07 September 2009

Bayteam USDAA Southwest Regionals Official Steeplechase Report

Since none of my dogs were running in any finals this time, I sat around and set jumps and took pictures of the Steeplechase Finals. Was a little sad and weird not to run any dogs in any finals at this show, but it's just been that kind of year. So instead, I'll provide the first official report about the Steeplechase Finals. You heard it here first.


Here's my friend Sue. Always matches her do-rags to her socks at dog agility. I'm not sure what today's theme was. It's hard to tell her dogs apart. I think that's Maddie though. But I might be wrong. Sue saved me a spot to put up my dog agility canopy thing this weekend. If it wasn't for Sue, I would have had to sit all by myself 100 miles away on the other side of the field. That's a real dog agility pal.


This is Karey. She is easy to find at dog agility because she always wears tie dye. Maybe Karey used to be a hippie? A lot of people in dog agility like tie dye, I've noticed. Because they were hippies? Or is a dog thing? Karey is also in charge of dog agility around here. If we didn't have Karey, I'm not sure if we would have dog shows. I heard she stayed up all night wearing a headlight lampshade making scribe sheets the other night. That's her dog Bump who is Hobbes's brother. If they start barking at the same time, you can tell they're related.


Here's Rob. Hobbes is his dog. Rob is running Wings here who is like Hobbes's sister but more like a Brady Bunch blended family kind of sister as opposed to Bump actual relative from the womb kind of thing. If it wasn't for Rob I wouldn't know jack about dog agility. I'm a lucky, lucky person to get to run Hobbes. I ran him in Pairs and Standard this weekend and Rob ran him in everything else. We were a little bit 5 faulty, but he did tables, dammit. Rob was wearing tie dyed socks and I wonder if they were a present from Karey? Or just that whole dog agility and tie dye thing?


This is Lisa. Both her dogs were in Steeplechase finals. I think this one might be Steamer. She is also a tie dye wearer. I'm not sure, ex hippie or just a dog thing? Maybe it's just how people like to dress up for Steeplechase these days if they don't want to wear a skort. Me and Lisa carried all the tables and put away the canopies after the dog show was over. Cleaning up the trial is the seedy underbelly of dog agility you never here about. You just carry and pack and carry and pack and carry and pack and don't pack it wrong or Jim gets cranky.


This isn't Jim. Jim is my other favorite dog agility teacher. I hold him partially responsible for Otterpop's Masters Gamblers win the other day. I thought it was Jim when I looked at the photo but it was Greg. Greg is married to my friend Tammy and I was sitting in his chair in the shade trying to take pictures when he was out there running dogs in the hot sun. I should put on my glasses before I write anything down. If I squint real hard, I can guess that he's running Tala out there. Not to be confused with Tania, who looked at this and was all, duh, Laura. That's not Jim.


This is Ashley and his dog Luka. Ashley is my tallest dog agility friend. I started taking lessons with Jim because Ruby could never beat Luka and Ashley took lessons with Jim. Jim thought that was really funny as in ha Ha HA funny and suggested I move Ruby down to Performance. Ashley takes Luka to Europe soon to compete in a World Team event. We're pretty sure they'll win.


That's my friend Kathleen and her dog JB. JB is Jim's dog Sweep's brother. Kathleen built forest agility, which is really Heart Dog Agility and is where I practice every single Monday. Kathleen is like one of the pioneers of dog agility in Santa Cruz. Except instead of a pioneer wagon now she has her own dog agility RV that even has internet. I don't think I've ever seen Kathleen in tie dye.


There's Debbie and Porsche. Porsche beats the pants off Otterpop on a regular basis. We still like them. Debbie is always very nice to us and is sure that we'll get that last SuperQ some day but she still beats us all the time just the same. Debbie was wearing a track suit with long sleeves. Probably so she didn't get sunburned.


There's Sandy and Quill. I don't know Sandy very well but Quill also beats the pants off Otterpop on a regular basis. There aren't very many 12" dogs in these parts. Even when Otterpop is running her fastest, she just can't beat Quill. I'm always happy when I get to run AFTER Quill in Snooker.


