Rose City Classic 2011 - Sunday

Sunday dawned too early but better than Saturday. At least we didn't have to haul all of our gear into the Expo again. The same events were on our agenda for the second day with the exception of Rally Novice Team for Vegas. That was something we were entered in just Saturday.

Just like Saturday, we got there and the dogs were in and out of their crates a couple times walking with me, going potty, and waiting. Just like Saturday, after a couple hours of waiting, Vegas' Standard run was going to collide with Leo's rally run. Ugg! Wow is that stressful. Sunday was a bit worse though and while all the stewards and secretaries were willing to work with conflicts, waiting for an answer as to what to do was frustrating and more stressful. I barely got checked in at rally and they were already walking so I quickly dumped the dogs in their crates and ran back over for one quick walk through. Then I ran to the agility ring, cutting through the already forming crowd, and found out where they were at. Half a dozen dogs in the 12" class and then it was our turn to walk. Ran back to the rally ring and found out they would take people as they showed up. Ran back to my crates and grabbed Leo. I didn't even have a map at this point. I got to the ring and had to run back to my crates to get my number. Whew! Fortunately Leo was handling my craziness well, although when I finally took a minute to work him, his sits were very slow. I was hoping he would be less distracted and better working with me by the time we got in the ring. They had us all set up to go in third.

 Things started out a little nerve-wracking. I was going to try to hold my leash differently with Leo's run and thought I had it loose enough but the judge immediately told me it wasn't. Of course that gave me a case of the butterflies and, after having rushed and rushed and rushed around, it was the last thing I needed. I am pleased to say though, Leo did a bit better than the previous day and while his heeling still needs a lot of improvement, he was quite responsive except his sits. Our final score would have been 95 except I repeated one station. It was a toss-up to repeat it or figure I was "close enough" to the sign to complete it but I felt like the more accurate approach was to step back then move forward and repeat. This cost us a 10 point deduction and a final score of 85. Better than our last run! This completed Leo's Rally Novice (RN) title. I couldn't have been more pleased. This little guy came a long way and the environment was not conducive to relaxing and working together. But he pulled it off and looked happy doing it.

We went and got our picture taken a bit later on the official podium but I also took my own of my little guy, too. He's looking pretty proud.