Chico’s first place in Open Standard not only got him advanced to the next level in that game, it allowed me to pick him a toy. I selected a Tony Bahama (fancy!) pink flamingo. And he thought it pretty terrific. I swear that he knows when a toy came as a prize and is extra proud of it.

He carried it around until we went to the car.

Thanks to the nice lady who took these pictures for me.

Now that we’re at the Excellent level, we’ll be competing in classes with more dogs, some of which go regularly to nationals or even represent the US in international trials, on harder courses. We’re not the fastest team in the sport. Early in my trialing days, someone said that when most of us get to Excellent level, “we can say bye-bye to the blue ribbons.” I don’t care about the ribbons, it’s just way-fun to win something that makes Chico so happy.