The baby boy did it! He earned his TD under esteemed judges Gina DeAlmeida and Ruth Vaughan. The test was held in Cortland, NY, on beautiful lush, green fields in Upstate, NY. It was a beautiful fall day that started out with a thick fog that lifted, leaving sun and a light, cool breeze.
Brick did give me heart failure a couple of times on the way to the glove. He started out well then decided he needed to pee on the directional flag. The leash got caught around the flag, and it snapped back and hit him in the head. He circled and circled, trying to figure out how to get to the track without going past that pesky flag. After what seemed like an hour (in reality it was probably 5 minutes), he finally circled and went around the flag and we were off.
The first two turns, both 90 degree lefts, were flawless. When we got to the third turn, he made the left and got partway up the leg, then lifted his head and decided he needed to check elsewhere. There was a stand of woods directly ahead of us and woods to the right (about 75 yards away). He checked out the woods ahead of us, pulling me all the way to the corner he had just made, decided it definitely did not go into the woods, then he tried to the right and started circling again. We backed up about 20 yards, and he headed out ahead of me again, making the left turn and pulling me up the leg. He made a right hand turn past a large stand of Gopher holes. He stuck his head down into one of the holes. The colony was so large it could have swallowed us both. I asked him to get back to work, and he went into an open turn to the left and finally the glove.
He stopped, looking at me with his tongue hanging out and a grin on his face. We had some supporters in the audience: my friend Ellen and friend and tracklayer Kathy Hughes. It was a fun Sunday with friends and fellow club members. In earning his TD, Brick also earned his VCD1 title from AKC at just 20 months of age. And one final note, the test had a 100 percent pass rate with nine dogs.
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