Fun times and cruddy weather (again!)

Secret is trying to garner sympathy for the boring weekend she just had to endure. Doesn't she look forlorn and pathetic? It's hard not being the center of attention all of the time.

Nope, no new titles earned this weekend for Secret. But we did finally get her very first NATCH bar! Family Dog Center was out at our March trial (and doesn't appear to be restocking, but that is another subject....) and I was pretty bummed that we wouldn't have a bar to commemorate Secret's very first NATCH.

Thankfully we have friends in high places -- in other words, we know the owner of Pebble Beach Designs who makes the most lovely Championship bars ever, complete with fun glittery ribbon stickers in practically any color you desire (PINK!). I talked to Kelly after the trial and asked her to make one for Secret.

Don't worry, Luke got one, too.  :o)

We (myself and our friend, Karen, who also did the same thing) put them out on the tables for everyone to sign and they turned out just beautiful. Hooray for having a bar to remember the occasion! I already talked to Kelly about having a bar ready for Kaiser's V-NATCH, which will hopefully happen at our next NADAC trial in June. Sheesh, June??

Secret actually handled the weekend very well, but then again I didn't really anticipate any problems. She doesn't seem to mind spending time in her crate and without having to come out to run the pressure was completely off her. I took her out a couple of times on Saturday to see if I could get her to play outside with me. The first time I used her Wubba. It was a slow start and she wasn't really into fetching it at first, but she did tug! And not for food, either -- real honest to goodness playing tug. We went out the second time to play with her frisbee and again were successful, but only if I kept the tosses short. My big takeaway is that I don't think Secret generalizes "playing" in new places well. Maybe if I worked on this it would help agility, too?

Sunday was just god-awful outside. It was raining when we left home in the morning and it soon turned into sleet and morphed into these weird balls of slush falling from the sky. We ended up with TWO INCHES of slush on the ground that day, which kind of canceled any plan of playing outside. I did take Secret out between classes once, though, and played with her on the mats behind our crates. I just grabbed an old rope toy out of my bag and hoped for the best, but she was really into it! She was pouncing and bouncing and tugging!

It wasn't quite as hard as I thought it would be to not run Secret, which is kind of sad to admit. There were several times when I wished she was entered (she totally would have gotten Chances on Saturday for sure, and I think she would have really enjoyed the Jumpers courses), but in the end I knew I made the right decision because I would have just been disappointed if she came out and was "blah" again. I'm getting so tired of waiting for the ground to firm up so that we can train again. Time is ticking down to our USDAA trial at the end of the month!

The boys were AWESOME this weekend! Maybe that's why it wasn't that hard to not have Secret running -- we didn't need her to pull up the Q rate like we sometimes do. lol

Kaiser had a perfect night on Wednesday running 3/3 with Qs in Weavers, Tunnelers and Touch-n-Go. His Tunnelers run was just shy of 6 yps, which may or may not be enough for another 100+ DRI. I'll be waiting eagerly for the results to be posted to check many of his runs from this weekend.

On Saturday Kaiser was da' man. Both of his Regular rounds were absolutely smoking! Not only that, they were incredibly consistent with only 0.05 seconds difference between rounds. Kaiser's second round was the fastest of the whole class -- in Regular! He was just spot on the whole day -- except of course for Touch-n-Go, which was the last Q he needed in that class for his V-NATCH. Oh well, we'll get that next time. I was hoping to come out of this trial just needing that last Tunnelers Q, but I guess Kaiser thought it would be more fitting to finish on Touch-n-Go. I can't really disagree!

Luke is still running as great as ever. We had a super nice first round of Regular on Saturday to win his class (and it's a surprisingly competitive group at 12" Veteran Skilled!). In round 2 he was kind of naughty and took the tunnel under the a-frame -- likely because he had too much speed coming around the back stretch and just didn't feel like collecting in time. It's probably a good thing that he didn't have a clean run, though, considering as soon as he crossed the finish line he squatted and started to poop in the arena. Ummm... No idea what that was about, but I'm thinking the pumpkin supplement I gave him that morning (more for Kaiser, but Luke got some, too) may have just run right through him. Everything was firm, so I was just baffled at why that would happen. Oh well, shit happens. Literally.

Chances was one of those courses that Luke can do in his sleep. He sailed through it easily for his first Q towards NATCH 5.  :o)  Jumpers was, well, not clean. In watching the video I think the blunder started with a slip on the turf, which caused him to cut in on the line. It was all downhill from there, but we had fun and the run ended well.

After Kaiser started Sunday 3/3 with Q's in Jumpers, Weavers & Chances, I thought just maybe we had a shot at a perfect day and a 12/13 weekend (holy crap, wouldn't that be awesome!). It wasn't meant to be, though, as in the first round of Regular he was a bit squirrely and took several extra obstacles. In the second round I was really pushing to get into place for a front cross using a lot of lateral distance. I'm not in frame on the video, but I'll just guess that I was doing something to cause him to keep running straight to take the off course jump.

But still, I'll take a 10/13 weekend for the little guy -- and both Chances Qs in one weekend, how awesome is that? Seven more until NATCH 2, but who's counting? I'm totally stoked to take the wee man to Champs this year. I tell you, if we can hold it together he has a really good shot. I'm getting excited already!

Luke was the main man yesterday with a perfect day! Not only were his runs clean, but they were FAST! Luke's Jumpers round was THREE SECONDS faster than Kaiser's, and Kaiser didn't exactly have a pokey run. I threw in a blind cross at the end (a tricky one) that Luke read perfectly and Kaiser didn't, which was the main difference -- but overall the run was just awesome. Chances wasn't a given for Luke yesterday, but he was a good boy and didn't fly over the a-frame at a distance, so he also picked up both Chances Qs for the weekend!

Thankfully the weather stopped and things warmed up a little before everyone had to head home from the trial (oh, by the way, I won the worker raffle again!!). The yard is, however, still a mess and several warm/dry days from being usable (and we really don't have any of those in the forecast). Gah, I am so tired of this. Secret and I seriously need to get some bonding time in here soon because we're driving each other nuts.

Kaiser continues to be the Golden Child and is getting all of the attention. As if his claim to fame from last week wasn't enough, the excitement continues -- I was contacted over the weekend and told that Target wants him back AGAIN to do another shoot. Jackets? So we are going back up to the Cities for another shoot tomorrow. I know very few details, so I guess I'll have to report back when I get home!

Poor Kaiser, though. He may be getting all of the attention, but he's also getting all of the baths! lol