Day three and this time I ruined Kamikaze's Standard run by over handling her. Too hard a call brought her past a jump, and no clear push to a jump afer the Aframe caught her sticking with me. ACK! We did pull out our 4th MXJ leg. I had to pull a nasty, bad handling move after the weaves that wasted many seconds. Lego even managed a Q on that jumpers course for his second AXJ leg. So, neither of them got the standard legs I am wishing for, but at least we are Qing. Lego, who up until last month hadn't Q'd in a solid year, now has two Q's in 6 weeks. Sparkle stayed home with Rich today. Xanadu ran Standard, but wasn't into it much. She was tired of this game in the heat. The great news is, tired as she was of this, she didn't leave me, but did sniff a couple of times. We finished clean for her NA title! I should've pulled her from jumpers after the attitude I saw in Standard, but I didn't. I was thinking too much about he title. She started a bit pokey and got worse. By half way we just left.
   
Lego JWW                                                                                                Xan NA title                                                 Kazee Exb JWW

26th

Day two was OK too. Kamikaze had another decent Standard run ruined by a drop in concentration on my part. Then Jumpers went well, but not quite. We redeemed ourselves with a second place FAST Q. That's her second XF leg. Maybe a title in store next week at Siberin nationals? Lego, still running slower, but really trying. He had a refusal at the dogwalk, then blew the contact. He tried hard in Jumpers too. It's getting so discouraging with him running so well, but not quite making it. More discouraging than when he was wild. Sparkle wouldn't run for me in Jumpers. She started Standard with Rich, but got distracted after the first obstacle. Once she's done, she's done. Xanadu ran great today. She knew why she as there and ran from he start. I could see in Standard she got a bit hot and tired at the end. She did manage to save a bad handling move on my part on the way to the dogwalk. She ended up with a second place in standard and a first in Jumpers.

I was a great day for Cheryl and Grace! She managed a first place Q in Jumpers and Fast!
 
Xan St run Xan JWW run

25th

I had a pretty good day in Gulfport doing AKC agility. Kamikaze had a great FAST run that I ruined by stomping over the line and then looking down and freaking and not finishing handling the SEND portion. Hate when I do things like that. Then she had a nice Standard run, but I 'lost' my handling plan somewhere in the middle of the run to ruin that one. In JWW Kazee and I managed another MXJ leg. This is number 3 I think. She wasn't lighing it up speed wise, and some wide turns and handling oopsie cost us some time too. Lego wasn't running as fast as usually. Don't know why. He had a good standard run, but two refusals instead of only one cost us that Q. He had a strange one at the tunnel. Got his head past the entrance and then had to back up to go in. His JWW run was pretty nice too. He's so close to Qing. Sparkle ran Standard with Rich. They had a great run going. About half way through she saw me standing ring side filming. She decided I must be holding the after run treats, and came for me. Even though I turned away, she was done with agility by then. Darn, didn't think she would care where I was.So sad that I ruined their run! Xanadu had her debut run in Standard. She wasn't the speed demon I was used to. Not sure why she was there, and taking in all the smells. We ended up with one refusal and a couple of seconds over time. But, overall she did well. Then in Jumpers she knew what the game was and took off from the start and ran her little heart out. Lots of applause and cheering from fans. That felt great. Only one bobble at the weaves. She hit them and then missed middle pole, but kept on. Second try she was perfect in them. Even bouncing them at a decent speed.

Grace and Cheryl had a good day too. Grace is running very well and they managed a Q in Fast and Bernie got his first Excellent Standard leg.
  
JWW run

24th

I'm getting excited about Xanadu's agility debut tomorrow. I managed to find a non-puddled area this afternoon to set up three jumps and six weave poles. I ran Kamikaze at the weaves at full speed, and she nailed them the first try. She also did some 90 degree turns to them with perfect results.  Hope this is good news for this weekend. Then Xanadu got blasted at them and nailed them too! YIPPIE! She ran right at them and bounced all the poles the first try. No hesitation at all. Three perfect runs through them and I called it a 'great' session and we quit. One on-side straight line, one off-side straight line, one 90 degree turn to an on-side entrance. Since it was going so well I pulled Lego out for a few passes at entering the poles at a dead run. He was also a a very good boy. Missed one entrance, but thought he was right and drove through them. My biggest gripe with him is not driving into them and driving through unless I'm there with him. So, any driving through is progress. May they all weave at the show as in practice. (now, wouldn't that be nice!)

