Purina Incredible Dog Challenge - Eastern Regional

I started this entry about a month ago but just haven't gotten around to finishing and posting it... I finished writing it a week or so back and wanted to wait until I got home to post so I could include pictures.  Apparently I am incapable of remembering that once I am home so I'm gonna go ahead and post this without pics cause I'm really far behind!

April 16th and 17th we spent at the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge - Eastern Regional.  We had a lot of fun as it is a great event and they treat the competitors really well. 

Friday was just practice for those teams that were invited and a try out for those teams who were looking to earn a spot for Saturday's competition.  I was really pretty worried about how Tali would do with the environment.  Big crowd, camera guys on the field, etc.  Friday was not near as crazy as Saturday - small crowd, no camera guys, etc.  Tali did OK... a little slow and not too drivey but not bad overall.  Our friends Chris and Chuck earned spots for the competition Saturday so that was very cool. 

Saturday was a much busier day and it was a lot of fun watching the other dogs and handlers in agility, dock diving and Jack Russell racing.  I took pics during each event and was pretty happy with the results.  Steve Donahue let me try out the Canon 300mm lens that he rents for these events.  NICE lens.  Someday when I win the lotto I'll have to pick that one up!

As for Tali and Jack... Tali did really well!  She didn't care at all about the cameras or the camera guys.  She had nice speed and drive for her.  Jack did really well too.  He did a good job interacting with the crowd at the beginning and end of his routine and did a great job with his tosses.  He was the last to go and the wind kicked up for his round which messed them up a little but not too bad.  They ended up coming in 4th overall which is about what we expected.  Donna Schoech and Diva came in 1st, Preston Dean and Sienna 2nd, Mark Muir and Rocket 3rd, Jack and Tali 4th, Chris Engel and Kota 5th and Chuck Hensley and Rico 6th.  The only negative part was that it was pretty evident that Tali is not a Purina type of dog.  The crowd oohs and ahhs over large vaults, big leaps and fast running for long bombs.  Tali does none of those things... one of the drawbacks of her lack of insaneness for the disc but hey - she has come SO far and has taken us so many more places than we would have ever predicted that it's OK with us.  She's such a good girl.  She plays this game because we ask her to and she plays it well!  She really is a very versatile dog.  Not an MVA type of dog mind you but a versatile one none the less!  We love her so much and are so proud of her and all that she's accomplished thus far!