'Tis the end of an era.  Tripp has finished his career in UKC Rally Obedience!  On Mother's Day weekend (was this my gift as a dog mom?) we earned our last double Q for his Excellent title.

We had a fairly smooth start.  It was a very small trial, so things moved fast, and unfortunately I didn't get a chance to ask anyone to film us during our first run in level 2.  As usual, the best run was the one not on video!  LOL  Level 3 wasn't nearly as pretty, but we got the job done.

Both times we received a score of 99 and 2nd place.  Can't really complain about that!

Now that Tripp has his URX, our sole focus will be on Obedience.  Well... ok, so we'll do some other stuff too, but no more Rally... at least for now.




Our LAST Rally vid is below...

If it wasn't already for certain, Tripp is now officially an International Superstar!  We recently spent a long weekend in Montreal, Quebec for a big UKC event.  This time I actually had a chance to see a bit of the city, Poodle at my side.  Although I'm a country girl at heart, the architecture of the old urban buildings, particularly the cathedrals, was beautiful, and alone made the trip worthwhile.  I just wish I had time to see more.  Our hotel was excellent, and everyone enjoyed meeting Tripp.  Even the owner herself fell in love, going so far as to invite us into the restaurant so the family could meet the amazing Parti Poodle, and insisted we return.  As usual, we were also stopped countless times on the street and at the show for petting, compliments and of course photos.  I will always wonder how widespread on the internet random images of Tripp have become! LOL


The show itself was once again held in conjunction with a huge Canadian pet expo.  It seemed even bigger than in the spring!  Every "domestic" critter imaginable was on display (including some not so domestic, like foxes and semi-wild cats), along with various vendor booths, and again they had pony rides and other family attractions set up adjacent to our show rings.  The arena for the agility, disc dog, & freestyle demos was right next to our rally ring, but thankfully the view was blocked.  Plus it was so noisy in there from the massive crowd that Tripp was oblivious to the nearby excitement, which worked in our favor. ;-)  Certainly the whole thing is a testament to good temperament!  It takes a very stable dog to handle all that craziness, including a majority of people & kids who are totally ignorant of proper interaction with dogs.  Trippy put up with a lot more than he should have to.  Such a good boy!

This is how dog people celebrate national holidays... they enter dog shows & trials.  :-)
I started out the long 4th of July weekend by braving the Friday traffic to enter a World Cynosport Rally Tournament at All Dogs Gym in Manchester, as well as attend a handler seminar taking place beforehand.  Peg Munves taught about the fundamentals of WCRL's (formerly APDT) particular style of Rally, cleared up some questions on rules, scoring, and such, and shared a few strategies on effective handling.  This definitely better prepared me for competition, since I had no previous experience with APDT/WCRL Rally beyond a single run through a few years ago.  While there are plenty of similarities across the board, each venue has it's own flavor and rules - just enough to confuse those of us with half a dozen different rulebooks in our heads.  LOL  At least the judges are always there to help.  

After a small break, the Tournament began.
Tourneys are non-sanctioned, meaning they're just for fun.  No points or titles to earn.  No ribbons, even!  *gasp!*  There was, however, a cash prize for the top 4 placements - a percentage of total entry fees.  A nice little incentive to enjoy a fun night out with your dog.  :-)  
Teams at any level were welcome, and the competition was run according to traditional rules.  The only difference was everyone competed on the same course, which consisted of exercises from all levels, increasing in difficulty as each round progressed.  Everyone got to play in the first two rounds.  In round one, the top 50% scoring teams were separated into a winners group, while the bottom 50% were bumped to an elimination group.  In round two, each group was split in half again, bumping some teams out of the competition.  And it continued that way through rounds 3 and 4, finally taking 1st & 2nd place from the winners group, and 3rd & 4th place from the elimination group.  Competition was tough, with challenging courses, and some great handlers consistently earning near perfect scores, so staying in that top 50% was very tricky!  All Dogs Gym kindly offered free run throughs (which were taking place in an adjacent ring) for all entered teams who finished early.
Tripp & I didn't get a chance to take advantage of that offer though... we hung in the Tournament until the very end!  I only wish I had been able to catch it all on video - Tripp did great, with only a few small imperfections.  Round one, we easily stayed in the top 50% with a 199 (perfect score is 200).  Tripp started off round two obsessing over a pretty girl dog nearby, but eventually I got him under control and he behaved decently on course.  We squeaked through to the next round with a 198 and faster time (tie breaker).  The boy's brain returned for the most part in round three, just losing a couple points to crooked sits and such.  That was enough to bump us into the elimination group with a 197, but at least we got to move on to round four.  The final round included a bonus exercise, which is an optional sign after the finish line.  You can't lose points by doing it wrong, so it's silly to not try - a perfect score with the bonus could be as high as 210.  Everyone in the tourney of course performed it!  We finished the competition with a 208 and earned 3rd place!

