Mika trial April 17, 2011

After this post, I'll be caught up with trials; phew!

Again, we ran two Masters Gamblers at this trial.

I love how Mika started off our first run (shown below); I started with her and she just blasted off when I let her go. A couple times during this run, she thought I was rear crossing and flipped away from me, when in reality I was trying to cue a same-side turn...I guess that's a sign that my RC's haven't been so great lately. She also did a huge leap over the apex of the A-frame in this run, which I was thrilled about! (It's hard to see in the video, unfortunately.) We didn't get the gamble; I got stuck on the line.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUeGvELfRqk



Our second run was fun too. There was a malfunction or something with the timer, so we had to wait on the line a few minutes as they got that sorted out. I held Mika for the first couple of minutes, but she was whining and just really wanted to run, so I tugged with her using her leash. I didn't expect her to tug because I thought she'd be stressed from all the waiting, but she was such a good girl and tugged intensely like her usual self! As for the actual run, it went pretty well. There was one point in the opening where Mika anticipated my turn cue at the tire and stopped in front of it; I have to work on re-building her obstacle focus (and I spent so much time last year trying to lessen her obstacle focus, haha!). There's such a fine balance between too much and not enough obstacle focus. With the gamble, Mika didn't see the jump she was supposed to take and came back to me instead of staying out. I should have gotten back from the line some more so I could give a more obvious push. Oh well :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IROszzCXmDU

*****

On another note, our agility club set up the field today, woohoo!! I have to submit my membership/waiver today, and then tomorrow I hope to go to the field with both dogs and train on part of a challenging jumpers course from a forum I go on. I'm so excited for this year and what we will hopefully accomplish, mostly in terms of training. Remember, as I said at the beginning of the year, this is our "Year of Progress" :)