This was taken at our lesson at Cheryl’s last night.

Tonight, we went out for dinner, in part to celebrate Xen being A Very Good Dog, both in the agility demo, and even more so, at Canine Affair Center’s table.

Some of you know me from Indiana and CPE in western Ohio, particularly Dayton’s excellent club, Gem City. And many of you know Xen as the afraid-of-children Border Collie, who flipped out at a trial when some little boys were  around being little boys. Being dog-show-savvy little boys. They were NOT hassling my dog. They never even LOOKED AT my dog. They were not running and squealing and generally acting like prey. They were kinda bouncing at each other, and being friendly-playful.

Xen lost it, alarm barking, crouching, hiding behind me, just flipped out.

Zoe, in Spencer Indiana (can she really be going into the 5th grade this year??) worked with Xen and me (and got to run Jett on television!) and we got Xen okay around kids.

Yesterday, she was fine (really fine, not just holding-it-together fine, but FINE) for a little over two hours. She was doing her “chair” trick, in front of our table. Craning her neck up and out toward her adoring public, young and old, for pats and ear scritches. The first time folks came up to her and she turned her head away, instead of leaning toward, I packed up and we all went home.

The local Mexican restaurant that has always been okay with Xen in the past, has recently changed hands. The new management/staff seem even more inclined to cater to their Canine-American clientele than even the previous owners were. Yay! So our waiter came out to get our drink orders, and ask if we wanted chips, already bringing a glass of water (no ice) for Xen’s bowl.

“Oh, you remember us?” asked Rob?

“How could I forget a beautiful dog?” asked the waiter. Good waiter.

Not so difficult being A Good Dog when there’s no really interesting food.

But even when there is…

THAT, my friends, is A Very Sane Border Collie With An Off Button, Who Still Has Drive.

I just love that little sleek dog!

I’m too sexy for my fur,
Too sexy for my fur,
Too sexy by far,
And I’m too sexy for my crate,
Too sexy for my crate,
All the haters gonna hate.
I’m a showdog, you know what I mean,
And I do my little run on the dogwalk,
Yeah, on the dogwalk,
Yeah, I shake my little tush on the dogwalk….

So, Jett and Xen and Kate and I went to Working Dog Weekend at Lake Farmpark. Kate got to do a pretzel tunnel, which she thought was pretty cool, and both Jett and Xen participated in the agility demo (which included the pretzel tunnel.) Both  dogs showed VERY well, and ran happy and fast and clean and made me look like an awesome agility handler.

Here is Jett’s turn:

Xen, though, was far and away the star of the show. When she was working at Canine Affair Center’s table later, everyone recognized her as “the one who went so fast in the agility.”

And here is Xen’s turn…

As you can see, the fame has gone to her head. The above song is what I heard coming from Xen’s crate when I left for work this morning….

Last weekend was BRAG Agility’s wonderful June USDAA trial at Liberty Park, near Columbus, Ohio.

The trial at which Rob and I met four years ago, and at which we were married, two years ago. Our anniversary trial. This is gonna be a nice trial, no matter how our dogs do. And these days, for this trial, we camp! Yay, tent-camping! Now, this year, new-and-improved, with FIVE dogs! At a state campground, with a two-dog limit per site!

This means, basically, that we all have to be Very, Very Good Dogs. And that I have to arrange the campsite to screen the dogs as much as possible. Rob chose a perfect site for us this year, and all five dogs were fabulous. It was Kate’s first Camping Adventure. The dogs get an EZ-Up, EZed out to full size, but not so much Upped. Four crates (Xen and Kate shared) Friday night, then five crates (Xen glared) Saturday. Kate slept basically though the night both nights, and there was minimal fussage, even when Some Dogs got to Go Somewhere while Other Dogs stayed at Where We Where Staying. Hooray for Good Dogs!

Also, there was the actual trial. In which Rob handled Jett to her first and only ever Performance II Gamblers Q. I have been chasing this Q since October of 2008.

No, really. I have been.

Since then (by which I mean, including then), I have run Jett in  P2 Gamblers 14 times. We have NQed each of those times. Twice, we have gotten the points and the gamble, but been over time. Once, by literally .01 seconds. No P2 Gamblers joy.

It was a nice P2 gamble. I found out tonight that Rob handled it Not At All like I’d planned to handle it before a I had the walkthrough for a Team thing for Makoa With a Dash of Xen, and Rob said “Hey, you want me to just run her in Gamblers?”  and I said, “Yeah, run the old dog. I need to focus on this.”

And they got it. I did get to see, but did not film. And she went out there and was all Big and Brave (TM) and just did it. She was running fast and happy and clearing those 22″ jumps (at 12 and 1/2 years old.) It was fabulous.

And Xen’s aforementioned Team, put together at the last minute,  was Makoa with a Dash of Xen, comprised of my Xen (duh!), Linda Randall’s Dash (a fast, handsome, very Dashing red rough), and Jane Fornty’s rough tri, Makoa. Jane and Makoa are from the Pacific Northwest. We had shirts, and they were fun, and I’ll post pictures later.

We were okay in Gamblers, which was first. Then we all Eed in Jumpers, which was suckful. That was Saturday.

Then on Sunday, we were okay in Standard, and really okay in Snooker. And then Jane learned How BRAG Handles The Ribbons. Which includes a drawer with the sticker sheets.  Thusly, we discovered that Makoa had been scored incorrectly in Gambler’s, and thus, we went from 4th place and below-the-line to 4th place but above-the-line.

So, going into Team Relay, we had a chance. Not so much a great chance, but a chance.

And all went well. And Jane and I, both running the same bit, first and last, layered a jump and got  dogs through a fast tire aimed Right At a Chute, and around one jump, to the farther out jump. And all Rocked. And we apparently took First in Team Relay, and we all Qed and finished Third Overall in the DAM  Tournament.

And it was A Great, Awesome, Super Weekend.

With no pictures.