First was measurement time, my favorite time. The judge was not a CMJ so I asked if he would just measure Molly for my curiosity. He measured, and filled the card out. So that was my third judge, a non-CMJ who was not able to break my height tie. He said that she will have to jump full height unless I appeal it with USDAA - no problem. I sent the e-mail off when I got home.
Molly measured at 20 1/4" today. For some reason I have this personal vendetta to get Molly into the height class that I know that she belongs in, not a higher one because of one goofy measurement that I do not respect.
I digress... First was Gamblers and I was glad for that. Molly seemed her normal self, drivey and tuggy on her toy and full of enthusiasm. I always expect some amount of craziness on the first run and she did NOT disappoint.I have drawn our course in red. She really did stick relatively well with my plan. Until the middle of the downside of the dog walk, at which point she launched off of it, blasted OUT OF THE RING and then raced back into the ring and resumed her run as I had planned. Oh my.
So the Gamble...you will see in the video what happened. I was trying so hard to run out past the dummy jump and I tried to yell JUMP but I only succeeded in getting exactly to the dummy jump when she exploded out of the chute and...took the wrong jump (pretty much just like I "told" her to.) The video makes me laugh and laugh at my crazy girl!
Next up: Standard! And it wasn't a whole lot better. We tried out best though but Molly was pretty scattered. Normally I seek to blame my handling but I don't think this one was all on me. A random off shoot to the left after the chute, a blown Aframe contact, complete and utter refusal to enter the weaves (as though she's never seen them!), refusing to down on the table and even pausing for an ear scratch (I'm sure this was stress by that point.) and then an off course despite my attempts to collect her and another blown contact on the dog walk. We haven't had that many blown contacts in a while, and it was as if something had her frazzled into every last one of her old habits. Still, it's on video and here it is for viewing purposes.
So next was Snooker, just the class that anyone who has spent the day NQ'ing wants to see. This wasn't particularly a nightmare, but it certainly wasn't a Q. I planned: right red jump to 4 jump, left red jump to 2-tunnel and then far red jump to 2-tunnel. Then I changed my plan after I walked to do the 7 combo after the third red. And that was fine, but what I failed to do was pull hard enough away from the weave line so that Molly could cut to the closing 2-tunnel without going through them. Bottom line - we actually finished the opening on a USDAA Snooker and I am proud of that. But Molly cut through the weaves on her way to begin the closing (And in the video I *do* try to pull her away from them, just not enough.)
Last for the day was Jumpers. I really felt good going into the course. We could DO this. The course wasn't bad at all and the judge even changed the course last minute so that the number 11 jump as seen on this course map was not as trappy. AND WE QUALIFIED!! It wasn't pretty, but we made it. You can see on the map that the tunnel is a major trap and a lot of dogs went straight into the wrong end. Molly did NOT. Sure, she did a jump run out and had to be taken BACK to the jump before the tunnel trap and so I had way better control over her, but the point is that we made it.
Video is blurry because my stupid phone wouldn't focus, but you can get the idea.
Next Trial! Is CPE in two weeks. I will be running Mr. Ein in Jumpers and Fullhouse just to see how he likes it. I have zero agility ambition whatsoever for him other than for him to frolic around with me at trials here and there in Level 1 if he ends up having fun. We will see.
Molly of course has a full schedule and I can only hope that she behaves herself better than she did today. :)
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