MACH Max

Stan was Winners Dog again today for another point. I've also neglected to mention that he also got his first rally novice leg on Friday.

Now, on to Max...that dog just ran like a pro for me this weekend on every run, Q or not. He was so serious and composed where I was not. He hit every contact on every course and made me so proud.

The weather yesterday had taken a turn for the worse and gotten very windy (grooming for the show ring was a futile effort). It got even windier overnight and I was glad we'd taken the top off our canopy. When I got to the trial site today, it proved to be a good choice and we took the tent down altogether.

I walked the Jumpers course and it looked pretty nice. Then the dogs started running and jumps and bars were getting blown over by the wind. When one of my friends ran her dog, several tents took flight and nearly went in the ring. I started to worry more about us getting run over by a tent mid-course (and my dog forever traumatized at agility trials) than anything else.

In the end, I don't remember a whit about the weather during those 31 seconds, or where anyone else was. I just know Max and I were on course having a blast. At one point, I realized that *I* needed to settle down - he was fine, time to let him do his thing. The only hairy moment came mid-weave-poles, when Max glanced over at our setup (where Jeff and Cujo, Stanley, Rhonda and Penny, and Nancy were all watching) and paused momentarily. On video, it doesn't even look like a pause - but for me, it felt like forever. Apparently (of course I couldn't hear this past my heartbeat) Stanley was screaming a chorus of "I WANT TO RUN!!!!!!!!!" Anyway, Max realized it was his obnoxious kid brother and went right back to weaving. When it got down to the last 2 jumps, I know I had a big grin on my face.

My friends took video and photos and I'll share those when I have them. I know we were pretty darn happy on our victory lap around the ring. I'm attaching one photo Caroline took yesterday...hey, it says it all.

Everyone is napping now while I try to catch up on neglected work. It hasn't quite sunk in yet, and I know Max has no idea it was more than any other agility run, but it was a wonderful day. Thanks to Jane for letting me share my life with him, thanks to Beth for training me to be a beardie owner, thanks to Tania for teaching us everything about agility!