Seven Stages of Grief

The streak is over.

Libby didn't just not finish the Derby this week-end, she did so in spectacular fashion.

First series was a TINY little double.  Not tight, not long, no cover changes...the longest bird wasn't over 70 yards.  Serious.

She pinned the flyer and then went under the arc of the memory bird, and without hesitation, went hyper speed back to the flyer.

As I stood on the line watching this, I went through the Seven Stages of Grief:

1) Shock & Denial: "No way she is going back THERE"
2) Pain & Guilt: "I wonder if it's because I haven't been getting on her for making dumb loops behind a gun.  Maybe it's my fault."
3) Anger & Bargaining: "TWEEEETTTTT.  GET IN HERE!!"
4) Depression & Reflection: "That was depressing."
5) The Upward Turn: "Well, it WAS just a little test and she's been doing bigger stuff".
6) Reconstruction:  "I need to work on her run around in the first series".
7) Acceptance & Hope: "Hey, she's cute anyways and it made me laugh".

And then I was over it.  On to the next trial.  She's just a dog after all, isn't she?

On a happier note, Darbi finished yet another Open with a JAM.  She's finished 3 of the last 4 here in the US and is running great!

She was in fantastic shape going into the last series as one of only 17 of 75 dogs to do the first series (and she did it very well) and she had a great water blind.  The last series was a big Quad, which scared me to death.  She got one bird pretty ugly, but did the test without a handle.  She was so much fun to run, as she has been as of late.

Kenny said to me after "she may not be the most talented dog I've ever seen, but she is certainly one of the smartest I've ever trained".  She used her brains to figure the test out and didn't look too shabby doing it.  I'm thinking I should let Kenny run her soon...but I just don't want to give her up.  We're having WAY too much fun, just the two of us.