As you can see, Maggie and Nim were all about taking care of business today. Or. That is their haggard look...I am not sure. :)
The WA Classic for Friday hosted conformation, some agility, and two Rally Obedience trials that Nim and Maggie entered in.
The WA Classic is a big deal. Saturday will be the heavy agility day. For me personally, this is the largest UKC show I have been to.
For Maggie, this was a chance to show off her skills in a lower stress environment compared to her first Rally Obedience attempt. This was the second time my mom has ever entered a formal ring and her first UKC show. And for Nim, this was our first attempt at Rally Obedience level 2 (advanced) or RO2.
Dogs were hot. There were many cute competitors, but it was hard to get many decent photos between the lighting, the commotion, and the dogs moving around.
At least the Rally Obedience was in the barn and not under the blaring sun. But it was hot all the same.
For Trial 1 both Nim and Maggie qualified! Maggie even took first place which is a pretty major deal. She was really into her run this time. She really dialed in like I see in her training runs.
Maggie Trial 1 run (and yes, you can tell I am excited)
Maggie was excited about her first place toy.
I was pretty nervous starting my run with Nim and it made me happy just to be with him. There was a noticeable (even to me) part in the run in which I must have relaxed because we both started working better together.
For Trial 1, we actually did the first sign wrong! In UKC the judge can say "fault" or "redo" basically. So when the judge said "redo" on my first sign, my stress level elevated. To make matters worse, I couldn't figure out what I had done wrong! Until, of course I read the sign and realized in my show jitters I had done the completely wrong sign. We did our redo and were on our way. Nim seemed happy in the first trial.
By Trial 2 EVERYONE was hot. I am really pleased with my trial 2 work, but Nim was just melting. He really didn't want to sit over and over again, and occasionally I would start to heel and he would be slow to get up behind me. I found myself talking high and expressively to keep letting him know he was doing great.
Again, both Maggie and Nim qualified and Maggie did great!
Maggie Trial 2 video
Maggie just wanted to celebrate with her Trial 1 toy.
Nim looked away and gave her a moment.
Good dogs. You made us proud. :)
Way to go Nim and Maggie...oh yeah...their handlers too. BTW next time try not to cut the head off the handler when you are recording video. LOL! I know the dogs actions are important but she wouldn't be there without her handler. ;-)
ReplyDeleteHa! I know. Next time I will pan out. It is harder with the shorter dogs! We try and use the videos for training so in her case I was really focusing on the dog responses, but you are right...you need to see the whole picture. :)
DeleteWe are HOT out here!!! How is NY? We are 90s, which as you know in this area is hot. We don't generally have A/C out here either.
Congrats to the hard-working dogs and humans! Especially in the heat. Heat makes me too cranky to think straight let alone compete in anything other than a napping olympics, which they really need to invent.
ReplyDeleteOh man...this is just a brutal heat streak for us. This is not an A/C area. I like sun, but this is too much!
DeleteThat's awesome! Congrats!
ReplyDeleteThank you. :)
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