Gustavo's First Steeplechase.

She shoots in HD, so this even looks good if you zoom it up to full screen. Thanks Silvina! Too bad you don't get to see him run away from me when I go to put his leash on and try to run back into the ring. A little thing we have to work on. Amongst many others.

Welcome back to driveway weave poles.

It's been a while. But Gustavo runs Steeplechase for his first time this weekend, and boy oh boy oh boy oh boy do I want him to get his poles. They've been great every time I practice, aside from last time we had our lesson from Jim and Gustavo couldn't do the poles at all. Ahem.


He's only every done them once in a trial, his first time in Gamblers. Took 2 tries to make it through. Other than that, just done some Jumpers. Moves up to Advanced this weekend in that. He's entered in something else but I forget what. Was too scared of poles and teeters to put him on a DAM team. Not sure what's going to happen in that Steeplechase run. Wouldn't it be cool if he just DID THEM?


Moved the car. So we can start all the way out in the street and run REALLY FAST up the driveway and make the entrance.


Except in Steeplechase, no driveway. No sheep watching through the fence. No tupperware waiting at the end.


Wouldn't it be cool if he just DID THEM?

A couple of days at the USDAA.

Since I had paid a bucket of money, and orchestrated the mission control project known as making a Saturday off of work possible, I decided life goes on and just go to the dog show. So off we went, for 2 of the 3 days of the Bayteam USDAA Fourth of July Fiesta. Am glad I did. Lots of kind words from you all about my Timmy, and lots of people who know exactly the way you feel when you lose the best dog. And with my attitude of just enjoy the dogs because they won't be here forever.

So where do I begin? Since our theme this week has been heartbreak, can I tell you a new tale of heartbreak? Perhaps not scrawled with tattoo guns and thick needles, or a fiery cowboy brand seared across my heart, but maybe a Sharpie writing in medium bold strokes. The thick kind of Sharpie. Total tagger graf kind. Not a skinny sharpie, my friend Hobbes. Who was knocking out a stunning standard run, tight turns and speeding along when the rest of his day was maybe a little slow. And we came to the Table. The dreaded. The evil. And for the first time, Hobbes, with the beautiful tail and bellowing woof, brown gold lizard eyes and big chomping teeth, didn't even blow me a kiss. Not a peck on the cheek. Considered for a second, teaser, then stood there. Eyes staring straight at me, then diverted, and just said, No.

Not sure if he wants to break up, dear diary. I don't think it's someone else. I missed his next standard run from a holdup in the Gambler's ring with Otterpop, and a highly qualified ringer took my place and he just danced around up there like she was shooting a six gun at his toes. Is it him, not me? Is that what he would have told Rob had they gone to counseling? Old patterns hard to break and replicating themselves? I'm just the rebound person and I'll just have to accept groveling at his feet while they stand up straight on that table from now on if we don't break up? But I told him I loved him. We always have a great time on Wednesday nights, where he runs like rocket and flies into his table down in a heartbeat. I guess he just thinks it's some casual thing. Did I get too serious on him? He needs his space? I just can't deal with this right now, Hobbes.

And Ruby. Talk about couples counseling. She's my steady and true dog at home, watches me, listens to me, sets an example. With me on every walk. Plays and runs like the wind when we practice, and has been knocking out the stellar dogwalk contacts. So we had 2 runs that I loved, she loved, we both loved. Was like running a tiny bullet around. I have to be one of those screamy handlers with her and it just makes her fly faster. And I made an error at the very end of each that cost a Q, or in the snookers, a Super Q. A little handler screw up from my giddiness of a kick ass run. But it was ok. Because it's about the joy and the dog and the fun and I am trying to let go of ADCh envy. Learn to love the lifetime achievement points perhaps we rack up with useless, extra Q's in things.

