Great second trial for Page

As frustrating as Devon's day was in Evansville, Page had a fantastic day! Page is much more secure in her job than she was in June. While I'm still supporting all her jumps with forward cues and only turning her on the flat, she's not running past jumps like she did at her first trial. It's remarkable what 2 months has done in her maturity level with this sport.

Page's standard run was first. While you can't see it on the video, her front end actually went out from under her when making the turn after the tire to the panel. She fell hard on her right shoulder.

It was a sit on the table for the Novice dogs, and I have not taught Page a sit since this was our only trial before the rule change Sept. 1 to a "positionless" table. I had expected to just let her stay in a down and then go on. However, I caught her before she went down and kept her in a sit for the table count. Whew!

The refusal at the teeter was weird and unexpected. I did pull off of it a little, so I'm going to chalk it up to my body language and a baby dog moment.

The rear cross on the flat and send to the weave poles was amazing! Frankly, that was a difficult series to find a place to cross, and I was thrilled at Page's ability to handle what I asked of her. I heard oohs and ahhs from the audience on that one.

Finally, the refusal at the last jump was just me letting up and not supporting it. I was mentally and physically tired, and I let up one jump too early. That's my big homework for the next trial - run through the last jump!

JWW was at the end of a very long day. This was a 1-ring trial. They ran all the standard classes first, starting with Excellent, then all the JWW classes, again starting back with Excellent. Because I had to set up and get two dogs measured (one of them twice), we got to the site very early. Page went to the line in JWW 10 hours after we arrived at the site that morning. When I went to get her out of her crate, she was sound asleep laying on her back with her feet in the air! It's funny how quickly she can be ready, though!

This JWW run was almost picture perfect! I knew it would either be beautiful or a disaster. It was a fast flowing course, perfect for Novice dogs. I haven't mentioned it yet, but I love Tom Slattery's courses. Just enough challenge to make it fair and very flowing. For the fast dogs, you've got to think and handle precisely or they are over an off course. To me, that's fair.

The only error on this course was mine and once again I did not support the last jump. I stood still too long on my rear cross on the flat and didn't get in to support that last jump. Good girl to Page for taking it at a horrid angle and not dropping the bar.

This little girl ran this course in 22.71 seconds or 4.84 yards per second. Wow, I haven't run a dog this fast since Reece, and I never remember him running with this much confidence or with this much handler focus! Page is going to be a blast to run!!

So Page ended her weekend with her second Standard Q and her first JWW Q, both with first place ribbons. Page only had one baby brain refusal and one that was my fault. And her weaves were once again beautiful. I'm looking forward to the next couple of weekends of trialing. I think the only one who isn't happy about Page's great runs at Evansville was Devon. While Page and I were running JWW, Devon dumped her water bowl and tore the Velcro strap holding it into 10 pieces. The devil!

And I suppose I shouldn't leave Ellie out of the blog posts about Evansville. She was a good girlie, too. Ms. Ellie is my friend Sheree's dog. Her registered name is Starduck's Habeas Corpaws JH, WC. Sheree can take credit for the field titles, and I expect Ellie to have a tracking title soon, too. Sheree trains her and I'm running her just in agility.

Here is Ellie's standard run. Don't know what the issue with the tire was; she's never struggled with the tire at multiple locations. The only thing I can think of is the red frame and the dark colors on the tire threw her. And I never expected the lovely way Ellie handled that rear cross and send into the weaves! What a good girl!

You will hear cheering as the dog before us finished his run. It was a Great Pyr, and they made it all around the course and did a lovely job - well worth the cheering. It was hard to run after that, though!

Here is a fantastic fast JWW run. This was a 29 second run, faster than I expected from Ellie. Drat that bar coming down! I'm sure that was just fatigue from a long day.