Back at Dirt Nite, in the dirt and kicking off a new project.

We're back at our own Dirt nite. Our dirt is stickier and gooier than the dirt in Kentucky. Instead of coming back covered in dust, like we did at the dog show all week, we come home covered in black, oily, rubbery grime. If Team Small Dog were beige, we'd probably prefer Kentucky. But all black dogs blends perfect with the dressage dirt in the matchy matchy department. Not that I am condoning matchy matchy, kittens. But when it's a quick coverup to filth, I think you let it go.

Team Small Dog is embarking on a new project. We'll be telling you about it soon. It involves less sleep and less coffee. Very David Carradine, Grasshopper. Having Dirt Nite at the end of a long work day, while still on the East Coast time is perfect for working on these new powerful mind skills of staying focused when your brain is a foggy sea of purple haze. That whole time change business is confounding. East Coast vs. West Coast is 3 hours. No wonder there's big rivalries. Big Poppa vs. Tupac may have been based on tired and cranky rappers with sleep deprivation going back and forth coast to coast. So 9pm last night was midnight in Kentuckian. Just like 7am course walking in Kentuckian was 4am Californian sleeping time.

Perfect time to use extra added focusing powers for better dog agility. You try snatching THAT pebble when you're jonesing on the Starbucks.

We tried. It worked. Super fast dogs. I am rotating Otterpop, Gustavo and Hobbes in class now. They were all super awesome and I tried to get maximum fastest running from all of them, really working on startlines. Gustavo and Hobbes have built in rocket power off the start, and just need to work on holding that start, Otterpop's speed start is now my obsession. We did it. Had rocket power. Even in a less caffeine purple haze.

Gustavo wasn't feral. Just the opposite. I think he missed agility. At the Nationals, I kept looking around thinking, oh man. Gustavo couldn't do this. The crating. The echo-y buildings. The scarey airplanes. But when he runs like he did last night, sure gives me a goal for him. And Otterpop. If I can keep her sound, and get her to run the way she did last night in the dog show ring off her startline, she would be unstoppable.

It's a clear theme. My dogs and I are great when we practice, but something happens on the way to the dog show. And herein sits our project idea.

We have our work cut out for us, but I get bored easily. Always need another project. And Project Runway, you are so 2008. Project Top Handler? It's going to take a village, but I am lining up huts for my Tim Gunns right now. And drinking a mighty weak cup of coffee. Because we're going to try to get really good at agility, starting now.