Good and Bad News (Incredipaws Trial)

I posted last weekend that Bentley seemed a bit off.  Diana even recommended that we take more time off since she has dealt with several similar issues, and I didn't listen (bad me).

Bentley: Masters Gamblers.
He did awesome!  I sometimes wonder if he'll ever be able to get his ADCh simply because of gamblers--and today he showed me he'll get there--he got a Q and I was so very proud of him!



Unfortunately, this was his only run of the weekend.  Jonathan took him out of his crate an hour or so later to run Standard and he was limping pretty severely.  So, he was scratched the rest of the weekend.  He'll see a vet this coming week.  I really hope it's nothing serious.  (I should note that we took a lot of time stretching him, observing him, and warming him up before his gamblers run and he showed no sign of any issue, and he ran with no issue as well which all seems very odd).

Lexi, I think, enjoyed being the only dog and had an amazing weekend.  I don't want to set the expectations too high, but I can't believe how much she improves with each trial.  I also think that my handling is getting better and I am feeling less and less nervous before the runs (I am sure all those things are related!)

Now here are all of Lexi's videos--
(NOTE:  See all course maps at bottom of page)

Masters Gamblers:
I was honestly surprised that Lexi didn't get this one (though I think she did consider it!).  I thought her handling prior to the gamble was quite nice.


Grand Prix: Q
Baby girl looked awesome!  I made her hold her contacts for a long time, and she still got 1st place and the bye!  I'm so excited.  Can't believe how well she collected coming around the 180 wrap.  Maybe the first time that she truly collected in a trial!


Masters Pairs: Q
Can you tell that Jonathan was nervous?  His partner told him before the run that this was for her dog's ADCh!  Anyways, he played it safe and managed a Q for her.


Masters Standard: Q
Lexi's first Masters Standard run, and she nailed it! I still need to do a little work on cuing using decel as well  as cuing 180s since she tends to go really wide, but we will get there.


Steeplechase:
I will try not to say much about this video--but I will say that this is the first weekend that I felt like I had an advantage having run Lexi in class exclusively over the past month or so.  You can tell that I'm frustrated with the run by my poor video skills!


Masters Snooker: Q
I will say that I think Jonathan was disappointed that Lexi didn't do better--clearly she was quite "offended" at the off set weave poles!  We were both very surprised that this seemed to stump her because several months ago when we were retraining weaves we set them up like this and she had no issue!  Not sure what she was thinking.


Masters Standard:
No Q, but I was pleased with several of the things she did (though she needs a little table work!)  I am fully convinced that she missed the weave poles because of the previous run (snooker).  I think she was a bit worried about them and when she doesn't think she can do it she tries to run past--hence why I put on my angry face and made her do them correctly.  Her turn to the teeter was picture perfect, but she slipped right before taking the jump and took the bar, I was still very pleased!  Then I slowed down too late to cue the parallel jump behind the a-frame, and just continued on.  Great job on the tunnel/tunnel/dogwalk though :)


Masters Jumpers:
My little rocket girl!  She ran this course only slower than 2 dogs (across ALL heights)--and one of them was Linda Mecklenburg's dog who only ran .04 seconds faster than Lexi (6 YPS, by the way).  Of course her speed caused a bar, but I'm very proud of my baby dog!


Saturday (Gamblers, Standard, Pairs then Grand Prix and Steeplechase)

Sunday: Snooker, Standard, Jumpers