Wow, what a weekend Gusto and I had together as a TEAM. He was absolutely wonderful - kept all his bars up, all weekend long. We ran 4 runs total and he handled so nicely. First run of the weekend was Standard; it was a nice course and I felt good about my handling decisions. He ran it really well and should have qualified except that I put a front cross in the wrong location and pulled him past the jump so he got a refusal. Otherwise, very nice run. Next run was Gamblers - he did very well on that course but didn't get the Gamble because I didn't set him up correctly to turn him back to a chute that was not apparent to the dog.
Next run was Grand Prix - I needed this for the 2009 qualifying period and have not been running Grand Prix courses very well. Mental block, too technical, bad timing - whatever the reason, it hasn't gone well. When I walked the course, there were some tough portions but otherwise, a nice course. I felt good about my decisions but wasn't sure if he could keep the bars up due to some required talking to kept them on course. The talking has caused me issues with the bars. Anyway, we ran it conservatively, just trying to keep him on course and all bars up. I held his contacts for a beat and took some inhaled breaths at the contacts to keep my wits about me. He ran it clean - an even 32 seconds. The 22 inch dogs went under 32 seconds - both dogs that did that have running contacts one of which is Rosanne DeMascio's Kiba. Great little dog that can run a very tight path. The only other dog to run the GP clean at 26 was Julie Luckcraft's Strider. Everyone else faulted. Bridget McKnights Kestrel ran slightly faster (31.8ish) and she has full running contacts - got called for the up contact on the teeter. It was a tough line and very easy to nearly push your dog off which several handlers did. I was so thrilled to win and get my very first BYE for a Regional. He needs one more GP Q at 26 and then I will drop him to 22 to get him qualified at that height too.
Sunday, I was only running his first class so I could get home to watch Devin's football team lose another game - sigh. Our first class was Standard and it was a really nice course with some tricky sections. The 22 inch class ran first so I got to watch how some teams ran it. I felt confident with my handling decisions so I stuck with my plan. I walked it with a couple things in mind in the tricky parts and told myself not to rush through those sections and maintain connection with Gusto. He was wonderful, didn't put a foot wrong. No wide turns, no near call offs, no bars down - perfect! That standard leg Q earned him his MAD title - yay! He ran it in 40.22 seconds. The fastest time out of the 2 big dogs heights (not sure what the smaller dogs ran it in). The next fastest time was 45 ish, I believe. Not sure what the second place dog ran it in - I was checking times of dogs with running contacts to see how I stack up. I held his contacts but not as long as I had on Saturday - I ran that course trying to see how well I could run it to warm me up for Nationals. I felt amazing!!!!!
The weather could not have been nicer. It was cool in the AM but the sun would quickly warm you up. Not too hot - just perfect. And his MAD title and winning the class was the perfect ending!
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3 comments:
Kiba and the dog that won were under 31 seconds (she was 30.8), actually. Not to belittle you or anything, but the 22's had several more under 32 seconds - all fast dogs that didn't hold contacts though. And jumping 4" less than Gusto!
I knew they went under 32 but couldn't remember the actual times. Those were some fast fast times.
Well the only dog aside from Kiba that did sub-31 was full-running contact AND sure looked like it missed the dogwalk yellow.
But hey, 4 for 4 or whatever you did with NO bars is GREAT!
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