Indiana Collie Club Trial Day 1

This trial will go down as one that hit every emotion you can experience during trials -- from the extreme highs of success to lows from poor choices.

Devon's runs
Let's start with the highs. Saturday was Devon's day ... well maybe not at first! In our JWW run, we were just a little off from the start. I keep forgetting Devon commits really early, and she did commit to the wrong end of the #4 tunnel early and I didn't realize it. If I could have run the course over again, I would have done a front cross after jump #3.

As a general commentary on this trial, I loved the courses and the judge. However she did do one thing that drives me a little nuts. Both days in JWW she had two jumps butted up against a post. This severely restricted my handling choices, and I hate not having a full range of options for my dog. In the opening of this JWW course, you see that the #3 jump is up against a post and so is another jump so the handler was restricted from going on one side of the #3 jump. If I had my way, I would have preferred to handle the opening with a forward moving front cross on the landing side of #2 and running right at the #4 tunnel past jump #3 on the opposite side.

After we got about halfway through the course, Devon and I managed to get it together to end on a high note.



The best part of my day was Devon's Standard run. On Tuesday in class, we celebrated several big weekend successes, including Page's CT. Someone made "turkey brownies" for the dogs. Devon thought these were the most wonderful manna from heaven ever! She started getting really silly in class and taking off going over the teeter just to get more turkey brownies. It was too funny, so of course she got rewarded big time.

Today's Standard course was a beautiful straight run to the teeter, so I thought I'd try it. We train at this facility regularly, and she's confident in practice. I took her jackpot (tripe and blueberries) and some extra ostrich jerky and showed her it was sitting on a table right outside the ring. I explained if she did the teeter, she would get the jackpots. Devon understood completely (I could tell)! In fact, instead of doing the weave poles, she started looking for the teeter. The last time she did this she went off course to take the teeter!

Devon never even slowed down heading for the teeter, and once she hit the commitment point you can see her tail wagging. I had a couple of people stationed in the back to cheer if she successfully completed the teeter, and you know an agility trial is. If 2-3 people start cheering everyone else does too and they don't even need to know why!

This video is priceless! Devon KNOWS she was the star and everyone was cheering for her! After the run and she got her jackpots, Devon individually thanked every person standing ringside for cheering for her. One of my friends called it "Devon's Adoration Procession!"

Page's runs
So off the high of Devon's success, Page had to run. Page had a nice Standard run. I forgot that the on side angled weave entrance presented in this course is the one Page struggles with. She blew past the weaves and I had to redo them. That was totally my fault for assuming her weaves didn't need to be supported.

Page handled the rest of the middle section of the course very well. This was the same as the Excellent course, so it gives me a clue of what she will do in the future. I was very pleased with her going to the chute after the table. That was a very difficult section of the course in Excellent.

Unfortunately I pushed Page off a jump moving into position for a front cross. I forgot we already had a refusal, because I would have just gone on had I remembered. Turning her around put me out of position and I had to rear cross the teeter. At least Page told me she could do that! This was a really nice run for a baby dog! Too bad I didn't handle it better.



Now for JWW. You know when you want to just redo a part of your day to make it better. Well, Open JWW was that for me. It was a really nice course and I wanted to enjoy it. But I was worried about supporting the first jump. I was so concerned about where I was on course and what I was doing, that I wasn't connected with Page. Because of that, she came around a jump.

Page going around a jump should be no big deal, but I was mad at myself, and I said "Darn it." It was my biggest mistake. A month ago I said Darn it when she dropped a bar on course. I didn't notice any reaction from Page in that run; but the next day when she dropped a bar, she showed some mild stress behavior in the rest of the run.

Now keep in mind I didn't even say, "Darn it" very loud. No one in the gallery heard me, and you cannot hear it on the tape in either run. But it was enough for my baby dog. Page handles the two tunnels well, but she goes around the next two jumps. I supported the next jump and she went in the wrong direction so I had to call her. When she missed the weave entrance that was it -- she started sniffing the ground and then ran to a ring steward.

I was devastated. I stood frozen for what seemed like minutes watching my wonderful baby girl sniff the ground and not come to me -- and it was all my fault. Page is a strong confident girl, but I had forgotten she is only 19 months old. She's a baby. She may have skills above her age level and a work ethic that few dogs have, but she's a baby.

Page did come back to me (and the video shows it wasn't minutes and probably not nearly as bad as I thought it was) and we finished the course. But I made some pretty strong resolutions after the run (and Page got lots of screw up cookies from me!). I need to connect more with Page and work on our teamwork on course; that should be my only goal for each run. I also need to praise her more on course so she clearly knows what she's doing well. I also vowed that I would never react to mistakes again -- her mistakes or mine! I also realized that the tugging on the leash going into the ring that started a few weeks ago is likely stress. It's getting worse over time, not better.



At the end of an exhausting day, I was proud of my girls. I always am. I'm privileged to walk to the line with each of them and I'm the luckiest person who gets to take them home. And to support them, I took home some valuable lessons for me, too!