Back from Gracie's trail!

We are back from the CPE trial this weekend. This was my sis Gracie's weekend! She got to run and I didn't! What's up with that????

Mum wanted to work on Gracie's focus this weekend in the hopes that she would be more 'together' during her runs like she is at practice. Since I had a great view of the ring, I can tell you that she had some really great moments and some really horrible ones. But she had a blast all weekend, fur sure!

Some of you may not know that CPE is an agility venue that is great for beginners dogs. They have a wide variety of levels, and in levels one and two you can run in 'exhibition' with your pup on a leash for focus and control. This is a great venue for pups like Gracie who need focus or for those pups that may not know all the obstacles yet. And the folks are much more understanding of beginner dogs, which is nice.

Saturday Gracie ran Standard and Colors. At first Mum thought she would just run Gracie on leash, but scrapped that idea before the run. Mum led out again, which works really well with Gracie's focus. She has an incredible start line stay. And Mum can have her attention from the start.

Gracie took a few obstacles, missed a jump, took a couple of jumps, missed one, but seemed fairly focused throughout the run. No Q, but good experience. About the same thing happened on her other run for the day.

On Sunday Gracie had her first run and just ran off in a fit of happy play! Her second run, though, was her best of the weekend. She took nearly 9 obstacles in a row, including 5-6 jumps in a row, before she ran off. And I think she may have taken those obstacles in about 8-10 seconds flat with some distance from Mum. She is a fast one, that Gracie!

Mum came away thinking she just really needs to get those commands out 'waaaaay, waaaaay' earlier than she has been. Gracie looses her focus the split second she doesn't know where to go and she plans way ahead. She and Mum have lots of timing issues to work on, but they both saw loads of potential after this weekend. Mum says that Gracie is a very different dog to run than I. And she has to think totally different about how to direct her.

The nice thing is that none of us feel that Gracie is getting stressed out there anymore. She's just having a whole lotta fun! Sometimes maybe too much, but it's great that she loves it.

Gracie is gonna be a real good agility dog, once her and Mum get it together. She is super fast, and a great jumper; loves her contacts. She even had enough control to get some weaves in this weekend, which was huge!!!!!

It may take some time for the two of them to be a team, but what a team they will be!

Mum ordered some pics of Gracie jumping, and says they are real good! We should get them in a couple of weeks, and I'll be sure and post them.