We finally took the plunge. We're ready to start trialing and so I thought
I'd take her to a nearby USDAA trial, not expecting anything--just wanted to
expose her to the environment and see how she reacted.

This was much better than my first obedience trial, I saw lots of people I
knew and questioned them to death. What's going on? Do I walkthrough with
the starters/novice or does the preferred class get their own walk through?
I thought I get to see my sheet right after the run--where do I get it? etc,
etc,

We entered Preferred 1, 22" class and I was so happy when I saw that lots of
people were having difficulty too; it really took the pressure off. There
were only a couple clean runs. Kali burst through the jump, chute, jump in a
straight line that started the course. Then she slowed to sniff when she saw
the weave poles--she isn't super strong on them and she must have been a
little nervous about them but she did great, very slow, but good. She popped
out at the last pole and I just redirected her into that spot and we missed
getting the fault. OK work on weaves more.

Slow on the dogwalk--she took the "walk" part literally. But a fast drop on
the table and shot right off it and into a tunnel.

Then she slipped on the see-saw and fell off without hitting the downward
contact. This I realize must be from the fact that I've always done the
Teeter from a straight run, no angles. There was a little bit of a bend from
the Tunnel to the Teeter and I think that's why she slipped. OK work on
angled entries to the Teeter.

It didn't slow her down. After that she shot over the A Frame through the
pinwheel that followed and right into the tunnel and through the finishing
Tire.

The teeter was her only fault and we did the 15 obstacle course in 1:10:87.
Did I mention she's not the fastest dog? If we only didn't slip on the
teeter it would've been her first leg.

However, we must have done something right b/c Kali took 4th Place! I
couldn't stay and asked my trainer (who was there) if she would check the
scores and see how we did (so that I could have an idea of how low on the
scale we are). She emailed me the good news and said that she picked up
Kali's rosette for me.

--
Kristen and
Kali CD, CGC, TDIA, TT
www.kristenandkali.com