Kristi and I are calling this experience "an adventure".  It was a fun drive and it was very cool to see Sizzle work sheep at her herding lesson. The drive up here was rain-free, until about 20 minutes from Dixon.  Kate had already made it to the show site and was telling us it was bad, but just how bad I couldn't comprehend.  All the rings have some standing water and I walked around one of the drier looking rings, to find that the grass was just hiding the water underneath (I thought I was stepping on solid ground and wound up with water over my ankle). Kate's here saying "it's a fricking nightmare and we're all going to die".  LOL  It's definitely not pretty and I'll be curious how they alter the courses to keep things safe.  4 days, 4 rings and 5000 runs, I can't imagine what's going to happen to the footing.  The adventure continues early tomorrow morning, since it's so wet there's no good crating, so they're letting us all basically crate out of our cars. I'm with Kristi, so we're going to get to the show site VERY early to try for a good spot.  Tell the dogs they're good and send positive thoughts up this way for dry weather.  mia

Day 2 of the Great Adventure

No rain today, but it sounds like it's coming tomorrow. Weird enough, the local stations make it sound way more promising than weather.com or accuweather.com. I have to apologize that I don't know too much about how everyone else did, the show's layout and me being busy with the three dogs..;-)). I know Kristi had a very good day. Gale qualified in Adv. Standard and Masters Jumpers and Cinder qualified in Masters Standard, Masters Jumpers and was solid in all the DAM events (we did Snooker, Gamblers, Jumpers and Standard today, only the 3-Dog Relay for the DAM tomorrow). Terra was solid in all the DAM classes (I know Kristi and Terra's DAM results because Starlet, Cinder and Seeker are on a team together). I asked Diane for her results and she said there wasn't much to say, I know she fell a couple times and I used her Snooker strategy with Star, which worked really well for us. Lots of people are slipping on the ground. They've laid down shavings, but it has to keep getting put down or it becomes slushy. The dogs don't seem to be having too much trouble with the footing. Definitely more bars down than normal and there were a couple times that the footing affected handling decisions (I can probably count the front crosses I did with all 3 dogs on two hands). Max had a bar PIII Standard, but was otherwise a very good boy. Aside from the bar down, he was terrific all day. He Qed in Masters Jumpers and was 2nd in the two Performance DAM classes that I saw results for (Standard and Gamblers). He was awesome in Snooker and Jumpers, but I was way too tired to stick around for results. I'm just so lucky to have him as a partner, what an amazing dog. Star and Finn both had an off-course in Team Standard. Finn was basically a butthead in Team Standard and we went straight from heeling him off that course (first run of the day, it was mostly DAM today, just Masters Standard and Jumpers as far as regular classes went) to Masters Standard where he ran a very solid course (contacts, startline hooray!)and was the only 26" dog to run clean, so he won that class. Yay! He had a bar down in Masters Jumpers, but was solid in the rest of his runs (a pat on the back to me for improvising our way through a Team Snooker run where my plan went out the window early). Starlet Qed in Masters Standard and was a very good girl in the team events after Standard. Most happy for me was her continued success with the teeter...could I get three shows in a row without a teeter refusal? I can't think about it. ;-) It's getting late and I'm super tired, so I'm going to sign off for now.
Tell the dogs they're good. mia

Great Adventure Day 3

Well, I am posting this message because otherwise it will sound too much like Mia is bragging :-)

First off - IT HASN'T RAINED!!!!

Second - GIDGET GOT HER ATCH!!!! (And I am sooooo jealous she got the big pretty ribbon and I got the dinky little ass ribbon from CPA.) But Gidget had a LOVELY standard run and got the job done! YAY GIDGET AND DIANE!!!!

Third: MAX AND MISHA WON VERSATILITY PAIRS!!!! The whole friggin' thing! Max was the golden child (as usual) and ran flawless every time(see why Mia isn't writing this report? She has done AWESOME!)

OK - back to the rest of us. The Santa Barbarians (Seeker, Starlet and Cinder) ended up 14th out of over 75 teams) so we are all quite happy with that. Finn's team didn't do quite as well - according to Mia, three E's in Standard was NOT something they could come back from. Bummer.

