter contact on the way out. BOOO. I needed that Q. Standard was a Q but again he was wanting to grab obstacles and not just listen to me. Grand prix was GORGEOUS, but i was fading way in the weaves and for whatever reason he popped the last pole and came to me. Never done that before so something i will just have to get my treat and train out and work on. Steeplechase was the last thing of the day and again it had us weaving into no where so I felt like I needed to support him and go to the end of the poles. As we were coming back to the double I could see him looking at EVERYTHING so I knew this run was going to be a wild one. He again was wanting to take anything and I was having trouble just keeping him with me. He took an off course jump about 8 obstacles in so we just left the ring. I felt like he was probably going to be so wild that finishing the course would be impossible. He was tired, I was tired (had been there 10 hours by that time) so we just decided to call it quits. All in all, it was a great weave pole day and I am so proud of his improvement. I feel like I can get just about any weave pole entry now and be confident with them.
Sunday was a little better, only had three runs but needed every one of them to be Qs. Jumpers was first and Deuce again ran a fast and clean run but this time with NO bars. Got first, beat a WT handler and had a instant buzz:) Gamblers was next and he seemed alot more controlled but when the buzzer sounded, he saw the weave poles as they were at the start of the gamble but not in the gamble and he locked on. Had to call him back as it was jump, turn to the dog walk, jump. He took the jump, turned away from me (about 20 feet away) wrapped that first pole and started weaving towards me. The judge was laughing so hard that he could barley blow his whistle. I was so proud and so pissed all in one! So glad that he is searching out hard entries but dang it, I needed that Q to move up! Oh well, at least most shows do mid show move ups and I have two more USDAA shows before the baby. Just would like to be in masters by the fall shows. Standard was last and again, he wanted the weaves every time i got anywhere near them. He didn't get any refusals but those wide loops of mom, i really want those poles cost us on time and we ended up with a third.
All in all, VERY happy with his poles after this weekend. 2 x 2s definately made and impression on him. Contacts were good except for the fact that he is now self releasing some times and I am having to really nail him to get him to stop. Oh well, more training issues keep you on your toes right? Happy NEW year to everyone!
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