A bit over two weeks ago, at agility practice, Prize and I had a "directional mishap" which left me with badly sprained calf muscles in one leg and absolutely nothing wrong with her.
So for two weeks - RIGHT BEFORE THE MBDTC AGILITY TRIAL - I could do nothing but elevate my leg, hobble around and hope for the best that I could at least run a bit at the trial.....never mind that my dog would be getting NO training!
And so it came to pass that the trial came and my dog apparently forgot how to weave in two weeks. Friday there were no weaves, fast or slow, at all, just a nod to the poles as she passed them by - occasionally going between one or two.
Saturday was better though. She finally did weave in Jumpers, was so pleased with herself that she took an extra couple of jumps just for fun - wrong course, of course, but she had fun.
Sunday she did her weaves in standard, but took the A frame instead of that darned pink tunnel. Her jumpers course had the world's slowest weaves, BUT it was good enough and she got a leg and first place!
And now a rant about AKC agility courses - I'm very disappointed in the sharp directional changes they are allowing now. They might be fine for dogs jumping 16" or less, but a spread jump, a 90 degree turn to the tire is a bit much for a 24" dog. That's a recipe for sprains or worse....considering the tire is the most dangerous obstacle on the AKC course. They need to allow break away tires for the safety of the dogs.
I just decided that if I ran anymore AKC trials, my dogs would be in preferred so they wouldn't have to jump more than 20 ". It also reminded me how much my dogs and I enjoy NADAC!
So for two weeks - RIGHT BEFORE THE MBDTC AGILITY TRIAL - I could do nothing but elevate my leg, hobble around and hope for the best that I could at least run a bit at the trial.....never mind that my dog would be getting NO training!
And so it came to pass that the trial came and my dog apparently forgot how to weave in two weeks. Friday there were no weaves, fast or slow, at all, just a nod to the poles as she passed them by - occasionally going between one or two.
Saturday was better though. She finally did weave in Jumpers, was so pleased with herself that she took an extra couple of jumps just for fun - wrong course, of course, but she had fun.
Sunday she did her weaves in standard, but took the A frame instead of that darned pink tunnel. Her jumpers course had the world's slowest weaves, BUT it was good enough and she got a leg and first place!
And now a rant about AKC agility courses - I'm very disappointed in the sharp directional changes they are allowing now. They might be fine for dogs jumping 16" or less, but a spread jump, a 90 degree turn to the tire is a bit much for a 24" dog. That's a recipe for sprains or worse....considering the tire is the most dangerous obstacle on the AKC course. They need to allow break away tires for the safety of the dogs.
I just decided that if I ran anymore AKC trials, my dogs would be in preferred so they wouldn't have to jump more than 20 ". It also reminded me how much my dogs and I enjoy NADAC!
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