Sadie's middle finger

What happened to my finger? Well I was working and got my finger in a place it should not have been.....between the tongue of the trailer and the jack holding it up :) It wasn't quite on the ball of the hitch and i went to move it over and it did go on, but unfortunately i didn't lower the jack low enough and my finger got smashed/cut/chopped/squished/compressed/squeezed in there. I didn't hardly yell, but I did start to profusely sweat. I did end up going home to get aspirin and a band aid and went back to work. The next day i could hardly move it. I'll probably lose the nail, it looks hideously blue and black with the nail cracked in half. Not a pretty sight. That night Sadie jumped up and bit it as she though it was a 'treat' in my hand. I fell to the floor in pain and she high tailed it outta there only to come back and lick my face....she just knows when you need a good face lick ;)

So Sadie's middle finger....Ah yes. Well she didn't hurt it but she sure showed it to me at the Agility trial!

The Fargo-Moorhead Kennel Club had an AKC agility trial last weekend. I only entered one day as I thought Sunday was Mother's Day when I entered ( I was off by a week and was notified by my sister that i had two days to prepare a Mother's Day gift lol)

So Saturday I get up at 5:30am, out the door by 6;15. I figured it started at 8 and I'd get there just in time to help with pole setting. I looked at the schedule and noticed jumpers was first and they were doing tall to small. I race there and realize that they didn't start until NINE AM on Saturday. UGH!

We help during Excellent and Sadie is entered in Open, so we go potty, do some stretching and head to the entrance. We start the course beautifully and Sadie is RIGHT with me the whole way...watching which way I turn, moving where she needed to be, going 'out', and turning when I asked her. Just beautiful. The last two obstacles were a jump and the tunnel was the last obstacle. As she jumps the final jump and I yell "GO TUNNEL" i hear the pole hit the ground. Sadie came out of the tire with that "Corgi Smile" like she was thinking 'HA HA UP YOURS'. I couldn't do anything but laugh. Shoot. Sooooo close!

After our run an older gentleman approached us as we were getting water for Sadie Princess and he said that every agility even there is usually one dog that stands out as a good listener, jumper and just plain all around good dog for agility. He said she (meaning Sadie Princess) was that one dog at this trial. I thanked him and listened to him gush about how she watched me and turned with just the slightest movement from me. Gosh I think I need him to come with and give me pep talks prior to running!

We then braked for lunch after Novice and then got the course out for Standard. I helped again with Excellent and Open Standard and then it was our turn for Novice. Please Sadie let's do this! In our run throughs the week before she went through the tire on the way around the course but on the way back she went under it. repeatedly. Until we moved it back down to 8 inches. then she zoomed right through it.

So obviously I was nervous. I brought her to the tire and made her look at it and told everyone to think happy thoughts about the tire and Sadie going through it and to send good vibes and say 'go tire! over!' when she got to it.

So we start the standard course and things are going well. The 9th obstacle was the table and it was a down. Great! we have no problem with this, we know how to down. we do it everywhere. I said Sadie table! and Down! and she stood there like she knew nothing. Her mind went blank. Like hell it did! Corgi smile and all she TURNED away from me and faced the judge. After a good 15 seconds of embarrassing "Sadie come ON! DOWN" the judge finally said "you can continue on" and I was like "HEY! this is novice! I can!" So we barrel onto the rest of the course and on the VERY last obstacle it was the tire! I figure I can get two refusals and still qualify so we WILL go through the tire! I yelled "Sadie! Go! TIRE! OVER!" and she went ZZZZZZZZZZOOOOOOOOOOOOOM right underneath it. CRAP! I went back and made her look through it and said "Sadie! OVER! TIRE!" and she went under again. SO now I KNOW we NQ'ed and she struts up to me, smiling, like she had just told the funniest joke at the bar! (or showing me her middle finger) Oh you LITTLE .....I trailed off as I kissed her head. "WHAT A STINKER!"

I told her the sooner we complete the titles the sooner we can do other fun things like herding!

I guess we'll be going to MORE agility events :)

My little Sadie Princess. *sigh* what will I do with her? :) :)