Reliant (Thursday-Friday)

So, I figured I'd break this up into two posts since, one, I want to update, and two, it would be incredibly long if I did just one update. So far, Reliant has been everything I've been waiting for. The company is great, the judges have some really fun courses, and Shimmy is adjusting well and dealing with everything like the awesome superstar she is. It was great to see some people I haven't seen in a while and cheer on some of our friends. Here's how days one and two went....

Day One (Thursday 7/21/11)
Excellent A JWW-Q/1st
What a great run by my girl. A super flowy course that gave her tons of confidence.
Novice STD-Q/1st/NA
Wow, we've been working hard for this one. Flawless performance by her. What a girl!
Open FAST-Q/3rd
She had the fastest time, but places 1 and 2 had 62 points while she had 60 points. Either way, I just wanted to get our points and get out. Not like one can get a SuperQ in AKC right?

Day Two (Friday 7/22/11)
Excellent A JWW-Q/1st
This was a super neat course. Lots of turns but a great handling challenge for me. Shimmer rocked it out like always saving my butt as I almost ran into a jump...special.
Open STD-NQ
This was totally my fault. I was rushing to the teeter concentrating on that performance. We disconnected and I lost eye contact, therefore causing her to run past the panel jump. The panel and chute were right next to each other and I can't recall if I even gave a command. Odds are I didn't and she did just what she was supposed to-no command, no obstacle. Contacts were wonderful though, and I'm perpetually happy with her!

We also got our official CGC certificate in the mail today which made me very happy! :)

Tomorrow we run Excellent A JWW again, and our goal is to get our AXJ. We'll also do Open STD and my goal is to just have another confident run, Q or NQ. Open FAST will be the other run and we'll just go in to play that for the fun of it, also, Q or NQ. Sunday will only be Excellent JWW and Open STD. FAST was only offered on Thursday and Saturday. T2B was offered other days and I don't really feel like pushing for speed on this carpet flooring. Despite that she's doing exceptionally well. Her front paw pads got a bit sore, but thankfully not ripped. I put neosporin on them and wrapped them earning me looks of death all evening yesterday. Protect a pad helped today as well as her booties when we walk around. Everyone thinks it's funny and keeps asking what the "balloons" on her feet are for...silly people. We did find out though, the reason her paws on the front were starting to wear down was because she was using her front to power due to her rear being pretty stiff and kinked out. Thankfully, Ken worked on her after our runs today and made her feel a lot better. I can already see a difference in the way she moves and have no doubt tomorrow she'll be able to use her rear a bit more for that force instead of just reaching out and pulling herself through the run. She's currently crashed, oblivious to what the world holds in store for her tomorrow. We'll go around some more tomorrow, collect samples, pettings, as well as the "non-dog" people questions. For now, we're gonna relax, get a good nights rest, and enjoy the next two days of Reliant. It's been an amazing show so far!