Drop In

Last night was one of those nights where I couldn't decide what to do after work until I was in the car driving. Swim at masters or drop in agility run throughs at Boulder County Fairgrounds? decisions, decisions. In the end I went to run throughs. On the one hand I don't want to burn Lola out before Nationals, on the other hand I was still feeling bad about how slow she was going at the trial 2 weeks ago and was curious to see how she would run indoors on a freezing cold, rainy night. I gave her an entire week off from agility hoping this would renew her enthusiasm and allow her to rest up a bit.

There were 2 courses to choose from, novice and masters level nested with each other, and the entry fee allowed for 2 runs so I decided to do one of each. I got there a little bit later than I wanted because of an accident blocking the road so I was a bit rushed walking the courses. I figured this would be good practice for Nationals where I'll have to keep a whopping 3-5 courses in my head all day.

We started out with the masters course and Miss Lo charged through it beautifully. We had one knocked bar and some hesitation going down on the table but an otherwise perfect, fast enough run. She even booked it on the dogwalk, slowing only a little on the down side. It wasn't quite yeeha fast but it was way better than at the trial. The novice course didn't go quite as well, I think she popped out of the weaves and I got a bit lost. Didn't go off course but handled things not so smoothly because I forgot where I was going. Doh. She was still fast and happy though which is mainly what I was hoping for.

Moral of the story is that I'm convinced the hot weather and demotivating courses were responsible for her slow performances 2 weeks ago. Bad news about that is that Nationals will be held in similar weather and she'll be sporting her winter coat. Not much I can do about it but do the best we can with what she's willing to do. There were no hoses to cool her down at the local trial and I'm sure there will be hoses or something at Nationals so that might help. She has run much better in the past when I've cooled her down with water beforehand. Must remember to pack her cooler coat.

Tonight I'll go to masters. Promise.