Can I have a Weekend Yet??

Despite the lack of posts, I can assure you that the boys and I have not been merely lazing around and neglecting our duties online!

The weekend after the Sheltie National (and our last post) was the River Runners' flyball tournament. I'm still a member of River Runners, though I don't currently have a dog competing in flyball. So I still put in my time at the tournament. There were a lot of great new successes at the tournament. One of the fun things about the River Runners' tournament is that it is early in the running season so a lot of the teams bring out their new "green dogs" for their first tournament warm-ups and runs. I love seeing the new kids playing the game!

This past weekend was a CARO Rally-O trial at Paws n Train in Saskatoon. They offered the relatively new "Team" option in CARO Rally-O for the first time in Saskatchewan, so a lot of people were eager to give it a try. Team is a lot of fun, actually! You are paired up with another handler and dog (either choose your own partner or leave it up to random draw) and the course is split in half. The first dog does the first half of the course while the second dog waits in the middle. Once the first dog is finished, the second dog begins the second half while the first dog waits in the middle. Sort of a relay-race pass-the-baton situation. The course is scored as if it were one dog completing it, with the regular requirements of 170/200 to qualify.

Novice level Team was offered this time around, so I had both boys entered. It was a lot of fun, and I am excited to try to run Advanced, Excellent, and Versatility Team once we and the rest of the province progress that far! Gio was paired up with Buddy and they earned their first two legs of Novice Team. Romeo was paired with the cutest Border Collie of all time, Bent, and they rocked it as well, earning their first two legs of Novice Team. One of those runs was a perfect 200/200 score.

In addition to Team, I had the boys entered in some other levels. Romeo was entered in Versatility again, after the very surprising qualifiers from the KAOS trial last month. Romeo, continuing his streak of surprising me (I really should stop being surprised when Romeo is a superstar), completed his Versatility title and earned another Versatility and Excellent leg in C Stream to apply towards his CARO Rally Gold title.

Romeo earning his Rally Versatility (RV) title under judge Jeanne Shaw.

Gio was entered in an Excellent run as well, which he qualified with a lovely score of 198/200!! This finally FINALLY completes his Excellent title, with Magna Cum Laude! HOORAY!! This title has been nearly 2 years in the making. Silly boy just couldn't put it all together enough to Q, despite some really nice runs. I realized that it has taken Gio nearly as long to complete his Excellent title as it has taken Romeo to earn ALL of his CARO titles. Gio finished his Advanced title and began working on his Excellent title at nearly the same time that Romeo entered his first Rally trial ever. So in the same amount of time that Gio took to complete his Excellent title, Romeo has finished his Novice, Advanced, Excellent, Versatility, Bronze and Silver titles. haha Oh Giovanni, such a silly man! But he always has so much fun competing and showing off, so it was worth it all the way. Now we get to play in C Stream while we start training Versatility!

Gio earning his Rally Excellent (RXMCL) title under judge Jeanne Shaw.

And yes, we are still participating in our Flick photo project!

Last week, I started another leg of my career journey. I started my PhD at the University of Saskatchewan looking at canine color genetics and gene interaction. As such, I've taken a pretty significant pay cut, going back onto a student stipend. So I told the boys that they have to start earning their keep. Gio decided to do his part by parking himself in front of the neighborhood convenience store and look pathetic in hopes of donations.


And this past week there was a group challenge on the Flickr project stating simply "Pop Culture". I struggled as to what I might do to represent pop culture. I don't even really know WHAT pop culture is, the definition is pretty vague. When I think of what pop culture is, I think of things like poodle skirts, The Beatles, and Andy Warhol. But what is pop culture in 2010? Fifty years from now, what will the teenagers of 2060 think of when someone mentions 2010? Will our pop culture be reality TV shows, big brands, and social networking? Kinda scary actually.