The National Agility Trials

Monday 17th October - aka Recovery Day
Well it's all over red rover - Perth has held it's very first Agility Nationals and it is all said and done. I am very chuffed with how it all went and the comments I have heard from everyone have been highly positive and very impressed. Please to say also (not that I'm biased) that Border Collies took 5 out of the 6 finals and of those 5 finals 3 of them come from show bred Border Collie lines. The other 2 were a rescue BC and the other was a working BC from Blue Moon Border Collies in the ACT.

I was worried I'd be on a bit of a downer now that it's all over but having today to relax and recover and just reflect and digest all that went on has made me realised I am glad that it is all over but that I certainly had a ball and that the whole thing lived up to and even exceeeded my expectations. Tim took some fantastic photos of so many dogs and he got some great ones of the Raven that I will cherish for a very long time.

This being our first time competing in such a highly acknowledged and competitive event I was content with just making a final. To win 3 events, come 3rd in another event and to come 2nd in a Final was far more than I ever expected and to say I was thrilled would be an understatement. Raven excelled this weekend and it seems the more runs she got to do the better she went. I was so proud of my little speed freak...and I was especially proud to have other handlers who I considered particularly good, come up and comment about her to me. This event has definitely confirmed for me that I will be there next year in June in Sydney and will be especially pleased to run her and Cypher.

We only have 5 trials left in the year now and all of them will be a bit like a country trial after such a weekend but she loves this game so much I will try and keep my handling up to her demanding standards!