We Are Excellent!

This past weekend Gio, Romeo and I took a trip to Yorkton to take part in a CKC Rally-O trial.

It's been a very long time since we have hit the road for a trial of any sort. It was really good to get out there again! We left Friday night in order to get settled in before the trial on Saturday and Sunday. And of course, take part in our hotel tradition ... cuddling on the bed with pizza and the TV remote*.

* TV remote not featured

Sure, we can do this any night at home. But somehow it is more relaxing in a hotel. Maybe it's not being surrounded by "other stuff I really should do". No internet (which normally terrifies me!), no house work, no commitments.

The trial started up on Saturday with two Rally-O trials. And the boys totally rocked it!!

Trial 1: Romeo took High in Class in Excellent B with a perfect score of 100/100 and a time of 1:26.88. Gio took a score of 99/100 with a time of 1:36.10.

Trial 1 Qualifying Excellent B Dogs

Trial 2: I messed the boys up by accruing a number of handler errors. So Gio wound up with a 94/100 with a time of 1:34.85 and Romeo took a 96/100 with a time of 1:26.28.

Trial 2 Qualifying Excellent B Dogs

Day two included two more Rally-O trails.

Trial 3: Romeo took another 100/100 with a time of 1:30.19. And Gio was a total dink, just couldn't stop the excited barking. None the less, he pulled off a 93/100 with a time of 2:06.07.

Trial 4: Gio pulled it together and took a perfect score of 100/100 with a time of 1:39.81, and Romeo followed closely with a near-perfect 99/100 with a time of 1:34.12. And I have to add that the judge, Jan Leach, pencilled in a couple of comments on Romeo's score sheet. Commenting that he has a "beautiful back up [backwards heel] and moving stand". *CHUFF*

So with those performances, both boys started and finished their Rally Excellent (RE) titles this weekend! I had a professional photograph taken by the photographer on site. But it is being mailed to me as they were too busy to get them all printed off before the end of the trial. So I will have to post it here separately when it finally arrives.

Romeo won a squeaky plush soccer ball for his High in Class on day one. So that kept the boys entertained at the hotel.

"AAH! GETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFF!"

There was a great showing of Hub City Kennel and Obedience Club members participating in the trial. Everyone did really REALLY well, so we all got together for a picture with our pretty blue loot!

From left to right: Verna and Sasha (earned their Rally Novice title), Jill and Tetley (had great success in Utility level Obedience), Gisele with Gina and Katie (new titles, High in Class and High in Trial awards for Obedience and Rally-O), Jeannette and Gem (new Rally Advanced title with High in Class), Dayna with Gio and Romeo (new Rally Excellent titles with High in Class), and Elaine with Harley (High in Class in Rally Novice and great success in Open level Obedience). Not featured is Claire and her Havanese, Petey, who did really well in Open level Obedience but flatly refused to be photographed.

It was a really great weekend overall. Of course, just to add a little bit of drama, my car decided to be temperamental. Saturday morning when I got us all loaded up to head to the trial venue from the hotel, the "check engine" light popped on. It did this last time I got an oil change, and I just had another change last Thursday, so coincidence? The car was running fine, so I decided to ignore it (smart, eh?). Later that evening, light still on, I checked all the obvious things ... gas cap, oil level, various other fluids (of which I have no idea what they do). Everything was fine, nothing leaking. So with that, and the ever-helpful tips from the two guys leaning out the KFC drive-thru window across the parking lot, decided that it wasn't important. One of the guys suggested a dead battery (thank Einstein ... I'm not that stupid, the battery is fine). The other guy said "oxygen sensor". That sounded smarter, and less important, so I decided to accept that diagnosis and continued to ignore the light. The car made it the rest of the weekend and the 3.5 hour drive home, so whatever the light is trying to tell me can't be all that important.

We are home now. Exhausted, but very pleased.

And Romeo and Gio weren't the only ones that got new toys!! I picked up a Mars Coat King for what I'm hoping is a reasonable price. Last time I took Romeo out to visit his breeder, she attacked his rogue butt hair with a Coat King, and I was awed and amazed by how easily it tamed the butt fluff. So when I saw some at one of the vendor stands, I snatched it up. Will attempt to use it later this evening!