We all know Tripp is an agility rock star... at least in his mind. ;-) Unfortunately he's stuck with me as a handler, so we haven't gotten very far in trials. Agility Qs have not been at all easy to come by, compared to Rally Obedience for instance, which is more my forte as a trainer. But we still have fun out there - and Tripp obviously intensely adores it. We've been out of agility classes for a while now, so my handling this weekend was falling below par again. I just wanted to give it one more try before winter break, and getting even rustier! Tripp just needed one more Q in USDAA Gamblers for his Starters level title. That's all I wanted for Christmas - an agility title. That, and no injuries. Well, the latter did not look promising when Tripp approached the dogwalk too fast and misstepped. Off he tumbled and all I could think was something got hurt. But he was more embarrassed than anything and continued the run with as much drive as ever. Thank God, no apparent injuries resulted - he is running and jumping in the same good form as before. Surely an extra long warm up and cool down helped, followed by massage and stretching. And extra napping! LOL After that mishap, however, the former did not look promising either. No way, I figured, would we collect enough points to Q at that point. We continued on through a tunnel then tried the weave poles, which Tripp missed - I pulled him out to try for a jump, but our time was up. He finished the gamble with no trouble, but I did not expect a Q. Oh well, I was too busy worrying about him still (even though he was moving just fine - yes I'm paranoid). Scores were soon posted, and lo and behold, we Qed!! But how?? Thanks to Tripp for making up his own course and taking the teeter a 2nd time, that gave us just enough points to qualify! Smart boy. I must say, too, that when he wasn't falling off that darn dogwalk, Tripp had beautiful form on all the other obstacles. One of these days we'll get it all in one trial - good form, responsiveness, no mishaps, and good handling! Hey, I can dream, at least. ;-)
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