Oh Yeah, You Blend

This was our first time traveling to Niles, Ohio for a trial. What a lovely venue and a great bunch of people! The dogs loved running there, Zhora did some of her best yards per second to date, and Nina was 1/100th of a second out of a placement in Jumpers today (some of the fastest 8″ dogs in the country were at this trial, so no surprise!). Zhora and I took a lesson with our friend Sue Verbocy to try and figure out what happened to Zhora’s weaves last weekend, and what Sue helped us with worked! Zhora went 3 for 4 this weekend and earned double Q #6! Nina ran beautifully, only pulled out a Jumpers Q today (on a course with a really tricky weave entry), but had some gorgeous JOLT (Just One Little Thing) runs. Louise McCombs was there from Colorado with her two Vallhunds, so we had a miniature regional specialty with just the two of us! Judges Ron McClelland and Deborah Funk designed some tricky but fun courses.

Nina Saturday Jumpers (what a heartbreaker, my fault for not handling that jump after the tunnel near the end):

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (Q and 9 points):

Nina Sunday Standard (such a nice run but that off course got a lot of dogs, Nina was no exception!):

Zhora Sunday Standard (hooray for startline stays! Part 1 of double Q #6! 18 points):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (Q 1/100th of a second out of fourth place, 12 points):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (5 points, double Q #6!):

Not our best trial weekend! Zhora wasn’t feeling it, just a Time 2 Beat Q for her, Nina nearly doubled both days but didn’t, although she won Standard on Saturday and Jumpers on Sunday. We only qualified on Terry Brown’s courses, which was odd, although we really liked judge Lisa M. Selthofer, she was super nice and had lovely courses.

Nina Saturday Standard (first place and 32 points):

Zhora Saturday Time 2 Beat (8 points):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (first place and 17 points):

What a great trial weekend! Our friends Zap and Sherry stayed with us and we had a great time with them and their dogs. Sherry hurt her leg yesterday so I ended up pinch-running their Corgi Lexy. That was fun! She almost ran for me! And we couldn’t have asked for a nicer judging team! Mary Mullen and Kimberly Reeher gave us some fun, challenging courses, but flowy and motivating for the dogs. Zhora earned double Q #5 AND her Master Jumpers (MXJ) title on Friday, and NINA!!! Nina finally broke her two trial NQ streak! She was one bar away from a double Q yesterday, but qualified twice this weekend, which is a huge improvement over not qualifying at all! More importantly, I felt like we were really connected when we were running, which was a huge relief. I am trying to talk to Zhora less when I run her, I feel like I need to cheerlead her, and I think she actually runs better when I only talk if I need to. She is really coming into herself, and had a couple of moments this weekend where I really saw her understanding the game, like Friday’s jumper’s run (her MXJ), when I ended up farther away from a jump than I’d intended, but she read the line anyway and took the right jump. Love my dogs!

Zhora Friday Standard (THIRD PLACE (best placement yet)! Part one of QQ #5 and 21 points, I knew we were going to have a good run when she was barking at me in the weaves!):

Nina Friday Jumpers (broke our NQ streak! Third place and 14 points, almost a disaster at the start, since she started before I was ready):

Zhora Friday Jumpers (part two of QQ #5 AND MXJ title AND 7 points):

Nina Saturday Standard (second place and 31 points):

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (9 points):

Nina Saturday jumpers (one lousy bar away from a double Q):

Nina Sunday Standard (NQ thanks to teeter but a nice run):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (NQ but nice run and a reverse spin!):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (8 points and a reverse spin, baby!):

Cheswick, our favorite place to trial, even if it is a 3 1/2 hour drive! There’s a creek to swim in and tons of crating space, plus awesome fun hanging out with peeps!

Nina didn’t Q but I finally felt like we were connecting again, and Zhora! Got double Q #4 yesterday (on two tricky courses that she didn’t really enjoy) AND got jumpers today for a 75% Q rate! Good girl. (also Nina pooped in the ring today…I took her out just before she ran, but when you’ve gotta go…I was actually glad it was poop and not injury, since she slammed on the brakes before the second last jump and I thought she was hurt, but no…it was poop, I have included this video for your viewing pleasure).

Zhora at this point is a moderate-speed dog, not the slowest in her height, but nowhere near the fastest (plus 12″ has tighter times and is a more competitive height), I hope she will build speed as she gets more experience (I can see in the videos that she is having to think about things as she is running). It’s a nice change to run a dog where I actually have time to do some handling instead of just holding on by my fingernails, but nothing beats Nina’s balls to the wall style for sheer exhilarating fun! It’s nice to qualify once in a while though. Love my girlies!

