CKC Rally Novice Title

Today Stella completed her third and final leg of her CKC rally novice title.  It was her second trial and also my very first outdoor trial.  The conditions were terrible!  We arrived and within minutes the pouring rain started and it didn't stop.  We had thunder, the ring had puddles and I was soaked.  There was also a nearby blueberry farm shooting off a bird cannon consistantly through the day.  I was very grateful that those noises don't bother her.

We were registered for two rally novice classes and the first didn't go so well.  We were scheduled to be third in the ring but the first dog cancelled last minute and the next had a ring conflict so we basically got thrown right into the ring without a proper warmup.  My happy bouncing bean girl was not amused with the wet conditions and didn't want to do any downs so we NQ'd on that round.  I can't say I disagreed with her thoughts and I probably wasn't the best handler for her either on that round.

Our second round went much better.  The rain had dropped from a downpour to more of a light rain and we had warmed up properly.  She did awesome and we scored a 93 which was high in class.  Very proud of my girl!  She was distracted with all the activity and smells of the outdoors but still worked well for me. 

We also completed our first leg of pre-novice obedience.  This class is marked as a pass or fail and is an introductory class leading up to novice obedience.  It is a great way to get some ring experience for both of us and she was very good.   During the heelwork she was a bit distracted by some birds flying by but settled down more as the class progressed and we finished up very strong and passed.  I was especially pleased with how well she is starting to work for some happy praise and hand claps.

Outdoor trials are not very common on the west coast as most people prefer to trial indoors.  This was a good (although very wet) experience for both of us and I would do an outdoor trial again but hopefully be a little better prepared for bad weather.  We had had some lovely sun this week and the forecast I saw was for possible showers.  I really should know better being a good west coast camping girl but lessons learned.  We met another pretty Vizsla girl there today and the rain actually seemed to bond the participants in shared misery so there was some fun and laughter. 

We head out today for two weeks of fun and recreation camping in Oregon.  I'm looking forward to minimal communications with the outside world and lots of relaxation.  I leave you with a pics of a previous Oregon trip with a year old Riley.