Last weekend was the scheduled road trip to Albany to test the waters for Cassie's first trial away from home. I'm also happy to admit to looking forward to getting away from Perth for a few days. I took the Friday and Monday off work to make it a bit more of a holiday. We stayed at Coraki Cottages which we really enjoyed especially being able to have the dogs inside with us. Accommodation that is so dog friendly is not so easy to find. Cassie moved in like she owned the place with a very big pappy tick of approval. Sonic's first reaction on entering his weekend digs was to turn tail and take himself back to the car. I'm pretty sure the message was "looks great but I'm ready to head home now"... he got over it and travelled well as he always seems to. They make a nice travelling pair. They are great friends and co-exist so happily together.
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| My agility area 2014! |
The big test was, could Sonic make it through a trialling weekend without me breaking him?? I'm very please to say that not only was he still sound by the time we left he also went clear in Masters Agility and Masters Jumping with a win in agility and second in jumping. Both were really sweet runs and he seemed awfully happy. His other two runs were hardly bad but he knocked a bar in the second Masters Jumping (my fault for getting in his way) and missed a weaver entry in the second Masters Agility class. His success far exceeded my expectations. He has another acupuncture session this weekend so if there are any tweaks there hopefully we can sort them out. Bring on the Western Classic I say.
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| Colin & Riot |
To make the weekend even better little muppet pappy pants went clear in both of her Excellent Jumping classes finishing off her Excellent Jumping title. Not bad for a two and a half year old who has been trialling for just under 12 months! I had quietly thought to myself it would be cool if she could get the last two legs but I didn't actually think it would happen. I'm very excited that I'll be able to run her in Masters Jumping not only at the Nationals but also our State Trial which is awesome. Our Sunday agility classes didn't go quite so well. When I was warming her up for her classes she would switch on but then I could not keep her focus no matter what I did. I was pulling out the special treats and iSqueak but to no avail. She still ran fast, I don't imagine she would ever do anything else, but she was unfocused and not with me at all. I *think* it may be because she was tired. We had been out for dinner with some of the other triallers on Saturday night and the car was parked on the main street of Albany with the dogs inside. We could see that she wasn't really settling from the restaurant. We didn't have a late night but it certainly wouldn't have helped the situation. Great lesson for me when we go to the Nationals in that we have early nights to make sure she is as rested up as possible for each day's events. I'm considering travelling to the weekend trial in Geraldton in May to test my theory. But we'll see how things unfold after the States.
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| The kids! |
I'm slowly getting back into my regular fitness routine. The plan is to build up to three workouts a week as we get closer to the Nationals. I have come up with a "400 calorie" workout which entails a 1.3km run from my office to Jacobs Ladder (Lorna Jane and pony tail compulsory, sweating optional...), up and down Jacob's a couple of times, around to the hill of pain (Mount Street) for a couple of circuits, then back to Jacob's for another couple of sets and the 1.3km run back to work. I already feel like I've trimmed up since I got back into it after Christmas. It makes such a difference when trying to run the dogs and of course I feel fitter and healthier.
Next up is the Western Classic in a fortnight. Then the States in April which is what I guess we are all looking to in the lead up to the Nationals. I'm mainly keen to see how she copes in finals (provided we make one of course!) when there are people sitting around the outside of the rings. After how she freaked out at the Royal it's at the back of my mind that she may not like it. That is something she has to cope with for the Nats. If she reacts badly then I'll have to do some serious work. Lots of tests for the pappy pants in the near future and of course keeping Sonic in one piece!
