Oh Yeah, You Blend

Judge Barbara Bounds designed some tricky courses. Fun to run though! Nina managed a Standard Q and had some really nice runs, including an awesome Premier JWW run with one lousy bar (I am reminded of Léon: “always like this”). Zhora managed another two QQ’s (#34 and 35), which officially means she has not only lapped Nina in the MACH race, she has passed her (Nina has 14 towards her MACH, Zhora has 15 towards MACH 2), she is just awesome. I cherish every run with both of them, even if Nina’s QQ drought is getting more than a little old.

Nina Friday FAST (Q, first place, 38 points):

Zhora Friday Standard (part 1 of QQ #34, second place, 30 points):

Nina Friday Premier Standard (such a nice run but NQ):

Zhora Friday Jumpers (part 2 of QQ #34, third place, 18 points):

Nina Friday Premier Jumpers (OMG ONE LOUSY BAR!!!):

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (Part 1 of QQ #35, third place, 17 points):

Nina Saturday Standard (Q, third place, 34 points):

Zhora Saturday Standard (part 2 of QQ #35, fourth place, 31 points):

Zhora Sunday Standard (Q, fourth place, 29 points:

Some really challenging courses from judge Alexandra Davis. Zhora had a perfect weekend in the classes that count, picking up QQ’s #31, 32 and 33 towards MACH 2! Nina had a perfect NQ weekend but wow is she running well. At one point I was chatting with Alex about Nina taking the wrong end of the tunnel in Jumpers today, and she asked how old Nina was, I told her she was 9, she said “OH! I thought that was your puppy….” LOL. I love every run with her regardless. And I am trying hard not to be spoiled by Zhora, but I will tell you that it’s sure a nice change to run a consistent dog, because there were MANY weekends I’d come home with one Q or even no Q’s before Z Dog came along!

Nina Friday Standard (NQ but so close and such a nice run! Layering!):

Zhora Friday Standard (part 1 of QQ # 31, second place, 30 points):

Zhora Friday Jumpers (part 2 of QQ # 31, fourth place (the top 4 dogs were within 8 100ths of a second of each other!), 15 points):

Nina Friday Premier Jumpers (NQ):

Zhora Friday Premier Jumpers (NQ):

Nina Saturday Jumpers (NQ):

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (part 1 of QQ # 32, second place, 18 points):

Zhora Saturday Premier (NQ, nice run):

Zhora Saturday Standard (part 2 of QQ # 32, third place, 29 points):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (I SO thought we had it….but no…and someone asked me during the walkthrough if many of the big dogs had taken the wrong end of the tunnel after the weaves and I said no…so Nina decided to show me what that looked like, training mode after that):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (part 1 of QQ #33, second place, 17 points):

Nina Sunday Standard (ANOTHER soooo close, really loved this run though):

Zhora Sunday Standard (part 2 of QQ # 33, third place, 26 points):

Judge Windle Ewing (who it turns out knows Debbie Spence, my first agility teacher from back in Texas) designed some seriously tricky courses for us this weekend. He was the judge under whom we earned our first double double Q last year. It was ALMOST a repeat this year, but then an absolute heartbreaker of a standard NQ today happened. I reminded myself right after that this is just agility, we aren’t curing cancer and world peace does not depend on it.

Zhora earned QQ’s # 29 and 30, halfway to MACH2 already! Nina ran beautifully. It was fun. We are off for two weekends now and we need it.

Nina Friday Time 2 Beat (Q, first place, 10 points):

Zhora Friday Standard (part 1 of QQ #29, second place, 28 points):

Zhora Friday Jumpers (part 2 of QQ # 29, third place, 12 points):

Zhora Saturday Time 2 Beat (Q, second place, 8 points):

Nina Saturday Time 2 Beat (Q, first place, 10 points):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (part 1 of QQ #30, third place, 15 points):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (Q, second place, 17 points):

Zhora Sunday Standard (part 2 of QQ #30, second place, 20 points, holy moly this course….only 2 8″ dogs qualified):

Nina Sunday Standard (HEARTBREAKER, on a double Q no less, the LAST BAR of the LAST JUMP….OMG…):

OMG I might just have a new favorite judge! Pam Johnson designed courses that Nina would have designed if Pam hadn’t done it first (and if Nina could use Clean Run Course Designer…), flowy, fast, RLH (that’s Run Like Hell), no need for pesky deceleration, just speed. They were LOVELY courses, with one single exception, the opening of yesterday’s Standard course, which gave most of us fits because of handler errors that were all too easy to make. Nina was SO CLOSE to a double, knocking the LAST POSSIBLE BAR today, which was at least partly my fault, since I didn’t decelerate where I had told myself to.

