Unfamiliar Fields & Unexpected Turns
Short check it and story time!
T’Challa’s third ASFA run is coming up, and this one will be on a brand-new field—uncharted territory for him. His last trial was on familiar ground, a field he’s run on three times now, and I honestly think the comfort level was showing. Saturday went exactly as expected: fast, focused, and fired up. We were so proud of him and we got lucky that another dog was in his stake. He placed second and it was a qualifying placement since another dog was in his stake with a qualifying run.
Lure on the Left - T’Challa running the other way
When he realized the lure was behind him
Sunday started strong—his first run that morning was probably his best yet. He was opening up his stride and really starting to look like a seasoned runner that meant business. But the final run of the weekend threw us a curveball. Instead of chasing the lure all the way through the final straightaway like usual, he suddenly veered left. For a second, we thought he got distracted by something on the field—but then he spun around, realized the lure had stopped behind him, and dashed back. He was clearly expecting the lure to keep going. It was such a bizarre but insightful moment—he’s starting to anticipate how courses are laid out and what the lure could do. Honestly not sure if that is a good or bad sign? Maybe good if we are considering that he is thinking or problem solving while running, but not good if it will impact his score. Regardless, he is having fun running and I wouldn’t take that away from him. His scores were pretty on par with the other hounds participating that weekend so I was really happy to see that he’s holding his own!
Running back for the prize
The courses laid out that weekend were roughly 100 yards shorter than his runs on that field in previous trials, and I can’t help but wonder if he noticed. Did he feel like he had another 100+ yards in him to run or did he just want to keep running because why would the game end so fast?! There is a category for enthusiasm and I feel like he should earn all the points available for that category, he loves chasing that lure so much. I need to read the judging rules more carefully to understand what they are looking for when they score him. The thing that is difficult to understand is that I don’t think he’s necessarily being judged against other dogs. I think he’s being judged simply on his performance and the criteria, but it’s tough to make sense of it. I’ll jump into this in another post.
We learned that he’s qualified for the ASFA International Invitational this October in Bainbridge, Georgia. We’re not sure yet if we’ll be able to make the trip—it’s about a 13–14 hour drive from New York—but we really want to go. It would be such a great opportunity for T’Challa to run against other dogs in the LCI Large Open stake and test himself on those longer courses, which are currently mapped to be over 1000 yards. We’d have to turn it into a mini vacation because that drive won’t be easy and we will be more tired once we are home, but honestly… it might be worth it for the experience alone. We are really torn. I feel like if we had an RV we might actually do it, but otherwise the load in and load out for hotels is tough and the roll call is always early. The last couple of trials were exhausting for us.
In the meantime, we’ll be working on keeping T’Challa active, focused, and his nutrition on point as we train and prep. And we’ll be trying to figure out how to embark on this adventure in our little SUV. If you’ve ever been to the Invitational or run in the LCI division, we’d love to hear from you—drop a comment or message us with your tips and stories!
Link to our the high protien kibble that has helped T'Challa grow!!
