For only the second time in my years of going to lure coursing trials, I slept right through the alarms and woke up about 2 hours too late to make the trial on Saturday.  Bummer!  So the morning was spent sitting in front of the computer in my jammies, until Pat Taylor suggested that I ride along with her shopping.  I should know better, but I always spend more money when I go shopping with Pat than when I go to a trial, and today was no exception.  However, I only purchased things that I really needed so it wasn't too bad.

Sunday I woke up about 15 mintues BEFORE the alarm clock!  Got up & it was warmer outside than it was in the house even though it was raining.  Wonderful.  Got on the road at 4:50 am and the farther I drove the colder it got until I crossed into Pennsylvania and started seeing ice on all the trees & bushes, but still just raining.  Arrived at the trial site and there was one van, one pickup and one car (the field trial secretary) in the parking lot - so it was a very very small trial.  Only 8 Open Whippets, but that's a major so I was hopefull.

Well, it rained through the entire trial and it was a COLD rain.  The ice on the picnic tables never melted.  It was miserable.  None of the dogs ran up to their capabilities, and I understand that completely.  I'm sure I wasn't performing up to my capabilities either.

Derby finished 2nd by just one point, missing that second major, but picking up one championship point to bring his total to 14.  So now he just needs a major to finish his AKC field championship.  We'll have to wait until 2008 for another chance to get that.  Avery finished in a three way tie for 5th place, which we forfeited since there were no points involved, and Marseille finished last.

Both Ruby & Zuli were the only ones of their breed entered but Best in Field went to the Rhodesian Ridgeback who did have a very nice run.  Zuli too will have to wait until next year for another chance to finish her LCX-2 also.  The good thing about a trial this small is that we were all finished and I left the trial site at 12:15, getting home well before dark.  The dogs are all sound asleep now but we'll be going to bed early tonight!

~~Joanne

LONG day!  We went to the IWAGS trial held at North Branch, New Jersey today.  The field is 213 miles from my house and it does take me a full four hours to drive up there.  They were very slow getting going, and they run their JC test before the tiral, so we got a rather late start.  I was a big trial and even though everyone seemed to have their dogs ready to go to the line when it was their turn, it still took us all the way to sun down to finish the trial.

I ran Derby, Avery & Marseille in a full Open stake of 15 Whippets.  Derby finished 2nd for 3 points, bringing his total to 13 points, now all he needs a a second major to finish.  Avery finished 3rd for another 2 points, bringing her total to 7 points, but no majors yet.  Marseille finished out of the ribbons, but she showed me more speed than I thought she was capable of, and I was very pleased to see that.

Saluki Zuli had competition for once, and managed to win Best of Breed for two more points towards her LCX-2, bringing her total to 42 points.  Just three points short now.

Greyhound Ruby ran by herself, as the only Greyhound entered, but had a very nice run with Zuli for field and won Best in Field for 5 points, bringing her total to 33 points.

It was a very good day.  Any day that I can run 5 dogs and put points on 4 of them just HAS to be a good day.  Sort of makes up for those times that we come home empty handed.

~~Joanne

After spending one of those rare days at home on Saturday resting up from our Friday activities, we spent the day going to a health clinic in Purcelleville, VA. This clinic is held twice a year and the proceeds go to a rescue organization, so it's a great cause as well as a great service. Greyhound Ruby got her microchip, Saluki Zuli had her hips X-rayed for OFA evaluation and Kira had her eyes examined.

Today I learned that a "punctate cataract" can go away over time. This is something I did not know before, but two years ago when I had Kira's eyes tested she was said to have a punctate cataract, which basically means a small cataract, and it's not there now. When I mentioned to the vet that she'd had one, her response was "well I don't see it today." So I asked her if they could be caused by an injury (since Kira had that surgery to remove a piece of a stick from her eye when she was young) and the vet said yes they could be. So, while I don't necessarily understand it all, Kira's eyes were pronounced perfectly normal, and I'm quite pleased about that.

Another good day for the Jaytea pack.

~~Joanne

You know what they say - a bad day at a dog show is better than a good day at work and Ruby and I had a good day at the Catoctin Kennel Club's Rally Trial today.  In spite of getting a late start, and then hitting a detour in the last few miles that took us 15 minutes out of our way, we managed to get to the trial before our class was over.  They stuck us in at the end and I ran back out to the van to get Ruby.  By the time we got back into the building, everyone else was done and they were waiting for us.  All flustered, we went in the ring without even having a chance to see the course plan.  We had to sight-read the course.  While it was not pretty, there were only two sits in the course and we got both of them.  The last sign before the end was "Sit, fast forward from the sit" and when I gave Ruby the command to heel, she jumped straight up and then rushed across the finish line and then bounced a couple more times.  This was a BIG hit with the gallery.  I'm so lucky that Ruby has fun at everything we do including obedience, she just doesn't take any of it seriously.  We managed to score an 81, which is nicely above the minimum of 70 to qualify.  So we got the third and final leg on Ruby's Rally Novice title, and can now put the letters RN behind her name.  What a great way to finish off the year!  The drive home seemed to pass very quickly.

~~Joanne

I'm much happier today - out on the field watching my dogs run!  Like an idiot, I had 6 dogs entered in three breeds.   It was not a really large trial, so I ended up not having more than two minutes to stand still between getting dogs to the line and getting them ready for the next run.  Our results were much better here than in the breed ring!

Marseille ran well and finished just one point below 4 dogs that were tied for 3rd place

Kira finished tied for 1st in the Veterans class, but I forfeited her as I really didn't think she had enough left in her to win a run-off.  However this was the last run she needed to finish her Master Courser title, so she can now retire from AKC coursing

Avery was one of the 4 dogs tied for 3rd place and she won the run-off; adding another two points towards her Field Championship

Derby finished up in a tie for 1st place with one other dog, and he won the run-off for a FIVE POINT MAJOR.  I almost floated about that!  Those majors are SO hard to get in AKC coursing

Greyhound Ruby won Best of Breed over one other dog for 1 point and

Drumroll please;

Saluki Zuli was Best in Field for 5 points towards her LCX-2 leaving her only 5 points short of that title

Any day I can put points on 4 dogs and finish a title on a 5th dog is a day to be marked down and treasured!  They certainly don't come along that often!

~~Joanne