After getting NOTHING last weekend, we picked up another Jumpers leg today. I handled it VERY conservatively for 14 MACH points (our lowest points yet, but the Q was more important than the points!). We were SOOO close to a double today, but an evil weave entry got us. Happy with how Nina ran, no bars down today, got all her contacts. Less happy with the start line crazies, but she wouldn’t be Nina without those…
Jumpers Q:
Standard NQ, but some good stuff:
Nationals tally: 14/20 legs, 280/500 points, 2/4 double Q’s. So 6 more legs to go, 220 points, and still 2 double Q’s!
Nina got Double Q #2 on Friday (29 points in Standard, 17 points in Jumpers), plus another Time 2 Beat leg and 10 points, picked up another Jumpers leg today (17 points), and Tish got her final Open Standard leg today to earn her Open Agility (OA) title, and get completely into Excellent!
Nina QQ #2 Standard (29 points):
Nina QQ #2 Jumpers (17 points) – weird camera issue makes it look like Benny Hill:
Tish Open Agility (OA) title run (note the weaves dance to get her jazzed about weaving! I will be teaching classes in how to do this…NOT):
Nationals tally: 13/20 legs, 266/500 points (over halfway there!), 2/4 double Q’s (halfway there!). So 7 more legs to go, 234 points, and 2 double Q’s!
Nina double q’d today for the first time ever! Two more legs and 40 more MACH points. And I hadn’t planned to even come to the trial today since I had intended to visit Mum instead but still have this darned cold hanging on and I was worried about sharing it. Apparently I handle better when I am coughing and snotty!
Nationals tally: 10/20 legs (halfway there!), 203/500 points, 1/4 double Q’s. So 10 more legs to go, 297 points, and 3 double Q’s.
After arriving on Friday morning with just two dogs to run before my walkthrough (Jenn and I went to see Adam Ant on the Thursday night, well worth it!), we ended up with just one Q (in Jumpers) for the weekend (one Q is better than no Q’s!). And this run was a nailbiter at the end, when I ended up out of position and nearly cost us the Q, thank goodness Nina knows to drive to an obstacle! We did get a stay almost every time, a stay with LOTS of sass, but a stay! She was starting to knock the first bar with the “drop and run”, so we’re back to trying for at least enough of a stay to get combobulated.
Nationals tally hasn’t changed much: 8/20 legs, 163/500 points, 0/4 double Q’s. So 12 more legs to go, 337 points, and 4 double Q’s.
Nina and I trekked to Cheswick, PA this weekend for another trial. I am at the “soul searching” stage of our 2014 Nationals quest, since we went into this trial on a string of NQ’s and I am beginning to wonder if I should withdraw from some upcoming trials if we’re not qualifying and save some money.
So Nina went and qualified twice this weekend for 48 more MACH points (if we qualify, we get lots of points, since she is a fast little thing), a HUGE improvement over recent trials! Even better, she stayed at the startline when asked to every time today, and actually STOPPED on the teeter today in Standard, something she does every time in practice but has only done ONCE at a trial. I was very happy with her!
Updated Nationals tally: 7/20 legs, 147/500 points, 0/4 double Q’s. So 13 more legs to go, 353 points, and 4 double Q’s. We’ll see!
Nina’s Standard Q from Friday 7/19:
Nina’s Standard NQ from today 7/21 (but with a start line stay and a stop on the teeter!):
Nina’s Jumpers Q from today 7/21 (recording started part way through due to technical glitch):
Given the amount of life stress my family has had for the past year (showing no sign of stopping, in fact we got more bad news about my mum last week), I decided one way to take my mind off sad, worrisome things was to try and qualify Nina for the 2014 AKC Agility Nationals (they are in Harrisbug, PA, the closest they’re likely to be for a long while).
The requirements are: 500 MACH points, 20 legs (in Master JWW or Standard), and 4 double Q’s (qualifying in Master Jumpers and Master Standard on the same day – the double Q legs count towards the 20 legs). We have until November 30.
So far we have: 5 legs (4 JWW, 1 Standard), 99 points and no double Q’s. Not exactly a slam dunk, eh? Still, it’s fun and an effective diversion.
We still need: 401 MACH points, 15 legs and 4 double Q’s. Still technically possible, but not if we keep having trial weekends like the last couple. Nina is being a “one bar wonder”, with perfect courses with ONE BAR DOWN.
Pretty good day today. Tish earned her Novice Fast title, and WEAVED (a bit), Nina earned an MXJ leg (#4) for 16 more MACH points and was close in Standard, she did all the tricky stuff but I put her down wrong and she knocked the first bar (she knocked a bar later, too, but that was because I decided to book it and just run like hell!).
Nina Master Standard NQ:
Nina MXJ Leg #4:
Tish Excellent Jumpers (NQ but she did 10 weaves and ran well):
Here is Lobo at 10 months, he is 12″ tall and weighs 26 pounds (his sister Zhora is 23.5 pounds and the same height, little bit sister Cricket is 16 pounds). He’s been busy, participating in agility demonstrations and working on his obedience and tracking with his mom Jan.
