First Trial All Over Again

It seems like yesterday when I first brought out my black dog, Zoe, at her first agility trial.  Well, two years later, I was doing that with a new dog.  I fully admit that I started competing with Breeze before I said I would, but it is so difficult to hold them back.  Breeze and I became a competing team a couple of weeks ago at a NADAC trial.  I did three runs with her each on Saturday and Sunday.  The first run went great - no major distractions and she had plenty of enthusiasm.  There were no Qs for us that day, but I learned a TON about where we are at in our training.  The weaknesses: discriminations, sequencing, and my contact criteria.  Strengths: awesome generalization - no issues with equipment, startline stays, and plenty of enthusiasm.  Her two regular runs weren't bad at all - just some missed discriminations and a couple of knocked bars.  Otherwise, the runs went pretty smooth.  She was just .3 seconds shy of getting a weavers Q, but we had to restart weaves a few times.  Even though she is a pretty good weaver in training, it is a whole different story at a trial!!

The next day we got to run tunnelers, which is a super fun run.  Breeze ran this with no issues and earned her first Q ribbon!  She also earned a Q in regular, so she was already improving.  All in all, I couldn't be more impressed with her performance.  I feel that most of her issues are due to inexperience and the more we trial, the better team we will be.

Ok, not to over shadow Breeze, but Zoe did get her first elite title in Regular :)

So last weekend we drove down to Zumbro Falls and Breeze competed in not only her first CPE trial, but her first outdoor trial.  To sum things up, she displayed great control at the start line and had lovely contacts.  She did the teeter like a champ and showed no fear!  CPE is pretty lenient so while she did veer off course, we still qualified in the standard run.  She also Q'ed in colors and jackpot.  Her sequencing was not bad for a newbie, but there is definitely room for improvement.  Weaves were another weakness.  She is such a great weaver at home and in class, but at trials, she lacks the focus to start them correctly.  But I think this is really an issue of practice that will come with time.

I am excited to compete with her again, but unfortunately we will have to wait until the end of August.  It is really hard to hold back when they do well, but I know that more practice will pay off.  She has proven that she is ready to start competing, so now it is just a matter of giving her experience.  She will compete next on turf and then a couple of trials on dirt, which is very distracting!

Meanwhile, I have a new found appreciation for Zoe.  She has become such a consistent competitor that I can get ready for a run with her and know exactly what to expect.  I have to handle her in a whole different way and that has taught me so much.  I am excited for her future and will maybe try playing in some new agility venues soon.