Sunday at Agility On The Green

SUMMARY: And another agility weekend goes by.

From our running order for the whole weekend: One of these things is not like the others:

Today often felt more like a handler having a bad weekend than the dogs doing so. Both dogs ran nicely, looked healthy and happy and eager to run, although, yep, Tika can't match the speed of so many other dogs in 22" performance now.

Tika:

• Steeplechase Round 2: It had 2 sets of weaves. We can't compete on time with that these days. Placed 4th of 5, all of us running clean. Brought home $7 for it.
• Standard: Ran nicely, got all her contacts, kept all her bars up, went down pretty quickly on the table for a change--and 4 obstacles before the end, I sent her into a tunnel under an Aframe that I thought was a gimmee, but apparently she wasn't convinced because she pulled off it and jumped onto the Aframe from the side for an off course. 100% handler issue (although I don't think I'd have had that issue if she wasn't checking in with so much as she's doing now).
• Grand Prix: A killer of a course, very few dogs Qualified. She ran nicely and clean, although much slower than many of the dogs. However--out of ten  22" dogs, only two of us Qed, giving her 2nd place. 
• Jumpers: A pretty smooth run, although I was late on a couple of front crosses, slowing her down a little. Qed but placed only 5th of 8 dogs. Our time of 25.82 wasn't *horribly* behind the winning time of 22.97... but, well, 3 seconds, that's more than 10% slower. Ah, me.

Boost:

• Standard: A challenging course and there was one spot where dogs needed to make a sharp turn but instead were shooting ahead for an off course or not turning tightly enough and running past the jump. I vowed that we would not make yesterday's Jumpers mistake, where I knew it would be an issue and still couldn't fix it. So--yes, indeed, I came to a dead stop, did an RFP (reverse flow pivot--aka fake front cross), and yelled her name--and, yes, indeed, I managed to catch her and bring her in over the jump, but I think I was in her way, because she knocked the bar. The rest of the run was flawless. Another one of those "just ONE thing wrong!" courses.
• Gamblers: Almost perfect opening, but a bobble going into a tunnel--pretty sure it was a handling thing although I didn't review the video--cost us 2 points and the highest of all opening scores. Still, once again, I believe we were tied for 2nd highest of all. The gamble--I was rushed, didn't make sure Boost had a good approach line, and we weren't even close on a gamble that I think lots of people got. 
• Grand Prix: The wheels on our agility train started wobbling--she had to make about a 30-degree adjustment in her path to come in to the weaves that I was running at and yelling Weave!, and she had at least 20 feet in which to do it, but she just ran completely past them on the opposite side from me. Later, she went offcourse where tons of other dogs had gone offcourse--the strategy that worked for Tika didn't work for her.  Most of the rest was nice, though.
• Jumpers. After Tika's run, I was determined not to be late on my front crosses. But-- the wheels came off completely.

So--4 Qs out of 10 for Tika plus $7 Steeplechase winnings and a 2nd in Grand Prix. Real pity about not getting Snookers, though, so that PDCH-Gold is still aching for 3 more of them. Down to only 38 more needed for her Lifetime Platinum.  (As of mid-June, only 96 dogs have ever achieved that. Peer pressure is omnipresent when 20 of them are people/dogs you know and have regularly competed against--you know,  as Janis Joplin sang,

"Oh, lord, won't you buy me an L.A.A. Platinum?
My friends have all got one, I must raise a hat to them..." )

One Q out of 11 for Boost--the win in Pairs yesterday. She didn't even win anything in the worker raffle this weekend.

Tomorrow we'll go for a long walk to drown our sorrows and get MUTT MVR's brakes and rear windows checked.