This was in a newer faclity where the footing was sand (it was an indoor horse arena) so besides adding the new atmosphere of a trial we were also getting some new footing experience.
Over all both boys did excellent. We've only been taking lessons regularly since May so I really didn't expect a whole lot. But wanted this experience to be fun and for them to enjoy themselves. I do think we accomplished both.
I only entered the Touch 'n' Go and did 3 runs with Tucker and 2 with Teach.
Tucker was up first and I didn't follow the set course, instead I just ran through a few obstacles and called it good at the end of the dog walk. We had once instance of him running off to sniff but over all he listened fairly well considering he was mach-90 through there (or it felt that way). I love videos because I felt he was all over the place when I was out there, but seeing the video he wasn't really that bad, even looked good.
Here's videos of the second and third run. The second I felt was our best. We did go off course at the tunnels, but again I wasn't focusing on doing the whole course, I just wanted him to listen, go through the tunnels, and get his contacts.
We still need a lot of practice to be trial ready but seeing and experiencing this was good for us so I could see there is hope we'll be able to get out there and compete. I need to work on my handling a lot more (I'll always say the boys are handler handicapped) especially with Tucker where he's so fast. I can see a lot of stuff I did wrong. Gotta love a video! And they do say you're your hardest critic.
Now for Teach, who I was SOOOOO proud of, he was a rock star. I think where he is slower and also has a lot more obedience/rally under his belt he listens/focuses better so I felt better about his run. His first was his best and we almost has a collision in the second. Like I said ... I still need LOTS of work ... probably even more than the dogs.
One more note, and I'm not sure you can hear it on the video but Teach and Tucker had their biggest fan there watching, Madalynn. She LOVES her boys and every time they got on the dogwalk (which was closest to her) I heard her squealing in joy. Thankfully Tucker never did go see her, which really could have happened. I think she enjoyed her first agility experience as well.
Over all this was a great experience for us. Agility has been something I've always wanted to try and I'm so thankful to have found a great trainer relatively close!
Now some of you may wonder why I added this to the Monday Mischief Blog Hop since it sounds like we did great at the trial. Well the mischief has to do with Madalynn and Tucker. When they are together for dinner time this is what you always see:
And if you notice she is concentrating really hard on sharing her food with Tucker. Some may think Tucker likes this position because food is dropped by her, but its because she always gives him some of her food. These two are going to be trouble!
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