Shamrocks and Shenanigans

I figured the song "Shamrocks and Shenanigans" by "House of Pain" was fitting for this blog post.

This weekend I "ran" at the St. Paddy's Day Agility Trial. I went in hoping to gauge where I am at physically, do the best I can for my dogs. Qs were the last thing on my mind, I only entered them in half the trial. Saturday was a pretty bad day running wise, I was really stiff and sore. I had been in a great deal of pain since Thursday, and I didn't know why. It was the worst my knee had felt since I injured it 9 weeks ago. I managed to pull of some good runs and Qs in the process, good thing for independent obstacle performance. Feeling like crap on Saturday night I wrapped my leg in heat for over an hour, then kept and cold pack on it over night. I woke up Sunday morning feeling WAY better. It could have also been the 3 glasses of wine I slammed Saturday night ... great anti-oxidants you know. Sunday morning I kept heat on it for another hour and it loosened up so much, I did my stretching and it made the one run I did with each dog WAY better. Then I iced afterwards as always. I refuse to use my injury as an excuse for my dogs "Oh he/she didn't hit the yellow because my knee was sore", I did the best I could, and they returned the favour.

anyways, on to the fun stuff ...

Lets start with the Shamrocks ....

Despite my ability to give 100% to my dogs, Gyp prevailed and Qd in all 3 classes I "ran" her in. She Qd in Masters Gamblers and she earned her 24th and 25th Masters Standard Qs for her SILVER AWARD OF MERIT!! (25 Masters Standards and 50 Games). I would jump up and down if I could!!! I am so proud of my girl, she knows her job so well and is so honest and forgiving, I really couldn't ask for more. And I think I proved my point that she makes me look like a better handler than I actually am LOL!! She didn't miss a beat.

Amanda ran Gyp in Challenge and one Standard (the 2 classes that I couldn't run physically), and did a great job too, they were so close to Qs, I don't think I could have done a better job.

On to the Shenanigans ...

You Guess it, KALEB! He was really good considering! I only had him entered in 4 runs over the weekend and he Qd in Masters Gamblers - he really needs those games for his Gold Award, so I was thrilled to get a Gamble Q on a pretty tough Gamble that was not a gimme.

His other 3 runs were Standards, he tried his hardest for me, but my inability to handle to my maximum was more evident in running him, he is not the forgiving dog Gyp is. On the best of days he is much more difficult to run than Gyp, and he relies more on my movement to help with focus and motivation. I ran him in 2 Standards, 1 refusal in the weaves and he popped once (which is odd considering the end Gamble was a 15' weave send!!) Amanda ran him once and well, he is a mama's boy and he tried hard, but couldn't focus 100% without checking back to make sure I was watching him LOL.

It was a fun weekend, better than I thought it would be, I kept my chin up and was ready to accept what ever happened. It was great to see friends, cheer on our group, and hangout. I was thrilled for Sue and Piper who got their Lifetime Achievement Award, and it was cool to share some Champagne and be a part of a toast to them afterwards - a great way to end the weekend. I got home Sunday evening and my knee felt better than it had all weekend, not worse, which is great. I curled up with 3 of the best dogs around and a glass of wine - which Pete (the best guy ever) went out to get me last night since we were out, he was proud too.