For Christmas, my whole family met at my brother and sister-in-love’s house in San Antonio, Texas On the 27th of December, Chico was entered in an agility trial in Belton, about two hours away. My niece, Nell, came with us and boy howdy, did that make the day extra fun! Chico had someone to hang out with while I volunteered in the ring and walked the course, I had company in the car, and our team had a videographer.

We played four games that day, Jumpers, Gamblers, Pairs, and Standard, and I have video (thanks Nell!) of Pairs and Standard.

In Pairs we played with a Golden Retriever, named Ringo, and his person, Mark. Just before the run, Chico was a bit aggressive to his partner. No big deal, but not ideal behavior on Chico’s part. Mark handled it well, as did Ringo, and when we all went in the ring, Chico was a bit subdued (some might say embarrassed or chagrined). That made him easy to handle, and I didn’t have to run real hard. We ran clean, and Ringo took down one bar. BUT that bar was not set to Ringo’s correct height and the judge noticed after the run started, so he let us both score as running clean. And that gave Chico and me our third Q in the beginner level of Pairs and a new title. So, next time we do a USDAA trial, if we want to, we can try moving up to the middle level in this game.

Our Standard run was actually very good. I pulled off to the left before Chico committed to the tunnel (obstacle two), so he went up the A-frame instead – a perfectly logical decision on his part: his prime directive is “stay with Annie” – which was really what I told him to do, so other than needing a second approach to the weave poles, he did a clean run, and he did pretty much exactly what I said to, it’s just that my directions were poor. But he got his contacts, and he he did the weave poles – I’m very happy.

Chico watching me walk the course for Standard.