Like last year, an unofficial Hooper competition was organized at Lys Foolies.
For the first run, it comes down to control, making the dog turn properly, then pushing it into the last Hoop. Kaïa executed that flawlessly!
The second run was a tunnel festival. I didn’t push her correctly to the second barrel creating a fault.
The team run was a little harder (all teams run the same course regardless of the dog level). The main difficulty was to be able to push the dog on the last barrel and take the last hoop. We did it flawlessly!
We kick off the weekend with a challenging agility. We succeeded in some parts of it, and I got confused by a sequence that looked like a repetition but was not. I’m also happy that she understood that she needed to take the second jump as the position was not so obvious for the dog.
I’m disappointed by my performance on the jumping. It was too much run for me. Some parts are good (the weave pole <3), but I was late on many difficulties, that killed everything.
09/02/2025
The judge was Gilles Welfringer from Luxembourg using Zsuzsa Veres (Portugal) course. I was lazy and took the “in” option after the fourth jump, the “tunnel” command, throwing my dog in the tunnel in front of her. And she happily complied. Don’t be lazy…
The judge was Hugo Santos from Portugal. The Lux Winter Cup finale! Just after the beautiful catwalk, I pushed her way too much on the “out” and that led to an impossible position. It’s still a fun run that highlights weaknesses to work on.
I was disqualified for jumping. There is nothing to say; I think I was still in the previous run.
25/01/2025
The judge was Jeremy Manno from Belgium. For our first Jumping in grade 3 (excluding opens), this was quite a challenge. I was also quite a bit stressed by the change. I know it’s not rational since it’s not the first time we run at this level. It was a little bit messy.
Agility was better, the stress was gone, and I was more focused. We were disqualified for three refusals on a difficult weave pole entry, but the rest of the course was good.
26/01/2025
The judge was Jeremy Manno from Belgium. Agility was full of “outs” and it’s one of our weaknesses. I have a really hard time negotiating them and it’s destroying the tempo of the run.
Jumping was a little better. I forgot to connect with her before the wall, and she took what was in front of her, guessing the course on three obstacles. I’m really happy that she finished the weave pole even if I was running in another direction!
The judge was Jörg Zenner, from Germany. I felt alone beside the 4th jump. I handled this jump poorly and she was just in front of the tunnel, my body aiming right at it!
Agility was fun and fast with many double tunnels. We finish faultlessly and in third place on the podium! I’m proud of this run.
Faultless agility! 3rd place!
19/01/2025
The judge was Patrick Tunders, from the Netherlands. On the jumping, we are disqualified by 3 refusals. Kaïa failed to take an S-turn before a tunnel and the line was borderline dangerous, I was worried and looked for too long. My sweater got stuck on the weave pole and I was late for the next jump.
On the agility, the big question was: can Kaïa run on the catwalk without me? We tried and failed.
I wish I could freeze time and keep you like this for ever.
