Sundays Are Fun Days!
I went for my first SKC Jumpers Trials, which was held at the Singapore Expo yesterday! We trained hard for the past few months and even had last minute tuition sessions last week. The weather wasn't forgiving at all so i was basically in and out of the mud during our training sessions. I'm not complaining though because i love mud spas but the humans weren't very impressed with me dirtying the car and the house - had to be scrubbed a coupla times before i was my handsome self again (before that, i looked like Oscar from Sesame Street and resembled someone who had lived in a trash can all his life).
Here's evidence of me hard at work:
Some other pics that were taken during the training sessions:
Auntie S says i look very dashing in the pictures and my humans can't agree more!! All thanks to Uncle CK who took these pictures - i think he's the bestest dog photographer in the world, so if any of you doggies out there want your glamour shots to be taken, contact him!
Okay, so back to the trials proper.
I think i suffered some stage fright when i was in the ring and screwed up from the very beginning! Even when we were standing by waiting for my turn, my spirit was up and down. According to S, one moment i had that gleam in my eyes, and the next moment, i looked spaced out and frightened (and even had my tail tightly tucked between my legs...how embarrassing!!!).
At the starting line, i was nervous and just wanted to go to where S was walking to. I conveniently skipped the first jump and ran straight to her the moment she gave me the "over" command. However, after some coaxing from S, we continued with the circuit even though we missed jumps and were already out of the game. I think it was only during the last leg of the circuit that i sorta realised what was expected of me and both S and I wasted no time and sprinted all the way to the last jump!
Even though we screwed up, the humans and Mr. Smartdoggy said it was a good attempt for a first-timer - we tried our best and had a great time and that's the most important part! Lotssssa room for improvement but we'll definitely work on it! I must say that we did witness some amazing performances from some of our fellow triallers. Kaiser (and K) and Prince (and Jazz) were deserving winners of the Maxi Jumpers and Mini Jumpers respectively. We saw speed, agility and great human-dog coordination.....*wee-weet*....BIG BIG congratulations to them!
Anyways, i met sooooo many nice humans and doggies at the show too. Compared to the last SKC show i went in October where i was super stressed out, i was much more polite and waggy-tailed yesterday. Hung out with Kerry my favourite bitch who was doing her usual super-modelling, said a big hello to Shiro my new best friend and Ryu her brother whom i was cordial to, bumped into Coral and Bless whom i was just as happy to see and finally got to meet up with Cody and his brother Chester too! Little Chester the Corgi and big Chester the Border Collie (c'est moi!)....maybe we might even get to compete in the same ring in future!
Oh, and i got to meet Auntie J (Luna and Suria's mummy) who came up to me and gave me a nice pat-pat. Got introduced to Auntie M who was showing her very handsome Rough Collie and she started fawning all over me! Auntie E (Cody's mummy) bought me some beef jerky as promised and i gobbled up a few as soon as i laid my grubby paws on them! Sweeeeeet.
Besides the trials proper, S also entered me for the fun events too. I got first placing for "Best of Breed" segment of the companion dog show part and it was only because there were just TWO Border Collies competing......muahahahaha! However, i didn't stand a chance at all when the Pastoral Group was being judged because Shiro, the very pretty Samoyed stole all the limelight. Shiro bagged both the "Champion For A Day" and "Best Kept Dog" award and i'm awfully happy for her! My best friend Kingsley won the "Speediest 4-legs" award and it's a second time win for him too! Way to go, buddies!
I didn't leave empty-handed either and won 3rd place for the "Best Trick In The House" award and no prize for guessing what trick we did! Frisbee is fun fun fun fun FUN! We won a plaque, Carrefour shopping vouchers and some dog food - will post the video and pictures soon!
Ended the fun day with more frisbee at Siglap park - i just never seem to get enough, do i?! Hung out with Kerry after that and then ended the night with a scrumptious, yummilicious dinner. For the hardwork i put in, Mr. Smartdoggy also gave me new tug toys to play with! Okay actually, i'm supposed to use those to practice dropping on command because i'm still atrocious at it....hahaha!
Alritey, i'm off to have a break before i resume training again. Sentosa - the sea, the sand and the babes, HERE I COME! Wheeeeee!