MACH BEA!!!

Happy Father's Day!!!

Bea apparently 'knew' what she was doing and saved her DQ for the correct day!

GREAT JOB!!!

Jeff and MACH BEA!!!!



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(From Jeff)

Terry and I drove to Milwaukee Friday night in the rain. Emily, Michele’s Garmin GPS, took us 15 miles the wrong way. She was trying to go to the wrong trial site instead of the Days Inn. When we finally got to the motel, we were told that they were trying to close the “bank” and it would take 15-20 minutes before we could check in. We got to the room about 12:30 AM. It was still raining.

We meet Carrie & Addie in the morning and she got us to the trial site. They got 5” of rain in 2 days. The park was a swimming pool. Standing water everywhere. We set up camp on the high ground. The Std course was beautiful. Addie got 2^nd place in 12”. Bea dropped the triple jump and FLEW of the teeter. Rippy ran around the triple and spun on a hard push to a jump. JWW had standing water at both ends of the weaves and a tunnel stuck in the middle of the course that really screwed up handling options. Addie broke her stay but Carrie was doing great until she slipped and did the splits twisting her knee. She tried to get up but was to close to the jump. Rats. Bea broke her start, dropped the first bar, did the hard part, dropped the triple, and finished strong. Crap. Rippy and farmer Terry Ran a beautiful course and got third. Terry was running in his chore boots. Everybody got a kick out of that. I have the video.

We decided to cool off the dogs, so Terry and I slid down a mud path 100 Yards to Lake Michigan . Imagine Romancing the Stone when Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner slide down the mountain. Yeah, I was grabbing bushes & praying I would get to the bottom without serious injury. Bea, Rippy, & Terry went swimming. I stuck to wading because the water was COLD. Carrie saw us and slid down the same path with her bad knee. Addie and Paulie joined the others retrieving sticks and attacking the waves as they broke on shore. Terry found a really cool 15lb rock. We saw other people and dogs down the beach, so we walked down there. There was a paved road down from the park. We opted to walk up the road with the rock. We may be stupid, but we ain’t dumb. The dog must have been tired. We got 10 hours of sleep.

SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY dawned clear, cool, and dryer. The Std course was firmer, and they moved the JWW course to a dryer, not as chewed up area. Bea led off in STD. She hit but did not hold a single contact but I managed to adjust on the run and we kept the bars up. Thank you agility gods. We got third. Rippy took 1 off course because Terry was moving and she decided she had held her teeter contact long enough. Besides, the double is right there dad. Addie had a cluster.

JWW was different. Imagine the course as a big box. Jumps 1,2,& 3 were spread out from right to left along the bottom. Then you turned right and did a tight zigzag up to hard right turn to the weave poles. Out of the weaves into a figure 8 just like the heeling exercise in obedience, and then a pull and push to the end.

Everybody was trying to throw front crosses. Bea like to be in front so I decided to try all rear crosses. I was sitting by myself, Terry and Carrie were avoiding me like I had the plague, going over my plan when the dog about 10 ahead of us ran clean. The trial chair tried to give the handler a MACH bar & ribbon. He just looked at her and said “that’s not for me”. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Bea was amazing. She held her stay, read every cross, nailed her weaves at full speed. When we got into the first pinwheel and she KEPT the triple up I thought “we could do this”, STOP THINKING AND RUN. We got through the second pinwheel with the double, a pull to jump 18 and a push to the last jump. Holly cow, we’re clean. I let out a yell and grabbed the bar off the last jump. Bea wanted nothing to do with the crazy guy with the stick. I tried to get her to jump some jumps on the victory lap, all she wanted to go get her Frisbee. I did remember to put her lease on before leaving the ring. We got third again. I stopped shaking in time to tape Terry and Carrie. Rippy dropped a bar and ran around a jump. Double rats. Carrie and Addie nailed the course. Carrie ran the course with rear crosses and Addie was rock solid on her weaves. I think Addie was saying, “See, I can do it if I’m in the mood”.

The dogs celebrated with chicken tenders at Culver's on the way home.

A BIG thanks to Carrie & Terry for video taping and your silent support. Your GREAT.

JMT & MACH Bea