I had only Molly entered in this trial because there were no games available that did not have the weave poles in for Perri. We started with Standard and I was more jittery than normal but exhausted at this same time. An extra hour of sleep would have been great! Our Standard run was not our worst, but defintiely far from the best. Molly broke her start line stay, I was not where I wanted to be for the next five obstacles, I was way behind her on the weave entry and she missed it and went to sniff the chute...she did! get into the weaves and stayed in. We did pretty good until the Aframe, I was babying extension for her running Aframe and I turned her into a tunnel that was to the left of the Aframe...we were supposed to take the opposite end. We finished in grand style with a dogwalk fly-off, a bounce through the tire , and another bounce over the ring gating to say hi to a smooth collie standing outside. Yikes.
Jumpers with Weaves was next and was...a Q! That's our second AXJ leg! I don't even have much to remark about it, other than the start line stay was again broken...but we had a very nice run regardless and much praise from people who were watching afterwards. The weaves were slow, but she got the entry and stayed in. Somebody who was in foundations agility class with Molly...way back in the beginning...said it was amazing to see the transition from the dog she was, to the Molly who ran that JWW run today. Cool!
The trial was running Tall to Small so we had a very long wait until the end of the trial. The hosting club was offering a B Match and that is just what Perri and I need to practice weave poles! I bought Perri two runs on the Standard course. I did not just go right in and dig into the weaves, I wanted to make it as trial-like as possible for Perri. We waited ringside with tricks and treats like usual, we set up on the start line as usual. The course started with the chute, but since Perri got shy about the chute in May for our last trial at this site, I didn't want to start there. We started with some jumps to a tunnel, to the Aframe. Perri did the teeter just fine. Then we flowed right into the weaves. Perri got her entry and started weaving, very pretty footwork! She skipped a pole or two. I noticed her, instead of shutting down, doing something that looked like she was studying the weave poles to figure out how to get back into them. We did not do repeating, but I encouraged her to just get back in and try. We had a few reps like that, and then finally...12 straight weaves, dancing single strided footwork, right through. We had a major part with her fleece bunny tug and left the ring and I gave her half a meatball, just like I would if she had done a regular trial entry. Perri's next run I made up a different course and she was just as happy and fast, and this time she got in the weave poles...and danced through all 12 without a single error. The crowd goes wild! I threw her bunny tug and she got the ultimate prize: getting to zoom and pounce with her favorite toy without a pesky human connected to the other end!! I let her enjoy that for a small while, retrieved the toy and asked for the chute with our remaining time. She blasted right through and was rewarded with her tug toy, and we tugged our way out of the ring to the other half of her meatball. I AM PUMMMMMMMMMMPED! I could not have asked for anything better! And to be perfectly honest, I think Perri's weaves are going to be way better than they were before. The work we have been doing has been a major value transfer of fun and play into the weave poles, and it definitely showed today.
I did do a run in the B Match with Molly. She was hot and I should have hosed her down. She held her start line stay perfectly. Of course! She always seems to when I am doing training runs, even though I have her toy hidden. She did her usual creep into the weave entry, although this time (it was the same Standard course as before.) she held her stopped teeter so that I could get ahead to support the entry. I pulled her out....showed her the toy...and I had a lightning fast dog in the weave poles! We did a second rep, rewarded and left the ring. Maybe...this time...it might sink in for future trials. Hey, I am just happy that she did not pop the weaves in today's trial, and that she got 1/2 entries. We will get there....!
Love the weave update!
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