First Agility Trial of the Year

We did our first agility trial of the year last weekend. I was generally pleased with the results. Wyatt got 3 Qs of 12. He places 2 or 3rd in each Q. Patriot and Dawn also ran well with 3 or 4 Q and some placements. I was hoping our Q rate would be higher but it was better than our last NADAC trial. On Saturday, Wyatt was not lame, but was a bit tentative from a cut he got last week. I was nervous all week before the trial and wondering if he could run or not. Our first run Saturday was terrible contacts. However, since it was NADAC, I could take him back. This seemed to result in better contacts the rest of the day. He missed a few Qs but just one little thing. We dropped one bar in Jumpers, one off course in regular, and got 2/3 challenges in Chances. Sunday was a bad contacts day but I did take him back when there was an issue. We did not Q in elite tunnelers but had an awesome run. I was working 20+ feet away from him. He is so fast in tunnelers that I can't work close to him but it is really cool to steer your dog from such a long distance with any crosses or RFPs.

We ended up with a Q in open weavers (first leg), a Q in elite tunnelers with a YPS of 6.28, and a Q in elite jumpers (NATCH leg).

The snow melted back home and I tried some contacts and it does seem that Wyatt understands an independent 2 on, 2 off. However, I have not been able to get this at trials. I plan a private lesson with some NADAC style contacts to see if I can finally figure this out. We will do only NADAC all this year so I can always fix a contact.