Victor hauled some dogs over to Cleburne for a local Ridgeback club's AKC lure trials while I made my way over to Stephenville for a LSBC meeting at the shows. Just *love* 8 am ringtimes (NOT) - and then to find out that it was just myself and one other member due to some emergencies by other expected folks. Sara and I made the best of it and added to our respective to-do lists, and then I drove to Cleburne to finish out the day.
I missed the Prelim run of Solo-Jane-Magik. I was walking out to the field for Doodle and Sassi's dissappointing performance. Doodle started out well made a turn and a half - and then you could almost see the lightbulb over her head - SNACKS!! She was insistent that the cattle that had been on the field had left her some tasty delicacies for her dining pleasure. Sassi managed a turn or so more - but then declined to participate further without her partner - so stood and watched Doodle snack away, occasionally looking off at the lure and trying to decide if it was worth the effort to play. Doodle at least went over to "kill" the lure at the end after it passed by her again - as if that would prevent me from noticing her al fresco dining experience [sigh]. They both received NQ scores. 
It's heartbreaking for me that Sassi no longer shows the desire she once had for playing lure games. There were times we could see glimpses of her former field self when she was running with housemates (she became a weenie about running with other dogs) - but now it looks as though she has completely quit the sport. It is apparently much more satisfying for the little diva to decorate the couch with her presence - or go out and play with her pups that remain here.
I was told that Magik disagreed HEAVILY with the course plan as laid out on the field, and had also presented something of a distraction to Jane (if not a possible danger to both dogs). She was pulled after Prelims. Jane and Solo had a nice finals run - trading back and forth. They both initially cut at the start and Solo ended up on his belly after he landed in a 2-3 foot deep circular impression in the ground (not sure of its diameter) - his next stride looked like a belly crawl and I thought he would go down, but then he was back to normal and straight to the lure. He hit the far right corners nicely too and he and Jane raced to the middle of the course and did some switching until the end.
Solo and Jane tied for their Finals run, but the extra point Solo had earned in Prelims put him on top for the day to finish his AKC Field Championship, making him an AKC Dual Champion (DC). For his trouble, he was allowed to pick out a toy at a vendor there - he was perfectly happy with that! Daughter Faina had a practice run at the end of the day - first time to learn about turns! She did pretty well - although at the furthest point from the start (naturally) she became entranced with a pulley. Some other dogs had expressed an interest in it earlier as well - must have needed a bit of grease or something. Then something caught her eye back in the treeline and she watched and watched for a while, sometimes stepping closer. She finally turned her attention back to the lure and finished up (at least to the point where she saw me standing, as I had walked onto the course trying to call her away from the trees).
We celebrated by picking up an order at the local Mexican restaurant we frequent and gorging at the house.
On Sunday we headed to WindyGlen in Boswell, OK for the NOTRA meet. We had a total entry of 8, and Solo tied for third with our visitor Boudie (a nephew of Arthur's sired by Merlyn) - so they had to split a quarter of a point, leaving Solo with 3/4 of a point to finish his ORC. Ugh.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment