Seven's Return to Agility

So after all the glitz and glamour (Ha!), it is back to the trenches for Seven.  She has returned to life in a crate, dirt under her feet, and manual labor.  Thank goodness she loves it... well, maybe not the crate part, but I am not about to leave that troublemaker uncrated while I am at work.

Seven has traded her consistency for speed.  She has gotten bolder and more confident around course so she is significantly faster, but is getting sloppy with her weave poles (why slow down for that?) and occasionally going off course instead of turning.

There is one run I wish I had on video.  There was an opportunity to layer.  Layering is when the dog and you are so far apart that there is an unused obstacle between the two of you.  This can happen in a turn.  The dog is running so fast and far ahead that the handler must turn very early to cue it.... and sometimes that leads to you and the dog being separated by obstacles.  Layers are not done readily so it always feels good when one is accomplished smoothly.

Well, there was a layer opportunity (a jump) on this course and as I was about to go in, someone was saying "I have not seen anyone do that layer." and was wondering why.  I said that I thought it was too early in the course for me.  I did not think we would have enough momentum.  So Seven and I walk in, start running the course, and I throw in that layer on the fly.  It worked perfectly.  I thought it would not, but once out there it was needed.  Unfortunately, I do not have that first place run on video.

Seven's best run of the weekend was Jumpers on Friday.  What I did not tell you in Riley's post is that she got second to her sister.  Seven beat Riley fair and square. In fact, she ran the course in just over 6 yards per second.

Again, 6 yards per second is rare for us so it was thrilling for both hounds to each achieve that in the same weekend.

All in all, Seven won two Jumper classes, but did not qualify in Standard and so no double qualifying scores, of course.  She mostly was sloppy with her weave poles.... running by them or popping out early.  Typical young dog mistakes.