Tuesday, January 03, 2012

Shelby debuts at All Dogs Gym CPE Trial, December 31, 2011

On Saturday, the last day of 2011, I took Spot and Shelby to All Dogs Gym in Manchester, NH for a one-day CPE trial. Spot and Shelby were both entered in Jackpot, and then Spot was in Wildcard, and Shelby was in Snooker.

Jackpot was a non-traditional in which you had to take a specific jump, then get 10 points any way you wanted, then take the jump again, for a total of 12 points. If you did it correctly you would get 20 points. Spot was first, since he was jumping 4 inches. He was so slow and pokey, we only got through about 6 obstacles before we ran out of time. Shelby did very well, she was excited to be running and took all my cues. However, I messed up the course and we didn't get the 20 points, so no Q. :-( But it was still a great debut for her. I was very happy that she didn't seem nervous and didn't need to go check the entrances for other dogs, etc.

Up next was Spot in Wildcard 3. It was a doable course for us. The choices were the Tunnel (a) or A Frame (b), then a jump (a) or teeter (b), then a tunnel (a) or 2 jumps (b). My plan was tunnel, teeter, 2 jumps. Spot was raring to go this time, but He ran by the tunnel, and almost out of the ring! I called him back but then he took the A frame! So he took a long time standing at the top and then coming down. Once he was off, he ran to the exit, so I just went with him.

Finally it was Shelby's turn at Snooker level 3. We needed 36 points. This was a tricky course. It had a panel jump! They are legal, but this is the first time I've seen one in five years. It was part of the #7 combo of a panel jump and single bar jump. It was possible to get all 7's and a few people did, but my plan was 7, 6, 5. Shelby went around the 7 panel jump but I brought her back and she took it fine. Then we took the single jump and the next red jump, but then she started sniffing like crazy. I thought I was stress from making a mistake, so I just ran happily to the table and she followed. Afterwards, I saw a lot of dogs sniffing there, so there must have been something in that area. It makes me feel better that maybe she was just a little distracted and not really stressed. I am going to try to enter here there as much as I can this winter. I'm so happy she was able to have fun and not worry.

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