Where did the summer go?

July, August and September have been a blur. So much so that I can't remember July. WTH? I'm pretty sure we did some agility shows, and I'm pretty sure we did ok! We did a USDAA show where I had one more chance to get a Grand Prix Q on Sally before Regionals in Chicago so we could even ENTER Grand Prix at Regionals. Well, on a wing and a prayer, she gets it. Ugliest Q ever and I did a whole lot of ugly savin' in that run, but we got'er'done. Who knew little Sally could pull it off in crunch time. But I do mean UGLY. I vaguely remember her landing well off the beaten path a few times and my doing some hideous rear crosses on the flat to save, and nasty shoulder pulls, and basically just anything that is not consistent with anything we try to stay consistent with. Oh well, it's Sally... Sometimes that girl makes me work my tail off. But she is always a rush! Moxie was already qualified for everything, so she was just running for USDAA MAD titling requirements. And for whatever reason, we cannot pull a Masters Standard leg off for love or money. She actually has 4 or 5 jumpers legs, 4 Snookers (with ZERO super Qs I might add), 2 gamblers legs and 5 pairs legs. And ZERO standard legs. This is the girl who QQs in AKC all the time. It's always some crazy thing too, never something that I expected. Hustle has 2 snookers legs and 2 jumpers legs, and is coming along nicely. Slowly, but nicely.
 August!!!!   I put the exclamation points there because that's how August felt. !!!   1st weekend of August was Chicago regionals. It was a blast. We went up early a day before and visited a dog beach. Let me just say, I could totally live in Chicago or the surrounding area. Lake Michigan is gorgeous. All the beauty of the ocean, none of the salt. Moxie was pretty sure she was in heaven. She saw the water and started whining long before we hit the sand. The dog beach was amazing because it was fenced in. You could just let your dog off leash and run. And run they did. My goodness, they all pretty much went feral immediately. My dogs who check in with me constantly on walks never looked back. It was so much fun to watch and I really want to take them back someday for an extended vacation. They were meant to be beach bums! The Chicago site was wonderful, except for the mosquitoes. So many that I am pretty sure most of us were anemic at the end of the day. We would RUN to our vehicles, then RUN back inside. It was terrible. The surface was nice and the dogs (and us) loved it. Moxie had a fantastic Regional. She got a Grand Prix leg, several assorted other legs, and get this, a MASTERS STANDARD LEG. Woot. April ran her in Steeplechase and they got a Q and had a fantastic run. Thanks April! Sally girl was AWESOME. She needed one more Grand Prix for Nationals, and wonder of wonder, she gets it at regionals. It was a wild run, but what run with her isn't? She didn't get many other Qs of the weekend, but she got what we needed and I was thrilled. Hustle had a few nice jumpers runs and a few terrible standard runs. He was having some serious dogwalk issues, and decided he had never seen weaves before. Everything else looked good, but back to the drawing board on the contact training. (He has since gotten over the fears!)
 2 weeks after regionals we got to be the weave pole dogs in a state fair show. For 11 days... In the scorching heat... In a nasty tent next to a porta potty.... In the parking lot of the Kentucky State Fair... But it was amazing!!!! The deal was, Lou Mack McCammon (the coolest frisbee dog guy ever, who puts on a fantastic show!) comes out, does his thing with his frisbee dogs, and we end the show by racing down a line of 24 weave poles, around a barrel, and back down the 24 poles. I have to say, it was a lot of work on the dogs. 3 shows a day, in heats of best out of 3 races. I used Sally and Moxie. April used Haze and Frenzy, and Adrian brought Panic for a few days. My girls did all 11 days. And they were fabulous. It was inspiring, honestly, to watch them work their tails off in 100+ degree heat, 3 times a day, in sparkly shirts. Sally got to run first, and we set her up to lose (and usually Frenzy kicked her ass anyway!) so that she wouldn't have to run twice. At 9 yrs old, I wasn't comfortable putting that much pressure on her. Moxie ran twice and was set up to win race 2, and the last race was just a go for it race. I held Sally and Moxie back, and got them jacked up (and believe me they were JACKED up, it was all I could do to hold Sally, and by race 3 Moxie was foaming at the mouth). It was awesome. They fed off the crowd, and so did we. We got to do meet and greets afterwards with the public. Too much fun. I can see the allure of show business now!
 On a sappy note, the last show was a bit emotional for me. Knowing that Sally will maybe never get to do this again hit me the last race. I think I maybe teared up watching her bark and try to dive into the weaves and generally just get to be her nutty self. Moxie was tired, but still gave it everything. They worked, and worked, and worked all week and never quit or gave me less than 110%. On the ride home, after it was all over, I got really sappy :)  Looking at them, sleeping in the truck, wagging their tails at me, it just hit me how DAMN AWESOME my dogs are. I'm so proud of them, and I love them so much it hurts sometimes. I wonder if they ever look at me and think "my mom is damn awesome". I guess I have a new goal :)