Flying Poodles

Elly got her Open JWW Preferred Title at the Sno King Trial

With the only 100-point score in the Open class, under new judge Susan McClair, Elly got that elusive third Jumpers Preferred Q in 38.61 seconds (SCT 44 seconds and 136 yards) last Sunday (May 4th). It was a challenging course, with a set of weaves going off into a blind corner. I chose to handle Elly with the weaves on the right, despite a 135-degree turn to the right immediately after the weaves, pulling her past the weaves, collecting her, and then turning to the right to finish the course. At the time, it seemed slower than slow, but I felt that any other line would result in her popping the weaves and then having to repeat them. That happened to a lot of people!

Dancer and I had two nice but not quite there runs in Open Jumpers.

Saturday Elly gave me a hell of a scare. She started the Standard course, jumped one jump, ran to the far corner, sniffed the air, stared–riveted–out at the far field at Argus (it was the first outside trial of the year), and then took off. The judge later described her as “a dog on a mission.” I tore off after her and watched her fly to the far side of the field, sniff the fence line, and take off toward the road. A wonderful person saw her and blocked the gate to the road. At that point, she came back to her senses, and turned around and ran at top speed into my arms. Of course by that time I was shaking with fear and adrenaline. It was hard to let her off leash to run on Sunday, but she did me proud.