Great dog, shame about the handler

I think I'll put that saying on my next shirt design.  ;o)  But this is the latest wonderful creation from Amy at GreatDanePhotos.  Amy got so many wonderful pictures of the dogs at the MMBC trial over Labor Day weekend that I knew I needed to do something.  Since I never do anything with prints, I figured another shirt was my best bet.  No, I don't need another shirt, but it was my consolation prize for Kaiser not getting his NATCH.

Speaking of....  :o(   Nope, the little man did not get his NATCH at today's trial, either.  I totally psyched myself out.  In Chances terms, it was an *easy* course that all three of my dogs should be able to do in their sleep.  However, those are the courses you have to watch out for, as they seem to be the easiest to screw up.  I had it in my head that Kaiser could easily screw up in two spots -- he could miss the turn away into the pinwheel and shoot off course towards the tunnel or he would come blasting out of the tunnel so fast that he'd run past the a-frame, as he has been known to do.  He did both.  Totally my fault.

Secret was a good girl today!  She was running with good speed -- so good that I was totally late with a turn command out of a tunnel and she took an off course hoop.  It would help if I would handle my dog, not just watch her, you think?

The second round of Regular went much better for a Q.  Secret wasn't single stepping her weaves or anything today, but they were good trial speed for her!

I knew Secret could handle this Chances run no problem, and I was right.  What a good girl.  I do need to start being careful, though, because her contacts are getting sloppy....  That said, when I looked at my records tonight I see that the baby dog is now just FIVE Chances Q's from her NATCH!  Holy cow, how did that happen?

Luke was a superstar today.  It has felt like we just haven't "clicked" at the last several trials, but today we felt like a real team again.  Luke had a perfect day, going four for four!  Yay, old man!  He's looking great at 12".  There were no bonus line opportunities to tempt me and I shouldn't be trying them anyhow.  Maybe some day we'll start to train for that again....

Aside from not getting Chances, Kaiser didn't get either Regular run, either.  BUT, it was not for getting his dog walk called.  ;o)  Hey, I have to appreciate the little things here.  He did have a lovely Jumpers run at the end of the day for his only Q, though.  Hopefully we can improve on that tomorrow.  And, fingers crossed, maybe I won't totally psych myself out over that darn Chances run.

Video!

Secret


Luke


Kaiser


And a super fun highlight of my day -- My friend, Colleen, let me run her baby dog, Jet.  Jet just started trialing a few months ago and so far nobody else has tried to run him.  Colleen didn't think he would run for me, but she was game to let me try.  It was a giant thrill, as I've always wanted to try my hand at running a "really fast" dog.  What a rush, he's an awesome dog!