The Days of Johann, an agility dog!: USDAA Q's for both me and Gracie this weekend!

Gracie, Mum and I attended a USDAA trial near here this weekend and we had a ton of fun!

The trial was only about 1.5 hours away, so we got to drive back and forth. It was an easy trip. The best part was the way back on Sunday when we got to drive when it was still daylight, BOL! Nice scenery around here, I must say.

Saturday I was entered in Gamblers and Steeplechase.

My first run was Gamblers. The nice part about the run was that Mum was very good on her opening timing. Really had me just in the right spot when the buzzer went off. Much better than the last time we ran Gamblers last year.

The Gamble was a tough one for me, coming out of a tunnel and out to a jump. I always come toward Mum when I come out of a tunnel, so she tried to get back from the line and push me out toward the jump, but it wasn't enough, since I really shot out of that tunnel fast. But I got the frame and jump after anyway, and 22 points in the opening.

Next up was my Steeplechase run, nice little run and we got a Q. I love the Steeplechase courses that have two Frames instead of two weaves. Frames are one of my favs! Here's my Steeplechase Q run.

Gracie ran a Standard run in P1 for her first run. But she got the zoomies early on and was whistled off. It was sad to come this far and then see her start the run off stuff all over again. But she was gonna show us some good things coming later in the weekend.

Her second run was Jumpers. Not one of Gracie's favs since she gets bored doing jump after jump, but it was the best choice of the available runs for her that day. She took two jumps and then started to run off. Mum did a jump in the air, big doggone it leap; and what do you know? Gracie wanted to see what was wrong with Mum and came back to her, BOL! They finished the rest of the course perfectly and Mum was really proud of the Grace-ster! Mum had lots of folks ringside laughing, it was fun to see Mum jump in a jumpers run .

The next day, Sunday, I ran Gamblers again. Mum planned out the opening very well, and we ended up near the gamble just as the buzzer went off. The gamble was a jump, weaves, jump, jump all to the left. Mum thought I had a good chance at this one since I like to go out weaves. But these weaves had a really wide base and again, like other places we've been with these types of weaves, my toes were hitting the base and made me very apprehensive. To beat that, I took an extra unplanned Frame right before and lost all momentum going into the first jump of the gamble to the weaves, so I didn't get it. But gave it a really good go.

Next up was Snooker again for me. I really have to have a long, long talk with Mum. She isn't planning my Snooker courses very well. She way over thought the opening and of course we ran out of time. Gotta have a heart to heart with her abut that. So no Snooker Q or SQ this weekend.

After that Gracie ran Standard again. Even though she held on better than her standard run on Saturday she still lost it. She had some really great moments though; super weaves after a second attempt, great DW, even a pretty good teeter. Good thing Gracie got herself together for her next run, Snooker.

Gracie held on the entire Snooker course and Mum was super proud. She even did her weaves on the first try! This was her first ever USDAA Q and there were cheers all over the arena! Big, big, huge break through for the Grace-ster; time to break out the Padron cigars, BOL!

Gracie P1 Snooker run and a 1st place Q!

Things learned over the weekend. I need to find a way to practice on some weaves with those really wide, thick, steel bases down the middle. Mum needs to work on her Gamble timing with me coming out of the tunnel. And she really has to stop over thinking my Snooker openings to get that last SQ. Really Mum, really!!!

Gracie is getting more and more focused all the time, but she does loose her mind on her first run of the day which we can understand. So Mum is going to enter her in more runs per day to help her get more used to the environment.

It was a very fun weekend. And we got to meet some great new friends. And one of the best parts is we got to hang with our bud, Cosmo!!! That's Cossie on the left :). I met Cosmo on Twitter about three years ago when we still lived up in Indiana. We're lucky now that we live so close to see each other on occasion!