Quick synopsis:

Max q'd in everything but PIII Standard - he had to melt down sometime. He made up for it thought by being 2nd in Performance Grand Prix (He lost to Riot - not shabby at all...have y'all seen Riot run? And he HAS beaten her in the past....) Starlet was lovely in our DAM Team relay, Q'd in Grand Prix, and KICKED ASS in Snooker with some amazing weave pole entries. She was making Mia RUN. Finn
Q'd in Masters Standard again, then he SQ'd (and was 5th) in Masters Snooker and Q'd in Grand Prix! Yay Finn! And, due to timer malfunctions, Finn's brain was completely fried and he was positive Mia was training so his contacts and start line were PERFECT!

Patches however, has not had as successful a trial (so far.) She leaped the dog walk contact today in Standard (with great joy and verve - Betty we are going to start training this dog again!) and then in Jumpers yesterday she dropped a bar but that was due to mud and muck. Her Performance Grand Prix was horrific - a busted start line, a leaped dog walk contact (Betty, did I mention we are going to start training this dog again?) and just a "la la la" attitude so she didn't Q in that. However, she redeemed herself in PIII Snooker by smoking the course and qualifying. She might have Super Q'd, I will check tomorrow....

Gale had a limited show day today - but she easily qualified in the Performance Grand Prix with a clean run. YAY GALE!!! Unfortunately, we literally had to run from that ring straight to the Adv Std ring
and start our run. The good news is that Gale has been sticking her A-Frame contacts all weekend - but she did "forget" how to weave in standard today. Oh well, there is always tomorrow and she only needs
one more leg. I pulled her from Adv Snooker because (1) the course was REALLY ugly and (2) it was the end of the day and Mia and I wanted to go home.

Terra and Seeker - to be honest I don't remember a whole lot. I do know they were STELLAR in the AM stuff and also that his Snooker run today was gorgeous until the #7 in the close. Dang! Would have been a Super Q and his ADCH so keep your fingers crossed for his next run. We will all be cheering them on right?????

Cinder. What do I say about Cinder? She has been BRILLIANT,AWESOME, SUPER (these are all the words Mia is telling me at this exact moment.) She was dynamite in Team Relay, qualified AGAIN in Masters Standard, would have done the Masters Gambler if her mom wasn't a moron and then had a SMOKING Snooker's run. Cinder is my personal golden child. She hasn't stepped a paw wrong since last Oct....what a gal.

So...no rain yesteray, LOVELY weather today. We got a couple smatterings of rain "spittings" but honestly, we were enjoying it because it was getting hot! Weather is supposed to be clear tomorrow
so yippee skippee. Steeplechase here we come! Oh - and the courses have been WONDERFUL - tons of flow, fast and furious. The club has been AWESOME - we were finished by 5pm today and still no rain!!!
Heard it was raining down your way - sorry about that - we are having a blast up here! Hopefully Mia won't sucker me into writing this report tomorrow night but honestly, she has done so incredibly well
that it would sound like bragging. So - be prepared to hear from me again.

Kristi

My Two Cents on Today - Day Three

Like I can let Kristi write a report without me adding my two cents. First of all, we're still talking and laughing after days on the road, being on a DAM team and competiting against each other. LOL For those of you worried about hurt knees etc, the footing today was as good as a normal show, if a little soggy on the shoes. I'm loving the courses, dogs are happy and sleeping, except for Kristi's who are begging for food right now. After what I saw on Wednesday, I wouldn't have thought things would be as good as they've been. If you have a chance to do a show put on by either of these clubs, I highly recommend it. I will also do a bit of bragging that Kristi can't do, Cinder is AMAZING!!!! She's Max in a blue merle bc form and just a touch faster. I also have to give a big thanks to Terra for bringing Max over to psyche up Star before her Snooker course. If we have more runs like that in our future, the future looks bright. :-) And HUGE congrats have to go Diane and Gidget, I was privileged enough to get to see the run and it was a TERRIFIC way to finish an ADCH. I hope you all are dry, warm and have a happy puppy licking your face while you try to type (Sizzle is very happy right now). Good luck to everyone going to the Camarillo show this weekend! Tell the dogs they're good. mia

Great Adventure Day 4

OK - me again because Mia (once again) did phenomenally well :-) First off
- THE WEATHER HELD AGAIN!!! Woo Hoo!!! (Happy Dorothy? There's one....) It got a little ugly looking for a little while but never really rained enough to even get us wet or make the ground sloggy. It has been great!

