Tonight I received the confirmation that Reese and I got into our first agility trial!! It is only a few short weeks away too.
I am so excited but a little nervous too. How will she handle it, and the bigger question, how will I handle it? We have done the work and prepared, and now we must trust that we are ready, and go out there and have fun.
Just not sure how Reese will react to all the stimuli outside the ring, but she was fine at a trial we went to this summer and walked around very nicely, and didn't get all excited or barky. We have done some fun runs and she did fine at those. This trial is inside so may be a little more noisy but noise doesn't seem to bother her so much in this situation. I do have a CD of noises you would hear at a trial. So we will be listening to that in the house and the car during the next few weeks.
When I leave her at the start line she knows she needs to watch me and be ready to rock and roll! We have been practicing the games at our lessons and I am starting to get them, so hopefully by the trial I will have them fairly straight in my head. My main concern is remembering the courses but I know what I will be walking them longer than I do at our lesson and I think that will help. Also, our runs should be far enough in between that I will be able to get the previous one out of my head before the next one needs to take its place.
Reese and I have been running and while I really need to do some sprint work that is pretty impossible where I am, in the frozen tundra with mountains of snow everywhere. But the running is good getting my body stronger and helping to clear my mind of junk that doesn't belong there. I am doing some strength training, working on my core. Reese is also working on her core and getting stretched after runs. We are spending lots of time playing and learning tricks and having fun with each other.
When the trial date comes it will just be another day for us to go out and have some fun. I'm not hoping for any speedy times nor do I really care how many Q's we get at this trial. I just want to have fun with my dog, stay connected, and try to remember the course as best I can so I can direct my dog as best I can in a confident manner.
I know we are ready. I am just amazed and can't believe we are finally ready to hear that electronic voice say "GGOOO" :))
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