Day two started early and it was almost 20 degrees cooler at the start. Tessa probably had a bit more speed at the start of the day in the cooler weather than she did yesterday in the heat. We started with Weavers. I misunderstood the directions in terms of what equipment we could warm up on and so we had no warm-up on equipment before this run. Tessa has only seen weaves in two locations besides my house, and never in competition. Therefore, I thought this run went darned well! By the third time the poles came up, she NAILED them, at SPEED. I'm very happy with this! If she hadn't have run through the hoop, she would have qualified! I don't know her time or anything because there was a problem with the computer software or something, but I know she didn't Q.
Tunnelers was next. SHE KILLED IT! She won her class with a time of 17.51 (SCT 28.25), which would have allowed her to Q in Elite! She had the fastest time of all dogs in Novice and Open, but was bested by one in Elite. I was very pleased with the send to tunnel 3/front cross to tunnel 4. I was also glad to get the turn at the end into the last tunnel. It was tricky and, when I saw another handler wipe out there, I was a bit concerned that could happen to me as well.
Next was Jumpers. My videographer had a problem at the beginning of the course, which is unfortunate mostly because we actually ran the first few obstacles clean, ha! Jumpers was kind of a hot mess, but she left up the majority of the bars, which made me very happy. I knew she couldn't pull off the straight run out at the end. We need to work on sends over jumps. We got an astonishing 65 faults on this course in 22.02 seconds. I think we should win something for that!
I wasn't going to stay for Chances. I wasn't signed up for it. I sucked in it yesterday. But there it was, calling my name, so I signed up. It was really hard! Plus Tessa started without me! I don't think she even knew she went through the hoop that started the timer. She just learned hoops this week and still doesn't know to seek them out or avoid them depending on the circumstances. Anyway, I was pleased that she got some of the distance work, and loved the opening after I recovered.
Chances is pass/fail, I think. We failed, but I had so much fun, I'm counting it as a win!
Overall, I'm really pleased by how Tessa did. She handled the confusion of a trial well, maintained her focus, and handled close by dogs very well for the vast majority of the weekend. At the end of the day on Sunday, she snarked at a dog that came up into her space/crate/water bowl area, and then got very concerned about a fellow who was doing some handyman-type work on the site. She got over her extreme concern of finding him where she didn't expect him (over by the dock diving pool) but when he started hammering on the metal screen door, she got pretty worked up. We were leaving anyway so I just hustled her out of there. She was a little barky in her crate, but only when she could see me working or course walking. She's very mentally tired now.
I'm so proud of her! Now I know some skills I want to work on before we trial again, including more contact performance work and sending skills.
I felt like I really conquered my nerves, and I hope that that will last me for a long time. I was worried about being out of practice and out of my element, and I was both of those, but people were nice and it was OK.
Anyway, Tessa's the best. Thanks Karen Moureaux and Kathy Mocharnuk for my special girl!
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