End of the Season, But Not

Now that Dinah's a special, we can pretty much pick and choose which shows we feel like entering instead of frantically scouring premium lists for every show on the Eastern Seaboard, in search of one more stinkin' major or a few more crummy points. Quite honestly, I don't miss that part -- but I do miss showing later into the year. Much as I complain about showing into late November or early December, I miss hanging out with my buddies on weekends at the Big E or on some other road trip. Mind you, I don't miss these trips enough to consider campaigning Dinah as far as the GRCH, but I still feel just the teeniest bit wistful when everyone else gets to pack up and go.

Since our last appearance in conformation, though, Dinah and I have been fairly busy training and showing in rally trials in a few different venues. She completed the APDT Level 1 title in July with an Award of Excellence, and her AKC Rally Novice at the very end of August. This makes her Am/Can CH Breaksea November Storm HIC CGC RL1 (AOE) RN.

Not that we plan to stop there. We're entered in another AKC trial and hope to make progress toward the Rally Advanced title (she has one leg already). We have more APDT trials to enter between now and the end of the year, plus we're attempting our very first UKC rally trial in October. My ambition is to work enough to cross over into regular obedience as well. Our rally instructor has a Novice class right after ours, and I might do the occasional drop-in just to see if we're even ready to start just yet. Holding still is not one of the Princess's favorite things to do.

Are we coming back to the conformation ring? You bet your Bean boots we are, but probably not until spring. It gives us something to look forward to during the dark and icy days of wintertime. Until then, you can see us in class with our compadres or playing in the local trials. If you're going to the conformation shows, good luck and have fun!