Sunday, November 6, 2011

Legend's magic number

Three.  Yep, she was able to complete all the contacts yesterday and picked up QQ number 17.  Friday she also had a Q in jumpers.  In standard the a-frame was the second obstacle netting us a refusal.  I abandoned my plan (at least for the day) to re-do the obstacle, leave and reward because there was a really cool layering opportunity I wanted to try if we had NQ'd by that point.  Coming off the dogwalk I was able to flip her 180 degrees away from me over a jump and then into the weave poles with the dogwalk/tunnel ensemble between us.  She popped out of the poles early but essentially did the the layering!  I was happy and several people noticed-this is not commonly attempted in AKC.  Today she took a bar down in a clean jumpers run and had a teeter refusal (obstacle number 3).  Into my "get her over the stress of contact obstacles" regimen we are adding doing a low a-frame or teeter anytime she wants the ball thrown for her outside.  No free fetching for awhile. 

And my new cookie strategy for Lyric worked great.  She got no cookies before running and was heavily rewarded as close to the ring as possible.  Which makes sense really-she's a pretty simple dog to figure out, unlike her sister!  Anyway, it worked great and she ran much faster this weekend than she has been.  She picked up two jumpers Q's and 3 of her 4 NQ's were strictly due to not finishing the weave poles.  She did bail off the teeter today as well.  But I'm happy with her weekend and think she's on the right track again. And she is doing lovely rear crosses in both directions and into tunnels!

Now it's four days to get ready for the next trial!

7 comments:

Border Collie Mom said...

ohhhh. I wanted to try that same layer, but I had a double Q on the line and didn't want to risk it. I figured I could get Maggie into the weaves, but was not sure she would stay in them with the dogwalk between us. Sounds like I was probably right.
You guys looked really sharp this weekend...

Greg S said...

17 - you are getting really close! Congrats on the good runs. Sometimes it's actually fun to NQ a run early on and open up that opportunity to try something you normally wouldn't!

Karissa said...

Getting close!! Don't be like I was when the NATCH started getting close. lol I started to bomb Chances courses left & right with the stupidest handling errors you can imagine. I don't usually have a problem with nerves, but they really got the better of me during that time!

And YAY for blowing the minds of all those AKC people. I always love to hear about people doing mad distance skillz at AKC trials. :o) I bet it was awesome.

Sue said...

Yes, those little dogs have simple desires, F O O D. Lucy would do anything for food.

tervnmal said...

That's awesome! 3 is a wonderful number!

Kathy Mocharnuk said...

Good job, congrats on QQ #17, sooo close...

Chris and Ricky said...

Sounds like an awesome trial - #17 - won't be long now! So exciting!