Gracie NA, NAJ and Nervous Mimi

Mimi's ring stress is back. Like a balloon, if you push on one side, it bulges out someplace else. Her Open Jumpers run this morning was a disaster--an alphabet soup of errors, mostly refusals because she only did about a third of the obstacles on the course, going around the rest. Gracie didn't do much better.

Here is video of the first part of Mimi's Standard run this afternoon. My goals were very simple: I wanted her to do the tire--she struggles with the tire as the first obstacle, often going under or around it when stressed--and to get her into the weaves nice and clean. She did do the tire but was then all over the course with classic stress behavior. I kept at her though and you can see her weave entry was great and she even started to speed up at the end. She managed to make it to the table and even held her sit for the full count. As I review the video, I can see that she was trying even though she was pretty worried about agility monsters. Her tail was up and wagging a bit although her ears were plastered to her head--mixed signals.

As I had hoped, Gracie earned her third Novice Standard leg today and her NA title. I had the move-up sheet filled out in record time after our run. Getting the hell out of Novice at last!

Now both girls are in Open Standard and Open Jumpers for the next two days.

Here is video of Gracie's Novice Standard run this afternoon. The little hop at the end of the weaves is her signature move--but it did surprise me to see her at my elbow as I was heading for the tunnel! If you listen to the soundtrack, you can hear Debbie refer to the "jack bounce" then being roundly and soundly corrected by a couple of friends who tell her, no, that's the "fox terrier bounce"!

The off course to the tire before the weaves was entirely my fault. I should have been decelerating sooner and giving her information about the weaves earlier than I did. And even though she broke her sit on the table, that only cost us seconds, not any points, since she didn't leave the table. Making course time is not a problem Gracie is ever going to have. So her run wasn't clean but she did get a Q with one off course. I didn't stick around for the results--she might have also placed because even with the table dithering she was plenty fast.

Eagles eyes among you probably notice that I don't lead out from the start line with either of the girls. I do practice lead outs in class but when Mimi is stressed, leaving her makes her feel left and thus more stressed. Gracie is probably ready for some lead outs in a trial setting so it's a matter of my own confidence.

It was a long day but I did enjoy running with my girls in the ring.