First blog of the new year for the mill-man

I guess I have been doing it again, blogging about miller in deuce's blog instead of in his own blog. We have had two trials in the new year, SKC AKC trial and the Casa de Canine USDAA trial. I am a little happy and a little not so happy with our performances. Two things, start line stays and his dog walk contact. These both seem to be erroding at a hasty rate and i had to pull him on one his runs at the USDAA trial because he was being so naughty. I have started running with him on courses instead of lead outs so that he takes off running but now I can't get away from him at all on the start line. I feel like I am on borrowed time again so I hate pulling him for anything, but he was jumping the dog walk contact in gamblers, even when I had him do the dog walk twice. I NEEDED gamblers so let him get away with it and it sure did bite me in the ass. On sunday, he missed the first one so we went back and did a second one which he got. Got the gamble but because he took up so much time in the opening, he didn't get enough points so again, no gambler's legs. I may have to abandon even doing the dog walk in gamblers. I usually use it for training but if he misses it, I always re-do it and it may not be worth it. He has four P3 standard legs so it isn't like I need to work it for that. He did get his P3 jumpers title and so that is one less class for him to do. Really, really thinking that just getting his P3 title is the way to go and then maybe retire or let him play in the veterans class for fun. I can just run him in standard and gamblers and see how it goes. We got lumped down in with the P16s again this weekend for super Qs and our scores just weren't good enough with those awesome P16s like Roxy, Pilot, and Gator kicking ass. The other issue is that i want to travel for some USDAA shows for Deuce and to be able to make it economical and ride with others, I can really only take one dog. Poor miller, as my training goals shift with Deuce, so do my goals with him and his entries into shows or lack of. It really sucks because Miller is half way on double Qs for his MACH and he has been getting about 2 a weekend in AKC so i do see that it is a viable option for him to complete it this year. it is funny, i got him massaged at muttfest and the lady said if i didn't know his age, I would assume he was 6 or 7 based on his muscle tone and his structure and looks. Made me feel good and I hope that he can stay in good shape. He sure was back talking this weekend for sure! Tried to have Lori run him in P3 Jumpers on sunday but he wasn't really very happy about it. I tried hiding and wonder if it would have been better for him to know where i was instead. He ran most of the course with her but very slowly and quietly and then as soon as he was done, saw someone who looked like me and took off. What a character and what a momma's boy! To go from someone who loved his Daddy to someone who can't be without his momma is just funny. We have a three day trial coming up this weekend (actually has four days of showing available but only showing the old man two of the four and the baby three of the four) so excited to see how the mill man does. Another QQ or two would be nice, but if not, I still love my big nub and am so proud of all of the things we have accomplished together!