Let's start at the beginning...
I went to SchH on Thursday but only stayed for obedience since I had to get home to start packing the car. When you have 11 (yes 11, but don't tell the landlady or the neighbors!) dogs to take on a three day trip to San Diego, you know packing will take a while. And it did. We didn't go to bed until after 11 and we had to get up at 3:30 the next morning to make our 8:30 start time. Sleeeppyyy.
Everything fit in the car and I used my luggage rack on the back for my milk crate cart for carting practice and the drop cloth mat. Bet you didn't know you can fit 11 dogs in a 2006 Buick Rendezvous. 3 Belgian Malinois, a Mastiff breed that I don't want to name, a huge Tibetan Terrier, 2 Border Collies, an oversize Papillon, a heavy corgi, a normal Vallhund (is there such a thing? :) ) and a small poodle mix. Plus an x-pen, an additional wire folding crate, 2 folding chairs, luggage cart, 2 soft folding crates, 2 clothes bags, 4 additional training/ dog stuff bags. a soft cooler for food, a pillow and a bunch of extra random stuff like the x-pen top cover, the shafts (2 sets) for the cart and dog bowls. Yep, that car hold a lot of stuff. AND it gets around 23 mpg. Not great, but I don't think a huger SUV with less gas mileage is really going to hold much more stuff. It's all about dogs sharing crates and dogs riding on top of ffluffy.
Pie peaks out.
Everything was secured with straps and bungees.
We made it to San Diego in good time and set up. The trial was held on the grounds of a decommissioned Navy Base. Nice area, but directly under the take off path of a commercial airport with planes on an average of every 3 minutes. SUPER LOUD. You could not hear someone shouting right next to you when they took off.
Pie got a double Q. I think that is the last one she needs to qualify for the Nationals in Reno next year. Dottie was not so good, knocking 2 bars in one run and going around the table in standard. Actually, that run was ok- I just need to train driving to the table better.
Fancy got her Open Preferred jumpers title but knocked the double in standard. Fancy! She NEVER knocks bars but is not knocking them at 16. Too easy so she doesn't try?
We ate at Outback that night then watched a movie at the Motel 6. All the dogs except 2 joined us in the room- all good quiet dogs- no complaints.
The next day I was not showing. I had entered too late and it turned out to be a one judge trial so it filled. Drat.
However, we came prepared and practiced tracking at the agility show (on a short leash to comply with show rules) and Pie and Fancy practiced carting for our draft test next weekend. Dottie and Fancy did very nice tracking. Pie also practiced tracking but had some trouble, probably because the spot I picked for her turned out to be the most popular potty spot. Gross! Also, someone took an article I had placed after we crossed a sidewalk. It was a wooden dog ornament, so I could see why someone would want it. (I am sure they didn't realize I left it there on purpose.) None of the dogs are practicing for Variable Surface Tracking (VST) where you cross roads and such, so I needed the article to show her she was correct. I also needed to to make sure she crossed in the correct location. So it's "theft" messed us both up. A nice poop smear awaited us about a foot from our last article. Poor Pie!
We had some excitement when a swarm of bees that was hanging out on a wall found a new home in a water drainage spot and took their swarm into the air. I know swarming bees are not out to attack, but it still make me nervous. I hung out with the dogs while the bees settled down. It turned out fine.
After spending the day tracking, carting and hanging out, the best part was still to come! Bonnie's new family drove in from AZ to pick her up. They are wonderful and while she was tentative, I know she will settle in very quickly. They emailed me to let me know she claimed their small couch as hers, and is playing with their BC until they both drop. Dottie will miss having a playmate who shares ideas about how play should be (fast and hard) but I am so happy for Bonnie and her new family. They promised to send pictures every so often.
(Now we were down to 10 dogs. Is that more normal?)
That night we ate at Marie Calendars then watched some of the second Alien movie - which I haven't seen- but we had to turn it off to get to bed so we wouldn't be so tired.
The last day we drove 30 miles inland to an obedience show. The report is as follows- Dottie earned her last leg of her CD! She earned it in 3 tries. Too bad she is now ring wise and her heeling was terrible. I worked hard to train Dottie correctly (rather than the sloppy job I did on my other dogs) but the wheels already fell off...
In better news, Pie earned UDX leg number 5, with a 4th in Open B and a 4th in Utility B (small show.) The judge took 15 points off on our go-out alone! Crazy sharp pencil. And yet she took zero points off on our stand for exam but Pie wiggled a bit. Maybe she has certain exercises she feels strongly about. Pie was very happy because she thought it was an agility show. That might be the key for Pie. Show agility the first day, then obedience the second day. It doesn't even have to be on the same grounds. Our last 2 UDX Qs were both then she did agility first.
So it was a very busy, pretty successful weekend. Dragging 11 dogs around is not fun! Now we are down to 10... Happy Adoption Bonnie!!
But wait! It wasn't done. On Sunday night on the way home we stopped in West Hollywood at Hamburger Mary's for a fundraiser for a friend. The valet parker (who you had to use) was crazy and kept making us change our spot. I parked the car myself since we had loose dogs in the car. Seems like a good thing I did because as we were going inside we watched him back a nice red pickup truck forcefully into a dumpster. He didn't even check to see if there was damage. Yikes.
We played bingo and I won a game! When you win everyone pelts you with their loosing cards. All in good fun. Hamburger Mary's is a colorful place...
Another guy won the same time I did so we picked bingo ball and the highest one won. I got 45 and he got 44. Won by one! Notice anything interesting about the host up on stage?
Getting pelted...
Then, just to round out the weekend with more excitement, we got rear ended driving home and the other person didn't stop! Traffic was stopped and they stopped then went. Maybe their foot slipped off the brake or something. The impact didn't even jolt the car, just made noise. I had the luggage rack down for the cart so they ran into that which saved my bumper from getting scratched. There was no damage, but I could have done without it just the same.
Phew- I think I covered everything!
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