Another Gorgeous Hike!

Perfect Day!

This is so my perfect weather... 50 degrees, sun out and a slight breeze.  I could have hiked all day, but we ran out of daylight.  I must say that Fall/Winter are my favorite seasons.  Great weather with beautiful colors everywhere.

The end of the hike.

Notice that the red dots are when I stop to take photos.  Poor pups never get a break!

 

Gorgeous Performance!

Holy crap Gorgie is fast at 16 inches! I decided to retire her in championship after CYNOSPORT and start her in performance. What a perfect place to end her championship career.

Today was the first training at that height and she looks great! Though she still has those "senior moments" (opposite of baby dog and when I need an excuse... ha!) and knocks a bar, but she looks happy.

I was proud how she performed at national's, but there is no reason to keep her at 22 when she's only 18 inches tall and at 7 years old. I've done more than what I planned on doing with her in agility.

Gorgie's debut in performance will be on Saturday the 23rd in Frankston. We are only doing tournaments and a snooker run... Handsome too!

Here's a photo taken by GreatDanePhotos at CYNOSPORT... one of her last photos at 22 inches. (I bought this and the other photos, but they won't be ready for download until the 22nd)

Weekend Herding Trial Results

My dogs and I had a great weekend trialing at Alamar Farm in Van Alstyne, TX.  On Saturday, I wasn’t able to get Gorgeous in Advanced B course sheep as the trial was already full… such a bummer.  It was painful to watch not being able to participate.

Well both Handsome and Gorgeous were entered in Advanced A course sheep and both qualified… Gorgie with a 4^th place.

 

Today Gorgeous and I got to run Advanced B course sheep and we qualified with a 2^nd place out of 11 dogs!  Only two qualified as handlers were having difficulty shedding the sheep.  Gorgie and I got it on our first attempt… so proud!

Handsome and Gorgeous both qualified in Advanced A course sheep… Handsome with a 2^nd place!!!  What a good boy!  Gorgie had a beautiful run until I got to the cross drive and downed her too late after the pen and lost them.  We missed the panels, so that knocked us way down.

Handsome’s weekend on ducks let me know that we need a weee bit more training before we enter in Advanced A course again.  Ducks sure do test your patience!

Below is a photo of my kids after they were finished on Saturday.

 

Late evening hike!

Sister Grove Park

A beautiful afternoon/evening to hike!

One of the many reasons why I like to hike, is that I never miss out on the simple beauties of this world.

My New Fur Wrap

Changing the bed sheets...

Because the merest hint of even a pillow slip change brings about high levels of excitement in Bumble, I decided to shut the bedroom door so I could change sheets. Well... as you can see he wasn't amused.

Hiking we shall go!

Beautiful day to hike!

Video of Handsome's PVP Team Relay Finals!

I never thought I would get to any of the final events in CYNOSPORT... it was only a dream and with a different dog. One thing I did learn is that you don't need a fast dog to get you there. Handsome and teammate Senna proved that with efficiency it can be done.

Thanks to Elizabeth Evans who believed from the start that Handsome could be a national finalist! We did it!

Here's the video of Handsome and Senna running one of the most coveted events in the USDAA dog agility world.

Hike!

A well deserved hike today!

Dog Agility World Championships - Last Day

We ran Performance and Masters Challenge Standard this morning.  Gorgie was all over the place, but it looked like she was enjoying herself while doing it.  Nice way to end her national's!

Also another nice way to end "my" national's is forgetting the sequence with Handsome, NOT! I can't believe I completely passed a jump! Well... yes I can as it seems to be a trend for me in the past year. crap. I still don't know what I was thinking other than I was really tired and all the runs were mixing together. Still... I ran it with Gorgie already and saw others run it 100+ times. Too bad as it was going nice for him. He placed 21st with three faults... at least we weren't eliminated.

Handsome ended up in 9th place for the Biathlon Performance Masters Challenge. I wonder what placing he would have gotten if I didn't pull him away from the jump in Standard... such a bummer.

Here's a great moment for me.  While Handsome and I were sitting around in the stands waiting for our run, he was rooing to me.  Like many times... more than normal.  He had the Happy Hands face on.  It looked like he was having a really good time.  He was probably saying to me "we really had a great week Mom... I hope I made you proud."  Well he did.

Thank y'all for your wonderful comments, encouraging words, and support.  Thanks also for taking the time to read about my first experience at a national event with my dogs.  Funny thing if you would have told me a year ago when I was trying to get my health back, that I was going to CYNOSPORT and compete in one of the final's, I would have said you lost your marbles!

Well I am blessed for sure and grateful in all that has been given to me.  I'll post video of our final's run and of the weeks events later along with action photos.

Here's a picture of today's Pup Portrait brought to you by the great state of Texas!  We were very excited to reach the Texas border as we were traveling back home.

Handsome a National Finalist!

