Teamwork

Another post from the backlog! Just before the holidays, my friend Courtney & I participated in a team event at our agility club (Medina Swarm, click to check it out or look us up on Facebook). Courtney has been so busy with baby donkey Scooter (who is doing well & getting more feisty by the day), her blog is sort of in hibernation. So I'll gladly accept the honor of posting about our fun day!

This was not a competition per se, more a fun/practice day. We chose our teammates very carefully, since surprisingly Brutus had many offers (this was obviously based on a cuteness factor, not skill!). Courtney ran our mutual friend Jenn's dog Kylie, an Australian Shepard who is AMAZING at agility.

Next job was to drum up some team spirit, including a catchy name and clever the team uniform, both for us handlers as well as the canine part of the team. Kylie is such a good girl & has a little reputation for being a Princess. Brutus is small but mighty. Jenn (Kylie's mom) suggested Princess & the Pea, and I took that one step further to included us humans in the team name:

We brainstormed to come up with a fun logo, and (being the princesses we are) had it monogrammed onto pink fleece jackets. Courtney found some fun t-shirts with a big rhinestone pawprint, so we also incorporated some bling into the uniform!

Courtney and I have been said to look alike, appropriate since we seem to have been separated at birth! Courtney's mom MJ (the very same MJ that provides my boys with yummy cookies) came to watch, and actually had me confused with her daughter!!

Lest they feel left out of, we also designed apparel for the pooches, including a little bling for them both! In case you can't read it, Kylie's sparkles spell out "Princess" and Brutus' says "Pea" (on green, just as a pea should be!).

To this day Brutus continues to be referred to as The Pea, so apparently we hit the nail on the head with the team name!

Courtney ran Kylie wonderfully, although we had to be handicapped as Kylie competes at a higher level. We argued that Brutus WAS the handicap, since he was running courses ABOVE his normal competition level. We were also the only little dog/big dog team. Although we had some wonderful runs (including an amazing relay event) team 3P&P finished in the middle of the pack. Perhaps we didn't win, but we certainly looked good - and I think that counts for just as much!!

So what's your vote?? Who is the blonde in this picture - me or Courtney??? Even the dogs seem to be confused about who's who here!!

It was a fun day and good practice for actual competition. Speaking of which, I still plan to post about our adventure at the agility trail last weekend! A professional photographer snapped some amazing photos of the Pea in action, so I'm hoping to get those soon. I did have someone video us as well, and as soon as I can figure out my new editing software (anyone used Final Cut??) I'll post some film footage that is sure to entertain!!