She Was a Showgirl

We managed only one Q this weekend at the USDAA trial in Golden but it was a big one. Miss Lola and I managed to pull a first place Q out of our ass in the Performance Grand Prix, earning us a bye into the finals at Regionals (if you win the finals at Regionals, you get a bye into the finals at Nationals) AND qualifying us for Nationals. I was stunned and amazed at this, especially since Lo's been having such ring stress issues lately. But she was nice and solid at this trial and though we had no other Q's she was running really nicely. The Advanced courses were pretty tough this weekend and there were no Q's in my standard or gamblers classes so I didn't feel too bad about it. Lola managed to smoothly pull off a hard weave pole entry in the standard class and I was over the moon about that. She had a really nice standard run but refused to lie down on the table, an ongoing problem we're having. She laid down on the ground next to the table but refused to do it on the table, much to the amusement of the judge (needless to say, I was NOT amused). She also blew her A-frame contact in the Snooker closing, costing the Q there but had an otherwise nice run. So now I'm thinking I might go to USDAA Nationals in Phoenix this fall. Cody still has plenty of chances to qualify but even if he doesn't it might be worth it to go for just one dog.

Cody seemed a bit unhinged this weekend, running out of the ring during the Grand Prix and standard run, taking an off course obstacle on his way back in. He didn't seem all that stressed out outside of the ring so who knows what was going on in his fuzzy little brain. I took him to handling class with Sandy last night and he did great once Sandy taught me a few things. I'm a little worried he might be injured but so far he's showing no signs of lameness. That doesn't mean he's not injured but I can't justify using sedatives to knock him out for an ortho exam unless I have some more compelling evidence that he's physically injured. He's such a freaky dog I don't know what to do about him sometimes and I'm a terrible doggie hypochondriac.

Next week I'm going back to the pool. Really, I am. Seriously, no foolin'. I'm also going to do the test the PT gave me to see if I can start running. I had no problems at all at the trial so hopefully things are healed up. My knee is still stiff and sore when I try to straighten it all the way but it's doing well with walking and the agility running. I'm still getting some weird popping and cracking but it doesn't hurt like it did before the surgery and it's in a different place. Don't think I'll do any tri's this summer, I'm too out of shape and I'm too nervous about rushing the running once I start back up. If things go well I might consider a sprint in the fall, we'll see, but for now I think I'll devote the time to the dogs.