Why couldn't we be last???

Last place team got some nice gift baskets!! Darn it! We were second to last. :P

It was a GREAT trial, ran smoothly and fast, we were done by 1:00 yesterday so I managed to get home and get a nice farm walk and even my jobs done early! Yay!

My team had too many E's. They were all very simple E's, but an E is an E and that hurt us. Spur ran GREAT, though, and I am very happy. His tail was WHIPPING back and forth on the start line each run, he took off really fast, he ran his heart out this weekend. We got many comments, so I couldn't be happier, really. And my teammate was cool about not qualifying and was pleased her dog only knocked bars the first couple runs. I guess he is a bar knocker.

I feel like Spur and I are finally figuring things out. Our start line is SO much better. I just grab his little body and focus him on the first obstacle and off we go. It is working!!! I think of the years of working on a start line behavior with Roscoe and never really figuring it out. With Spur it just happened one day. He was SO wanting to go say HI to the leash runner, so I had to grab him and make him stay focused. He didn't really like it, but it essentially took his options away, keeping him focused on his job. He is such a social butterfly it is hard to tear him away from the leash runner, at times. So, this works. And has worked now for several trials and I see him bolting off the start faster every time. It's cool! We are evolving!!!

Great weekend and I can't WAIT for his next team. I SO hope we Q next time.

Here is his standard run. He managed to hold it together to do his teeter. You can see after it that he worries about the recoil, but this is a very soft landing teeter. Then for some reason he reads the turn at the jump before the dog walk as a back cross and then back jumped it to cause an E. Oh well! There were times he looked REALLY happy and he sure had super fast weaves! Love how he starts lowering his head and diving into them as he is finishing them!! Good little Monkey Pants!!! -