We were already at the trial site for the morning's trials, so we just made ourselves comfortable for the couple hours in between. We also shifted crates around so we'd have a good spot for the afternoon and the next morning. I went out really quick to get some dinner and came back to the trial to eat. By then, the Rally judge had arrived and started setting up the course. The walk through was scheduled to begin at 6:50 pm, so we spent a lot of time hanging out. At about 6:40, they put out a course map, so I picked up one of those and practiced the course in the warm up area by myself. The walk through began at exactly 6:50 pm. I think I walked the course 3 times, because it looked like a tough course. The two hardest parts were the 360 right followed (3 feet later!) by a 360 left. It also had a slow right before the finish, so you had to make sure to stay slow all the way through the end. Other than those two things, it was mostly straightforward. We were third into the ring, and didn't spend much time warming up or anything. By 7 pm, we were both just exhausted. Bailey was even tired enough to nap in his crate for a bit. The only real mistake that I made was that I slowed down too much on the slow and his rear hit the ground. We moved through the course quickly, but I could tell that both of us were worn out. We ended with a qualifying score of 91 and third place out of 14 dogs!
I packed up the car and we were home by 8:30. Bailey ate his dinner and passed out as soon as he finished. Poor boy was tired after a long day! I wasn't too far behind him and fell asleep around 10 pm.
The obedience trial was the next morning. We arrived back at CTA around 7:45 am for an 8:00 am start time. I left my crate there the previous night, so I didn't have any setup to do. I just walked in and popped Bailey into his crate and went to the walk through. This judge was a lot less talkative, so I'm glad I already had one trial with a super-nice judge under my belt. I felt much less nervous going into the performance this morning. We were last into the ring, so I didn't even bother warming Bailey up until around 9:15 am after the first group of stays were finished. He was doing really well in the warm ups, so I didn't push him too hard. Instead I spent some time rubbing his shoulders to calm him down. We did a tiny bit more heeling before going into the ring.
From the minute we stepped into the ring, I knew we were going to have a good run. Bailey was really paying good attention and working so nicely for me. The heel on lead went well. Same with figure 8 and stand for exam. Then came the scary part - the heel free. Bailey really surprised me on that one. He did a GREAT job with only minimal lagging (always at the about turn!). He even stayed right with me on the fast and slow. In our warm up, he kept trying to sit on the slow so I made it a point to not slow TOO much that he anticipates and sits. He really just blew me away with how well he did! Finally, the recall. The silly boy came so enthusiastically that he ran right into me! Thankfully, he also went right into a perfectly centered sit and finished beautifully. We left the ring only to go right back in for our stays. I was a little nervous on the stays because Bailey hadn't had the energy drained out of him yet. Even worse, on the sit stay Bailey's neighbor got up and started wandering around the ring. I prayed that he wouldn't follow suit and kept sending mental "be good" messages to him. Apparently it works! He did a great job on both sit and down, even as the room kept getting louder and louder as the Utility folks came in before the judging. We left the ring and were milling around before ribbons, when all of a sudden, I heard him call one of the other dogs back into the ring for heeling. I had no idea what was going on. Some of the utility handlers were kind enough to let us know that it was a heel off, which is what they do when two dogs are tied for placement. They also told us that we should start warming up our dogs again. After our run, I just had this feeling that we were the other dog tied for placement. Sure enough, I was right and he asked us back in to repeat the heel free exercise. Having only had about 30 seconds to warm up, my little pooch couldn't have done better! He was perfect and I couldn't have asked for anything more. We ended with a qualifying score of 192+ (the + is for the heel off, I guess) and first place out of 9 dogs!
The club provided cash prizes for the dogs who placed, so we ended up with $20 from the rally trial, $30 from the obedience trial, one blue rosette, one yellow rosette, and of course our green qualifying score ribbons. Here's a picture of Bailey with all his loot:
And a picture of the two of us:
I haven't entered in any other trials yet. I was going to enter one the weekend of Oct 3-5, but decided against it due to work obligations. The next indoor trial that I think I'll be able to go to is Thanksgiving. Not sure if I want to do that one or not. We'll just have to see what comes up soon because I really want to finish his CD and RN before we forget!
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