Connor's having fun at 16 inches

This is the second weekend Connor ran in preferred at 16 inches, and he's having a BALL!!! I just entered him one day, and I haven't run him in three weeks since the last trial. They started the Standard ring with Ex. B 26 inches at the same time as the JWW ring with Open. Terrie who was running Zoe and I had the same conflict, so we ran the first two 24 inch dogs, threw our 24 inch excellent dogs in the crates, grabbed our open dogs and headed to open. I got to the ring with about 4 dogs to go until our run. The other thing that made the morning so stressful is that I took a wrong turn going to the show site and went way out of my way. I arrived at 7:25 a.m. and first dog on the line was 8 a.m. and I had to set up crates, etc. UGH! I only got to walk each course 2 times before I had to get dogs and never saw a course map.

However, Connor ran great! I got a nice lead out and he made the first front cross well, so I was really pleased. He rear crossed into the weave poles and was flying but checked his speed and made the entrance. I well timed hand cue at pole 10 saved a clean weave performance, and we were off to the races again. I had a split second of total blank on the course when Connor was in the tunnel, but luckily remembered where he was supposed to go and we nailed the course! A clean run and 10 seconds under SCT.

About 5 hours later and 15 degrees warmer in the building, Connor ran Standard. The opening was the same as Excellent, and I knew coming off the A frame would be tough. There was a triple which started a pinwheel to the right off the A frame and you had to put a cross in somewhere before that triple but still make the contact. Connor did his contact and I was able to front cross. He also hung in the weaves with another well timed hand cue at pole 10 by me. I was so thrilled when he again turned in another clean run, 12 second under standard course time (he didn't go down on the table right away!).

Kim and Sally watched the Standard run, and they both thought it was lovely. While Sally has no history with Connor, Kim has seen the good, bad, ugly and REALLY ugly with Connor. She said it was one of the best runs she's ever seen him have. I agree. This is back to the old Connor at the beginning of his career. He's really having fun, and I am too. He's focused and not a bit of stress.

So Connor earned his final leg for his OAJ and his first OAP leg. I've already emailed the move up to Excellent A JWW for next month's trials. I think he'll have no problems since he was clean in Ex. B at full height many, many times but just over time. It will be interesting to see if I can get him back in Excellent Standard. He's running so well in Standard right now, and I never would have believed it.