Oh Yeah, You Blend

MACH Zhora May 7, 2016

Well, this was about the best weekend ever! After a pretty fraught couple of days with some very sad news about my beloved aunt, Zhora earned double Q #19 on Friday (at which point I called Jim and said “James Battista, PACK YOUR BAGS!”), and then yesterday she earned her MACH! She picked up double Q’s 18, 19 and the magic 20 in three trial days in a row. Talk about an emotional rollercoaster!

I have to say a word about my friends and agility peeps, just about every single person there was amazing to me, and my close friends, well…a gorgeous plaque from Sue Verbocy, and a new crate tag from Zap and Sherry (both say MACH Zhora and both were made AHEAD OF TIME, which somehow didn’t jinx us, by my awesomely talented friend Suzanne at Giftware by Felcor), cards, chocolate…I couldn’t ask for a more generous, wonderful, supportive, awesome group of people. I love you all, thank you so, so, so very much for everything, you made this just the best. And thank you to my awesome husband Jim Battista, for putting up with being an agility widower, and for driving down and getting up at o dark thirty to come with me and be there, it meant so much to me that you were there.

Zhora modeling the gorgeous plaque from Sue

Zhora’s new crate tag from Zap and Sherry

During our Standard run for the MACH, the whole place was so quiet (for an agility venue), you could have heard a pin drop, and then the place exploded. I was happy that once I stepped to the line, I followed my dear friend Sue Verbocy’s advice and looked at Zhora, smiled, told her I love her, and then just ran my course. It really wasn’t until I saw her go into the right end of the final tunnel that it hit me that she’d done it! I mishandled the chute with her and was out of position (“if she knocks the triple, it’s on you”, I remember thinking to myself, after thinking “what the F&*% are you doing on this side of the chute!??!”), but she just sailed through.

This was the Hamburg All Breed Obedience Club (HABOC) trial, we always love HABOC’s trials, they take excellent care of their workers, and their ribbons are second to none. I used to teach at HABOC so that made it extra special to get Zhora’s MACH at their trial. The original judge, Michele Fletcher, broke her ankle (heal soon Michele!), so Oksana Syrkin kindly stepped in to judge for us, using Michele’s courses. The courses were fun but quite tricky, but Zhora just rocked them. Oksana told me when we were getting the MACH pictures taken that she’d just earned her first MACH a few months ago. Everyone talks about your first MACH like they talk about losing your virginity: about how special it is; how you always remember it; how there’s nothing like the first one; etc. And now I am in a position to say that it’s all true. I burst into tears as soon as Zhora took the correct end of the tunnel at the end, and then HABOC president Ellen Schopp handed me the ribbon and MACH bar, and then went back to her ring crew job of fluffing the chute…which I didn’t see, and sent Zhora into the chute as part of our celebration lap (Zhora loves the chute), thank goodness Ellen was on the ball and jumped back so Zhora didn’t run into her! Zhora was SO happy, she knew everyone was thrilled with her. She got a whole donut (she LOVES donuts), and our friend Barb Teplesky gave her some steak, and later she got a hamburger. Afterwards, I took her to the beach with her dog friends Jackson and Lexy (Zap and Sherry’s Corgis), and her boyfriends Blaze and Zest (Sue Verbocy’s Vizslas), so she could celebrate in a way that was meaningful to her. I went out for dinner afterwards with my dear friends, there was a song (ABOUT WHICH WE WILL NOT SPEAK, IT WAS SUE’S FAULT!), and I generally just had the best. day. ever.

I am so privileged to have this amazing dog who is so happy to play this game with me. Like her mother Nina, Zhora’s work ethic and sheer joy at getting to play with me is priceless, and I try very hard to never forget how fortunate I am to have these awesome little dogs.

Zhora is now MACH Alkemi Blade Runner MX MXB MXJ MJB NF T2B, and she is my first home-bred champion at three and a half years old!

In other news, Nina picked up another Premier double Q (on the same day, no less!) and a Standard Q. She had some gorgeous runs, but the Q’s were elusive. That said, she now just needs 2 more double Q’s (and can use one more Premier double Q if she gets one) and a few points for 2017 Nationals. Running Nina, who turns 9 this month, is an exhilarating ride every single time, and I love every single run.