Our prize was $20.50... how about that, I finally made a profit at a trial... ok, so only fifty cents... and I spent more than that on tolls... oh well, it was still lots of fun!  I look forward to doing more WCRL Rally, if only the Tournaments for now.  I'm holding off on going for titles until we finish up in some other venues.  Perhaps Cynosport will be one of Tripp's "retirement" games.  Nah, I doubt we'll be able to wait that long. LOL

Check out World Cynosport at www.rallydogs.com.

Also visit Gura Photography for pics of us in the ring!  This photographer was there snapping pics of many of the teams working.  She caught some cute shots of me & Tripp in the different rounds. 
Well, so much for my "free night out" - you know I'll have to order some of those pics. ;-)  But I'm glad to at least have photos, since I don't have video to memorialize this awesome event. 

It seems to be everyone's favorite "catch-word" at the moment, so I just had to say it.  Epic seems appropriate to describe our latest show weekend.  Or at least our schedule!  4 Conformation shows, 8 Rally Obedience classes (entries in both level 2 & 3 in 4 trials), all packed into 2 hot summer days.  That's 12 events in 1 weekend.  If ever my sanity was up for serious questioning, this confirms that I've completely lost my mind.  LOL

I'm so glad that Tripp is such a good sport...

I know, I'm weird.  Most people dream of visiting some tropical island somewhere... me, I've always wanted to go to Canada.  After 30-something years, that dream has finally come true.  I can't quite cross it entirely off my bucket list, however, as I was too busy with a dog show to actually see any sights.  Well darn, I guess I'll just have to go back... ;-)

Northeastern weather even in mid-April, though usually nice, can still bring stubborn remanents of winter.  Lucky us, Mother Nature decided to bring sleet & snow on our departure day.  We hesitantly ventured forward anyway, and though the drive was slow, we made it to Quebec safely.

A fairly new club, the Association Canine Canadienne Multisports, hosted a weekend UKC dog show in Sherbrooke - just over the border, a little more than 3 hours from here (in good weather) - which included Conformation, Rally Obedience, AND Weight Pull!  Official WP trials have been scarce enough lately, but to find a show that holds more than one performance event is rare, esp. in this area.  I could not pass up the opportunity to attend.  

Saturday we started with WP under judge Robin Clark, who was wonderful.  And I'm not just saying that because she later commented that Tripp was the best dog there!  (There were other good pullers, but Tripp really gets in the zone.)  I planned to do minimal pulls - just enough to qualify - since we had a very full weekend and Tripp is not quite back to top condition yet.  I was ready to quit at 560 lbs (one pull more than we needed to Q), but everyone begged us to continue since he was pulling easily and in excellent form, plus they wanted to show off this great sport for the audience, as well as prove the versatility of the Poodle breed.  I completely agreed with those points and, after making sure Tripp was indeed good to go, continued on with one more pull.  We ended at 700 lbs. - over 13 times his body weight.

