Early mornings...

It's 4:45 in the morning right now.  Ugh.

Kennels are done and dogs are looked after.

The National starts today and Turq is the 5th dog to run, so we need to be there early.  Test dog goes at 6:30.

I'm not a morning person and the Luckiest Man Alive would say that is an understatement.

How many pros does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

A picture of the test planning for the last day of pre-National yesterday.  From left to right: Randy Bohn, Howard Simson, Wayne Curtis, Bill Eckett, Luckiest Man Alive, Rob Erhardt and Dave Rorem.

Not a fancy picture with my iPhone, but it will do.  Darbi's son, Backwater Smokin Turq watches the birds go down.  The last test we ran for the week was a double and a blind, with handlers doing it in various fashions...straight up double with the blind, interrupted double, singles, etc.

Double Trouble.

Here are two puppies I'm looking after right now.  If it seems I'm never without a puppy...you're right.

The pup on the left in one I bought for myself to raise.  His name is Rip and the breeding is FC AFC "Zoom" out of "Tootsie" QAA.  I named the pup Blackwater's Hoof Hearted.  If you get the joke in his name...extra points to you.

The pup on the right is "Trouble".  I'm watching him until the end of the National for his new owner.  They have been a joy so far and are wonderful little guys, although Trouble seems unimpressed with the pre-National proceedings.

Pups from the previous ZoomxToots breeding got 1st, 3rd and 4th in the Derby at Missouri, so we're excited about these little guys.