Agility practice

We had a dog show on Sunday, and although my boys and I practiced on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday before it, it did not go well.

It was the first champ show of the year, and at Champ shows, the winning dog in the top grade is awarded a Qualification Certificate (QC), and when the dog has three QC's, the dog earns the title of Champion.

Baloo is a Dog Jumping Champion as well as an Non-Contact Agility Champion, but in Contact Agility he only has one QC, therefore needs 2 more .... I of course badly want these last two Qc's, and you know, the more you want something, the harder you try but the more nervous and stressed you are ... I try not to be nervous at a biggish competition like this, but the boys pick it up very quickly and then don't perform well.

On the bright side, Baloo did go well in Dog Jumping on a very tight course - he is a big dog with a long stride, so usually tight courses don't suit him .... this time he turmed tightly after each jump and responded so well to me .. even though we were disqualified the second to last obstacle I am still pleased with that round. Ozz went well for a youngster too - he got two second places (one in each Aglity of his Agility classes).

I still felt down in the dumps Sunday after the show, but decided to take it as a learning experience and keep practicing.

So on Monday we practiced just the contacts and the weavepoles:


Ozz, Monday 26 April 2010

And on Tuesday, I set up a mini-course in the garden:


Baloo, Tuesday 27 April 2010

This afternoon we are going to practice at the club, and by continuing like this, hopefully we will soon be at the top of our game again ...