Today, I set up the Grand Prix course that was designed by Peggy Hammond.
I was really surprised at how easy this course seemed in comparison to the Masters Standard course. This morning I ran Belle first, running her as I would run her at an actual trial; in the afternoon, I tried some distance handling to see how her speed and accuracy compared. Our morning run was about two seconds faster than our afternoon run. On the video you will get another demonstration of the power of using your dog's name. (See my post, "What's In a Name?")
I was extremely pleased with Dusty's morning run. I let him hold a toy in his mouth on our way out to the start line, and we got there with a minimum of barking and spinning. Then he shocked me with a very beautiful run. I gave quiet commands at strategic places and he listened! (Stuart Mah maintains that to bring a dog into handler focus, you speak more quietly. Unfortunately, a lot of us have a tendency to speak louder when we want our dog's attention. At least I know I do.) My handling was pretty much spot on except when I was late signalling the left turn over the #12 jump--that produced a very wide path to the tire.
Belle and I will be going to a USDAA trial on Sunday, so I wanted to get in a little Grand Prix practice.
I spent an hour setting up this Grand Prix course designed by Frank Holik. Once I began walking it, it seemed very familiar.
Before running the course, I came inside to search through last years videos, and sure enough, I had set up this course last July. I watched the video and was appalled at how much shouting I did while running the course. I was hoping to run the course a little differently today by opting for a rear cross instead of a front cross between 5 and 6, and by running on the backside of the #16 tunnel. My first idea worked quite well. The second, not so much.
Dusty had A-frame problems, so I devoted most of our training time to that issue. With Belle, I made the same mistake this morning that I made back in July. I took the dogwalk/tunnel discrimination for granted and Belle ended up taking the wrong obstacle. Additionally, the course highlighted the need to work on Belle's teeter performance.
I decided I would mow the field and then set up a second Grand Prix course. This one was designed by Janet Gauntt.
By the time I finished setting this course up, there was only enough time to run it once. We had a slight bobble between 3 and 4, but not enough to be called for a refusal. (I was concentrating on getting into position to handle the 270, and moved across the box a smidge too soon.) Belle and I got as far as #11 before we had an off-course. We started again from the A-frame and this time I stopped soon enough to let Belle know the next obstacle was #12. The rest of the course ran very smoothly.
