Am I Crazy? Of Course I Am!

1st 2 photos courtesy of Gabrielle Deans

Well, the thought has been travelling through my mind, and I can not squash it. It's nagging all day, everyday at the tip of my subconsciousness, driving me nuts!

Shall we try the AAC Agility Ontario Regionals once more this year? Let's see, our past two Regional showings have been less than stellar performances, in fact, they've been down right embarrassing. Of course, the little dog is much higher caliber than what she presents at these two day tournaments. She gets lazy, and I know, I'm making excuses for her, but the concept of "run for 2 minutes, then lay around for three hours waiting for your next run" just doesn't sit well with her...or me. Hell, if I played soccer tournaments like that, I wouldn't be in the mood for the next game either. Hmm, does the word "lazy" and Jack Russell belong together? For me it seems a bit of an oxymoron, but she does loves her sunbeams in the afternoon.

The drive is turning me off a tad, being that it is a 5 hour drive for a two day weekend in Ottawa. I'm not a long distance driver - I just don't have the stamina. I've actually never driven that far, thus not being properly trained in long distance driving, I'm leery of the outcome. It's a real shame that Brandy couldn't take the wheel so that I could get a break. I suppose that's illegal, plus there is no way she could reach the pedals.

Also, the option of dropping her to specials has been looming on the horizon as well. She was jumping 10"regulars in AAC, and 8" regulars in CPE. Since her knee operation (which has healed nicely I might add) I've been considering dropping her AAC height to 6" specials. I believe it would be easier on her joint, and the fact that the A-frame is lower in the specials division is another bonus. So I am seriously considering this option and have pretty much made up my mind that this would be the best avenue to take for her sake.

Perhaps she'll be more comfortable at 6" and maybe, just maybe, she'll give me a better performance this year. Well, I can only hope. She is Jack Russell after all, and her mind is her own. She is not a fawning do-what-you-ask-any-time-you-ask type of dog, so I am always kept on my toes during our performances. But, that's the joy of running a Jack...and I wouldn't trade it for all the border collies in the world.