This was the weekend that I have been training for – well at least so far. I wanted to get Rowan into USDAA as soon as I felt we were ready and when I felt that we could run with the “big dogs”! I was anxious and excited for the weekend to come. Elinda was there and the gang from Fido’s. I also found out a few weeks ago that the Canadian Stafford Brigade was going to be there as well. It was great to see them all. And – even though there is no really-quality video that came out of the weekend due to the fact that operating that camera with gloves is just plain tricky – I had a blast!
Rowan didn’t feel too well on Saturday (note to self – do not give Rowan a raw bone just before a trial!) … and I pulled muscle on Sunday but we managed to get through 8 runs and we ran 6 of them clean and qualified. On Saturday we ran the Grand Prix local qualifying round for the nationals. …and we QUALIFIED (see above)! That was my biggest thrill of the weekend despite I was quite late in doing the front cross after the weave poles – I was just so excited to have made it that far on the course I forgot where I was going next! She ran that course better than the Starters courses. So now I am able to go to the Super Regional in June for Grand Prix or I need to get one more Q in Grand Prix and I am qualified to go run that at Nationals in October. Just two legs more legs to finish her Starters title. Sa-weet!
Rowan’s contacts were really nice this weekend. She kept most bars up – only dropped them when I cued or called her over the bar. I need to continue to work on weave poles. We ran Pairs Relay with Prot. I wish we had gotten that on film but the camera was being a little bugger. It would have been a good run to watch. We got 1st. And her times could have been a bit faster – but that’s about my speed at this point… and I am working on that. The It’s a Dog’s World Fitness Challenge begins tomorrow!
