SouthWest Regional: Another 3-Day Weekend

SUMMARY: Yup, we went, we agilitated, we got some Qs.

Tika Saturday--Performance Team ("Here We Go Again" with many-time teammate Brenn):

18 dogs competed in Tika's height in Team. Handling error in team snooker kept Tika to only 17 points. Won Team Gamblers. Second in Team Standard. Some bobbles (wrong turns) in team Jumpers--clean but only 6th of 18 dogs. Brenn did well, too, and we were clean in the relay. Our combined scores placed us 4th out of 30 teams--again--dang that snooker round! We were only 10 points/faults/seconds out of 3rd place over 5 classes times 2 dogs. So close. But it was definitely a Q and I'm not unhappy with 4th.

Tika Saturday Steeplechase: On a tough tunnel calloff, I yelled "Come! Come!" which I know from years of experience does nothing. I needed "Tika!" Off course. So no Round 2.

Tika Sunday:

Won Standard. With 10 dogs--IF I were still counting Top Ten points, which of course I'm not, that would be 5 more. (The 11th dog dropped out, or it would've been 7 for 1st. Ah, well. Older dogs sometimes get sore & tired & can't do as much. Hold that thought.)

In Gamblers, tied 2 other dogs for high points but, due to a [sigh] strategy error, out of 12 dogs, we placed 3rd based on time instead of 1st. I'm not counting Top Ten Points now. But, if I were, that would be 3 more.

In Pairs Relay, Tika knocked a bar and our awesome teammate Chaps (who won a ton of events this weekend) had a contact and a refusal in their mere 10 obstacles--but even with 15 faults, our combined time was fast enough (barely) to at least Q.

Grand Prix--gah, handler tried a slightly aggressive weave pole thing that she thought was actually pretty safe with Tika--but Tika popped out at #10, so no Q, although even with having to go back and fix it, we were within a few seconds of hte first place time. Ah, well.

Tika Monday:
Snooker: Tika ran competently but was slow in the tunnels (of which we did several). Did 4 reds in the opening, ran out of time on the approach to the 3rd part of #7 in the closing. In retrospect, I realize that I was urging her on, which I don't usually have to do in snooker because she gets so roused up in that game. We were lucky that only 1 dog (Chaps) beat our score, so 2nd of 14 dogs, and since I'm not counting Top Ten points, I won't mention that that's 5 more.

Jumpers: Short story: Sore, so pulled her out halfway through. Got her a massage with the wonderful Pawssage lady who noted my distress, stated her fondness for older dogs, and gave us at least a 10-minute evaluation and massage without charging us anything. Tika likes this sort of work and it seemed to help. But--

Standard: Short story: Still sore, so pulled her out after 3 obstacles. This was probably the first time in 7 years that she did a careful Aframe and stopped in 2o/2o position. Ah, me, older dogs sometimes get sore & tired & can't do as much.

Now: Seems to be feeling pretty good. At 4:30 after packing up, wanted to run and play frisbee, but I said no. She should be good for VAST USDAA next weekend.

Boost Saturday DAM team with Ariel and Gustavo as BAG Ladies:

Thought she did well in Team Gamblers, but no, lots of people got way more points than she did. About average. 20th of 80 dogs--not awful, but not great. I actually mistimed it and we could've gotten 5-8 more points. Team Snooker: Again, not awful--27th of 80 dogs, but missed weave entry in closing on #6. Team Jumpers, Eed on refusals I think. Team Standard--well--we didn't E, but ended with a course time of 65.59 (to compare, winner was 37.22) and 24 course faults! About as bad as you can do w/out Eing.

Team Relay: Before the relay, our team's cumulative score had us 4th from last of 42 teams. We ran early in the 3-dog relay and all 3 of us ran clean (compared to all of us having Es and other problems in the earlier classes). Interestingly, very few teams ran that without at least one dog Eing, which pulled us all the way up to 24th of 42 teams! Not quite enough to Q, but we were pretty pleased with our relay showing.

Steeplechase Round 1: Weave issues, runout issues. No Q.

Boost Sunday:

Pairs Relay: I thought her half was flawless--really lovely! But apparently got called on the up contact on the teeter?! Teammate had a refusal but also pretty fast; we Qed anyway. And so Boost continues her steady march towards what I see as an eventual Relay Platinum without every getting a single Snooker Super-Q or any more Jumpers Qs. Silly.

Gamblers: Oh, man, a nice opening--among the highest scores--and did the gamble, but on the last jump, which was a double, knocked the first bar. How does one knock JUST the first bar on a double? Dang.

Standard: Oh, man, ALMOST PERFECT! Beautiful weaves, held all contacts, running ahead of me, kept her bars up, beautiful table, etc., just one rear cross that I apparently didn't manage well for a runout.

Boost Monday:

Snooker: Tried Tika's same course. Knocked 2nd red in the opening and #4 in the opening, but got nicely all the way through 7 in the closing. So it was a Q but still not a super-Q.

Jumpers: Gah.

Rafflin' Dog: Boost won me TWO free entry cert's in raffles this weekend! That's really super! I'm thinkin' she's easily earned her RfM (Raffle Master) title by now!