“Say what?” you think, glancing at the calendar. “That must be a mistake it’s only mid-October!” Has she gone mad? Does she not know what month it is?

Yesterday I was wearing a down jacket (with 3 layers underneath), 2 pairs of pants, gloves and a hat. I was bundled up like that kid in the Christmas Story movie and I was STILL cold! I don’t care what the calendar says – that’s WINTER. And pouring rain too. Exactly the kind of day I would have stayed home, if it weren’t my own club’s trial!

Saturday actually wasn’t half bad. It was cold and cloudy but the rain held off. We all had a pretty good time.

Saturday started with Novice JWW – I had entered Raven and Bryce (just for fun). Unfortunately, the timing of it being the first class of the day, having to get Raven measured, and having to run Bryce in the same class and height meant I had to leave Raven with other people a couple of times and she was clingy and insecure when I went to run her, popping out of a tunnel multiple times and jumping up at me again. I convinced her to settle down mid-course and the second half was very nice. I was pleased with that – to me, it’s better to have the second half of a course come together than to have a great first half that falls apart!

Bryce ran beautifully (clean, 1st place run) and had a great time :). It was a big difference from last year when I pulled him because he was too sick. I have to run him at 12″ in AKC – I don’t run him 12″ indoors any more because I think it’s harder on his feet/toes but outside on soft grass he’s fine at that height. He was very pleased with himself and wanted to run again, but since that was all he was entered in he had to settle for some walks and ringside schmoozing. He was OK with that too.

Jayda was in Open JWW. I don’t know if it was nerves or excitement from the cold, but Miss Perfect Poles tried to scramble through the weaves WAY faster than she usually does them and couldn’t stay in. Twice. She was back to her normal speed later in Standard, but she popped the end – I was probably hovering because of her earlier performance (bad handler.) Anyway, it was just 1 R, so it was her first Open std. Q. I was proud that I was able to manouver her past an offcourse A-frame on one side and an offcourse jump on the other side of the opening sequence, each of which took out a lot of teams!

Sunday was pretty much a washout. Bryce wasn’t entered and I didn’t want to soak/freeze the babydog. I ran Jayda and she was doing well in Standard again until something spooked her at the weaves (a flapping tent? Someone in scary rain gear?) and she froze like a deer in the headlights. I managed to get her through them – a pole at a time and lots of in-her-face coaxing. I was certain we had a string of “R”‘s on or sheet for that, but we went on. The rest was fine except where I assumed she’d run right into the chute and she ran past it instead. Turned out she only had ONE R for the weaves and that second one cost us a Q! Once again, my bad.

“Work Every Obstacle” and “It’s Never Over ‘Til It’s Over”!