Post date: Feb 1, 2009 11:13:09 PM
Friday night we went to "Stars on Ice." I was so bleary-eyed when I got to the trial Saturday morning that someone asked me if I had been out partying the night before. Yes--with 300 screaming 12-year-olds.
My first run of the trial was Trevor's jumpers run. I went back and forth about whether to bring him at all, because his toenail still looked iffy. But he's been fine on his walks, and I did some jump-weave reps with him Friday night to make sure his paw was okay. With our next AKC trial a month away and Trevor needing just one more leg for his MXJ, I decided to go for it.
But that didn't mean I was awake. It took me about 10 seconds into the run to realize that my handling strategy was missing a few elements--specifically, a front cross and a rear cross in a key part of the course. If I'd included them, maybe I wouldn't have spent the run staggering behind Trevor, waving my arms like an agility Frankenstein.
I won't be posting the video. It could fall into the wrong hands and tempt someone to commit blackmail. Suffice it to say that Trevor was an incredibly good boy who made a sincere effort to understand what Frankenstein was trying to tell him. He Qed and got the final leg he needed for his MXJ. Ten Exc B JWW legs in a row! I never expected that to happen. The pressure of trying to keep up "the streak" was starting to get to me, so I'm glad we finished our title.
To spare Trevor's toe, I scratched on Std and FAST, and didn't bring him back on Sunday. Fortunately, February is a quiet agility month, so he can get a good rest before his next trial.
Touki Qed in JWW on Saturday in a much smoother run than Trevor's (I got my act together the second time around), but she got called for a table refusal in Std. Four years into her agility career, she's abruptly decided she doesn't want to do the table anymore. It makes me want to fall to my knees and sob with frustration. Why, agility gods, why?? She almost got called for another table refusal today, but after the scribe had already written it down, the judge changed her mind. Way too close for comfort. Touki and I only walked away from the trial with 5 points total. "MACH Everest" continues to seem as elusive as ever.