Hopes, bars come crashing down

That bee sting at 4:00 a.m. should have been a sign but did I listen? Nooooooooo. Saturday morning we got up to get ready for Shiloh's agility trial. All the dogs went out to potty and when they came in I noticed a bug of some sort on its back. Puppy Moto went to check it out and jumped back quickly and ran away. This was not good and on closer inspection I realized it was a bee. I had to chase down the poor little guy and saw the stinger still buried in his nose. Now I had to run thru the house and quickly find tweezers, quickly find Moto again and somehow hold him still and tweeze that stinger out. Bless his little heart he held still long enough for me to get the whole thing out and fortunately he didn't seem worse for the wear...no swelling and no pain evidenced. Whew that was close! Now I was fully awakened and finished preparations for our departure.
Sign #2 it was going to be a bad day: total confusion at the check-in desk, the computer had printed everything out with no order whatsoever, not alphabetically, not in any reason anyone could locate themself. So tempers were flaring as people tried to find themselves on the check-in sheet. Once I got in there and found my name I realized the move-up wasn't reflected. ARGH. Back to trial sect'y to get it straightened out.
Once all that was done I got the course maps and they were nice! Really well-laid out, flowing courses. I was confident and actually excited to get into the ring. Standard was first and we took off running beautifully. After the A-frame (which was close to the end) my mind went blank. Crap! As I looked around for where I was to be next Shiloh came off his contact frustrated, I remembered where we were to go but of course I was out of position - it was the triple which really needed support so Shiloh went around it - NQ. RATS. I was really devastated by my brain fart. Well don't give up let's try Jumpers. Again, a really nice course. I even walked it with no front crosses so I wouldn't get turned around. The course was nice and again I thought we could do it. Since I'd majorly blown the triple in the previous course I supported the heck out of this triple but Shiloh had lost confidence in me and crashed it. Don't give up, keep going and into the weaves we went...crap....my mind went blank again! Look around, he's finishing the weaves, there's a jump take that it was right but where next there's another jump take that RATS I should have gone into the tunnel....we finished the course, I celebrated with Shiloh and of course he got his treats. But gosh how devastating. Failing your talented dog is not a good feeling. Poor Shiloh, he's stuck with me, his memory-impaired mom.
It's hard not to beat myself up mentally. I'm trying to look at it as "when one door closes, another one opens". So we are in a point of seeing what new path we will take. Shiloh is too good of a dog to retire completely. Couch-potato-hood does not suit him.
Agility aside, Moto did well at the trial and went through his obedience training very well. Noisy surroundings do not bother him and he can do his job anywhere. This is great stuff! And Blitz is BEGGING to work. I think I will take him to my lessons with me and swap he and Moto back and forth and see how it goes. This has always been unprecedented territory and no one knows how stress of training and showing affects DM dogs so I need to be very careful. Maybe Shiloh will return to the ring to do Utility? We'll see. Only if he wants to and enjoys it.
We're expecting some snow this week - just flurries. I harvested the rest of the peppers, cut them up and froze them for future use. Brought in the remaining basil and made more pesto. Good-bye little garden. Thanks for all the wonderful bounty you brought us this summer!