6 out of 6!

What an unbelievable weekend! Not only did Mum and I get 6 Q's out of 6 runs this weekend - with three DQ's - but the Colts won again (hey, I do have a little more than a one track sports mind)!

We drove back and forth each day, Friday through today, to Lewisville, Ohio, about 20 minutes this side of Dayton for the Dayton Dog Training Club agility trial at Circle G Ranch. That meant getting up way before the crack of dawn and driving about 1.5 hours each way. It's wasn't so bad because we were able to get home by around 4:00 PM, take a quick nap and then some relaxing zooming. And there were absolutely no car accidents, whew!

But I have to tell ya, maybe just the best part of the weekend were the smells! Mum says she can still smell the smells. There was horse doo everywhere, along with the really cool horses, and birds were flying all around my crate where I stayed until it was time to run my runs. You guys know how much I just love herding birds. So the minute I got out of my crate I was raring to go!

The running surface was truly great; this soft, yet firm dirt floor. Inside the arena it was about 60 or so degrees all weekend - a real nice running environment.

We started with Standard. Mum knew after not having training this past week that I would be really ready to run. So she prepared for it. She walked the course planning for handling me at a distance as much as possible and planning for the rear crosses we have been working hard on at training. All of it really paid off.

Our run was smooth, Mum had great distance with me, drove me (but not so much as to freak me out), I was speedy and accurate. It was one of those - I'll always remember - runs. Mum and I just clicked and it felt really, really good.

The course was very flowing, potentially really speedy for many size dogs. There were some off courses for some, mostly - 13 after 2, 3 after 12, and 7 after 19 if folks ran on the inside, instead of the outside.

I really liked how Mum handled me on this. She led out past 2 facing the tunnel (also blocking 13). Once I took off and committed to 2 she then sent me to three and layered 2 out to the teeter. Then she did a front cross fairly near 5 and I took 5-7 as a straight line; she reared 7 and I shot out to the weaves on my own. Then she caught up to me in the middle, gave me some big go, go's and we were off to 9 through 12. She did a front cross after 13 and then just turned me over 14 and up 15. I did a quick down on the table and she stayed on my left sending me to the tunnel. Then she ran with me on the outside of 18-20. What a sweet ride it was - we ended up with one of our fastest Standard runs ever!

We sure didn't have a spot at first place though, 'cause the FCI World Championship Individual Bronze Medal holder was running in our class a couple of days this weekend. Sure was great to see them run! What a wonderful team they are.

Our next run was JWW. After our great showing in Standard, we were pretty jerky in our JWW run. But it was clean and good enough for some nice MACH points.

During Saturday's Standard walk through there was a lot of discussion going on. It was all about 4-5. Doesn't look that bad on the map, but turned out that 4 was even with 5 and nearly lateral in placement. There were questions of safety. But the course didn't change.

Mum decided to keep me safe and out of the tunnel, of course, she was going to shape me in an arc by doing a front cross after 4 - turn me, get my attention and then tell me to walk - worked like a charm. We saw many dogs take the walk at a really bad angle. Luckily no dogs ended up on the tunnel and none fell off the walk. For the most part I think everyone kept there pup safe. Some ran on the right of the tunnel; and many, many dogs went in the tunnel. Surprisingly (at first) a lot of dogs took the walk after 6 instead of 7. Not surprisingly there was also a lot of dog/human bumping, as well as, dog spinning going on out of 11.

The rest of our run was good - not as speedy as the day before, but real good (guess our standards are higher now!). Good enough for 6th place.

Our JWW on Saturday was real good - again one of our best times ever. Mum had been leading out with me all weekend, but on this one she decided to run with me. She gave me the 1, 2, 3, GO! and we were off.

At first, she will admit, she thought she was going to be sorry for not leading out, but she ran her little(?) butt off and got a rear cross command out on 5 very well. She also made sure to stay with me and keep her hand down for 7-9 (there were tons of off courses to 2). My weaves were good. Then Mum went for the front cross after 11, and I nearly took the tunnel instead. She gave me a really, really big HERE! and, whew, no NQ. So we bolted for the finish. Mum made sure to turn in a bit for me on 18 (there were a lot of missed 18's), then rear crossed 19.

We drove home with really big smiles - two DQ's in two days.

Left early this morning - we were both surprisingly energetic. Mum thought that I would be pretty tired by today and may not run in fifth or even fourth gear. So she revved me up and ran with me on the Standard run. I ran pretty well, until we got past the triple. I took a jump before the Frame and my front legs collapsed under me - I face planted, didn't drop the bar, took the frame and the last jump. Another Q!

But wait - the timer didn't work! The judge came over and gave us a couple of choices - either run again and risk an NQ or take SCT. Mum didn't want me to have to run any more than I needed. And after the face plant, she decided to take SCT. No MACH points but another Q.

Our great vet was there - Aunt Bonnie. So Mum took me to see her real quick after my face plant. I was OK, didn't need any adjustments, but my muscles were a little sore and real tight. So Mum walked me out, rubbed some Traumeel on me and I was much better. I took some rest before our JWW run.

Mum walked the course and liked it. I ran the jumps pretty darn well for the sixth run of the weekend, but didn't really want to do the weaves. But I did after Mum gave me some Go, Go's. Not the best time, by any means, but a Q, nonetheless. I was still pretty sore.

Then we packed up, got all our goodies (did you see those 6 Q ribbons, 3 DQ ribbons and 6 toys!) and drove the 1.5 hours home. Mum iced and heated my shoulders, upper back and upper front legs. We took a quick nap and then Mum gave me a great rub down. We all pretty tired but have to say that we kind of on a high.

What a great weekend! Hope you all had a nice one too!