Two new titles

Deej scored shiny new titles in the trial over the weekend. We actually managed to scrape out of open standard, barely squeaking out by the skin of our teeth. Not because of the A-frame which has been mentioned here with such obsessive frequency but because of the inescapable black hole of suckiness that is the table.

Due to some nefarious machinations behind the scenes (not really, probably neutral machinations) we had to down on the table every freaking day of the trial. Every day. Evil? Yes.

Table bugged us all weekend -- by Sunday, nope wasn't happening. But Sunday's run was also our debut in Excellent A and the course was nice and hard and twisty, and we totally rocked it – nailing not only the dog walk, the A-frame and the weaves but also got in 2 excellent front crosses.

DJ sat on the table, he stood on the table, he yawned on the table, he bowed on the table. He did not down. After begging and nearly prostrating myself on the dirt, we left the table and finished the course.

So that happened.

But I also learned two important lessons this weekend.

The first is that if my mind wanders during the middle of a course, DJ also checks out.

During our standard run on Friday, we got through everything except the weaves and by that point I was like we're going to Q, we can stay and make sure, blah blah blah, and he missed the weave pole entrance and couldn't get it in 3 tries so we went on.

Friday was an exceptionally long day.

Second lesson was that we are really slow! Not to get into too much detail since that is insanely boring to read but the jumpers course on Sunday started with a tunnel. It was our first day in Ex. B, so competing against seasoned dogs and in one case a former world team member.

I took DJ's leash off and he immediately sauntered into the tunnel. Slowly, yet so fast I couldn't get my bearings to figure out whether to call him back before he got past the start line.

He mosied out and then went wide on a front cross. My fault since I had been sort of caught flat footed waiting for him to get out of the tunnel. Weaves could have been faster too.

All in all our time was about 32.5 and the 4th place dog clocked in at 26.something.

I have no pictures or video from the trial so the one here is from Virginia Beach.

Tomorrow -- on trial!

Cold this morning. Very cold, 47 degrees. Braved the beach however -- in bare feet no less.

Not a good idea, the sand was tremendously chilly, particularly near the stairs. Ice sand spiked with sharp stabby shells.

It did take some effort to roll out of bed and get dressed for that kind of thing but DJ and I got out of the house with almost everything we needed for a trip to the beach and then over to Lucky Dog, except for my wallet.

Swung by home on the way to pick it up and we got there by about 7:05. The A-frame had been moved into a corner and the grass was encrusted with frost. Frost for dog's sake…

I left Deej in the warm car while I moved everything and got the box set up on it and then hustled him in to run around for a minute and then get up and over. Nailed it every time, even moving top speed. Tried it for fun going the other way and he did get the contact.

This weekend: 3 day trial. I think if I give him the cue as he leaps over the apex and point EMPHATICALLY in addition to giving him a collection cue before perhaps, we should be good.

We'll rock it.

Full moon agility

The beach was very cold this morning, like 50 degrees – or less! I walked barefoot and my feet were freezing, I had to stand in the surf to warm them up and then a strong wave rushed in and soaked my shorts.

Very chilly. I had planned to walk for a few more minutes but kept getting paranoid about how deserted the beach was. At 6 am when we walked onto the beach it was still dark though the moon lit up the sand enough to see fairly clearly. DJ kept running into the dark line of mangroves and sea oats at the top of the beach. I always envision someone snatching him and running away or waiting for me to come looking for him. So I hollered at him every time he went near.

Plus I kept hearing the leash knocking around which made me whirl around looking for someone behind me. I kept envisioning someone creeping up on me and being only inches from my unsuspecting back, in the dark on the deserted beach.

Creeped out we turned around and headed back to the car. DJ warmed himself up by running, running, running and I trundled along.

We headed over to Lucky Dog Sports Club to practice the A-frame again. It went well.

The first time his striding was perfect, subsequently it really wasn't. We'll work on it again tomorrow and Friday, then I'm starting to fade the box by cutting out pieces.