But on some runs, we just disconnected. Is she trying to tell me something? She didn't seem sore, I think she was as sound as she gets. The weather, was nice. The running surface, within her realm of acceptable. But something just didn't click with us, ships passing in the night, and we had some weirdo runs with offbeat timing that threw me for a loop. A bar in the gamble. Dogwalk contact here, slow startline there. I went off course in the Grand Prix I was so rattled. A horrible jumpers.

I dunno, Ruby. I have never been quite able to figure you out. We got you through the fireworks and everything with our booming Classic Rock party in every room of the house fireworks night, we do that for you. I thought we were tight. I thought we were through this phase in our lives. The patterns repeat. What would they tell us in couples counseling? We need better communication skills, us both? I know there are tiny witches that talk to you in there, they tell you weirdo obsessive things, but I thought they weren't coming with us this weekend. Maybe they didn't, I offended you somewhere? Front crossed too close? Let Otterpop play with your chewie? I dunno, I dunno.

So, ok, anything nice happen at the trial? Maybe won a dog toy in the workers raffle? Got a good parking place? Got to the porta potty right after the suction truck sucked it clean and added fluffy new toilet paper?

Well, let me tell you about my Otterpop. I'm calling her Otterpop 4.0. I can't believe it's my Otterpop who couldn't be near a truck. Or a man. Or couldn't take a step without a frisbee glued into her mouth to keep her from going postal on all of the above. With a hair trigger temper and no self control. Otterpop 3.0 got over that stuff from Otterpop 2.0, but creepy creeped around the agility field, feeling naked maybe without her frisbee. And exposed to all the prying eyes that could shoot poison darts through her heart. Otterpop 4.0, maybe not the fastest 12" dog out there, but maybe not the slowest. Maybe starts off the start line a little shakey, scopes the venue for judges, zombies, you name it, then settles in, focuses, and makes up time best she can. Didn't put a foot wrong. Had some bobbles here and there, one ring had a scarier judge and a dreaded loudspeaker system actually attached to the judge so she could call out gamblers points which would have sent Otterpop 3.0 right into a tizzy then and there, but this Otterpop just trucked along, maybe didn't get the gamble, but still.

Did you hear me out there? About all I could ever exclaim was, "Otterpop I am So Proud of You!" Over and over, run after run. I am so not a screamer when I run Pop. More like a chatterer of words of love. She has to feel the love when she runs. Lots of Q's, her first super Q, second in the Grand Prix. Won a standard. Flew around the Steeplechase finals, even though Jack the sheltie beat her by a good chunk of seconds. But hello. Otterpop in Steeplechase Finals? Right? Yep, because it's Otterpop 4.0. Never got tired, always happy to go out and run. Maybe is like how you feel when you win a Pulitzer Prize. Your kid graduates medical school and moves to Africa to stop aids. David Lee Roth picks you out of the groupie lineup. Whichever. How I felt after every time Otterpop tried her hardest and told me she never wants to stop.

Dog Agility Fitness Challenge-a primer.

So remember how I will not show you the video from the Steeplechase Finals last week? Yeah. That's right. Because I made the dog hit a bar, blow a contact, and I looked really, really fat.

So next place we go is Madera in March. And I am not going to be so fat by then. Maybe I'll still make the dogs mess up, maybe Ruby will have a sore back, maybe Otterpop will be slow. But I am going to be skinny-er. Or at least less fat. So here's our new fitness regime. Of healthy exercise and diet. The diet part-let's get there later. But first, the exercise.


First of all. While checking the email, and doing the blog, there will be some madcap exercise. To get the blood flowing. In the fancy exercise studio. OK, the office. Well, OK, actually the spare bedroom with the piles of files and ugg boots and books. But there is a tiny patch of floor. We will jump! And twist! And listen to disco hits of the '70's until we are no longer so fat. It is important to exercise for more than one song-maybe a song by Gorillaz. Who are not even people that need to exercise but I believe are fictional animations. I don't get all that.


