After the March 2012 trial, the last time I wrote about Star, our next competition was the May SDTC trial, and we did awesome, finishing our Novice Jumpers title and getting high in class on both jumpers runs. A big ribbon weekend for us. And then the rest of the year we don't want to talk about.
Oh, ok, let's talk about it. Mommy was insanely busy with school, work and studying for another part of the CPA exam. Work was asking for longer and longer hours. They only said they were ok with 38 to get me in the door, then they just started adding more and more, including working through all the three day weekends. I changed my summer school plans and postponed the CPA exam, but still tried to keep training and doing one little competition, Moscow in June, but it was too much. Star absorbed my stress and flipped out on the course on almost every run that weekend, getting the "zoomies" - taking off and doing laps around the course until I caught up with her and took her out of the ring. Oh, it was mortifying and depressing. And it went on and on, every week at class, every run at the August SDT trial.
In August, I gave notice at that temp job, so I could finish studying for the last part of the last CPA exam and enjoy one weekend off to help out at the August trial. Helping ended up being our big win for the weekend. Star got left home on Sunday, as I feared permanently ruining her with the stress. Instead, I earned my Novice Course Builder title and my first leg of Gate Steward, and enjoyed helping out without worrying about a sad puppy in a hot tent wondering where her Mommy was.
The fall semester started (last one!) and a new temp job came along a week after I notified them I was ready again, yet still I continued to train us in agility. Star continued to zoom around the course on our first run every Wednesday night, but settled down enough for us to have a nice second run, although I think I was always on edge because I could tell by her posture that she was still tense and on the verge of letting loose with a good zoom.
During this time, Star and I also went to a weekly focus class at the club, to learn more about working together in a less stressful environment. We really enjoyed that. Around day 13 at the temp job, they offered me a permanent position, which I accepted, agreeing to go full time on November 1, after the focus class was done and one of my masters' classes finished. The other change during this time was something I call the scared straight program. Whenever Star started zooming, I disappeared and nobody paid attention to her. The coach led her to her crate, covered her up, and left her alone. Eventually I returned and took her out and we ran the course.
A week or two into December, I finished my degree. We went to our weekly agility class the next day, and (coincidentally??) Star stopped zooming. We started competing again a few months later when the next small trials were run at Deer Park, and we did great! We weren't worried about titles, just getting our sea legs back, so we were surprised to get an ASCA Jumpers title certificate in the mail one day. I think the May SDTC trial was our first return to AKC, and we had similar results to the year before - best in class on our Jumpers runs both days, good team work, moving faster. I laid the ribbons from that one weekend out on the top-less table (glass hidden away for a while until Sunny had learned to avoid obstacles) and someone suggested I leave them there when I put the top back on, and I kinda liked that idea.
I really plan to stop taking ribbons. I have two nice collections now, from our debut, and our re-debut, and a few miscellaneous ones hanging in odd places around the house and at work, and that really is enough. But, during a drought they do help lift the spirits and keep us going, and at the end of a drought, taking a few more is a nice celebration.
Since May, we had trials in Moscow in June, CDA in July and an ASCA trial a week later. Medal count was low, but we are finally playing the same game as everyone else - running a good race but losing a Q to one little bobble, more often than not a handler error. Yay, we get to have handler errors now, because we can finally do some handling! Finally, I can start learning from my mistakes. That is the name of the agility game. Every run has new challenges, new situations to analyze, and nobody likes a good analysis better than me.
We now have 2 AKC titles on the line - just one more leg needed for our Open Jumpers and one more leg needed for our Novice Standard. And in ASCA, we are 1/2 a Q away from our Regular Novice title. But we've gone through 2 AKC trials without getting those titles, so now we need to forget about that and be surprised. It's better that way. We'll have one AKC trial in August, one in September and one in October. I just want us to keep running well together.
A special memory for me from the CDA trial was a constant stream of comments on how well we are running as a team and how happy Star seems to be when she is running. Our coach said Star seems to have figured out the game is to do what Mom is asking her to do, and that she really seems to be enjoying it now. I love the feeling of turning on the speed and running as fast as I can, because the faster I go the faster she goes.
Another memory from that CDA trial comes to mind, but that's where our new chapter starts. Stay tuned...
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