Max & Skye Were Superstars!

We finished up our agility year with a bang!

Peter was sick with the flu, so I took both of the boys down to Cannon Falls for our final agility trial of the year. I was a little nervous about running Skye, because he gets real cranky with me. Peter and I have very different handling styles, and I'm pretty sure Skye thinks I'm doing it wrong. And he has no problems telling me so. I have tooth holes in my trial pants to prove it! :-)

Long story short:

Max Q'd four of his five runs, and now has eight of the forty qualifying runs he needs for his Championship. He was running and following direction like a pro yesterday. As usual, his one missed Q was my fault. He was again the only dog in his category, so he brought home lots of blue ribbons. :-) Even better, his hips didn't seem to be an issue at all. He didn't even look stiff or sore later that night, so I think that for now we have the right mix of activity and meds to keep him healthy.

Skye was very forgiving of my handing this time around, and he Q'd three of his four runs. He was competing against about six other dogs and placed 1st twice and 2nd once. Go, Skye, go! His Jumpers run was a beauty! It was a tough course, and even though he has a tendency to knock down bars on twisty courses, but he navigated his way through this one without flaw. Good boy! Finally, he got very grouchy on his fourth run, so I let him sit the fifth one out. He lets me know when he's had enough for the day. He was perfectly content to wait in his kennel while Max did his last run.

It was a long, chilly day in the horse barn but the boys did great, and it was fun to see all our agility friends one more time before packing it in for the winter. We plan on continuing lessons, then going back to competition in the spring when I can get outside between runs and walk Max to keep his hips warmed up without trudging through snowbanks.

As a bonus, when I got home, it was just in time to see my Wolves take on the Dallas Mavericks. We lost, but we put up a good fight! It will be fun to watch how the guys learn to work together this season with some of the new talent they've got.

Now I have to go clean up my house, and I want to finish up Jonathan Kellerman's new book, Bones. And I need to write a review or two. And I want to see where the heck I'm at with some of these Challenges I'm not done with. Good thing we got an extra hour today! :-)