And we shall do some yoga stretching too. Right? Think about the cute yoga outfits available but only to the cute yoga girls. I go to yoga. Sometimes. Rarely. I went a few weeks ago. I wore sweatpants. I am wearing cowboy pajamas for my fitness challenge right now. Once we are skinny there could be tennis skorts and little capri pants with tiny tank tops that do not expose muffin guts that will make us feel chipper even when dogs are doing horribly at the dog show.


There is much dog assistance in the exercise. And my feet may get bit while they are doing a hip hop jig-like dance move. No one said this wouldn't be dangerous. Because it is the belief of the dogs that they should be on a dog walk. Which is sort of one of the exercise problems. I HATE leaving Timmy at home when I take the dogs somewhere. But he can walk about as fast as a 3 legged turtle pulling a birdhouse full of potatoes. We creep. We shuffle. And it burns absolutely no calories. In fast, I believe that walking Timmy actually adds calories to my self. Which is how the fat to skinny ration has grown against me this year. Of which I have actual scientific Proof.



So when it's time to go for a walk, everyone is waiting. They know. You have to wait for your name to get called or else it's mayhem.


Mayhem looks like this.


Except for Timmy. He doesn't know we are ready for the walk yet. Being nearly blind, completely deaf, and somewhat alzheimer's-esque in demeanor, he is still laying there. I'll go get him and carry him down the stairs. And off to the shuffle we go.

Team Small Dog Diet Tips coming soon!

This is a report from the Big Dog Show.

OK. Let's cut to the chase. Big dog show. USDAA DAM Team and Tournaments in Santa Rosa. Otterpop got the elusive Team Q! Ruby did not although she worked hard for it, winning Team Snookers and getting a 2nd in Team Gamblers. But her rocky start with a small but lethal mistake in Saturday's Team Standard put her team behind, and even though the subsequent wins helped get their points up, a very lethal mistake by her teammate put them out of the running in the Oh so important for points Team Relay Race. It happens! But Ruby did get a 3rd in the Steeplechase first round, had a fairly slow 2nd round but still got a 5th overall, and something in the Grand Prix. I think a 4th.

Otterpop was a champ! She made small errors here and there, and so did her team mate dogs named Sizzle and Tag, but nothing drastic enough to cost them the hard to get Q. The only thing that made me irritated but also was equally funny was when she stopped in the corner of the ring, during the Grand Prix, that was right next to a hamburger stand. Just stopped running, put her nose in the air, and started sleepwalk following the scent of frying burgers towards the hamburger stand. On her tiptoes. Following her nose. It was like straight out of a dog cartoon except it was happening during the Grand Prix. Where you should be running really, really fast. Everyone was laughing. I just yelled at her and she popped back into gear. It cost us some time, but she still came in 4th. She did a similar cartoon sleepwalking dog thing for some people eating french fries outside the ring during her Steeplechase which also cost her enough time to not make it to the finals. So we had a little junk food issue but that was about it.

Ruby had slow weave poles. They started great and got slower and more pathetic as the weekend went on, costing her time and possible wins in other classes. I don't know what to do about this and it is a weird problem to fix. Because on Saturday morning they were fast, and by the afternoon they are slow. Steeplechase finals had 2 sets of weave poles. 2 times to be slow on otherwise fast runs, costing a lot of seconds. I think her time was 10 seconds slower than the winning time. Grand Prix. Slow weave poles. This makes me want to cry. I guess there are a lot worse things to cry about. Like it is not global warming here. But still. We want to be rockstars of dog agility and instead, we are just sort of plain. I hate to be plain.

So all in all, it was actually very fun and lots of good runs and lots of thing to work on too. Rubyweavepoles. Otterpophamburger. No mean people there the whole time! Christmas music! Wine drinking in a motorhome! Starbucks within 1 mile of Motel 6! No traffic! Two whole days of a dog show! No rain! I learned what it felt like to make a mistake and be shamed with an Elimination. Shameful and horrible. A lesson to use somewhere in life. Thanks dog agility!