You asked for boring, here it is, but with peppy beach photos.

OK. You're out there. We all just have the winter blahs. Tight pants and scowly faces and freaking out over money. Maybe if Barack wore a funny hat next time he gives a speech on tv? Or gets a border collie? And hires Heather from Elite Forces of Fuzzy Destruction to train it and bring it back and forth from her house to the White House on Airforce 1. And she'll take pictures and we'll all be super entertained and agility explodes and is no longer a fringe sport of the weird dog training ladies! Because then we will all have Blackberries!


So since you're ok with boring, at least those Norwegiens among you from the Midwest, here's some nice boring for you. Boring but I included beach photos from after work yesterday.

Old news that is new again:

Ruby is lame. Poor Ruby, Hinky Dog of Hinky Town. I have no idea what is wrong with her. She's been pretty darn sound for, like a year? You guys remember? There was that time I tried to run her after her getting kicked by the deer. Oops. Danger prone Daphne.

She looks sound at the trot and canter (I forget what we call this in dog language) but when she canters down to a jump (in dog language, hauls ass down to the jump), she looks all hinky (we say this in horse language too) and then flings herself over from even longer (horses are not ever allowed to fling, saints preserve us, give me more gray hairs) than she normally would with her unorthodox, bar hitting jump style (hang a leg and knock a rail in horse language). And there were a couple times when she was just running around the last couple days when all of a sudden she screeches out a random yelpie sound (would be seriously disturbing if a hinky horse ever made a random yelpie sound).

The good dog owners would have her in the chiro and the vet and the massage therapist and the xrays and the ultrasound and swim therapy. Hi! Team Small Dog here! We just put the hinky one in a crate for a while with a bone and if it stays hinky for too long then jack her up on the Metacam again, and no running for you, missy. We've been down this road before.

She was only entered in a couple things this weekend when we are at beautiful...Turlock! for the dog show. Hi Turlock friends! Turlock, where you will see cows and hear the train and the freeway and did I mention some cows? Come visit Ruby in my car, which is always parked super far from the ring and most of the dog show you see me running back and forth out to the car swapping black dogs in and out. Got herself a free pass out of another agility trial.

New News for the First Time:

Our Gustavo is going to run Standard for the Very First Time! With super weave poles and outstanding contacts JUST LIKE YOU PRACTICED TODAY GOO! Went allcaps on you for a minute just in case he can hear that. Boy o boy did he have a good practice. All speedy and focused. So maybe this is totally weirdo, but I brought a crate out on the field and reverted to the Space Pod game.

You remember that?

I sort of invented it yet actually, no, I stole it from Susan Garrett when he was but a pup.

This is a weak version of crate games where you use a crate as mission control center and send the dog from far off places across the field into the crate, and then release them out of it into a sequence. Also a super funny party trick. This was a huge element of his foundation, Space Pod Foundation. This is what happens when you teach a dog yourself and you get bored easily. I am pretty sure Moe Strenfel does not feature this on her dvd yet I could be wrong. It makes them go really fast though! Since he's been having to sit in a crate for less insane barking during practice, I thought why not make the crate fun again like when he was a teensy, shrieky, out of control little monster. I dunno. Still works good as a blast off station, and makes him happier and quieter in his crate when he thinks it is a piece of agility equipment.

And this is helping us prepare for the trial how?

And anyways. Well, was just trying to think of some news and that's how we practiced yesterday.

Unpleasant, Crabby News:

Otterpop, gets a try Sunday at Masters Gamblers for one of those pesky last Q's that stands between her and her ADCh. She's been extra unpleasant lately. Doesn't bode well for being a cheerful, well mannered lover of judges running near her this weekend. Send happy unicorn thoughts to Otterpop this week and bring her out of her funk. Like where unicorns stab you in the eye and leave you for dead in the desert covered with tar. For some reason she was been all rainbow brite ears for a while, and really is just back to her Bright Eyes Loving Emo unpleasant crabapple.

Don't bother saying hi to her at Turlock.

She's just send you the stink eye and think super mean things about how your pants fit.