Dog Vegas Finals - 23/07/2017

The Dog Vegas Finals show was a huge success for the duo and I. Not in winnings, not in rosettes and not in trophies, but in personal goals achieved, limits tested, boundaries pushed and fun had! In fact, it's the best Ethel and I have ever ran together!

As both Earl and Ethel had a spot in the final (Earl qualified and Ethel was pulled in as a reserve after an unlucky jumped contact in the qualifier last year), I was hoping I'd be able to get them both round clear and compare their times. Pushing them for the fastest times possible gives me a thrill and they enjoy it the more I go for it and run like mad! The time differences between dogs fascinates me as it's always so close between them, especially in the high grades!

Ethel was up first and ran the course perfectly. I was pleased with my handling and her speed was fantastic! To make the experience even more fun, it was live-streamed along with commentary and it was awesome to hear the commentary as we ran! However, she unluckily caught a pole and knocked it down, meaning we gained 5 faults. If it wasn't for the pole, we would've come 2nd overall! I couldn't have been happier with her and she did me proud, especially for her first time in this final!

A few dogs after Ethel's run and it was time to queue up with Earl. He qualified for a ran in last year's final, and went clear with less than a seconds worth of time faults, which was unfortunate, however, he did me proud! I was hoping to beat last year's result this year! We went clear, and he ran really well for him! We ended up 6th, which is where we came last year, too! However, this year, he wasn't even close to having any time faults, showing how much he's sped up in a year! I couldn't have been happier with him, either!

Ethel's other runs, the normal classes at the show, went amazingly, too! I used them all to really push her and see how much I could get out of her, and the agility classes to train her contacts. And boy, did she perform! It's the best we've ever ran together; we were both really going for it and flying round the courses! Going for it and running like mad is so much more fun than playing it safe, and at this stage, we really do need to push to get the most out of ourselves!

All in all, it was one of the most fun and successful shows I've competed at! It's shows like this that excite me for the future with my awesome little dogs. Roll on more shows and more opportunities to run my dogs like I stole them!