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Ah ...The big AKC trial came and went this weekend. It was cold...9 degrees in Sanford when we got there. Thank heavens it was indoors! As for how we did... as I told Bailey (in front of the stands) "Bailey your mom is an idiot ! ". I managed to forget the course(s), be late on my instructions, embarrass Bailey and get one really beautiful front cross in at the end of Jumpers with Weaves. Oh and I had a lot of fun. I have no one to blame but me and no where to go but up. Well technically I didn't get whistled off the course so it could have been worse after all.

On a serious note.. I have always wondered how I would react in the ring when everything fell apart.I did not want to be one of those people who get angry, take it out on their four legged partner or behave in one of the other ways that I have seen too often both at dog shows and horse shows. I found out that,as hoped, I take it all with a sense of humor and a grain of salt. I did really stand in front of the stands and apologize to Bailey after not sending her anywhere. So it could be worse. We have a CPE trial in 5 days and another CPE trial in February before our next AKC trial. I can honestly say, I can hardly wait.

Yesterday was our second CPE trial and the 3rd trial with me doing the handling. This time I decided to go for broke and enter everything being offered: Standard, Jackpot, Colors, Wildcard and Jumpers. My goal was to get at least one qualifying run  and remember all the courses. Bailey and I have been practicing on my handling skills so that I don't embarrass her any more than I have to. We have also been working on our start line stays which I thought could have been better last time.

Let's just start with the fact it was a bit cold Saturday morning. When we got there, it was barely in the 30s, a fact which motivates Bailey to run even faster than she normally does. The ground was frost covered for the first part of the day which conversely motivates me to run slower since, let's face it, in the best of times I am a klutz. Put a klutz on any surface which is less than ideal and you are flirting with a visit to the emergency room.  I changed into my trail running shoes when I saw the conditions in the hopes I would not fall on my face or some other part of my anatomy. Bringing them was a good call on my part since several people did lose their footing, though all a lot more gracefully than I would have.

The venue itself was very pretty with a big fenced field to warm up the dogs and an indoor area to crate the dogs. The judge, Lee, was an energetic, caffeine fueled, rock and roll loving woman from Illinois who was reveling in the warm weather. Did I mention it was barely 30? It all has to do with perspective. Coming from the mid-west which is currently hovering in the sub-zero temperature range,she thought our frost and fog was a heat wave!       

Our first event was Jumpers. I was pretty confident going in that I could remember the course since we are still at the Novice (or baby level as we were dubbed by the judges). I started at the Novice level so I will learn since Bailey is already way past that in AKC. Since we have been practicing lead outs and start line stays I planned on a two jump lead out in this one. As I headed for the second jump and got ready to face Bailey, she shot by me on her way to the third jump. I scrambled to catch her and made it just in time to send her to my choice for the fourth jump (as opposed to hers). We managed to qualify by only accumulating 5 faults.

Event number 2 was Jackpot which I now sort of love. It all depends on the judge since I have learned this event has a traditional version and a non-traditional one. Our judge opted for the non-traditional and let us do the gamble whenever we wanted. The trick here was not accumulating the 12 points we needed at our level but figuring out what to do with the 40 seconds before the whistle blew and we had to hit the table. I chose to stall on the A frame and made Bailey hold her contacts a bit longer than I normally would have. Strategically this seemed like a good idea since it was conveniently close to the table. It would have been a good idea too, were it not for the fact we had racked up 51 points and the winner ended up with 56. Had I known that I would have sent Bailey back through the weave poles and over another jump. We had the time. I could have run out and got a coffee we had so much time.   On the plus side, we did qualify and came in second. And I did not panic.

Our third and most successful go round was Colors. This was our first time trying this game. There are two courses imbedded on the field each marked with a different color marker. In theory, you walk both and pick the one you want to run. You do have to tell the judge which you are running so you can not change your mind in mid-flight. I say in theory you walk both and decide but I opted to view the course on paper and pick one and stick to it. If I walked both of them the chances of me remembering either completely would be slim to none. I chose the one that had the most handling challenges in the beginning. Since Bailey has been picking up speed as she goes through the course I took one that made its twists up front and let her run all out at the end. Let's just say we took first place in what I considered a sizzling 21.29 seconds.

The rest of the day went into the night when it started getting cold again. I didn't get directions out of my mouth in time to save us from disaster in Wildcard. Standard was a whole other story. We ended up doing the last run of the day. It was 6:30 and pitch black. There were lights up but the center of the ring was dark, to say the least. I walked the course trying to decide if I was going to scratch Bailey or not. To be honest, I was worried about the tire but when I walked the course it stood out enough so that I didn't consider it to be dangerous.  The course was frankly easy and would have been a slam dunk but...things are never as they seem. Right next to the tire was a tunnel. A dark blue tunnel and there were no lights. Bailey went in and came right out. She went back in and came right back out. After the third attempt I told her to skip it and we finished the rest of the course (including two other tunnels) without a problem. I know if it hadn't been so dark we would have qualified so that was the good part. The bad part was ...we didn't.

Total for the day: 5 events - 3 Qs including 1 fourth place, 1 second place and 1 first place. Bailey got more than a few compliments and I have been told I am looking less and less like a scared rabbit. I am still very nervous, but as Michelle noted, I am recovering faster from my goof ups. It helps that Bailey is so good since she continues to bail me out quite a bit. We are starting to come together as a team though we are no match for the Bailey-Mandy combination. The other outcome from today is that I  am hooked on the CPE. The trials are fun if a bit loosely run. Maybe that is why they are fun. The people are friendly, the judges fair and good humored and the games are challenging but fun. I guess I will have to sign up for the upcoming CPE trials now. It keeps us out of trouble.  

The next trial is our first AKC trial. My goal for that one is to not throw up before getting in the ring.