Ceilidh's First (and Last?) Agility Trial

I've been writing over the last several weeks about Ceilidh's and my Agility Classes. Our challenges and triumphs. Well, this last weekend we took the plunge and were entered in our first Agility Trial. I'm not a complete newbie to the world of dog shows, having titled Golly the princess in obedience, but Dog Agility is totally different. Lots of big jumps and other large obstacles. The judge stands in the middle of the ring waving his or her arms around whenever the competitors do anything wrong, and someone off to the side notes how many fists and fingers are in the air. (The objective is to have as few as possible.) Unfortunately the judge was waving her arms a lot when Ceilidh and I were in the ring.

I think Ceilidh may have been a little intimidated. In the picture above, Ceilidh is the tiny little Boston Terrier blur jumping over that huge jump. The jump height was perfectly appropriate, but the jump itself was enormous, and the middle of the jump was much further away from me than she was accustomed to!

So, while there were no ribbons for Ceilidh, we had a bonding weekend. And one of our best friends and her Border Terrier got their 4th Master Agility Champion title! So exciting, and we were there to see it!

You can see Ceilidh in her crate at the trial, looking too tired to even play with her beloved Latex Soccer Ball.