NADAC Champs 2011: the good, the bad, and the pink

I know, it should really be the good, the bad, and the purple, but you will see why pink later.

The good
We had lots of fun.  The drive was not as long as we expected and we never got lost!  The weather was more or less lovely, rain the first day but after that pretty nice.  The crate space was plentiful and the arena nice with lots of seating. 

 


I think my favorite part was watching the Superstakes classes run.  Those dogs were amazing.  They were basically  handling entire courses from behind a line that kept them from going no further out than about the second obstacle.  Anyone who thinks that AKC fast classes are hard should come watch these dogs!  It really inspired me to want to work on more distance skills with my dogs which I need to do but I don't know that I need to take it to that level.  I like getting out on the course and running more with my dog, not just directing them.

The photographers were great and I ordered the full CD of my dog since there were so many good pictures.  I can't wait to get it in the mail and post some.

Also in the good department our buddies Cheri and Vixen kicked butt in the double digits division.  They placed in every round and were just 5 points out of making the finals, finishing fourth overall in that division.

And Legend.  Well, we had good parts in every run and most of her runs she had decent speed (for her) and enthusiasm.  And she handled almost all of the distance challenges well.  And she is doing better all the time at not ignoring hoops and just running past them (we hate hoops).

The bad
Legend and I failed to get even one clean run.  Not one.  Not in 7 rounds.  Seriously, we never have that kind of NQ rate!  But I came here with no expectations-just wanted to enjoy it.  And realistically she needed to run clean and hope other dogs made mistakes to even place so we weren't really out anything but pride!  I'm not sure 7 clean rounds (which would have been unreal) would have even gotten us into the finals.  The other dogs are just faster.  And that's ok-we went to have fun and we did.  I was just a little disappointed that we didn't at least do as well as an average trial.  And hey-she had the best looking nails there!

Other thoughts and ramblings
We were told the courses would be long-like 28 obstacles or more.  And as promised the first course was 40 obstacles.  That was tough!  I consider myself in pretty good shape but I was whipped at the end of that run!  It was a fun challenge though and I was a little sorry that the other courses weren't longer.  However given the length of time it was taking I am glad they shortened the courses.  The first day the 20 inch class was last.  I walked around 9 AM and didn't run until 3:30.  I was running round 2 at 9:30 at night!  And they had superstakes after that-we didn't stay that night.  So, obviously shortening the courses was in order, especially when they added in team, as we still had some long days. 

The vendors could have been better but the raffle was great-even though I didn't win any of the big prizes.

And there were lots of pretty ribbons and trophies to be won!

Maybe next time we will take home more than just pictures of them!  "Next time" is to be determined still.  Champs are supposed to be out west next year but the Border Collie specialty is in Wisconsin.  Since only Legend would run in the specialty we are considering going to champs instead if it is less than a 15 hour drive.  If not, I may not go to either one.  After all we are going to Reno and planning a "family" vacation (as in not dog-related) as well. 

and finally...

The Pink
I won Lyric this adorable pink crate in the rescue raffle.  How cute will she be in that!  Funny what makes us happy huh?