a Taj MuttHall Dog Diary: USDAA Weekend Coming

Friday, February 10, 2012

USDAA Weekend Coming

SUMMARY: Big trial this time.

Bright and early (well--dark and early) Saturday morning I'm off to the wilds of Turlock for a huge USDAA trial. I heard maybe 450 Masters runs on Saturday, in one ring. Yes, it's been done before, but it makes for a really long day. (350 runs is a generally accepted number for a reasonable maximum per judge per day.)

Show secretary says: " This trial is very full and we will probably be turning on the light and running into the evening.  Please park as close as you can and the same thing with crating.  I know it will be tight but the weather should be good, at least no rain.   We will need volunteers to keep this trial running.  The white boards will be at both rings so volunteer often.   Fault limits may have to be set."

Gosh, we hardly ever set fault limits. We'll see how this goes. Usually when we do have to set them, you're whistled off at your second off-course in the same run. 

I can tell that it's big because Tika usually in a field of  5 to 9 22" Performance dogs.  This weekend, looks like 9 to 12 dogs.  Boost, in 22" Championship--chyah, 34 to 67 (Grand Prix)! Wonder if the uptick in entries is because Nationals is "nearby" this year? Well, Denver is closer than Kentucky, anyway.

I think I can run with my injured hamstring. Otherwise it's going to be a sucky weekend, because my dogs won't run for anyone else. I keep vowing to do something to rectify that, but never somehow get around to it. We'll see how things go Saturday. My hotel room is at a super-low, nonrefundable rate, I believe, so I pay for it whether I use it or not.

Dogs are ready to go. Both were very happy in class last night and running well. (Well, there's Tika's ongoing inexplicable missed cues and things that seem so un-Tika like. Still monitoring the situation.)

At least, as noted, the weather should be lovely. Yesterday was like the best spring day you could imagine, and it's still the middle of winter!

No comments:

Post a Comment