I put up a lot of our brags because I am proud of Chico and of what we have done together. But it’s not all glory, believe me. This weekend we did agility on three days. Six competition runs, one of them qualifying. Here’s what is being sent to the American Kennel Club about our Saturday and Sunday runs:

Chiquito Mi Amorsito. MA08389401. 01-10-05. D (Male). Breeder: Unknown. By
Unknown & Unknown. All-American. Owner: Anne Riecken,  South Tamworth, NH. Chico. Handler: Anne Riecken.

1/3/2015
Excellent Preferred JWW – 16 Inch – Judge: Christie Bowers
Distance: 158 yards  SCT: 47 seconds
Score: 100 (Q)  Time: 35.81 seconds  1st Place

Excellent Preferred Standard – 16 Inch – Judge: Christie Bowers
Distance: 193 yards  SCT: 72 seconds
Eliminated  Time: 59.19 seconds

1/4/2015
Excellent Preferred JWW – 16 Inch – Judge: Christie Bowers
Distance: 159 yards  SCT: 47 seconds
Eliminated  Time: 38.76 seconds

Excellent Preferred Standard – 16 Inch – Judge: Christie Bowers
Distance: 180 yards  SCT: 68 seconds
Eliminated  Time: 62.40 seconds

I have video of all the runs. Two of the “eliminated” runs are really, really nice, but there’s one mistake that keeps us from meeting the AKC agility definition of “perfect” which is what we need at Excellent level to have a qualifying run; one of them goes completely off the rails. So let’s start with that one, huh? Why not. I barely have a dog at the start line, he pulls out of the poles after ten of the twelve and you can see me deflate (SO not-right reaction!), we make the course through the A-frame and I call tire when I mean table and things go to poo for a while. Actually, for most of the rest of the run it is Chico doing one thing and me doing another, though we manage to reconnect at the end.

Chico had fun out there, doing what he wanted; and he had been at trials three days in a row, two of them with an exceptionally large amount of waiting; and I had the nerve to leave him with someone he knows while I walked the course. Threw his routine all off. Ooops. Something to work on, I guess, though the familiar routine of being in the crate in the familiar car until pretty much until the last moment does allow him to be more relaxed and better concentrate on me.

More video and stories from the trials soon.