Xander and I competed in Perry, GA this weekend. I had $80 invested in running with Kirby also, but unfortunately that did not come to pass. He was either bitten or stung or exposed to some unknown irritant which caused an avalanche effect. The irritant motivated him to chew his foot, which caused an infection and swelling, which resulted in my placing an e-collar on him, which resulted in much lip licking and drooling, which led to red and inflamed skin around his mouth. All this led us to the vet this morning for some topical and oral steroids, as well as some antibiotics for the infection. The vet was hopeful that he would be out of the e-collar by the weekend, and then his face would get better as well . Here's hoping that's how it goes. He is also entered in one day of competition on July 31 in Tallahassee. It would be nice if he didn't have to sit that one out as well!
Given that I took off both Friday and today for the trip, and to enjoy a long weekend, my concern and compassion for Kirby's suffering put a bit of a damper on the experience. I am thankful that it was nothing worse, after all, we drove through horrendous rain on Friday and could have been in an accident, but it's hard not to feel a bit sorry for one's self when things don't go as you planned. Still, I was proud of myself for not dwelling on it too much, and maintaining the ability to enjoy the good parts of the weekend.
One benefit to scratching Kirby meant that on Saturday, when the running order was small to tall, we were afforded a leisurely morning sleeping in at the hotel and actually eating breakfast prior to dashing out for the trial. We had set up on Friday afternoon, before spending an extra hour in accident related traffic, so we breezed in at about 10am Saturday morning. Just in time to see our friends Carol and her little boy Wicked earn a 1st place in Novice JWW! He was successful in JWW on Sunday as well, along with his sister Kansas who earned her 9th MXJ leg! Apparently, it was a JWW weekend, because Xander earned his first two MXJ legs along with his first 31 MACH points!
Xander and I have been working REALLY hard on contacts, and I was determined to be consistent and demand criteria in the trial. We hadn't competed since the end of May, so I hoped that all the practice using the tips we learned from Gabrielle's seminar would pay off. I also decided that I would be strong and leave the ring if he did not maintain criteria. As hard as it was to give up another entry fee, especially given the loss of Kirby's fees, I knew it would be challenging. However, on our Saturday std run, he self released from the A-frame, which was the second obstacle, and left me out of position which immediately resulted in an off course jump. I thanked the judge and we left the ring. I wasn't angry. We went off and played a low key game of tug. I just wanted to show him that if he didn't play the game as we'd practiced, he wouldn't get to play anymore. Simple as that.
I was very proud of myself for having the resolve to do that. Maybe it paid off or maybe I just got in his face more, but he nailed his A-frame contact on Sunday. Sadly, we had some confusion on the next obstacle (he thought it was the tunnel, I thought it was the jump), and so we NQ'd. However, the rest of the run was gorgeous and he had a fabulous dogwalk contact, weaves, etc. Plus it was nice to run the ENTIRE course, and not have to leave!
I am feeling empowered by the experience, knowing the the long run is more important than the single run, and when we compete for the one day at the end of the month, I plan to treat our runs the same way. We will have a long break with no trials in August, and then we will see if our new trial criteria really holds up when the season starts again in September!
I am also planning to work on tightening my handling and using more front crosses than rear crosses. I am a bit of a clutz, which means that rear crosses are more comfortable to me when I can see where we are going rather than running fast and pivoting. However, after watching some teams which posted faster times, I saw quite definitively that front cross handling is overall faster. We only need to shave off a second or two to be in first place contention, which I think is doable. And it will be a fun challenge! We still managed 4th place in a huge, competive Exc B class, so I was proud of my boy.
Apart from the JWW successes, Buster and I enjoyed the weekend together and a delicious dinner at Outback with Chris and Carol. Our hotel was as nice as last time, and super convenient, so no complaints there. Other than the ants that somehow made their way from the parking lot into my car. At least they don't bite. There was also some sort of cattle competition there at the fairgrounds, which lead to an infestation of flies in my car as well. I drove around today with the windows down, so I'm hoping that's gotten rid of the rest of them. Not sure about the ants. Maybe I should vacuum?
Overall, it was not the best weekend, as I was worried about Kirby and feeling guilty that he was suffering and stuck in a crate at the show. I was afraid something more nefarious was happening to him, so was anxious to see the vet as soon as we returned. I was relieved to hear that after a few days of meds, he should be feeling better soon. Poor guy is totally over this cone-head business! Also, not running Kirby on Sunday meant that we were able to leave prior to 3:30pm, unlike many who were still there at 6 and 8pm. Yikes! We were home by 7:30 and Buster was able to get some sleep before heading back to work today.
So not the best, but could have been worse, and we got some good experience out of it. Such is life, right?
