First I have to tell what great fun we all had at the Del Mar Wags for Wishes Event. It's the largest dog event in the US. There is agility competition, lure coursing, obedience, conformation, flyball, frisbee, dock dogs, the works. A lot of our agility students were debuting for the first time. Our agility clients become great friends as we take the journey together to train our dogs to compete in a team sport between man (or woman) and dog. It's quite the undertaking. Neither member of the team speak the same language and are from totally different species. The human member of the team must be patient, have a really good sense of humor, and above all get excited about their dog's training. My own dogs did very well this weekend. We didn't get tons of q's (qualifying runs) this weekend but we ran fast and had fun. That is ultimate goal. My students on the other hand rocked the house. Lysa with Guiness got 1st place in jumpers. Julia with Parker also got 1st place in jumpers. This was only her 2nd trial. Ian and Misty also got a 1st place with a blazing front cross the finish their course on top. Ian let me run Brandy his other sheltie in Novice. Her and I love each other. Lisa and Benson the lab came back after a haitis. He didn't qualify but he tried really hard to please his mom. Donna and Jezebelle were extremely impressive. They got 2nd place, their first run of their very first trial ever! She blazed her other courses as well. Diane with Buster the Brittany had great fun. Buster did his weaves ...yeah! He even conquered his fear of the chute and panel jump. Ranaye let me run Claudia the great dane in her first trial. She was a little worried and looked for mom but finished off strong. Bryce (son of Ranaye who is only 12) got to run my dog Easy in a masters level course. It was a great thrill for him and he almost qualified! He's a cool kid. Our cheerleaders consisted of Roxy the Cockapoo, Tchotkes the chihuahua, Tango & Lizzie the border collies, Max the Basenji, and Chezzy the Irish Setter. These guys are up and coming teams to watch for. Seeing all my students & friends running an agility course and having fun gives me such great happiness. Another great moment was when my puppy Gator got to try lure coursing for the first time. His natural instinct kicked in immediately and he chased that thing with a vengeance. By the third day of lure coursing, he was barking and screaming while chasing that darn bunny (not really folks....not a real bunny...it's a plastic bag on a line that goes really fast around a field). Gator will talk about his lure coursing adventure in our next email newsletter. You can sign up on the website if you don't get it already.