The other aspect of the weekend was how good I felt running the courses. Going to the line I just felt excited and lucky to get to run with such fun and joyful dogs (Quasi's joy turned out to be our undoing during most of the runs -- who actually NQs a course because their dog jumps on them during the table?!?!?!). Brag was just on fire. I loved each of my runs with him. Our results were great - 5 for 6 and some nice placements in the standard class - but, I was soooo happy that it felt like I was running the courses really assertively rather than standing back in a passive capacity and being tentative. I really only had one movement of failing to drive the line with him and guess what - it resulted in a refusal. Just goes to show I have to handle like I mean it!!
Finally, the courses this weekend were AWESOME! I don't remember ever truly loving every single course so much. Both judges designed courses that were super challenging, unique, fair, safe and fun. As an exhibitor I love running courses with different elements in them than we are used to seeing. I liked the courses so much I thought I'd post them and provide a little commentary.
Friday 3/18/11 Excellent Standard
Next problem was that some handlers didn't drive well enough to #10 and were in too big of a hurry to get to ramp that some dogs pulled off #10 jump. The area of most interest during the walk through was line from #12 tunnel to #15 weaves. I really wanted to let the dog find the tunnel on their own and get to the inside of the serpentine thus pulling to weaves. Problem was, the tunnel was actually quite far from the ramp and many dogs didn't see it. In fact even Brag spun and almost wound up back on ramp. Therefore I ran #13 with dog on left and rear crossed #14. Unfortunately because the tunnel required babysitting, I was so late Brag didn't read my rear cross (I was too far behind). This cost us a very wide turn but not fatal.
Finally there was much angst in walk through about #15 to #16 with off course jump looming after weaves. I opted to front cross after weaves and then rear cross at #16. This allowed me to really drive through weaves and take the off course out of play. I strongly felt if I only pulled with my hips that would totally open up the wrong course or I'd waste time yelling and pulling instead of just running. Our front cross to rear cross felt great and worked well for us. Dogs with a shorter stride didn't need to worry as much but I did see plenty of the bigger dogs take that extra jump.
Brag Fri Standard Q and 2nd place.
Quasi Fri Standard NQ but not bad.
Next we ran a fast and furious Jumpers course:
Tons of options at the start that accomodated those with a lead out and those without. I chose to take a step or two of a leadout and then do a running front cross between #1 and #2. This is followed by a nice send to #4 jump with front cross between #5 and #6 (or you could rear cross the triple). Some teams fell prey to the hint of a tunnel opening going from #8 to #9 but most handled that without issue. The line from #9 to #15 was the talk of the walk through! Tons of way to get it done (or fail miserably!). The biggest issues were that because of the way #14 jump was facing, it was tending to throw dogs over off course #18 and in addition, a rear cross before #14 would pull the dog to the wrong end of the tunnel. Some opted for a serpentine with a big distance send to #12 in order to get in position between #13 and #14. I chose to front cross between #12 and #13 and hold my ground and cue a very tight turn so they would't look at #18 off course. The next crisis area was the extremely fast entry to the weave poles from the tunnel. It was an entrance that just begged the dogs to enter at pole 2 or 3. Brag was a rock star and nailed it but I took Quasi's nice weaves for granted and just did not get in position to push enough and she went for pole 2 entry (after such an outstanding run - oh well!).
Brag Q (and DQ!) No video unfortunately.
Quasi NQ but awesome run (favorite of the weekend)!
