Dillon's First UKC Trial
Even though Dillon & I have been training for well over a year, I really wasn't sure that we were quite ready for competition. However, the UKC trials only come once a year at Autumn Winds in NC, so I felt like we needed to give it a try. My trainer, Jan Santel, kept telling me that he was ready. My biggest fear was that perhaps I wasn't. I went ahead and entered him in all four trials in AGIA & AGIIA, for a total of 4 runs each day on October 15 & 16, 2005.
Our first run on Saturday was in AGII. Not knowing how he would react with the crowd around, I was a little apprehensive at the start of the run. I shouldn't have been. Once I asked him if he was ready, Dillon took off like a shot. With the exception of popping out of the weave poles, he nailed every obstacle. His final score was 195 which earned him Second Place in AGII in his class. His AGI run was spotless with a First Place and a score of 200! During the afternoon trial, Dillon NQ'd his AGII run, but scored a 200 and secured First Place in AGI again.
Sunday was just a little bit cooler, and was a great day to run! I still wasn't sure whether Saturday had been a fluke or not, so I was prepared for things to go either way for us. Dillon went out and proved to me that he could do it consistently once again! In the first trial, he scored a 200 & First Place in AGII, but NQ'd his first AGI run. In the second trial, once again he scored 200 & First Place in AGII, and a 197 & Third Place in AGI.
With it all said and done, Dillon is now the proud owner of his very own AGI & AGII UKC titles. All this was done in one weekend! I am so very proud of the boy!!!
All photos on this page are used with permission and are owned by Nan Henderson.
October 2005