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!
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