The blue crate is kind of like their green room.

So, while everyone who is anyone drove down to Madera this weekend (the 3 hour drive) to the USDAA trial, I dorked out and drove up to Elkgrove (the 2 hour drive) for the CPE trial.

CPE is to USDAA what the "B" horse show is to the "A" horse show. What the Old Navy Jeans are to the Lucky Brand Jeans. The Kia to the Lexus. Poison to Bon Jovi. Bottom shelf to Top Shelf. You get it.

But my dogs can be rockstars at CPE. Not only win all their classes (ok, one of Otterpop's wins included a bunch of faults and no Q because the class was small and they all had more faults) but rack up giganto amounts of points because I will try anything, since I just don't care how I do in CPE. Of course, I excel there way more than USDAA, possibly because I have no weird head trips there and just do it. And the courses are easier and it's just easy to be confident since the competition is a little easier. There are still some great dogs and handlers there, but there are also a lot of dogs who make it higher levels, somehow, somewhere, when they just don't look like they should. Easier scoring.

Ruby won every class and had some crazy fast times and crazy huge amounts of points. She did not miss a step, except for one weird freakout in a weave pole entry (all her poles were super fast!) which I think is because a dog had PEED there several dogs before and they didn't clean it all up. She hit the weaves and then did this like freaky flyout thing i have NEVER seen her do, which was like recoiling like she does if someone barfs in the house. Like someone has been BAD here! I was very, very proud of Ruby all day, she even came through with one late in the afternoon run during her sleeping off the morning time. She likes this venue, she likes their arenas, and she liked the weather. I took a lot of risks in her runs and each one paid off. Each of her wins and Q's was well deserved and with a time I liked and points that we worked hard for.

Same with Otterpop. I even tried a Super Q move in her snookers, which was so totally unneccessary for the points against her competition there, but will be in USDAA and why not practice? She was great. She rocked all three "7's". No other small dog attempted that one. She had one bobble on her last teeter, but that was after I was just drilling her over teeter after teeter after teeter, so I think she just was F*&k You-ing me on that last one for that. She ran like a demon all day-the fastest I've seen her in a trial.

Which is a good thing since she has been invited onto a team for this December Team Event. I teamed Ruby up right away with a friend, but put Otterpop's request into the agility universe and it was answered by a really good team that really seems to want her. I disclosed her sordid past of judge barking and teeter bailing, but they still picked her. Getting picked on a USDAA team is sort of like a popularity contest of good dogs. People want the good dogs on teams and not so much the bad dogs. Otterpop is popular now. Who would have ever thunk.

So they won big because maybe it's because I just don't worry about CPE. Like I do about USDAA. Homeless guy with fiddle to Buck Owens. It is possibly a psychology issue of my mental illness? And I make my dogs screw up and give them the curses? Or it was the weather and the nice dirt? Let's try to shock me out of that whole thing before the big team trial in December and just run em real good.