DART USDAA
Rancho Cucamonga
December 11 & 12, 2004
It was a fun weekend at the DART USDAA! They had three rings running, so it seemed like there was always something happening. Finn only hit one A-frame contact all weekend, but it was in the GP, which is what Mike later reminded me, I had said I really wanted a Q in (he missed an up contact on the dogwalk, so no placement) he also Qed in Jumpers despite some ugliness. He will be doing lots of 6'3" A-frames this week, in hopes of getting the contact back for Happy Dog this weekend. Other than the contacts, he was great, but I was VERY annoyed about it on Saturday.
Max was so good, his Q ratio doesn't do justice to how good he was. Kate Moureaux jinxed our Steeplechase by suggesting that I throw the run, so Driven would get a spot in the second round. ;-) First set of weaves, Max came out at pole 10 and to reset them made him first dog of the dogs that didn't make the second round. He also did well enough to earn a spot on the South team (they take the top dogs from combined scores in Masters Standard and Jumpers-we had 5 faults in each, put them on teams South is SB and south, North is north of SB) for Sunday's North/South challenge (a losing effort, but he did a great job). He took 2nd in Masters Standard on Sunday with a run that I'm appreciating more and more. Everyone should be so lucky to have a partner like Max!
Star was a bit wild in Adv. Jumpers and Strs. Gamblers Saturday. In Gamblers when we reached the gamble (super easy 3 jumps to a table) I didn't manage the turn enough and let her carry around the second jump. When I tried to reset her for the second jump, she ended up starting the gamble over again doing it beautifully (a Q in my heart). Sunday she just had Snooker and it was the best run we've ever had. She was smooth, fast and accurate (aside from having to be reset for the last weaves). So, Miss Star now has her SS title and took a 3rd place (she did one 7 and two 6's-6 was the A-frame), two teams beat us on points.
Kate Moureaux couldn't attend the trial on Sunday, so I had the opportunity to run her very fast young dog, Driven. Driven was a blast. She was in 3 classes, 2nd Round of Steeplechase, Adv. Snooker and Adv. Pairs. Steeplechase wasn't too bad. She had the first bar down because I set her too far back from the first jump (like 30 feet...it was BAD). Other than that it was a good run. A couple not-so-bad mistakes, but she finished 8th (ahead of some very good teams, including her mother Quick) and was in the money ($5). In Snooker, she had a great opening and we went into the closing with three 7s. Number 5 was two jumps at a severe angle and I just forgot to cue her about the turn before number 5. So, the second bar of 5 came down. In Adv. Pairs I walked the course once, because Masters Snooker was going on. My partner (Megan Miller and Rival) and I had tons of conflicts. So, I finished with Finn and we had a window to run our Pairs run, we grabbed the dogs, ran over and asked if we could cut ahead of a team (they graciously allowed it). Driven knocked the top bar of the triple and Rival had some chaos, but we still Qed and won the class! I found out later that was her Advanced Relay title! Woohoo!
Diane Baley was also there with her amazing Lab Gidget. It's so fun listening to the crowd hum when they're running. They will be beating the border collies, just watch! More from Diane: Gidget got a Steeplechase Q and a Snooker Super Q with a 1st place. Did our first master gamble and we were happy even though we knocked the first bar. It was fun. I saw their Steeplechase run and it was AMAZING!!!!
Bob was also there running Cooper and Nora with Lily, but I don't know their results. I do know that they both looked great when they were really pushing their dogs.
12/19/04