Anyway, we had another good day and overall, I think Peyton did exceptionally well for his first USDAA trial. I keep saying that at this point we need milage, and we sure got it this weekend!
Yesterday we started with Gamblers and then had less than minutes to recover before we ran in Team Jumpers. Our Gamblers run got off to a funny start - even though I kept trying to set him to take the jump-dogwalk opening, he was pretty determined to start with the jump on the left. I guess it's a good thing that there's really no *wrong* course in Gamblers! We Q'd on this run, with first place.
We then hurried over to the Team Jumpers course - I wasn't feeling very optimistic about our chances with this opening, but it turned out to be my favorite run of the weekend. Even though I was a little obnoxious with my verbals...but it was a team run and I really wanted to be clean! Notice the "loose dog" at the very end - I'm thankful Peyton didn't notice him when we were running! Another Q and 1st place for this run.
We had a long break before our next run, which was Standard. I think by this point, Peyton's brain was a little fried. :) Despite some issues around the weaves, we would have qualified if he hadn't popped off the table (again). On a good note, his down on the table seems to be improving.
Next was snooker and while I'm *still* not a fan, I did come up with a plan fairly quickly and even though this run didn't quite go as planned, we still managed a Q and 1st place. Not sure what he stopped to smell at one point, but I heard he wasn't the only one so it must have been good.
Our final run was Team Pairs - we were sitting in 2nd place going in and Lisa and Riley had a very nice opening. Unfortunately, we had an off-course right at the start at our half. Bummer. Figures our only real off-course of the weekend would happen on the final run! Peyton also got a little hung up in the weaves...he didn't seem very comfortable weaving yesterday. One reason why I would really love to see all venues make the switch to 24" weave poles - 4" can make a big difference to large dogs! Even with my off-course, we still managed to qualify with 3rd place in the Performance Pairs Tourney.
We finished the weekend with 7 Q's - it was a great experience for us and we couldn't have asked for better team partners! The only bad part of the weekend was the heat - it was so hot and 11 runs were a bit too much. Not sure when we'll do USDAA again, but hopefully it will be cooler. Very proud of my spotty boy!
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8 comments:
Congrats on the 7 Q's! That's great! I enjoyed watching. :)
Sounds like an awesome weekend!! If you do decide to do USDAA again but want a cool show, the January Dog On It show here in Orlando is usually awesome :) Nice and cool and FUN! :)
Peyton is such a neat dog!!
Thanks Tori! We'll definitely do USDAA again - the January show sounds great. Hopefully we won't melt at least! :)
Nice job on all your runs, Kim and Peyton! I sure would be happy with a 7-Q weekend!! Congrats on your Pairs performance, too.
We up here in PA wouldn't know what you mean by "heat." It's 46 degrees as I write this. We're having a very cool fall, but the dogs are liking it.
Congrats again on your USDAA weekend. You and Peyton looked great!
sounds like an awesome weekend!!!! Congratulations on all those Q's! Watching you and Peyton run definitely highlights just how much control I am asking of Steeler (and I don't mean that in a bad way - just that my anxiety issues make me think that everything I want Steeler to do I want him to do in a very controlled fashion. - if that makes any sense!)You two are looking great! And the team name was awesome!!!! :-) Hope you have recovered from all those runs!
Jenn, are you implying that we might be just a wee bit out of control?? :)
Actually, I understand what you're saying...I pretty much gave up on the control part a long time ago. Every so often it creeps back in, but then Peyton gets stressed out and I have to let it go. I guess we're kinda playing by *his* rules at the moment...and I think he must have a "don't worry - be happy" motto. :)
hahahahaha! Not at ALL!!!!! Just that you are better at letting Peyton move out ahead of you and you aren't right on top of him the way I sometimes get with Steeler when I get nervous! I love watching you guys! And I am getting better at not being such a nag to Steeler! :-)
Bwahahaha! You say that like I have a choice in the matter! :)
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