From there we went on to prepare for conformation.  Mary King was our judge, and we had some nice competition; just a few puppies - Tripp was the only CH entered, but at least he wasn't the only Poodle, and the others were lovely.  It was anyone's game out there.  Though we didn't win today, Ms. King gave us a wonderful critique - actually apologizing profusely for not placing us!  She absolutely adored Tripp, but due to his curled tail which is considered a "major fault" in the standard (despite being mainly cosmetic), she had to go by the book and put up the less faulted dog.  Well gee, I certainly understand that!  I had to tell her several times not to feel bad - I was actually thrilled for our opponant, as this was her very first show with practically no experience and a young dog - what a fantastic introduction for her!  It's always more satisfying to beat competition, and not get what I call a default win.  She went on to earn a group placement as well!  I'm so happy for her.  And I was just excited to be back in the show ring (after what? 2-3 years?) with Tripp looking awesome out there, and such great feedback from the judge topped it off.

Sunday was our busiest day, with Rally added to the schedule.  Once again WP was our first activity.  Tripp remained in near perfect form, with plenty of enthusiasm, but we stopped at 560 lbs today to conserve energy.  This was more than enough weight for another Q, which finally completed Tripp's UWP title!  It was a long wait for that one, as he'd earned his first leg when he was just over a year old!  (To think back then I thought putting more than 500 lbs behind my dog was unimaginable.  Ha!  And now that's barely an effort for him.  Mr. Tough Guy.  This amazing Poodle continues to prove that it's all about attitude and condition.)

We continued on to Rally, with Mary King judging this as well.  It wasn't the best start.  In Trial 1, level 2, I somehow managed to miss a sign even during walkthroughs.  Too focused on my dog (even the invisible one) I blew right passed a sign on my right shortly after an about turn.  Hmm, well that explains why there was such a big gap of nothingness there! LOL  I sure kicked myself for that one.  Tripp did well, this one was all me.  So NQ, which automatically gave us one less opportunity for a leg towards his Excellent title (which requires 10 double Qs in level 2 & 3 in the same trial).

Level 3 went better for the most part.  At least we did everything we were supposed to!  Tripp had several imperfections due to distractions - did I mention this show was held in conjunction with a BIG animal expo, with hundreds (thousands?) of people, tons of noise, pony rides, and kiddy bounce houses all just outside the rings.  Not to mention the show photographer set up literally next to the Rally ring, intermittently squeeking toys during a shoot, and of course all the smells of cats, birds, reptiles, etc. along with the other show dogs being groomed nearby!  Thank God they set up the Agility and Frisbee dogs on the opposite side of the convention center!!!  Despite all this, Tripp managed to pull off a score of 97, only being docked for excessive sniffing during the honor down stay.  Truthfully, he was totally obsessing and crept way out of position, so that score was very generous!

Improvement continued in Trial 2, level 2.  While Tripp still was not as accurate as I prefer, he did do a great job considering the environment on top of not having much recent practice in the sport.  Amazingly we earned a perfect score of 100.  This brought us to just ONE point away from Rally Championship!  So close!

By level 3, our final competition, we were both pretty tired!  My feet were ready to fall off.  Tripp still did wonderfully and finished with a 99.  That made his UROC title!  Yippee!!!  It also gave us a QQ,  bringing us halfway to URX.  We will continue on to that goal.

Somewhere in the middle of all this, we entered conformation too, under judge Tina Camp.  Another great, fair, helpful judge.  Once again we got a wonderful critique after ring time, and she just loved Trippy (who did a good job sucking up to her, hehehe.)  This time, much to my surprise, we won Best of Breed!  Tripp moved very well and that was the deciding factor.  (She "could care less" about his tail. ;-)  We didn't get anything in Group, but our Breed win qualified us for the coveted Total Dog award!!  This will be Tripp's second Total Dog, which is earned by a conformation win plus a qualifying score in performance within the same show/trial.

