for those of you who love detailed accounts ;) Day one and two of the Comeback Tour

**brody** · 06-13-2010, 10:12 AM

It's been a LONG time - 2008 since I last trialled with any seriousness at all ... I only got just over a year of trialling in before having to take a break ... friday and saturday were the start of the comeback tour .. Brody ran foot perfect the whole weekend (he runs masters level aac now somehow - the number of trial days we have under our belt is minimal)

first class snookers - earned 34 points (min for vet) he was in the last tunnel of the 6 point sequence when whistle blew so about 1 second away from 40 points ...opening was smooth - as it was his first comeback I actually picked to run 2 6s and a 3 to make the most flow - usually I would avoid a 3 obstacle sequence with him (time) but it worked well - about 1/3 of the dogs in the class earned a q - no other 10 or 6 inch vet did

second class jumpers - lovely flowing course with LOTS of off course options - particularly around tunnel entrances he never even thought about putting a foot wrong - he wasn't blasting the whole course but he was moving steadily he ran in 3.05 yps. I really thought about the crosses and ran him like he was Sally.

the next day I worked at the trial in the am and ran in the afternoon
it was a CPE trial - not sure if you know that venue so will give little play by plays for the weird classes

first class was Fullhouse - (you need specific numbers of specific kinds of obstacles then you need a certain number of points) the trick in this class was to lay a track that gave you the three single bar jumps easily - a number of people got so busy wracking up points they forgot that very simple thing. We ended up with 29 points - needed 23. handled him like he was Sally. he was foot perfect and quick.

Next was standard and quite honestly I am still peeved at ME for this - I "saw" a cone that didn't exist and put him into the much harder end of a tunnel at a dog walk - the track was a little nascar zoom - I turned it into a figure 8 - he ran BEAUTIFULLY and I didn't realize til results were posted that I had made up my own course .. - he wove entirely steadily through weaves he had never seen before ..(yah I had to do a cross to be where I need to be to have him happily weave). had two extra crosses out there to practise for sally - and did a LOVELY rocking rear cross at the teeter too

third was snookers and he earned 45 points

we did 2 6s and a 3 in the opening ... one thing that I liked was he had to come out of a tunnel under the aframe and then up the aframe - I thought about where he needed to be and he was able to fly up it ... in a situation like that it's important he gets some gas in his engine for the up - he much prefers a decent run up the ramp - he pulls himself up the frame if he is too tight to it ... and that slows him way down ...

last was a class called wildcard - not my favourite class as all you do is at three places pick which of two obstacles you are doing it does nothing for me actually ... so I ran it without my hands (other times I have not said a word, run it on the outside, added needless crosses whatever I can think of) to make me take it seriously) Brody was perfect - he was tired (lets be honest so was I) so his tunnels were a little slower than usual

it was great to be back