The Nationals "Experience"

I hauled myself off of the couch after a very tiring 3 days at the AKC Nationals so that I could write about the experience. :-)
I am truly exhausted today and after getting up at 4:00 a.m. pacific time to catch a 6:00 a.m. flight home, the majority of the day has been spent on the couch! OK,I did go for a walk with the dogs at least!
What a weekend it was!!! I had a blast! I had an awesome travel mate in my friend Amber and her fantabulous BC Joker, who just happens to be Mr. Moochies half brother! Mooch says when he grows up he really wants to run like Joker!
I had the opportunity to reconnect with friends that I have not seen in a very long time, watch some AMAZING dog and handler teams do there thing, and, have the most memorable AKC Nationals I have ever had.
I went to Nationals this year with only Maze, one dog was a bit weird for me as the norm is at least 3 dogs and more often 4!
I definitely had a lot of down time which afforded me the opportunity to watch many runs, hang out, and, connect with Maze as the only dog.
The weekend started out Thursday night when Amber picked me up at the airport, we headed back to the Hotel and spent a good hour reminding each other that first and foremost we were there to have fun and just enjoy the experience.
Friday morning arrived and Amber and I started our "ritual", get ready, feed the dogs, give them a quick pee at the Hotel, off to Starbucks, then the dog park for a run, finally, off to the show!
The facility overall was great! Amber and I opted for the free crating, which in my opinion, was the best crating! We got the dogs set up and headed in. I tell you there is nothing prettier than a bunch of agility rings all set up on a fresh turned surface. The colors were gorgeous and just seeing the courses beckoning really got the adrenaline flowing!
The only exception to the niceness of the facility was the dungeon... ring 4 was very quickly dubbed the dungeon by the competitors as it was off in a dark room separate from the rest of the arena, it was a smaller ring, and, the room was really dusty after the dogs started running.
We did all survive and I had one of my better runs in the dungeon.
The first round was a great warm up course that was flowy and fun! It was the start of what was to become a "perfect" weekend for Maze and I.
Maze ran a clean round and placed 4th overall in the 26" class.
We had quite a wait before it was T2B time so Amber and I headed to downtown Reno to check out the sights. We ended up in a Casino and played Blackjack for an hour and a half while a very patient dealer helped us figure it out! I came out $20 up and knew it was going to be a great weekend!
We headed back to the arena to walk T2B, what a fun class!!! It turned out to be Mazes highest placing class as he finished 2nd!! I was thrilled and a bit surprised as Maze is generally known for his tight turns, but, he seemed to be on fire on the straightaways as well on this course, what fun!
Ending day 1 on such a high note was pretty fabulous and just helped keep the confidence for the upcoming days.
That evening we played it low key and just headed back to the Hotel to have dinner and chillax in front of the boob tube!
Saturday here we come... started the day with our rituals and headed to the show. JWW was the first round of the day and again it was a really nice course. :-) The 26" dogs were very lucky as we were the first rotation every day, no waiting around, one walk through, done early in the day to shop, watch, play!
JWW went incredibly well and we were off to a great start! 3 clean overall, but, first round towards the Finals under my belt, whew!!! Maze was really handling the surface well and was truly driving like a well oiled machine.
Round 2 was the standard round that the 26" class would run in the dungeon... it was pretty tight and some adjustments had to be made to make the course fit in the smaller area but it ran well and Maze not only ran clean but placed 6th in that round. Round 2 out of the way and we were still clean!!!! I am stoked!!
Sat. evening Amber and I headed to a buffet at one of the downtown casinos, ate ourself sick and waddled back to the hotel to let the calories work their magic!
BTW, at this point my roomie is over the moon as well since she was at the moment top seed in the 20" class after 2 rounds.
Sunday morning came really early as we were starting an hour earlier at 7:00 a.m.! No worries, we still followed the morning ritual to a "T".
26" dogs would be running the hybrid round first and I, for one, was super happy about that, we would know our fate regarding the challengers round or the Finals by about 9:00 a.m.!
I was pretty nervous going into this round 6th overall, knowing they were going to take 5 to the finals. The good news was it was a very nice course that I thought suited Maze very well! We stepped to the line and nailed it!!!!
I was now 5 clean at the Nationals, how cool is that?
Shortly after the end of the class I learned I had moved up to 5th overall and was in the FINALS!! I was so incredibly excited, happy, honored, you name it. What an incredible field of dogs we were playing in.
I was able to seriously relax and settle in to root for my friends still running hybrid! Amber rocked the hybrid class and would be joining me in the finals, she would go to the finals as the number 1 20" dog, how incredibly exciting!
The Challengers round was incredible to watch and had talent oozing out of every square inch of the place! It was a pretty gnarly course that did do its share of eating up the competitors. everyone understood exactly what the challengers round was all about ran it balls out for sure.
OK, drumroll please.... time to walk and run Finals!
The Finals course was an expertly designed course in my opinion as it had just the right number of overt challenges as well as a couple of subtle handler challenges that were the demise of many who underestimated the angles, lines, etc..
I definitely had to keep my head as even under the influence of adrenaline it was important to handle certain places with a bit more patience and attention to detail than is sometimes necessary. :-)
Well, Maze was awesome yet again and we finished up 6 clean and 3rd overall!!!!
To not leave you hanging Amber and Joker did an amazing job as well in the 20" class but had an unfortunate missed weave pole.
Sunday night I had dinner with friends and hit the hay pretty early in anticipation of the 4:00 a.m. wake up call, and, now here I am at home relaxing, reflecting, and, savoring the moment!
At the AKC Nationals Maze lived up to his name and was truly AMAZING!