I entered him in one Masters Agility run at Sale and one at Warrnambool, just to see how he pulled up - and he has pulled up just fine, so hopefully next year will be a much better one injury wise. At 9 years of age, it will most likely be his last full year at Masters level which makes me sad to think about - where did the time go?
It only seems like yesterday that we lined up for our first ever trial run (Knox 2004 and he qualified in Novice Agility and won the ring)
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| Novice Agility October 2004 - Our very first trial. Clear run and 1st Place - still remember how proud I was ! |
He was very happy to be out trialling again - so happy at Sale that he left the ring to jump on L. after I released him at the start line (naughty pants!) and then ran past a jump half way through to visit the judge (his favourite!) After that he decided that it was all business and finished the last half of the course like he had never been away from trialling at all. Luckily Warrnambool was back to being all business for him and he even managed to qualify ...... so we took away one pass for the year !
I no longer care about whether he qualifies or not to tell the truth - all I want is that he is still happy running - but I could do without the' visiting judges' part- as a Masters level dog he should show a bit of decorum, LOL.
Cruz had a couple of good runs at Warrnambool - we got an offcourse tunnel part way through one (which I was actually happy about as he was confidently and consistently running ahead of me which is something I have been working on with him for quite some time) and a refusal at the dogwalk on another (which had a straight tunnel sticking right out under it and is not something that is generally seen at Excellent level and is also something that I haven't trained with him, my bad !)
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| And since I'm indulging myself with nostalgia on this post, here is Cruz following his very first trial - December 2008. Clear run and 1st Place in Novice Jumping, just to prove anything Atilla can do he can as well ! |
My goal is to get to run with them more than I did in 2011 - and as I can count their runs on the fingers of one hand, hopefully that shouldn't be too hard. Clear runs and ribbons and trophies are all very nice but are nowhere near as good as being able to run the course with your dog in good health and I know which I would prefer.
Atilla has been a wonderful agility partner for me over the last few years and I think he deserves a year where he can goof off a little if he wants and just have fun. Cruz is Cruz and we will take whatever his little brain decides to do at the time, LOL. Never a dull moment with Cruz.
Not much training at the moment as it's so damn hot - I hate Summer with a passion and am hanging out for the cooler weather to come. We are getting in a quick 5 mins or so in the evenings after it has cooled down and during the day (if I am home) we have been having fun with our new egg fitness ball. Cruz is an absolute star on it - I'm sure he thinks he is backing sheep.
Not sure when their first trial for the year will be - but for Atilla it will most likely be the Strategic Pairs trial in March where he will make his big 'comeback' with his best buddy Jack. Due to one or the other of them being injured (and of course they can't get it in sync. ) we only have one pass at Masters level so it would be nice to finish off that title before they both retire .......... and at least they always have fun trying !
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