August and September

College has a way of eating up my time, especially when marching band is combined with Spanish homework. Getting five hours of sleep on a Tuesday night is a major accomplishment this semester.

Queezle and I have moved into our new apartment in Collegetown, along with three roommates. Queezle absolutely loves having four people on hand to feed and adore her, and has settled in well. For my part, I am enjoying the relatively level walk to classes as well as often having company on said walk (the 11 people in the upstairs portion of the house are also band people).

Tia collected some more Excellent Jumpers legs at the Cato trials mid-August, finishing up her MJP2 and getting started on the MJP3! The Bopper is like fine wine - she just keeps getting better with age. Queezle on the other hand was once again metaphorically for sale, so on the weekend we backed off and just did mini courses for each run. She's entered one day this coming weekend so we'll see what the state of our teamwork is after a couple weeks of very low-stress training (aka next to none).

Beyond that I don't think we've really done much of anything up until the Wine Country circuit the first weekend of October. Queezle doesn't have her hair back yet, so I was just showing other dogs in conformation. Belle the Vizsla went Best of Opposite on the first day for a three-point major, which puts her up to 7 points and one major! She didn't get anything the other three days, even though she showed really well in the super muddy ring on Sunday. Then I also showed Will the Sheltie puppy, who had a grand time and looked like a pro even though it was his first time showing. He didn't get any points, but it was good experience.

Queezle did get to lure course though! When she got out of the car and saw the stationary lures she knew exactly what we were doing. She ran well all three days rain or shine, and now has her Coursing Ability title!

Go dog, go!

Some Show Results

Once classes ended a few weeks ago, the dogs and I started hitting up various shows again.

First was the SOTC agility trial, where Tia had three qualifying runs in Excellent Jumpers and Flag the Ridgeback earned his second Novice Jumpers leg with a second place.

At the Alexander conformation shows, Queezle went Best of Breed both days. Belle the Vizsla showed well in the rain and mud but there was no competition for her.

Then we went to agility trials in Port Byron. Tia had another Q in Excellent Jumpers, and Queezle got her second Open standard leg!

This past weekend Queezle, Belle and I drove down to Wrightstown, PA for conformation shows. Belle went Winners Bitch the first two days, bringing her up to 3 points total. Queezle went Best of Breed every day, and on Sunday got a Herding Group 3!

Salt City Shows

Last weekend was the big Salt City Cluster at the Syracuse Fairgrounds. I was showing Tia in obedience, Flag the Rhodesian Ridgeback in agility and Belle the Vizsla in conformation.

Tia was the star of the weekend! On Thursday and Friday she showed with my mom in Open A. On Thursday she had a really nice individual but laid down in the last ten seconds of the sit stay. On Friday she put in another decent performance and qualified to earn her second leg with a score of 180 1/2! On Saturday I was able to show her. She did a lovely job (probably the best that she has ever worked for me), and qualified with a 184 to finish her CDX!

Flag had a rough start on Saturday, taking one jump and then leaving the ring to look for his owner. For Sunday we decided to have me pick him up at her house and not let him see or be anywhere near her until after his class, so that he would understand that he was stuck with me. It worked! He had a great run, and qualified with second place for his first NJP leg. Only two more to go!

This weekend was Belle's first show ever. I was really impressed with how great she was in the building - she wasn't bothered by any of the noises or the crowds. She showed like a pro both days, going Winners Bitch and Best of Opposite to earn her first point on Saturday.