TeamDailyCorgi AKC Nationals Round 1

The Stumps of Fury mobile arrived in Harrisburg, Pa., on Wednesday after about a 9-hour drive. The drive up was uneventful...and rather boring. Definitely not conducive for photo opportunities like last year's trip to Tulsa. Hence the lack of road trip photos...

Thursday's activities included a "warm-up run" in the Time 2 Beat class. This was my first time ever running Time 2 Beat, but it's like a hybrid of Standard and Jumpers. Dally did well and we ended up clean with 9th place. Porter took an extra jump, and our friend Maddie ended up winning the 4" division! Team Daily Corgi started rocking the joint early!!

Friday we competed in the official start of Nationals, with Jumpers. This was a twisty-turny course with lots of wraps and difficult weave entry. This time the 4" representatives of Team Daily Corgi went 3-for-3 clean! Maddie finished 5th, Porter 7th, and Dally 12th. Going clean is the name of the game right now--I'm good with being consistent and clean. I know we aren't the fastest, but if we can be clean, that's the best.

After cheering on some of the Small Dog Posse, we ventured north to Hershey for a few dog photo ops and a tour of the Hershey's Chocolate World! Finally, some fun times for the dogs!

Saturday we'll be competing in Round 2, Standard. Let's hope we can continue the clean streak!!

Stump of Fury Heading to AKC National Agility Championships!

We're hitting the road again!

 

Dally & Porter are going to be road tripping buddies once again! Meet the captains of #TeamDailyCorgi

Merinda and I will be hitting the road extra early Wednesday morning to head east to Pennsylvania for a return trip to the AKC National Agility Championships.

Be sure to follow along as we tweet, Instagram, and blog our adventures. This year we're teaming up with a few select Corgis for #TeamDailyCorgi, brought to you by The Daily Corgi.

Follow along by searching #TeamDailyCorgi on Twitter & Instagram, and also:

Twitter: @TheStumpKids
Instagram: @MLA317
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/mla317

And Merinda:

Blog: The Brews Brothers

Twitter: @PorterTheCorgi
Instagram:PorterTheCorgi
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/merinda76

And our friends, Taryn & Jimmy, who will be attending their first AKC Nationals!

Blog: Tail of Two Cardis

I also wanted to share my bio that I wrote for the announcer this year. It's a little non-traditional, but I hope it gets read at some point this week:

This is Dally and Megan's third consecutive trip to Nationals, but every year it's always a happy surprise. For a dog that some said wouldn't be an agility champion, the pair earned their PACH in 2012 and are well on their way to PACH2. Megan knows Dally isn't the fastest, but she knows Dally will try to please her, and that's all that Megan asks for. She's thankful to have such a wonderful sidekick by her side at all times. Dally is her heartdog and has earned many, many miles under her collar. This has truly been a fun ride.

Be sure to tune into the fun!! Here's hoping for some epic adventures and great memories!

Dally Travels America

Disclaimer: I got this idea from Merinda. She did a "Porter Peeing Across America" map on the Brews Brothers' blog.

Merinda and I always talk about how our Corgis, Porter and Dally, pee and/or poop across America in their travels. It's a little bit of a good-hearted competition (I think) to see how well traveled our pups can be. We've done a lot of traveling together, but we've also gone our separate ways every now and then, so this map is all in good fun.

So here's Dally's map! We look forward to adding more states to it as time goes on!

Wordless Wednesday: Government Shutdown = Sightseeing Fail

Wordless Wednesday: Car Ride!

Road Trips with the Stump Kids

The Stump Kids love road trips. Dally basically grew up riding shotgun in my truck--she wasn't even  year old before I moved from Indiana to Texas (15+ hour drive), then we moved to Oklahoma, and then to Kentucky. She's the ultimate co-pilot, always keeping an eye on mom, keeping me awake (OK, so it's more of a nose root to rub her belly), and being patient with my constant radio station changing. When she rides in the car (or truck), she'll find her spot in the corner of the back seat and instantly fall asleep. She wakes up on her own when she feels the car slowing for our arrival.

LaMesa, on the other hand, is always wired for car rides. She'll start off nervous about getting in the car (she'll crouch down and shake until you pick her up and put her in the back seat), but then she's excited to see where we're going. She will ride standing up the entire time and watch out the windshield like I am. She's the co-pilot that'll keep watch on you.

Now, before I get comments about how it's safer to have the dogs in crates for car rides, I'll agree, but we don't have vehicles that will allow for that. We will do that at times with friends (Dally was just fine riding in a crate on the way to and from Tulsa in Merinda's car). I guess I'm more of a lax dog owner when it comes to things like this.

LaMesa will stand up at stop lights to see where we are, and where we've been
(she likes to look out the back window, too).

On the way home to my parents' house--they have to be able to breathe in that
Indiana air and learn the new smells.

Dally knows when we're getting close to Grammy and Grandpie's house!

How do your fur kids ride in style?

2013 AKC Nationals Part 2: Arrival & Warm-Up

Thursday Dally, Porter, Merinda, and I had a relaxing morning that started with breakfast, then a quick trip to Fort Leonard Wood base to salute the troops, and get a few photos. Then we were off to finish our trip west towards Tulsa!

Saluting the troops at Fort Leonard Wood in St. Robert, Mo.

And no trip to Tulsa is complete without stopping at the "World's Largest McDonald's" and taking a photo with Will Rogers in Vinita, Okla.

Did somebody say "French fries"??

Finally, we arrived at the Tulsa Expo Center and set up our stalls: 1 for the dogs, and 1 for the humans. After check-in, we looked around the venders before getting settled in our hotels--we'd have plenty of time to shop and take more photos later.


Friday was another laid back day for the Corgi Crew--Dally and Porter were just doing the Warm-Up Standard run, which didn't count for anything, but it was good to get them out on the equipment and in the rings to get a feel for everything. Dally's run was a little wide, but I was happy with what she did. You can watch the video here.

Then we took the time to take some more photos at the facility, as well as meeting up with the majority of the other Corgis competing at Nationals for a big photo.

A flower pot o'Corgis!

This is the main arena, where three of the rings are.

There are lots of Corgis (Pembroke and Cardigan) competing here in Tulsa!

2013 AKC Nationals: Part 1 St. Louis

The first part of our trek was a relaxed one. After Dally had her chiropractor appointment, Merinda, Porter, Dally, and I were on the road headed west. We were only going to drive about 6 hours to St. Roberts, Missouri, for the first part of our trip, so we took it easy. We decided to stop in St. Louis for a photo opportunity at the Gateway Arch and the Mississippi River.

Here are a couple of our favorite shots:

Looking so regal

The Mississippi River and the Casino Queen in the background.
 

Dally and Porter are so famous, park rangers ask for their photo!