Tag wins 22" Division for Alberta Regionals

We both had the most incredible weekend....Tag was just amazing.... no other way to say it.

Thursday afternoon Sarah, Amanda and myself headed up to Edmonton to compete at Alberta/NWT Regional Agility Championships. We were definatly happy to be leaving the weather warning that Lethbridge was advised with .. major rain and wind.

We had a very relaxing Thursday and even got to sleep in a bit on Friday morning. We arrived at the trial site on Friday morning and took a look at our steeple chase runs which looked very fast but alot of fun. Tag and I started out fantastic on our first run on Friday but because he is so reactive I just so slightly lifted my arm and he took the jump ahead of me instead of the weave poles... no biggie, I made him go back and do his contact again and then we completed the course. Our second run was awesome and we actually made the steeple chase finals for Sunday night... very cool.

Saturday morning we stared out running a Standard course and did awesome on it and we scored 95 points... we only lost 5 becasue Tag decided to come back out of the tunnel after I told him to go into it as he wasn't sure if this is what I really wanted him to do. I crowded him on this entry and he did the right thing when he was unsure. We cleaned up our Gamble run with 100 points or more and our Jumpers was super fast and cleam he even nailed the weave poles so hard that he actually stopped and then continued to weave. When I get the videos uploaded you will see that when it comes to agility their is no such thing as pain...according to Tag.. lol

Sunday came along and we were running Gamble first and we did awesome on this run and again collected a 100 points or more.... We then ran our Jumpers course and he ran it in 30.07 seconds one of the fastest times for that course and mean while all weekend not one bar has dropped, so it would be safe to say that my criteria and training prep for regionals worked out very well. Our last run of the day was a standard course... it was a bit tough with a weave entry but he did very well in finding it and we had one bar that came down and that happened because I yelled his name over the jump.... I KNOW BETTER .. but my timing was off as I didnt want him to touch the teeter.... no big deal.

When I came off the line I was really worried about the bar and I thought the judge had called me on a contact as well but when I recieved my slip I had 95 points and 5 points were due to the knocked bar. I looked at Sarah and she said " come with me I have somthing to show you " Sarah and Amanda new all day that I was in first place on Saturday but didn't say anything to me as it would have probably rattled me. We we went over to the total aggregates table for Saturday and Tag was leading in first place. Now I have no idea how the other 40 dogs have done and many are fantastic dogs.... so Sarah and I both knew I was in the top 10 or 15 but just not sure where exactly we placed.

Of course I started to cry because that is just what women do .... and to know that Tag was in first place Saturday was just amazing. When I set my Regional's goal I wanted to be in the top 10, saying that.... I would be thrilled to place at # 10 and I would have no problem accepting the top 15. As this would have beat my regional scoring by a ton from last year... and that is what I really wanted to do was to show the improvement in myself and Tag.

We prepared for the Steeple chase finals but I wasn't sure if I should even run Tag because he had been having some bad diarreah that afternoon. I had given him immodium but his stool was turning to blood ** which freaked the shit out of me** but I was reassured from Amanda and Sarah that everything was ok.. so we ran in Steeple chase but my head wasn't 100% in the game and I made a couple stupid moves which caused him to have a refusal and an off course. I honestly didn't even feel like running it but we made the finals which is cool... I was just worried about Tag.

Afer the steeple chase finals we all gathered around to hear the final aggregates and to see whom was in the top 10 for each division. They called out the 22" regular class and all my GDG buddies all looked at me with big smiles. There was 25 Qualifying dogs out of 40 that can go to Nationals. As they were called out with their aggregate score first and then the dogs name.... so the count down is on and I really had my ears perked at 15 and down. Then we she stared reading the top 10 I started to get emotional because I knew I had reached my goal and that was a HUGE deal to me. Amanda was holding my arm and Sarah had my shoulder and the lady counted down 9th place with a score of $%$%^^ and dogs name...
ok so this happened for #8, #7, #6 #5 and when she reached 5 I was full out crying and Sarah was squeezing my head and Amanda was telling me to listen but yet holding my arm still. #4, #3 and Sarah is really squeezing my head by now and jumping and when she called the second dog and it wasn't Tag... all my friends were yelling and screaming because Tag just won Regionals.
Sarah was crying, I was bawling and Amanda had a glitter in her eyes of tears :0) I was shaking so damn bad when Tag and I went up to receive our award. I couldn't believe it and I still can't belive it...... I stood in line with 10 amazing dogs and to know that all our hard work has paid off and that Tag amd I had won first place.
It was trully a thrilling and exciting moment that I will never forget. I'm very excited to be going to Nationals in Calgary at Spruce Meadows.I haven't thought about my Nationals goal yet but I'm starting too. I'm going to give Tag two weeks off as he did become quite sick after Regionals Sunday night and I ended up taking him to the vet on Monday afternoon when he came home because his poop had so much blood in it. Sarah had a good idea that it was Gastro Intestinitis and sure enough when we arrived and my vet looked at him and checked some stuff out it was exactly that.
The prednisone that he is to clear up his nose can causes his tummy to be extremely upset and when we let him chew a bit of a raw hide stick Saturday night it was enough of a change to cause the irritation. He is all good now and had his first real man meal today as he was on rice and Gastro canned food. He is on two meds a day and he is recovering very fast.

The entire weekend was just awesome and I have such great friends that support me and cheer me on. There is so many small moments you remember and one that always makes me smile is when Tag and I were heading to the line, Amanda and Sarah would shout " GO TEAM FARN" and it would bring a huge smile to my face. The other memory I have is when Tag won and Jan said to me " Jo I'm so proud of you" it really made me feel good and it felt like I had a mom there to cheer me on.

one rule in the Farn household is your not allowed to say the word " CAN'T " Aislyn will say this sometimes and we always tell her don't say that word... your suppose to say YES I CAN and then try......I think Tag and I just proved to our house hold that anything is possible if your willing to work hard for it.