AND THE ANSWER IS...

Seven.  A ridiculous number of large dogs in the back of a Chevy Trailblazer.  :-)
So, good news, Maddy made it thru the trip with flying colors, I bless Rimadyl.  She's 14 and very arthritic so I decided it was worth it to put her on as much long term Rimadyl as needed to keep her comfy.  She was positively radiant this weekend.  This is the first trip in a long time that she was able to go on and not be totally crippled after.  Great news, two of the rescue Collies met with their new adopter and so far it's going well. 
Bad news, although it wasn't really bad, Declan did not win any points and Beijing needs more work.  This was one of those rare weekends I can come home and say, the depth of competition in Smooth Collies this weekend was awesome!  There were 9 class dogs and not a bum in the bunch.  Kim finished her girl on Sat. going Best of Winners.  I took the Winners Dog back in with the intent of helping the judge decide to award that crossover major by putting the girl up BOW.  It wasn't hard, the dog didn't like me.  I had to pout about that.  I seriously was bummed, all dogs like me damn it.  Watch out Mario, I'm on a mission here to MAKE you like me.  On Sunday I repeated my handler duties taking the lovely sable WD in for breed, again with the intent to convince the judge that she should crossover that major to the girl.  At least Kori liked me.  He's a pretty nice dog so I added a little spin to my repetoire and purposely didn't pay attention to the judge, asking more than once for her to repeat her request.  Not sure I can go back to her for a while, haha, but whatever, I did my part and the major crossed over.  I like to tease that I put 2 majors on girls this weekend and didn't touch a one of them.  If only this were a career option.  :-)
The weather held except for a downpour on Sat morning, my dogs at home didn't get out, get hurt or die. Josh stopped on Sat. after cattle chores to check on water buckets and topped them off as he promised. I love that kid.  Plus he is educating me on farming and cattle.  I'm not sure where I'll put that info to use at his late date in life.  Maybe we'll herd some cows one day--uh maybe not.
Until next time...