Yes, it seems that three weeks have slipped by without a single blog post from little old me. As I sit in my bed at just past 1 AM on this dreary, rainy night, I think it's finally time for a little update!
The first week in April, we went to one of my favorite trials, a two-day event about forty five minutes away. MargeDog and I were lucky enough to get to stay in my friend's new RV (she literally traded in her smaller one and bought this new one only about 48 hours before the trial!).
I won't post everything from the trial since it was so long ago, but we had two nice runs in Standard (including one where we NQ'd on the second to last obstacle, and another where our only mistake was the weave poles), one wonky Jumpers run on a super hard course, and one clean Jumpers run for Marge's fifth MXJ leg out of ten needed.
We had a lovely run and the course played extremely well to Marge's running style, but encountered a bit of trouble at the back tunnel. Some judges call a tunnel entry like that as a fault, and some do not. I have been on both the winning and losing side of that call.. and that day, I was on the winning side. Lucky.
I also ran Spirit, the Golden Retriever, to her AXJ, while her mom was at a bridal shower, and had a smoking run with Arrow, but bars came down. We got to watch Amy and Layla earn their AXJ as well.
Anyway.. now to a bit more modern times! Today, Sunday, I had a 1-day agility trial way out in Long Island, about an hour and forty five minutes away. Rain was in the forecast and I strongly deliberated about not going, but Louie and I took a chance on it.
We got through the morning without much weather trouble. Thankfully, when it was my turn in the ring in Standard, no rain was falling. I always hate to run Standard in the rain, since I don't think Marge likes climbing on wet obstacles. Fortunately, it wasn't an issue.
She had an absolutely beautiful Standard run. I really liked her speed, her focus, everything. Her teeter looked wonderful and it was so quick that it actually took me by surprise a bit (hence the botched front cross!). We managed a Q for 15 MACH points, putting our total number of points at 55. Only 695 to go!
With a double Q on the line, I decided to stick around for Jumpers. The rain was really starting to come down, but since there were no contact obstacles involved, I didn't mind giving a run in the rain a try.
Marge was quite animated outside of the ring, barking and jumping, so she didn't appear to be
too bothered by the weather. When she got in the ring, she was definitely moving at a snail's pace, but picked things up a lot at the end.
We didn't qualify, because I didn't support the double after the weaves and she didn't even think of taking it. She also went in the wrong end of the tunnel at the end of the course.
Oh well. I appreciated her effort, since I know running in the rain isn't her most favorite thing in the world, so she got a whole snack baggie full of meatballs and chicken after the run.
Well, I've got lots more to update about, but I'll save it for another post.
