Last Saturday, February 1, 2014, Journey and I went to an agility trial at the Clark County Fairground Equestrian Center in Ridgefield, Washington. We walked in just in time to see them taking away a woman on a stretcher. Kind of scary - glad I am not superstitious about omens. The poor woman was okay, but it was still a little unnerving and a reminder that there are risks .... of course you can fall on a curb during a shopping trip too.
I have been very lucky in all the years I have been involved in this sport. I have only fallen a couple times. Once, Spirit and I both fell as we somehow ran into each other when headed for a triple jump. Not sure who was the most worried. He could not stop kissing me. I was so moved by his concern I could hardly see for my tears. Anyway, we were both just fine. Another time, Quest was so excited as we headed out onto a course, he jumped up and hit me in the back of my knees. I went down immediately and he proceeded to kiss me like crazy, as he also was barking at me, (I guess he was wondering what I was doing on the ground.) I am probably a little safer now, as I do not run nearly as fast and I am very careful.
We are consistently running 3 events in AKC now. We do the FAST event, Standard, and JWW (jumpers with weaves). We have two of the three "Q's" needed to title in FAST and in Jumpers. We have one "Q" in Standard. Since we only compete one day per weekend, we do not move up as fast as we used to. But one day a weekend is enough to leave my other boys home alone. Journey is building so much confidence and enjoying this so much. It is fun to see such a happy boy out there.
Our weather has been awfully cold and even a little rainy lately, so most of our equipment is in the shed. I can leave the jumps outside, but the teeter, the A-frame and other contact equipment are all in the shed. I was hoping that our weekly lessons would be enough to keep him in practice. The other day I was pulling out some of the equipment and looked at the panel jump. We have not used it for a while and I thought about bringing it out to practice. Just then it began raining and I was thinking I could not remember when we last used a panel jump. The rain won, and I decided he was fine on that jump.
The teeter was another story and I thought I had better bring it out of the shed and set it up inside, where we could get some practice. Journey was cautious on the teeter. He did not like the clunk sound when the teeter hit the ground. He has become a little more timid about it lately, so I drug the teeter down from the agility shed, and was hoping to put it in the family room, on the lower level. It was raining pretty good by the time I managed to get it to the back side of the house. I was unable to get it apart and I finally just settled for getting it inside the pool house. I put it on a carpet strip and hoped to get some practice in. Well, it turned out that it was probably the worst idea I had. The pool house is like a gigantic echo chamber. Instead of a loud "clunk", the teeter now made a huge loud "WHAM - BAM". Just the thing for a noise sensitive dog. (Good work mom!)
Mary had to cancel our agility lesson, so I knew it did not look good for Journey's Standard run or maybe even his FAST run. Oh well - we would give it a good try.
We started with the FAST event. Surprise .... a panel jump right in the middle of the "send". And for the other part of the FAST event, where they set different amounts of points for the different obstacles - yep, the teeter was the top point obstacle with 10 points. Well, we headed out there. Journey didn't know about points and I just picked out the next two high point obstacles to concentrate on. He was running well when we got to the A-frame and I sent him into the "send area". He took the tunnel just fine and as he came back toward me he almost jumped the panel jump, then thought better of it, and he went around. The amazing part of this run was when I sent him back and he somehow went right to the tunnel exit, then nicely jumped the panel jump and continued to accrue some more points before the buzzer. All in all I was very pleased with the way he ran the course and even though we did not Q, his recovery on the "send" still amazes me.
Next was his Novice Standard run. He went out there looking good and very happy. The panel jump, which he had to do in both directions, was no problem for him. Then came the teeter. First he thought he would just bypass it. When I sent him back, he obeyed but when he got half way up, he changed his mind and jumped off. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. He did well on the rest of the run and he fixed his bobble on the weaves, without losing any points.
I had high hopes for Jumpers class. No teeter to worry about and he is normally really good in this class. He was good this time too, until he got to the jumps in front of the tunnel. I don't know what his problem was but he lost focus. He passed a jump, then back jumped it. Then he went to the correct side of the tunnel, only to turn away and enter the wrong end. He fixed it and took off on the rest of the course. He was really running well by that time and the only thing he did was flub up on the weave poles. It is funny, the weaves are his very best obstacle normally, but he just seemed inattentive.
So, no "Q's" today, and I know it probably sounds funny to say this, but he was really running well. He was happy, and proud of himself. He was very willing to fix every obstacle except maybe the teeter. That is our project for the next month. The teeter now sits in the center of our livingroom and the treats are on the table. Journey seems to have forgotten the LOUD BAM! and he is doing the teeter just fine. I need to trim his nails again as this project really benefits from short toenails. We are doing the teeter sessions several times a day and evenings too.
Tomorrow Journey is having his teeth cleaned and I am hoping we make it before the big storm that is headed in from the coast. We are supposed to get snow, and what they call an icy mix. I have to be on the road before noon, and the temperature is already in the low 20's and falling. I better go find my long johns.
