NSTRA Fun trial

Lula's boss

Lula's boss

New member
I tried my my first NSTRA trial of sorts today. It was a fun trial but scored and run similar to a real event. What a GREAT time. I would encourage anybody on the fence about NSTRA to give it a try. The people were great - friendly, helpful and encouraging. I don't think you could have found anyone with an attitude if you tried. At the breakaway my little French Brittany almost made me laugh out loud. Her brace mate was a fit looking GSP almost twice her size. They both took off like they were shot out of cannon with my FB going step for step with the GSP. They went like that for a about fifty yards. Just before they went their separate ways my little girl gave the GSP a little bump as if to let him know that the field was her house. The half hour flew by with couple of good finds and some mistakes. Most importantly, it was fun and left me wanting to do it again. Thank you to those on the site who talked up the NSTRA format.
 
Glad to hear you had a good time.NSTRA is alot of fun and addicting. Sounds like your hooked!!
 
FCSpringer said:
Just curious, if it is ran and scored about the same, why not go for a field champion title? Whats the difference?
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FC, it sounds like this was just a fun trial to try and interest people in NSTRA. Lula's Boss could start running actual trials where points are awarded for 1st, 2nd & 3rd place that go towards Champion title. First gets 3 pts., second gets 2 pts. and third gets 1 point. It takes 18 points to get a Champion title and 9 of those 18 points must be from first place finishes. So you could have a lot more points than 18 and still not obtain the Champion title. Getting that Champion Title is not easy. It takes a very good dog and you have to run a lot of trials. Points are awarded for the first 3 places on each field each day. So if you have a two day trial with 2 fields you have 4 chances to place. But bear in mind that there are generally 32 dogs running on each field each day.

This is my dogs 3rd trial season and I have run 3-5 trials per year. She just got her first placement (a 3rd) a couple weeks ago. So she now has 1 point towards her championship. I was "oh so close" to a first place this past Sunday.
 
I definitely plan on participating in regular NSTRA trials in the future. Right now though, just placing seems like a lofty goal. I can really see where they would be addicting.
 
Just keep at it. You will be surprised how fast your dog learns the trial game. And the main thing is to have fun. I got involved in NSTRA for the fun of it, to meet some people with common interests and have something to do with my dog in the off season. Sometimes I have to remind myself of those things as my competitive side comes out. I'm not in it to have a Champion dog. Is a placement nice once in a while? You bet! I mainly go out with the objective to beat my bracemate. If I accomplish that I don't get to concerned about the score. So far this year Elle and I have run 14 braces and I've beat my bracemate 11 times. So I'm very pleased with that.

Good luck, have fun and let us know how you do. I l ike to see new people getting involved in NSTRA. I wish more from the Mid-North Region (ND, SD & MN) would join in the fun.
 
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