Here It Comes Again, Lookin' Like a USDAA Trial

SUMMARY: Off to Turlock for the weekend.

Once again, agility boys & girls, the Merle Girls and I will be a-packin' it up at 4:00 Saturday morning and heading 2 hours out to the central valley in the middle of a heat wave for two days of agility.

On the up side, (1) it was as hot in my part of san jose as it was out in that part of the central valley this week, so what does it matter whether we're here or there?, and (2) it's supposed to be cooling down over the weekend.

So I'm hoping it won't even get close to 100 out there, especially with Tika's lower tolerance (apparently) for heat these days.

It's a small trial. Only 4 to 7 dogs in Tika's height class.

Only about 8 dogs in Starters, only about 10 in Advanced.

Fewer than 70 in Masters/P3/Veterans combined. (Well--OK, small is relative, but ya know, there were 187 at the Labor Day trial. Granted, that was a regional, but still--it's all relative.)

Steeplechase, Grand Prix, two each of Standard, Gamblers, Snooker, and Jumpers, and one Pairs Relay.

I've gone back to not practicing anything.

Class tonight--we'll see how my Not Practicing Strategy is paying off.

(Photos courtesy of Matt Mizenko, from the Regional.)