UKI Midwest Cup

It's been quite the busy month!  We packed up and moved most of our belongings into my parent's basement or into the shed.  Finding time to go back to our house to actually finish cleaning it and empty the garage has been difficult!

But before I dive into some of the updates I wanted to brag on Zumi!  We went to our first "big" competition this last weekend, the UKI Midwest Cup.  It involved our first trial with an overnight stay.  

Zumi wasn't thrilled with the hotel whenever we were by ourselves. She paced and stood at the door, and wouldn't eat any of her food.  But when our roommates were in the room she was happy, relaxed, and seemed to feel more certain that it was where we were supposed to be.  Zumi also decided she could eat kibble as long as it wasn't hers.

I wasn't sure how she would handle the trial environment but she kept her wits about!  Her startline issues seemed even better than they have been at the local shows!  Day 1 had a little pitter patter and at least 1 run with a quick scoot, but by day 2 she was pretty solid!  

Our jumping type runs were our weakest point but that's true in our local shows too.  She tries, just a few wheeee moments where she can't quite turn.  Some my mistakes, some hers. Her 2 standard runs were my favorite.  

My fault for the knocked bar for being in her way, but she listened the whole run!  And even turned off her running dogwalk to get the weaves and not suck in the tunnel!  

Gamblers was a phenomenally smooth run for 3rd place. Sadly I earned her a refusal in the snooker closing which knixed our chances at a medal.

Day 2 really came together for us.  She was much more handler focused overall.  That meant she didn't make up for my handling on that snooker run, but not as wide of turns.

Standard on day 2, biathlon agility, I wasn't thrilled with my conservative handling of a turn after the wall jump but hey at least I avoided the 2 tunnel trap possibilities with it! And I sadly got rewarded for my wussy approach by coming in first place of the 20in class.  So many border collie E's...

But apparently, Zumi got 3rd for biathlon of all the 20 in dogs!  I left the trial for our long drive home before knowing we would be on the podium.

And her final placement for all 8 classes of the cup was 4th in the 20in class!  We made a lot of mistakes, but the courses were eating dogs left and right.   Super, super fun courses but challenging!

I'm glad we went and now I'm even more excited for November's UKI US Open!