Q 4 out of 4 runs, all 1st place.
Earned NA and NAJ Titles
I entered Max in our first out-of-town trial, in Hattiesburg, only 2.5 hours away from home, preparing to compete on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and complete the 2nd and 3rd legs for both our Novice Standard and Novice Jumpers titles. Since John's days off are Thursday and Friday, he followed me as I towed the camper behind my Grand Marquis on Thursday. I write about our disasterous 1st Excursion in our Pop-Up Camper in a separate post. I do not recommend the uneven RV park in Hattiesburg.
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| Hattiesburg Arena |
Forrest County Multi-Purpose Facility:
The Hattiesburg arena is closed, vast, and the dirt is bright iron red. The bleachers are well built but you have to go up and down a lot of stairs all day. Crating is on concrete and there are nearby grassy areas to potty the dogs, but nothing much under cover in case of rain. Cars are parked far away. Quite a few vendors, no concessions. No refrigeration. Get there the day before to get the best crate spots (near the stairs and outside doors). You are not allowed to crate at ring level without special permission (judge, crew, disabilities). The weather in July is HOT, WINDY and WET. The RV park is a long walk away, almost driving distance, and all the slabs are uneven, some on a steep slant. Cost is $25/night.
Performance:
Friday:
Max competed in Novice FAST, just for kicks and to get Max used to the arena. We scratched. Need more distance training. Everyone from BR went out to dinner but I was so darn exhausted, I stayed in my camper and downloaded to my computer the videos I had taken of all our club members' runs, and watched them. That was my evening's entertainment.
Saturday:
I slept well Friday night and we did very well on Saturday, 2 more Q's, 2 1st places with perfect scores. We were 1/2 way to our goal. Now we just needed one more Q in Jumpers, and one in Standard, to earn both our Novice Titles. Saturday night we all went out to dinner and had a good time. I refrained from alcohol, planned to get to bed early, and was confident all would be well on Sunday. It wasn't. I hardly slept due to the Battle Of The Bands going on til 1 a.m. next to the RV Park. I wrote about this in the above cited blogpost.
Sunday:
Our first run, we Q'd with a score of 90, but barely, due to my exhaustion. My legs were like jello. Then, in heat and rain, Nedra and Cheryl H. helped me hitch up the camper, then I had to go back inside for our last run. We Q'd again, but barely. I was so sweaty, tired and disoriented, I just made stupid mistakes, such as releasing Max from the table BEFORE the judge said GO. Duh! I just could not concentrate.
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| Ace Maximillion von Fry, NA NAJ |
We earned our AKC Novice titles and the right to list them after his name! Goal met. But it was sweating buckets the whole way. Here's a picture of Maxie posing with all his Novice ribbons. It shows 6 green "qualifying" ribbons, plus 6 blue "first place" ribbons, plus 2 red Titling ribbons. The best part is he earned 4 legs in 4 runs. It's a respectable beginning, but I'm told it won't last.
Now on to the next trial to work on our Open titles.
Upwards and onward!
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