This weekend was our first agility trial since May.  We had taken June off because of team training and July off for Maya’s puppies (the ones she didn’t have).  It was kind of a mixed weekend.  The trial is at an indoor soccer center, so nice running surface and good air conditioning, but noisy with  lot of kids.  It’s no secret that kids aren’t my thing- my maternal instinct is strictly limited to babies with fur.  Chili and Salsa feel the same way, in fact Chili likes the little monsters less than I do.

The first run of the weekend we were rusty- Juno was out of control, Chili missed contacts, and Salsa had a great run with one bobble.  By jumpers time it was afternoon and the kids birthday parties were in full swing.  Because of limited crating room, and the total inability of agility people to conserve space, we were set up right next to the playground with the screaming monsters.  Chili was huddled in the back of the crate trembling:(   Between this and an extended wait for the start of the class while the club screamed and yelled for workers, the girls were not happy and their runs reflected it.  Juno is pretty fearless and didn’t react to the environment, but she has other issues.

Today started with standard.  It was quieter this morning and I was prepared with thundershirts, but Chili and Salsa were both pretty stressed.  For Chili this results in bailing off the teeter, which was a long time problem that still crops up at times.  Salsa’s stress response is to pee in the ring, which gets everyone fired up about the fact that I clearly hadn’t taken her out (even though I had).  On the whole, this trial site seems to be too much for my sensitive girls to handle, although JWW went a little better and Chili managed a Q.

Now for the good part- Juno actually got a Q today.  She had a lot of wild moments on course this weekend- I’ve started calling it a Random Act of Grandness when she completely disregards my position and handling to do something bizarre, but she had a clean run on a tough JWW course today.  This finally finished her Excellent Jumpers title, so she is in Master for both classes.

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