Starters Gamblers
The final gamble is tunnel, tunnel jump in the bottom right.
We were all set up and ready for our first run at around 09:30. Our first run of the day was Starters Gamblers. If you remember from our last agility trial, Gamblers did NOT go well at all. I was already feeling discouraged that this was our first run, but I figured it had been a couple months since the last trial, and maybe it would be okay. I was right!
In Gamblers you get to make up your own course for the first 40 seconds in order to accumulate points. At the end of 40 seconds a buzzer goes, and you then have to complete the "main gamble" at the end, where you stand behind a line and have your dog do the designated obstacles.
I had a plan all set up, and we stuck to it! Sherlock was right with me the whole time. We got 28 points in the opening 40 seconds (although it should have been 30 points, but the judge called out the wrong value for the dog walk... nuts!), and you need a minimum of 20 points. The buzzer went and we were right in line with the final gamble (meaning I timed my first part perfectly) and he was SO so so close! Not many dogs got the final part because of the second tunnel (you'll see in the video), but that's not where Sherlock messed up... He saw Dad with the camera at the very and and skipped the last jump. Devastating!!
Even with those mistakes, we had the fastest time and came in third place. If we had gotten that last jump we would have ended with 56 points and first place!
Starters Standard
If you remember from our last trial, Starters Standard was also a complete disaster. I had many friends and family watching at that trial, and it was a mess. This time it was just David and I, and I listened to some tips from my agility instructor for getting Sherlock in the zone. Must have worked! We had a PERFECT run. Zero faults, and a half-decent time. Good enough that we came first place in this run!
1st place; 0 faults; 53 seconds (8 seconds faster than the 2nd place dog!)
Starters Jumpers 1
Mom and Dad were able to make it out to watch this run. I figured since the start of the day had gone so well, maybe Sherlock had gotten all his good energy out of him... I was wrong! This is my favourite run of the day. We had a blast, and Sherlock was right there with me the whole way. I pulled off two blind crosses at the end which allowed us to complete the final two obstacles. Many people weren't doing that and running down the other side of the two jumps at the end, which caused them to step on their dogs or miss the last jump. I didn't want to do that! Even the judge was impressed. In the end we came home with second place for this run. First place went to a dog who just had its first run of the day so it was fresh! Beat us by 2 seconds!
Starters Jumpers 2
Just David, Sherlock and I again at this point. I was feeling amazing about how the day was going so far, but definitely started getting tired. I decided we would stay for this last run and skip the Tunnellers at the very end of the day. Again, Sherlock was a complete champ. He was rather slow by this point in the day, but we completed this course again with zero faults, and again came second place!
We ended our day with 3rd, 1st, 2nd, 2nd. We got "qualifying scores" (called Q's) in 3/4 runs (Gamblers being the one we missed). We got prizes for each of our runs, and many people coming up and congratulating us. I am so glad David could be there all day to support and cheer us on. I still can't believe how well Sherlock and I worked together. I knew we'd been doing better in classes, but I'm impressed how well it translated into the real thing! Maybe we will have to start doing real trials now so that these Q's will count for something!
Such a chill guy in his pen between runs.
This is what a good and tired dog looks like after a long trial day <3
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