Last weekend Spot and Shelby were entered in the Gemini Dogs CPE trial. I like trialing here because this is where we train, and they have a chain link fence with gates, so I can close them for Shelby and be sure there will be no problems. The August trial is traditionally miserable weather, and this year was no exception. Saturday actually wasn't too bad. It was overcast, but then got really humid and warm around noon, then started raining about 3pm. The Sunday trial was cancelled due to the hurricane, which bummed me out because I lost about $75...
Shelby was entered in all 4 classes, Spot only in Standard and Wildcard. The day started with Fullhouse. I had a good plan and it was going well when for some reason Shelby decided not to take the tunnel, but instead to run around it a couple times. Of course by doing that we ran out of time so no Q.
Then it was Standard level 2 for both dogs. Spot was first. It was a doable course, but we only got about 3 obstacles in. He took 2 jumps and the dogwalk, then went in the tunnel and wouldn't come out. While I was doing the walk through, I had a friend hold him, since we were the first dog on the line. That's when it started to get hot, and I think he got a bit heated and needed the shade of the tunnel. Shelby was next and I was super pleased by her performance. She really gave me full attention and we ran well under time for a Q and first place.
Next was Wildcard. Spot and Shelby were both entered in level 3. One of the wildcards was a set of weave poles vs a double, then there was another set of poles, so I decided to take the double with both dogs. Spot went first and he was much better, since the sun had gone in again at this point. However, we had an off course and then he couldn't get through the weave poles, so no Q. Shelby was a little nervous as we were setting up, so I wasn't sure if she would perform well. I kept eye contact with her pretty much the whole time, and tried to cue 2-3 obstacles ahead and she did very well. I thought we Q'd until I saw the scores and we had a major fault, which I think must have been a dropped bar at the double.
Finally was Snooker for Shelby. By this point it was raining pretty hard. My parking area had flooded with about 2 inches of water, so I had put the dogs in the car. I had a pretty good plan, needing the do the closing through #5 to Q. We were doing pretty well until we hit the weaves at #4, then Shelby smelled something and started digging in the grass, then started rolling around. Everyone got a kick out of it, except me, since we blew our time and didn't get a Q after waiting around and getting soaked.
So we only had 1 Q for the day, but two others were really close for Shelby. Even though he didn't Q, I was pleased with Spot's performance because he did the A frame and the dog walk no problem, so I don't think there are any issues from his tumble last week.
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