Happy National Dog Day!!

So today is National Dog Day...but, in our house, everyday is a dog's day. Trust me...the Stump Kids run the house. They make sure I don't sleep in too late...that I get in my daily walks...and that I keep up on the housekeeping when LaMesa's decided she needs to drag out as many toys as possible.

How does your dog celebrate National Dog Day?

This might come as a surprise to you, but I wasn't much of a dog person at first. I grew up with dogs all my life--my parents bred, raised, and showed Golden Retrievers (amongst other breeds), even having the #1 dog in the nation for a couple of years. I never really had a dog of my own, though. I was more of the house and cat person in the family. That is, until I got to college and I met my friend Julie's Corgi, Riley (aka "The Ladies' Man"). Riley made me fall in love with Corgis, and that's when I decided I must have one for myself.

Now, I can't imagine myself without a dog. Dally and LaMesa have made my life whole (along with Matt, but c'mon now, we know it's all about the dogs...). Sure they can be pains in the butt, and some times it's hard to get much work done at home with their constant attention, but it can be the same with kids. Only these kids, I can throw them outside or lock them in a crate if they bother me too much! (haha)

So, here's the our dogs...and how they make our lives whole. It's Dog Day everyday!

Dally Turns 8!

Today is Dally's 8th birthday!!! That's right, my pretty Corgi girl is celebrating turn two whole paws today, and she's not showing the slightest sign of aging (well, minus the gray hairs sprouting on her face, but we blame LaMesa and Matt for those, and, of course, you don't mention those to her).

I never would have imagined the world that was opened up to me when this little round ball of fur bunny hopped into my life.

Dallas Mae has been an awesome little buddy to help me through so many things like multiple state moves, loneliness, new jobs, big decisions, broken hearts, tears of sadness and joy, etc.

I never would have thought she'd take me to Reno, Nev., nor back to Tulsa, Okla., to compete on our sport's largest stage. I was told five years ago or so that she wouldn't be an agility champion, but in November we proved them all wrong.

She's my little Snuggle Bug at night--when we go to bed, I spoon Dally, with her head sharing my pillow with mine, and one of my hands rubbing her belly until we both fall asleep.

She loves to get revved up before we cross the start line in agility, she loves her walks in the park, and her swims in the creek.

Today we'll be hitting up the Bluegrass Barkery for her birthday treats and having a little celebration, and of course a lot of tennie playing. I'm hoping to have eight more years with this little girl.

(You can read more about my relationship with Dally from our post on The Daily Corgi.)

Happy 8th Birthday, PACH Frontiers Honkytonkbadonkadonk RN, AX, AXJ, NF, MXPB, MXP4, MXJPB, MXJ4, PAX....aka Dallas Mae....aka Dallas Corgi Furr....aka Dally

As Seen on Facebook: Why We do Agility

Today two agility friends shared this video on Facebook (and more to come, I have a feeling), so I wanted to share it with you.



Those who are not dog people (or horse people, coming from my "old life") don't really understand how we can spend all our free time, "waste" our money, and exhaust ourselves just "running our dogs" through courses and being happy with it. This video shows exactly why--we do it because we love our dogs. We love the happiness it brings us to work together and have fun. We might not Q every time, or, if we do, we might only bring home ribbons that clutter our walls or our shelves, but that's not why we do it.

I had a former boss who flat out said, "You know, you'd actually be able to travel and do more things like I do if you didn't waste your money on dog agility." (Oh, yes, she actually said that.) I was appalled by her saying that to me. My response? "I don't waste my money doing dog agility. It's my sport and it's something I've grown to love. If I didn't do agility with my dogs, I think we'd all be unhappy."

After a particularly hard weekend of not Qing with LaMesa, I always need to be reminded about how much she still loves me. She doesn't know we didn't Q--she still got her treats and she got to play with mom, one-on-one. For Dally, I've always had to make it fun. Now I see how both girls run their little hearts out for me every time we get to the starting line.

We do agility because we love our dogs. We do it because they are our hearts and bring us joy. If a Q or a championship title come along the way, then that's just the icing on the cake. Until then, we'll continue to "waste" our money on those "cheap ribbons" and the "worthless" certificates that come in the mail every so often. We'll sacrifice our comfort of nice hotels for the cheap ones so we can afford to participate in the sport we love. We'll be alright with saying our dogs go to a chiropractor, yet I've yet to see one for myself. The happiness and joy we feel as we snuggle up to our dogs at the end of the day trumps all of that, and trumps that European vacation said former boss might get to enjoy every so often.

Wordless Wednesday: Our Little Girl

(LaMesa loves to walk between Matt and I when we're holding hands.)