The End and the Beginning

It was a bitter sweet this last weekend of January.
We had our first agility trial of the year.
Grommit retired from AKC agility with a spectacular 60th Double Q and a final AKC title of MACH 3. My first dog, my first agility and flyball dog is turning ten years old in a few months. I have decided that while he's still a great jumper, I will not be competing with him at full height, 22 or 20 inches.
Last December he earned that last elusive Pairs leg and a final Championship title of ADCH-Silver. From now on, he gets to jump only 16inches with a lowered A-frame.
After last fall AKC trial, he was one DQ short of a MACH 3, and I promised him, no more after this trial. He knew it, he smoked the courses on the first day, placing 3rd in Standard in the 20inch class, right after Banshee and Lexie. Not bad for an ol'man.
The rest of the weekend was his, lounging at home with chewies. He did not seem to miss us at all.

Meanwhile, the girls and I continued on with the weekend in Farmington and some awesome runs.
Riot made her agility debut on Friday with a shaky FAST run. We were both lacking confidence on the course and probably in each other. It's been over 6 years since I had a novice dog and I am sure my nerves and a near panic attack rubbed off on her.


The second run though was something different. We got it together and connected.
It was a clean Jumpers with Weaves run and a well deserved Q.
The next day we did it again and even faster. The serpentines, the 180 on the jumps, backcross into the weaves, front and rear crosses, all flowed so smooth.
I was beyond belief how well we were putting it together.


Sunday was even more awesome. Even though she knocked a bar toward the end, the run itself was the fastest one, of the class and for her.


As I will be adjusting to running a small dog, with shorter stride, we will be experimenting for a while. I am however thrilled as to how well we both ended the weekend and I am looking forward to a great journey with this baby dog.
Here's the video montage of her runs, from day 1 to day 3.






Of course in all that, as my first dog retires and my third dog gets her paws 'dirty' on the agility course, Banshee holds her own. She and I perform like a well oiled machine all weekend, going for 5 of 6 clean runs. That one NQ was Banshee brain fart moment when she decided Touch-Stay on the Aframe cue from me was over rated and she much preferred leaping off.
The next day, she didn't get to run the contacts at all and had to hold 2on2off on both the DW and Aframe. Too bad, so sad :-)

Winter and the cold is still well settled in, so the winter blues continue. It's hard to train when the temps dip to single digits and it doesn't even get above freezing during the day.
Would like to emerge out of my hibernation status pretty soon though. I've got so much to do, so much to train, so much fun just waiting around the corner .....
:-)

Photo credits go to Randy Gaines Photography.