Busy Summer

Wow!  I realized I haven't posted much at all this summer and I apologize for that.  It has been a busy one.  From my previous post, you learned that Sam crossed the Bridge at the end of June.
Wishing we had more time together would be greedy.  We had nearly 10 wonderful years and he gave me every bit of himself every day of those years.  In the end, I was honor-bound to give something back to him and release him from the pain he was experiencing.  The house is certainly quieter since his passing but it is a good quiet.  The girls and I have adjusted to his absence and, quite honestly, things are much less stressful now.  Ginny is happy and smiling again - something I hadn't seen for a very long time.

For the weekend following the 4th of July, Moira and I were entered in a 3 day USDAA agility trial.  We ran in 4 classes each day and I couldn't have been happier with our results.  I had 4 goals for that weekend and achieved 3 of them - all on the first day.  Moira finished her Starters Jumpers title so she is now CardiRidge's Sweet Potato Pie HT, JHD, SJ.  The first title listed, HT, is an AKC title that means Herding Tested and the second is an AHBA herding title that means Junior Herding Dog.  So now she has titles in both herding and agility.  Our other goals for the agility weekend were to successfully complete the teeter, dog walk and weaves in competition.  We got the first two but not the last.  We've been working hard on weaves in class and I think we might just have it now.  We'll test that in two weeks at an AKC trial.  Moira also had qualifying runs in Snooker (2) and Gamblers (1) so we had a 33% Q rate for the weekend.  Not bad when previously we were lucky to have one qualifying run.  August is a heavy trialing month for us with agility trials 3 of the 4 weekends.  Two of those trials are AKC so there's a possibility we could get some more titles.

Ginny's 13th birthday was July 18th.  As far as I know, all her litter mates are still living.  Ginny is doing remarkably well for a 13 year old dog.  She's active and happy these days.  When I was packing up to go to the agility trials at the beginning of the month she couldn't wait to get in the car for an adventure.  She is a little stiff in her joints these days so at her next vet appointment we will talk about a prescription for an NSAID.  Other than that, she's great.

So that's where we are with July half over.  I'm going to make a commitment to post more regularly as it's something I miss.  I hope you all are having a wonderful summer.