Minus 29 Degrees Celcius and Counting...

Ah, the joys of living in Canada!  The forecast for today called for -29 degrees Celsius, so no use in risking it.  Dress in many layers, keep your car full of gas, put in the little bottle that will prevent you gas line to freeze, bring your Winter Survival Kit in the car (candle, extra blanket, matches), put on your warmest coat and you can be sure nothing will happen.

And nothing did!  : )

It was minus 7 degrees in my garage, but by the time I was at Tim Horton's a mere 300 metres away, it was -19.  Yup, that cold.

Although Jasmine and I haven't been training or practicing very much lately, I was adamant that I participate at least in one "official" run in January.  AARF is one of our favorite venues as everyone is so friendly and things are relaxed, which is my kind of competition.  We're also getting more and more comfortable out there and I definitely don't was to lose that!

I was working yesterday, so obviously I hadn't registered Jasmine in any event.  Today, the only run we could participate in was advance jumpers, so we "jumped" at the possibility! 

At our last handling class, even I realised that my timing sucked.  This is apparent again in this run.  (groan). 

Some observations

At the startline, Jasmine is usually happier if I don't carry her in.  I have no idea why I did since for the past 3 trials, I've been keeping her on leash until I ask her to sit.  Oh well.  We were the last to run, but that's quite common for us.

During classes, our instructor usually tells me "call her while she's in the tunnel!".  My "duh" moment was to wonder why, but today, I have the answer.  Jasmine does sometime look for me at the exit, but most often than not, she doesn't.  Consequently, it's not surprising she barrelled out, and kept on running straight ahead.

My usual routine

At this point, my usual routine is to blank out all my logical thinking, which of course, I did.  I didn't handle the next sequence very well, so Jasmine ran around the second jump.  My carefully planned threadle after jump, tunnel disappeared from my mind.  My mind is still on the forgotten threadle when it's time for the front cross after the last tunnel, so my timing sucks.  Jazz hesitates a bit at this.  The rest of the course goes well, except for the last two jumps.

Running out of the ring for her reward


I realised last July, that Jasmine was leaving the ring, sometimes in the middle of a course, to go for her reward. Since then, I've made her finish her courses by calling her back in the ring.  At the last trial in AARF, it was so obvious...  She ignored her last two runs, went for the table where the bowl of treats were. 

At our last handling class, Jasmine pulled her leaving the "ring" trick again.  My instructor then suggested to "make" her tug as a reward instead.  I did this at our second try, and it worked.

The result of this shows today as well.  Jasmine doesn't leave the ring completely, but stops, comes back to me, and finishes the run.  Not bad!  Progress!!!!

Watching the video afterwards


A bit funny.  As I'm watching the video now, the judge raises her hands so many times to note our faults, I feel as if she waving at me.....

AARF Jan. 30th, 2010

Never will I write such a long post!  My previous entry tends to go on, and on, and I haven't even finished translating it for the French blog, that already something new has happened. 

Yesterday was our second trial of the month and the first one ever at AARF.  The facility is in beautiful historic Spencerville Village, Ontario.  How I love these small communities who don't tare down their historical buildings. 

During the last few days, our area has been hit by cold weather and when I started my car this morning, I could read -25 degrees Celcius on the dashboard.  Good thing I plugged the thing last night because the motor cooperated and started like a charm.

As much as I try to treat Jasmine like a big dog, I do put my foot down when she's cranky, and that's what she is when it's really, really cold.  Therefore, I made the poor creature wear her Winter coat, which I'm sure she considers it very humiliating indeed.  However, as the day went on, the temperature got warmer to a more comfortable -15 degrees and the coat was no longer necessary.  Jasmine was free to trot proudly around.

Here is the video of the Starters Jumpers Run.  I chose to do a lead-out since Jasmine has always been very good at them.  This time, I hold her quite securely in my arms to the startline, remembering quite well what happened at MorningStar earlier this month.  Once in sit-stay, I bravely run to the third jump in the sequence (I've never done that in a trial before) and release her.

What worked well

• The lead-out
• The tire (I was a bit worried about this obstacle, since Jasmine ignored it twice at the fun match two weeks ago)
• Jasmine took the first tunnel with no hesitation.  In a past life, she would have gone straight outside the ring to investigate.
• Yes, she did zoom, but came back to me every time.  : )
• I was suprised that Jasmine didn't try to gorge herself with the footing.  This arena is usually used with horses.

What didn't work so well

• Forgot to call her after the first tunnel, even though Seebee had warned me to.  I was too much relieved after the lead-out, tire, tunnel sequence, that I forgot her suggestions.
• Jasmine went straight out after the first jump of the pinwheel, something that happens quite often lately.
• She's coming at an angle at the winged jump, resulting in throwing her off her line and zooming away.  I didn't expect that.

All in all, I should be quite proud of her.  I must admit that I was quite discouraged on my return yesterday thinking about Jasmine's zoomies and ring crew/judge socialising, I was seeing myself back to the drawing board, training, training, and training.  Now, a day later, I can watch our performance with pride.  Yes, we have come a long way.