From Mia: What a great trial this weekend!  I've come to the realization that they put on better trials up north.  The days aren't as long and things seem to flow better, plus the people are GREAT.  I would definitely rather drive north a few hours, instead of to LA.  I also have to take a moment to give a very big thanks to Nancy for her hospitality and great food.  The show was even more fun because of her kindness and great backyard.  She's a super lady and so humble considering all the success Chance has had.  I also have a new special spot for her in my heart, because she used to breed cattle dogs (GREAT looking acds I might add).   

It was a good day for me and the dogs today.  Max Qed in PIII Standard (3rd behind Jim Basic with Riot and Wicked).  Finn and Star both missed their weave entries (Max ran last I remember thinking as he went to the weaves, "that's what it looks like when they're going to get the entry), but both Star and Finn had really good contacts (Finn's startline was also VERY solid all weekend).  Star's teeter in Standard was her best ever!  I was so happy and then I heard Peggi B. cheering, which made a great agility moment even better.  Starlet is having more and more flashes of brilliance, I'm very proud of her. 

 After Standard came Gamblers for my dogs and the gamble had a teeter in it.  Six months ago I would have gone across the line for Starlet, but I made the decision early to try it with her.  Max went first and I thought we had a refusal (actually, I know we did, but I was too annoyed to cross the line and finished the gamble anyway).  After the class, I saw he was given a Q (5th) and I told the judge that he'd had a refusal (I heard her blow the whistle to say "no gamble"), but she said she'd changed her mind about the refusal, since she didn't think he'd committed to the second jump (he hadn't, but only because I'd done the laziest "go" in the history of the "go" command).  Star went next and had a less than stellar opening (I wasn't the clearest teammate), but she did the gamble.  That's right, Star did a gamble with a teeter in it and she made it look easy!  Woohoo!!!  Let me take a timeout to do a happy dance around the house..... Okay, then it was Finn's turn, it was another less than stellar opening, but another successful gamble!  Two gambles so far this year for Mr. Finn, he's on a role.  Another happy dance... 

Finn was the only one of my dogs in Steeplechase and laid down a great run and finished 2nd!  A ribbon for Betty and $45 in cash for me.  ;-) He was such a good boy.  He definitely picked the right classes to shine in this weekend, both his Grand Prix and his Steeplechase were some of his best runs ever.  Finn also Qed in Pairs with Wog (it was his RCH-Bronze, 15 Masters Pairs legs) and Max and Cinder picked up their 2nd Pairs leg in a row.  The curse is finally lifted!  Woohoo! 

Speaking of Cinder...what can I say, she and Kristi are in a magic time.  Cinder does everything Kristi asks her to do and they look like they can handle any challenge thrown their way.  It's such fun to watch!  I think the only run they didn't qualify in was Grand Prix, what's that 7 for 8...GREAT WEEKEND!  Way to go! Today, they had a solid Standard, did a great gamble and had an awesome Steeplechase.  In Steeplechase, Kristi thought she had been called on an A-frame contact, so she went into training mode for the second half (which did result in some incredible turns) and they still finished 5th!  Yay! 

Gale was a good girlie today.  Kristi left Standard after she did a solid A-frame (way to re-enforce criteria!) and she ran a solid half in her Pairs run.  Yay Gale! Kristi also picked up a Q in PIII Standard with Miss Reliable, Patches.  Woohoo! 

Chance had some great moments.  They had a super PI Jumpers run, aside from a knocked bar.  He looked GREAT in Standard!  Really super, but he didn't see the jump after the collapsed tunnel and crashed into the jump.  Up to that moment, he looked AMAZING.  He and Kristi have an exciting future ahead of them.  That said, he is my third favorite of Nancy's dogs.  Nancy has another aussie named Maddie (sp?) who is SUPER talented and her PWD (Kristi, note how I avoid dealing with the spelling) is DARLING.  Kristi's going to be busy. 

I didn't see many of Gidget's runs, but what I saw was impressive as always.  They were 4th in Steeplechase (an A-frame contact was called, but I'm sure her time was faster than Finn's).  I was ringside during their Steeplechase and witnessed a guy (I think he runs a small dog and I think he's from up north) frantically call his friend over to see "this incredible Lab" run.  Very cool.  Gidget is incredible and Diane has done an AMAZING job with all that talent. 

One of my favorite moments of the weekend was watching Rose run Chase in Starters Snooker today.  Rose was so great and handled a couple surprises incredible well.  Rose was running Chase, not Chase running Rose.  They made it all the way through 7 of the closing and finished 3rd in the class.  Woohoo!  I saw Kim (Rose's daughter) run Chase in a couple runs and Kim did a GREAT job.  Their Starters Jumpers run today was soooo pretty.   

Speaking of Kim, Pyro looks amazing.  I nearly got to run him in Snooker, but stepped aside, so Leslie could run him.  You better believe, if Leslie had another dog to run full-time, I would have been shoving her out of my way.  ;-)  He looks like a lot of fun! Kathy Brusca continued to impress with her two aussies, Abby and Dixie.  I didn't see many of their runs (I'm running 3 dogs...it's not my fault I miss runs...:-)), but I did see Abby and Kathy have a flawless Standard.  It could be a video of how a run should look. 

From Leslie: The trial was really fun and the 4 hour drive wasn't bad.  It's a nice site, and very dark and quiet for camping. The motorhome backed up to the courses so we could even watch out the window while laying on the bed, now that's the life!  Jiff is now in advanced and did great!  I don't know if it was the courses, or if it's starting to come together, but we both did well with her. The highlights were that Bruce got 4th in Grand Prix :-) and I qualified her in Steeplechase the first day (but pulled her out of the weaves, then lost my brain in the second run). Bruce got 1st in Standard, Q'd in Gamblers, I got 1st in Jumpers, Bruce was paired with Guy Blanke in Pairs - but Bruce slipped two jumps from the end and Jiff took the wrong jump. We told Rachel that she hadn't taught Bruce to handle from his knees well enough yet!  I also got to run Rayne in performance standard (she's such a great agility dog and just does what you ask her to do) and Pyro in Gamblers and Snooker. He's a kick to run, so fast and powerful! The show was over early so we got home around 7:00 and got unpacked.  All in all a very fun weekend! 

Back to Mia: I have to add, it's 4 hours in a motorhome, much faster in a Honda Element and I think even faster in a diesel van with a blue merle bc and a couple aussies... ;-)  Also, I hope Bruce picked up his placement ribbon for the Grand Prix, it was a beautiful run.  Leslie was too humble to add that Jiffy won today's Adv. Standard by 15 seconds!  Woohoo!  And a thanks to Bruce for the quick windshield cleaning before my departure today, it needed it.  Now if you could have done the nose prints on the inside, that would have gotten a tip.  ;-) 

 Okay, my FAVORITE moment of the weekend involves Peggi B...I have to say, I only saw a couple of Peggi's runs with Indy and they both had some really good moments, but I didn't see any of Jessie's runs.  So, how is Peggi part of my favorite moments?  (Actually, she's in the top two, her cheering for Star's teeter is my second favorite.)  Doghouse Arts has figured out another way to make us buy large portraits of our dogs and they did one of Jessie.  Peggi's response was what agility is about.  She was a bit choked up and very quickly acknowledged how short a time we have with our dogs and how much we should treasure it.  Her appreciation for the moment captured and how much she realized each moment with our dogs is precious...let's just say, she wasn't the only one a little teary.   

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  Tell your dogs they're good.  mia