Two tired puppies...

Well, it was another fun and exciting agility weekend. Chelsie got 8 qualifying scores toward her NADAC titles and about 4 first places. She ran better yesterday than she did today - she knocked bars in a few of her runs where she should have cleared them easily. That was really the only thing I was not too happy about. She was pretty wiped out today, and in her 4th run, ran really slow. We had 2 more runs after that, both of which I thought I could control the pace. I successfully controlled the pace on one, but not on the last one - it was a course of all tunnels, and based on how she had run earlier in the day, I thought I would have no problem keeping up with her. Well, I stuck her in front of the first tunnel and took off with her - usually I make her stay and work ahead of her, but since she was so tired, I thought she needed me a little closer. Wrong - she took off like a shot and for the first three tunnels, I ran as fast as I had all weekend. Finally, we came to a tunnel with a curve in it (which slows the dogs down) and I caught up. I was looking for oxygen when I was done.

After I ran Chelsie, I ran one of the best border collies that has ever been in our club on that same course - it is the dog of the lady that tells me Chelsie is too fat. Many people dream of having an agility dog like Zesta - not only is fast, but she is smooth. At 10 years old, she was still competitive nationally - Sue retired her from heavy compeition after Nationals in March, but Zesta still loves to play, and Sue is generous in giving novice handlers such as myself opportunities to run Zesta in courses where she cannot keep up with the dog. On the right course, you can stand in the middle and point and she goes. I was looking around for more oxygen when I was done. I did not qualify with Zesta - I tried to send her left to a tunnel and go right to keep up with her - not having run with me before, she came with me and went into the wrong end of the tunnel. We made a good recovery and finished strong.

This weekend has wiped the both of us out. I am finishing up laundry, as the competitions are on mulch and it gets everywhere. My dad is very generous and offers to pull the trailer with all the equipment in it with the truck they use to haul their camper, so we had a long day and then had to load all the equipment and take it back to the building. I am worn out...and have an 8AM meeting tomorrow morning. Fabulous. Chelsie is done...crawled into the front seat of the care on the way home to be near mom and is resting in bed. She was somewhat restless all day and I am trying to stay in one place so she can settle down, poor thing. She is breathing heavy next to me on the bed, all worn out. But she and her mom had fun.

We hope this finds everyone well. Have a great week!