Xanadu was not pleased, though, with the bath today whose sole purpose was a thorough cleaning of her ... AHEM... feminine parts. We want to be sure there is no lingering smells for the boys to get excited about since she's just finished her season this week.

21st

I found some time today to pull out my ring gates and Utility jumps for a bit of practice with Kamikaze. Her go-outs and directed jumping were perfect on each try through-out the day. So, naturally, her signals are now broken. Ok, to be exact, her 'come' signal is the one broken the rest seem fine. How frustrating Utility is!

Yesterday I spent some time reading on the bench on the patio out back. It was really my way of keeping an eye on Lego and Xanadu's interactions to be sure the flirting was gone and they could be left together again. Xanadu actually hopped up once of her own accord and sat next to me. She got bored quickly and hopped down. Then Lego hopped up there. Xanadu was playing chase and racing around. She got hot and plopped in her 'personal pool' (the large water bucket) to cool off. She got out all soaking and walked over to the bench. There isn't any more room if Lego is sprawled on there next to me, and I was glad since I didn't need little wet one up there. She looked interested in being there though. "Sorry Xan, no room", I said. HA HA! The joke was on me. Even with a book open across my lap, Xanadu leapt into my lap. She's not a lap dog, so it caught me by surprise, but I did have the presence of mind to snatch the book into the air before she landed on it. Great now I'm wet, but she was happy with her little self. She only stayed long enough to prove there was room and then she was off again.

19th

I took Misty to the nursing home this morning. She had a nice time visiting. This afternoon we worked on the agility field. We were re-allocating the dirt that exists out there already to make the hills and valleys more like a gentle slope. I do believe now that all of the 'OH my I broke a leg' holes are filled and the 'trip you up' hills have been shaved off. Rich bought a tiller attachment for his newest weed eater and it worked very well to help us shave hills. The surface has now been deemed 'usable' by both of us. There are still a couple of tree stumps to grind down, and the field isn't level all the way across by any means. So, perfect it isn't, but ready to fence off and put equipment out there to practice on it is!! I'm very excited. I won't be moving equipment there until we get a fence up. Rich says maybe for Christmas I can buy an Aframe too :)

I forgot to mention, Xanadu's CGC certificate came in a couple of days ago and I got a frame for it yesterday. Marie called today to say that her foundation beagle bitch, Tumbleweed, Xanadu's great-grandmother, has been diagnosed with lymphoma. It's in the early stages now, and Marie is opting for some chemo treatments. Our hearts go out to her in this time as she recently had to put down one of her old males who was fighting cancer as well.

I caught Xanadu and Kamikaze playing today. Xanadu holds her own fairly well. 
 
Vanquishing the Siberian with Cujo teeth!                                                                        Maybe the old Golden won't be such a vicious match for me?

18th

I laid a couple of short two turn tracks or Xanadu today. She still doesn't 'get' turns. That's not to say she doesn't try to figure out what happened to the track at the turn. She goes one way, usually the wrong way first, and then tries the other, and she will keep tracking if she comes across it. Even if I dribble good snacks through the turn it doesn't help. She either eats the snacks and then as soon as she's tracked them all down she 'forgets' what she was doing before the treats or she zooms right by in her attempt to find the track. I'm drawing a blank on how to help her right now. I know she can track better than she does when we're tracking humans because I've seen her track squirrel and animals much better. Maybe she's just still young and silly and this tracking game isn't that important to her yet.

I am not holding out much hope for Kamikaze to have enough coat grown back in for Siberian nationals in two weeks to reasonably show her in conformation. She still looks like a bitch that just had puppies to me even with feeding her everyday a recipe of stuff that's supposed to stimulate hair growth. At least we can still do obedience and agility! I also contacted OFA to check on her hip evaluation. It's been 7 weeks and I haven't heard from them. They have no record of having received a digital x-ray from the vet. ARGH! So, I emailed Shelly and asked her to look into it. We're back to day one on the wait now.

Rich got another cute picture of the beagle girls snuggled in a pillow when I was gone last week.

