Agility Day 1

September 23, 2012

First, my friend Evelyn Vinogradov came to the trial to take photos of Chase for me.  Since he left Cheryl’s in Tennessee, he hasn’t had a single decent photo taken.  Yesterday’s light was perfect and I’m very happy with these shots of the man.  Today we’ll try for some more action shots.  The lighting in the arena is tough so there are no promises.

Chase didn’t Q yesterday.  His weaves were good on the first try of each run.  Our early morning and late evening backyard weave practice paid off.  However, he bailed off the teeter in the Novice Standard run.  That’s not something he’d done before.  Otherwise, it was a fine run.  Chase was the last dog of the day — his Jumpers run was up at 4:00 and we’d been at the arena since 7:00 (left the house at 5:30).  We had lost a bit of focus:)  Lisa (Berry) led out, Chase was intently inspecting the ceiling.  When he realized Lisa was moving, he took off and simply crashed through the first jump.  Sigh!  Then he was splendid until — the last two jumps were a double and a triple.  He ticked the bar on the double and it came down, he cleared the triple.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen Chase drop a bar before.  He’s trying to keep us on our toes.

I went to bed early last night — we were both so tired.  As a result, I was awake at 3:30.  I tried to go back to sleep, but it didn’t work.  At least today’s runs are small to tall so we will not be the last dog of the day, and since we got both of his measurements yesterday, we do not have to be at the arena at 7:00 this morning.  Hope to have more action shots to share.  Think good thoughts for the happy boy as he tries for a pair of green ribbon.


4 Comments

  1. Taryn says:

    Doing the weaves correctly on the first try is quite a big accomplishment for a Novice dog! Well done, Chase! And when it comes to teeters, green dogs are often spooked by the differences between the teeter they train on regularly, and the ones they see in competition. The tipping point always varies so it can be a bit off-putting. Sounds like Chase’s first try went pretty well.

  2. Cheryl says:

    Agreed! Chase is an awesome doggie and he’ll do great today!

  3. Thinking about you and sending good vibes for a clean run!

  4. Robin says:

    Your little guy’s gonna get it! Here’s one that’ll make Chase seem like a saint. My husband came to watch and take pictures of Mr. Spock, my CWC, and me in our first agility trial. Mr. Spock ran well through the first half of the course…then paused a the top of the A-Frame. He lifted his nose and sniffed the air from the top of the ‘mountain’. Then he woofed, ran down the other side of the A-Frame, straight out of the competition ring, right up into the stands to my husband! All I could do was laugh right along with all the spectators. It was a good lesson for me. Hubby must watch from around the corner!! (and Spock went on to earn his AX and AJX back in 06…so we DID get better!)