Sunday, April 11, 2010

Wichita Cluster weekend 2010

Back from the gym, trying to wind down and thought I would write a little bit about Miller and Harley's weekend. I am trying to make a mash up video of both dogs instead of separate videos so I can just upload one and be done. We only got 2 Qs videoed out of three between the two dogs but oh well. We left the video camera in the car for the first part of the morning as we were in a hurry since tony takes so dang long to get ready and he also wanted spangles this morning for breakfast. I normally just eat a granola bar but for some reason, forgot to pack them so had to eat out for breakfast. That much grease that early in the morning really does a number on my tummy!!!

Anyway, got to Wichita late friday night and swung by the show site to see if it was still open. I had heard that there was actually crating space this year so was hoping to get set up in a good location. I love this trial and I hate this trial. There is so much to do and watch including lure coursing, herding, agility, conformation, and obedience and so many vendors but with that comes tons of people, spectators, and not alot of space typically to set up your crates. To me, it looked like conformation entries were down this year because usually where we agility folks crate is surrounded by paid conformation crating and there was lots of space left for free. We have crated in the car in the past and i hate that because you never know what the weather is going to be like and it is usually too hot to leave them in the car.

Got to the hotel around 11ish and got checked in and drug all of our crap up the stairs. Four dogs have lots of crap to take with them in a hotel, even if it is just two nights. I had decided to bring a crate in this time since last time deuce decided to walk all over me all night and caused me to not get very much sleep. I tried leaving him out but about 3 am he decided it was time to walk on the momma and I couldn't sleep, plus his tummy was still a little unhappy from his dumpster diving antics. Saturday morning dawned way too early but at least we were set up and it was small to tall so we didn't have to be in a big hurry. I had two good runs with miller that weren't q runs. The weave poles in standard were going straight into the fence and I think I must have started slowing down and he popped out because i was slowing down. Who knows, he seems to do this alot here lately so it is something I am doing for sure. Other than that, he had an awesome run and had a great run going in jumpers too and knocked a bar. I was very happy with the way he ran even though they weren't Q runs. He was happy although he did break his stay in jumpers. I have got to get tough and make him stay as we were lucky this weekend that only one course really needed a lead out to be successful with the handling move I wanted to do. Harley was the star of the day, running fast and clean in JWW and getting a fourth place! I am so proud of tony and how he is coming along with harley. They are really gelling as a team and it shows! Harley seems so much more relaxed when he runs and alot of his issues are going away with the reduction in stress. Tony was really tickled that he did so well and that they beat out border collies for a Golden, Lab, Aussie, Aussie top four. Everyone is so supportive of him and all have been coming up to him telling him how well he is doing and he really loves it. I really miss running harley but I put way too much pressure on him and Tony doesn't and so he does better for him for sure!

We let Deuce do the herding instinct test (see deuce's blog for results) and then took the dogs out to go watch Barb's whippet do lure coursing. My dogs get so excited when other dogs lure course so I only had them out one at a time so we could really hold them. A whole bunch of agility folks came over and watched so it was fun. We went back to the hotel sunburnt and wind whipped and tired. I think we must have both laid down and died because we woke up and it was 7:30 at night! Tony really wanted to go to the dirt track as it was opening night and even though I wasn't hugely excited, I went. Just finding parking was horrible as I guess everyone in the little town of Park City comes to the races. I am not kidding, we drove around the parking lot for 30 minutes and tony had to race a guy for a spot and almost having a wreck in doing so. We had a good time watching the sprint cars and the modified cars and the kids racing but i was so tired and the nap made me feel worse not better. We didn't have our normal racing gear either so we got lots of dirt and rubber in our face and our ears got assaulted by the loud engines but it was fun. We left around 10ish and headed back to the hotel and died again!

Today was a good day too with Miller getting a double Q on some very fun courses. Harley ran past the weaves in standard, which I don't think I have seen him do since he was a puppy and then tony really pushed him in jumpers and he had multiple bars. I think Tony was bummed about his runs but happy because Miller got a fourth in standard today so we had reason to celebrate. I think that is our 5th QQ for our MACH 2 and our 4th QQ for nationals qualifying (even though we aren't going). I am hoping if we stay consistent that maybe MACH 2 will be a possibility. I know it was so awesome today to see Lynn and Scoot, who got there MACH the weekend after Miller and I did get their second MACH. Scoot is such an awesome aussie (i know, have run him:) and Lynn does such a great job handling him. They finished 26th out of 275 20 inch dogs at nationals which is a huge accomplishment for any aussie against so many border collies! Sara F also got her MACH this weekend with her little snazzie Maycee! It was so great to see so many people meet their goals with their dogs this weekend! I know how huge it is to get a MACH and I hope they all float on cloud 9 for a long time!

On another note, got lots of good books this weekend on starting my own doggy business. Dogwise was at the show so picked up three really good books. I am reading the business one right now and am learning so much! I am on the chapter about tax deductions and about what type of business you want to be and business plans and so far, I am not too scared yet! I really look forward to providing a service to the community and their pets and hope to get this up and started this summer. I have to get this going so that I can get insured so I don't get sued when I help people at their homes with their dogs. This is the main reason why I have decided to go through with this business thing and I really, really enjoy helping people and their dogs. I have been doing some one on one work at people's houses that I have met in wamego (met one lady at the track, one lady saw me working in the yard and stopped and started asking questions) but look forward to maybe having some group type classes and maybe even some puppy classes!

Well, better get off of here and go fold some laundry!

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