Friday at Haute TRACS

SUMMARY: 6 additional runs per dog, no Qs for Boost, 4 for Tika plus PDCH-Bronze--and how about that Grand Prix!

NOTE: FYI, All of Boost's classes are in the Championship program; Tika's are in the Performance Program. Both dogs have been jumping 22" for the last 2 years.

Friday morning

... did not go well for Taj MuttHall.

Tika Snooker: A 0-point run. (Knocked the first bar and my second obstacle was only a single full stride after that--no way I was calling her off it.) That's our 9th career 0-point Snooker; her last was three and a half years ago. May there be no more! And it was SUCH a doable Tika-style snooker. Sigh.

Boost Snooker: Knocked a bar on a 7-pointer in the opening, taking us out of SuperQ contention, then gave me a 'what this jump" refusal on #5 in the closing, so not even a Qualifier.

Tika Jumpers: Nice and flowing, felt like we were moving nicely (we were--we had the fastest time, I believe) but she knocked a bar in the middle and not sure why. No Q.

Boost Jumpers: Auuuughhhh! She was doing all the moves I asked, but I pulled her out after she'd knocked 4 bars in the first 9 obstacles (one of which was a tunnel).

Friday afternoon

...picked up a little for Tika:

Boost's Standard: I must've been getting tired of writing down all the ways we were blowing things after 2 days of it; I have no notes on the course. But I believe she had already had more than one fault when she left the Aframe early and so I pulled her off and put her away.

Tika's Standard: For several years now, I've been putting her into a Down at the start line, because in a sit she either lay down anyway or took off early. In this class, she would NOT "down" at the start line. I didn't want to get called for delayed start, so I left her in a sit and led out. Sure enough, she took off early, bounced off me as I was pivoting, which stalled us out for a moment (and while I briefly pondered taking her off the course), but then we continued, Qed, and even placed 2nd of 7 dogs. That was nice, because it completed the 15 Standard Qs we needed for our Performance Champion Bronze title! W00t! Nice to have that out of the way.

Boost's Gamblers: More lack of notes. Not very good opening points, refusal on the tunnel in the gamble (starts to go in, pops back to look at me, then goes in, ARGH!), then instead of going in a straight line from the tunnel to the jump in front of her, veers out of the tunnel straight towards me, so no gamble, either.

Tika's Gamble: I apparently had a crappy opening plan; we had some bobbles, she popped her dogwalk for 0 points, and although she did the gamble itself spot on and Qed, we didn't even place, which is rare for us when we do get the gamble.

Friday afternoon final two classes

Tika's day picked up even more. Boost? Well. Hm. Back to seriously considering not entering her in trials; it's just a waste of money most of the time without me doing constant maintenance training and upgrade work. So much to work on, all the time.

Boost Pairs Relay: On a lead-out pivot, blasted right past the 2nd jump and into the next obstacle for an off-course. (Hmm, she did this once already this weekend, which course was it?) Otherwise it was lovely, and so was her partner's run. Can't even get a danged Pairs Q (of which she already has 23, which is twice as many as she has anything else).

Tika Pairs Relay: Tika and Maddie teamed again. We did great. But another team did even greater. So we Qed with a 2nd of 9 teams. Not complaining!

Boost Grand Prix: Yet another course with no notes. We Eliminated on that one, too. It was SUCH a Boost-able course, smooth and flowing and I could keep ahead of her all the way through, and what happened? I think I did a lead-out pivot and she ran past the first obstacle, but don't remember for sure.

Tika Grand Prix: Tika and I came off that course with me yelling "Best Grand Prix Course IN THE UNIVERSE!" (thanks Pat Corl) and Tika biting my feet. (Which she does after every course, but no matter.) We ended up winning, the first time EVER in my agility career earning a bye voucher into the regional semifinals. Happy happy happy! (Tika has previously placed 2nd in Grand Prix 6 times.) Finally!

Here she is with our Steeplechase and GP ribbons.