Blog 8-8, Trials and Tribulations

After all the heartache with Rigbee and that continues, we are at last at an agility trial.

The Fieldhouse is a wonderful venue out in the middle of nowhere, Northford, CT.  Lovely rolling hills and farmland and narrow, two lane blacktop roads.  Rigbee takes me and the puppies there and we find a place to park.  Our adventure is just beginning. Trust me.

Tripp and I are entered in two classes each day.  Novice Jumpers and Novice Standard.  They are always amongst the last classes of the day so I’m volunteering as Ring Crew for a few classes in the morning.  The facility is A/C’d wonderfully, and the surface is the best I’ve ever seen.  There must be a rubber underlay, with a long, artificial grass over it with ground up rubber throughout.  It’s simply spectacular. 

I brought both pups in to see the place and walk around a bit. I decided that if we did not get a “Q” (qualified run) before the end of the year, it would be the end of our “trialing” and we would continue in classes for fun only.  Trials are not cheap. 

Our first run was Novice Jumpers.  We failed.  The 6 (!!!) weave poles did us in.  It took 3 tries to get through them and of course, that blew up our time, too.  A couple of hours later, we went for a Novice Standard.  I seriously don’t remember how we blew that up, only that we did and we were over time.  I headed to the coach saddened but not really upset.  It is what it is.

An hour or so later, there is a knock on the coach door and I’m informed that if we’re staying overnight, it’s $25 (no services, either) and we have to move.  Okay, so we do and I will pay when the owners get back Sunday afternoon. 

After a great night’s sleep (no kidding, really!) I’m working a few classes as ring crew when I’m told I have to move Rigbee, AGAIN.  I don’t have the fancy tail pipe that goes off the genny up over the roof and someone complained.  OMFG.

Apparently, all of this info was in “the premium” which no one reads anymore because we all sign up on line.  There was nothing in the on-line sign up about any of this.  AARRRGGGHHHHHHH.

Shortly after noontime, Tripp and I had our Novice Jumpers run.  We were again over time, but we did much better.  We had one R (refusal, Tripp either ran past the element or around it, I don’t remember) and one W (wrong way).  You can’t have any W’s in Jumpers.  Oh well.  At this point, I’m assuming that the Novice Standard may well be our last attempt at trialing.

Then comes the knock on the coach door.  We have to move (AGAIN).  We’re “not in the parking area.”  Inwardly, I’m about to lose my mind, my patience and my temper, but it’s Matt and he’s a nice guy, it’s not his fault.  He actually directs me over and moves cones for us to park near one of the entry doors.  It’s ok.  Nobody’s fault, shite happens and this week or so, it’s all on me.  I can hose it off. 

The absolute Last Class of the Trial is Novice Standard.  The judge is a sweetie, I’ve met her before.  When I put my hand up for “Novice A” (never titled a dog before), she’s surprised…  guess she thought by now we’d have something.  When she asked for questions, my hand went up again.  I asked “Can seniors get an additional 5 seconds of time?”  She laughed (we all did) and then said “no, but that’s a good idea.”

People were leaving and the building was emptying out.  I asked Laura of Split Rock Labs to hold Tripp while I walked the course.  Novice courses are “easy” but I need to walk, study and plan multiple choices as how I’d like to go is not always the way Tripp wants to go.  This is a team sport. 

The class goes pretty quickly and soon enough, Tripp and I are in the ring.  He doesn’t wait for release but goes on “Ready.”  (We’re supposed to start with “Ready, Set, Obstacle name” and he goes on the last.  OOKAAYYY)  I don’t care as I’m already moving and he’s pretty well focused.  He hits the contact areas on the A-Frame, makes the quick right turn over the jump and zeros in on the 6 weave poles.  OMG, he DOES them on the first try!  I’m ecstatic! Slight left for the tire and he goes right by it.  But he comes right back to me and jumps through it, losing only a couple of precious seconds (and getting an "R").  Another jump (“over”) and the teeter.  He’s been doing that since puppyhood and makes both contact areas.  I don’t’ remember what kind of a cross I did there, but it was a sharp right onto the table (“box”).  Oh, Tripp was En Fuego!  Reverse direction and it’s two jumps to the tunnel.

He ran right by the entrance but came back to it (yup, he got an “R”), and I raced as fast as I could along that back wall.  It was a long straight stretch with a spread jump and distance to a right angle for the dog walk. I was yelling “Walk It!” to him as he landed the spread and he was really moving. He started to go past it, however he was really listening to me and he leapt up onto the yellow contact and trotted up and across.  Straight out from the dog walk was a tunnel and the end of the run.  As he started down the walk, I’m yelling “walk it!” so he doesn’t blow the bottom contact and as he trotted down “tunnel, tunnel, tunnel!” He did.  I couldn’t have been happier.  He was darned good.  I told him so, over and over and over again.

I picked up my yellow copy of the score and checked our time.  THREE seconds over.  THREE DAMN SECONDS!!!  I knew I could not have run it any faster.  We’re done.  That’s it.

But then people were coming up to me, saying we’d “Q’d.”  FYI, a qualifying score in Novice is 85 or better.  Each “W”, “R” or “T” (wrong way, refusal or table fault) is a 5 point deduction.  I knew we only had two, or minus 10 points but we were over time.  What I didn’t know was for each second over, 1 point is deducted.  We had 87 points!  We Qualified!!! 

 OMG OMG OMG

I get my green ribbon and reading the back, I realize not only did we qualify, we were FIRST!  Now, there weren’t that many of us, at any height, but nevertheless!!

Course Map:

This morning, I brought dunkin munchkins for everyone at class.  Then in our first practice run I managed to trip and fall before the last jump.  I’m fine, it’s a well-padded surface and I’ll have a bruise of two.  What was incredibly adorable was Tripp’s reaction.  He was on course for the last jump and stopped, mid-stride to race back to me and cover my face with kisses.  I had to smile.  He just so damn adorable.  He was a little worried through the rest of the class, but I gave him lots of love and cheese, too! 

We are a team.