Nationals

Well.... I have finally recovered from an amazing and awesome experience. I'm so grateful and fortunate that I was able to compete at such an honorable event.
Aaron, Tag and I flew in Tuesday afternoon (July 28th)

Tag was quite stressed out when I took him out of his kennel at the Airport. He hid between my legs wondering what in the heck just happened to him. We arrived at Algonquin College where we met up with Amanda, Sarah, Pete and the 4 legged crew. Aaron and I crashed in the Kitchen for the 6 days we were there and it worked out super well. Aaron and Pete did alot of drinking and fishing and us Girls did alot of laughing, Stressing and DESTRESSING....:)

I was very proud of Tag and the runs we had. We competed against some really tough competition and literally some TOP DOGS and Handlers.You can't really explain how incredible some of these dogs are... you have to see it.

I remember one moment before anything had even started we were just driving up to the site on the Wednesday night to save our spots and all you could see were a ton of white tents and I had a big gulp in my throat.....Then when we actually walked in there and we went and checked it all out I stood on a picnic Table overlooking 4 of the 6 rings asking myself is this over my head ? I was feeling overwhelmed and knowing the class I was competing in didn't make me feel any better.

When Friday finally did approach and the Steeple chase runs did start I was feeling so nervous ...I almost felt like vomitting. I did listen to my I-pod and tried to CHILLAX but I did feel overwhelmed. We started our first run and it was going so smooth and I remember getting caught up in the moment and BOOM.. I screwed up after the weave poles.. I forgot where I was going. I could just feel the disappointment inside eat me up. We received an off course but the rest of the run was good. Our second run was absolutely beautiful and I felt so much better and when the posting came out and we placed 15 out of 112 for this run I was thrilled.

My goal for Saturday and Sunday was to beat my Regionals Goal... unfortunately I didn't do this. I have looked back over the videos a million times and I replay scenarios back in my head over and over as to what I could have improved on and there was LOT'S....Tag is truly an amazing dog and I sometimes feel like I screw that poor dog up. Anything and everything that went wrong was due to me and my handling. I thought at the time when I was walking the course that I had it figured out and I'm going to do this...here ..and this ..there..... but when you get out there and the speed kicks in.. the nerves and the adrenaline it seems to fall apart.

I have learned alot about me and my dog and what I need to do to handle certain situations. He launched a few times and went off course due to me not giving him directions in time. Sarah and Amanda have assured me this will get better with experience..... one thing about me is I'm NOT PATIENT and I want things to work and snap into place NOW. So I have been doing some homework and I printed off all the courses from Nat's and highlighted on all of them were things went wrong or where we could have had tighter lines. Tag and I are going to practice these again and see how we can improve. I was absolutely thrilled with my Gamble openings... I racked up more points then I initially had counted... but I panic when the buzzer goes and I can't seem to get Tag lined up for the end Gamble and I screw around to much ... trying to get him into the best position to send him out.I KNOW we could have had one of those end gambles.

These courses were all Master level courses and they were Technical which was such an awesome challenge. My eyes were opened up and I know where we are at BUT even better I know where we can BE.... Next year in Calgary I have my Goal set and it is aggressive but that is what makes me work really hard and learn as much as I can.

I'm really looking forward to Kimberly and Medicine Hat trials... I feel really confident that Tag and I can gain some serious experience and practice.