Dog show weekend

I can't believe it's Thursday already. Time has definitely gotten past me this week.

Last weekend was the annual Columbia Kennel Club dog show. I hope some of you got to attend. There were many of us there, including quite a few of the instructors and all three owners. Kathy was chief bottle-washer and help-recruiter for Obedience and Rally. Ginger showed Ailsa in breed and Baker in Rally. Andrea showed Trip in breed. And I showed Cala in Rally.

I didn't know whether I'd be able to show or not; Cala had jammed a toe in agility practice the week before and obviously if she was still lame I wasn't going to ask her to jump, even the two low jumps she would have to negotiate in Rally Excellent. But that cleared up in enough time for me to get a bit of polishing-up practice done, so I felt we were ready. Or at least I thought we were ready until Saturday morning when I let myself get in a state over a bunch of stuff and only managed to walk the course twice (and even then I was anxious and upset). I ended up blowing right by a sign. There are many things that are forgivable in Rally. But not even attempting a sign? NQ. Not Qualified. Big fat zippo. Oh well. The good part was that Cala did the jump, both times, without going into a Cala-screaming-frenzy. This was really, really good news since I had thought I might have to retire her from Rally due to this loud overenthusiasm. Screaming like a demented banshee is perfectly okay in agility. In Rally, not so much. Very bad form. Missing signs was the order of the day. I was hardly the only one; in fact probably a majority of the competitors missed at least one sign. The judge had designed for one size ring only to get there and find it 10' shorter. So there were a load of signs jammed down on the end, and for some you had to go by one to get to the correct one. Lots of people missed or got lost.

Sunday I managed to get myself sane and we did finally get an Excellent leg.

This week seems to be medical week. Zipper went to get his teeth cleaned and x-rayed for submission to the OFA for hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, and legg-calve-perthes. Viva and Zipper both had acupuncture treatments today.

And my beloved Cala, on equipment last night for the first time since jamming her toe, took a chunk out of the pad of a different toe. We walked into the ring. She jumped two jumps and did the aframe, and came dashing back with a bloody foot. No vet for her, it'll heal. But big sigh nonetheless. Fortunately I only entered her in Jumpers at the ASCA trial the end of this month. Because it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to get much training in.