Saturday 3/19/11 Standard:
Hoo boy this course had a lot of tricks! It was definitely my most ugly Q with Brag of the weekend as well as the one I'd most like to do over and redeem myself. One thing I've rarely encountered is having to wait until the dog before you finishes and is on their way to their leash before you can enter the ring. That threw me off more than I would have expected. I guess I cherish my few seconds of standing on the start and getting the dog into a sit and giving them a kiss before I hear "GO!" Therefore, never got my sit with Brag (or Quasi) and Brag had no intention of staying anyway so I had very little time to show any acceleration/deceleration from tire to #2. Also, something I did made him think he should turn left after #2 rather than right. I'm sure I was futile attempt at deceleration looked more like a rear cross to my dog. So, we had an interesting time of getting him turned the correct way and over #3. Quasi and I had a fuckery at that point. She was the opposite of Brag and took everything SUPER tight and I actually had to reach my hand between #3 and #4 to prevent her slipping through them (doesn't she know there are no threadles in AKC?!?!?!). Back to Brag, I slipped a f/c in between #4 and #5 on my way to another f/c between #5 and #5 dogwalk. It was not at all a pretty turn to the dogwalk. I had so much wished to just pull after #5 double to dogwalk for a much tighter turn but the issue was that I didn't trust Brag to stop on the dogwalk after Friday's self releases. No stop on dogwalk meant they could choose the wrong end of the tunnel as handler is defenseless to push to correct opening. I saw a few dogs actually take the #5 double and actually take #9 next! Yikes! Therefore, I took my wide turn to the dogwalk and exaggerated pull to the tunnel and was okay with it. Next line of interest was #7 tunnel to #10 table. Almost all handlers chose to have their dogs on their right entering weaves and pulling to table. I was quite concerned that both my dogs would see the dogwalk as the most viable option (instead of weaves) at the tunnel exit so I decided to get between dogwalk and weaves as a human road block and usher them into the weave poles and simply rear cross to the table. Loved it with both dogs! The r/c to table pulled them beautifully - no fuss, no muss. The ending obstacles weren't a huge issue except for ugly turns and near off courses on way to teeter. There didn't seem to be a great way around that since crossing in front of teeter was awesome option since you really needed to be able to move your butt from chute to tunnel to ending jump (and it was a haul!).
Brag Standard Q and 3rd place (surprised we placed with such ugly turns!)
Quasi NQ (because she jumped on me at the table of all things - argggg!)
Next up, Jumpers!
This was truly one of the most interesting and fun openings of a course I've seen. There were so many ways to get through it! Unfortunately, neither of my dogs stayed at the start line (sensing a pattern here??) so I was stuck with the panic and yell a lot method. What I intended to try was leading out almost to #2 and then doing a one sided serp from #3 to #5. I thought that would be super fun. Not so much with that. Brag took off after I got a few steps so I pulled to #3 and then rear crossed before #4 and then pulled to #5 and rear crossed. Not the optimal way but we were past optimal options! What I saw lots of 20" handlers doing which I never really considered was leading out almost to #3, directing the dog into the pocket and then front crossing again before #4. Looked sort of fun. I had also considered doing a serp with dog on left and then quick landing front cross on #4. After we got past that self-imposed disaster, I drove into #6 and front crossed for dog on right during weaves. I think most handlers opted for that same option. Next was the most terrifying part of the course for many during the walk through. I didn't worry about it (why worry about something you can't even see through the mass of people during the walk through??) but it was a pull after weaves to a tight wrap - fun!! The biggest danger was sending your dog to the #10 off course jump as you tried to make a wide enough path for your dog to navigate the wrap. Brag handled this part with ease and it was darn tight for such a big boy. I've been thinking about the line from #10 to #16 for days. I'm wondering if judges "plant" diversions such as the wrap around #9 to panic people about an area that won't really be a problem to take away focus from the real area of concern...would they do that?? Are they really that devious? Or was it all just a big coincedence that almost all the issues on the course were on the #10 to #16 line? I think something evil is afoot! So, never did I suspect this would be such a big problem for so many dogs. If you actually succeeded in keeping them off the wrong course #18 jump, then like me, you had issues getting them over #14. I was in such a darn hurry to get over and show him the correct path to the tunnel that I didn't support #14 and even flipped up my arm to indicate a turn before he had committed. Duh!! If that didn't get you, then the part where the dogs miss #15 as their handlers assume they will see it on there way to the tunnel (they were wrong). There were all sorts of bad things going on there. If you got past that, the exit was pretty basic. Oofduh! Brag NQ'd just got the one refusal but otherwise quite nice. I don't even recall what Quasi did wrong - she got a refusal around #11 or #12 or somewhere...
