AKC Nationals: Part 3

And now our final day competing at Nationals: Sunday & Round 3  :)

Sunday morning was even earlier, with us needing to be there at 6am! Ugh.

But I finally got Porter out of bed and off we headed to the Expo center.

Most of the pressure was off of me for Round 3. While I never planned on making Finals, or even Challengers, the fact that it was completely off the table allowed me to relax a little bit more  :)  You needed at least 2 clear rounds to make Challengers - we ruined that chance easily.

The only pressure I felt was what other people were going through. And I can wipe that away pretty easily once I start warming up with Porter.

I thought this course was pretty challenging again, but not unreasonable. The opening was tricky, especially without a startline stay. And I saw no one walking it like I was.

My other concerns were getting the weave entry (especially without taking that off-course jump) and then getting from 11 to 12 without taking the off-course tunnel.

But whatever. Didn't matter, right?  :)

Megan recorded the dog who followed us all weekend too:

the only other Cardigan in our class, the fantastic Letti!

Oops. We bombed that one!  :)

First off, in the ring next to us was a fast, barky little dog that put Porter over the top. He was ready to charge through that fence after it! But it got him pumped for a fast start  :)

My rear cross from 2 to 3 worked well enough, but I can see why no one else walked it that way :) I still think he would have taken the off course number 4 if I had tried to put in a front cross between 1 & 2, especially since he took off like dynamite! He would have charged right past me. I should have done what Shelley & Letti did (they were the team that Megan filmed after Porter)...

I'm am pretty pleased how tight he turned into the weaves. Unfortunately, that was what probably caused him to miss his entrance  :)  Then after that it was just an epic failure!

I tried some things, they failed, but we had a blast. And we ended the run (and the weekend) with our celebratory ginger snaps & tuna: