What A Weekend!

What a weekend we had!  We were at an agility trial in Medicine Hat and in addition to lots of fun and some great runs, we had very hot weather on Saturday (I thought I was back in Vegas)  and then cold, windy and rainy weather on Sunday.  A total of 7 'Q's and I am still on cloud 9!

The weekend breakdown:

Bosley:

I will start with Bosley since it was his AAC debut this weekend.  He was such a good boy this weekend and had nice focus the entire weekend.

Saturday:

Starters Gamblers - 28 points in his opening.  He completed the final gamble which included a 11' send to a tunnel, but he just ran out of time.  I was thrilled with his closing, even if we didn't 'Q'.

Starters Standard - 1st and a 'Q'.  A very nice smooth run and he was 5 seconds under time despite the extreme heat.

Starters Snooker - 22 points.  We had just began our opening sequence and when I tried to wrap Bosley around the tire jump, he ducked in-between the tire and the frame.

Starters Jumpers - it was about 35 degrees celcius when Bosley was doing the jumpers course, so need less to say he was not too fast out there.  He was over time on his run, but stayed with me the whole course.

Sunday:

Starters Standard - 1st and a 'Q' and 14 seconds under time. It was cold and raining and Bosley loved it.  He was one of only two Starters dogs who qualified this run.  So many dogs had trouble with the cold wet table and the wet contacts so the 'Q' rate was low.

Starters Gamblers - Bosley had a great opening, getting two of the mini gambles.  He had 40 points in his opening!  The final gamble was quite hard for a starters course and it involved a turn away into a tunnel.  I turned Bosley away from me and he headed out to the tunnel - he looked right in it and then he started to come back to me.  I redirected him he went in the tunnel and finished the last jump, but had run out of time.  I was so happy that he did that hard gamble though - he really worked hard to figure out what I wanted him to do.

Starters Snooker - 1st and a 'Q'.  A very nice run with a total of 47 points and we made it all the way through 7 in the closing.

Maggie:

Maggie, Maggie, Maggie.  I don't think I have ever been happier with the way she has ran at a trial.  She was "up" all weekend even in the heat.  Only a few months ago she was really struggling with her jumping and even 16" was a struggle.  This weekend she only dropped one bar (which I will talk more about in a bit).  I cannot express how good it felt to run her this weekend - she was excited to be out there and was fast.

Maggie ran in 6 runs this weekend:

Saturday:

Advanced Gamblers - Maggie was a wild one on this course and we only had 13 points in the opening and the closing was a write-off.  She had fun!

Advanced Standard - 2nd and a 'Q'.  Nice run, nailed the weave pole entry.  She often struggles with time issues, but was 3 seconds under time in the heat.

Advanced Snooker - 1st and a 'Q'.  She racked up 41 points and we got to the end of the 6th obstacle.

Sunday:

Advanced Standard - it was cold and rainy and Maggie was wild!  She started out OK then got the zoomies and she even made the judge laugh with her silly antics.  

Advanced Gamblers - 2nd and a 'Q' - 66 points.  The final gamble was a serpentiny thing that involved a 16' send to a tunnel, a call a back to a jump and then a push away to another jump.  Maggie did it!  I was so amazed, I still can't believe that she did it!

Advanced Snooker - 1st and a 'Q' - 51 points. Wow!  I still can't believe this run.  This had to be the best run that Maggie and I have ever had.  I had my plan all set and then Maggie dropped the first red bar.  Crap!  Now I had to make up my opening on the fly.  Maggie was amazing on this run.  She was super fast and responded very well to my direction.  Since my original plan was out the window, all I could think was that we needed to do 3 7's (which was the teeter).  Maggie was on fire as we raced around getting our red jumps and teeters.  We headed for the closing sequence and Maggie was really moving but I was worried the time buzzer was going to go at any second so I was running faster than I think I have ever ran.  We did it!  We made it all the way to 7 with time to spare.  I can't remember ever feeling better after a run - it was really amazing to see Maggie move so fast though a whole course.  Maggie now moves to Masters Snooker.

So a good debut for Bosley and a great weekend for Maggie.