At the end of the Big Dog Show.

Let's see. How about the time I went off Course in the Grand Prix?

That would have been with Ruby. On likley a winning run. Here I was, nearly winning the Grand Prix, with a flawless and so fast run, and at the very end, I went off course! Wow! Like So Bonehead move is that. It is my second time EVER in a dog show to go off course and it has to be the time i would have ended up winning the Grand Prix. I think that says something about my competitive spirit. How much do I REALLY want to win?

After that run, the judge held the ring for a moment to come running over to tell me that, HEY, I would have won it, and that he was going to have a nice placque made up for me saying "Great Dog. Pity About the Handler". Did I mention bonehead? The moment I knew I was off course was the second to last jump, and I shrieked, screamed, and just let Ruby go on so she didn't know anything was up and sent her over the wrong one, so it was kind of a nice funny thing for everyone else, seeing me finishing screaming, which I think just made Ruby faster.

Ruby got a Q in her Masters Standard, and even though she got the gamble and mega points on Sunday, she knocked a bar in the gamble, so didn't get it. Such is our life. She was great, with the exception of her weave poles slowing down to a crawl by the end of the day on Sunday. She was fast everywhere else, which really leads me to believe something just hurts her in those weaves and I can't figure out what. She wasn't at all lame and didn't hit any other bars-I think the gamble one was me so excited to have her so fast (that's when she will work at a far distance) and that I made it through without walking the course (oh yeah, I didn't mention the trouble I was having getting to courses to walk them this weekend before they closed) that maybe I just shoved her too fast out over that jump.

Otterpop had Advanced Gamblers-with another teeter! Bad, bad, evil teeter far away. I didn't even try it, just ran out there with her, negating her Q. She flew off. I was mortified and freaked out that her teeter is ruined again. So her next run was her Standard, I just crept out to her teeter with her, told her there was a frisbee in it, and she had a great run with a genuine, real cupcake teeter. So now she moves to Masters Standard with the big dogs.

She also moves to Masters Jumpers after a very mediocre but fast enough to qualify jumpers run. That is going to be interesting. I don't really think of her as Masters material, but we will see. Of course her first show in Masters will be next weekeend's HUGE Dog Show. This weekend was a Big Dog Show. The next weekend is a West Coast Regional Event, which means HUGE Dog Show. Many, many people from far, far away. Mayhem, insanity, world class competition. Go Otterpop.

Not sure yet if Favo goes to this one. He was totally out of his little gourd all weekend at the general mayhem-just like a different dog than we have at home. Everyone was saying, "oh yes, that's a good thing. He's very high drive". Which is true, but I felt a little sorry for him-he was just so overwhelmed. He would settle down, but just didn't like it when I left him alone and just wanted to run around and meet and chase dogs all the rest of the time. I left him with great bones and treats in his crate when I left him but he had a few meltdowns. When he would settle down, he took walks and met many new people that gave him treats and played with him, so that part was awesome. But when it got too crazy, he became the barking, shrieking Mexican Song Dog that he truly is, and it is not a pretty sight.

And he escaped once! Not sure how. I left him a few times in the x-pen with the Mutants-I think it was one of those times and he must have squeezed out the door. He trotted over to another tent nearby and jumped in a lady's lap. They figured it out and put him back in his puppy crate. So that's good and bad. Bad that he is an escape artist, but good he didn't actually decide to go chase down a dog in the ring or run around looking for me. I forgot that I had labeled him escape artist from the get go, because he's so good at the barn in their dog pen, but he has it in him and he is very Narrow and can squeeze thru tiny little things like a tiny little rat with his rat whiskers.