So Bravo had tons of fun

Just got back from our first agility trial. It was a really long day. Since Bravo had never been measured before, we had to be there between 7 and 7:30 am. Naturally, I was 20 minutes early. And measuring did not start on time. And then our first class wasn't until about 10 am.

As the title says, Bravo had a lot of fun in that class. It was on dirt, which apparently fascinated him. I thought that, like in class, he could be left before the start and jump two jumps that were directly in front of him to get to me. Not in his plan. He decided to go around the first jump. So I went closer to him. And he went around the jump again. After I got closer still, he finally did make those first couple of jumps and another obstacle or two before going off course again. Then he settled in to do a few obstacles just fine. I was worried about the dog walk because it was a little rickety. He wobbled a little, but then coming down decided enough was enough and jumped before he got to the contact area. He still did hit the contact area - his back feet landed on it. So no, we did not qualify on that one. Surprisingly, even though we had to back track a little to get him to take all the jumps, he did come in more than 3 minutes under time. But that doesn't count the time before he took the first jump, because that is what starts the clock.

After that it was a LOT of waiting - our next class ended up starting about 4 pm. In the meantime, I chatted with a number of nice people. I had some people comment on how much fun Bravo had in that first class. I had a 32-year-old tell me she wouldn't have thought I was over 40 (we were having a nice long chat about our lives). I met a Golden owner and her 2 gorgeous dogs and another Golden owner with the lightest Golden I have ever seen - almost white. I bought two jumps for practice at home. I met a very nice Sheltie owner who made a point of watching my class, and made sure I knew how to get my scores and where to enter the raffles. I met a Pomeranian owner who had a black-and-tan Pom - rather rare.

I was very glad I had a metal crate, even though it was awkward to manage. He did not like being left in it - scratched at it sometimes when being left, and when I thought I was coming to get him, he did his very excited wiggle all over thing. I think a soft-sided crate would have been trashed.

Finally it was time for the next class. This was Colors - two small courses that overlapped each other, and you had to choose which color course you were going to run before you started. I chose one that was all jumps and tunnels. This time Bravo mostly paid attention to me. He did go around one jump, but then went back and took it and finished the course beautifully. And even with that mistake, he was flying - finished the course in just over 20 seconds, when the allowable time was 34. So for that class, he DID qualify, and he also placed first in his category.

It was a great first trial. Very low pressure, very nice people. There was nobody there I knew - which was probably good. I met people I will definitely look for again. There's another one May 10. I haven't decided yet if I will go - that's right after Karis gets back from college...

So Bravo had tons of fun. And I did as well.