Saturday my Elite Trial was at Wintrust Field in Schaumburg, IL. We passed by there on the way home from Michigan last Sunday, and had to go back again five days later for this trial. Mom has tried to get into a trial there for years, and finally I got in. Madison was one hundred fifty five on the waitlist! You know it will be a fun place to search if you can’t get into a trial! Wintrust Field is home to the Schaumburg Boomers baseball team.
Mom drove Nelson and I to Schaumburg on Friday. We got to our hotel around dinnertime since we stopped on the way for a walk in Janesville, WI. Now that it gets dark early, one has to plan or be stuck in the dark. We normally stay at the Home2, but Mom wanted to try the Hampton Inn and Suites. We stayed at one back in April in Wyoming and really liked it. It is less money than the Home2 which is just a couple blocks away in Schaumburg.
We have had our fill of lousy hotels. Prices are up, quality is down. Pet fees are not something we like, but if it means staying in a nice place, we will pay one. Both Home2 and Hampton charge a $50 fee. This hotel is wonderful. Our room had everything we need, including plenty of space. The staff is very friendly and we pups felt welcomed by everyone. In the future, we will consider staying at Hamptons, but since not everyone is the same, we will read reviews and check photos before booking.
Now back to the nose work, the most important thing in my world. The first search of our day was a maintenance area. I found six hides. There were seven hides but no dog found all seven, and I placed fourth in the search out of thirty dogs. The photo is me waiting in the bowels of the stadium to go outside to the search area. I’m very impatient and I have trouble understanding why other dogs are even allowed to search. Mom tells me I’m the best dog of all.
Next we searched a giant area of the concourse. I searched my furry behind off but only found one hide. Mom was nearly in tears. Later we found out there were only two hides and only two dogs found the second hide. We like to forget all about that search. On the bright side, up on the top floor of the stadium where the club rooms are, I posed for some photos. Mom and I enjoy doing photos sometimes to reduce stress and tension.
My third search was a locker room area. This search was a range of three to five hides. I had no trouble finding four hides and that was the correct number too. The judge also saw my first search of the day where Mom and I ran all around the maintenance area. When I was at the start line, he told his crew to watch out because I am fast and on a mission. After I ran through the crew, he said to them, “I told you.” Mom loves having a fast, motivated partner.
The last search of the day was the Schaumburg Club Room on the top floor, overlooking the entire Wintrust Field. Mom and I don’t have time to look at the view as I am working, but it was a very nice place and we got a quick look on my video. Now that we have a Go Pro, we can get videos whenever we would like. This search has four hides and I have four minutes to find them. I used 2:53 of my time to find them which gives me sixth place. We also got pronounced in this search which is for exceptional teamwork. Hope you enjoy watching me work. (Note, Mom even painted her nails orange for our team for this trial.)
At the end of the day, Mom and I decided we had a blast but probably didn’t qualify for any ribbons because we missed two hides, finding fifteen of the seventeen, and we were not speedy enough. At the awards ceremony, they gave out all the placements for the searches and we got nothing, they gave out the third place overall to someone we don’t know and then it happened, they called Joy and Olivia for second place overall. Mom was so shocked! No one found more than fifteen hides and only four of us found fifteen. Team Orange was second fastest!
This may be our last trial until next year, which is sad, but we will keep training and be back even better in 2023! Mom says we are a sleeper team. No one knows much about us but we come in and do big things. It is a lot of fun.
My GBGV Life is happy, so we’re joining Comedy Plus for Happy Tuesday!
Congratulations, Olivia and mom! We love watching you work, Olivia – and your tail is wagging the entire time.
I’m one very happy worker. Sniffing is definitely my talent and love.
wow how concentrated you are when you work… there is no time for other things …. fantabulous!!! we love the howltel… and we can write books about not so good places too, they are easy to find in france LOL
We have had some hotels so bad we rather stay in the car! I am very serious when I work. I once had a chipmunk run by me at the start line. I lost focus for a few seconds and then remembered I needed to work and that was it for chipmunk thoughts.
Road trips with you Mom are the best and she finds such nice places for you to pose too.
The first photo of the building and bare trees is quite beautiful.
Sounds like a good time was had by all
Hugs Cecilia
It was a short but fun trip. Mom says she is still cold from the day outside in the cold, but it was worth it.
TEAM ORANGE 🍊 is amazing! I am going to paws ans say pawsitively pawsome! Yea girls! XOXO Sparkle
Mom is finally believing that I am really as good as it seems and it is not just luck. She is so proud of me 🙂
Congratulations! What a great outcome. In the video when your mom had to call you back — were you out of the range of the search? Were you off track? We love this report — so very exciting!!!!! have a great day. your friends Lilly and Chester
Thank you. There were soccer dots across the room at the start line. That area behind the start line is out of play. I can go there, sometimes I catch odor outside the search area, but she could tell I was looking for odor, not catching anything, so she wanted me back. Spending too much time there is a waste of our four minutes.
YIppee!!! What fun to watch her work and you try to keep up!!! Great teamwork!! the Nose Knows!!! love the fingernails and shoes
Mom is all in orange when we trial together and we like it that way. I am a fast dog and with all the things in the room a long leash could get tangled in, it was best to let me go off leash to find everything.
What a fun day. I love watching you work and your mom is amazing.
Thank you for joining the Happy Tuesday Blog Hop.
Have a fabulous Happy Tuesday. Scritches all around and my best to your mom. ♥
Thank you. Mom loves watching me work too, but she has to remember she has a job too, making sure I am on task, and reading my behavior in case I need assistance or to call alert.
Having a blast is the most important thing of all!!
xoxo,
Sunny
Note from Mama: be careful of Hampton Inns and Suites, some of them are nice….some really NOT so nice and most importantly not all of them are dog friendly.
We have learned with all the hotels, some are better than others. We always check for dog friendly first and then scope out the place before reserving. Since Hilton took them over they have been better, at least the ones we have tried out. Home2 is a favorite because they have a big fridge for all our food and stuff, they are new and super nice.
I was going to joke, “You don’t look sleepy in that video to me!” but yes, i do know what you mean. You’ll make a name for yourself and people will be looking forward to seeing you search someday.
People that watch me searching always have great things to say. I’m a pretty good sniffer. Sniffing wears me out, so I sleep a lot in the car in between my searches but when it is time to search again, I’m up and ready in a hot second.
WOW, such an impressive finish, good for you and Mom, that was fabulous!
Thank you. We had a really fun day of sniffing and we were successful too.
You are all so wonderful and talented. I am sorry I have missed so many of your terrific posts. Life is hard most days. I know the cost of everything is up and CS seems fleeting anymore. But it is good to find a place to accommodate your needs. Glad you did. LOve the photos here too.
Thank you for stopping by. We are all busy and we don’t expect everyone to read all of our posts. Everyone has their own things to deal with in life.
Oh times are getting tough aren’t they? If only the pricing increases had good customer service. It is always nice to give you a shout out for your hard work. Keep it up and hoping you stay in many more nice places that give you everything you need.
Wowzers! You and your Mom ROCKED it! Second overall is terrific! We are so glad that you did well. We so look forward to reading about your competitions.
Mom has travelled a lot with dogs and cats. When Dad was in the hospital, Mom first stayed at the Hampton Inn and Suites with Cinnamon (and sometimes Kozmo too) and found it beat out the competition. The room cleaners LOVED Kozmo and always asked about him when she booked her rooms.
So far we have had good luck with Hamptons but not all of them will be great, we know that. One has to do some research before deciding on a hotel. We will keep on traveling and sniffing.