17th

Since I won't have the opportunity to take Xanadu back out to the agility field for some practice before her debut, (because of her being in season until the last minute)  I pulled out 6 weave poles and jump this afternoon to practice entrances and weaves with her. This is really the only obstacle I am concerned about her not quite being ready for. But, I think it's always the obstacle I am least confident about with a new dog. She did just great. We did a couple of off set on-side and off set off-side entrances. She was nailing the poles at a decent speed too. That makes me feel a bit better. While I had the poles and jump out I did a few harder entrances with Lego. He is nailing them here at home now. He's not hanging back at the entrances waiting on me. If only we can stretch that behavior out to a show here soon!

Xanadu's flirting behaviors are tapering of now, thank goodness. She almost doesn't pester Lego at all anymore, Bandit some, but still loves to flirt with Jedi. 

I volunteered to teach a beginner's Rally class this obedience session. I showed up early enough to set up a course and still help with registration. I got to hold a Mastiff that was there for CGC class. OH MY! he outweighed me by like 70 pounds or so. He was a very sweet boy and listened fairly well to me. He didn't make any attempt to take me on a ride. It ended up no one signed up for Rally class this six weeks so I'm off the hook. I had Kamikaze, Sparkle and Xanadu in the car. Xanadu only got to get out to potty before everyone got there and just before we left. I think she missed no having her turn though. Sparkle got to go to Advanced Beginners class since I didn't have to teach. There are some new people in the class, so we went back to basic attention while heeling just a few steps. I'm sure this was good for Sparkle to do! Then we split off from class and did a drop and a dumbbell retrieve. She did the drop great the first time and even raced to the dumbbell. What a good beagle girl. She got her chicken for treats and I got Kamikaze out. We did heeling and signals. She was about perfect the first try. Then articles. Got them both, even had to search a bit for the second one. WOW! For the girl who'd completely forgotten all she ever knew about utility the last time I got her out, she's really showing off now. I got brave and set up the glove exercise. I don't usually do this at the classes because we train on concrete and it's hard to see the white gloves on the light concrete. It makes for failures that I'd rather avoid since they aren't failures of understanding, but failures of vision. She NAILED the #3 glove. Although, the turn to the left was a bit funny. She doesn't turn backwards well yet, so she stands up out of my way when I cue the left turn, and then she spins in place until I finish my turn and then she sits in heel. Kinda cute, and a bit funny. I sent her to #1 as well, and she NAILED that one too. I am proud that when I point and send her now she runs that direction with faith that the glove is there even if she's not sure she sees it yet. NO more cutting across my body to the one she sees. We did a couple of moving stands. She still needs a bit of work to not take so many steps before a complete halt. Last thing was a few Drops since she needs to do Open at nationals soon too. She is now anticipating the drop some and starts slowing and skulking some about half way. HRMMM.... Need to work drop almost immediately after I call her. She was just great though, and enthusiastic too! I just wish there'd been ring gates to do go-outs. 

I have picked out a sire for Kamikaze puppies...

So, as you can see, it'll be a few years. He needs to grow up and pass health clearances and all that jazz. But, isn't he cute? His name's Revel. He comes from a nice kennel in Michigan that sleds with their dogs as well as conformation showing. Revel's Grandfather (Highlander's Go For Broke) won the Siberian Husky specialty in 2007. Revel lives in Memphis, TN with my breeder friend, Karen.

15th

Marie warned me that a beagle in season is not the same as a Siberian in season. "Beagles are big hussies", she said. OK, she was not exaggerating in the least. Xanadu can't leave any of the boys alone now. Even though they are all neutered, she is still flinging her butt in their faces and pouncing on their heads. She play bows, swishes her tail and makes flirty ears and eyes. Poor guys. Jedi knows what all that means and is all for it, Bandit thinks she's an annoying puppy and fusses at her, although yesterday I think he started to figure it out. Lego is still just annoyed. He cusses at her regularly for getting all over him and in his space. I can't leave her loose in the house or yard with any of the boys now. When I was cooking dinner I let her loose to 'help' she was still more interested in flirting with Lego than helping make food. Back to a crate she went. WOW! It's actually kinda funny to watch her though. Pics below...She'll be in a kennel run inside the fenced yard tomorrow while I am at work. I can't risk the, now loose, Boxer coming to visit her. (read that story below)

I noticed when I got home from the show last weekend that the neighbor's Boxer pup wasn't tied up in their yard. I asked Rich if he'd seen the Boxer all weekend. He couldn't remember. He did, however, say it stormed and rained all weekend while I was in Shreveport. Poor Boxer, he's usually just tied up out in it. At least now he has a dog house. That only took about a month or more after the tie out. Yesterday I was sure I heard the 'frustrated Boxer bark', but I didn't see him at home. He does that bark when he is just tired of being stuck and wants company (or water filled). I hear it frequently the days I work at home. I stood outside a minute or two and determined the bark was down at the end of the road. AHH... he must have gone down to play with the Boxer girl that lives down there. Anyway, today as I was whizzing in the driveway after a quick run to the grocery store, the neighbor next door (parents to the Boxer owner) is walking towards the drive. I stop the car and get out as it appears she is headed to talk to me. She wants to know if I've seen Boxer he's been missing since Sunday and was last seen racing around dragging the tie out. Seems it rained so much the ground got soft enough he just pulled up the tie out stake (one of the screw down kind) and all. WHAT! Now I know what the frustrated Boxer bark was yesterday! He's got to be stuck in the woods with that tie out wrapped in some bushes or trees or something. I tell her my story. I think she was skeptical that standing in my yard I heard a bark that I knew was the Boxer's from 5-10 acres away. I'm not sure she understands that I can tell all my dogs apart by bark even if I can't see any of them, and thus, I can tell Boxer too since I hear him all the time. We each put on some better woods hiking shoes and head towards the neighbors at the end of the road. The lady is out on her porch and neighbor asks about the missing Boxer. They haven't heard or seen him they say "And we're outside all the time". While they're talking I hear it again... the Boxer is frustrated bark. I ask if they always hear a dog in the woods behind their house. HUH? She doesn't even register the noise. "There is a subdivision not far into the woods", she says. "So, is there a typically a barking dog?", I ask, " 'Cause it sounds just like the missing Boxer." I head across their yard and to the woods, but the bark stopped. I sorta had an idea where it was and start making a path through the undergrowth in the general direction. I found a knoll of sorts out there and stood up on it. I can see the subdivision is only a 60 feet or so away. Maybe I am overestimating my ability to tell dogs apart and it really is just a dog in the neighborhood. And then... it happens again. That frustrated yarp and it's not coming from the neighborhood at all, but only maybe 10-20 feet to my right in a depression filled with undergrowth. I walk over there pulling back brush and there he is, the missing Boxer. He's got that tie out so tightly wound around brush he can't even really lie down. I unhooked him and he raced out of the woods. He was anemic and I could see his ribs. Thank God it rained today and Sunday so he likely got some water while he was stuck. There was no untangling the tie out so I left it. Neighbor and I return Boxer to his home just as his male owner has gotten home. OK, here's a major bitch... The owner's haven't even looked for him yet. The dog hasn't been seen since Sunday. They got home too late Monday from work. It was dark. Male owner says he thought maybe he was stuck in woods and was going to walk around the woods near the house today. This drives me MAD! I'd have been out with flashlights and ATV's if my dog were lost dragging something he could have very easily gotten hung in the woods. If they can't even find the time to hunt for him when he's lost WHY DO THEY HAVE HIM? This dog is solely alive because I know what he sounds like when he's frustrated. They were never going to look that far from home, and even 10 feet from him I couldn't see him. Only heard him. One (or maybe two) more day and he'd have been a carcass in the woods and no one would have found him. GRRRRRRRRRR

13th

I picked Cheryl and Grace Friday afternoon and we motored on to Shreveport for the USDAA agility show. Saturday didn't start too well for Jedi. He basically blew me off in Gamblers to do his own thing. Then in Standard he gave it a bit of effort, but still in it for himself. Josie almost got that gamble. It was a teeter/chute discrimination and the chute was the right choice. I thought for sure we had it since she wouldn't touch teeters in gambles all last weekend. Well, she went to the chute and then pulled off to go up the teeter. How odd. She also had a really nice standard run, but the off course jump at the end of the dogwalk shot us down again. Kamikaze had her first shot at Master Gambles. I was fairly certain she'd take the teeter. She loves teeters. I was right, but it was a nice run otherwise. She then pulled out her first Advanced Standard leg. We had some run-bys on jumps that I had to fix. She is reading my cues faster now and I am pulling her off things. But, she hit the weaves the first try and did them all the way through at border collie speed. Good girl! Jumpers was last for her. It was also only her second try at Master Jumpers. She had a competent handler this time and despite my insecurities about how to handle two to three to four, we had a smooth Qing run. It was so nice a judge that was there running her dog complimented me on my nice working dog. "You don't see many in that breed", she said. That was cool too. Cheryl and Grace had a really nice Standard run. Grace did all 12 poles from beginning to end with occasional hesitation, but nothing you could call a fault even in Masters. WOO HOOO! There was a tunnel/Aframe discrimination that messed up their Q though. Then another beautiful Jumpers run that was so close as well. Cheryl's learning a lot about how to handle a faster baby dog.

At the hotel we tried to let Jedi and Grace play. They are the ones that need to be occupied. It was very cute as they both looked interested in playing, but never could quite figure out which game the other knew how to play. Jedi made flirty ears and tail at her and she pawed him several times on the head. But, no real play happened. I bet they could figure it out though. It also was raining all day, so there wasn't much chance to get in any good exercise for the guys. I ended up going to be REALLY early Saturday. I think Josie and I crashed out around 7:30. I got up after about 45 minutes and pottied my guys and went back to sleep until 6:30 am. The long night and lack of decent exercise really showed on Kamikaze this morning. She was extra bouncy and vocal. 

We did have a short break in the rain this morning when we got there to walk the guys up the road some. It became evident in Pairs, the first class of the day, that this just wasn't enough exercise for Kamikaze. Someone fed a Border Collie speed and then zipped in up in a Siberian coat and put it in my crate. My Pairs partner was a friend of mine and her young, very nice Border Collie. Thankfully she didn't need the Q, but I did. We decided it was best for Kamikaze to to the 1st half. She blasted off the start and was over the first four jumps and on the dogwalk in like 3 seconds. OH MY! I was very far behind and she wasn't stopping for no stinking yellow zone. She sailed off the end of the dogwalk and off to a corner I hollered "COME" and she responded well, sliding in the turn to take the jump headed to the weaves. There was no chance at hitting the weaves at that speed. She sailed by them. I managed to stop her from taking the next jump. She cam racing back to me. Stopped in front of me and started spinning and screeching at me. Oh, this is not looking good for weaves. I kept hollering, "Sit, SIT" until she did. That took awhile. Then I said weave and amazingly she did and then raced over the next two jumps. I got her to stop before taking anything else. But she is now spinning on her butt in front of me and screeching again. Any move I made to  step and hand the baton off set her to trying to take an obstacle. No amount of "SIT" would stop the spinning. Of course, the word I should have said was "DROP". She has a rock solid drop under ANY circumstances. With all the goofing around she did we still made time, but the neglecting of the dogwalk contact cost us to be just over time. DANG! While they built Master Pairs I took Kamikaze out for some wind sprints. I leave her in a stay and then walk out 50 feet and call her then take off running. She has to catch me. When she does we turn around and do it again. After several of these she was calming some. I gave her water and put her up. Her next run was Standard. She was great! Until... the last four obstacles where I decided we had the finish in the bag and took off at a dead run. Not a good plan with spastic Siberian teetering on the edge of out of control. That was her cue to take off. She trampolined off the table took a jump, over the dogwalk through a tire. All as stood still and waited for her return. It was a struggle just to get her to not race out of the ring, butt tucked under her. Master Snooker was last for Kazee. I wasn't feeling to high on that game with a psychotic Siberian. I watched as Border Collie after Border Collie crashed and burned. Kamikaze ended up handling just beautiful in Snooker and pulled out 2nd place for her first ever SUPER Q! So, why do we do so well in Snooker, where there is so much more handling involved and not as well in Standard? I am wondering if for Snooker I keep my best handler brain engaged and am careful to keep her attention, where in Standard I figure it's not as hard and let her loose connection too easily.

Josie had a perfect Standard run, clean! Unfortunately the extra time she took on the teeter and the extra seconds to lay down on the table cost us a Q by just over a second. I had to go have a good wail about that, but it is her first clean Standard run in over a year or more. 

Jedi had Pairs first too. He was the odd dog out, so we got to choose a partner. I asked Therese and her Sheltie Harry to run with us. They readily agreed. Harry ran first, only knocked one bar, and very fast. Now it's up to me and the 'hasn't been listening' terrier to do our job for our Q. I stayed on top of Jedi hard and we finished up clean and quickly. We had plenty of time to make up for the knocked bar, so Jedi is now Relay Master! No more pairs for him! That brings him down to only 10 Q's needed for ADCH, and they are all up to us. No relying on others. He went on to not listen to great in Standard, but he was really trying.

10th

I took Kamikaze out to the agility field last night. We practiced hitting the weaves on the first try. I lined up three jumps in a straight line at the weaves. She was soaring towards the weaves, and even with early information she blew past them entrance. I promptly slipped my hand in her collar and walked her back to the car and put her in her crate. I watched Cheryl and Grace run a bit. Went back to the car and got Kazee. Tried that sequence again and what do you know she hit the weaves this time. Several more sequences with great weaves and only one more missed entrance, but it was still an attempt to weave and not a run by. Maybe I just need to bite the bullet and walk her off for ignoring the weaves.

This afternoon I set up the ring gates and utility jumps. Kamikaze is rusty on almost all utility exercises it seems. I did get signals, but the come signal took two tries. Articles proved to be a bit disappointing. She would race out and pick up one without sniffing them all. I think this is just 'rusty' brain and hyper dog. She did settle some on articles. The first go-out was just past the jumps and then a turn to me. That was the only short go-out the whole day though. Of course, directed jumping at first was 'take any jump' regardless of my hand signal. After an hour break we re-tried exercises and she was perfect. So, if I want a decent showing for her breeder at nationals at the end of the month we need practice, practice, practice.

Tomorrow I'm headed out after lunch to Shreveport, LA for another USDAA show. Maybe I can put together handling for a  Master Jumpers course and maybe Josie can finally actually Q in Standard. Cheryl and Grace are coming with us too. It should at least be good company even if the show stinks :)

7th

Kamikaze ran Master Snooker again. Three times in and three Q's! What a girl. The weaves were 7 this time, so only a 39, but still a Q. Then Advanced Standard was a beautiful course! Easy weave entry too. She blew it. Ran past weaves with head up. I am very frustrated now. She did come back and nail them, well 10 of them anyway. After popping out at 10 I just walked her off. 

Jedi was only in Grand Prix today. He made it through some of the opening tough spots (after visiting judge AGAIN), but off coursed on a back cross. I believe every off course this weekend was when I back crossed to turn him. He went straight ahead each time. What's up with that? Josie didn't run today.

Sparkle and Rich ran Standard just before we left. She looked much more 'into' it and was happy, but still walking past some things. He picked her up about 3/4 of way through when she started walking off.

6th

Kamikaze had another not happening Standard run. I don't even remember the circumstances. But, she had another Master Snooker run. I kept my cool about me this time and there was no shrieking. We pulled out a 52. Super Q's ended at 53. Still a most admirable run. Her first try at a Master Gamble was a weave pole gamble. HA HA! Her first try in Master Jumpers went very badly because of me. It was last thing and I had a headache and was wiped out. Not a good combo for handling a long strided dog on a windy course. Not to mention she was worn out and distracted too.

Jedi and Josie neither one did the weave pole gamble either. I though Josie might, but she knocked the bar on the first jump of the gamble, so her speed and confidence was shot then. Josie had the most killer standard run. A heartbreaker for me. She made all the contacts and didn't bounce off the table. Then at the last two jumps, a nasty 180 off the dogwalk, she missed the first jump and took the final one. After all that work and on a course that ate the competition alive, I made it all the way to the end to blow it. Only one 16' dog actually Q'd. I could've had first place with her first Standard Q too! Shed some tears over that one. Jedi was a butt in Standard again. He decided to visit the judge. I am used to this out of him, but it is usually a day one event, not a day 3 event. He ran second in Pairs today. Clean partner, off course Jedi. ARGH!

Sparkle and Rich ran Starters Jumpers and Standard today. She wasn't to 'into' it. He picked her up and took her off for treats when she started walking past everything. People there who have seen her 'run' for me thought they did great. He was a bit disappointed I think. 

5th

Kamikaze had her first go at Master Snooker today. WOW! We pulled out a nice run with a couple of shrieking spots from me due to lack of feeding her info fast enough to keep her turns tight. I heard Megan over the whole noisy place yelling at me "CALM DOWN". It helped me gather my wits for a solid Q, and only one bad turn from having time to finish the #7. Had we done those last two jumps in time it would've been a Super Q our first time out. That would have been too much to even think about. The Standard run was just plain bad. The weave pole entrance was nothing other than hideous. Kazee chose at least three or four other agility obstacles before I could get her to weave. Advanced Jumpers was a lagniappe run since she got her title yesterday. Good thing. Lucy gave us a tug toy that Kazee was crazy  about just before we went in the ring. She was actually growling with the tugging. I dropped it as we went in. Part of the way through the run she left the ring to find that toy. 

