Team Brutus Takes Chicago - the Final Installment

 It was two weeks ago today that we wrapped up our adventure to Chicago.  Yes, agility was the our primary agenda, but there was so much more to the trip than jumps & tunnels!  In addition to making lots of new friends (both human & canine), we had lots of tasty things to eat, and even got to do a little shopping.  We'll wrap up the trip in this post, and share with you the neat stuff we got to do before we came home!

 

None of it would have been possible without the hospitality & generosity of our wonderful friends - Hope & her sister Fran (pictured above with the Frenchies).  I met Hope in Wisconsin last year at the Frenchie National Specialty & we became instant friends.  So funny how having only your dogs in common can be grounds for a friendship where it might appear that you had nothing else in common!  Who'd have thought that a random conversation at an agility trial would lead to me driving 400 miles to visit less than a year later!

We thoroughly enjoyed our four days in Chicago, playing agility while getting to know Hope & Fran (and many of their friends!) better.  The agility trial is where we spent a lot of our weekend hours, but there was still plenty of time to relax and enjoy the finer things of the windy city - like pizza!

 

Nothing like Chicago deep-dish pizza!  This delicious slice is from Malnati's, but I also got to enjoy our all-time favorite, Giordano's!

After all 3 days of agility all day and playing all night, the kids were all seriously tuckered out!   The dogs worked hard and played hard, and as you know - tired dogs are happy dogs!!  Our last night there Brutus & Carmen crashed on one end of the couch,

Dax on the other end, 

While Teddy was zonked out in his lounger!

Thankfully we all got good nights' rest before we headed home on Monday morning.  There was one last item on our trip agenda to check off before leaving Chicago - a visit to Golly Gear!

 

Turns out that Hope & Fran own a small-dog supply store!  Behind this unassuming door we found the motherload of all dog stuff!

Golly Gear sells everything imaginable for our furry friends.  Collars, treats, toys, training supplies - you name it. They do most of their sales over the internet, but Brutus & Carmen were lucky enough to have the store to themselves to go on a shopping spree!

Talk about kids in a candy store!  These bins are bursting with all kinds of cool stuff!

The Frenchies wasted no time diving right in!

We spent over an hour trying on collars, harnesses & coats, taste-testing treats & playing with toys.  Hope had a special gift for Brutus,  a shirt that was most certainly made with him in mind:

The perfect muscle tee to show off Brute's buff physique!

In case you can't see the logo in the photo above (I was taking photos with my phone, sorry if they are blurry), here's a closer look.  It's simply made for Brutus, all too appropriate for my little mama's boy!

Love these new harnesses we found at Golly Gear!  Best-fitting ones I've ever seen, plus they are super-easy to put on (look out Teddy, Brutus & Carmen are gunning for your modeling job).

Here's some fun new collars we found there, biggify the photo to see what Brute's says.

Carmen opted for an ultra-comfy, pretty-in-pink martingale for her new training collar. 

Brutus & Carmen picked out some toys too (I'd show you, but they've already, um, Frenchie-tested them & they don't look so hot) and a really fun training tool (called a Manners Minder, but that's for another post).   There were so many other neat things there I can't begin to tell you, so just go to the Golly Gear website (just click on the name anywhere in this post for a link) and see for yourself!!

As they say, all good things must come to an end.  So with many great memories, a couple of qualifying agility scores, a bunch of new friends, and a bag full of great stuff from Golly Gear, we bid farewell to the windy city and headed across the Eisenhower Bridge towards home.

Hope & Fran, we can't thank you enough for all the hospitality and kindness you showed me, Brutus & Carmen (really, who else would be crazy enough to let my crew into their home??).  Can't wait to see you all again!  Until then, hugs to all our furbuddies!  Come visit us here in Ohio sometime!