Evansville

After a three month hiatus from competition, Tully and I hit the road for an agility trial hosted by the Evansville Obediene Club this weekend.  I'll start by saying what a nice trial the club hosted!  There was plenty of crating space and the trial was well run in a nice air conditioned indoor soccer field. It will definately be on my list to attend next year.

Other than that, the weekend was a near disaster!  We were 0-4 all weekend.  Our two attempts at Open Standard were dismal.  Tully has a new fear of the teeter and seems think touching it will result in certain death.  He looks at me wide-eyed and will start offering any other behavior he can think of (repeat the tunnel, run ahead to the next thing, search madly for something else that I may find appropriate, jumping over the teeter like it's a jump, etc).  Excellent Jumpers went somewhat better. Yesterday we made time but he bypassed the starting jump and we had to restart, resulting in a refusal (the only fault) and an NQ.  Today he ran it clean, but over in time resulting in an NQ.  Too bad we couldn't combine the best of each run!

Although it was disappointing to come home empty handed, I've taken a new view this year. I still want to qualify and earn titles more than ever, but my boy is aging and our time competing is becoming short.  I realize any run, any weekend, could be our retirement run, and I want to make sure we are both having fun, no matter the score at the end of the run. I know what we need to work on and we have 4 weeks until our next competition in Buckner.  We will work hard to improve and hopefully get that last Open Standard next time. If we don't, it's not the end of the world.  The best dog there will still hop in the back of my trailblazer and go home with me. What more could I want?