Steeplechase and Leap N Chase were today. Cinder and Star both Q'd for the second round of Steeplechase and Max not only made it into the second round
for Leap N Chase but he was the top qualifier for the class! Woo Hoo! Mia
here, the show ended way early today (finished my last run at 1:30), so Kristi and I are in her room with the dogs having a post-show glass of vino and her phone just rang... Max was truly my golden child yet again. He picked up another Masters Jumpers leg, a Masters Pairs leg with Cinder and his very first PIII Standard (3rd)! Yay!

Starlet had fun in her Standard, but took a wrong end of the tunnel. Much
more important, she has been super solid with her teeters! Woohoo! Do I
smell a breakthrough... She also ran a great half in her Pairs (her partner had weave troubles). I'm pretty pleased with myself, since those of you at class the last Saturday might remember the option thing we did with the box work.
I once again chose the front cross/wrap option when others went for a front after the jump. It worked great for both Max and Finn. :-) The big news for Starlet was her great effort in today's Steeplechase. A less than fast A-frame and a couple wide turns (one definitely caused by her handler) and she
still made the cut! Her weave entries were awesome. Woohoo! She also picked
up a Jumpers leg with a solid happy run.

With Finn in Steeplechase, I felt the hand of the agility gods, he broke his startline and I hesitated, but let him get away with it. Then, I let him run through his A-frame contact (I said okay, so it was on my command, but I have NO business letting him push me at A-frames) and the next challenge (a very tricky weave entry) he missed.In the end he didn't make the cut, so all my stupidness did not pay off. A lesson learned...again. Sigh. Other than Steeplechase, Mr. Finn was a good boy. He's 3 for 3 in Masters Standard, ran a great half in Pairs for a Q and had an AWESOME Jumpers run (4th, more on this run later from Kristi).

Terra and Seeker made the cut in Steeplechase and had lots of lovely moments today. They're such a pretty team to watch. Terra and Tammy with Tryst took 4th in Masters Pairs! Woohoo! Diane and Gidget had some bar issues, but I saw their Steeplechase run today and it was AMAZING!!!! It was a very technical course, not one that could be attack and they made it look so easy. It was absolutely beautiful.

Kristi here again - Mia needed a drink :-) So...let's see....let's start with the grand old lady. Patches made the cut in Leap N Chase so will be in
the finals tomorrow. However, since she is competing against Max, Betty don't
hold your breath!! (Max looks great!) PIII Standard was wonderful until the dog walk (3rd to last obstacle) when Patches gleefully leaped off and blew her run. Betty - did I mention we were going to train her dog walk???? She then ran in Oscar's Pairs with another lovely Aussie and they picked up 4th place. She had a smoking PIII Jumpers run, kept all the bars up and now only needs one more leg for her Jumpers Championship! Yay Patch!

Cinder was (once again) lovely today. Mom however, was a moron. I sent her
off course in Standard (and made her drop a bar) and then made her drop a bar in Jumpers (and she was being soooo good....) I had one slightly traumatic moment with Cin and Steeplechase today and it had nothing to do with her run. This is a four-ring show so there are bound to be conflicts. Well, I kept trying to move Cin up in the Steeplechase run because Advanced Pairs was also running at the same time. Of course they wanted to keep to "catalogue run order" and I kept saying "I have dog in Advanced Pairs to be immediately followed by a run in Oscar's Pairs and that ring takes precedence" and the gate steward at the Steeplechase ring kept saying "No, you can't move Cinder." To make a long, traumatic story short, AS I WAS RUNNING PATCHES I hear over the loudspeaker, "Kristi Cetrulo and Cinder - come to the Steeplechase ring NOW."
Yeah - slight meltdown....the good news is that Cinder was phenomenal and made the cut! Woo Hoo!!!

My star today was Gale. What a gal....She was paired with a veeerrryyy slllooooowww Aussie in Adv Pairs and was fast enough to make up the difference so picked up an Adv Pairs leg. Then she went over to Masters Jumpers and had a smoking course and picked up another leg! And then, she went and finished her AAD!!!!! YAY GALE!!!!!!! This show has gone ridiculously well - it is actually kind of embarassing. Now I know why Mia wanted to come!

