First Place!

I am so proud of Soda I could explode! We took first place B course started. It was beautiful! Her outrun was best of the day and her lift was smooth and her fetch was awesome--balanced and nice and not too fast.

The pen was a mess though, ! That was mostly my fault but I do have blame Soda a bit for not holding them off --she was in the perfect position but then got all weird about the pressure and fetched them before I could stop her. Then, I tried to set it up again and that didn't work out very well. So I just opened the gate and let them in. The judge, who's post was right by the pen, said, while I was struggling to set it up again "you know you're supposed to pen them in the pen, right?" and I almost died laughing and took that as a hint to just put the damn sheep in the pen anyway I could.

So, that earned us first place in the class! Then we ended up with High In Trial for all of the B course levels. Yay! This was the first trial I've been to where they've split the HIT's between A and B so I was surprised but pleased b/c that meant I won, !

We didn't qualify on A course intermediate though. We had an old problem rear it's ugly head and I *know* how to handle it and I didn't. I panicked and it all went to hell in a handbasket. So, I lost a gogillion points on the "z" chute and NQ'd b/c of that. If I hadn't NQ'd I would have taken 2nd place in that place and probably overall HIT.

I have to gush for a moment about my Soda-Pop: She has tremendous heart and tremendous will. She was a mess of a dog when I got her--not that social, neurotic, not self assured, barely knew sit, confused about leadership and she has blossomed into a real dog. She runs up to people to say hello, she carries herself with an air of dignity (most of the time!) and she is a mostly obedient dog--just enough naughty to be funny! She has turned into more of a border collie than I ever, EVER dreamed of. I had no expectations, really, with her. I just hoped for the best and she's giving me all she can. She couldn't work for more than 2 minutes when I got her, she didn't know how to think and so much as an "eh eh!" would send her running off the field. Now I can push her, drill on her, have expectations, watch her think and most importantly try to do the right thing. She may not always choose the right option but I know that she's trying and that's what matters to me. She looks to me for guidance now, knowing that I will help her however I can and she wants to be my partner.

Soda, you are the world's BEST worst sheepdog ever. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving everything you have and for being willing and able to change for the better. The last six months of our 1 year journey together have really been something. You have turned on, and turned up and stepped up to the plate. Not all dogs can and will and you did. You pull everyday on your meager instinctual resources to try the best you can and I see it everyday and you showed me today what all our hard work is for.

It may just be an AKC trial, but it was a beautiful run and I know how much work we put into running "just" this AKC trial and how hard you tried and more importantly, I know where you have come from.

I really am so proud of my little ragedy sheep dog. Soda, I can't wait to see what other surprises you pull out.





and me and Soda--I don't know why I'm leaning back. I look silly. :)