ASCA weekend

Last weekend was ASCA here in town. I really enjoy ASCA, it's my favorite venue besides AKC. On impulse I entered Zipper in everything. Five runs a day over two days. He's in Elite Jumpers and Regular, and I even decided to try Novice Gamblers. Turns out Zipper was one of three 12" dogs entered all weekend, the second being Joan Meyer's Niel, who was in Novice and Open, and Kathy's Kip, who was entered Saturday only and not in all classes. As was typical in small trials, often I had jumps set just for me.

Saturday was two rounds of Gamblers, two of Regular and one Jumpers. And to my astonishment, Zipper actually Qd in his first round of Gamblers. He really doesn't have distance skills, but it was a fairly easy one. You had to flip the dog out over the gamble line to a tunnel, then out of that tunnel to a jump, another tunnel straight ahead, then a bonus jump. He had no trouble at all. The second Gamble was a different story It was a jump out to the aframe, then come back toward the handler and finally flip back away again for a tunnel. And Zip decided he wasn't doing the aframe (a sporadically recurrant problem). Instead, when I told him out he went WAY OUT, past the aframe and to the weaves. Oops.

Next was Regular, and we got one Q there, then in the second round he went around the last jump. In ASCA there are no refusals. But if the dog misses the very last jump and crosses the finish line (which thanks to electronic timing IS the last jump) they are NQ. Rats.

Sunday, we started with Jumpers and Zip was clean both rounds but a second over time. I'd taken the dogs for a run after the show the day before and something had made him itchy so I'd had to give him an allergy pill. Next was Regular again, and in that round he just flat ran out of gas. I pulled him from the rest of the runs and brought him home, and he totally fell out. Poor little kid was tired.

We had a lot of plusses and I'm glad I entered, but I'm not sure I'll enter him that many runs a day again.

Pete and Repeat

Weaves are still an issue with Zipper. I discovered that Saturday when I went to the building to train and he was missing poles. Again. For the eleventy-billionth time.

It reminds me that he's still a green dog and that weaves have always been slow to come. He isn't ready for me to be cavalier about weave training. But I've had excuses. This darn calf-muscle pull h has been slow to mend and the weather has been awful. I am not, will not, refuse to, train a 10# dog with no hair in an unheated building with temperatures ranging from 1 to 10 degrees F. Not going to happen.

Thank goodness the weather is letting up a bit this week. Not enough for me to really want to go tracking, but enough to get into the building a few times.

Goal? Me totally healed and Zipper 100% on weaves by our St. Louis trial the end of this month.

Meanwhile I ponder funds for the UKC trial. Upside? Probably easy titles. UAg2 for Zip, Rally for Cala. Downside? $$$. What to do...what to do.