Roughing It

Wow, what an incredible weekend I just had.

Firstly, I must begin by saying that I spent the weekend sleeping in a tent. A tiny tent that Buster won as a result of being a superb employee, which he lent to me for the weekend. From corner to corner, it is approximately 5 feet, 10 inches. I know this, because that is my height, and when lying inside the tent, both my head and my feet touch the sides.

That being said, I LOVE camping and sleeping in a tent.

I had Friday off for Veteran’s Day, and took Thursday off to enjoy a much needed four day weekend. I had originally entered Kirby, but later realized I could not afford the entry fees and the hotel room, so scaled back to allow Xander and I to go and sleep cheap, namely $5/night in the tent. So although I very much missed running Kirby, Xander and I had a blast hanging out just the two of us all weekend. When we arrived Thursday afternoon, the wind was picking up and the sky looked ominous. My backup plan involved sleeping in my truck, but thankfully it didn’t come to that. I staked down the tent effectively enough to prevent us from blowing away that night; unfortunately, it didn’t prevent the wind from rattling the hell out of my little shelter and waking us up repeatedly. The first night was not the best experience, but we survived. Friday’s trial did not begin until 10am, with the small dogs going first. So although we were up before 6am, we didn’t actually run until after 12pm, which made for a long morning. We walked, played Frisbee, chilled in the tent with a book, and finally got to run JWW. Unfortunately, he slipped in the sand and chested the second jump, so not a great start. We redeemed ourselves many hours later in standard, and got our fourth MX leg with a 2nd place. My friend Pam pulled in with her little RV around 4:30 as we were finishing up and offered to take me to dinner if I would drive. I of course agreed readily, and we enjoyed a lovely seafood dinner at a cute little restaurant nearby.

We were in bed early Friday night. When it gets dark before 6pm, and you have no computer, TV, or other device to keep you entertained, there is not much else to do but read and listen to the wind. I thoroughly enjoyed both. Being “disconnected” felt so refreshing and I can’t remember the last time I felt so peaceful, or had the time to just blaze through a good book. I had picked up “Water for Elephants” on a whim while picking up camping supplies on Thursday, and had finished all 350 plus pages by Saturday night. It was an enjoyable read, and I certainly would recommend it.

I actually overslept a bit on Saturday morning, which, go figure, was the day they started big to small. I stumbled out of the tent at 6:45am, got myself cleaned up, and was ready to play after a much better night’s sleep. Without the wind to keep me awake, I found sleeping in the tent to be quite enjoyable. It was also nice to have showers and bathrooms nearby, and a vendor with good coffee for only a dollar. They also have the WORLD’S BEST RIBS. And they are super nice.

At any rate, my friends Chris and Carol arrived that morning, so I escorted them to where I had saved a spot, and they got set up while I walked the FAST course. Chris was nice enough to fill in behind the camera, as Buster had to work and could not come with me. Thankfully, he was home to provide “corgi duty” so I was able to come at all.

Xander earned his Exc A FAST title that morning with a second place. We would have gotten first if I had not caused some wide turns. We crossed a five point obstacle just after the buzzer went off, so we ended up with 74 pts instead of 79. Oh well, he is now Xander, AX, AXJ, XF, AD!

Standard was up next, and someone was a little too excited and very naughty. He ran his dogwalk and got one little toe hair in the yellow before leaping, he left the table on the “1” and not on my release after the “go.” He also missed the teeter, and then left the a-frame without a pause. I excused us from the ring.

Jumpers was better, although he knocked the #17 jump for some reason which took me by surprise and caused a spin before the finish. Double NQ Saturday, but at least we got that FAST title!

That afternoon we were done about 2:30 and so took a drive down into Bradenton, down to the Gulf, and stopped at a park/marina near Sarasota. We walked around and made friends with a couple and their lab/shepherd mix. Much to my surprise, Xander dropped into a play bow and romped and splashed and wrestled with his new friend for a good 20 minutes until they had to leave. I drove through St. Armand Circle near Lido Beach, and back up through my old stomping grounds in Bradenton. I passed Ringling School of Art and Design where I had spent a year in college, past New College where my friend/roommate went to school, and past the Petsmart where I spent every weekend grooming to pay the rent. We picked up some Wendy’s on the way back to the trial site, and the standard ring was just cleaning up as I pulled in about 5:30. It was an early night for us again, although I stayed up long enough to finish my book by flashlight and let the sounds of a nearby neighborhood party die down a bit. They certainly sounded as though they were having fun.

Sunday morning came all too quickly, and the little dogs began the competition once again with the new Time 2 Beat class. Xander was naughty again by 10:30am when we finally got to run, and missed the A-frame contact for the second time in his competitive life. Luckily, the course repeated it three obstacles later, so he both stuck his 2o2o and I held it with a “gooooood booooooy.” It was a fun and fast course, and I look forward to running this class more in the future. It is almost identical to Steeplechase, just without the second round and potential for cash prizes. Leave it to AKC to take the fun out of something.

After hours of waiting, being bored, and finally spending money on some new toys to pass the time, we got to run jumpers around 1pm. It was worth the wait. A tricky, fast, fun course that took out a lot of dogs, Xander was brilliant. I am so glad we got this one on video, and as soon as I have the time to load it, I will, but the crowd was cheering for us throughout. I heard my friend Terri whooping as we neared the last stretch, and my friends Pam and Carol were at the finish line to congratulate us. I was so happy with his sends and my ability to haul butt in the other direction to get my front crosses in! I didn’t fall down, and we ended up in 1st against a HUGE 20 inch class! Good boy!

With a double Q on the line, we had to wait until nearly 4pm to run standard. We had a clean, fast run going, with a stop on the dogwalk and a good teeter before coming to the table. He hopped on with no trouble (we’d had some hesitation in previous runs recently), stayed while I led out as usual, but then released himself on the “go” and took me by surprise. I didn’t have time to get in the front cross I had planned, and he ran past the third to last obstacle. Darn. But he got his a-frame, and we finished with another near miss. I know the double q’s will come eventually, but we have had so many near misses! At least he evened things up and broke his JWW draught. We now have four MX legs and four MXJ legs. I was overall very proud of him this weekend, and considering that we haven’t been out to the practice field to train in almost two months, he is doing phenomenally well! We have been training via trialing, because I really don’t have the same dog in practice as I do in competition. We’ve needed the mileage, and it’s good to see what we need to work on now. I am hoping to make a trip this week to practice the table and contacts, because we are back at it next weekend for the Dog Gone It trial in Winter Park. USDAA at one of my very favorite clubs/venues! I can’t wait!

New! Here is a video!

Where Did October Go?

Holy cow, where did October go?! Here were are, November 4th, and I am still thinking its last month. What a busy fall this has been….

The last time I blogged, we had completed a fairly unproductive weekend of agility in Orlando. Although we did not experience much success, (actually none) some important lessons came from that weekend, and led to some important decisions. For one, between my increasingly crazy job, new responsibilities, and taking an online certification course, I decided that the stress of also trying to teach classes right now was too much. The challenge of fighting 45mins of traffic to change clothes, shove dogs into the car, and fight 45 more minutes through traffic to build courses and teach for a couple hours, practice with my dogs, and then make the long drive home and get to bed at midnight was taking too much of a toll. The fact that my classes were on Mondays, one of my most hectic work days, and often following a weekend of trials or travels, meant that I was supremely exhausted by Tuesday, and didn’t feel human again until Thursday. Although I struggled with the decision for months, and was able to delay it through the summer by teaching on Saturday, Buster was very supportive and helped steer me in the right direction. I miss my students terribly, but still see and talk to many of them, and will hope to resume classes in the future when the conditions are favorable again. Secondly, after falling on my butt and ruining a terrific JWW run with Xander, I bought a pair of soccer cleats (which I love) and have been running drills with Buster to improve my footwork. I am determined to learn to be less clumsy!

On a happier note, after being too stressed out to enjoy or compete well in Orlando that first weekend, we returned to the area the following weekend as part of Buster’s birthday celebration which we shall now refer to as the “ Roller Coaster Marathon Extravaganza!.” Having never ridden the coasters at Busch Gardens together, and for Buster, who had never ridden them at all, we were excited to go there on Saturday after staying at the La Quinta within walking distance of the park, and visual distance of the Sheikra! We awoke early enough to walk to the Ihop for an absurdly big breakfast before continuing to the gate, where we were actually 10 minutes too early to get in. Once the gates opened, we made a mad dash to the new Cheetah Hunt, and sat in the front row. While it was a fun warm up ride, it didn’t live up to the hype of the commercials, and we were glad we had ridden it first. From there was the floorless classic, Montu, set in the Egypt area. Always a favorite of mine, it was a definite step up from the lethargic Cheetah. After that, we headed across the park to the Sheikra, where we both experienced this thrill for the first time. By far my favorite ride in the park, the first drop was incredible and left us wanting another ride! We did ride it again, although later in the day. After this, we headed to the powerful Kumba, the oldest ride in the park, and still one of the best. We also rode Kumba twice, which was nothing compared to the seven times my uncle, brother, and I rode it in a row without stopping when we were younger. I am certain I would puke now if I attempted this today, although Gary was about my age now when he did it with us. Hard core, that one is.

We saw many animals, including a petting zoo of kangaroos, and some incredible cheetahs and tigers. We also rode the train and sky rides a couple of times, and did the Rhino Rally where an obnoxious kid almost tripped me when he cut across to get the seat in front. We saw a goofy pirate 4-D movie, and then were ready to head back. We enjoyed a fun evening in Ybor City with dinner at the Green Iguana, and turned in early.

Nothing says happy birthday like a car alarm at 2am, which is what we heard when our adjoining neighbors came home from the Hallowscream and woke us up. Sharing a door with obnoxious neighbors (who talk loudly and leave their TV blaring all night long) is not recommended, and while we didn’t get much sleep that night, we did get a $20 discount for complaining.

After that, we headed to our second home, Universal Studios Orlando, where we spent the day riding every ride we wanted. All weekend we enjoyed riding in the front row, and almost zero wait times! The longest we waited all weekend was for lunch and for the Rip, Ride, and Rockit!, which were both well worth the wait. All told, we rode 15 different rides over the two days, including 9 different coasters. Also, our weird but fun waiter Eric told us, after assuring us that he is good at picking up on things like this, that we shared a special aura together that will last. Good to hear, but we knew that already. Oh, and there was Butterbeer. Always Butterbeer. Yummmmmm.

The following week went quickly, as I was off on Friday for our Pals and Paws trial here at the lovely Equestrian Center. I really hope we get to keep this venue, as this was such a wonderful trial. In my opinion, it was one of the best our club has ever put on, and went really smoothly. People were happy and seemed to be enjoying themselves. I also got to see my student Anna Marie run her poodle Irish for the first time, and she Q’d in two Novice JWW, and one Novice Std runs! I ended up stepping in to run the costume contest on behalf of Stacey, which turned out to be a lot of fun. I was also one of the chief course builders, but had a nice judge who nested his courses well, even if he spent a long time tweaking each course! Overall, Xander and I had a great weekend, and we are really figuring things out. We had one trainwreck in JWW, but other than that, we either Q’d or missed by only one little thing. In the other two JWW runs, he ran past a wingless jump on a sharp turn both times, so obviously something to work on! We earned two ExcA FAST legs, both with 1st, and he earned two MX legs, in which I held his dogwalk for several seconds, so we earned a 4th in both. The other STD run was a near miss with one off course near the end of the run, as he blasted out of the tunnel toward the weaves without looking for me. Something I know, but didn’t see, and fell into the trap! More homework!

Kirby had fun, although seemed to be struggling to focus by the third day. He had a couple train wrecks, two close calls, and two awesome MXJ runs. He earned a 3rd on Friday, and on Saturday he beat a bunch of 12in dogs for a 1st! I have decided though, that due to his age and his build, I am going to go ahead and move him to 8in performance. He loves the game, and hopefully this way he will get to play it a little longer! Welcome back to the land of Novice, and only 6 weave poles buddy.

Kaylee, in the meantime, enjoys yelling at the boys when they come home and demands to know where they have been, and what they have been doing. She gets the most snuggles though. It’s a good life of retirement.

Monday was Halloween, so Count Buster and the Lady Vampire Bonnie accompanied Lumberjack Lovers Mike and Ashley, along with a poor victim, Buster’s friend Adam, to roam the streets of downtown St. Augustine. We had a fun dinner and admired the fellow costumed creatures. This was the first time in years that I’ve worn a costume. Good times.

This weekend, Xander and I are checking out a short seminar in Ocala with Rhonda Koeske, and the following two weekends will be AKC and USDAA agility. Then it will be Thanksgiving, and I will be asking where November went! Happy holidays?

Oh, and Youtube disabled the music that I carefully picked out, but here is the video from Pals and Paws last weekend. Pretend it’s a silent film….