Kestrel, FCH!

I’m just so pleased and proud to announce that Kestrel finished her ASFA field champtionship today at the TPIHC trial in Auburn, WA! She needed 9 points going into the trial. It was a full stake in open but one was absent at roll call. After finals she was in a 3 way tie for 4th/NBQ and the other two owners forfeited their dogs before I even had a chance to mention that the 4th would exactly finish her. Thanks Jill and Jenny!

Frankly it is just in time because she is really starting to cheat like a fiend, and her final points today were earned quite by the skin of her teeth, solely on the strength of her decent prelim run, since her final run was a real clinic in creative coursing. On the long straight, she was racing ahead of the lure, occasionally turning her head back over her shoulder to check her progress against the lure, and she spent the rest of the course trying to cut off the lure, doing not just one, or even just two, but three beautiful classic “ridgeback sit ‘n spins” on top of the lure. It was only because I ran her muzzled that she managed to not catch the lure in her ambush attempts.

Well, she certainly had fun, and it was quite an interesting course to watch, needless to say. And on that “high” note, she will retire from lure coursing and get to finish out her running career on the race track where she won’t be such a menace to herself, her competition and the plastic bunnies!

Those who know Kestrel’s story know there was a long time when I wasn’t sure I could even get her to leave the line with another dog, much less that she could actually run in competition well enough to finish her title. We worked really hard, and she has come so far. I’m so proud of this brave little whippet!

Tagged as: Kestrel