My 2nd Agility Trial!

Here's the story:

On Thursday we talked to Dr. Jan and she said that since I seemed to be doing so well, I should take just one more dose of rimadyl (that made a total of 3 doses - 2 on Wednesday and 1 on Thursday) and start doing some regular activity and see how it goes. She said that I would tell mom if something was wrong. So we walked twice on Thursday and I also did a little running in the yard and some stair climbing. But mom and dad also worked on Thursday, so I still got some rest.

Then on Friday, mom pretty much let me do whatever I wanted (while she kept a very close eye on me)! We did our morning walk, and then in the afternoon, I ran like a mad dog around the yard! I got the zoomies really bad, I herded birds and squirrels, I raced around trying to chase motorcycle noises, and I even did a couple jumps and weaves. Mom watched me for any signs of soreness or pain. But I felt fine!! Believe me, I would've told mom if it hurt at all (just like I told her on Tuesday evening).

So we decided to go to the trial yesterday morning to at least get measured and then maybe do the JWW run since no contacts were involved. We got measured for our first official measurement at 14"! Hurray - that means I still got to jump 12"! Then we waited around for about 2 hours - we went on a little walk, pottied, warmed up and then it was finally my turn to run! Everything went well in the JWW - I felt great! We talked with my favorite trainer Deb and she said that I looked fine and mom thought I looked fine and happy to be there.

We went home for a little break (fortunately the trial is only 20 minutes from home). When I didn't show any signs of being tired or sore at home, mom decided to take me back and try the STD run. We had to wait 3 hours for my turn! While we were waiting, we got our second official measurement - 14"!!!!! I am officially a 12" jump-height dog!!!! No more worries about that! What a big relief for mom - I wasn't concerned about it at all, but she sure was! Yesterday the temperature was only around 70, but the humidity was high and it was dusty and hot in the building (horse barn). It was finally time for the STD run. The course started tire - aframe. So mom knew that if I felt good, we would know right away with the aframe. I went up and over the aframe with no problems! Maybe it was the humidity or the fact that we had waited around so long, but my STD run was not so fast - my weaves and teeter were super slow. But after I committed to going through the chute, I had some fast jumps and then I ran up the dogwalk and wow! What was that smell? I almost forgot what I was doing and then I heard mom and finished the dogwalk and the last jump and then I was done! 1st and Q again! (I won't tell you how many dogs were in my 12" novice class - but let's just say the competition was not too severe!)

Here are the course maps for anyone who is interested:

So we ended up having a good day! We really appreciated everyone's advice and comments on whether we should trial or not! And believe me, we did not ignore your advice! Most people said to stay at home and wait for the next trial and until the last minute, that's exactly what we were going to do. But the more mom watched me run and jump on Friday, the more she thought maybe it would be possible to go. And fortunately, it worked out ok!

Hope everybody has a wonderful Mother's Day today!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky