USDAA trial report from the weekend.

Saturday was a difficult day. Left the house around 4:30 with sub-zero temperatures. YIKES! Missed the entrance to the facility because my tire warning light went on just as I was passing the place. Drove about five miles past before realising it! How did that happen??? I have been to American K9 Country like a million times!!! I am a dumb ass, but that light kind of freaked me out! OK, so in sub-zero temps, sometimes that light will come on. Checked tires on my way home, all were fine. Another Nissan owner was at the air pump, too, and said......"Must be a Nissan thing!". OK, I guess, what a pain. It went on and off all weekend! >:/ Thanks, Nissan, you are not my friend any more! Time waster, gas waster, worry waster. What a waste! Tell me when my tires REALLY need air, please!

Getting the poor dogs into the TINY crate room where I had to stack all three on top of each other wasn't easy. Their tiny paws kept freezing and at one point I had a dog under each arm after they quit walking because of frozen paws. Poor things!! Glad they are tiny, carrying two border collies.......well.......that ain't happenin'. But, the crate room seemed nice and warm and I covered them up with lots of snuggle beds and the Pin Heads had their coats on. Even with the screamin', howlin', screetchin' dogs in crates next to us, it seemed warm and cozy. Really? It was just hard. Just difficult, just a pain in the ass, but whatever, I know it can be like that and amazingly, my dogs handled it pretty OK. My friend Laura just kept her dog in her car and ran the car, like all day! :O Her dog was happy! I know, I checked on her once while Laura was being a good agility competitor and being ring crew. I checked on Justice. Sweet Justi was warm and toasty, no screamin' jack russells next to her, she was all by herself in her toasty warm car, smiling at me when I got in to check that she was still alive and not asphyxiated. I guess that can happen with a car left running. Not likely, but possible?

Roscoe ran really well. We were not at all together, I felt rushed, claustrophobic, irritated by my tough morning, and in general not right. I haven't run on rubber in a while and it was an adjustment to me. Roscoe did great, not SUPER crazy high like he is in practice lately, but great! No real shut downs, so I was very happy. Colby, on the other hand, was not very happy. She did everything I asked, except the teeter. She flat out refused it, so I didn't push it and we just went on. She did it in her gamble class, but wasn't happy about it. She just didn't look happy the whole day. I made the decision she needs to pretty much retire. I don't know if it is her eyes or not. She refused a tunnel, too, which is REALLY unlike her. So, her retinal atrophy may be affecting her more than I think. It's sad for me, but I am not sure it is really sad for her. I think she is perfectly happy to retire and maybe just do some Rally-O or just be my Top Dog! She's top dog here now, being eldest bitch. That's just the way it is right now and she knows it and likes it. I love the little bitch, she is my girl! :D But, it is still a little sad. She was such a great agility partner for so long!! And she is not even 11, will be in June, and in every other physical way I think is in great shape. Her knee is better than ever, she runs like the wind at the beach and the fields. I think agility and adjusting to light and having to judge jumps and tunnels and going from dark to light is simply too hard for her eyes? I don't know, but it sure seems that way, so she is retired now! I may run her in a few outdoor trials mid-summer when the sun it at the top of the sky, but I'll just have to see how it goes in practice. She much prefers running outdoors, but light is more iffy with shadows and such. Mid-summer might not be so bad?

Sunday was Spur's day! All about Spur. No Masters classes Sunday, so the Pin Heads stayed home -

We had a GREAT day on Sunday!! I think the little buggar really enjoyed his time alone. I was kind of surprised. The only doggie friend he had there was Zep and that didn’t last long since they left early. He was left with just his fans and he has quite a fan club that is just getting larger! :D I think that’s really fun for him, visiting with his fans. It makes the trials really special and helped him a lot yesterday.

His first run was tire to straight on dog walk and I didn’t handle it well and he refused the dog walk, but I regrouped and insisted, so he did it trotting, but he did it. Then ran well and did a super teeter, but got really frightened by the bang. Thankfully, the next obstacle was the table which, strangely, he LOVES, so he zoomed to it and plopped in a down and shook, ears going up….then down…then up….all worried, but his tail was swishing the whole time. Then he avoided the next jump which I made no big deal about, and thankfully again the next thing was poles, which he loves, so he recovered well and ran nicely looking really happy. The next class was gamble and I made a nice opening (jump, weaves, tunnel to dog walk), he ran his dog walk (no trotting) and did his gamble looking REALLY happy!! We got a lot of nice comments.

I snookered us in snooker which was a little bummer because the last obstacle was the teeter and I was looking forward to being able to run out of the ring and jackpot him with cookies, but he didn’t care and ran well!! So, since he was looking SO happy I stayed for jumpers (5:20) and he ran clean!! Everyone thought he looked really happy and I had nice comments, so I am VERY pleased. That was the most runs he has ever done and that is a hard place to trial, I think. He did SO well!! His fan club is growing LARGE! He did run to say hi to the leash runner before starting in jumpers, but I called him away and just started. He does think EVERYONE wants to say hi to him now, which is OK! I think he is serious enough about his work that he would not go visit while running…….. too much. LOL!

I am very proud of the little buggar! I did see a woman there who had fostered one of the older mini-aussies from Spur’s kennel and she kind of bummed me out. She couldn’t even remember the dog’s name and said words like when she finally “got rid of him” and stuff like that. I didn’t like her the rest of the day. She wasn’t even nice to her own dogs. But, I didn’t let her bother me too much. I hung out with Beth, who I really like and whose portie Nellie looked AWESOME, and Jen was there with Gordon, the weim, who I really like. They did great!! Her first USDAA trial with Gordon! And Shona, who is really nice and her dog Nevis just looks so clean and uncomplicated, pretty aussie with a stripe down his nose like Spur's.

For a dog with some major issues about sounds, sights, teeters and things falling or being bumped, this seemed like a really hard place for Spur to run, but he held it together and gave me a GREAT effort! I know we can build from this and things should just get better and better. I know, I am not in denial, I know things could fall apart and we may have melt downs in the future over silly things, I know that. I know he may struggle to get speed going and to look really confident, for a long time, but I do think the more we do and the more we get out the better he is going to get. I think he is starting to enjoy trials, learning they are fun times! He is work in progress, for sure, but he looked OK! It was nice to hear good words of encouragement from fellow competitors. Many know his issues and worries, and saw him struggling with stuff earlier in his young life, so they know how hard it has been for us. Good little Monkey Pants Punkin Head had his Big Boy Pants on yesterday! All by himself, no Pin Heads for support, he held it together all day. Four runs - good Little Spurminator!!

His standard run. Idiot that I am just ran right past the dog walk, leaving him unsupported and in the dust. Geez!!! -

His gamble run for a third place finish!! Started a little slow - we need a start line consistent behavior. Something I lack with Roscoe, too! I always feel insecure at the start line because I don't want to waste time and be one of those competitors that people are saying to themselves......."Oh for crying out loud, just GO!!" We need mental preparation, start line focus. I am unsure of my own start line behavior, ....what? I need start line behavior?? Yes, but whatever, I continue and we start, somehow, we just go........and,...... he loves his weaves, so that helped him, then the tunnel to the dog walk was good -

It was a good day for The Spurminator!