As a not-super-competitive person, I tend not to learn all the rules of the games we play in agility. I just kind of go out there and do my best and see what happens. Not long on strategy, just playing with my dog. This year I decided that I wanted to take Chico to Cynosport – the USDAA nationals. I read the rules of the tournament game that Julie advised, Performance Speed Jumping, and it said that you need two qualifying runs to enter the quarter finals at Cynosport. We go those, so I was ready to go.

Then, over the weekend, I read some more rules. It turns out you have to meet the eligibility standards in TWO tournament games to go to Cynosport.

We’re trying another tournament game, Performance Versatility Pairs, at NOMAD in mid-month, but it is a series of five classes in which Chico and I AND our partner team, Cheryl and Whitney, have to do well in all of them to earn eligibility. Chico and I haven’t even been able to do a whole course lately, let alone run clean and get Qs. All we can do is our best. And me worrying about it is NOT going to help.

Bye-bye Cynosport plans, hello “let’s make Chico happy and relaxed so he can run at all.”