The agility trial from hell!

I just got back from a great agility trial in Ririe, Idaho. Other than the fact that I don’t practice with my dogs, the trial went great and we came home with a few Qs. But being in the barn reminded me of the first trial I attended there — the agility trial from hell.

First, it was a three-day trial. I ASSumed that meant Excellent classes only on Friday afternoon; and a full trial on Saturday and Sunday.  Did I read the premium list? No. Of course not! So I left Bozeman Friday morning for a leisurely drive over the mountains, through a part of Yellowstone National Park, and down to Idaho. I arrived around noon — plenty of time to set up the store and get settled before the trial started – not!

Of course, it was a full day trial, and I’d missed the morning runs.

I got there just in time to quickly walk Novice JWW. Harley was the first 24″ dog. I grabbed him out of the truck, ran up to the startline, took off my leash and went. We made one jump before hearing the whistle — I’d forgotten to take off his collar which had his tags on it.

O well, now I had time to set up the store before the next class. I usually try to get to a trial pretty early so I can get the setup out of the way and then have time to concentrate on my dogs. Not this time! I rushed, but it still takes several hours. And, I had eager customers ready to buy. I was working away when I heard the call for Excellent JWW. I’d missed the walk-through! O well, it must be similar to the Novice course, with a few embellishments.

I watched a few of the 24″ dogs run and got the course figured out. I grabbed Corbie and got to the start line. After a lead out and several jumps, there was a difficult front cross. I’m not very good at front crosses anyway, and this one I had to hustle to get to the right place. Well, making my cross I backed into the jump, knocking it over and falling down. Corbie came to my rescue with kisses and we got the whistle.

Two down — more than enough for one day!

Saturday morning, and time for Novice Standard with Harley. We were doing great until I had one of those “we’re gonna Q!” thoughts that you shouldn’t have while you’re running. Just one pinwheel and then out. We came around in an arc with Harley on my right. Simple: a rear cross and into the pinwheel with Harley on my left. Problem: Harley had never learned  SWITCH command. I gave him the command, faded to where I should have been had Harley switched sides, and promptly collided with him, falling down AGAIN. Again we got the whistle!

But wait, there’s one more!

Excellent Standard Sunday. I don’t believe I’ve mentioned that Corbie HATES slats on contact equipment. I mean really hates them. He loves the NADAC rubber contacts. The rubber is soft, cushioned, quiet, and makes for very fast running contacts. Slatted equipment is loud, rigid, and the slats must interfere with his stride or grab his toes, or something. Whatever, he hates them. On Saturday’s run, he stopped halfway through the dog walk to yell at me. (Corbie’s an Aussie. He loudly lets me know when I’ve done something wrong.)  I got him down the down ramp and we finished the course. I don’t remember if we Q’d or not.

On Sunday’s run, we were moving along nicely until we got to the dog walk. This time, Corbie stopped at the top of the down ramp and started barking. I urged him down, but he’d take one step and stop and bark. One more step, then barking. He was barking so much and so hard, that he barked himself right off the dog walk! Corbie fell sideways and landed upside down in the dirt, feet flailing and still barking!

I looked at the judge and asked “can we go on?” She looked back at me in astonishment and said “would you want to?”

Well, I did, and we finished the course, but that was surely the agility trial from hell!