K9 Kapers Trial with Psyche

[AgilityPup]

So Psyche has a "three day" trial this weekend, with one run each day. Wanted to keep them light, fast and fun. Last night was a steeplechase and we lucked out that it was two a-frames instead of weaves. Here's the video from that run. I am so incredibly proud of her for this run. Just wow. 5 seconds over time, but you know, for a dog who usually a) runs off b) shuts down or c) doesn't weave at all, I'm pretty dang happy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVwbAs3VG8U

She's got a Jumpers run today at the end of the day, so she will have been there all day while I take pictures, so we'll see how it goes. I really like the judge we're trialing under this weekend and I feel like that helps a lot. I'm really comfortable going into the ring because this is the only judge I talk to, you know? Just kill time little chit chat, but that's more than I get from most of the other judges and it helps. This trial IS on my "home field" but I haven't trained there more than maybe once all year, and I don't even know if we have at all.

Last night she was PULLING ME INTO THE RING. Psyche never does that! She's never that dog who's so excited to go play. I thought at first she was just trying to get to the smaller dogs, cause she does that, but then they left and the bigger dogs came in and she was still pulling, and when it was our turn, even with the other dog gone, she still pulled me to the entrance and then was eager to go to the startline.

Also, I basically didn't make her stop for her contacts. We'll get there eventually, but last night I wanted to keep it fun, so when I saw that she was committed to hitting the contact zone, I released her so that if she did blow her 2o2o, *I* wouldn't get disappointed and feed that to my dog. I wanted to keep both of us as happy as possible. As for that tunnel to the weaves, I really expected to lose her, if I was going to at all, at the tunnel entry, because the exit to the ring was a straight line from there, but she stuck with me, so that's what the excited, surprised praise was about, lol.

Anyway! Off for day two!

[AgilityPup]

Day 2 brought a 1st out of three dogs and a Starters Jumpers Q! Her first jumpers Q! So proud of my girlie. It was such an amazing run. She was so happy and just so on. I've never seen her run so happy or so FAST at a trial before! And she was the only dog to Q! Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SgDg...ature=youtu.be

Day 3 brought a 2nd place and a really nice run that had only one refusal, that was my fault. I wasn't where I needed to be to direct her. But she went into the field happy and stayed happy the entire time. So proud of my girlie. No video because of a camera issue.

She's got another trial on the 23/24th that's mostly games, which she generally does well with. Very eager to see how that goes. I don't know what happened, but it felt like this weekend something really clicked.

[JessLough]

Sounds like she had a blast! Congrats on the Q

[Picklepaige]

Congrats on her first jumpers Q! She looks like she's having fun, and that's always the best part

[AgilityPup]

That's the part I've been working for since she started trialing. She has had trial stress issues all along and it just wasn't fun anymore, so we took last year off and did only fun matches. And we've worked lots on making it fun for Psyche, even if that wasn't what I thought was fun (easier courses, less handler stress fed to the dog, etc.). It seems to have helped.

[Finkie_Mom]

Congrats on the Q! She definitely looked like she was having a blast

[SaraB]

Wow!!! She looks really good, very happy girl!! Congratulations on your first Q, I'm sure there will be many more!

[Panzerotti]

Originally Posted by AgilityPup

Last night she was PULLING ME INTO THE RING. Psyche never does that! She's never that dog who's so excited to go play. I thought at first she was just trying to get to the smaller dogs, cause she does that, but then they left and the bigger dogs came in and she was still pulling, and when it was our turn, even with the other dog gone, she still pulled me to the entrance and then was eager to go to the startline.

That is awesome! You must have been so proud of your girlie!!!

[Cali Mae]

Congrats on the Q! I saw some videos of her that you had posted on facebook, and she looked great! Makes me wish that my mom was still onboard with Cali doing agility. I'll have to see about coming to watch a trial anyways though this summer.