Oh Yeah, You Blend

So since I recently became an AKC Breeder of Merit, I get a credit each month for online reports from AKC. So I decided to cash in and purchase the current Swedish Vallhund Invitational rankings to reassure myself that we still had a shot at going this December. The last time I checked we were in third place. But then…I pulled the current report…and well, you could knock me over with a feather. My little Ninabean is in FIRST PLACE! She is the NUMBER ONE AKC Agility Vallhund right now! For a dog who doesn’t qualify all that often (but when she does, she does it with a bullet), this is just amazing. My little speed demon is the top agility Vallhund. I can’t believe it! I think I’ll keep her!

So Nina decided to go into season YESTERDAY, so I had to pull her from this weekend’s trial (also the last trial we were entered in for the Invitational qualifying period, so fingers crossed that we hold onto our spot!). So Zhora and I went to play. In a way, Nina not being there was a plus, since it meant I could concentrate on Zhora. Judges Candy Nettles and Laura English set some fun and fast courses for us!

She did GREAT Friday! Got her first Novice FAST leg in her first-ever Novice FAST run, finished her Novice Jumpers (NAJ) title, did two sets of weaves on the very first try. The puppy brain kicked in about halfway through Open Standard, but I was thrilled with her speed and joy in running with me. I moved her up to Open Jumpers (even though she is not really ready) because I really want her to get used to seeing 12 weave poles. Very happy with my baby girl! She just turned 22 months old.

Friday Novice FAST (Q):

Friday Novice Jumpers With Weaves (Q and NAJ title):

Friday Open Standard (NQ):

We had no Q’s Saturday but I was VERY happy with how she ran in Jumpers, a really hard weave pole entry (only about 3 dogs Q’d in the entire level), and she alllllmost got her weaves, missed a couple, but ran fast and happy and listened well, the mojo really felt like it was starting to germinate. This was especially good after her Novice FAST run today, which had the puppy brain on TILT the whole time. Standard was wilder but still fast and happy, and her table performance was hilarious. Overall very pleased with the Z dog! I saw Demi today also, she is looking great! Fast and sassy and shouting at her dad Ron on the table (hmmm…is that genetic?).

Zhora Saturday Open Jumpers:

Zhora Saturday Open Standard:

One of my favorite places to trial, PISA, in Cheswick, Pennsylvania. I don’t love the 4 hour drive, but it’s a lovely facility and some of my favorite peeps are always there! I got to go to Primanti Brothers last night for dinner, thanks to Sherry and Zap!

No Q’s for anyone yesterday, although I am going to post Zhora’s NQ’s since she is running so fast, and is almost listening some of the time, I am really seeing some good things happening there. Once again, she stressed up and not down, which is exactly what I want! She is a wild thing, which is wonderful at this stage.

Nina got called on her teeter today so no standard, but she got jumpers in a real nailbiter, since I gambled on having a start line stay that didn’t happen so I was WAY out of position, but we made it, for 13 points.

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (Novice):

Zhora Saturday Standard (Open):

Nina Sunday Standard (NQ):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (13 points):

Nina’s 2015 Nationals tally: 3/4 double Q’s, 23/20 legs, 453/500 points

I just love it when my weekend is made on the Friday! Nina qualified in Master FAST (in her first Master FAST run after earning her Excellent title at the last trial), AND Master Standard for 26 points AND Master Jumpers for 16 points to earn double Q number 8 AND her first TRIPLE Q! (10 triple Q’s earns the Triple Q Excellent title or TQX).

Saturday one bar down in jumpers and popped weaves kept us out of the Q’s.

Today we got Jumpers but my paranoia about her making an unsafe entry to the dogwalk got us an off-course in an otherwise awesome Standard run. We hadn’t done particularly well showing under Linda Kipp before, but we sure did nicely this weekend! Nina ended up with a 50% Q rate on the weekend, which we have only managed once before, so a good weekend!

