AKC Nationals January 2006

International Sweepstakes Class - Standard Course

This was a fairly easy course; at least I thought it was before we ran!! 

The opening was good.  Al ran up the A frame and scampered down.  He still took a lot of time, but he made the contact, and was ready to run!!  Over a jump, into a tunnel, through a tire, over a jump, and then the teeter.  This is where I messed up.  I ran up the teeter, looked at the next jump one, two, three, and just to make sure 4 times!!  The only problem was I was looking at the wrong jump.  What I remember about the run was that I kept looking at the jump  (straight off the end of the teeter) and that I thought it was right one, but it wasn't right;..... but it was the only one I saw, so I looked again, and again, and again?  When I sent Al over the questionable jump after he did the teeter, I heard the groans from the crowd, and I knew that it wasn't going well.  I also had a hell of a time for the next few obstacles, as the 3 jump serpantine that I was expecting now had 4 jumps?  What the heck??!!  I found my way through the mess, got my bearings and then we ran the rest of the course pretty well. 

I'm pretty happy that Al stayed with me.  If I were him, I'd have quit and said when you figure out what we're doing, come back and tell me, and I'll come and play then!  He got a difficult weave entry, and finished nicely, with good effort.  He was so happy at the end.  It was either because the pain was over, or that he expected good treats for my peace offering. 

I was amazed at how I had lost my bearings!!  I wasn't alone, as a number of other competitors did the same thing, but still it is an eye opener when you get lost on two courses in one day!!  This really bothered me!!