Wednesday, August 17, 2011

American K9 Country Trial Preview

On Friday Jonah and I are going to American K9 Country for three runs of a CPE trial.  It will be a new facility for us and our first indoor trial in quite a while.  Hopefully it will go well.  The catalogue doesn't specify what level the dogs are in, so I don't know exactly how many dogs will be in our classes.  Here's what I do know:

Round 1:  Jumpers Level 4
     This is our level 4 debut in jumpers.  I really like jumpers courses, and I think it will be a great way to start the day.  We won't have to worry about contacts and we can just go run fast.  My goal will to have him be enthusiastic and quick while I give him smooth, confident handling.  There are 17 dogs jumping 20", which is split between levels 3, 4, 5 and C.

Round 2:  Snooker Level 4
     If we qualify here we'll be half way done with Level 4 for snooker!  That's hard to believe.  Of course, we also know that snooker is easy to screw up.  Depending on how focused and eager Jonah was in the first round, I'd like to plan the highest point total that flows well.  I don't want lots of wraps and demotivation, but we can push ourselves a little bit if he's feeling good.  There are 14 dogs jumping 20", again split between 3, 4, 5 and C.

Round 3:  Fullhouse Level 4
     Fullhouse is a good time to just kick back and have fun.  We'll try to collect lots of points by running our butts off in a hopefully smooth fashion.  There will probably be some contacts out for Fullhouse so that could give us a little practice.  If the dogwalk is out, I'd like to drill it a little bit once I know we've collected enough points to qualify.  There are 15 dogs in Fullhouse jumping 20", split between all levels.

I will also be volunteering for two classes, and I'll get to try a new job:  leash running.  I think I can be a good leash runner from what I've seen.  Everything is more complicated once you're doing it, though. It will be nice to stay on my feet, at least.

I'm hoping we have fun.  This venue hosts lots of USDAA trials, too, so if we like it we could go there regularly.

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