About 3 weeks ago, Mole's back went out. That meant no more agility for us. But we were already scheduled for a trial this past Sunday and while it probably wasn't the best idea, I went ahead and ran him in a tunnelers course. We scratched the runs with the jumps, but tunnelers has no jumps. . . and it was our one and only chance to really do this. . .
The day started out as well as any day does when you wake up at 4am. No coffee places are open, and when you finally find one (two hours later), your dog drinks your coffee (thanks Abby!) The dogs sleep soundly in the back seat while you drive there in the pitch black, trying to remind yourself that this is fun. Once you get there, the dogs are ready to go and all you want to do is sleep. But once the trial starts at 7:30am, you forget your exhaustion and are ready to run!
The tunnelers course was the third run of the day. It was still early enough that it wasn't too hot, but late enough that we all had a chance to get settled in. I was a bit worried how we would do as we haven't done anything in a few weeks. On top of the lack of practice time, this was the first time that mole ran in this field with these tunnels. And one of the tunnels was CLEAR! wtf? Even if we had practiced, this would be the first time that mole would run a course with 14 obstacles. That is a lot for an 11 year old dog! And all this while being timed!
But mole is the best dog in the entire world, so we really had nothing to worry about! He not only ran his heart out, but he won first place! Ok, let's be honest, the other dogs in the 4" category didn't exactly finish the course. But that is part of trialing! And since we are being honest, I really should mention that we didn't even Q. . .He ran the course in 75 seconds - 30 seconds off course time. But WHO CARES!? We both had a fantastic time out there.
And this is why I love Dave Mills:
Not only does my guy look happy, he looks like every other dog on the field! If you didn't know us, you would have no idea that mole is not an agility bred dog (ok, you probably would. . .) You would have no idea that mole was as old as he was. And you would have no idea that we have only been doing this for 6 months - and only in classes for 3! These pictures are so beautiful that they make me want to cry. Who would have thought that my little old man, grumpy uncle mole, would ever do this? I am so proud of him, and so thankful that we were able to do this together at least one time.
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