I have but one regret for the weekend... I forgot to have an official photo taken!  How could I?  (Exhaustion, that's how. ;-)  I was a little bummed that the club didn't offer new title ribbons, but a picture with the judges and Tripp's prizes would've made up for that somewhat.  Posing alone at home just isn't the same.  Oh, I still got a nice pic of course, but I do kick myself for not capturing that moment IN the moment.  Oh well.  C'est la vie!

I'm not sure how we did it.  Blame it on the full moon, or just Tripp being Tripp, but he was absolutely wild this weekend.  We started Saturday with Rally trials at Finish Forward Dogs, working on his championship points.  I didn't get any "Poodles Gone Wild" video footage, but while part of me regrets not having that reference to decifer his unusual behavior, another part is glad there's no evidence of a crazy dog winning the whole show. LOL 
Truly, it was unusual behavior for Tripp in the obedience ring, and actually he did well in the first class, earning a 99 & 1st place, but then it seems he spotted the a-frame (even though it was against the wall and behind fencing) and went into agility mode.  From then on he was breaking position and barking like mad.  Lucky for us, UKC apparently has no rules against barking (AKC does).  Somehow, even with all those faults, we managed to score a 95 in the second class.  Our 3rd class went slightly better, with the same behaviors but fewer incidents, and we scored a 98 & 3rd place.  I was still not impressed with all the barking & running around and asked Tripp to please behave for our final ring time.  He listened and gave a nice performance, though it took much willpower!  He reeeally wanted to take off again, but stayed with me, and of course that intensity made for an extra flashy run.  We ended with a perfect 100 & 1st place, which was earned by a time tie-breaker.  Competition was stiff with many great teams scoring high.  Tripp was just quicker.
For special awards, the club as usual offered High in Trial for both trials that day, as well as High Combined, which is the first I recall seeing offered for rally.  It is for the highest combined score in levels 2 & 3.  In the morning trial, another excellent team took HIT with their perfect score, but to my surprise Tripp & I won High Combined.  (I actually had to ask what it was. LOL)  Well this is something new!  Very cool.  Incidentally, our combined score was 194 out of a possible 200.  The same awards were offered at the conclusion of the afternoon trial, and I sat vaguely listening to the judge announcing the winner for HIT & HC - the same winner as last time...  Wait, what?  Who me?  You mean both??  Very, very cool! :-)  We nailed both awards for the same trial.  So, we hit a couple bumps, but it was a really nice finish to the day.  Oh yes, our afternoon HC score was 198.  Not bad, not bad at all!

As of this event, our rally championship point tally stands at 82 points - we need 100 for UROC title.  (Points are earned based on  score - 1 pt. for a 91, 2 pts. for a 92, and so on.)  We have surpassed the required points in each level (must have at least 40 in level 2 & 20 in level 3), so we can earn the remainder from either one, although I will likely continue entering both to work towards URX, which requires 10 double Qs (we have 4 so far)... although that will depend on next year's show schedule and finances.
My fleeting hope of making rank in UKC's Rally All-Stars was dashed earlier in the year.  This is an annual list of the top 50 highest scoring teams in the country.  It is divided for each level.  We made level 3 rank in late winter with our first trial, but come spring we were quickly bumped off by teams who apparently have far more opportunities for competition.  Unfortunately we are not so lucky here, with only a few trials to attend in the region.  As it currently stands, the #1 team (a Poodle, by the way) has over 500 points (I am baffled at how they accomplished that - must compete every weekend!), although the lowest at the moment is only 46 in level 2 and 50 in level 3.  Perhaps there is hope yet...  We are up to 47 points now in level 2 and 51 in level 3.  So just maybe we'll make the list again, at least briefly.  However, this was likely our last trial of the year, so I'm sure more active competitors will take the lead.  Oh well.  It was a cheap thrill while we had it.

Here is our win photo, with his haul of ribbons from the day!


