I'm not sure what I signed up for. This could be embarrassing. Why did we want to do USDAA??
Here's what we have ahead of us:
Round 1: Starters Standard
There are nine dogs in the class. There is Jonah. There an Aussie. There are 7 BCs. I know the whole point is just to qualify and have a nice clean run, but it doesn't really seem fair. He's just not as fast and driven as Aussies and BCs. I guess I could put him in Performance. We'll see. Also, aren't Aussies and BCs bigger? I figured most of them would be 26" dogs (OK i just checked. The Aussie breed standard is apparently 18-23"and BCs 18-22" so I guess they're not really bigger than Jonah). Oh well. At least Standard is my favorite class.
Round 2: Starters Snooker
This is a little more manageable, perhaps. Six dogs in the class, only half of which are BCs. One Golden, one Kelpie, and Jonah. My concern for Snooker is that we're used to much longer times, so I'm going to try to shoot for a faster opening to hopefully get through the closing before time is out. You need 39 points to Q, so that's actually a pretty low point opening. It would be nice to get a placement ribbon since this is by far our best shot, but the Q is first priority.
Round 3: Steeplechase
Yeah, there are 29 dogs in the class. 19 are BCs, 6 Aussies, 2 Goldens, 1 Lab, Jonah. We'll give it our best shot, but something tells me we're probably not going to qualify.
Ugh. I feel like I'm that pretender who doesn't even have a 'real dog.' Not that I actually feel like Jonah is not a real dog. I love him so much and I'm super proud of him. I just feel self-conscious that that will be everyone else's opinion. In CPE, there are tons of All-Americans and less athletic dogs, and no one ever seems to think twice about it. I feel like now there's more pressure to do well or people will think we don't deserve to be there. I know Grace said we're definitely ready, but I'm worried.
I guess it will just be a completely different mindset from CPE. If I get 2 Qs, I should be really, really proud. I shouldn't care about placement ribbons, and I should just be excited to be there with such other wonderfully talented dogs. And, if it's really that bad, we never have to do another USDAA. Or we can do performance (where there are a LOT fewer dogs)! Or we could try AKC, where there's less time pressure. I don't really know what to think. Sigh. Maybe it won't be so bad...
Here's what we have ahead of us:
Round 1: Starters Standard
There are nine dogs in the class. There is Jonah. There an Aussie. There are 7 BCs. I know the whole point is just to qualify and have a nice clean run, but it doesn't really seem fair. He's just not as fast and driven as Aussies and BCs. I guess I could put him in Performance. We'll see. Also, aren't Aussies and BCs bigger? I figured most of them would be 26" dogs (OK i just checked. The Aussie breed standard is apparently 18-23"and BCs 18-22" so I guess they're not really bigger than Jonah). Oh well. At least Standard is my favorite class.
Round 2: Starters Snooker
This is a little more manageable, perhaps. Six dogs in the class, only half of which are BCs. One Golden, one Kelpie, and Jonah. My concern for Snooker is that we're used to much longer times, so I'm going to try to shoot for a faster opening to hopefully get through the closing before time is out. You need 39 points to Q, so that's actually a pretty low point opening. It would be nice to get a placement ribbon since this is by far our best shot, but the Q is first priority.
Round 3: Steeplechase
Yeah, there are 29 dogs in the class. 19 are BCs, 6 Aussies, 2 Goldens, 1 Lab, Jonah. We'll give it our best shot, but something tells me we're probably not going to qualify.
Ugh. I feel like I'm that pretender who doesn't even have a 'real dog.' Not that I actually feel like Jonah is not a real dog. I love him so much and I'm super proud of him. I just feel self-conscious that that will be everyone else's opinion. In CPE, there are tons of All-Americans and less athletic dogs, and no one ever seems to think twice about it. I feel like now there's more pressure to do well or people will think we don't deserve to be there. I know Grace said we're definitely ready, but I'm worried.
I guess it will just be a completely different mindset from CPE. If I get 2 Qs, I should be really, really proud. I shouldn't care about placement ribbons, and I should just be excited to be there with such other wonderfully talented dogs. And, if it's really that bad, we never have to do another USDAA. Or we can do performance (where there are a LOT fewer dogs)! Or we could try AKC, where there's less time pressure. I don't really know what to think. Sigh. Maybe it won't be so bad...
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