A weekend of Agility started out a little rocky and ended with a victory drive home.
We begin Sat Morning by finding out our agility friends Mike and Cheri lost their dog Risk Friday night. He started his run, stopped, walked out of the ring, collapsed and was dead 4 hours later. Turns out he had a tumor on his spleen. My heart is breaking for Mike and Cheri and all of us hug our dogs. I am thankful once again for my good fortune of living with 4 wonderful dogs.
It was hard after finding out the sad news, but the show did go on. Fin did Q in standard, received her
AAD (Advanced Agility Dog Title), but we didn't Q in Grand
Prix. Gamblers went as expected. Working those contacts. I'm thankful for Gamblers because without it, we would not have had contacts for Sunday Team.
Before Steeplechase, Havoc came down (or should I say came up?) with something. She was really sick and Lord was it messy! We did have our friend who is a vet friend come take her temp and make sure it wasn't an emergency. She felt Havoc was not in immediate distress, but I was worried about the heat. After thinking about it for about a minute, we made the call to just load up the dogs, turn on the air conditioning, and go home missing the steeplechase (there will be other steeplechase...but there is only one Havoc).
We had already checked into our hotel and luckily we found someone who could use it. (Ended up there was a party in the room above and she had a rocky nights sleep. I slept like the angels in my bed at home).
Next morning up at 4:45 for the drive to agility. This time we left Havoc at home with dad and
SpaceMonkey got to spend the day with us.
DAM team was rocky. Fin was pretty good throughout, but
E'd in jumpers. Her team mates each made one mistake and it was doubtful that we'd make the cut off. But miracles do happen because Fins team came in with a few points to spare, and Fin is on her way to
USDAA Nationals in November!
Whoopteedo!
Next step, find someone, anyone, that wants to team up with me at Nationals!
The Screeeeming Monkeeees made their debut this past weekend. Our lead singer Gustavo rocked the stage with his moves. He had high notes and low notes but throughout it all entertained the crowd. Millie our tambourine player kept the beat and was our steady eddie, with her "Hello Kitty" accessories, she was absolutely fabulous. Fast paws Fin rocked the keyboards, but in her enthusiasm missed a few notes. All in all, the musak was entertaining, but the critics are saying the Monkeeees aren't ready for prime time just quite yet.
Our motto "the most E's in Agiliteeee" was true. I've often heard from people, if you don't come in first place in DAM, last place is the place to be. True to our name, we screamed into last place.
If they gave "Q's" for cuteness, our pups would have come in first. If they gave "Q's" for team support, our team would have been up there. Unfortunately, they give "Q's" for correct completion of the course and the screeming monkeee's just didn't get the job done. We are not disheartened and will be working on the band songs, tuning up the instruments, and heading on the road again soon!
Here is one of the stars of the show, "Otterpop," doing tricks at the start line. She was a superstar this weekend and is loved by her owner Laura of Team Small Dog. 
