Saturday, June 20, 2009

Bragging On My Girl

We finished day 2 of a 3 day agility trial today...no for Q yesterday - we dropped the same jump in both rings....in the same sequence! UGH. Tough sequence though and she ran beautifully overall. Mom was proud of her.

Fast forward to this morning in our FAST run. As a review, FAST is where each of the obstacles is assigned a point value - unlike standard and jumpers, I make up the course, have to get a certain number of points from my course and have to do a certain sequence of obstacles in a row - with Chelsie working 15 feet away from me. There is a line I can't cross when I send her over the sequence, and at her level, that line approximates 15 feet.

Typically, I use this as a warm up run...a fun run to get all her "crazies" out and practice her A frame and weaves and do not put her into the "send", where we have to do the certain sequence of obstacles at a distance. But today, I decided to try the "send" - it was set up in a way I thought I could handle her through the distance. However, to do this, I had to leave her at one end of the ring while I went clear out to the other end. The sequence was jump, jump, jump, into the end of the tunnel furthest away from me. So she waited like a good girl, until mom got out as far as she could, literally behind the tunnel. I called her - and she came. Jump, jump, jump...and then into the correct end of the tunnel!!! I figured she would get the jumps, but whether she would go into the end of the tunnel furthest away from me was anybody's guess. But she did it. Mom screamed the scream of joy heard around the world when she went into the tunnel. She was only dog to qualify in her class, and thus, earned her first qualifying score in EXCELLENT FAST with a first place.

She was 1-2 with her other runs...a beautiful std run and then she, like a lot of other dogs, dropped the second bar in jumpers. But she ran well, listened to mom and had a very good time. For her efforts, she was the recipient of some Timbits, her dinner and a nap!!!

4 comments:

Becky Andrews said...

Congrats. I'm thinking Cricket's 'find the elevator' is easier than agility! Good girl and glad she got dinner and a nice nap.

Jen said...

Hi. I found your blog through Becky's and enjoyed reading it. I am interested in the work that therapy dogs do as I don't know anyone in Ireland who has one.
I bring my guide dog to schools often and am always amazed by the affect he has on children, particularly those with autism. I can just imagine how useful dogs could be for therapy.
Anyway I just thought i'd say hi.
Jen

Infrequent Flyers said...

Yay Chelsie! How awesome. Glad you got those Timbits, too!!

Infrequent Flyers said...

I don't read the GDB "No Bones About It" blog super regularly--but I happened to look at it just now. When I started reading about Freida, my mind went INSTANTLY to you and Chelsie. How funny that I clicked on the comments and saw your note! So cool!