It’s been a couple of days since we returned to Sydney, but we’ve both now caught up on our sleep & are fully rested from the big weekend. Which isn’t that hard for Jaxon as it’s been raining, so agility training is off the cards for now.

The weekend was well run by the Greater Western All Breeds Club, and each ring ran really well. The judges were clear & had a laugh at the lighter moments. Everyone was really friendly, and Jaxon managed to bribe treats out of many people thanks to his charms and good looks….

It was our first full Agility Trial, and we entered in Novice Jumping, Novice Agility & Novice Snooker. Saturday we were pretty much first up in Novice Jumping. Apart from over-running one jump, we cleared the course & Jaxon gained a Third (no quali)! I am so proud of him! He even won $5 – which we donated to the Bush Fire Appeal.

After lunch, and as the heat really started to sink in, we were on for the Agility course. It was quite a difficult Novice course, full of tricky turns and crosses for us humans, let alone the dogs. I steadied Jaxon at the first jump, and as we were set to go, off he shot towards the tunnel in the middle of the course. Of course he came back, and we managed to get some of the course done, but his mind was wondering, and I realised our relationship may need a bit of work to get him focussed. Oh well, we still had fun, and learnt a lot! There is another video to share soon.

In the evening a storm rolled in & drenched Bathurst. When Jaxon asked me to take him out at 4am on Sunday morning, I was happy to see we weren’t the only ones out in the rain!

On Sunday, we got a go in the Novice Snooker. The weather had cooled down so much that I was wearing 3 layers & still shivering. Jaxon was pretty happy in the cooler weather, so it was a chance to see how well he could do after a big day on Saturday.

The course was a little tricky again, and the objective is – like real snooker – to “pot” a red, then a colour, repeat twice more, then go to the closing sequence of jumps. We had a small map to help us figure out our best plan, The course was set up for all dogs, so I had to really think about where to run, in order to keep Jaxon fast enough to do the obstacles and the whole course within the time limit.

We started well, and I managed to keep Jaxon on course. Apart from a few wandering moments, we managed to get through the entire Snooker course right up to the finishing obstacles – the weaves! Jaxon managed every single weave! I was so pleased & excited. However, the buzzer had gone off in the middle of the weaves, so we missed out on a quali & a place. It was a fantastic experience, and we really had fun.

We want to thank Mawson & his Mum & Dad for letting us share his gazebo for the weekend. The Chablis was lovely 😉

Now that we have a couple of trials under our belts, it’s time to get faster at weaving, build our relationship, and most importantly keep having lots of fun!