Well I wouldn't say it was quite a success but it wasn't a waste of money either! We (at least Vanilla) had fun, got a lot of experience, and some good runs whether or not we qualified. First day I was a nervous wreck and could hardly communicate, thankfully my husband was taking care of all the necessities and I could just focus on focusing :). I survived though, and Vanilla ofcourse was perfectly herself, maybe a little bit more yappy. First run was a standard course, pretty nice otherwise but had a rear cross in the end that I dreaded. I thought our problems would be weaves and/or the rear cross or me forgetting the course, or Vanilla jumping the A-frame. Well. Not quite. Instead of any of these mistakes (these all went nicely), Vanilla ran through the teeter (for the first time in ages), then I forgot to wait for the go on the table (what an idiot!), and then I didn't get Vanilla in the tunnel on the first attempt: I turned towards the next obstacle too early, Vanilla caught it and pulled away from the tunnel. So there we go.
I was hoping for a little more success on the jumpers course, but I was babysitting Vanilla's weaves (2.nd obstacle) by stepping in and Vanilla pushed away and entered incorrectly. Well, another try and everything went well, only thing was that while redoing the weaves I blacked out on the course and ofcourse didn't find the right obstacle. After recovering we did the rest of the course beautifully and a lot of people commented how fast Vanilla was.
I was convinced that the second day would go better. Now I knew that Vanilla could do it, that I could do it, I wasn't quite as nervous, even though I still had shaky hands. We went on the standard course me having decided that this time the teeter will go well and I will wait on the table for the judge. The waiting part did go well ofcourse, but this time Vanilla did the thing I expected the first day -> ran so fast that she couldn't stop on the table. After that we also had problems entering the weaves again and she ran full speed through the teeter!! I just couldn't believe it. And I even told her more firmly this time to slow down. Ah, I guess it was my speed that made her run faster, I should have slowed down more myself, both for the table and the teeter.
Good parts were the nice contacts on dog walk and A-frame again today! We've definitely made progress on that part during the last year! She looked really good!
The last course of the weekend was the second Jumpers with weaves- course (JWW) and that went awesome! I even did two rear crosses, both to the easier and the harder side, Vanilla was watching me so well! I remembered the course and was running full speed towards the goal and then.... Vanilla dropped the second to last bar.. argh :) But she did SO well, I should've ran a little slower I guess. Maybe next time I can handle myself a little better, I'm sure most (if not all) our mistakes are due to my own errors in handling! Looking forward to our next time in the agility ring!
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