First AKC Trial-First AKC Q!!
Nina earned her Novice Jumpers With Weaves leg #1 with a clean run today at the DOTCORNY AKC trial at Boome Towne! I am thrilled! Not only did we fulfill the Prime Directive (as always: have fun), but we got the super-mega-extra-awesome-bonus brought to you by the letter Q and the number 1!!!!
What helped: Novice starting MUCH later in the day meant I got to walk the dogs before we even left for the trial, then spent a lot of time playing frisbee, so Nina had a chance to scrub off a lot of her crazies. She was still fast and excited, but able to focus (and her contacts were great, she jumped up on me on the table, so we automatically NQ’d in Standard, but she was reasonably quiet and didn’t jump on and off the table a zillion times), and our Jumpers With Weaves run was just awesome, we had real teamwork and connection, I gave my cues when I needed to and she listened and ran her heart out. I remembered Paula Goss’s advice and gave her rear cross cues on the takeoff sides of the jumps and it made a real difference, her jumps were clean and smooth, and she knew where I wanted her to go early enough that she didn’t get frustrated and herdy and I could just stay out of her way and let her work. Yay Nina! What a good girl! I guess I’ll keep her.
It was also so nice that so many CPE people were there, and even the people I didn’t know were very helpful and nice. Lisa and Mari and Sue were super-supportive and helpful and having Jeannine and Holly there to keep things light made it so much less stressful than I was worried it might be. I was a bit intimidated coming into this weekend, but once we walked out on the course for our first run, I remembered it wasn’t brain surgery, it was just another agility trial for Nina and I to play at, and IT WAS FUN!