Otterpop's Special Kentucky TSD Edition-Otterpop meets Miss Latifah, Kentucky Dog Psychic.

First of all. I have not lost my car keys in Louisville, and for this I am proud. I have however lost my phone, and managed to lock myself out of my hotel room twice already. For this I am not proud, but it is due to the poltergeists that apparently follow me around the country and take these damn things from me. Also, if you find my phone, I would be forever grateful for it's return.

Now on to more official dog agility news. Although I really wish I could find my phone. It's making me crazy! Today we ran the first round of the Performance Grand Prix, and Performance Team Gamblers.


To say that Grand Prix wasn't nerve wracking would be an understatement along the lines of something like, Laura never loses her keys or her phone. Like a lie. A bald faced lie. We're used to doing dog agility on a nice grassy field somewhere. Check this joint out. It's like doing agility in a majestic kingdom. A majestic kingdom of dust. See all that dirt? Not dirt. Dust. Mr. Ken of Dog Agility, please water that dust!


There's the Grand Prix course. I liked it. Although The Pressure of Wanting To Do Well made me almost want to barf before we ran. Which then makes Otterpop look like she has to barf. I was happy to be the second dog in, because I just wanted to think about OUR run and no one else's. And also fewer people to see us in case one of us barfed on the startline. Otterpop's run was ok. Another slow startline, although she sped up after a few obstacles. And neither of us barfed. Last I checked on the scoreboard, she may have won it, although I might be wrong because I don't even know where my phone is.


Our other run was Team Gamblers. Here's our friend Terry running his Team Gamblers. This was in the smaller building, which is like saying the smaller size Costco. Still a really big building, just without the extra added Majestic. For majestic, you have matching jumps and equipment and seats. The jumps in these 2 rings are sort of the hodge podge of plastic and sponge painted. It's pastel. It looks more like the Grandma Ring. I'm not sure if Susan Garrett has to run in here. I did see Marcus Topps in there, though. I am trying not to stalk him.


Otterpop's Gamblers, less than stunning. A mediocre collection of points, due to her sitting on the top of the a-frame and judge staring, and one barking at the judge moment. Oh NO, Otterpop. So far, she just isn't feeling the vibe of actually running in the Nationals. She's very happy to be on vacation and happy to hang out with me all day, but her runs, not at the super speed we work on at home.


So I did what any good trainer would do in my shoes. Go visit the Kentucky Dog Psychic, Ms. Latifah. She had a booth between a dog massage person and a vendor selling dog treats or leashes or pawprint sweatshirts or something. She talked to my team mate's dog. How many teams have had BOTH dogs talked to by a dog psychic? Does that make us psychos?

Moving on.

My teammate is awesome by the way. I am SUPER lucky to have Beth and Lexi as partners.


And hey, it was $25. When you're hemorrhaging money by the second on airplanes and hotels and special salmon dog treats, what's $25 to the psychic?


So before I go into GREAT DETAIL and transcribe the 4 pages of notes I scribbled during Otterpop's psychic visit, let me just say I tried not to look at the psychic, talk to the psychic, breathe in front of the psychic, or give the psychic any clues. This was widely discussed over dinner.


Some highlight tidbits only. Otterpop had some phrases. Whatever. She DOES NOT LIKE SURPRISES. That was stated in allcaps.

Otterpop likes structure and rules. She thanks me for allowing her to be who she is and not letting people touch her. She wants green beans in her diet and doesn't like it that we moved the shelf out of the bedroom at home. Because she is anal and needs her surroundings perfect. She is precise and focused and extremely intelligent. So much so that she could fly a plane.

Um. This is direct from my notes, kittens. A Lear Jet, to be exact. And she's worried about Ruby's illness and having pain. Oh, and her left back hip hurts sometimes.


She loves to do agility, LOVES it. But competing, meh. Take it or leave it. She thinks we're finally a good agility team. Her size used to be an issue, but now it isn't.

Most importantly, I don't talk to her enough. She needs me to be way more verbal and since she DOES NOT LIKE SURPRISES, I need to tell her my exact course before we run. That's right. Obstacle by obstacle, arm change by arm change. Because she understands every word I say.


She would do anything with me. She just wants to do whatever I want to do. If I want to put her on roller-skates, she'd do that.


I'm not even sure what to do with that. I didn't give her green beans for dinner. I did take her for a nice walk in Iroquois Park, a beautiful fall colored forest. We let the dogs run up a hill to the mountaintop, where we could look down over all of Louisville. Then we let them run back down. She sure liked that. We went to Churchill Downs again, so she could sit with the Barbaro statue. Her pal Luka thought this was great, Otterpop was sort of, Whatever.