CPE at Riverside

Today Dave and I went to watch a CPE trial at Riverside. 

We got there just as people were walking the course for Jackpot.  It was a non-traditional Jackpot, and it took us a little bit to figure out what the rules were, but basically there was a line through the middle of the ring and obstacles were worth twice as many points if the handler were on the opposite side of the line from the dog. 

In general, I was pretty unimpressed.  There was a tunnel under the A-frame and dog after dog would not get the discrimination.  It didn't really matter that much, as they got points either way, but it didn't say great things about the dogs or handlers. 

It was also very clear that most handlers got totally confused when their dogs made a mistake.  It was hard for people to regroup and make a new plan.

It was a little tough as a spectator because all the levels of dogs were mixed together and we didn't know how many points each dog needed to qualify. 

Anyway, there were some decent teams but more laughs than good rounds.  The people tended to be unathletic but unable to compensate for that with good distance skills.  One dog was able to do a send to the weaves, which was impressive, but other than that there wasn't much good distance.

I've decided that I really want to make an effort to plan flowing courses rather than repeating obstacles over and over.  It just doesn't look like fun to go back and forth over the same obstacles.  I'd rather use our speed to move to different obstacles, even if it loses us a few points.  I don't think we'll have too much trouble qualifying at least at first.

In other news, our teeter board is painted and drying.  The paint on the contact zones took a long time to dry, so we'll see how the other color does, but I'm hoping I can put it together either tomorrow or Tuesday.  I can't wait!