I was so lucky, Jane asked me if I would join her for a trip to Mendig, Germany, where we could be trained by Krisztina Beitl-Kabai and participate in two competitions 🙂
I had only trained very limited prior to the trip due to Vini’s injury. She has fully recovered from it, but has yet not gained full strength in the shoulder. That only shows in the turns, where she cannot turn as tight as she used to. But according to my dogs’ physiotherapist, Vini is fit for training and it’s better that Vini trains than play with other dogs.
At Stark Cup in Mönchengladbach I was to run two runs with both dogs. I did’t have any expectations as we haven’t trained full courses for four months so timing is a bit off. Anyway, my little Sookie did so great, she had a clean run in J3 and was placed 6th 🙂 In the agility run we had a little miscommunication but otherwise a great run. Vini had a great A2 run, but I called her off in the middle of the weaves. The jumpers run was great, I lost her after a tunnel but managed to get her around – clean run, 2nd place, and qualified to run the finals next day 🙂
Next morning when we woke up, Jane wasn’t feeling well. I was to run with Sookie and A2 was first later. I went to the venue alone and ran Sookie in A3. She was a bit naughty and broke her startline, and therefore hesitated at second jump, so she knocked a bar. Otherwise a very nice run 🙂 I went back to the hotel to pick Jane up, but she seemed to be even worse than when I left her earlier. I went down to the receptionist asking if we could keep the room a little longer, and then took Do It out for a walk. I went to the venue alone again, entered the riding hall to see that the course walk for A2 had begun. I hurried down and managed to walk the course once and only until obstacle number 16. I watched the small dogs run to learn how the course was after obstacle number 16 😉 I warmed Vini up and went to the starting area. I was one of the first large dogs to run. We had an amazing run but with one knocked bar (number 18) – and Vini had the fastest time of all dogs 🙂 I waited and walked the J3 course and then went back to the hotel to pick Jane up. She was feeling much better now, we packed the car and went to the arena together. When I came into the hall J3 was almost finished. I asked if it was possible to run and was told I could start immediately 😮 well, that run didn’t go very well as I didn’t have time to go over my plan before I ran 😉 At the final Vini did so great – she did things that I didn’t expect wherefore I was thinking “wow” and placed myself in a wrong position and she read my body language as I wanted her to take the jump from opposite side – darn 😉
We went to Mendig, and the next days I was being trained by Krisztina Beitl-Kabai. It was very hard for me at the beginning as Krisztina had a different view on which leg and arm to use, than I have been used to – it required a lot of brain capacity to remember in the beginning 😉 But, I haven’t always succeeded in getting the expected results with my current handling, so appreciated to have another view and being able to try it out. Using the other hand is absolutely something I will continue to do. Here’s some clips from our training the first day:
At the next weekend, there was a competition in the same hall, DTC Agilitypark Mendig. Sookie did great in J3 and had a clean run. She was placed as 7. Agility a miscommunication (Sookie got sucked into a tunnel 😉 ). Vini had some very good runs but with minor faults. The last A2 she was awesome – I just pulled her out of the weaves at the very end 🙁
Compared to Danish courses, the German courses requires more handling – which I love 🙂 The courses had a nice flow and on the parts where dogs were running really fast, verbal commands would have come in handy. I had to try without, I only have commands for turning tight. There was especially one part on the course where I didn’t know how to efficiently handle the sequence – we did it, but lost a second or something.. I saw same kind of tricky part yesterday on a course from the France EO selection. Guess what, I am going to train this sequence 😉
All in all an awesome week – got to meet new friends, and old friends, and company was just great!!
A walk with Leonie and her lovely dogs
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Sookie, Vini and Do It enjoying the beautiful view
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