Frederick MD trial Oct 27-28, 2018

This was a hard trial for a couple of reasons.  For one, it was our first trip without Logan.  We had planned to bring him up one more time to see Patti.  It just didn’t work out that way,  People at the trial were so compassionate in sharing condolences and I was touched by their kindness.  The second difficulty was the weather.  The rain from a hurricane stayed with us Friday evening through the majority of Saturday, and the weather was cool.  Walking the dogs was miserable. We stayed at little Bennett campground again -  site 55, which has become our new favorite (site 70 previously), but we didn’t really get to enjoy the trails.  On Friday night, in the rain, we walked the Big Oak trail, which had been decorated for Halloween.  The only dog scared by this haunted trail was Gracie, and she quickly got over it.  It was a short walk as we only connected to Beaver Creek, back up Acorn, to Big Oak to make a small loop.

The rain was still horrible Saturday morning so the dogs only got a quick potty walk.  And finally, the third difficulty was the trial schedule.  Frye’s first run was at 10 and then the next runs weren’t until 3.  We didn’t get home until 6 and barely had enough time to walk the dogs before dark.  We walked the same short trail, with Cadia trying to pull towards her favorite trail - Anglers Ridge- as we passed by.  We did let Cadia and Gracie run free for being such good sports all day. Cadia got of on one good chase and I was scared Gracie had followed her, but Gracie came running right back to us. Fortunately, earlier that day, we took an hour break from the trial and drove to Gambrill State Park for a quick walk on the white trail - a one mile hike.
Now for some highlights from the trial:
Braddock:  This was his first full trial back.  He had one run last weekend.  This weekend he went 3 for 4- with an off-course backjump in JWW.  It was a mistake due to our lack of practice together. That said, his times were as competitive as they have always been and he placed 1st, 2nd, and 2nd (losing 1st to a fast Dobe in STD).  The big thrill was being able to run him again.  I hadn’t seen him this happy in a long time.
Frye:  Last weekend Frye got a STD Q so she only needed one more to get her title and enter Masters.  On Day 1 she was so close, but she finally nailed it on Day 2.  Interestingly in STD day 1 and JWW day 2, she made the same error - going around a jump at ~ a 180 degree angle, both times turning left (usually her better turn).  I’ll have to work on how to collect her better in that scenario. The other challenge with her is that to get these good performances we have to have a throwaway run to start - like Premier.  These runs were a disaster and she looked like she had no focus whatsoever.  I have to figure out how to get her in the right mindset at the first run.  I have no clue yet how to do that.