Well, we did it. We ran clean in Round 3 on Sunday, and made the Finals. During our run, the fire alarm went off halfway through, but we held it together for a fast, clean run. After the building evacuation, they let me rerun for time only, and we were able to improve our time by a whole second, and earn 3rd place in the round. THAT was a lot of fun, and earned us a spot in the Finals. I checked later, and we would have made it even with our original time, but 3rd place is nice too. 🙂

In the Finals, we were less then stellar, but I still had a great time. I truly wasn’t even that nervous, because I was just so happy to be there. I don’t think that’s necessarily a good thing, but it is what it is. We bit it at the dogwalk/tunnel discrimination, along with a lot of other teams. I think I would have gotten that at any weekend trial, but throw in the adrenaline of it being the Finals, and it’s REALLY hard to wait to get your dog’s head. Ahh, well, we had a fantastic time, and I can’t wait to do it again. Of course, it means that anything short of the Finals will be a disappointment next year, but that’s the downside of having high aspirations.

The other thing I realized this weekend is just how little separates the top teams. Something as small as a hesitation or headcheck can cost you a placement. Everyone is SO close, and luck definitely plays a big part as well. One bar, one missed contact, and there goes the finals–if you’re lucky, you get a shot at the Challenger round. You really have to be perfect every round, and even that isn’t enough sometimes.

Here are the videos:

ISC

Round 1-2

Round 3 (twice)

Finals

Tags: agility, trip

Posted in Agility Trip
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