Nervous jitters had me up early on Saturday and if I was up, there was no way the herd was going to sleep in. We had a short walk to air them out and then I carefully packed up the bags in preparation for heading to the event. Not trusting Siri, I had mapped out and memorized my route to get to the venue and after a quick stop at Tim’s, for breakfast, we were on our way.
All day rain was in the forecast, but it had not started by the time we arrived at the event. The other competitors were accommodating and reconfigured crates to allow me to fit all three in the back holding area. Once the dogs were settled in I started analyzing the course maps. Ferg was up first in Excellence and he started in fine Ferg fashion. At least he waited until he was a few signs in before he decided to run over to the Judge to say hello. Luckily he kept his jumping to a minimum and didn’t knock into her with his enthusiastic greeting. He truly knows how to keep things interesting.
Sadly for him and for Hazel my nerves resulted in misreading two signs which cost them both 10 points each. Luckily there were no other high point mess-ups and they both had qualifying rounds- Advanced for Hazel and Excellent/Advanced for Ferg. By the time Lyndy made it to the ring I was very familiar with the Advanced course. She brought her A game and we flew through the course for a perfect score and the fastest time…. High in Trial for her and her first leg for her Advanced title.
Round two in Excellence had Ferg totally blanking on how to spin to the right. I tried and tried but he just looked at me like I was speaking another language. His inability to complete the sign flustered me and I figured with all my multiple commands that we had non-qualified, so I pulled him.
BIG MISTAKE!
Apparently had we finished he would have only had a 10 point deduction and we would have earned a qualifying score. We had a pep talk for his Advance run and he scored a perfect 100 and earned a 4th place finish.
I did Hazel a solid and read the signs right on her second run and she earned her second Advance leg. Lyndy proved she is a Toby Keith type of dog (“I ain’t as good as I once was, but I’m as good once as I ever was.”). No repeat of the perfect score on round two but she did earn her second leg toward her Advanced title.
The day had been rainy and dreary outside but the camaraderie and encouragement from all the Teams that were entered, made sure everyone felt a little proverbial sunshine on the course and between runs.
Lessons learned on Day 1:
- Even if you mess up keep going, you never know how it will turn out.
- Make like Taylor Swift and “Shake It Off” both in and between runs. The outcome at the next sign/run can be entirely different than the last.
- Take your time and read the signs… there is no sense in making things harder for yourself!
- Celebrate small successes and productive fails.
The one thing that I love post show is the moment when you return to the hotel room and the dogs just pass out, as they have left it all at the show. I still had a little energy but was happy to lounge on the cloud bed and catch up on what had happened during the day while we were showing and report our progress to Grandma!
 |
| You can just see Ferg’s nose in the crate. |
Day 2 brought a much needed reprieve from the rain. There was even some sunshine peaking through the clouds throughout the day. Haze was full of piss and vinegar, so much so, I lunged her like a horse prior to the start of the event and again in the afternoon. I didn’t know what to expect from her on the course, as when we walked she was consistently forging ahead forgetting that I existed.
Ferg started the day qualifying for another Excellent/Advance leg for his Rally Excellent/Advanced (RAE) title. His second Excellent run ended up being a sacrificial run for the Ladies. It provided a valuable lesson that there is a thing as over fixing something. I tried to salvage a sign that he messed up and that impulse cost him a qualifying score. Ugggh!
On her last run for Advance level Lyndy was sending signs that she wasn’t feeling in the mood to perform from the moment she walked into the ring. She kept looking over her shoulder at the exit, was rushing ahead, required convincing to take the jump, the first time and made a B-Line to the exit gate after jumping a second time. She sat at the gate looking down the course at me. I could read her thought bubble- “Hurry the frig up, I want out!” The only problem was we still had two more signs to finish. Luckily I was able to convince her to come back and she scored 96 which was enough to earn her Advanced title.
Her entry into the Excellent level was tres rough! I was convinced that she non-qualified, as she struggled with a number of signs, I thought I saw her sit on a pivot and she was anticipating finishes galore. I was shocked when I found out she managed to squeak through with a 76, which means only two more legs to go before she has her Excellent title.
Haze was on fire for her two runs. She had a hard time figuring out what she should be paying attention to… me, the floor of the ring, the signs. She would start with me, dart to the side, come back and execute a sign, dart forward, then to the side, change her mind and come back. I was in a full sweat by the end of her Advanced run trying to keep her engaged and on track. The judge commented that she was dizzy from watching Hazel. Ohhh Haze! She finished her Advanced title with a score of 97. Her inaugural Excellent run was also high energy, but she showed a little more control. The judge’s comment was “very exuberant” which pretty much sums up Haze’s larger than life personality!
Whew! Runs done for the day! Now time for a quick pack-up and airing of dogs, so that we could start the journey home. As I drove I had time to reflect on the lessons I learned on the course and throughout the weekend:
- Sometimes it is better to leave things a little messy than to over correct and make it worse.
- When you are in the thick of it, it all feels and looks like a sugar show, but others see it differently, as they can remain objective with no skin in the game. It really amazed me how each and every single competitor tended to leave the ring convinced it was a horrible run and/or focused on what didn’t go to plan, only to be shocked by their scores.
- Sometimes you just have to shake your head and laugh… it is what it is and it will be what it will be!
- When feeling overwhelmed, just focus on the next task and once that is done, the one after that, before you know it, it will all be over.
All in all I was pretty proud of what we had accomplished over the weekend and we now have some notes on what we need to work on for the next show.
We made good time on the return trip and only had one wild life sighting, a moose standing in the ditch by Sudbury. It was rainy, dusk and I was passing a Semi when I spotted it. I told it to stay where it was, as I didn’t need a close encounter of a moose kind to finish off our journey. The moose listened 👏. We entered town limits around 12:15 a.m. and were at the house unloading the essentials by 12:30 a.m. Needless to say Monday was a long day at work.
No comments:
Post a Comment