Handsome and his teammate Senna (handler Debbie Spence) are National Finalist in the USDAA Dog Agility World Championships!  They ended up in 16th place out of 178 dogs and got to run relay under lights this past night.

Here again is their team photo!

Dog Agility World Championships - Day Four

Dog Agility World Championships Day four - Gosh where do I begin... so much has happened today.  I'll start with one of yesterday's results with Handsome.  He was .86 seconds for making time in Performance Masters Challenge.  No Q, but he got 6th place!

Gorgie's had a fault in both her Team Standard run and Grand Prix Semi finals.  Even though we faulted in the GP SF run, that was one heck of a ride Miss Gorgie!  Oh and she did fantastic when I worked her on the sheep they had out there!

Handsome ran his PV Standard run clean.  I front crossed too much to get to the teeter and almost put him over a nearby jump.  Luckily I was able to get him back, but it cost us time.  We ended up in 20th place.  In PV Jumpers we had one bar and ended up in 23rd place from 9th with the extra 5 seconds added on.

Handsome's team "High Speed" was in 37th place as of yesterday.  I thought the knocked bar with the added time would not help us to move up.  So I went back to the hotel and started to unload and relax for the evening.  Well what a surprise when I saw the Performance Versatility Team report and saw that we were in 16th place out of 178 teams!!!  Back to the trial site to run relay under the lights with the other 23 other teams that made the cut!  Now THAT was freak'n awesome running in that event.  I still hear the cheering in my head.  Thank you friends!

One of the coolest parts was walking towards the arena to do our run.  It was dark, quiet, no agility equipment, and very few people in the first part.  Then as I continued to walk... I heard the people cheering for the other teams running, and then I came into the light.  I was overwhelmed with emotions and stunned still that we were a part of this.  No more doubting Handsome... ever!

Thank you Handsome for making yet another big event awesome and memorable. 

Two more runs tomorrow morning!  Performance and Masters Challenge Standard.  

Here's a photo of the sheep and arena that I got to work my dogs in between agility runs.  Wow, best of both worlds out here!

Dog Agility World Championships - Day Three

Dog Agility World Championships Day three - Today I really really enjoyed myself!  I had SIX RUNS!  They were perfectly spread out too with Gorgie running her three in the morning and Handsome running his three in the afternoon.  Handsome was first up in all of his runs.  That let me have time to savor the moment with him at the start line while they were setting up his jump height.  Unforgettable moments with my boy.

Here's the run down... Gorgie's Team Gamblers could have placed her in the top ten (all results not in) if she got her DW contact.  We were messy in the Masters Challenge Jumpers and a bar in Steeplechase Quarter Finals.

Handsome started off with Performance Speed Jumping Quarter Finals where he passed a jump.  I got him back on line, but we lost too much time... clean otherwise!  Next was Performance Masters Challenge Jumpers which he was clean in!  Last was Performance Gamblers which he ran my plan faster than I thought.  I was able to add a couple more jumps at the end.  In the closing he past the last jump!  I was scrambling to get him over it to stop the clock... we made it!  Whew!  Not sure on results of the last two runs as they're not posted yet.

I'm ready for another fabulous day tomorrow!  So glad I'm here!  Wonderful site to trial in, and I love the cold weather!  

Here's our morning Pup Portrait...

Here's our night Pup Portrait...

Dog Agility World Championships - Day Two

Dog Agility World Championships Day two - Gorgie's Team Snooker was going great until she knocked #4 bar in the closing.  In Team Jumpers, I noticed a lot of dogs knocking the first bar.  When I was up, I saw the hole everyone was talking about before the jump.  I knew this wasn't good for us and I was right... she knocked the first bar.  I was so frazzled that I put her in the wrong end of the tunnel... crap. 

Now for the main man...  In PVP Snooker, Handsome and his teammate Senna ran the same plan, and both ran out of time in the last half of #7... crap and so close!  Still we gathered some good points!

Now for the most thrilling part of the day... running Performance Grand Prix Semi Finals with Handsome.  I made sure I remembered every moment of that run... what a high I was on.  We were clean! 

And one of the best parts of that run was seeing my friend and instructor Elizabeth Evans at the end.  It reminded me of my first private lesson with EE when Handsome was over a year old and I was clueless in agility.  When she saw Handsome work, she told me that she could see me taking him to the National's.  I was awestruck and inspired ever since.  Thanks EE for believing in us... we did it!

Here's today's Pup Portrait brought to you by Murfreesboro, TN!

Also, we got another member for our team!  They added a dog that his name started with a "G."  So GGG Force is back in business!!!

CYNOSPORT World Games Results!

Results from yesterday... Handsome received 9th place in Performance Speed Jumping. Gorgie received 24th in Steeplechase and 10th in Grand Prix out of 200 dogs!!!

Here's their bling!  I even got a polo shirt to run Handsome in the Grand Prix Semifinals which he already had a bye for!

Gorgie's GP polo shirt is blue!  Whoops, added the wrong ribbon with it from above.