Weekend CPE Trial

There weren't any rally/obedience/ USDAA or AKC agility trials so we went out and did CPE! (wow I'm a trial junkie ;) ) Usually I come home from CPE trials obsessed with the venue and plan to do like 12 more CPE trials, but not this time. Sure the dogs did well, as always (Trix 4/5 and Scoot 3/5) but the trial didn't seem AS fun. Maybe I'm just used to knowing a lot of people there like at AKC shows. It also probably had something to do with the surface... I usually really don't think about the surface unless there's something obviously wrong with it - at this trial is was like trying to run in quicksand! I had trouble WALKING the course without sliding about and, to make matters worse, there was dust/dirt EVERYWHERE - i.e. eyes, shoes, socks, BENETH socks, dog's fur (eyes too I'm sure),  and feet. I'm definitely not planning on going back (unless it's resurfaced) because it was so bad; which is a shame because I LOVED everything else, the location, the exercise area, the crating space, the food (OMG it was good), plus it's the closest CPE trial around (1 hour). The judge was a really nice guy, at least I thought so until I saw his courses! Level 4/5/C's jackpot was just ridiculous, only ONE dog out of like 50 got it, Trixie was close but she decided to bounce off the teeter... hmmm I wonder what we'll be training next?? Except for colors all of the courses were really demotivating for slow dogs, plus the surface didn't help (poor Scooter knocked a bar, I blame it on the surface because...I CAN! ha just kidding but really I think I saw her slip, and I noticed both dogs having trouble with take offs/landings. Wildcard was the worst I think - SUPER tight, like USDAA Masters tight, only tighter... I did like his colors course though, very true to CPE! :D

On quite another note I've been thinking about taking a break from agility, no don't panic just agility trialing. After CPE nationals I have like 4 agility trials planned for the summer, instead I think we'll be doing more APDT/AKC rally, obedience and maybe even trying CDSP. Who knows? CDSP (Companion Dog Sports Program) is like a happy, carefree version of AKC obedience, I think it'd be a good starting point for Trixie and some fun for Scooter too. I also think after Scooter and Trixie get their C-ATCHs and Trixie gets her PDCh in USDAA I'll just stick to AKC agility with the occasional USDAA tournament trial to Q for nationals and I'll do regionals too because why not :) And of course I'll still do APDT rally, great ribbons and nice start times with down time to do homework in between. I do think I'll take Trixie as far as she wants to go in rally, past the ARChX like I'd originally planned and take Scooter past just 1 ARChMX, I know it'll be expensive but if it means trialing less and having more fun when we do then that's what we'll do