Welp, we made it home from Glen Carbon. Today didn’t go as well as possible, that’s for sure. We teamed with our friend Kevin and his Border Collie Shade and of course with Abby – the three of us ran our first USDAA team event today. As usual, Abby came through for us. Shade and Alex had some issues that kept us from making finals or Qing. Jumpers was first, Alex knocked one bar and had a refusal but otherwise had a nice, fast run. Gamblers was next, he missed a weave entrance for the first time in a while (due to me marking a ticked bar). We then got a bit disconnected but finished the gamble correctly and ended up with 41 points. Standard came next, which was bad. Alex and I had issues with a tunnel/dogwalk discrimination… you guessed it, he took the dogwalk! Yep, blew off a tunnel for a dogwalk. Doh! So, we spent 5-10 minutes in the backyard a little while ago doing jump/tunnel discriminations, we’ll get it next time! Run number four was Snooker. Snooker is stupid. Al knocked a bar and then back-jumped it to try to apease me after I told him he shouldn’t have knocked it. Game over. At least we know what USDAA DAM/Team is like now, we’ll get a Q one of these days. Alex does do well in USDAA, I think it’s our favorite.
Next week, three days of AKC in McCook, IL – FAST all three days. Fun! Alex and I can’t wait!
-Grant
