First Trial of The Year In Kingston

We don't attend competitions that often so trials are still very important to me.  I was looking forward to the Morning Star Trial because the venue is wonderful, the organisors very welcoming and Jasmine's comfort level very high in the soccer dome

I registered us in one event only, starters jumpers.  I arrived the afternoon before to take the time to settle in and avoid having to worry about the road conditions.  Mother Nature cooperated and we only had to cope with the cold.  We still attended flyball practice in the morning and this resulted in my nodding off on the road somewhere around Spencerville.  Good thing the highway has those grooves in the pavement on the side.  It jerked me awake and I was able to steer the car back on the road.  I consider myself very lucky and next time, I'll go to bed very early if I have to do a long drive somewhere on my own the next day.

Sunday morning was a bit warmer, around -15 degrees celcius and the venue, which is really soccer dome was warm enough.  Our run was the first of the day.

I'll scan the course and upload it later, but I was surprised to see a rear cross was required in there.  I've practiced it before with Jasmine and even included it in fun matches but who knows how it'll work in a competitive environnent?  Needless to say I wasn't impressed.  I could always have done a front cross instead, but Jasmine being the little speed devil she is, I'm pretty certain I wouln't have been able to position myself in time to do it.

Needless to say, in the end, all this debating wasn't necessary.  Jasmine avoided a jump and when I directed her to take it again, I positioned myself on the other side and the rear cross wasn't required anymore.

What didn't work out

We got two refusals, both of them were jumps.  The first time, Jasmine tried to avoid one.  The second, she was sucked in by the black hole which is actually the soccer goal.  She also tried to enter the tunnel by the wrong end, but I was able to avoid the judge's "hand up".  I'm still not sure how that happened.  By the by, the "black hole" refusal was supposed to be avoided by my great presense of mind and my calling her while she was still in the tunnel.  Been there and called her too late.  The black hole sucked her in instead. : )

I got carried away with my chatting before the run.  I met a handler who has bichons and both dogs hit it off right away.  I also have a flyball buddy whose little chihouaoua is in the same height as we are, so I was talking a mile a minute and was having a bit too much fun.  It seems that I'm one of those handlers who MUST focus on her dog and her course before a run.  Poo!  I'll have to limit my talking.  Sheesh!


Result:  We finished the course in 34.09 seconds (the max was 41 seconds) with 10 points deducted.  I guess that's two faults?

What worked well

Jasmine didn't zoom around, hurray!  She stayed by my side like the good little girl she now is.  I also tried not to use my arms and run silent but her avoiding that first jump affected my confidence so I called a few obstacles and pointed when it wasn't necessary.

Jasmine is very comfortable at Morning Star.  Her tail is up and she trots in a cheerful way.   Stress was pretty much absent all weekend.

What was weird

I decided to walk with her at the starline, so while I was "on deck",  I put her down.  Mademoiselle trotted off to investigate a table and chair left aside for the judge.  She's never done that before.   I called her back, picked her up, put her at the startline and kept a hand on her back until our turn.  That's not something I want to repeat. 

Here is the video.  Enjoy!