Nina was a Standard specialist last weekend, and a Jumpers specialist this weekend. She is running beautifully, faster than she ever has, got all her contacts, just JOFT (that’s Just One Little Thing, where “little” is now replaced with an f bomb….). She just needs TWO doubles to qualify for Nationals….just two….

Zhora was a rock star, earning two Time 2 Beat Q’s and double Q # 28 today plus a Jumpers from yesterday.

There were very few 8″ dogs, so I only had a few between them, so I was puffing!

I decided to post the good, the bad and the ugly this time.

Nina Saturday Jumpers (Q, first place, 21 points, 5.532 YPS):

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (Q, second place, 17 points, 4.893 YPS):

Zhora Saturday Time 2 Beat (Q, second place, 9 points):

Nina Saturday Standard (wow…I just did not handle that tunnel/aframe properly at all, needed to pull way over to show her the line):

Zhora Saturday Standard (aaaaand then I did exactly the same thing with Zhora….):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (Q, first place, 21 points again, 5.261 YPS):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (Part 1 of QQ #28, Q, second place, 17 points again, how weird is that, they both got exactly the same points yesterday and today! 4.671 YPS):

Zhora Sunday Time 2 Beat (Q, first place, 10 points):

Nina Sunday Standard (ONE FREAKING BAR!):

Zhora Sunday Standard (Part 2 of QQ #28, first place, 25 points, 3.627 YPS, I did NOT like this dogwalk entry, and I did not handle it as carefully as I could have, so she slipped and I had a bit of an EEK moment):

Getting back into the swing of things. New judge to us, John Defilippi, loved his courses, fast and challenging, and he is very nice, has a generous wheel, and is very generous with his calls (the agility gods truly do giveth and taketh away, since the judge gave Nina and I a gift on her dogwalk contact yesterday, but then she took a wrong course…). Zhora picked up double Q’s #26 and 27, plus two Time 2 Beat legs. She also had a wonderful Premier Jumpers run today but stepped on the metal weave pole base and slipped so she popped and earned an R for the NQ. I am seeing that when I am very clear about where she is going so she can see her lines well, she is running faster and faster, but when I am unclear or when a course is really twisty turny, she slows down. Both Zhora and Nina earned personal best points totals and YPS in Friday’s standard course, and in today’s standard run Nina had the fastest time of all the 8″ and 12″ dogs, and was within a couple of seconds of the really fast 20 and 24″ dogs! When it works, it really works.

Nina Friday Standard (first place, personal best 34 points, 4.241 YPS…IN STANDARD!):

Zhora Friday Standard (part 2 of QQ #26, third place, personal best 31 points, 4.028 YPS!):

Zhora Friday Time 2 Beat (first place, 10 points):

Zhora Friday Jumpers (part 2 of QQ #26, third place, 17 points):

Zhora Saturday Time 2 Beat (8 points and our only Q on Saturday):

Zhora Sunday Premier (NQ but nice run):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (part 1 of QQ #27, third place, 15 points):

Nina Sunday Standard (first place, 32 points, 4.11 YPS):

Zhora Sunday Standard (part 2 of QQ #27, 26 points):

Another wonderful trial put on by HABOC! Judge Pam Sturtz, my first time trialing under her, designed some really tricky courses, but really fun to run, she was really nice to show to. Some tough challenges and some low Q rates, but you really felt your skills were getting a workout, and you need that once in a while! Zhora put up QQ # 25, and earned her second Open FAST leg and another 10 points toward her Time to Beat 2 title. Nina had a NQ weekend, although her jumpers NQ today was one I was very glad I videoed (thanks Sue!) because I could see clearly that I caused her to knock the ONE AND ONLY BAR. Zhora was 5/6 on the weekend, just a weird and uncharacteristic R at the weaves yesterday. There were almost no 8″ dogs, so I only had four or so dogs between them, so I was TIRED.

