What an awesome tournament!  Our Border Collie team, Border Crossing, placed 2nd in our division on Saturday, and on Sunday we tied Gold Coast Flyers of Redding for first.  Based on total wins and losses, the judges determined that Strike Force had finished in first place. So, 2nd on Saturday and 1st on Sunday!  Redding Rocks!  Our Variety, or Multi-Breed team did well with points. After the seedings, the event came out with only one division for Variety teams.  We knew that with a seed time of 23 seconds we would not be able to place. We did well with times though, which is what we were shooting for, so this team was also a great success. We obtained points and titles, which was our goal. 

We had two dogs run singles, Brutus and Abby. In addition to racing singles, they both also ran warm-ups, one on each team. Brutus developed very nicely over the weekend, and ended up getting his racing dialed in, and stopped going over to visit in the next lane. He handled maximum distractions very well, and settled in and worked very nicely. Abby did very well on Saturday in both the singles and warm-ups, well enough that on Sunday afternoon we put her in the last two races. She ran perfectly, and won her Top Flight title. 

First time tournament handler Laura ran Einstein with precision, with many heart stopping passes. We had a fun moment the last race Saturday evening when Einstein did one of his occasional shut downs where he just quits. He doesn't do it often, but when he does he's usually done. Funny thing was I had told Laura earlier in the day that maybe once every year or two he'll do that. So, she wasn't totally shocked. Einstein was just kind of stopped there, so we did a quick switch and she grabbed Gypsy and I grabbed Einstein and sent him, and he went. Laura released Gyp at the right time and she finished the  race. 

We had some interesting moments, interesting challenges, and a lot of fun.  Pat Hall and Jake did great in start position, and Bob and Cody ran strong. Jean Keyes and Tipp were flawless. Koa was strong in anchor.  Saturday evening Kim's children ran Abby in Singles. Little Bailey ran her first, with Audrey box loading. This was all four heats of Abby's first race. Cameras were flashing everywhere, and the camcorders were rolling. Very few toddler handlers around. It was a true Kodak moment, and Bailey was asked to pose with Abby for a little photo session afterwards. Bailey handled it all with grace. We were impressed. Then I think Audrey ran Abby for Abby's second, with Emily box loading. Again, flawless, and the kids handled and box loaded perfectly. They did it all again for Abby's Singles races on Sunday. I can't recall exactly who ran and who box loaded on Sunday, but all three kids were taking turns on everything.

Saturday evening at the awards presentation, Leap of Faith presented all three girls with Junior Handler certificates.  I don't have all the title information, because there were problems with the U-Fli paperwork, and they took everything back from us, to be corrected and mailed to me hopefully this week. Abby did get her Top Flight title. Koa won his Top Flight and his Top Flight I. I believe both Tipp and Lucy won a title, but I'm afraid I can't tell you which ones. I think that's it. If I left anyone out I apologize. I just don't have any information in front of me. 

We had a sobering time Sunday afternoon, when it became apparent that Lucy seemed to be having difficulty at the box seeing the ball. Joanna had decided to have Lucy's eyes examined, and while comforting Lucy, found a lump on Lucy's chest. Joanna took Lucy to her oncologist in Sacramento today on her way home, and while the lump was benign, they did find something on Lucy's gum that concerned them. They did remove that, and sent it to the lab for testing. The doctor also referred Joanna to an eye doctor for Lucy, saying that while that wasn't his specialty, he detected what appeared to be some irregularities in her eyes. Joanna will keep us advised on Lucy's condition. 

It was a long weekend; we didn't get on the road until late.