Full Disclosure

Miss America: Winner* of the Puppy Pointing Stake at the San Diego Fall Classic held by the San Diego Sporting Dog Club.

Sometimes going out on a limb can pay off.
I just spent the weekend
without Sean...
with a bunch of people I don't know...
in the "middle of" Holtville, CA...
on the edge of an alfalfa field...
for the sake of my dog. It only seems fair to get her doing what she wants to do. And what she wants to do is find birds. And she is off to a great start. I was a little worried on training day. We put her on 2 pigeons. She found the first one but I swear I don't know how she didn't trip over that second one. She didn't even see it. No clue! I was figuring maybe she just got lucky with the first one and honestly had little confidence in her going into the competition*. I know she comes from a good line. She is, after all, the niece of Farley. But, this is all new to me. Very new. So new, I must have drove Pam, Mary and Steve crazy asking the silliest questions about the test*, in different ways, again and again. "Just have fun," they told me. When it came time to take her out on the field on Sunday I had the biggest smile on my face. I was just going to be proud of her if she didn't run off the field! But, she far exceeded my expectations. "Trust your dog," was the phrase I kept hearing over and over again as the handlers from previous stakes exited the field. She found the first bird (pheasant), ran after it and I shot the blank pistol. She was having the time of her life. We circled back around. She found the second bird and POINTED AT IT (!!!!!!)! (The judges said it was beautiful!) It flew. She ran. I fired. I did it! She did it! We did it! I love this dog.
There was more than one time during the weekend, where I thought to myself, "What am I doing here?" But, deep down I knew it was for more than the sake of my dog. It was for my sake, too. I don't exactly fit into the mold of the average entrant into the Fall Classic, but sometimes it's fun to be the oddball. It gives everyone else a good, legitimate excuse to make fun of me! And besides, someone needs to figure out how to make blaze orange look cute in the field.

(*ok, so maybe she was the only dog entered in the Puppy Pointing Stake, automatically making her the winner, but if you had seen her out in that field you would be just as ecstatic as I am)