I come to you today as I celebrate the actual feeling of spring. Which means only one important thing...the squirrels are moving like crazy!
I have had a good few weeks. We are settling in nicely with being a 4 dog house--now that everyone knows my particular rules about...EVERYTHING, we seem to be doing quite well.
We have received a bunch of late snow--so March has been fun for us--running and chasing each other through all the snow--and then coming in for some blow drying--to get warm and toasty. The humans do this for us. We just go stand by the bathroom door and then they warm us up and dry us off!
My brother and I both get this problem when we run in the snow--we get hundreds of snow balls all over us! They become annoying because you can hardly walk. Because Ciaran is so much shorter, he gathers up the most snowballs! It makes him mad, but he tries to eat them. The blow dryer works best on dog snowballs!
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| See all the terrible snow balls? They SUCK! |
Last weekend my mom took me to an agility trial in Winchester, VA at the Sportsplex and she was just planning on taking Hasten. She had originally decided she would just stay home because she had no one to run either of us since she is still not cleared for running. At the last minute she decided that practicing lead outs with Hasten would be a better waste of her money--than sitting home and doing nothing! So, because Dad was finishing two-12 hour night shifts--she took the 3 of us (leaving Fiona, in Samy's room) so that we wouldn't wake up Dad...well, it does happen--we get excited at the UPS man(have I mentioned how much I HATE that man?)...the squirrels...the air.
Anyway, it was a quite chilly day! I love a cold day!! We all loaded up and drove to the event. Mom took Hasten out to practice her lead out and planned 4 obstacles. Hasten was what the humans consider to be "good"--she sat obediently at the 1st obstacle when asked and she held her "wait" until she was released. Hasten got lots of praise and the BIG TREAT (frozen quality wet dog food in baby food jars!). Mom then said to a few friends who were standing around, "I have Barclay in the car if anyone wants to run him." John, a man I have never met, said, "I will run him." So, the two of us: man and excellent dog met, he gave me some treats and I said "Sure! I will run with you!"
Well, it was a fun jumpers/weaves course (and I don't usually like those) and even though I wasn't my fastest, I Q'd and got 4th place! Mom was ecstatic and I got to eat a BIG TREAT! Mom decided to stay at the trial the rest of the day, so John's wife, Stacy asked if she could run me. Stacy and John have always competed with labs...big, fast, loud labs. Stacy just recently got 2 Manchester Terriers--so she was excited to try her first run with a little dog. (It's an honor that I didn't mind bestowing on her.)
My time for Standard class approached. I have to tell you, I really like working with Stacy--she gave me treats like I was a 60 lb lab!!! Not an 18lb terrier! Mom was worried I was going to throw up on the course! All that chicken made me happy!
So, back to Standard... A small, child-like being was the leash runner. We started at the first obstacle and then turned to the 2nd and 3rd and as we turned, the small child-like being ran really fast up behind me. It actually startled me so I looked back--right as I was going over the double...and you guessed it, I dropped the bar! The rest of the course was very scary. I am pretty sure that that small being and the judge were in cahoots! I felt very stalked. I looked back at the judge several times and tried to tell her "BACK OFF!, Didn't you see that thing run after me!" I would like to file a report!!!" I was only 1 second under time with all that drama --and the judge asked to see my score sheet. She said that if I had made time she would have let me run again... well, I didn't make time (by 1 whole second) because I was busy worrying about my safety! Sheesh! Stacy was very unhappy--and then mom told her the news she had been keeping from everyone. That if I had Q'd in that class it would have been my 19th out of 20th for my PAX champion title. Well, that made Stacy even more upset. Mom reassured her--this was not the first of times we didn't Double Q because of one lousy second. It was all OK with Mom and fine with me...I still got the BIG TREAT!!!
The next day, Mom and Dad decided to take us all three back to Winchester for the 2nd day of the trial. I ran with Stacy again and we Q'd in Standard. I was 12 seconds under time and earned another 4th place ribbon! Mom was very happy! In Jumpers, I ran really fast--it was a fun, flowing course--none of those stupid pinwheels or 270 things that make a dog slow down--just fast and fun! I actually had a great time! I was again close to 10 seconds under time. Now, I'm not bragging or anything, but people, I am usually the dog who is 1-4 seconds OVER time! So, I earned my 19th Double Q toward my title! Everyone was happy. Mom was thrilled that she decided to go to the trial and we all got lots of treats! Ever Ciaran, because he got to try the practice jump, get a measurement and go meet people. If we get the video of me running-mom will put it up.
So, playing in the snow, chasing my brother and sisters around and keeping a look out for squirrels--a good month!!!
Barclay, the Reluctant, but this past week...rocking, fast Agility Dog!
P.S. Shhh! Don't tell too many people--they might expect me to be fast again!
