Wednesday, May 25, 2011

What Are We Made Of?


This weekend - actually, Friday and Saturday - I'll be showing Joker 3 times in Utility B, searching for his 3rd UD leg, and Ty 3 times in Open B and 3 times in Utility B at the Memorial Day cluster in Kalamazoo. My primary goal with Ty is to see what our team is made of. She finished her UD in March, and is 1 for 2 in Open B and 2 for 4 in Utility B since then. I really haven't shown her all that much in obedience, considering that she is 6.5 years old. So this weekend, I want to see how much we are capable of. Can we get a UDX leg or two? Can we make progress on our OM (she’s got about 20 points already)? Can we come anywhere close to some OTCh. points? Note that I didn’t say earn points, but rather come close to doing so.

I feel like we are starting to gel as a team, and so the grand experiment of this weekend. I can’t remember when I last showed a single dog three times in Open in the same weekend. I’m not sure *I* have it in me to go in the ring 9 times in 2 days, let alone the dogs. Again, an experiment.

I don’t honestly know if an OTCh is a reasonable goal with Ty. Am I willing to put in the time, $’s, and effort that it is likely to take? Can she rise to the occasion? Can I? Really, only time will tell. But one of the cool things is that I can pursue the UDX and OM1 without having to beat anyone else, and how difficult that proves to be will give me an excellent read on the OTCh prospects.

Stay tuned...

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