The GSDA West Coast Challenge is one of my favourite trials of the year.
It's a big one for me. This is the trial I remember the most about when Samroc and I first came over to OZ and started competing here.
Not only do they have spectacular trophies, they used to invite the winners from the agility and jumping classes along to their AGM which is all about the members. Boy the club really is a good one for the members. It was a really feel good night, all the GSDA presentations were done and there was food and drinks too - a real club party and real celebration of the year just gone.
Unfortunately this no longer happens. They still give out the fab trophies but no longer an invite. That's ok - I still have the memories and I think this is why this trial is so special to me.
So on the day - we get there and it's an afternoon trial as per norm. Well what on earth is mother nature thinking - it was 38 degrees. OMG talk about a heatwave.
Masters agility with my wee Diva was such a shame - again the handler let her down. She done all the hard bits and only had a short jumping sequence to go and yep - I royally screwed up. I sent her on to go though the tunnel and bolted diagonally away, trying to get into position. Now that's ok if a) I've got a much slower dog and can get there before she comes out the tunnel, b) I keep my eye on my dog coming out of the tunnel in case she comes out quicker than anticipated, c) I'm an Olympian sprinter. We'll unfortunately none of the above in this instance - and a definate ruling out of "a" and "c" for future reference too BTW. As I got into position I turned around to see wee Diva had shot out the tunnel and had already taken the tyre which was straight ahead of her path - good girl - silly handler -aaaarrrrgggg!!!!!! The dog is absolutely great - it's the handler than needs to learn to cope with such a fast dog - out of practise on the masters courses I think.
Novice agility - another oops. The 3rd or 4th obstacle was the weaves and mini missed the correct entry - aw well she waited on the start line :-) good girl mini
Excellent jumping. This was a real shame. It was a lovely course and a real "mini" course too. This was the kind of course mini really enjoys and powers through too. So what happened????? well guess who didn't walk it?? hmmmmmm - yep me. I thought it was the open jumping course (didn't enter open) - so I went in kinda blind. I came straight out of novice agility and had to bolt over to the excellent jumping ring. There was only 1 dog left to run before the luck last - mini and me. That;s not too bad I'll watch the dog go around and see where we have to go. The course had a lot of spirals in it which was kinda hard to read the numbers as you go around, lol. So the 2nd last dog goes in before us and nooooooooooooooooooo - gets and off course and retires, aarrrrggg.
I got a lead out and frantically trying to read the numbers as I'm leading out to see where I'm going - GO - we almost got it - 1 refusal, owch. I was reading the numbers as we were going and mucked up a section - I started heading off the tunnel to another jump and mini came with me - awwwwwww. Sorry mini - she done a lovely round besides that though. Shame.
So lets leave the best til last. Masters jumping. A trickey course. Had to really work it but lovely and flowing if you got it right. On the collapsible tunnel there was a massive thud - I think diva had smacked into the inside. The grip at the bottom of this tunnel is way insufficient and that's probably to do with it. I hadn't realised at first - head the noise but she came shooting out and on fire so we continued the course. She got a nice clear round but it wasn't until the run home I realised in my head what had happened back there and started freaking out. We crossed the finish line and i cuddled her and checked her out - she was fine thank God.
Well we ended up getting a first and wee diva was all fine - not injured at all. So she can stick the trophy where the sun don't shine - giving me a fright like that, lol. Well done little Div - very proud of you!
