We are back from Skyhounds Worlds in Georgia, and man are we whipped.  It was so fun to see Kat & Sarah and the gang there - they did great!

We met up with Tony Hoard and Seven as much as we could over the past 6 weeks to practice - very fun and we are learning so much from watching them.  Sunday was the microdog finals, and everyone was worried about getting rained out.  We thought we were going first, but they changed the order - darn, gotta wait.  One dog before Seven finally went in, and it started to POUR!  Yickes!  We waited in anticipation, and finally the rain stopped and they started up the event again.

Tony and Seven were "jamming" out there, while Bill & I watched anxiously hiding behind the crates - trying not to cheer and distract her with our voices.  It's always really exciting to watch them, but the hype of it being worlds was almost too much to handle.  The results from round one came in, and they were in 3rd place, just 1 point out of first.  There were 14 microdogs entered (the 2 or 3 best from each region/country were at the finals.)  Dogs need to be either under 16" or under 25 pounds to be in microdog.  Seven is 23 pounds.

Next was the Distance & Accuracy portion.  Tony was hoping to score in the double digits to pull into the lead.  Seven missed the first toss, Tony threw the 2nd out of bounds - panic started to set in - phew - she caught one, time was running out and the count down started FIVE-FOUR-THREE-TWO (Seven rushes back and spits out the frisbee at Tony) ONE (Tony basically dives on the grass and chucks the frisbee super fast and low from his knees) TIME (Seven turns on the TURBO POWER and MAKES THE CATCH).  The crowd is roaring.  They score the highest score in Distance & Accuracy and move into fist place.

Round 3 - last round - freestyle.  They need to do well to keep the lead, they didn't get the kind of lead hoped for in Distance and Accuracy - only 2 1/2 points up.  Tony is cool as cucumber - Bill & Angie on the verge of cardiac arrest and hyperventilation - Seven just wants to play.  The start is a bit rough - Seven misses a few overs, and a butterfly.  Sarah and Kat remind me to breath - I'm wondering if I have a heart condition and whether I'm going to keel over dead.  Bill's a wreck too.  Whamoo - Tony throws the longest/fastest air bounce I've ever seen!  Seven is running FAST and BOING there goes Seven about 5 feet air to make the big catch.  WOO-HOO!  The crowd goes wild. 

They ended up with 8 misses - a lot for Seven.  We aren't sure where she will place.  The weather was starting to roll in again, and they finished up the other events as soon as possible.  Out come the award platforms and the huge trophies.  They announce 3rd place - not Seven, 2nd place - not Seven.  Oh no!  Did she go from 1st to 4th?  Nope... 

2006 SKYHOUNDZ MICRODOG WORLD CHAMPION - Tony Hoard & Wigglebutt Seven of Nine

Bill & I are crying, Tony is smiling, and Seven's like, "don't we get to play some more?"  On the podium, Tony was asked who gets the trophy.  He replied,  "They get the trophy, I get the dog."  <Grin>  Well, that's not going to happen - I think we'll keep the best little disc dog in the world right here.

The rain started downpoaring, and we were not only happy as a clam but wet as a clam too.  What a weekend...