She did it!

Abby qualified for Nationals!

I am still shocked and amazed that we did it so I'm going to write it down here so I will have something to compare to in following years.
Saturday:
Gamblers: Our group ended up re running this at the end of the day since there was controversy over the curvature of the tunnel. We chose to rerun and came out with a point LESS than we had originally. Both times Abby came out of the tunnel turned the right way to go out over the jump (the turn was what I thought would be the hardest part) and then she just stood there while I yelled "get out - over!! get out....OVER!!. So total = 34 points.

Jumpers: I don't really remember what happened in this run but we had an off course and some refusals so total = 45 points.

Standard: I stupidly was wearing a bad shirt/pants combo at this point in the day and as I sent Abby over a jump I pulled my shirt down to stop it from riding up. Stupid me! I pulled Abby off the jump and she put a toe on the walk-it...so total = 70 points.

So by the end of Saturday we had 149 points - 26 points less than half of the 350 needed to qualify.

Sunday:
Jumpers: Abby knocked a bar in this run and I was so surprised that I turned around to see what the noise was and pulled her off course. Total = 40 points. At this point we had 189 points and I had lost all hope for qualifying. We still needed 161 points and I really didn't think we could pull off a 100 point standard and a 30 point gamblers (or so) with the gamble but...

Standard: Abby did an awesome run and only had 5 faults for missing the weave entrance! Points - 95. I crossed awkwardly twice to do same-side weaves but probably didn't have to as demonstrated in ..

Gamblers: This was the run that made my weekend. There was a 16 point mini gamble that consisted of a jump, off side weaves and a walk it. Abby did this twice. No hesitation or anything. Right into the weaves, wove perfectly and went over the walk it and hit her contact. She did the other mini gamble worth 6 points (tunnel, out jump) once and a few other things resulting in a huge 47 point opening! And then..she did the gamble! It was a jump, tunnel, out teeter, out hoop and Abby did it perfectly. She even stuck her teeter contact until I released her. I was so, so happy with her. I think we ended with 366 points. 31 dogs in 22" regulars qualified out of I think 70 or so. Abby came in 28th.

My little mutt is amazing! I am so happy with her that I want to cuddle and squeeze her but since she doesn't like that smooshy stuff I have to take it out on Ryan instead.

The only bad part of the weekend was that my car overheated on the way home and I had to be towed to the nearest mechanic. The driver invited Abby and Ryan to ride in the cab with us and he fed them his roast beef sandwich while telling stories about his dogs. It was a strange end to the weekend and I still don't know what's wrong with my car. Sigh.

Off to Regionals we go!

Agility regionals are this weekend and it will be the Abby's first year competing! I'm nervous and excited all at once. I'm mostly nervous about forgetting the course but there are only 3 to remember each day so hopefully I'll get them well memorized. I've been better at remembering the course these days since Abby is much more reliable. It was when she'd go off course that I'd get lost. Still, I'm looking forward to Gamblers the most - do any obstacles at the beginning and then Abby gets to get out and work without me. She really likes out-work (probably since I'm not there to mess her up! :D).

I'm just getting the car all packed up. Ryan of course will be coming to hang out and shmooze with everyone. We're sharing a hotel room with Tyler and Tycho and maybe Fyvish and Amigo so Ryan will be over the top happy about that.

Regionals, here we come!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention - it was my birthday last week and and we got a contact trainer and it's awesome! Tyler's very talented parents made it for us.

Abby and Ryan strut their stuff

For Abby, that would be in agility and flyball. We had an agility trial a week ago and a flyball tournament this past weekend. We've got another agility trial coming up and soon after that it's Regionals! This will be our first Regionals and I'm more than a little nervous. I have trouble enough remembering courses at a regular trial! Abby will happily scream her way through whatever is in front of her, I'm sure.

She got a Gamblers Q at the trial but I messed up all of our Standard runs. At flyball she was great and got her FDCH-S. She looked over at the other lane a couple of times but didn't cross over. I take a lot of what she does really well for granted - she never fumbles the ball or misses jumps, no matter where I send her from. She did, however, turn around and attempt to nip my leg twice out of frustration while waiting her turn. What a little bitch :)

Ryan went sheep herding last week and we go again tomorrow! It was so much fun. He went in three times for about 10 minutes each time and I worked with him the second and third times. Sometimes he was a little silly and would rush up to the sheep with his tail up barking, but mostly he did really well! He definitely wanted to work and would have happily circled all day. I got him walking behind the sheep in a somewhat calm manner. He wasn't sure about how to get the sheep out of a corner and would block their way out instead of bringing them out. He lay down whenever I asked him to - very important since my beginner brain took awhile to process everything I was supposed to be doing (watch dog, walk backwards, make sure sheep don't run me over, watch dog! run backwards, keep moving, sheep about to trample me!, dog coming in to bite sheep, run backwards! - phew).

The trainer took these nice photos:


He was tired by the end of it.

Exams are over!

The dogs are pretty happy about that!We went to the river today with Tyler and Toby. Tyler is the most handsome lab you will ever meet and he and Abby are eerily similar in some aspects of their personalities...they both flip to "brain has fallen out" mode in a split second and that involves a lot of barking and very little listening. Toby is the perfect small dog. He is so calm even when all the baddogs are freaking out! He doesn't like the water *at all*.
Abby tries the pitiful scream for a frisbee toss. This made the frisbee go away. She didn't mind too much. She just stole Ryan's Wubba instead.

And then screamed at Ryan for attempting to reclaim his Wubba.


Gimme! Abby always wins but Ryan loves her anyway.

The damn foot

I took the stitches out of Abby's foot today. They had been in for 10 days but at this point they weren't doing much. The wound is totally open and looks just as bad, if not worse, than it did at the beginning.

I guess we'll go get some more antibiotics tomorrow and I'll have to be strict about not letting her run or go in the water at all. Abby will not be impressed and neither will I!