(I’ve been a bad blogger lately – put my neck out and spent most of last week with a nasty headache from it, so I’m just catching up now!)

We spent the weekend of 2/23-24 at another very successful CPE trial. It almost didn’t happen – a storm came through Friday dumping 9 inches of snow on us (and some sleet and freezing rain for good measure)! Happily, it cleared out Friday night and the roads, while a mess, were driveable Saturday – though my poor car was COVERED in road salt!

Here’s what my yard looked like AFTER several days above-freezing!

No, we weren’t running in that snow! The trial was a 1 ring trial, indoors at our training building.

Long story short, Bryce went 9 for 10 and finished 2 more titles. The surprise of the weekend? So did Jayda! And she would have made it a perfect 10, but for an error in judgement on my part (more on that later). Her 2 titles were both level 2 (5 levels in CPE) but 5 of her qualifying runs were level 3 and one was at level 4! She may never set any land speed records, but she has good, solid technique, is a very honest girl, and is getting faster as she gains confidence.

CPE is an easy and fun venue for the dogs, but I personally find it exhausting as a handler. There are 7 different classes in CPE, most trials offer 4-5 runs a day. And unlike other venues, only two of the classes (Standard and Jumpers) are the customary “follow the numbers” type. The others involve anything from simple choices (Colors, Wildcard) to games where most or all of the “course” is left to the handler (Jackpot, Fullhouse, Snooker). Maybe I’ll post some sample courses if I have time to scan them this week.

I find I not only spend more time during the walk through figuring out my strategy, but then I have to REMEMBER it! Multiply this by 2 dogs at different levels and with different issues and you can see how tricky this can get. I NQ’d Jayda’s first Fullhouse run of the weekend when I forgot that with her I *need* to get maximum points in minimum time and sent her through a time-consuming 3 pt tunnel instead of over a quick and easy 5 point double jump, finishing one point short.

Raven spent Saturday with my neighbors – playing with their dogs, with them and with the snow in their yard. They had cleared an area of their yard for the dogs to play in… so where does Raven go? Dives into the 9″ deep snow and starts rolling around in it! Yep – that’s Bryce’s niece all right !

Sunday I brought her with us and was very pleased with her. It was her first time at a trial with us and she was very good – not too much fussing in her crate – and she was totally unphased by all the noise and commotion! She met a bunch of new dogs and people (and played with any of them who would have her) and got to watch the trial a little. She was FASCINATED – very intent on watching the other dogs run through the course.

She moved into her new “big girl crate” last week. I’ve noticed that Bryce and Jayda both sleep curled up in a little ball, but Raven prefers to sleep stretched out flat on her side – the smallest dog takes up the most space!