Oh Yeah, You Blend

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):

No Zhora again this weekend, Nina and I drove down early Saturday morning. Fun courses from judge Laura English. No double Q, but a 50% Q rate anyway!

Nina Saturday Jumpers (second place and 20 points, only the last little bit got recorded unfortunately):

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

Nina Sunday Standard (second place and 31 points, I have elected to carry her in when the first obstacle is round, to avoid her rabid badger routine…):

Zhora stayed home since she is in season, but Nina had a great weekend! We FINALLY broke the double Q drought today in STYLE with double Q number 9 AND a Q in Time 2 Beat, going three for three today! Good girl Nina! Judge Beverly Morgan Lewis from California was wonderful – would travel far to show to her, fun and challenging courses with great flow, and she is SUPER nice.

Friday Standard (first place and 29 points):

Friday Time 2 Beat (first place and 10 points):

Sunday Jumpers, QQ#9 (second place and 14 points):

Sunday Time 2 Beat (8 points):

Sunday Standard, QQ#9 (third place and 27 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):

Extremely tricky courses from judge Howard Etzel. A super nice guy in person, but his courses were rough. Very hard to find good handling lines, not intuitive for dogs, low Q rates. Nina did well, although the double Q’s are eluding us still. Zhora put up her best weekend to date, going THREE FOR THREE today! She needs one more Excellent Standard leg for her AX title, and then she can start earning double Q’s. I carried her off the course yesterday after she went to visit her friends in the spectator seats three times in the weave poles (the poles were along the fence where the people sit). I am usually very reluctant to take a dog off the course, I only ever do it with Nina if she bails off the teeter dangerously, because it’s a safety issue. I am never sure if a dog understands what is going on, and I would certainly never do it with a dog who didn’t really want to continue. However, I decided to take a chance and try to make the point to Zhora that while agility is fun, there are rules, and one of the rules is that you have to at least try to weave. Well, I don’t know that I can attribute it to taking her off, but she got every set of weaves in every run after that one, so…who knows!

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

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

Nina Saturday Standard (Q and first place, 29 points):

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

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

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (Q and 7 points):

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

Zhora Sunday Standard (Q and first place, second AX leg):

Nina Sunday Standard (Q and first place, 27 points):

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.

Nina Saturday Standard (Q and 28 points):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (Q and 16 points):

Zhora Sunday Standard (NQ but a gorgeous run!):

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):