Incredipaws: Day 1

What a long weekend!  I know, it's Wordless Wednesday, but I have way too much to say, and way too much to catch up on!  Because of the massive amounts of videos, and because both dogs are in most of the same classes, I'm going to post them by day.

The weekend was very long--but very successful.  Many people had not done USDAA before, so a friend, my husband and I were pretty much in charge of scorekeeping the entire event!

Day 1 began at 5pm, and ended at 11:30.

Masters Gamblers:

Bentley: I really, really though that Bentley could do this.  I was very hopeful.  Bentley needs 4 Gamblers Qs (and 4 Standard Qs, but those will come) for his ADCH and I know they will be so difficult.  Anyways, it didn't happen.  I don't think he even saw that jump out there.  Oh well!


Lexi Q:  Guess she liked the approach to the weaves better when I wasn't standing in her way!  I knew the entry would be tough, and was quite pleased when she got it the second time around.  There was some weird padding under the end of the dogwalk that stuck out, and I think it bothered Lexi.  It took her a few runs to want to get into position off the end.  At least she was still in her 2o2o!  Also, I opted to pull both dogs out of the tunnel and then send them back.  I knew that way I wouldn't run the risk of getting a refusal.  I really should have stood farther out and pushed both her and Bentley's lines (I just sort of stood on the line) but luckily Lexi looks for jumps, and decided at the last minute to get the gamble.


Grand Prix:

Bentley Q and 1st:  Bentley has never gotten a GP Q before--guess it was his lucky day!  He ended up coming in first and was awarded a bye at Nationals!  A little miscommunication coming off the a-frame (where's that 2o2o?!) but Jonathan kept him on track.


Lexi:  Well, I started off by doing a really poor lead out pivot.  Oops--bad handling for sure.   I thought her turn towards the dogwalk was nice.  I tried to make it a point to decelerate to get a nice send.  And then, my big mistake...I should have left her on the dogwalk and lead out, but I didn't.  Because of that I couldn't get ahead of her to direct her, and she came out of the chute way ahead of me and had no idea where to go.  Once I got her back on track I was impressed with what she did until she cut behind me on the FC.  I must not have cued her early enough, and plus I stood there waiting for her instead of moving.  I also thought she ended very nicely with the RC to a pretty teeter.


Steeplechase:

Bentley Q:  Very pleased with how Bentley went past the tunnel and the jump to the weaves--a VERY tricky section.  He wanted very much to cut behind me on the FC to the weaves, but made the right decision and didn't.  Then he ended nicely, though I made it a point to continue through the weaves so he wouldn't pop early.


Lexi:  Tough course for Lexi as there were a lot of places for potential off courses (from 5-6 especially).  Jonathan managed to keep her off the pitfalls, but it cost him time, and then on the way back around from 12 to 13 he put way too much forward motion in and not enough deceleration.  And then again, too much forward motion to the weaves (common theme, you'll notice).


Steeplechase Finals:
Bentley 1st:  Can you tell I was tired?  All the other 16" competitors had left, so I just had to run clean to win the money :)  Anyways, some seriously lazy (and conservative) handling in this run.  But my boy is a champ and ran okay despite it!