Josie had another Standard run that left me happy and disappointed all at once. She hit all the contacts again. Her only fault was using the table as a trampoline again. ARGH! The gamble was a teeter one again. So not happening with her. Jedi was in it for himself today. Nothing went well other than his perfect half in pairs. Followed by a not perfect partner. Alas, we'll never see that last Pairs Q.

Rich and Sparkle and Misty got to the show about 3 pm. Rich's is gonna try running Sparkle a couple of times tomorrow and once Monday.

4th

Had dinner with Monica, kids, and the judges last night. In my rush to get all my stuff unloaded at the hotel to meet them I snagged my knee on the open wire crate door in the Expedition while standing on the bumper. OUCH! Huge bloody scrape. The hotel room is very small. Just room for one bed and a wheelchair to roll past it. The bathroom is half as big as the actual room. I guess that's what I get for getting a handicap accessible room! I fit all the crates fine though.

I only ended up bringing four dogs with me to College Station. Rich's plans fell through, so now he's driving up Saturday and bringing two more with him. I will end up with six dogs, but only for a couple of the days. Kamikaze ran all day in Advanced classes. She ran very well. She pulled out a Jumpers and a Gamblers leg. Both of those Q's give her the title in those classes, so we are moving to Masters for Sunday in those. She was the only Advanced dog to get the gamble too! Unfortunately, she hit a bar in Standard (most unlike her). She is also displaying some avoidance at the weaves again. I hate this recurring problem. She ignores them the first try and then comes back and does them in most stellar fashion.

Josie and Jedi had Standard and Gamblers runs this afternoon. Josie hit ALL the contacts, but alas, she ticked a bar and used the table as a trampoline. The gamble involved the teeter, so not happening for Josie. She won't do the teeter that far away. I have to be right there to save her in case it's scary. Jedi will do teeter gambles, but today he wasn't listening too well. 

Oh yes, and here I'd like to say "YAHOO! Way to go girls" to my friend Kerry and her Pom Raven for completing their ADCH!

1st

Nikita's been limping on a front leg since I got home from Monroe. I got some anti-inflammatory/pain meds for her from the vet when I was there with Lego. She seems to be doing much better. Not sure what happened, but she limps like it's a shoulder strain. Lego had a recheck on the growth on his lip. I thought the antibiotics and steroids we gave him for a week shrunk it up. The vet wanted a look. He is surprised, but happy. It's almost completely gone. He gave Lego another week of antibiotics and steroids to be sure we got it completely taken care of. Yippie! It looks like no surgery for Lego this month.

I tried to get some things done at the house after work. Got clothes washed and almost all folded. Got some more of my stuff off the table put away. Packed clothes for this weekend. I'm tired! Misty got a bath yesterday since Rich's brother and family are coming while I'm gone. This also means I'm hauling three extra dogs for a total or 6 to College Station this weekend to avoid an 'kid/dog' issues. I'm sure it'll work out OK. I am amazed now that the dog stuff is all packed in the Expedition though. I got FOURTEEN crates in there. Four beagle/terrier sized vari kennels, a 36' wire, a 30 wire, a 36' cloth, 30' cloth, four 24' cloth, and the two hard sided Nylabone fold crates (32'). That means I won't spend four days folding up hotel crates and hauling them to the show and popping them back up and then taking them down again, etc. I'm leaving Thurs. afternoon and returning Monday evening. It's a nice four day event in an air conditioned building. Hope the weather is temperate. 

Oh, and Xanadu decided today was the day to burst into season. I guess that's convenient in that she'll be clean and uninteresting by the end of the month for her agility debut in Gulfport. I don't think having her at the show this weekend will be bad since she just started. She shouldn't be interesting to other dogs until next week. I'm gonna try and crate near a door so I don't parade her past everyone's setups to get her out to potty. I guess they'll be no playing at the practice jump for her this weekend. I'm glad now I had her out at the agility field last week doing some practice on Aframe and weaves and such. She won't have another chance to train anywhere but home before the show. We'll also be thinking about her littermate in Ohio this weekend making his agility debut. Go gettum Riser!