Casper, WY NADAC

The pups and I decided to take a short road trip to Casper, WY for a NADAC trial. The drive is just under 4 hrs. Not the most exciting drive, but it's always fun to get out of town for a weekend. The site of the trial is a nice one. The arena is heated and the surface was nice and soft. It's usually a small trial and definitely a relaxed atmosphere. There were a few other Colorado people up there and lots of people I haven't seen since Championships. One of the bummer things of the weekend was seeing a set of courses that we ran in February. This is 3 trials in just over a month where we've seen duplicate courses. I should be an expert at them by now, but at least the judges all set the course a little different. Brisco had an amazing day on Saturday! He was super happy to be out there and Q'd in 4 of 6 runs. He missed out on one Q due to one knocked bar and the other one was my fault since I stopped when he was on the A-frame which pulled him back off of it. He was watching me very closely and being super good! On Sunday we did pretty well, but I wasn't quite with it first thing in the morning which cost us a couple Q's. At least we finally got his Superior Elite Regular title! Only 3 more regular Q's for NATCH 2. On Sunday I tried bonus lines in Jumpers and we were one knocked bar away on one course and one off-course on the other. Here's the video with the quick off course:


Mariah had an ok weekend. She was a tad slower than usual, but still Q'd in almost everything. This was not her weekend for chances. She's just happy to go along on trips and go out for all the pre and post run walks. I made sure I warmed up and cooled down both dogs very well this weekend since I had the time.

Other than being in the crate for a lot of the weekend, Trek had fun. He got to meet more new people and he played with some new dogs. I've found that he adores small dogs! He thinks they're all wonderful buddies and he plays really nice with them. DeMaine Images was the official photographer for the weekend and they had a backdrop set up for portrait shots. Since Trek just turned 1 yr old, I thought it would be fun to get a few shots of him in a professional setting. He was adorable as always and we got some good pictures! I couldn't leave the other pups out, so after a few solo Trek shots, we did group shots of all 3. There were quite a few blooper shots and I loved them! I went with one good (non-goofy) picture as the main one, then 2 outtakes as part of the collage. I can't wait to see the finished product! Trek's solo shot is going to be really cool too. I had to borrow a friend's grooming kit to get Trek and Mariah neatened up for the pictures. Brisco's coat usually looks pretty good, so he got lucky and didn't get brushed.

After the formal shots and day 1 of agility was over, I had Mariah and Brisco out for a cool-down. There was a big dirt/sand pile out in the parking lot and I let the pups play in it and the lighting was perfect and it was a great background, so I went back inside, got Trek and the camera and took all 3 pups out for some candid play shots. Here are a few of the pictures. I think they turned out great!





We have the rest of the month to relax and play around the house. I get to spend more time training Trek and taking all the pups out for walks and enjoy the beautiful weather!