CRAC usually has their trials at the Linn County Fairgrounds, a venue I love. I was really concerned when they said they were changing venues for this trial to the Oregon State Fairgrounds. They said that crating would be outdoors and it was a semi-enclosed arena. I was concerned about the outdoor crating, as well as the semi-enclosed arena. Harry Potter does not run well in heat, and I was concerned about keeping him cool. I did go out and purchase a shade tent, and luckily when we got there on Friday, a nice woman let me borrow the shade cloths she wasn't using. We arrived bright and early (6:30 am!) and set up camp Harry Potter.
We had a lot of time before the first run because it was small to tall. I let the dogs work out their crazy in a fenced area next to the crating space with our friends Kennedy, Vegas, and Leo. After that, we spent the morning reading, relaxing, and just hanging out. Naps outdoors in the shade are heavenly!
Bully stick thief!
Harry Potter guarding Camp Harry Potter
MMMMMMM......trachea!
Excellent B Standard
Excellent B Standard was up first for the day.
Judge Lavonda Herring had nice courses all weekend. At the start I sent him into the tunnel, then it was a run toward the second tunnel (#4). He hit the correct side of the tunnel, and I picked him up as he came out, we went over the double and I gave him the weave command (we handled the weaves from the left side). Unfortunately he hit the second pole instead of the first and we NQ'd. We finished the run with a front cross between the weaves and #7, a rear cross at the A-frame, a front cross between #14 and #15, and another before the teeter. All in all a nice run except for the darn weaves.
Excellent B Jumpers with Weaves
Again another nice course.
We started this one with a lead out to the right and in front of jump #1 to get the correct side of the tunnel. We did a front cross between #2 and #3, then again between #3 and #4. Another front cross between #6 and #7, then we had a dropped bar at #9. From watching the video, it looks like my timing was off. I called his name as he was going over the jump, causing him to drop his feet and knock a bar. I should have just trusted that he would get the correct end of the tunnel #10. We used a turn command coupled with a rear cross between #13/14, then he nailed his weaves and the last jump. Another NQ, but it was handler error. :P
Saturday June 25th, 2011
We arrived early again this morning, because running order was tall to small. I turned the dogs loose in the fenced in horse corral, and was reminded that I need to work on Lexi's recall. :P She was a wild indian. Luckily, they got it out early, and we got down to business getting ready to run.
Excellent B Standard
Another day of nice courses. This one started with a lead out to jump #2, front cross (FC) between #2 and #3, a deceleration cue at #4 so that he would come in and hit his weave entry. We finished the run with FC's between 11/12, 14/15 and 17/18. We Q'd and ended up with 14 MACH points and MX leg #8
Excellent B Jumpers with Weaves
So our totals for the weekend were 1Q out of 4. MX leg #8, and 14 MACH points.
Currently we're scheduled for two months off from AKC agility. There aren't that many trials around here in July/August, and it's hot anyway, so HP doesn't run his best. We do have a few CPE trials but they tend to be lots of fun with a high Q rate. The time off I think is a good thing, I can see a few training issues popping up in the last trial that we need to work on. I've started retraining weaves with the 2x2 method, so hopefully that should help, and I think I'm going to schedule a private or two to see if I can work on increasing his speed, which should increase our MACH points.
MACH totals: 119/750 points and 2 double Qs
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