Hello Sunshine!

Today was (thankfully) a dry day at the SOTC trial. Peyton and I had two really nice runs, and although we didn't bring home any Q's, it was a much better day!

We started the day at 8 am with Excellent Standard. It was a really fun course and Peyton was having a fabulous run until I had a blonde moment after the weaves and pulled him off a jump. Have I mentioned that I need to be more patient and handle each obstacle? Then we had a few bobbles at the end that we're entirely my fault - probably because I was still mentally cursing myself for causing a refusal. :) But I was really, really pleased with this run - Peyton's contacts were awesome, his table was the best we've had so far in a trial, and he was just a happy spotty.

Our next run was Open JWW and I had just enough time to tell Peyton how brilliant he was on the way back to his crate, walk the JWW course and then head back over for our run. On a good note, our day was done at 8:30 am, but I really think a little more time between runs would have helped. It's never good to start a run when you're still out of breath from the last! This course was just nasty today. We had three rear crosses in the opening and even though we worked them out, it wasn't very pretty. We had one bar down so no Q, but I was still happy with the effort.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love running this dog? I'm just having sooo much fun with him - I have to keep reminding myself that he's still a baby dog, and even though we have our share of baby dog issues, he's really coming along. Sometimes I think he knows where we're going before I do! This was only our 4th AKC trial, but we have moments where it feels like we've been doing this for years.

Pongo also seems to be feeling better today. He's starting to be a bit more demanding and well, kind of a pain (said with a grin), so we're hoping that's a good sign. :)