Marshland Obedience Club
Sept. 29, 2012
Judge: Barb Burri
UKC Rally Obedience

Trial 1 - Level 2:  95
               Level 3:  99, 1st place
         High Combined score

Trial 2 - Level 2:  100, 1st place
               Level 3:  98, 3rd place
         High Combined score
         Highest Scoring Dog in Trial

On Sunday, we entered an agility trial at All Dog's Gym.  Tripp had a little more fun, of course, but our results didn't turn out nearly as good as they did in rally.  His behavior was no less crazy, although he's always wicked amped up in agility.  Still, he was a bit more over the edge than usual.  As always though, he proved to put on an eye catching performance regardless of scoring badly.  And as usual, most of the faults were due to my handling, but a couple were all him!
I included details of our performance (and my frustration ;-) in the video description.
For best viewing, and reading about the day, go to http://youtu.be/Z7Wae7ofP_Y.

On Aug. 4 we were invited to perform a musical freestyle demonstration at the Pioneer Valley Kennel Club dog show in Greenfield, MA.  Since they were offering rally trials, I figured we'd be there anyway, so I might as well enter and hopefully finish Tripp's advanced title.  For some reason, it didn't occur to me that rally might be scheduled at 8:30 in the morning!  Ugh.  And it's over a 2.5 hour drive from home.  I hadn't planned for an overnight stay but I was NOT prepared to get up in the pre-dawn hours to drive south.  Thankfully, our PomPoms leader, Honey, very hospitably put us up for the night in VT and we had an easy drive to the show from there after a more reasonable night's sleep. :-)

The heat was already bearing down when we arrived at the show at 8 am.  I packed a spray bottle of water to mist Tripp's coat to help cool him down (a trick I learned at agility trials), and seemed to use it almost continually throughout the day on Saturday.  I even misted myself a few times!  The judges were well aware of how hard the weather would be on the performing dogs, so I do wonder if they went easy on the scoring just a bit.  As Tripp and I navigated the course I ticked off in my mind all the single point faults he might've deserved.  Lots of positioning imperfections, although I must remember that while precision obedience is what I want, it is not required in rally.  Still, AKC judges are usually a bit stricter - I joke that they must've stolen this one from UKC. LOL  Perhaps the nitpicking was all in my head - he does indeed look better on video than I remember it - but I was not imagining the need to keep on him constantly to stay in position, esp. at the jump.  It took all his willpower not to go into agility mode, and that does show in the video.  I seriously thought I was going to lose him there, but he came back to heel when called and I'm very proud - we worked hard on that.  Even a couple times later in the course it felt like he wanted to take off.  But of course as always his charisma outshines the minor faults, so he looks good regardless. ;-) 
I still don't know how, but we managed to score a 98!!  I really expected lower 90s, at least.  Not that I cared about score for once - I just wanted a Q and to finish that RA title that has eluded us for so long.  But I certainly am not complaining.  I was very happily surprised to get a 98, along with first place, which came with a $15 cash prize!  I've said it before and I'll say it again - now that's the way to earn a title!

It wasn't until noon that our freestyle demos began.  Oh boy, was it hot by then!  Apparently somebody at the show had already collasped and I saw them being hauled away to an ambulance!  Needless to say, we spent lots of time in the shade, taking it easy, with lots of water for everyone.  I even bought one of those cooling neck ties that you soak in water for Tripp to wear (I figured any little bit helps).  No, I don't think I'm capable of taking him to a show without buying him something.  Believe me, I spent far more than that $15 prize on the neckerchief and a bunch of treats.  Oh well, he's worth it.... and it was all stuff we were in need of.  Well, ok, so maybe he didn't need another antler to chew on, but everything else was a practical purchase, really. ;-)
I can't say everything went smoothly with the freestyle performances, but we got through them without melting and the crowd was pleased, so that's the important thing.  For some reason the sound system didn't play the music well - the base notes came through but the lyrics were barely audible.  Unfortunately this caused us to miss most of our cues in the Poms' group performance.  We even thought it was the wrong music at first as it sounded so different without the words coming through - I swore it sounded like "oompa" music. LOL  We tried adjusting the volume, but it was the same even with my solo performance which followed the Poms - however I know the song well enough that I could hit most of the cues.  (I actually rarely practice with the music at home.) 
The dogs of course all moved at a slower pace... but for that matter I think we humans did too!  But we are all very proud of our canine companions for performing for us at all in that heat.  What good dogs.  Tripp was extra tired after an already busy day, but agility nut that he is, he was still happy to jump over my head in our solo perfomance.  Although you'll notice his groundwork is much less enthusiastic.  At least we finished the whole thing this time. ;-)  He crashed out after that, but was up and at 'em the next morning and ready for Sunday's events...

