Brindi's first "Q"

We had a GREAT weekend at the trial in Princeton. I can honestly say that I think Brindi and I are becoming a better team. The weekend started off too early for me though. The walk thru for Touch and Go started at 7 am and all classes (Novice, Open, and Elite) walked at the same time. I am NOT a morning person. I am even less of a morning person on the weekends, even when the weekend is full of dogs and fun. :) So, I got to the trial a little late and by the time I had my stuff set up (crate, chairs, mat) the time for walk thru's was over. So, I had to watch the Elite, Open, and other Novice handlers to learn the course. I don't recommend that. Brindi did well considering I wasn't prepared. I think she finished 7th of about 10 dogs. Then we had a lot of time to watch other runs and hang out with some really cool people and their dogs. I am new to the ACE club and still meeting members. They are a great group of people. :)

Brindi and I were entered in 3 events for the day, and the last 2 were the very last 2 of the day. Regular agility 1 and 2. I was more prepared for those runs. Brindi did great in both runs. She finished 5th in round 1 and 4th in round 2. We gained a lot more experience and had a great time too. (oh, and she got a ribbon for placing 4th :)

After those runs, we headed home. It was about 5 pm when we got home. Brindi and I were both dog tired. :) The girls at home were just raring to go though. So we played a while and then calmed down for the evening.

Bright and way too early Sunday morning we headed back to Princeton. This time I brought Cosmo along to help cheerlead Brindi. Walk thru's began at 7 am again. Luckily for us the first events of the day were Regular agility 1 and 2. Regular agility has different obstacles for different levels, so the Elite group walked and ran their courses (both round 1 and 2), then the Open group walked and ran both their courses, and then it was time for the Novice group to walk and run their courses. We're in the Novice group. Brindi was ready to go and have a good time playing this game we call agility. We had 2 great rounds of regular agility. I was very impressed with the way she ran. I am starting to see some real improvements in how we work together and ways to help me be a better handler. And Brindi is doing much better taking sequences of obstacles. It's really cool to see improvement. Brindi placed 4th in round 1 and 3rd in round 2. It was great. Our next run would be just about the last run of the day. I had her entered in Tunnelers. So we got to spend the afternoon cheering on the others running. I'd say Tunnelers is Brindi's most favorite class. She LOVES tunnels. She is a true Tunnel sucker! She has a hard time passing up tunnels. So Tunnelers is AWESOME! Brindi didn't let me down. She even put wheels on. She had speed like I'd not seen. Our friends watching had never seen it either. It was AWESOME!! Brindi did great. I even baubled and almost sent her to a wrong tunnel, but she listened to me when I called her back. She did GREAT!! That was her best run ever. Some of the people we have trained with came up and told us how well we had done. I even heard the judge cheering for us. It was very COOL. And I swear Brindi was smiling while she ran.

And when the results were posted Brindi had gotten her first Qualifying score!!! I am still very new to agility and haven't really learned all the ins and outs yet, but a "Q" (to me) means that she met the course time. So she now has 10 points toward her NADAC Novice tunnelers title. :) She earned a purple "Q" ribbon and she also placed in 2nd, so she got a red ribbon for that. I cried and my agility friends were there with hugs and congratulations for me and Brindi!



It was a GREAT weekend.