Willamette Toy Dog Fanciers Rally, December 9 & 10

I took the afternoons off on Thursday and Friday the 9th and 10th of December to enter both dogs into the all breed rally trial hosted by the Willamette Toy Dog Fanciers and held at the Clark County Fairgrounds. First and foremost, Vegas and Leo have never taken a class in rally before. Leo had a basic obedience class at Petsmart when we first got him, but that's the extent of that kind of work they've had. Everything else has been home taught. For Vegas, we practice our moves in between runs and while we're waiting to run at agility, we work on things in the house, we work on things when we go for walks or are in the pet store, etc. And it's not Vegas' favorite thing. Part of that is her not 100% getting the concept and what I expect of her, and part of it is just her preference for "more speed!" Agility has spoiled her.

So Thursday when we arrived, I wasn't really stressed as I felt confident I had time. However, it was pouring cats and dogs when we arrived at the fairgrounds. I didn't know Thursday what I took advantage of Friday, and that was that I could drive up to the building to unload. Thursday I trudged through the deluge at least a quarter mile from the parking lot to the building with a soft crate (Vegas size), a small wire crate, and all the other paraphernalia  necessary to treat, water, and take care of the dogs for the hours we were there. I was seriously not a happy camper by the time it was all set up and I'm not sure what I was thinking because Vegas is not good in her wire crate let-alone the soft crate. Thank God for Saint Lindsay in helping to hold and supervise Vegas while I walked the course and while I ran Leo.

Here is the course we had Thursday:

The first thing I was really nervous about was what appeared to be a moving down. We've never tried that. And Vegas doesn't like laying down in public let-alone on hard surfaces. Uh oh. It pretty much went that well. She was not paying attention to me at all. She was distracted, sniffing, stubborn, and I don't know if it was my stress level, tension I felt (that I don't remember), or what, but we were most assuredly not working together as a team. I left the ring cursing her at the end of our run. I didn't even stick around to see if we Qd; I'm assuming we did not as we had at least two repeated stations.

Here is our very ugly run. I don't have video for Friday because I declined Lindsay's offer to record it.

By the time Leo's run was over, I was in tears and swearing I was never coming back. In fact, for several hours after the trial I was certain I was not cut out for it. After a lot of thought, little sleep that night, and even until I was due to get off work at Noon Friday I wasn't sure if I was going, I was quite uncertain. I went anyway because I hate to give up and I hated to have two legs toward Vegas' RN and not finish it. So dammit I was going to finish it. LOL.

Here was Friday's course:

I did a lot more practicing before our run Friday. In fact, after walk through that's all I did with Vegas until it was our turn. I am grateful to those who were so encouraging not to give up including some members of the club that were present as well as Lindsay. Vegas wasn't with me 100% but she was better. Our final score was 82 and she earned her RN. I went and had her picture taken for her title and can't wait for it to show up in the mail.