Mr. Perfect -- November 13, 2009

My 17 month old daughter just put her face in the dog water bowl. I think she wants to be a dog. I need to socialize her to kids more. LOL

Last Friday, Bing and I went to an AKC agility trial. We’ve been dabbling in this for a long time, interrupted by me having a kid. In the spring, he got his first leg toward his Novice Standard title, and a first place blue ribbon. Yay for Bing! As it turned out, he was the ONLY dog to qualify at his jump height. I was amazed, since there were about 22 dogs in his class.

We had a repeat of this occurrence this past Friday, when he ran an almost perfect run. The only mistake that was made was mine, when I had him on my right side coming out of the tunnel, going over the broad jump, and into the weave poles…he went right in! I didn’t have to resend him….I was so astonished that I did a rear cross, completely needlessly, and then he was on my left side and needing to go left. Oops!

The crux of the problem was that I missed the walk-through! The class started an hour early, and I just couldn’t come down that early, so I completely missed the walk-through, where competitors walk the course without their dogs to figure out how they are going to handle the course. So when I arrived, I watched the dogs in front of me and tried to figure out what I was going to do. I had planned (BAD ME) on Bing not being able to do a very good off-side weave entry, so I guess in my mind I had to be on the right. Oy vey. The jams I get myself into!

So he came out of the weaves, I sent him over the jump, and he just took the tunnel (I’m sure my body told him to) rather than taking the tire. I called him back, and I swear I stood there scratching my head while I tried to figure out what number I was at! I took a chance, sent him over the tire and the two following jumps, and we finished the course 12 seconds under time. Even with my mistake and being lost on the course, we finished with more than enough time.

I am SO proud of this dog. It’s his second leg, and the second time he got first place, and the second time he was the only dog in his class to qualify. WOW!

We have another trial next week at the same location. I went into the last trial with a great feeling that he could do it. I KNOW now that he rocks! But the thing about agility is that all it takes is one misstep and you don’t qualify. So, 3+ hours of driving, a day off from work, and all that money and stress, and you never know what’s going to happen.

Wish us luck…I can’t wait to be able to say that he has an agility title…finally!

Bing Blog 47