First NW2 Trial - Jacksonville, Fla

Originally, Michelle and I were going to volunteer for the NW2 trial in Jacksonville so we can get a little more familiarity about these type of trials, since they are different in many ways from the NW1. However, about a week before the trial, someone on our Facebook group announced that there were still spots available. We asked our instructor if she thought it was a good idea to run an NW2 so close to our NW1 success. She said it's great experience, and it's not too much of a hassle for us since we were heading down there anyway. So, we entered and both of us were in the NW2 trial!

Going in, we had no expectations and were taking this as a learning opportunity. We started with vehicles (three hides), and I false alerted on the very first hide. Day over! Michelle and Mason managed to complete the vehicles just under the 3:00 deadline. Next, we had interiors. Rip found the first hide in a very small conference room, but I got antsy in the second room (a room of cubicles) and false alerted with plenty of time left. Michelle had pretty much the same experience. So, now we both knew we weren't getting our titles.

After lunch, we started with exteriors. Even though it was a single hide, both dogs seemed lost due to the heavy winds and didn't find the crack hide near the threshold. Finally, we had the containers. Mason completed the element, but Rip excelled. We finished the two-hide search in just over twenty seconds and captured a first place ribbon in the element. So, we didn't go away completely empty handed!

Thank you to the K9 Obedience Club of Jacksonville for hosting a great trial! Next time we'll be more prepared! Below you'll see the pics of the hides.