...and we did both on the same day!

June 23 & 24 found us once again in Westfield, Mass for a UKC rally trial.  This would be our first time out competing for Rally Championship points.  Talk about a busy weekend!  Tripp competed in 8 trials in just 2 days... hot summer days outdoors, no less, with a thick coat to boot.
We've had a good track record of straight Qs in UKC rally all the way up through level 3.  This weekend broke that record and gave us our first NQs.  However, it also gave us a total of 50 championship points and another High in Trial.  Plus 6 Qs out of 8 trials still isn't a bad average. ;-)
To earn a UKC Rally Obedience Champion title, one must compete in both level 2 & 3 to earn a total of 100 points.  Required qualifying score is much higher than a regular Q (91 vs. 70), and the number of points you earn is dependent upon score - the higher your score, the more points you earn.  There is also a separate Excellent title, which is not dependent upon score, but requires combined regular Qs in both levels at the same trial.  We only earned 2 legs towards that one this weekend.  URX requires 10 legs.

Saturday, Trial 1: 
Level 2 we earned a 98 and 1st place. 
Level 3 we earned another 98 and 2nd place. 
Trial 2: 
Level 2, yet another 98 and 2nd place. 
Level 3 we did well on course, but unfortunately Tripp melted during the Sit-Stay Honor exercise.  It had been a long day in the heat and the twerp thought lying down in the grass was a much better idea.  That gave us our first NQ.
Sunday, Trial 1:
Level 2 the 98's continue!  It was like a running gag at this point. LOL  Also took 3rd place with that one. 
Level 3 was a decent run overall, but Tripp moved his feet during a stand-stay as I walked around him, and unfortunately I did not catch it or hear the judge call "fault" and we continued on.  Incorrectly performed exercise = NQ.  If I'd heard her warning I could've retried that exercise for a 10 point deduction.  We wouldn't have made any CH points, but at least it would've been a Q and counted towards URX.  Funny enough, I think Barb (our judge) was more bummed about that mistake than we were.
Trial 2:
Level 2, take a wild guess.. yep, another 98!  And another 2nd place.
Level 3, I was worried at first... the morning Honor was a down-stay, so I fully expected the afternoon to be a sit.  To my relief, however, Barb VERY generously made this one a down as well, so all the hot and tired dogs got off "easy" at the end of this long weekend.  Tripp still needed extra encouragement to keep his energy up on course, which wasn't the easiest thing as I was hot and tired too, and not feeling the greatest.  But we made it through with a fairly nice performance (you know I'm a perfectionist) and this time earned a perfect score of 100 and took High in Trial.  (What's that, our 4th HIT? Wow!)  So it was a great finish to the weekend.  We gathered Tripp's massive haul of ribbons and prizes and set up for a photo shoot to commemorate our win and other placements.  While the official photographer did his thing, my mom caught a nice shot of us from a different angle.

The video turned out quite long, as it includes all 8 of our trials.  Probably just as well we didn't film the Honor exercise too!

Funny, not many people would be excited to say their dog got hit.  But in the obedience world it translates to High in Trial - performance's version of Best in Show. :-)  This will be Tripp's third time going HIT in UKC Rally!  To make it extra special, the award coincided with him finishing his level 3 title.  Next step is Rally Champion!

Saturday was a long day.  We got up at an ungodly hour of the morning to drive to Franklin Mass, where the Weston Dog Training Club was holding UKC Rally trials at Masterpeace training center.  I paid extra for day of show entries, as I didn't dare pre-enter with the weather still iffy.  Indeed, the morning started off snowy and roads were slick in spots, and we still chanced it.  All this and I had no idea how we'd do in the ring, being rusty from slacking off all winter.  Thankfully it was all worthwhile.

Trial 1 was a nicely flowing, challenging course.  We weren't perfect, but did no worse than expected.  A few "out of position" faults but otherwise not bad.  Our final score was 97; much better than I anticipated!  We also took 2nd place in our class.
Once again we got some "free run thrus" too, as we stood in as honor dog and working dog for another team, doubling our time in the ring.  Tripp did a fine honor, but neither of us were nearly as good on course, as we got a little silly and zoomed through as fast as we could.  Hey, why not, it didn't count!  Not sure what we would've scored but despite many minor faults we made, I bet we still could've qualified with it (barely) if speeding through was allowed.  Definitely would've got best time! LOL  In any case we had fun, even if it wasn't the best practice session. ;-)

Trial 2 had another challenging course, but we had a really lovely run.  We were much smoother this time and Tripp kept better position.  I'm so proud of him for getting back into heel so well after a jump every time; something we usually struggle with.  I almost went the wrong way at the spiral exercise but caught myself and bumped into Tripp as I adjusted our direction.  The judge was nice and let it slide.  Tripp did also bump me with his nose several times which surprisingly we didn't get points docked for either, our only deducted fault being a slow response at the start line due to distraction (the Honor dog, I think).  So we finished with a 99 and 1st place in class, and that completed URO3 title.
An interesting tidbit - Donna Blews-Pappas was our judge this weekend.  She was also the judge at our very first UKC rally trial.  I don't recall showing under her at any time in between.  I think it's kind of neat that the same judge gave us our first and last legs.  Not to mention some lovely prizes both times!  (We took 1st in class at that first trial, winning a pretty picture frame storage tin, which now sits on my desk with our level 1 win photo in it.)  This time we only got the usual ribbons for Q and placement, plus a lovely rosette for new title, but as the group filed out of the ring, the stewards and judge grabbed me and said "we need you to stay here."  Huh, I wondered what was up.  Maybe there was a scoring glitch or she was just going to go over our performance with me...  And then they proceeded to award us High in Trial!  Wow.  How cool is that? :-)  Prize was a beautiful engraved silver plate with the club's logo and show/award.  Pictures don't do it justice.

On another note, this is only our second event of the year, and we are already seriously short on wall space...  That whole retirement at 3 idea may not be a joke! LOL  Yeah, okay, you know that's not happening.  But seriously, I may be able to squeeze in 5 or 6 more normal size ribbons, but then I will officially have to find somewhere else to hang our prizes.  Really don't want to just stash them in a box somewhere.  I've always liked the Q ribbon wreath idea, and I hear some people make quilts with their ribbons.  Ha!  Wouldn't that be something - I could have a dog show ribbon quilt and a dog hair knitted scarf (I've collected several bags of Tripp hair for spinning into yarn). Ooh, why not a quilted ribbon vest to wear with that scarf? LOL  Sounds a bit quirky to me.  Guess I'm doing something right! ;-)

Marshland Obedience Club held their annual UKC Rally Trials at Finish Forward Dogs in Saco, ME on Oct. 1, 2011.  Tripp & I entered both trials that day, looking to finish our level 2 title.  We did just that in the morning with a score of 97 and 1st place in A dvision.  That meant a move-up for us for the afternoon trial.  For some reason they put me in B division "with the pros" in level 3.  No biggie, and maybe I will stay there for future trials!  In any case, level 3 was great.  We got another 97 and 2nd place.  Shannan (of FFD) was nice enough to take video of us doing our first URO3 trial. :-)