Earning our C-ATCH at this trial was special because not only do we train at the host club, this was the same trial we started at two years ago. Plus, it was a large trial, so most of our friends were there to celebrate with us. It turned out to be a pretty cool weekend because there were 9 other champion titles. The club ran out of both C-ATCH bars and Q ribbons by the end of the weekend!
Though two years may seem like a short time to earn a champion title, it was definitely not without challenges. Just a few months into the start of her career, Zoe was set back by a small injury. We took a few months off of training, but it took a while to get back on track. Her confidence on contact obstacles was almost completely shot and it took a lot for her to become comfortable again. It took maybe 4-5 months until she was completely comfortable in the ring again. Now, contacts are her favorite obstacles and will default to them over tunnels. Our next biggest challenge was speed and focus. Weave restarts were becoming our nemesis, which can eat up a ton of time. Plus, Zoe started stressing when the judge was near our path. She wasn't aggressive or overly scared - she would just notice the judge and lose focus from the run, slowing her down or making her pop out of weaves.
The past six months of our career have been amazing. The problem areas started to get ironed out and Zoe was becoming a super consistent competitor. She really seems to enjoy competing and is much more confident. She isn't the fastest dog out there, but her desire to work with me as a team is incredible and has led to many clean runs. Speed and focus will continue to be our main goals and perhaps we will try a new agility venue to trial in as well. As for CPE, I plan to start working towards a CATE title, which is approximately 200 clean runs. It will take 2-3 years, but we would be one of the few in this state to achieve this title.
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