AKC Puli Club Trial Sunday

Second day of the trial today! Mom, grandma, and I got there at noon and that was of course way too early. But we sat and watched a lot of the Exc JWW and got to see some really outstanding handlers and their dogs. Mom had the course memorized before she walked it. We almost had a conflict again - mom got us moved up in the JWW so she wouldn't miss the walk-thru for Open STD. Our JWW run went great! Mom actually ran it like she walked it (she thinks) and it worked well and kept me moving. We Q'ed and got 2nd place and our AXJ title!

After that exciting run we went over to wait for our Open STD run. This course started out similarly to yesterday's - a few jumps and then the chute. Today mom made sure she didn't run past the chute and coaxed me in - I went in and didn't get called for a refusal. Then we were going along just fine and I decided it would be cool to do the chute again!!!! Mom veered to the right and I went left and I completely shocked her and she yelled, "Ricky!!" and saved me from the chute but I was not thinking about jumping and knocked the top bar of the triple. Oh well. Mom says although we didn't Q (or get that last leg in Open but who's really counting - ha), she is super proud to think that I wanted to repeat the chute of all things! I am gaining more confidence every time I run now and it's not a bad thing to stay in Open a little longer. Once we get to EXC STD we can't make any mistakes and we have to run faster to make time. So waiting is a good thing! (PS. We just found out that the standard course time was 71 and my time was 66.83 - so I was well under course time! Yay! That's major progress!)

As if all the agility this weekend wasn't exciting enough, tomorrow morning we start a new handling class taught by Jenn Crank! We are super excited to be taking her class and we will tell you all about it. For now I have to rest up - a dog's work is never done!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky