After deciding NOT to go to the trial yesterday because of weather forecasts, I woke up at 4:30 AM and thought I’d just check to see if anything had changed, it had, so I drove to the trial yesterday morning. SO glad I did! Nina ran beautifully and picked up a standard and a jumpers Q (unfortunately not on the same day), with a 50% Q rate, which is great for her. Zhora laid down a GORGEOUS standard run today, one of her best runs yet, AND if she had qualified, she would have placed second (in 12″, that’s a big deal). She knocked a bar after watching the ring crew to see if she wanted to go visit, and by the time she got her eyes back on the course, she was too close to the jump to set herself up properly. Still a GREAT run for her, especially nice after she ran like a wild animal the rest of the weekend (the extreme cold here has meant not enough exercise AT ALL). Other than driving my car into a snowdrift at the Sunset Motel last night and needing a nice gentleman named Just Warren to pull it out, it was a great weekend! Fun with good friends, and playing with my dogs! Judge Dee Crofton’s courses were challenging, Q rates were low, but they were fun.
Very fun trial, fun courses from Janet Budzynski, we cut the weekend short and came back Saturday again, thanks to sleet in the forecast for today. Both girls did very well, and Zhora got her working brain back on line and ran her heart out, picking up her second Master Jumpers leg and a Time 2 Beat Q. Her Jumpers run Saturday was one of her best runs to date, and would have been a Q except for handler error (I didn’t show her a jump she needed to take). Nina was wonderful.
Nina Friday Jumpers (Q and 15 points):
Zhora Friday Jumpers (Q and 5 points):
Nina Friday Time 2 Beat (Q and first place for 10 points):
Zhora Friday Time 2 Beat (Q and first place for 10 points):
Zhora Saturday Jumpers (NQ but what a great run, we’re improving distance and speed!):
Nina Saturday Standard (Q and 27 points):
Zhora Saturday Time 2 Beat (NQ because of wrong end of a tunnel but a nice run):
Nina Saturday Time 2 Beat (Q and first place for 10 points):
This was the first trial in the new building, so exciting to think that this state of the art facility is our new “home” trial site!
The dogs LOVED running on the turf. The rubber infill hasn’t settled yet, so it was a bit like running in sand for the people for a few runs, but we started really feeling good running on it as the trial went on.
I came home last night thanks to scary weather predictions for today.
Zhora earned her first MACH points, Nina got two JWW runs and would have had double Q’s both days but handler error (I am sick) and a teeter fault stopped that. Zhora also suddenly remembered she is still very young and managed to squeak out a T2B Q with something like half a second remaining in time, because she just HAD to go visiting!
Zhora Friday Master Jumpers (Q and 10 points – first MACH points!):
Nina Friday Master Jumpers (Q and 16 points):
Nina Saturday Master Jumpers (Q and 17 points):
Zhora Saturday Master Jumpers (NQ but SO CLOSE):
Nina Saturday Standard (NQ but nice run):
Zhora Saturday Time 2 Beat (Q but barely, 1 point):
Thanks to weather and the NYS Thruway being closed because of it, we only made it to Edinboro for one day of this weekend’s trial, leaving at 5 AM today. Well, it was worth the drive! Zhora earned her first AX (Excellent Standard) leg with a great run where she saved her weave poles after a wonky entry because she was headed to another piece of equipment, she ALMOST got her first MXJ (Master Jumpers) leg, but knocked a bar after looking to see what some spectators were doing. Nina tried to give me a heart attack by doing the dogwalk on three legs (I HATE dogwalk entries that are a hard turn like this was, I think it’s very unsafe), and was so insane about being back to agility after a month off that she knocked FOUR BARS in Jumpers. She redeemed herself somewhat by winning Time 2 Beat, but wow…she scared me in Standard! Judge Barbara Bounds was very nice, and came up to me to ask if I knew Krista Hill who also has Vallhunds!
Zhora Master Jumpers (NQ but a very nice run):
Nina Time 2 Beat (Q and 10 points for winning the class, you can see how wired she was!):
Nina Master Standard (heart attack-inducing dogwalk, I should have pushed more to the wall and then turned):
As you may have seen elsewhere on the Intarwebs (even on CNN, since the gene involved relates to a form of human blindness), there has been a breakthrough in the research into Swedish Vallhund Retinopathy, and it looks like we will have a genetic test available in the spring! However, it looks like it’s not as simple in terms of inheritance as was thought previously, and there must be other factors involved in whether or not dogs actually develop the issue, since not all dogs who are at risk genetically actually develop the problem, and even dogs who have two normal copies of the relevant gene still seem to have a minor risk of developing the retinopathy (4.7% of the retinopathy-affected dogs in the study had two normal copies of the relevant gene). As has always been the case, many to most stage 1 affected dogs do not get worse, and seem to have no problem with their vision, and comparatively few affected dogs seem to progress to stage 3, and of those dogs, very few go fully blind.
We did one day this weekend, just as our Invitationals tune-up (we leave Tuesday!!!). Zhora ran really well, Nina got a Standard Q (which gave me some confidence going into next weekend). Stayed for dinner with my awesome agility peeps, and was so touched that everyone gave me hugs and wished us luck! I am very fortunate to have such wonderful friends! Also, SO EXCITED!
Nina Jumpers (NQ):
Zhora Jumpers(NQ but nice run, her confidence is really growing):
Nina Standard (Q and 25 points), some really awkward lines on this course, gave a lot of teams a lot of trouble:
Judge Linda Kipp designed some really lovely courses for this weekend. We lost power yesterday for a while and ran standard in the semi-dark. Both dogs did great in the dark but didn’t Q. Nina got Jumpers yesterday and Zhora got Time 2 Beat today. Not a great weekend, but Zhora had some great NQ runs with the marked exception of Standard today, in which she was gripped by an attack of puppy ADD and went bonkers!
Zhora Saturday Jumpers (gorgeous run, thought it was going to be her first Masters Q, but a bar down):
Nina Saturday Jumpers (Q and 14 points):
Zhora Sunday Jumpers (another nice run):
Zhora Sunday Time 2 Beat (Q and 7 points, reverse spin, baby!):
Some really tough courses with weird angles and hard weave entries from Carolynne Rose. Zhora was the star of the weekend, earning her Excellent Jumpers (AXJ) AND her Open Standard (OA) titles on Saturday, she now can start earning MACH points in Jumpers, since she is in Master Jumpers, and has moved up to Excellent Standard! So proud of her! Nina got Standard on Saturday with a beautiful run on a really tricky course and won Time 2 Beat on Friday. Hoping to keep the mojo honed for the Invitational in a month!
Nina Friday Time 2 Beat (Q and 10 points for first place):
Zhora Saturday Jumpers (Q and AXJ title):
Zhora Saturday Standard (Q and OA title):
Nina Saturday Standard (Q and 25 points):
Zhora Sunday Standard (NQ but not bad for her first Excellent Standard run!):
Nice courses from Candy Nettles, with very tricky weave entries today. Zhora got three out of four weave entries on the first try this weekend, and earned her second Excellent Jumpers leg this morning. A bar down in Standard both days kept her from earning her third (and last) Open Standard leg. Overall I am thrilled with how she is doing, she is speeding up and reading lines really well. Nina had a Jumpers Q yesterday but bars down in Standard yesterday and Jumpers today, and I messed up her weave entry in Standard today.
Nina Saturday Jumpers (Q and 15 points):
Zhora Saturday Jumpers (no Q because I overhandled the tunnel AND she wanted to go visit the ring crew, but a nice run):
Zhora Saturday Standard (no Q but a really nice run):
Mother of my sweet Rakki, great-grandmother of my beloved, amazing Nina, great-GREAT-grandmother of the loving Tish and wonderful Zhora. Such a wonderful, wonderful dog who only seemed to get better as she got older. I loved that sweet Cranberi, and I know she will leave a huge hole in Ulla’s home and heart. She had such a wonderful and long life, I am sure she is chasing anything and everything up in heaven now, leaping over tractors and running her heart out. Rest easy Cranberi, you live on in so many pedigrees, Nina dedicates her agility runs this weekend to your memory!