Nina Friday Premier Standard (Q and first place):

Zhora Friday Premier Standard (Q and second place):

Zhora Friday Standard (part 1 of QQ #19, first place and 30 points, thanks for videoing Clark!):

Zhora Friday Jumpers (part 2 of QQ #19, second place and 15 points):

Nina Friday Premier Jumpers (Q and first place):

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (part one of MACH, second place and 17 points):

MACH run! Zhora Saturday Standard (second place, 29 points and oh yeah, MACH ZHORA!!!):

Another video:

Nina Sunday Standard (Q, second place and 33 points):

Well this weekend started off a bit slow, but it finished as about the best agility weekend to date! Judges Sherry Jefferson and Janet Budzynski designed some lovely courses for us.

Nina earned TWO double Q’s in one weekend for the first time ever.

Zhora and Nina BOTH double Q’d today for only the second double double Q Sunday they’ve had.

Zhora ran really slowly in Jumpers today, even though she qualified, she was very slow, and I think it was because she’d burned her pads, running on that turf. Nina did that ages ago when we were running NADAC at this site, but she adapts her running style pretty fast to suit the footing, Zhora had a couple of bad slips and I am pretty sure she has sore feet. She worked through it though, good baby! They will be spoiled tonight!

Nina Friday Premier Standard (first place):

Nina Saturday Standard (QQ #13, second place, 29 points):

Nina Saturday Jumpers (QQ #13, second place, 20 points, I felt so connected with her this run):

Zhora Saturday Standard (third place, 24 points):

Zhora Saturday Premier Standard (NQ because I didn’t reconnect with her after the blind cross, nice run though):

Nina Sunday Standard (QQ #14, first place, 33 points):

Zhora Sunday Standard (QQ #18, second place, 27 points):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (QQ #14, first place, 17 points):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (QQ #18, third place, 10 points, slow but brave, definitely looks to me like her feet are tender, poor baby):

Colby Friday Jumpers (what a nice run, he and Nichole are really starting to come together as a team!):

Judge Laura English is one of our favorites, and her courses this weekend were fun and unusual. Unfortunately, we were only there two days and could only pull off a single Q. But the dogs sure had fun!

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (Q, third place, 17 points):

Nina Saturday Standard (NQ):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (once the rabies mode switched off, this turned into a beautiful run):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (so many near NQ’s, she was in rabies mode too! But she listened like a good girl, and then she slipped and just couldn’t get over that one jump):

Zhora Sunday Standard (wrong end of the tunnel for an NQ but a nice run):

Nina Sunday Standard (rabies mode, but man do I love running this dog every single time, made Laura laugh when I suggested to Nina that perhaps she should consider decaffeinated coffee…):

Got word from Lobo’s mom Jan that he earned his second PT (Pre-Trial Tested) herding leg today and is now eligible to be a Level 2 Versatile Swedish Vallhund! Lobo is the first Alkemi puppy to earn this herding title and to gain this recognition from the Swedish Vallhund Club of America!

Lobo is now Alkemi Beowulf del Roble LS CDX RATM CGC PT VSVA! Congratulations Lobo and Jan!

Here are Colby and Riley’s runs from APOTC. Riley is Alkemi Aston Martin LS and Colby is Alkemi Batman LS.

Colby Saturday Open Jumpers (OAJ title!):

Riley Saturday Open Jumpers (Q, leg #2):

Colby Sunday Excellent Jumpers (NQ but really nice for his first Excellent run!):

Colby Sunday Time 2 Beat:

Riley Sunday Time 2 Beat:

Showed under judge Alexandra Davis for the first time (although Sherry had to stand in for her on Friday since she couldn’t get here because of airport issues), loved her courses, and she was a lovely person to show to. Would show to her again any time! No doubles BUT I discovered the secret to Nina’s start line stay at a trial – HANDLE IT LIKE I DO IN TRAINING! So stupid of me not to realize this…she had a start line stay in every run, I started out asking for just a step away and ended up with a two jump leadout today (cost me two bars, but that’s an issue I can work on). Amazing. AND! The One Mind Dogs stuff is really amazing, Nina had a FABULOUS Premier Jumpers Q on a course only she and one other dog qualified on! I had many of their principles in mind when running this weekend and I really do think it helped. Zhora ran so well and earned the last few points she needed to qualify for 2017 AKC Nationals (Georgia here we come!)! AND Ninababies Colby and Riley both qualified in Open Jumpers on Saturday, and that earned Colby his OAJ, which meant he made his Excellent debut this morning and ran wonderfully! His owner Nichole handled him very well and didn’t get stressed about her first time running with the big dogs!

Zhora Friday Jumpers (Q, third place, 19 points):

Nina Friday Premier Jumpers (Q, first place):

Nina Saturday Standard (Q, first place, 30 points and a STARTLINE STAY!):

Zhora Saturday Standard (Q, third place, 27 points):

Nina Sunday Standard (NQ but gorgeous run!):

Great trial under our favorite judge Mary Mullen. Excellent host club, wonderful courses, deceptively tricky but so fun to challenge yourself on! Some of the nicest Premier courses I have run so far. Nina ran beautifully, and had a killer Premier Standard run with just one bar keeping her from a Q. Zhora picked up QQ #17, the last she needed for 2017 Nationals (down to less than 50 points needed now!), plus a Premier Jumpers leg, and they finished the weekend going one-two in Standard. Zhora is running faster and faster, driving ahead, getting tricky weave entries, I could not be happier with how she is running, and the mojo really feels like it’s working for us. My girls were just wonderful to me this Easter weekend.

Nina Friday Premier Standard (NQ but wow what a nice run, one bar down, only error):

Nina Friday Standard (first place, 33 points):

Zhora Friday Standard (QQ#17, third place, 31 points):

Zhora Friday Jumpers (QQ#17, first place, 21 points):

Zhora Friday Premier Jumpers (second place):

Nina Saturday Standard (NQ, nice run):

Zhora Saturday Standard (second place, 30 points):

Nina Sunday Standard (first place, 34 points):

Zhora Sunday Standard (second place, 31 points):

Zhora earned double Q #16 on Saturday, that was four in a row! Today was…less good. Nina got the walk of shame for a teeter bail, and Zhora, who doesn’t knock bars, knocked a bar in jumpers and missed her weave entry in both runs (tough courses, low Q rates). Judge Tom O’Brien.

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (QQ #16! Second place, 18 points, 4.826 yards per second):

Nina Saturday Standard (Q, first place, 33 points, 4.191 yards per second):

Zhora Saturday Standard (QQ #16! Second place, 31 points! 4.05 yards per second, new personal best!):

…in which Zhora had a PERFECT WEEKEND! The first perfect weekend I have ever had with any dog, in any venue, ever! (Now, of course, any weekend I get to spend with my dogs and my wonderful peeps is perfect in its own way, but I digress…). Judge Abbie Hanson designed some tricky courses, some had low Q rates, but they seemed custom made for Zhora, she couldn’t seem to put a foot wrong. Nina had two Jumpers Q’s with gorgeous runs, but I cost us a double on Friday and Saturday…a double just wasn’t happening.

Zhora is now just 5 double q’s from her MACH (Masters Agility Championship)!

Zhora Friday Jumpers (QQ 13! Second place and 16 points):

Nina Friday Jumpers (Q, first place and 18 points):

Zhora Friday Standard (QQ 13! First place and 25 points):

Nina Friday Standard (I said “tunnel” while she was jumping and cost us the Q, training mode after that):

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (QQ 14! Fourth place and 16 points):

Nina Saturday Jumpers (Q, second place and 19 points):

Zhora Saturday Standard (QQ 14! Third place and 28 points):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (QQ 15! Fourth place and 15 points):

Zhora Sunday Standard (QQ 15! First place and 30 points!):

Nina Sunday Standard (naughty dogwalk!):

Fun weekend with friends and playing with the dogs! Judge Christie Bowers designed some deceptively easy-looking but secretly tricky courses. Zhora earned double Q #12 today to tie her with Nina in the MACH hunt!

Zhora Friday Jumpers (first place and 19 points):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (NQ):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (part 1 of QQ #12, second place and 19 points):

Nina Sunday Standard (NQ, I got in her way after the aframe):

Zhora Sunday Standard (part 2 of QQ #12, first place of only three qualifying dogs, and 30 points):