My dud agility dog.....

See - I told you i'll have something to tell this weekend! Just came back from Hastings trial and had a great time :D. Leo had 4 runs today - 2 Excellent Jumping and 2 Novice Agility. We had a clash as they tend to run the Ex and Novice courses together... so while NA was running so was ExJ.... bit of a tight squeeze! Had to walk 2 courses at once which always tests memory and stresses me out a little (particularly with Ex J as there are a lot of twists and turns to remember!).... NA was a nice course, Ex J was a bugger - lets have 5 straight line jumps, let the dog to 2, call them off and push them out diagonally toward the broad, push them out diagonally again to another jump (with another jump straight infront) then do the outer tunnel, then do some more weird stuff, hard entrance to the tunnel again, more diagonal work toward the finish! I've never had to run diagonally before (and I literally mean diagonally!!) so that was interesting.....

Soo... enter Excellent jumping expecting us to make a dogs breakfast of it (also 1st run of day...).... Well - Leo ran it just BEAUTIFULLY!!! I was soo proud of him! We got a NQ though as he knocked one bar and I think I cut him off one of those 'diagonal' jumps as he 'refused' it (ie ran past it).... but in all honesty, it was a beaut run! And the best bit? Even with having to go back and do the 'refusal' jump again - we were still 5-6 secs under time!!! Woo hoo! Not bad for my dog who I say is a 'dud'.

So - off we go, have a nice game of tug while we run (thankfully next door) to the NA ring, which was ready for 600s... they call my number and still puffing and panting (me, not the dog!) enter the NA ring. Another beaut run, Clear round, slightly slow weavers, but who cares! I had to be careful and not get too excited at the end (before he finished) but he handled it really well! Result?! FIRST PLACE! Time of 39.34secs with a Standard Course Time (SCT) of 64 second!!! WOO HOO!!! So - my slow dog can apparently do the NA course 25 seconds under time!!!! So I am very, very proud!

Loong wait now until the PM trial.... same deal with the clash. Ex J was a nicer course, but very much going round in circles (I was paranoid i'd go the wrong way!) and a couple of tight call offs.... Again, Leo ran this beautifully and *just* when the thought entered my head (darn those stupid demons...) that we *might* get a pass.... I completely forget we are passing a jump to tunnel where the tunnel is in direct line of vision, MY body is saying 'go do that tunnel' and the DUMB handler doesn't even call her dog off!!! Grrr... So otherwise a beaut clear round, with one wrong tunnel which was totally my fault!

Quickly into the NA ring, but thankfully not as quick as the AM trial. Another beaut run... nice and steady, but quick enough..... 5 secs at the table, gives me time to get myself into position. Now this is the issue with walking 2 courses... I didn't assess the course properly so 'assumed' that the jump after the table was in direct line.... which it wasn't. So I stepped out too far, and when I called Leo to the jump, he ran past it :(. Everything else was clear though, so major bummer!

All in all I am SO proud of my boy - he gave me some beaut runs and has reinstated my faith in him actually becoming a masters agility dog :)

Miss Kinta also came along for the ride, and the girlie was just soooo hypo!!! Apparently EVERYBODY loves to be jumped on and EVERY man and his dog HAS to say hello to her and how could you NOT pat her..... *sigh*.... on the up side... she was very quiet when I ran Leo, not a peep from her :)

Off to dog training tomorrow and maybe in the arvo a trip into the city to wonder around Southbank, the Yarra and the markets with the hounds for a nice relaxing arvo :)