March 12, 2007

Dusty gets a qually


Dusty's second trial at Newcastle this past weekend. She had two runs - one in Standard Agility and one in Jumpers under ANKC rules.
We were second in the ring for Agility. I didn't really have Duz's attention and when she saw our instructor running in the next ring, she did the whole course looking over her shoulder. I thought it was a fairly difficult novice course with 90 degree turns away from discrimination obstacles - and it wasn't one we could do without her full attention.
By Jumpers, I had settled down and had taken the time to go through her pre-comp routine with stretches, focus tricks and settling obedience commands, and a game of tug. She had a great run, a couple of wide turns when I forgot that she needed much earlier cues than Thommo, but finished clear in 2/3 of the standard course time for a qualification and a third place medal.