One last thing - Finn's jumpers run. Mia came off the Steeplechase NOT HAPPY with the boy (as she wrote above) so at the Jumpers ring, she told me she was going to bust Finn for his startline and take him off the course. She put him on the line - led out partway - back turned to him, talked to the scribes - she really took her time and had her hands up the whole time. Then she got into position (at this point Mia was facing me and Finn - I was standing back from the ring) - raised her hand, said "Good Boy" and then looked at me (actually, more like glared...) and I could only shrug. Good boy - he didn't even THINK about breaking his stay! Funny guy - he knew Mia was not in mental show mode and figured out the game. And then laid down a lovely jumpers run. Go Figure.

Well, enough for now. Mia and I going to go out to dinner and actually get a full night's sleep. Stay warm and dry!

Kristi

Day 5....whew!

It's safe for me to write the report today, since it wasn't my best day showing. ;-) It was dumping this morning. We couldn't complain, since we'd had such lucky weather the previous days, but the ground is so saturated, the dumping definitely had an impact. I ran Max in PIII Standard (we had a refusal in the closing line, it was the first time I did a front cross option, when I should have just done a rear). The way I heard him go across the dogwalk, made it very easy to decide he'd be my only dog doing Standard (too bad, because it was another GREAT course, the course were awesome all weekend). I looked at the Snooker course and it looked like fun, but the way it was laid out you had to do the tire, every time you took a red... I've done a similar Snooker before and it was a blast, but I was concerned about doing so many tires in Snooker with the footing (tire requires an accurate jump and I was concerned about them slipping), so I pulled all my dogs. I'm sure it was fine, but they'd been soooooo good the previous 3 days, I didn't want to take any chances. Star and Max ran in Steeplechase/Leap 'n Chase. I went with fronts with Max and it just didn't work. He seemed a bit drained and I felt a bit off, so it wasn't our best run. He was 4th behind 3 very good dogs (one of which might be his Versatility Pair at Nationals...it would be a team of two really solid mixed-breeds, so mutt-lovers, keep your fingers-crossed) at least we picked up a cool ribbon to go with his plaque for Versatility Pairs. :-) Star was also not her best in Steeplechase, she was clean and did everything I asked, but I don't think she liked the soggy footing and had an upset stomach the night before. At any rate, after that it looked like it would be over an hour before Masters Gamblers, so Kristi and I decided we'd had a very good show and hit the road.

Kristi had a great day today. She played it very safe with Patches in Standard and they just missed time in PIII Standard. After running Patch, she scratched Cinder. She also scratched from Snooker, but had realized that Gale still needed a Adv. Gamblers leg for her AAD, so decided to give that a try, if the timing worked out. She ran Cinder in Steeplechase and had a really solid run. They ended up in the top 10 which is great for the quality of dogs that were there.
Right after Steeplechase (while I was picture shopping...I picked up the coolest pictures/posters/art of Finn and Star), she ran Gale over to the Adv. Gamblers class. They showed up while the dog ahead of them was running, so she gave the ball and her jacket to the gate steward and off they went. Gale was awesome. It appears that she REALLY likes just stepping into the ring without a big warm up. The gamble had 12 weaves in it and those of you who know Gale, know Kristi has been battling the weaves in competition (she's Finn's sister, so you know she's always super solid in practice ;-)). Gale was fast and furious in the opening and did the gamble like she was in her backyard, what a great way for her to finish her AAD. Woohoo!

I saw Terra and Seekers Steeplechase run, which was VERY pretty.
They are such a cool team to watch and a real testimony to training.
She's done such a GREAT job with him. They were in the money, but I can't remember their exact placement.

Diane and Gidget also had a TERRIFIC Steeplechase run today. They finished 5th in 26"! Way to go! Gidget and Diane finishing their ADCH was definitely the highlight of the weekend. What a great team and what a great accomplishment! The Labs are holding a solid lead in the most ADCHs in Santa Barbara. :-)

I also have to give a special thanks to my great teammates Terra and Kristi! I have such a great time with you guys and I REALLY appreciate you letting Star have a go on The Santa Barbarians. I also have to say, if you like USDAA, you have to plan on coming to this trial next year. Put in for time off early, it is worth it. I think it's my favorite show and I will definitely be going again next year! Tell your dogs they're good and Happy Easter! mia