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (NQ, weird weave R, but even Zhora can’t be perfect I guess):

Nina Saturday Jumpers (NQ, obvs, but nice run):

Zhora Saturday Standard (Q, first place, 30 points, love to see her really digging in and running):

Nina Saturday Standard (NQ but such a nice run, good job of getting ahead of her in the weaves and supporting it properly):

Zhora Open FAST (Q, 71 points):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (part 1 of QQ #25, second place, 14 points, and she saves the Q in the weaves when she keeps going after a bad entry!):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (I drop my arm and turn my shoulder as she jumps the blue non-wing and cause the bar down, but look at that front cross after the weaves!):

Zhora Sunday Time 2 Beat (Q, 10 points, first place, some experimenting, her distance work is really coming along, getting ahead of her in the weaves is not ready for prime time, although I didn’t support as I should):

Zhora Sunday Standard (part 2 of QQ #25, first place, only dog to Q in her height, 27 points):

Zhora had her second perfect weekend in a row (other than an NQ in Premier), earning double Q’s #23 and 24, plus a placement in one run (some of the fastest 8″ dogs in the country run here so that was pretty cool!). Nina had some great runs but only pulled off a Master FAST Q. Judges Mary Mullen and Laura Kuterbach designed some deceptively tricky courses for us!

Saturday Nina Master FAST (Q, third place, 63 points):

Saturday Zhora Open FAST (Q, first place, 70 points):

Saturday Zhora Master Standard (part 1 of QQ #23, 27 points):

Saturday Nina Master Jumpers (NQ):

Saturday Zhora Master Jumpers (part 2 of QQ #23, 18 points):

Saturday Nina Premier Jumpers (NQ but nice run, I got in her way at the tunnel):

Saturday Zhora Premier Jumpers (NQ, handler errors!):

Sunday Nina Standard (NQ but nice run):

Sunday Zhora Standard (part 1 of QQ #24, fourth place, 25 points):

Sunday Nina Jumpers (NQ):

Sunday Zhora Jumpers (part 2 of QQ #24, 16 points):

Well, so Zhora had nearly three months off (her last trial was the weekend she got her MACH, which was May 7), and wow, she came back with a bang! She had a perfect weekend, earning double Q’s #21 and 22 towards MACH2, plus a Premier double Q! Nina ran wonderfully with a Jumpers Q on Saturday and a Standard Q on Sunday. We also had a major disconnect today that almost ended up with one of us getting hurt – I was prepared to take the fall to avoid stepping on her but fortunately neither happened! As much as I wish I was raising puppies right now, it sure was nice to get back to running the Z dog, not bad for a trial I entered on the last open day on a whim, because I love running under judge Lavonda Herring! We are taking it easy for a while, one trial in August only.

Nina Saturday Jumpers (Q, first place and 20 points):

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (Q, third place and 18 points, part 1 of QQ #21):

Zhora Saturday Premier Standard (Q, first place):

Zhora Saturday Standard (Q, second place and 25 points, part 2 of QQ #21):

Nina Sunday Premier Jumpers (NQ):

Zhora Sunday Premier Jumpers (Q, first place):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (Q, first place and 14 points, part 1 of QQ #22):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (EEK!):

Nina Sunday Standard (Q, first place, 30 points):

Zhora Sunday Standard (only last half got videoed unfortunately, Q, third place and 23 points, part 2 of QQ #22 and end of the perfect weekend!):

Just Nina and I running this weekend, although Zhora came along for the ride and to see her human peeps and play with her canine peeps! I really miss running her, can’t wait for her first trial back coming up soon!

Nina had some gorgeous runs this weekend, even though we only squeaked out one Q, we were really in sync and the mojo was really working. Our Jumpers NQ today was one of the best runs I think we have had, just one lousy bar away from a Q.

Nina Saturday Jumpers (NQ but really nice run):

Nina Saturday Standard (Q, second place, 32 points, 4.24 yards per second):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (NQ but really nice run, 5.2 yards per second):

Even our favorite judge Mary Mullen couldn’t help us get a double Q this weekend!

Nina and I were there just two days (Zhora is in season so she stayed home), and came home with one Standard Q and three fun practice runs! It was Nina’s ninth (!) birthday on Saturday.

Nina Saturday Standard (Q, second place, 31 points):