Happy Times

Sorry I have been lax about updating. Again, I cannot access this site at work, which is terribly frustrating since that is prime blogging time; and at home, I am kept thoroughly occupied with Trudy.

We are having such a blast with her. She finds new ways to crack us up almost every day, as she lives with such joy and reckless abondon. Ah, to be a puppy. She and Xander also made friends the other day, and have spent their evenings engaged in play. This makes ALL of us happy, as it both occupies and exhausts the two most demanding members of the household. Evening the fun-police (aka Kaylee) has ceased to interuppt their games, as they play so quietly and with perfect contentment. She amazes me with her confidence and coordination at such a young age as well. Xander was such a floppy muppet with long legs and seemingly no awareness of the back ones, such that I didn't feel confident doing very much with him until he was considerably older. Trudy already can leap amazing distances and land like a cat, although we would prefer that she not leap from the stairwell to the back of the couch, often on Buster's head. She can push a skateboard, put at least three feet in a bowl at this point, and can perch effortlessly on a balance disk placed ON TOP of an upside down BOSU ball. This was not intentionally set up for her to do, she just decided to offer it as I stood gape mouthed watching her. She can also stand and take a few steps on her rear legs, demonstrating without any doubt that she is aware of how to use all of her legs, although she is not necessarily practical in her application of this skill.

Other than being early to bed and early to rise, which suits Buster's schedule but not mine, she has settled into a good routine with us. She is happy to ride in the car for as long as it takes without crying, as she knows we will be going somewhere fun. She gets in her pen for meals and goes in her crate for her bedtime cookie. She knows sit, down, shake each paw, hand touch, and we are working on wait. She is making progress on potty training, and has mastered the dog door at top speeds. Her new favorite trick is to make a high speed lap of our small backyard, come flying through the dog door, onto the couch (and usually in my lap or on my computer) and then go tearing through the door again. This is amusing unless you happen to be holding a mug of coffee or something similarly unfortunate.

On the agility front, she spectated at her first trial a couple of weeks ago in Charleston, NC at the Low Country USDAA show. I had never been there before, but thoroughly enjoyed it and plan to go back. It was a small, one ring trial with a friendly, laid back atmosphere and MANY people to engage in pass-the-puppy socialization exercises. She happily made many new friends, both human and canine, and met each new person bravely with a wagging tail. Much to my joy and surprise, she was quiet as a field mouse in her crate all day and was not bothered by all the noise and pedestrian traffic passing her by. Our friend Stacey let us hang out in her tent ring side, which was great fun, as we were able to watch everyone's runs in the comfort of our little space.

Her first night in the hotel was fabulous. She took everything in stride and thought it was a grand adventure. As we had woken at 4am to make the drive Saturday morning, by 7:30 that evening we were all asleep. Xander on the pillow next to my head, Trudy in her crate next to the bed, and me enjoying the comfortable mattress. That was the best night sleep I have had in weeks, even though we were all awake by 4:30 the next morning. Although the trial did not yield any Q's, we enjoyed the challenging course and had many close calls. The friends we saw and the experience we enjoyed far outweighed the lack of results, and I found myself so happy with Trudy's company, that I didn't mind it in the least!

Fast forward a couple of weeks to yesterday, which found us up early again for a day trip to Fort White, and the home of Rachel Flately. Here we competed in just one day of the Pawsitively Fun USDAA trial. We were off to a good start before we even had our first run, as Rachel gave a bag of Zuke's treats to the first five entries she had received. We were number four.

Soon enough, we were running Standard. This was also a small, one ring trial with a great atmosphere, and we felt almost as though we were running at our own practice field. This seemed to work for us as we FINALLY got the third leg we needed for Xander's Master Agility Dog title!! What a great way to start the morning. It was also cool that we got first place, and were the only dog to qualify. Stuart was there with Ares, as were a number of other quality competitors, so I must admit that felt a little good. I keep replaying it in my mind, as it felt so good while we were running.

Apparently we were on the same page yesterday, as the streak continued. We've had horrible luck in pairs, so I've basically let go of any hopes to Q consistently in that class, as it just seems to be one thing or another. However, when Travis Wall and Krazy Kali stepped to the line, they were solid and allowed us to knock the last bar and still earn 1st place. That girl is krazy fast for sure! We also had an amazing save on the weave poles. Actually, we had three somewhat miraculous weave entries yesterday, which I must attribute to Susan Garret's 2x2 method and all the time we've spent practicing wacky angled entries. Thanks Susan!

Snooker was next up. After two HEARTBREAKING rounds at Low Country, where we racked up tons of points in the opening only to have me mess him up in the closing, I decided to follow the advice I had gotten from several people. Be conservative, get through the closing, and the Super Q's will come. I didn't really believe it, especially after I watched Stuart and Ares clean up. However, we had the same plan as Lori and Moxie, and although I had one of those miraculous saves, but time-costly call offs before the weave poles, we made it through the closing. I thought there was no way we would get a Super Q with the small size of the trial, but as I watched many others fail to make it through to the end, I maintained a glimmer of hope. I finally checked the scoresheet and stared in disbelief as I saw Xander with a third place and the last Super Q for the 22in class! Now we only need ONE MORE for our title!! Hooray!

By the time Jumpers came around, I was on such a high that I felt nothing could bring me down. We enjoyed chatting with friends and playing with Trudy in a new place, on top of our three Q's already. (I didn't enter Gamblers, as we already have that title. When someone asked, I told them we were on the ADCh chase budget plan). A Q in Jumpers would just be icing on the cake. It was a lovely course I thought, and something that we could do, so we stepped to the line and did it! As we crossed the last jump, I had such a big smile and so much pride for my goofy boy who tries so hard. We were speaking the same language yesterday, and he listened so well, I was successful in a number of handling moves that had previously resulted in a fault. It's amazing what a bit of practice will do!

I was not at all sad that I had only entered Saturday, as there was no way we could top that performance on Sunday. And even if we could, I like being able to have fun one day and still have time to do responsible things the next day, like clean up the puppy inflicted disaster zone that is my house. And to write this blog. Which I haven't done in such a while.

At any rate, the agility filled month of October will conclude next weekend with our home trial at the equestrian center, which is nice, even though it is ACK. However, we will get to arrive late on Sunday since I am taking a break from course building and the multitude of little dogs will be running first. Ah, what a novelty it will be to arrive after 9am!

In parting, I would like to wish my amazing, patient, loving, generous, smart, funny, wonderful husband a happy 33rd birthday this coming Tuesday! He took Kirby with him while he played disc golf yesterday and while the collies were with me. It was such a wonderful, thoughtful and kind thing to do for the little crazy dog that doesn't play well with our dogs, but loves everyone else on the planet. Kaylee meanwhile sat at home alone either enjoying the quiet, or more likely, disrupted it with her incessant alarm barking. Sorry neighbors. Anyway, happy birthday again Buster, and I look forward to celebrating many more!