Zhora made her Open Standard debut and did SO well! Fast, happy and confident and did most of the weaves (I elected not to go back and fix them). I didn’t handle the last jump clearly and she ran past it and I didn’t fix that either. So proud of her! She started out well in jumpers but a fit of reverse sneezing stopped us. I think I fed her a too-dry treat too close to starting to run.

Nina Friday Standard (part of triple Q #1 and double Q #8, 26 points):

Nina Friday Jumpers (part of triple Q #1 and double Q #8, 16 points):

Zhora Saturday Open Jumpers debut:

Nina Sunday Jumpers (14 points):

Nina Sunday Standard (no Q but a nice run):

Nina’s 2015 Nationals tally: 3/4 double Q’s, 22/20 legs, 440/500 points

No double Q’s but a good weekend nonetheless! Judges Jill Roberts and Thomas O’Brien set some very tricky courses. Quite low Q rates on some of them. They were VERY fun and fast courses to run, we had a blast.

Nina FINALLY finished her Excellent FAST title today (we’d been sitting with two legs for ages), won Time 2 Beat both times she ran it, and picked up two Jumpers legs for 18 points on Friday and 16 points today.

And ZHORA! Zhora was the superstar! This trial is held in an indoor soccer complex, and it is a large, noisy and somewhat overwhelming place. Zhora has only ever trialed on mats at Countryside, has only run one day here and there (just 7 trial days total for her so far, counting this trial!), this was artificial turf. She has been to the venue a few times, but has never run there before. So this was a new and noisy venue, new footing, more wide-open rings, etc. and she absolutely THRIVED on that energy, she was wild and sassy but still worked with me AND picked up her last Novice Standard leg needed for her very first agility title, her Novice Agility (NA) title. And she would have qualified in Novice Jumpers too, but I elected not to go back and fix a missed jump when she was running fast and happy (you have to take the long view – I am trying to train the dog I want to have in a couple of years, so I want trialing to be fun and exciting for her, so she runs fast and happy – if that means losing a Q to make sure the experience stays upbeat and fun then so be it).

AND! With Zhora’s first title, Nina now becomes eligible for her Register of Merit (ROM) from the Swedish Vallhund Club of America, for being the mother of three AKC titled offspring (and Zhora also earned her father Tempest (Mystarz Baileys Blazer) his ROMX.

(Camera issues with a couple of the videos)

Nina Friday Jumpers (18 points):

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

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

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (no Q, but I was so happy with how she worked – I had to settle her down at the weaves, since she was SO excited, but she settled down and worked):

Zhora Saturday Standard (Q and Novice Agility title):

Nina Sunday FAST (Q, first place and Excellent FAST title):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (Q and 16 points):

Nina’s 2015 Nationals tally: 2/4 double Q’s, 20/20 legs, 384/500 points

Judge Donna Gomer. Very nice lady. Loved Friday’s courses (double Q #7 was no small reason for that!), but yesterday’s courses were very awkward. Very hard weave entry in Standard, and it stayed the same for Novice! Zhora ran really well, fast and happy and stayed with me, but the weave entry plus weaving into the wall was too hard for a dog at her level. Very pleased with how she ran though! Today Nina would have had Standard except she was so busy barking at me at the start line that she ran past the first jump for a refusal. Of course the rest of the run was perfect.

Here’s Nina’s Standard run for 28 points and part 1 of QQ #7:

Here’s Nina’s Jumpers for 16 points and part 2 of QQ#7:

And here’s Zhora’s Novice Standard run, NQ but she worked so well:

Nina’s 2015 Nationals tally: 2/4 double Q’s, 18/20 legs, 350/500 points

Interesting courses from judge Windle Ewing. He sure likes 180’s and serps… the courses on the whole ran much better than they walked. He’s a super-nice guy but he takes his time and I was glad it was a tiny trial in terms of entries since otherwise we’d have been there until midnight. He is very generous with his calls (you will see Nina’s standard Q from yesterday almost wasn’t at the teeter), and pretty generous with his wheel (except when he isn’t). Nina earned 31 points in that standard run! We got jumpers on Friday for 15 points and would have had standard except for my big mouth costing us a bar, which is also what happened in jumpers yesterday! DO NOT OPEN YOUR MOUTH WHEN NINA IS JUMPING YOU IDIOT!

