Rally on

Well howdy blogaroos. It’s Squirmy Wormy here – after an exhausting Sunday. Why? Because the Boss and I were entered in TWO honest to goodness real rally trials. Yup. Like real competitions. There was something like 58 dogs entered in the morning trial and a few less in the afternoon.

Now while we only live about 20 minutes from where the trial was held, and it didn’t start until 8:30 AM, the Warden had us up at 5 AM!! Why so early? Well. All Saturday night we had torrential rain AND thunder and lightning. And the pouring rain was supposed to last until mid-morning on Sunday. So…. She figured we would be soaking wet after our quick morning pee and poo – so she would need to dry us off before we went to the trial. BUT – the good news- the rain had slowed down A LOT – so that by 5:30 AM all of us had done our thing and didn’t require drying after all. Still -she likes to get to things early so we were packed up in Ludwig and on the road by 7:10. In the dark.

Now the Boss was on first in the Masters class. And truth be told – he’s still better than me. He knows all the moves. But unfortunately, he’s stuck with the same handler as me (who of course is the Warden)- and basically due to some handler errors, he did not get a qualifying leg in either trial. He watches the Warden ALL the time- so in the second trial he didn’t even see the jump coming – and crashed into it. But he shook himself off and finished the course brilliantly. The Warden was SO proud of him. They’ll try for Masters again.

And then there was yours truly. Now we KNOW I can be a bit…what’s the word…bonkers at times. Actually a lot of the time. So the Warden didn’t know WHAT would happen with me. I was in Novice. The Warden was allowed to take off her mask when in the ring – but she was SO nervous with me – she forgot – and wore it through my first run. I was a bit tentative my first few steps – but then, my brain woke up – and I had a BLAST. And guess what I scored? You’ll never guess. 100 out of 100. And guess what else? Not only was I the Highest scoring dog in my class – BUT, I got the highest scoring herding dog in the whole trial!

So two big ribbons – AND cash prizes. Unfortunately, my handler kept the prize money- she said it was hers. She better buy me some biscuits or something.

In the afternoon, I scored a 98/100 – enough to give me another High in Class AND more cash. So now I have 2 out of the three legs I need for my Novice title. But now there aren’t any trials until like March – so we have lots of time to practice. Here’s me with my morning ribbons. No envelope with the cash in the photo because, as I said, my handler took it. She said her rates are actually higher than what I won so I actually “owe” her money. She thinks she’s funny.

I have to send out a special thanks to our coach, Jane for helping and supporting us in our training. She has to put up with the Warden’s gazillion questions and she is always supporting and encouraging us to be the best we can be. She was there yesterday and I think she was pleased with our results!

So that’s the start to my rally and obedience career. Who would ever believe it? The guy who ricochets off people and does the zoomies around the dining room table. See – I CAN be good!

Have a good one. Peace and paws up. Stay safe.