Oy, three day trials are tiring! Especially considering my normal work week....
Nationals was the biggest trial I've been to, but it didn't feel all that different from other trials at Clark County Fairgrounds, which was nice. I had no expectations of us (NONE), especially considering I was on my own for 10 days while John was out of town and was trying to work, hold down the fort, and then trial. Thank goodness for the parents or I never could have done it.
There were three runs a day, a standard and two of the six games per day. About 4-500 dogs entered, so lots of runs a day. I'll just try to sum up the major points.
Friday: Standard, Fullhouse, Wildcard
Friday Standard: Worst run of the weekend. I wish I could chalk it up to jitters, and some I can, but oy, some badness. Weave pole disaster. Griff acted like he couldn't see them, and then he popped out at the 5th pole multiple times. We didn't complete either set successfully, and they were only 6 poles. He also had an off course due to really poor handling on my part.
Fullhouse: Q and 3rd place. The only run we placed in. Pretty nice. I love Fullhouse.
Wildcard: Weave issues were present but mild. Consistently this ring made Griff dingy all weekend-I'm not sure if it was the open door, the pigeons, or the light changes. We still Qd.
Saturday: Standard, Jackpot, Jumpers
Standard: again weave poles. Why??? We have worked on nothing but, and he's unshakable in practice. I don't get it.
Jackpot: wow, a traditional Jackpot in which we Q? Amazing. He did come into me, but I was able to send him around the tire to the teeter...go Griff! And in the video, I can clearly see why I made him drop a bar....the wonder of video
Jumpers: ring 2-good run except in the last serpentine where he got distracted (pigeons? sparkly vampires? ) and actually had a time fault-first time ever!
Sunday: Standard, Snooker, Colors
Best day of the weekend. He was tired in colors, steady in standard, and did really well in Snooker.
Overall-I'm very glad I bought the video, even though I hate watching myself. I can see when I was late to cue, when my handling was less than stellar, and when I was working obstacles hard. It'll be good to review, even the crap runs.
He Q'd in 7/9, had four really great runs, 3 so-so, 2 bleh.
I'd really like to get this dog his C-ATCH. He's talented enough. Too bad he didn't get a better handler earlier in his career. Hopefully Zig will benefit from our mistakes.
This will probably be our only Nationals-I can't imagine traveling across the country for a trial-we just aren't that competitive. But it was a fun experience, even considering the time and exhaustion.
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