Tish ran fast and happy but didn’t weave, not even on the second or third try (I ran her in standard today and purposefully didn’t even ask her to weave, pulled her away from them). She is entered one day next weekend and then she isn’t trialing any more until we figure out the weave issue (or don’t).

Zhora was the superstar of the weekend, earning herself Novice jumpers AND Novice standard legs #2 in a Novice double Q! The judge said in the not-brief-briefing that you could still Q with an 85, and Zhora decided to prove him right in standard, she used every one of her allowed faults! She got her weaves on the first try and I celebrated so much that she switched to handler focus so much that she ran past a jump and had to go back to it, typical baby dog stuff. Her jumpers run was perfect other than needing all three tries at the weaves (heel side is not any of my dogs’ best side!). She visited the judge once when he was right in her line of sight and couldn’t resist, but she came right back and worked. She had a beautiful start line stay in Jumpers, did her perfect 2 on 2 off teeter in Standard, AND she sassed me quite a bit, which I love! Her Jumpers run was really speedy too, I am so happy with how she is doing!

Nina Friday Jumpers (15 points):

Nina Saturday Standard (31 points):

Zhora Saturday Standard (Novice Standard Leg #2!):

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (Novice Jumpers Leg #2!):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (NQ but nice run on a course with some seriously funky angles and traps):

Tish Sunday Standard (weaves missed on purpose):

Nina’s 2015 Nationals tally: 1/4 double Q’s, 16/20 legs, 306/500 points

Not a great weekend in the Q department, Nina won Time 2 Beat and got a Standard Q yesterday, but that was it. Tish ran fast and happy but didn’t weave. Zhora was the star of the weekend, earning her first Novice Standard leg AND working through a huge distraction when the door to one of the crating rooms was left open RIGHT BESIDE THE WEAVES! She went and had a look, listened to the dogs barking, then came right back and worked. I am having so much fun running her!

Nina’s Saturday Standard Q for 28 points:

Tish Saturday Jumpers:

Zhora Saturday Novice Standard Q:

Nina’s 2015 Nationals tally: 1/4 double Q’s, 14/20 legs, 260/500 points

We finally broke our NQ streak, but barely. Nina won Time 2 Beat on Friday, and got Jumpers today for 16 points. We were close in the other runs, although she came off the table today. Some fun courses from judge Susan Stephon (and I met her handsome Cardigan Corgi Crush).

Tish did wonderfully today! She WEAVED in both her runs, Jumpers on the second try and Standard on the third.  She was fast and happy today and seemed comfortable. We are only going to do a day or two here and there for now, but I was happy with how she did today.

Nina Sunday Jumpers (16 points and first place):

Tish Sunday Jumpers:

Tish Sunday Standard:

And here is Zhora having fun at 8″ at the match (look at those contacts!):

Nina’s 2015 Nationals tally: 1/4 double Q’s, 13/20 legs, 232/500 points

Not Nina’s best weekend. Judge Janet Budzynski set some nice courses, but one little thing kept us from qualifying more than once. We got Jumpers on Saturday for 13 points, but that was it.

However! Zhora got her first-ever qualifying run in only her third-ever run at a trial (and her second trial day ever). She is not “trialing” for real yet, she is just coming out for a day here and there to get some experience, but I was THRILLED with both her runs this weekend, she was focused, drove to the equipment, and smooth! Feels like she is starting to get the hang of this agility game! She is still very handler focused (she is a baby), but she is starting to learn to focus on the equipment when she should. I am only asking for weaves twice, since I don’t want to make it a “thing”, but I also want to give her a chance to get it right. So happy with where she is at!

Nina Jumpers yesterday (13 points), she was WILD and went all over the place, but we held it together:

Zhora’s first Novice Jumpers leg:

Nina’s 2015 Nationals tally: 1/4 double Q’s, 12/20 legs, 216/500 points