Katie and I survived and she’s pretty full of herself too. Cause she has a pretty red ribbon to add to her collection. She thinks she looks particularly good with red. But of course it’s a much longer story than that.
We arrived early, way too early, again. Lesson learned. We were there for 3 hours before it was actually time for me to walk the Advanced course. By then Katie was pretty much over it, but she waited patiently in her crate for me to go through the course. There were only two of us in Advanced A; a woman named Kim and her sheltie Mona. Mona is just the sweetest girl I’ve met in a long time! Kim and I did the walk through together. Good thing too, because I fixed something she had a misconception on and she pointed out we had missed station #4 totally the first walk through!
I’ve been working on memorizing the signs and perfecting my footwork all week. I practiced pivots on my lunch walk yesterday. I called ‘”come!” and “down!” and “heel!” on my commutes. I worried about her popping up from downs, following me too fast when she was supposed to stay. I worried about forgetting to ask her to sit when I should, or asking her to sit when I shouldn’t. I worried.
What I didn’t worry about…ever…was her jump. She loves to jump. She’ll jump anything…and then she will often turn around and jump it again. So the fact there was a jump at station 2 was not alarming. Until she walked around it and then looked at me like ….”What? You wanted something else?” So there goes 10 points right off the bat.
I sighed and shook my head and we finished the rest of the course. Other than a couple of crooked sits she was perfect. The things I had worried about were beautiful. She’s something else, she is.
Then we were out of the ring and I told her she was a good girl, which she was. I think I just wasn’t going fast enough to get her running, and she didn’t realize she was supposed to leave my left leg and go jump. We watched the other woman in our class do the course and they did great too.
Afterward Kim was excited for me because the score they put up for me was 99. Her score was 95. But I knew that wasn’t right, with no jump the best we could get was 90. So I talked to the steward and at a break we talked to the judge who was grateful that I told her. I was glad too.
So we ended up in 2nd place of two…but I’m proud of Katie and her score..the judge gave us 90 and I’ll take it!
Katie says it was a long day for a little ribbon…but she’s willing to do it again, and if I give her enough warning she’ll even do the jump!
Maybe.
October 26, 2012 at 3:54 pm
What a good and talented girl Katie is — congrats to both of you!
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October 26, 2012 at 7:10 pm
Thanks Debbie, yes she is talented. And silly.
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October 26, 2012 at 5:38 pm
Well done Katie – what a super girl you are. You do need to talk to your Mom about the whole arriving early thing though….we know the humans like to do this – but for us doggies it we just get bored and distracted with the waiting.
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October 26, 2012 at 7:10 pm
Yes, Katie says I need to be less stressed and not get to these events so early.
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October 26, 2012 at 5:48 pm
Oh Katie, you little rascal~always keeping your mama on her toes.
Good job you two! Sounds like you both had fun, and I’m proud of you both!
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October 26, 2012 at 7:11 pm
Katie says that’s her job…keeping me on my toes. And she wants you to know she’s very good at it.
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October 26, 2012 at 6:02 pm
Katie is GOooooRGEOUS. Woof. x
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October 26, 2012 at 7:11 pm
Katie says thank you. And she knows it too.
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October 26, 2012 at 11:32 pm
You must be so proud of your beautiful girl. What a sweetheart.
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October 27, 2012 at 11:57 am
Yes, I’m pretty proud of her…she always pulls through and does what she’s asked, if she’s asked correctly.
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October 27, 2012 at 1:14 am
Way to go, Katie!
You’ve trained your mama so well and we are really proud of you.
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October 27, 2012 at 11:58 am
She got me trained extra special now.
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October 27, 2012 at 3:29 am
Congratulations Katie and Dawn! 🙂
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October 27, 2012 at 11:58 am
Thank you Joanne!
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October 27, 2012 at 6:58 am
It sounds like FUN! I’m sure beautiful Katie sees it that way and doesn’t worry ahead of time. What do you think, Dawn? Ah, if only we could meet each day as do our lovely dogs! But you were happy at the end, and I’ll bet the ride home was happy, too. Good work, both of you!
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October 27, 2012 at 11:59 am
It was fun, in a stressful kind of way. The waiting is stressful, but the actual executing is fun. And she was very quiet all the way home, then slept all afternoon. Hope she was having happy dreams of cheese.
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October 27, 2012 at 3:59 pm
I am so proud of YOU for going back and telling the judge. You are inspiring! (OK, Katie is, too.) This reminds me of the days when our daughter was in skating competitions. Nerve-wracking.
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October 27, 2012 at 7:59 pm
Congrats, that so awesome!!!!
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October 27, 2012 at 8:44 pm
Atta Katy and Atta Dawn. . Love those ribbons! Katy is pretty and smart and her mom is willing to go for things outside her comfort zone and has integrity. You over qualify in my book!
I was just given 20 coupons for Frosty Paws to give away…I know where to send the first one!!
Great job you two…!
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October 27, 2012 at 10:04 pm
Way to go Katie and Dawn! I knew you too would do well. Big congrats to you both. 🙂
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October 31, 2012 at 7:01 pm
Congratulations! We all knew you both had it in you. Next time, jumps too!
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