So glad I went last night- even though I didn't get home until ten to one this morning, and it was so cold I literally couldn't feel my nose or ears for three quarters of the night.
Not an overly successful night in terms of Qs. We got out first towards our SPDX title with Tarki and his mum; fifth place as well, which isn't too shabby considering how chaotic our run was. I was so sure we were way over time, but we weren't even really close which was a surprise. Charlie was such a good boy; knocked his first bar, but nailed his weave entry and his contacts. We had to go and re-do the dog walk after Tarki missed the colour, and he didn't stick his 2o2o- wasn't expecting him to since we haven't finished with the retraining- but he was thinking and he slowed and did hit it. Then we finished off the run, and had to hit the a frame and he got it beautifully.
Other than that we had an NQ in our first GDX run. Knocked a bar in the closing after getting all the points, nailing his weave entries, and he even got the a frame contact at distance so that was a bit disappointing.
Our JDX runs were DQs because Charlie first run blind crossed me and then back jumped. Second he took off and left me at the start line and when I called back off the tunnel he decided to do a jump on the way back to me. But apart from the hiccups at the start, they were pretty solid runs. He's actually a really consistent dog and once we figure out a way to start our runs that works for both of us we should do a bit better, especially in jumpers. We don't usually have issues in any other part of the course- it's just the start. Which unfortunately is kind of really important.
Snooker... I still don't get it, but we were so close to Q'ing. I chanced the dog walk twice and he hit both times, and we had more than enough points in the opening sequence, but in the closing he botched the weaves and we didn't get it.
Not a bad night, though. I don't know if it was because I was so focused on how freaking cold I was that I didn't have time to feel nervous or anything, but he was a lot calmer than usual. When he wasn't calm it was because he was looking into the ring and wanting to go and join in, which I'd prefer over him trying to run off. I didn't try running him without a collar this time round, and I need to go back to doing that for triple jumpers. I was concerned because of him stressing at Logan, and just using the slip lead attachment, he was literally choking himself and I didn't want him to do that again. But I really just need to not touch him at all before a run.
I'm a bit concerned about his startline stays, and I don't think he's going to be paying attention to me telling him to either stay or wait anymore, which is such a shame. He broke a few times last night before I cued him, and I don't really know what else to do. Unless I can come up with a way to retrain it all so much that the whole "ritual" of waiting at the startline is different, I don't think this will be something that can easily be changed. Until I figure something out, I just have to hope for starts that don't include a long line of jumps because I just get left behind.
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