Shane's 1st USDAA Trial & Woody's Last

Let's start with Woody first, as it's not good news. I thought I would try to finish Woody's AAD before retiring him. He needs 2 STD and 1 Gamblers run to finish. Well, Woody repeated his chute performance this weekend so we didn't get the STD legs and Gamblers was just too hard for us. Saturday, Woody came out of the chute and started rolling around on the fabric just like last weekend. A few people thought he might be mourning? Not sure about that. Sunday, he did the rolling around inside the chute so I had to get him out. In our Gamblers run, he started running toward the chute fabric to do it all again, but I managed to call him off. I think Woody's agility days are coming to an end.

Now on to the good news. Shane had a rough start on Saturday. First run was Starters Snooker. He managed to accumulate 4 points before going back onto the Aframe. I hesitated and he spun around to get back on the Aframe to get into his spot position for a treat. Thanks to USDAA rules, we still got a blue ribbon even though we didn't quality.

Next run was Starters Gamblers and I couldn't turn him enough to get the jumps, but we still managed 1st place. In Starters STD, he wouldn't get on the table and we took a wrong jump. Finally, at the end of the day, we got a 2nd place qualifying run in Starters Pairs with Mariah and Deb Vogel. I was so worried about catching him, that we had a bit of a struggle passing the baton. But, hey, I'll take 2nd for a Q anytime.

Sunday, I decide to give Shane a little Rescue Remedy for breakfast. Not sure if it had an effect, but we qualified in our first two runs: Starters Snooker and Starters Gamblers. What a thrill to run a fast dog cleanly. It felt amazing.

Well, I guess the rescue remedy wore off because in Starters STD he wouldn't get on the table again. We also have no start line, so I couldn't lead out and we missed the 2nd jump. In our last run of the day, Starters Jumpers, he was completely unfocused and would run off barking at nothing after almost every jump. Quite embarrassing.

Still, not too bad for a first show. The Georgetown Show Barn was hot, humid, and dirty, but not any worse than the previous weekend in Pearland. I must say that I am looking forward to cooler weather.

This was the first time that I'd seen all the TAG members since Jake left us and it was quite emotional for me to thank everyone for the cards, emails, flowers, and tributes. Dog people are the best people.