Actually this isn't even one of my friends. I don't even know him at all. I don't think he lives around here. But I liked his striped baseball pants and he had a dramatic falling down run the other day and just leaped back up and kept going. Maybe he's your friend and you can give him this picture. He's a sheltie guy.


This is Whitney and Cooper. She came over and introduced herself to me the other day so I'm just going to say she's my friend. Those corgis amaze me, that their stubby little legs can get them going like they do. Neither Whitney or the sheltie guy wore tie dye, and they're not from around here so maybe it's sort of a within a certain mile radius of the Grateful Dead kind of thing?

So that's the report. I missed a lot of photos because I was sitting in Tammy's big fluffy chair under her tent and then I got too lazy to get up to get any other photos and that's what kind of reporter I am. And actually, I have no idea who won or anything like that either. I know I saw Sue walking around with a fist full of cash afterwards. I'm gonna take a guess that most everyone in these pictures was. Fistful of cash or not, everyone's a champion, righty-o? See everybody next time.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

I thought Otterpop had a great jumpers round going yesterday...not many could say that.

That's Greg Leal, not Jim in the blue shirt.

The guy in the fancy stripes is Marq Cheek.

In case you were up late wondering about these things :)

team small dog said...

Oh my god. I need to put on my glasses at all times at this point if I can't tell Greg from Jim. And Tala from Sweep. Thanks for keeping me in line, Tania!

Anonymous said...

Hey! Maybe Otterpop is fine and you just need better glasses. Maybe you just think you are pointing to a jump, but you are actually pointing to the spot on the ground that Otterpop dutifully goes out to check out.

Whitney said...

Hi Laura - So good to meet you the other day! Thanks for putting our picture on your site. I'll tell Marq about his picture - he is from So. Cal and always wears a baseball outfit when he runs agility.

I am a big fan of team small dog and love to read your stories. I look forward to reading future reports of successful agility training and fun adventures with your wonderful dogs.

Your friends, Whitney and Cooper

Kathleen said...

Hey, nice picture of J.B. and me. You somehow made me look a lot thinner than I really am! Thanks! If the camera adds 10 lbs., in most pictures I usually feel like I must've had 2 or 3 cameras on me.

Ummm, yeah, you have never seen me in tie dye.... (Love it on Karey, though....)

Anonymous said...

I saw Ashley at the AKC World team try outs. He did a great job! After another fantastic run, a lady I don't usually claim to know went up to him and said "nice run Lurch!" For some odd reason, she actually thought that was his name. Everyone around was mortified. He was super gracious and just said "thank you" like he's called that all the time......

Elf said...

I am just now reading about the Steeplechase finals because I was very bummed about Tika having a great run until she hurt herself in tunnel #14. Our one chance to earn the big bucks, and we had it, i could feel it! But no. So we never go to even do the weaving poles.

Marq Cheek has this thing about sliding on his knees when his dog goes into the tunnel. When he started running, Terry and Dave were saying how he used to do this slide-on-his-knees-into-the-tunnel thing for dramatic effect, and lo and behold, 10 seconds later he does it. So it wasn't even a real fall.

His prior sheltie's name was Wild West Wyatt Earp, which I always thought was cool.

Marquand Cheek said...

Hey Laura and Team Small dog,
Your blog has reached all across the country as evidenced by a friend of mine in Pennsylvania (Katie Conn) sending me to your site. I'll make a point of introducing myself to you next time we venture N. from Ventura County to No. Cal. Hmmm, stripes make me feel thin and fast, but since they are of baseball variety it may subconsciously drive me into sliding actions. Perhaps if I switched to Tie-dyed outfits I'd maintain a more peaceful aura and stay upright!
Thnx for the pic. - Marquand Cheek and Lucas the Rifleman.

team small dog said...

Hi Marq! Glad you found it. We like your stripey pants! Dramatic flair and style points!