Well, just got back from the Wichita show and boy am i tired! We camped this weekend and either froze our butts off or the wind just about blew us away. At least this year we actually had a pop up camper and we weren't on the ground as usual. Wichita is one of the big shows as they have conformation, obedience, rally, herding, agility, and lure coursing. There are tons of vendors and tons of spectators. It can be a good situation as well as bad for the pocket book!
Miller and I started out the weekend good, qualifiying in jumpers and getting 7th place with 10 MACH points. For those of you who don't know agility, the MACH or master agility champion is the goal of every agility competitor. It is the top award you can achieve with your dog and is highly coveted. To get it, you must be in Excellent B in both the jumpers class and the standard class. You have to have 20 double Qs which means in one day, you have to qualify in both classes and you have to gather speed points to total 750. Speed points are achieved by getting times under standard course time, so the faster you run, the better. Anyway, we were disappointed in the fact that we didn't double Q that day, but miller decided he was superman and didn't need to stop on the contact on the dog walk, but yet flying off the dog walk was an option, so I got a good training opportunity in.
Saturday dawned after a good nights sleep in the camper and a good meal at the good ole Cracker barrel. We actually got a much needed double Q with a second place in standard and 25 MACH points and a third in jumpers with 13 MACH points. We went out to applebees to celebrate that night and actually started out in the camper with no problems. As the night progressed however, the wind started blowing with gale force and the camper was rocking violently. I don't think I could sleep as I was afraid we were going to tip over. I finally ended up sleeping in the van and not getting much sleep at all. My camping mate was wide awake at 5:30 (we didn't need to be at the venue until 7:30 or so) and she decided since I was in the van, she could break down the camper in the dark and cold. I tried to help her, but she was a woman on a mission!
Sunday started out good with a Q in standard and a second place and 27 MACH points. I am up to 583 out of 750 so I think I will make my points this year. He got second by 0.01 of a second to a border collie who was a litter mate to Juice. Juice is a world team member's dog and has won every top award in every venue including international venues. We didn't Q in jumpers but i think he was tired and ready to go home. I don't think he wanted to wait around until ribbons were handed out anyway. We got to go watch barb's dog lure course which is really cool if you haven't seen it before. I ended up frequenting the vendors too much but we didn't have to pay for camping and I didn't have to pay for gas since I rode with someone so it was a win win situation for me. Now I have to go back to work and try not to miss showing for two weeks!
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