Brag Jumpers NQ but fun nonetheless!
Sunday Standard 3/20/11:
The start seems easy but yet jump to weaves straight on causes me fear when I'm running Brag. Brag has lots of "enthusiasm" at the beginning and often is blind to weaves. In fact I thought he was going to miss these but he dove in last minute. I made a mental note of doing some deceleration toward #4 panel so he would collect for a tight turn and that was lovely. I was somewhat concerned about having too much speed going to table but that was all good. The #10 tire to the #14 panel was the subject of much debate. There was lots of concern over dog getting incorrect end of tunnel and more concerns about trying to get to the teeter. Many planned front crosses after tunnel (or blind crosses)...I wasn't convinced I'd have time to actually find that teeter if I tried that. A few brave souls went for a send to the tire and then f/c after #11. I was so not doing that! I saw a few get the off course jump after the tire as a result, a few made it (in a sort of ugly manner) and a few actually made it look pretty good. I was very happy with what I did (even though I hadn't walked it). I let Brag land fairly far after tire since I figured that would set him up really well for the correct end of the tunnel, then we went to the teeter with him on my left and I made him stay for a quick second and walked in front of him for a push to panel, chute. I loved the way that felt. Again, no fuss, no muss. Brag finished the rest quickly with no issue. Quasi, on the other hand, did as so many other dogs did and pulled way in during the chute and as a result almost ran me over. I had to stop dead in my tracks to try and get her to not run past #16 double and she took it at a goofy angle and knocked it down. It was nice aside from that!
Brag Standard Q with 2nd place (4.25 YPS including table - is that usually included in YPS??)
Quasi NQ at double but not bad!
And Jumpers for last runs of weekend!
This was a great beginning for Brag and I because there was so much room I could practically start him 20 feet from the first jump - lots of room for him to break his start and me to get where I needed to be and I needed it. He, true to form, broke immediately and it was a serious race down the line. The first issue was #6 to #7. It was a very flat, ugly angle and it was hard to find a good way to make it nicer for the dog yet at the same time get your f/c in before the weaves (as most everyone wanted to do). I went into #5, did a f/c and sent from #6 to #7 and did one of the most ugly, confused front crosses before those weaves for Brag and bless his heart he will practically run me over to find his entry because he is a good boy! I wish I had it on video tape because I wanted to see how bad it really looked (it felt awful!). In hindsight, I wish I would have considered helping him more at #7 and then weaving with him on left and turning him in the correct direction after weaves...was just really worried that would be a disaster (and maybe it would have been). I saw one particular gentleman who has a really nice blind cross on his fast Terv send her around his back at the end of the weaves and it was lovely! I don't have that particular skill though and was in a big hurry to get to the next sequence. Next up, most everyone opted to rear cross the triple (I'm sure with a litle anxiety in crossing behind a spread) and then send with a little distance to #14 and then do a landing front cross after #15. Plenty of younger dogs missed #15 mostly when handlers did a take off front cross at the far end of #15 the dogs would just slip by it. I was dang lucky at the ending since I was feeling behind during the entire run I hadn't really thought what I would do at the turn leading to the last jump and ended up pretty much crossing on top of it. Again, Brag is awesome. Quasi apparently felt it was time for baby-dog meltdown after 3 days and felt that barking and jumping at me was more fun than taking #13. I couldn't get her unstuck to me - she just wanted to bark at me and jump around. Oh well that is to be expected once in a while!
Brag Jumpers Q (and DQ and Nationals qualified!):
Quasi Jumpers meltdown!
That will do it. If you got through this huge post I will be surprised!
