Today we went up to Estes Park so that Bella could compete in a FastCAT competition. (Hosted by the Husky Kennel Club.)

FastCAT is the AKC's "Coursing Ability Test", where the dogs run 100 yards after a lure. One person lets them go at the start line, and someone else catches them at the finish line.

She went to one up in Cheyenne with Alex a couple months ago, but I was at work. Her times were... not amazing, haha. Her first run was 29.99 seconds, and her second was 35.69 seconds. Oof. She had been really distracted, and while Alex was there to catch her, a stranger was releasing her to run. (Which was helpful! But he didn't really psych her up or anything.)

So today, since it's a sometimes holiday for some people, they had a Monday competition! Which meant I could go!

Estes is lovely anyway, so that'll get its own pictures and post, but this one is just for the competition.

Bella did two runs today, and got her participation ribbons. :)


Here she is!

Her first run... wasn't great. They *very kindly* allowed her to restart, because the first time Alex let her go, she just sat down and looked up at him, like "aren't you coming?"

She did run after they let her restart, but stopped about halfway down the course to check out the van parked over on the other side. (I'm not sure what the people over there were doing, but it was something with the event, so they were there on official business.) We did get Bella to start running again, but her first time was 31.69.

(Everyone was very nice about her terrible time. [For comparison, the good scores are closer to the 8-10 second range, lmao. The best of the best are under that.] Everyone kept saying "Don't worry, she'll get it! She'll learn how it works!" and giving her little "Aw, Bella, you tried!" pep talks.)

We did her second run a little later, and while she did slow down in the middle (she may have been getting tired), she didn't stop and she did pick it back up when I kept calling for her. Her time on the second run was 14.21 seconds, which is certainly not *amazing* but I am *delighted* by for her! I know she could get a faster time, but I'm really happy with it, and it was definitely her best run, and the closest she's come to "getting it" in terms of what to do.


Her times on her ribbons!



This is the course setup. The dogs run down that stretch between the fences. This was taken down from the "catch" end. You can see the dogs lined up in the distance, waiting for their turn at the start line.


I wish her eyes weren't slightly closed here, because the ribbon was waving very dramatically in the wind. So majestic.


The blep of a winner.

Which is really all to lead up to the single best picture I have ever taken of Bella. I'm fairly sure it is the best picture that ever will be taken of Bella.


It captures her so well!

She often looks so noble. This is certainly a better representation of her inner dog.