TNT - the Rest of Saturday

After Tessa and I survived the most insane Snooker run ever, I was hoping that Round 2 Snooker would go a lot more smoothly.  Unfortunately, it was not to be!

I had a plan - a good one - but it all went south when Tessa came out of her first color - a tunnel.  I was running toward the next red jump when I realized she wasn't with me.  I turned and called her, but it was too late.  She had found a spot where another dog had marked and she squatted down to mark right over it.

Bummer.  I can't blame her, though.  I actually capitalize on the fact that she does that all the time.  I take her to areas where I am sure dogs have marked to encourage her to do her business faster.

This was an outdoor trial.  She really doesn't know the difference between marking in the middle of an outdoor Agility run and marking on a tree on the other side of the parking lot.

I was a little leary after that.  Our next run was Jackpot Level 2 - Tessa's first distance gamble!  We hit non-traditional Jackpots for our Level 1 Q and first Level 2 Q.  I was very eager to see how she would do with a gamble.

But . . . during the Level 3 runs, a dog stopped to pee just after coming out of the tunnel that was the first part of the gamble!  UGH!!  I was worried now that she would catch the scent and stop again!  And this time she would be over the distance line, so I couldn't babysit the end of that tunnel!

Fortunately, the distance gamble for Levels 1/2 was pulled much closer to the line, so the pee spot was a good couple of feet off of Tessa's running line coming out of that tunnel.  That made me slightly less worried.

In we went when it was our turn.  I had a pretty simple opening planned.  We only needed 16 points in the opening.  We did a jump, a jump, and then the A-Frame.  The judge was standing pretty close to the down side of the A-Frame.  Tessa looked at her and crept down slowly, but she did it.  Then, that scalawag, ran toward the judge looking for treats!  But she called right off and went with me to the next piece of equipment - the tunnel.

Then we did a two jump combination to another tunnel.  We needed to burn some time, so I brought her around to do the jump combo again.  She got distracted by the judge again, and ended up doing just one jump, so we got no points for that.  Then back into that last tunnel and, finally, to the weaves, where I planned to hang out until the buzzer.

Perfect timing!

Into the gamble we went.  No hesitation at the tunnel!  She took the gamble obstacles - a jump, a tire, and a jump - perfection!!!

Tessa is the first dog I have ever completed a distance gamble with successfully.  Maddie tried a couple and wasn't successful.  She got her one and only Jackpot Q on a non-traditional.  Dean has never even tried!

Here is our Jackpot run . . . 



That run also completed our Level 2 Strategy title, so as of the end of Saturday, we only needed two more Q's - both Standard - to finish Level 2.

Aside from the marking incident, it was a good day.  I liked this judge a lot, the company was very pleasant, and I was looking forward to going back on Sunday morning.

Tessa's Traditional Ribbon Photo with Saturday Ribbons, including her new Title Ribbon . . .