If at first you don't succeed

Try, try again. Then a few more times after that. This is pretty much the mantra of those of us stuck in the black hole of NW3. 

After a more than exhausting day of working at the elite trial Saturday, we got our chance to try on Sunday. We started off with a strong container search. It was luggage, which she's pretty good with. But we had been practicing boxes for two weeks so I felt we were ready this time. She rocked it and we ended up getting a third place even! Next up was interiors. There was a little incident involving something black on the floor near where the hide was but it ended up ok. The next two rooms went off without a hitch and we did well in a search that only had a 53% pass rate. 

Next up was exteriors. She was starting to get a little warm but ended up getting the two hides with a few seconds to spare. I don't know why I fret about exteriors so much, she typically always does well. I felt like we were pretty solid and if we could make it through vehicles we would have a good shot. She found one hide quick and then went on to show a fair amount of interest in the third car down. She did eventually alert. I was a little unsure but she had been solid all day so I called it. Mistake. It was just pooling from the wind blowing down from the first car. This was pretty soul crushing. But another lesson learned. 

We did earn our NW3 container title in addition to our third place. And we found all the hides for the day. Plus we had fun and enjoyed a good time with friends. Every day you get to spend having fun with your dog is a win.   Or that you can't take 30 minutes to be sad. But after that, move on!

This weekend we travel to IL and then I have to start hoping to get into some trials over the summer.