Before I get into the show news I will first tell you a bit of good news. As many of you know my greyhound girl, Tava's mother came to us and was placed with Vicki in Missoula. More of you have probably met Ducky than Tava. Their breeder contacted me and a boy pup from Ducky's last litter just graded off the track and is available. I have agreed to take him into the Run For Adoption program and he will be available for adoption this fall. Cool huh?

The Helena show got off to a bumpy start when my sister had surgery on her elbow scheduled the day before the show. I wanted to be with her and I considered not going to the show. So the day before the show we agreed that I would plan to go but if she had a hard time in surgery I would stay home. I was able to wait for her during her surgery and drive her home where my dad then took over her care. So crack of dawn...well before the crack of dawn...I was on my way to the show. My class started at 9 AM and I wanted to give my golden, Aim, time to adjust to the new show site. I hit the show grounds at about 7:30. I parked in the usual place and after a quick trip to see the new show venue I started to lug my crate and chair to ringside. After I had my gear set up I learned that I could drive my car almost to the building...which I then did. Helena just built a nice building for events and the show was being held here for the first time. It really is a nice location with lots of natural light and with central air and heat...always a good thing when you are showing dogs. The venue was large enough that the entire dog show was in one huge room. In the past obedience was in a different building entirely. I wasn't sure how Aim would deal with the commotion, but she seemed unfazed by it. We had about an hour to wait so I worked her for a few minutes and put her in her crate to rest. Finally it was close to our turn. I got Aim out and we warmed up and hit the ring. Her work on lead was pretty good and her off lead was fair. All of her stays were solid in the end we ended up with a score of 181 (out of 200). I was encouraged as it seemed we had finally discovered how to be a team together. We spent the night with a friend in Helena. The next day brought another decent run in the ring. Again Aim's on lead work was great and her off lead a little loose but we did score 188.5 points which is respectable. As soon as I was out of the ring I was on the road for home. So next week end we go to Spokane and with two of the three needed legs under our belt I am hopefully we can wrap up this title this fall. Spokane will be a little different as our ring will be outdoors. Not only am I not a fan of showing outdoors I have not worked Aim much outside. This week we have focused on working outside. So far Aim is doing well with the new twist. She is a interesting dog to train as she puts things together so much differently than my dogs. I am not tempted in the least to change breeds but I can see why they are popular with obedience people.