We got a Q!

It was Coulee's first agility trial and I am sooo proud of her. She has done everything I've asked and done it well.

Our first run was gamblers and she was bang on. We gathered lots of points and should have easily nailed the gamble but she went around a jump instead of over it because I pulled off too early.

Our second run was Standards and I knew we would never get a Q because Coulee can't weave yet so no matter what, we were going to have some faults. Man is it ever easy to rack up a bunch of faults. We ran it quite clean. Aside from the weave poles, the only other bobble was her stepping onto the teeter (or maybe it was the dog walk, I can't remember!) akwardly so I called her off and we approached it at a better angle - that left us with 30 faults. But aside from what the number of faults says, I think we ran great.

Our last run of the day was Steeplechase - a really fast course with weave poles so again no possible Q. Coulee was having issues focusing before we even got in the ring - she kept searching the crowd for Marlin. He was trying to stay out of sight in case she spotted him from the ring and decided to go visit. Big mistake. All she wanted to do was figure out where he was. Even at the start line I was having trouble getting her to look at me and do basic commands. Regardless, she ran quite well except when I lost my way and she didn't know where she was supposed to go. The minute we were finished, she hopped the fence and went looking for Marlin.

Today we started with Standards (again there are weave poles so we couldn't get a Q) and we didn't quite have our act together. We bobbled a bit and she knocked a pole or two which really isn't like her. I realized after that I hadn't given her a food treat all day as I had been rewarding with a toy instead during warm-up, and I think she didn't connect as well with me because of that.

Our second run was Snookers and we got a Q!!!! Don't ask me to explain the game...I barely understand it myself! Apparently that doesn't really matter. Amanda and I mapped out a course so that we could get the points needed with out having to do those dreaded weave poles. And it worked. She ran GREAT! She was slower than usual (I think!) and I was able to keep up with her and give her directions before it was too late.

And then to top it off, she won "Judges Choice - Starter Dog"! Yeah for Coulee! I am on a roller coaster ride of emotions with agility - some days are great, other days...not so great. This weekend though was absolutely fabulous and was just what I needed. We have one more run to do - Jumpers and even if we knock every bar, we'll have had a great weekend. I'm so proud of her!!!

Everyone else with Go! Dog! Go! has also done great but I won't steal their thunder and I'll let them talk about it on their own blogs - Many Muddy Paws, Dig-it, Fetch-it, Herd-it, and Life with Berners (see blogroll for addresses).

All the pictures were taken by Amanda - thanks Amanda!