Contact Point Agility - USDAA Trial - March 4 - 5, 2006

Cinder got her ADCH!!!!!  Yay Binder-brain!  That pretty much sums up the trial.  Cin got a Master Gamblers leg (for her GM) AND a Super Q in Snooker on Saturday!  And another highlight was that my friend Terra and her old dog Shasta finished their ADCH as well!  It was bittersweet for me to watch Shasta run:  Shasta was one of Oso’s first girlfriends and I sure miss running the old guy.  Shasta and Terra have worked long and hard for this and a huge CONGRATS go out to them!  Bess had her first trial as well and that was “interesting.”  So a quick couple of highlights:

Bess ran with Kate Moureaux for her first couple of runs and although she tried hard for Kate, I realized as she was running around yet another jump that Bess has never seen wing jumps! Poor dog – I keep doing evil things to her like that!  Kate did a great job of training her to do wing jumps though – I ran her in the last class of the day (Started Snooker) and she not only Q’d, she won the class!  Good girl Bess!  She tried very hard for me the rest of the weekend but my gaps in training REALLY showed up.  Guess I know what I will be working on this week!

Patches had an interesting trial.  Her mother, Betty, was at the trial and Patches had a hard time (as usual) deciding whom she wanted to be with:  me or mom.  But the old girl (she will be 10 next week!) pulled through when it counted:  the last run of the weekend was the Performance Grand Prix and she needed one more leg to be qualified for the 2006 USDAA Nationals. She ran clean and is now qualified!  Yay Patch.  She also picked up another PIII Standard leg and earned her PS3 on Saturday.  Good girlie.

The star of the weekend was Cinder.  She has just been so amazing for me for the last six months or so.  She ALWAYS tries her heart out and is so honest.  To sum up, she qualified in Masters Jumpers both days, Masters Standard, Super Q’d in Snooker, Masters Gamblers, got her 2nd Grand Prix leg and took 5th place (and won more money!) in the second round of the Steeplechase.  She is the golden child.  We are really working as a team and I feel fortunate to have this amazing dog in my life.  ADCH Cinder!