That’s a wrap. We didn’t have to get up at ass-crack of dawn and into the car and drive fast in the dark for 45 minutes with 2 coffees and then out of the car for sleepy walk throughs in the dark this morning. Banksy doesn’t have to spend the day in a crate going insane watching all the other dogs run around as fast as they can. And Gustavo gets a rest.

We didn’t win anything or stand on the podium. We didn’t make it into any of the finals. I made some errors in my runs. There was a teeter refusal, twice popped poles, and a couple off courses due to aggressive-let’s-try-THIS handling or a disconnect. One weirdo thingy in Steeplechase Semifinals that I think I made him do because I was nervous.

Gustavo ran in everything. Team, Steeplechase, Grand Prix and Masters Challenge Biathalon. Every single run, every single event, Gustavo ran fast and tried his best. I’m not kidding about that. He didn’t space out or do anything weird. He was having a great time and pranced out to that ring like he owned it every run. All contacts, all poles but for 2 sets with pops, all teeters, all fast. All.

The days were long. Our brains got fried. Banksy’s got really deep crispy fried. We made a bunch of new friends, and got to hang out with our old ones, sometimes only for just a minute, because everything was so big and hurry up and wait. A minute better than nothing, right? We’re there doing agility runs that take half that time!

We loved the tents and the grass and the coffees and the smoothies and the lure coursing and the grandstands and the cheering and our teammates. We loved seeing so many of our friends running in the finals and standing up there on the podium. With pumpkins! Otterpop loved wearing a hat in the halloween parade.

Nobody freaked out. Maybe me the teensiest bit just before Steeplechase and I will try to never feel like that again around poor Gustavo. I am the very and most proudest of Gustavo. I never thought in his life he would compete at a dog show like this. And the way that he ran, he sure deserved me not making any errors because he was a superstar champion. I have to get better for him. He’s a pretty low key guy, no diva action, comes out and runs and then is happy to go do whatever and hopefully get a run in the forest before it’s dark. He’s cool that it’s done, he’d be cool to go back again.

Here’s a little movie, taken in the stands while we were cheering our friends during the Grand Prix finals, the very end of the last day. Just keep hitting repeat if you want to see what it’s like to be there. See everybody next time!