Panic, ADCH!

This weekend at BRAG's show, Panic and I got our last gamble leg that we needed to earn our ADCH!!!! I was so thrilled to be able to do this at one of our home trials with many of our friends there :) Making it even more special was the fact that Wendy & Lannie earned their MAD on the same gamble, and later in the day Patti & Comet finally finished their MAD also!!! Our weekend didn't stop there - we had some other nice runs as well and Panic's team (thanks Bug & Piper!) Q'd which finished Panic's Tournament Master Bronze title. Little Dex also got a starters gamble and jumpers leg, and... well the rest weren't so great :) Despite the weather conditions, I had a very fun weekend! Thanks to BRAG for putting these shows on, and to responding as well as possible in this kind of weather! Moving the ring for Sunday was great.

When I got Panic on July 29, 2006, they got her out of her little wall kennel, I filled out all of the paperwork, and out the door we went. She immediately *flew* to the end of her 6 foot leash, did some sort of flip in the air on the impact of hitting the end of it, and then repeated that several times in different directions. I thought maybe Andy was right, we were nuts for getting this dog! She was just going to be too much. I wasn't even sure at that point if I'd try agility with her - having been on "hiatus" for several years while in college. If I had been planning on doing agility, I certainly wouldn't have picked a 17" dog!!

I think it was maybe one week before I decided to try out Linda's new (to me at least) jumping method as described to me by my mom, in her backyard. Five minutes and she was jumping 22" beautifully. A few weeks later I thought we'd give the weave poles a try. She loved them from the beginning and learned them incredibly quickly. She amazed me with how smart and athletic she was, and how much she wanted to learn and to please me. How could I *not* have done agility with this dog?

We've had our ups and downs - in the beginning I couldn't wear long sleeves, and DEFINITELY not hoody sweatshirts because at the start line she'd jump up and grab my sleeves, and the strings for the hood were her *favorite* to pull on. We'd fix one problem and quickly find another one. But no matter what she has always been so much FUN to run. She always has a huge smile on her face at the end of every single run.

She's calmed down a lot at home, and is now the "mature" dog. She will give Dexter and Spry the side-eye when they are acting silly, and then look at us and sigh to show us just how much more grown up than them she is. Of course, then she'll get jealous of their fun and start rolling around on her back so her little brother will bug her instead... just so she can complain about it. She's also matured in the agility ring and loves to get out there and just run. Our problems now are 99% me, but she never gives up hope that one day I'll learn how to handle her better :)

Sorry to get long and sappy, but she really is just such an awesome little dog who makes us happy every single day. She is my first dog as an adult, and the first dog Andy and myself got together (ok - she was supposed to be *his* dog since we were just dating at the time!). We've build a lot of memories with her, and I'm just happy to be able to play agility with her - something that she loves so much. The titles don't mean a thing to her - but I know she realized she had done something special on Saturday when everyone was cheering.

Thank you all for all your support along the years, ever since I started with Peanut. It means a lot to me to have grown up with such great friends.