Agility Weekend

Well, it was another long agility weekend...we got home at 5 tonight, and I think it was sometime around 9 when we finally came to, all three of us. (Joe's dog Ella is here) My parents graciously allow us to use the truck they use to pull the trailer to pull our trailer we use to haul agility equipment, and being as they are somewhere between Chicago and Frankfurt right now, Joe graciously agreed to pull the trailer from the trial site back to our facility where we have classes. He took the truck home and needed a nap himself, so El is having a slumber party here tonight. She snores loudly - like sawing logs.

Chel was awesome this weekend. We only have 2 Q's to show, but she was great - did everything her mom asked of her, including going right by a jump yesterday. We teach the dogs to "come to hand", so body and arm position is very important. When I hold my arm down at my side, that means she needs to come to my side - small problem when you need to go over a jump along the way. I pulled her right by a jump, so we got an off course. On a positive note, she responded perfectly to the command I gave her, which is very critical in tight courses, such as our jumpers run today. The jumps were very close together, but she never once made a move off course. unfortunately, she knocked one bar down - not sure why, it was not the jump I thought she would have knocked, but I will take it. Today, the weather was awful - hard rain on a metal roof, some thunder to complement it. One dog was at the top of the A frame when I huge clap of thunder sounded off...I prayed that would not happen when we ran (it was our jump height that was running) because Chel does not like thunder, at all. A couple dogs took some serious spills off the A frame and dog walk today, one of them was from our club. Dart, one of my instructors dogs, went up the A frame at an angle so fast he could not slow down and went flying off the top...thankfully, Dave was right there and literally caught him. Dart is a border collie that weighs maybe 40 lbs, but it was scary nonetheless. He was fine and finished the rest of the course perfectly. Scared the rest of us.

Well, this household is exhausted so we are going to bed. Hope this finds everyone well and have a great week!