NQ

Howdy blogaroos. Happy last Sunday of January. We’re enjoying today – because tomorrow we will be stranded. We are in for some snowy weather. Not like a mega storm or anything – but enough to keep the Warden from going anywhere. I see a day of napping in our future.

So – the title of our blog today is NQ. According to the “Internet and text slang dictionary” , NQ means thank you. In some other contexts, NQ means newly qualified. What else could NQ mean? No questions? Noxious quirk? Never quiet? New quest?

Well I’m here to tell ya, in the dog world when one is competing in performance sports like obedience, or rally or agility, the letters NQ are not EXACTLY what one is hoping for. They stand for Non-qualifying. Or in laydog’s terms – buzzer – you failed. And that was me – and the Warden yesterday.

Now in all fairness – we’ve been a BIT slack in our training over our extended Christmas holidays. So WHY the Warden thought we should enter a CARO rally trial at the Advanced level is anybody’s guess. Sure – I got my CARO Rally Novice pretty easily – but that’s all on leash. Advanced is OFF leash – and the exercises include things like sending your dog to a jump from 10 feet away. Learning to do that the night before the trial is not advisable. Anyway – we paid our money, packed our bag and off we went yesterday.

Let me begin by saying that our biggest problem is not yours truly – but the Warden. She gets so crazy nervous, she can barely take off my leash when she enters the ring with me. My reaction is kinda “ewwww- what’s with you?” She’s all weird and shaky- so I go in wide eyed wondering what awaits us. Surely the floor is going to open and swallow both of us or something. Maybe the judge, who is the only person in the ring is going to throw darts at us or something. I mean WHAT CAN BE SO SCARY?! So then I get weird. And I forget what to do because I’m worrying about the catastrophe that surely must lie ahead.

Despite the shaky behaviors on both our parts, in the first trial we somehow managed a third place finish with a score of 191 out of 200. Yup – we qualified!!!!! Not bad – given that I only learned the jump in the basement the night before. I had to repeat it after doing it incorrectly the first time- so I lost 5 points right there – so we almost pulled off a 196. So, really, our first run was respectable. Quite respectable!

So on to Trial 2. In this one, the Warden appeared less nervous. But her brain was still misfiring and HER errors gave us the dreaded NQ. No quesadillas for supper. I TRIED to show her what to do – and get this – I did the jump on the first try. See- sometimes cramming works.

Anyway – I still took her home. She tried her best- so I’m not ready to trade her in for a new handler. Yet. And despite all of our shakies- we did have fun – and honestly, that’s what it’s all about.

We would have tried again today – but the trials today were full. I think I’ll just do some training with her today. Clearly she needs it.

In other news – we had some very sad news on our road. Remember our buddy, Jackson aka Pigpen? The black Lab who had a heart of gold – and who put up with a humping Picard and obnoxious PONs. Well, sadly at the age of 12, he went to the Rainbow Bridge after a short illness. We heard him barking at us from his yard just last week… We would always bark if we heard him, but if we gathered at the end of his driveway it was waggy tails all around. He was THE perfect Lab. The road won’t be the same with him gone…

No doubt he and Viktor are chasing bumpers. And Viktor is watching Jackson dive into the water to get one. Remember- he liked ALL kinds of water – and the muckiest, the better. Yup – he was ALL Lab….and a very good boy….

Well, I better get going and finish the party planning. You DO know what party I’m talking about? Of course you do. I’m fearful though that the weather tomorrow may make it difficult for the band and all the guests to come. It’s a big day. No worries though – we’ll eat all the food – no problem. I can’t wait!

Have a good one. Peace and paws up. Stay safe. JBJ.