Night had a fantastic weekend, Q'ing in 3 out of four classes and coming home with 34 points.  She was really smoking.  On Saturday she got 7 points on a difficult jumpers course and 5th place, and Sunday we had two of our best runs ever, earning 9 points in jumpers and 5th place, and 18 points in standard (excellent times for her) along with a 3rd place in standard.   To help get nice runs,

I used techniques I have learned from Olga to tighten up some lines and induce speed and better communication with Night.  I used a front cross at the middle of a circle of jumps in jumpers to get more speed (she loves it when I am running backwards calling to front).  In standard kept her coming to front until we passed an inviting tunnel and then go on to the final jumps.  On Saturday I let her run over me at the end of a dog walk (we have running contacts) instead of standing my ground, causing her to end up in the weaves which were just two steps away.  On Sunday I made sure I did not her run over me and kept her coming to front for a few steps to get the correct tunnel entrance at the end of the dog walk.  On Sunday, I held back at the weaves and then a back cross at the beginning and front cross at the end to induce speed which really works quite well.  Olga has taught me very well to let the dog enter the weaves first which, besides letting the dog enter the weaves unfettered by the handler, prevents me from overrunning the weave entrance.  At that point in the course, the way the jumps were positioned, it was very easy to overrun the entry, and many handlers fell prey to that, ending up with dogs in the second pole.

We had a great weekend and Night needs only 16 points to finish!

Chris