Zhora Saturday Standard (Q and 17 points):

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (Q and 3 points, she was poky mcpokerson!):

Nina Sunday Standard (NQ but actually felt the mojo working again):

Zhora Sunday Standard (NQ but nice faster run for her, I think she likes standard better than jumpers):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (POOP! But a really nice run up until then…):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (Q and 5 points):

REALLY not our best weekend! Nina and I just couldn’t connect all weekend. But Zhora saved the day today with double Q #3! Yay Z Dog! They were both tired and hot, as was I! Judges Kitty Bradley and Robert Long.

Zhora Sunday Standard (QQ #3 and 13 points):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (QQ#3 and 7 points):

Not our best weekend, but we sure had fun! Zhora was a bit hormonal and not running like herself, although she LOVED her massage from Betty! Nina’s dogwalk in Standard on Saturday was terrifying, she came on at an angle and was halfway across before she had all four paws on the walk. The video doesn’t actually show it, since my videographer (thanks Zap!) was freaking out, as was I! She qualified too!

Nina Friday Jumpers (Q and 18 points):

Zhora Friday Jumpers (NQ but a nice run):

Zhora Friday Standard (NQ):

Zhora Friday Time 2 Beat (Q and 7 points):

Nina Saturday Standard (terrifying dogwalk, Q, first place and 28 points):

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

Nina Sunday Standard (not terrifying, Q, first place and points):

Zhora Sunday Standard (NQ but a nice run):

The Western Lakes trials, at the Amherst Rec Center, are our only local trials, but they’re two-ring trials in a big, noisy indoor soccer arena, and we rarely do well there. So imagine my surprise when Zhora, after three weeks off due to being in season, and doing NO agility at all in that time (because our back yard is mud), came out and had a perfect day on Friday, earning double Q #2 AND qualifying in Time 2 Beat! Good girlie. Her weaver was broken the rest of the weekend, and she only earned a Time 2 Beat Q for the rest of the weekend, but still! AND! She earned placements in both her runs Friday (the fast 12″ dogs we normally trial against weren’t here, but still! Placements!), those were her first placements in Masters ever! Nina was great, so close to a double Q today but a stupid handler trick robbed us. Her standard Q today was lovely, on a tricky course that was eating dogs alive. Love my Bean!

Zhora Friday Standard (QQ #2, fourth place for 11 points):

Zhora Friday Jumpers (QQ #2, fourth place for 9 points):

Nina Saturday Jumpers (second place for 15 points):

Zhora Saturday Time 2 Beat (8 points):

Nina Sunday Standard (second place for 22 points):

Pulled the AKC Invitational standings just to see where we’re at, and Nina is in 4th AND! Zhora is in 9th place! Two dogs in the top ten! I am so proud of my awesome girlies! We are in a small pond, of course, it’s not like they’re Shelties or something, but still pretty cool!

Invitational 2015

Well, we came home with quite a few ribbons, but couldn’t put a double Q together for either dog. Still, we had fun on some very tricky courses with low Q rates from judge Rick Fyfe. Nina went 3 for 4 on Friday, but unfortunately not a double.

Nina Friday FAST (Q and first place):

Nina Friday Jumpers (Q and first place for just 13 points on a 28 second run…bit of a tight wheel there…):

Zhora Friday Time 2 Beat (Q and 9 points):

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

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

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (Q and 8 points):

Nina Sunday Time 2 Beat (Q and first place for 10 points):

Nina Sunday Standard (Q and first place for 25 points):

Zhora was a superstar again! Not only did she finish her Excellent Standard (AX) title, to get all the way into Masters yesterday, she earned her very first double Q (qualifying in Master Jumpers and Master Standard on the same day) today, the very first day she was eligible to do so! Nina was a bit off in Jumpers this morning, qualifying but not running like herself, she was much more herself in Standard, but a handler error cost us a double Q.

Nina Friday T2B (Q, first place and 10 points, a transformer blew and half the lights went out, thank goodness for big windows and lots of natural light!):

Nina Saturday Jumpers (Q, second place and 14 points):

Zhora Saturday Standard (Q and AX title):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (Q, second place and 14 points, she was a bit off):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (Q and 8 points, part 1 of double Q #1):

Zhora Sunday Standard (first Master Standard Q, 20 points and part 2 of double Q #1):