Braedan once again did me proud at this year’s USDAA Cynosport (i.e., Nationals).  I made a couple handling mistakes in two of our Team runs, but Braedan had spectacular Team Snooker and Team Gamblers runs, finishing in 22nd Place in Snooker and 14th Place in Gamblers out of 223 dogs in his jump height (22″).  Because we didn’t have a bye into Steeplechase Semifinals, we had to earn our way there by starting in the Quarterfinals.  Braedan finished 10th out of 186 dogs in his jump height.  Although we had a clean run in the Semifinals, our run was a little over a second too slow to make it to the Steeplechase Finals.

We did have a bye into the Grand Prix Semifinals.  Out of 94 dogs in our jump height, only 21 qualified.  Eighteen of those got to go to the Finals.  Braedan was 12th and therefore earned one of those coveted spots.  When Sunday afternoon came, I was so excited and felt the course was very doable.  Although we didn’t make it to the podium, I was thrilled with how Braedan ran for me.

The support of those in the stands cheering us on kept us motivated to run hard to the very end.  The experience of running in the Grand Prix Finals was so exhilarating!  I’m already looking forward to next year.