Agility Trial Part 1 and The Vacuum

Well, Legend started out great today. Our first class was Novice FAST-first attempt and it turned out to be really fun. I had someone explain it to me before I went into the ring and the basic idea is that each obstacle is worth points and you can do them in any order you want except the "send" which much be done in order and you can't cross the line on the ground when sending your dog. You need to accumulate a certain number of points and do the "send" bonus in the allotted time to qualify. Legend got 66 points (she only needed 50) and we finished with some time left over. She even got first place :) There seem to be a lot of detailed rules about re-attempting obstacles, etc, but for the most part is seemed straightforward. Then we went almost directly to Excellent Jumpers which went very well but she missed the weave pole entrance and then popped out at pole 10 or 11 (still haven't had much weave practice lately). Excellent standard was a complete disaster-she was totally off her game which was a disappointment since we really would like to get our first standard leg and the course seemed very manageable. And we waited like 6 hours to run it after jumpers! Maybe tomorrow.

About the vacuum...
Three years ago when we moved here we decided to get a decent vacuum cleaner since I had destroyed several cheap ones already with all the stuff I end up sucking up in our house. I kind of wanted a Dyson but $500 seemed pretty expensive so we ended up with a $300 vacuum that I have hated virtually since the day we got it home. It was heavy, hard to handle, and I was always messing with the bag or the hose or something that wasn't working right. Lately I have had to unclog the hose like every time I use it and end up making a bigger mess than I started with (granted, this is probably b/c of all the stuff I've sucked up over time but for that much money it needs to do more than just hair!). Last night I never did get it working right and drug it out to the garage in a fit of rage. Now, I still don't really want to spend the money on a Dyson that I'm not sure I will be happy with but we can't go without a vacuum so tonight I bought a Dirt Devil for pets model at Wal-mart. It's light, easy to maneuver and so far has not gotten clogged. I don't expect it to last forever but for $75 it's hard to complain. This is also my first experience with a bagless vacuum which allows you to get up close and personal with the stuff you've picked up-that was both a disturbing and enlightening experience. I'd like to say in the future we won't have so many housepets but that probably isn't true so I guess I'll just be grossed out.