Being three meant a big year for big sports titles! I love doing my sports and some big titles were on the line and I captured them. Mom decided to step on the accelerator and we went to town to get a couple very nice titles. FastCAT is one of my favorite things to do. Not only do I love it, but they take the best photos of me running!
On May 17th, I earned my FCAT Title which is 1000 points. We traveled an hour south to Rochester for three days and I earned my title on my first run the third day. I am also the first GBGV to earn an FCAT Title which is pretty special. I seem to hold a lot of firsts when it comes to titles for my breed. Looking at the end of the year standings, I still hold the fastest GBGV spot. This was my third year of running FastCAT and my third year of being number one. How fun!
Nose work is my love, my absolute favorite thing to do, and I am pretty good at it too! Mom and I set our big goal for my year of being three to earn my Elite Champion Title. Most dogs take a couple years to do it, but I am young, talented and we thought it would be fun to try for it. Since there are not a lot of local Elite Trials, it also would mean traveling which we enjoy.
My first Elite Trial was in Pennsylvania at a search and rescue training center which was super cool to search! My second Elite Trial was in Wyoming at a prison museum. This was also a really interesting place to search and I earned enough points to earn my Elite-1 Title. I’m the first GBGV to ever be in Elite, so I am the first one to earn all my Elite Titles. Another super fun thing for me and Mom.
In May we entered two element trials for nose work. The first one was Level 2 Exteriors. I passed with flying colors and earned my L2E Title. I’m the first GBGV to enter this title. Only GBGV’s in our family have ever earned any element titles, and I’m the first in the family to get this one. Element trials are a half day, with four short searches having different numbers of hides or unknown numbers depending on the level.
That same day in the afternoon I had a Level 2 Vehicle Trial. I passed this one too without any trouble and earned my L2V Title. Once again, I’m the first GBGV to ever earn this title.
My next title happened up in Northern Minnesota where I earned my Elite-2 Title. We had a really fun searching day with a lot of our local friends who were also at the trial. It was my fifth Elite Trial.
Of all places to search, we got to search at The University of St Thomas where Mom graduated from College. What better place than that to have my eighth trial and earn my Elite-3 Title. Once again we were with a lot of friends and we had an awesome searching day.
It took me twelve trials to earn my Elite Champion Title which is a really big sports title in the nose work world! Each trial has a maximum of one hundred points and you need one thousand for this title. Mom and I carefully planned it all out and it happened. On February 11th in Wilson, NC, I earned my ELT-CH Title. It is truly amazing! We are so very hard of our work and that our plan actually worked out.
Dog sports are my thing and I’m really good at them, especially sniffing. Mom loves them like I do, so we have a lot of fun together! We have some goals for me when I am four, but nothing will top my Elite Champion Title. I have a lot of years ahead of me and I will continue to be sporty for many years! Photo credits to Shawn Rossmann for my nose work photos.