Showtime!

We had our first rally trial of the season today. I was a little nervous because we haven't done any trials since last October, but Roxie and I have been doing a lot of practice sessions and I felt very confident in my little dog once we set foot in the ring. Roxie did not disappoint!

In our first run, Roxie scored a 98 out of 100, which was good enough for 4th place! It was a pretty big class too, with over 20 dogs, so she really kicked butt out there!

Here's our Excellent B run:



We had an unexpected delay for the Advanced class. The judge decided to take a lunch break a little bit early so she could check up on the rules regarding aggressiveness in the ring. During the Advanced A awards ceremony, a German Shepherd snapped at another dog and the judge immediately excused them from the ring. This delay was really not what we wanted because it was absolutely freezing in the building today and to make matters worse, we forgot to pack our folding chairs this morning, so we had to sit on the cold concrete floor on a blankie. Roxie had her crate and a few blankets to keep cozy, but by the time it was our turn in the ring, my hands were so cold, it was hard to unclip Roxie's leash off in the ring. But she turned in a nice performance for her Advanced B run, earning a score of 91. She lost some points for some crooked sits and I had to re-try the last exercise because she was way out of position, but other than that, the run felt great and she seemed happy to work today.

Advanced B run:



This was a great start to what's going to be a fairly aggressive show schedule for us over the next couple of months and this year over all. I would like to get two titles on Roxie this year - her RAE2 and her CD. We have a lot of work ahead of us but I'm looking forward to the adventure!