Two weeks ago, I dipped my paws into my first Summit Trial. You know what they say about guys with big feet and big noses? They are clowns and I was kind of more of a clown than a hard working, nose work hound.
My trial was basically all outdoors at a Renaissance Festival grounds in Hammond. Mom saw a side of me come out that she had never seen and it wasn’t a good side. Still, we are not quitters and we worked through a lot of things that we need to improve on in future Summit Trials. Olivia was mad she was not the one in the trial but Mom took her for many walks to calm her down.
All the crazy building fronts were interesting as was the security shack at the entrance. Everything looked old but was not all that old.
My best search of the weekend was the Vino search just down the hill from where I posed for this photo while waiting my turn. There was only one hide and I finished fourth out of all the dogs. Only five dogs got the one hide. Mom was super proud of me for that once we found out there was only one hide.
Each day at a Summit Trial is four searches. My day started with a huge area. I didn’t catch any odor when I started, so I decided to wander and eat grass. They have fabulous fresh grass for munching on. Since we haven’t had good grass for a while with winter, I took advantage of the opportunity. Mom was not amused and was almost in tears after that search as there were six hides and I found one. I have never done such a thing and she was too in shock to get me to move to a different area to find odor. The photo is from a search later that day.
I only found half the hides on day one. Mom was very sad about it and I was exhausted from everything and it was hot out too. After dinner in our room, I crashed.
Day two was better. We had fun searching even though Mom felt we were not doing as well as we could. Do you see all that luscious green grass? I could not help but to snack on it pretty much all weekend.
This search was a fun one and Mom loves the sign post. Yes, there was a hide up high on that post and I did find it. My last search of the day I was hot and tired and got back to grass eating rather than finding the last hide. It was far from a good trial for Team Lime Green but we are not upset about it. Mom and I learned a lot about our team and my searching. There are things we will be working on before I try another Summit. I’m very young to be at the level and I have a lot to learn. We are all glad we went as it was fun overall, Mom met some new people and saw others she has seen at trials around the US in the past. Team Lime Green didn’t come in last we placed fifteenth out of nineteen. Better luck next time and maybe less tasty grass would help too!
I’m joining my friends at Living Laughing and Barking in Our Backyard for their Nature Friday blog hop.
English (US) · 