The last month has flown by.

It started when we went to the airport to get Bonney on June 21. That day was what I hope is the worst day of her life. In a crate to make a 6:30 AM flight from Denver to Detroit, to change for Manchester, arriving 4 PM. When they got to the airport in Denver, Delta said the crate was too big for the dog. Which no one said, ever. But they did. By the time that was sorted out, she had to wait until an 11:30 AM flight to LaGuardia. Once she got there, she had to wait four hours for her flight to Manchester. Which arrived an hour late. Then there was no one at the freight office. Then there was a man waiting for his suitcase who looked so mad I had no desire to point out to him that DeDe and I had been waiting for the freight office attendant for longer than he had. We finally got the crate and received a dog who didn’t need to pee because she had peed all over her blanket in the crate, and then didn’t want to get back in that box, ever again. Gone were the plans for a two-handler controlled introduction an DeDe’s back yard, and the plans to stay in Cheryl’s travel trailer and do the “yes, she’s coming into your house” part at home in the morning. DeDe and I literally slid her down the chute created by opening the door to the travel crate and the crate in my car, and we drove away at about 1:30 AM. That put us home at 3, and in bed by 4:30.

Within a day the dog who had been called Ellie as a baby, Daisy by her first family and everyone else, learned that here she’s now called Bonney. While we were waiting for her to come, I had this dream (actually, I had it a few times), and in the dream I saw me, Chico and this new dog doing things together, and in the dream, I was calling her Bonney. It seemed like that was supposed to be her name. Maybe that’s why she learned it so fast.

In early July we went to USDAA Regionals. It was three days of activity and noise and hotel. Chico and I both cracked a bit under the pressure, Bonney stayed calm and cool throughout the whole thing. Chico and I had some really good runs. In the company of some of the best dogs in the country we are rather too slow to be in the ribbons, but I am so proud of how well we all did in that crazy, crazy situation. We did Team with Linda and Aeden and it was a great pairing. Aeden is super fast, and Linda trains the heck out of him, she’s much better about practicing than I am – I can tell that. Linda is different from most people, as am I, and we make a great team. She and I seem to be able to be calm, cool, and collected at exactly the moment the other one isn’t; and that is just so handy. Her dog is the one that gets Qs and pulls us up in the rankings and yet she thinks of me as the rock of our team. She really, truly, deeply, means it when she says she is just there to have fun with the dogs and doesn’t care where we stand in the rankings. It’s a neat thing.

Little Miss Bonney is a busy girl and she keeps me and Chico pretty busy too. I have started calling Chico, “Saint Chico” because he is so well mannered, downright suave and debonaire, compared to Bonney.

And that’s enough for now. Just wanted to let you know that we didn’t disappear.