November 11, 2011

2 Q's!


Happy Veteran's Day!  11-11-11

Dazzle and I headed out early to arrive at the show in time to get set-up and ready for the 9:15 run.  The day started with the F.A.S.T. course.  Dazzle did really well!  He was calm and listening and only had a minor problem with the last jump (that can be jumped either direction).  He needed 50 points to Qualify and they ended up with 73 and beat the buzzer! 
VIDEO: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygDw0PxTMik
Our next run wasn't scheduled till around 5:30 pm, so with 8 hours to wait, we headed home!  We got back about an hour before the run and I helped with the Open level course runnning score sheets.  Then it was time for our Jumpers With Weaves (JWW) run.  The first 3 jumps were almost in a straight line and Dazzle got up a bit of momentum.  Sarah was trying to catch up as he shot past jump 4 instead of turning.  As a result, he jumped it the wrong direction earning the NQ.  But he kept ALL the bars up (even the akwardly jumped one) and the rest of the run was really nice, so I'm happy with how they did.
VIDEO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQj92ZulD4g

The last run was around 7pm and was a Standard course.  Dazzle was a bit tired, but he didn't get cranky and was able to remain calm and focused.  I'm sure coming home instead of spending 8 hours in his crate had a LOT to do with it! He had a really nice run for 100 points and again ended up with first place! 
VIDEO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNScqb0k7q8

I think we have found the key to his success!  Keep him really calm before the start and during the warm-up and have a small enough leash that Sarah can ball it up in her hand so he can't get it and play tug at the start line :-)  Keeping him calm helps reduce his frustration too. 

So the tally so far is:

FAST - 2Q (need 1 more)
Stand - 2Q (need 1 more)
JWW - 1Q (need 2 more)

We have 2 more runs in JWW and Standard this weekend.  Will have to wait till the next show for the next FAST Q.

The red/white ribbon in the center is the "Double Q" ribbon :-)