Oh Yeah, You Blend

Not a great weekend in the Q department, Nina won Time 2 Beat and got a Standard Q yesterday, but that was it. Tish ran fast and happy but didn’t weave. Zhora was the star of the weekend, earning her first Novice Standard leg AND working through a huge distraction when the door to one of the crating rooms was left open RIGHT BESIDE THE WEAVES! She went and had a look, listened to the dogs barking, then came right back and worked. I am having so much fun running her!

Nina’s Saturday Standard Q for 28 points:

Tish Saturday Jumpers:

Zhora Saturday Novice Standard Q:

Nina’s 2015 Nationals tally: 1/4 double Q’s, 14/20 legs, 260/500 points

We finally broke our NQ streak, but barely. Nina won Time 2 Beat on Friday, and got Jumpers today for 16 points. We were close in the other runs, although she came off the table today. Some fun courses from judge Susan Stephon (and I met her handsome Cardigan Corgi Crush).

Tish did wonderfully today! She WEAVED in both her runs, Jumpers on the second try and Standard on the third.  She was fast and happy today and seemed comfortable. We are only going to do a day or two here and there for now, but I was happy with how she did today.

Nina Sunday Jumpers (16 points and first place):

Tish Sunday Jumpers:

Tish Sunday Standard:

And here is Zhora having fun at 8″ at the match (look at those contacts!):

Nina’s 2015 Nationals tally: 1/4 double Q’s, 13/20 legs, 232/500 points

Not Nina’s best weekend. Judge Janet Budzynski set some nice courses, but one little thing kept us from qualifying more than once. We got Jumpers on Saturday for 13 points, but that was it.

However! Zhora got her first-ever qualifying run in only her third-ever run at a trial (and her second trial day ever). She is not “trialing” for real yet, she is just coming out for a day here and there to get some experience, but I was THRILLED with both her runs this weekend, she was focused, drove to the equipment, and smooth! Feels like she is starting to get the hang of this agility game! She is still very handler focused (she is a baby), but she is starting to learn to focus on the equipment when she should. I am only asking for weaves twice, since I don’t want to make it a “thing”, but I also want to give her a chance to get it right. So happy with where she is at!

Nina Jumpers yesterday (13 points), she was WILD and went all over the place, but we held it together:

Zhora’s first Novice Jumpers leg:

Nina’s 2015 Nationals tally: 1/4 double Q’s, 12/20 legs, 216/500 points

Nina got jumpers yesterday (I took her off in Standard yesterday for bailing off the teeter, the only thing I take her off for, but it’s a safety issue), and got standard today…but no QQ! Today’s standard run finished her MX title though and was a beautiful run! Tish is running faster and faster, and very happy, but the weaves…they are a problem.

Nina Saturday Jumpers (18 points, and her seventh jumpers Q in a row):

Tish Saturday Jumpers (took her off after the weaves to jackpot her right away):

Tish Saturday Standard:

Nina Sunday Jumpers (she saved our butts by driving to the weaves even though I was so far behind, but a bar came down):

Tish Sunday Jumpers:

Nina Sunday Standard (MX title and 28 points!):

Nina’s 2015 Nationals tally: 1/4 double Q’s, 11/20 legs, 203/500 points

We were only entered Saturday and Sunday this weekend (and Time 2 Beat on Friday). The weather has been horrible here, extremely cold, so the dogs have had far less exercise than usual, which meant that Nina basically had rabies in T2B. Nina went 2 for 2 in Jumpers, extending her Jumpers Q streak to 6 now. We were a spin away from a double Q today, but she came off the table behind me and didn’t know where to go so she spun in front of a jump and earned a refusal. Today Tish WEAVED for the first time in a VERY long time at a trial, I had to try something different and really babysit them, but it worked. Unfortunately that run wasn’t recorded. Yesterday I turned away from her on the table and she decided to go visit the judge (making the crowd say “Awwwwww”, judge Lisa Rieves told me later that she thought Tish was so cute she wanted to pick her up), she is running very fast for Tish, and very happy. Very proud of my girls!

Nina’s 2015 Nationals tally: 1/4 double Q’s, 9/20 legs, 157/500 points.

Nina Saturday Jumpers Q (14 points):

Nina Saturday Standard:

Tish Saturday Jumpers:

Tish Saturday Standard:

Nina Sunday Jumpers Q (15 points):

Nina Sunday Standard:

Tish Sunday Standard:

What a GREAT weekend we had! I always love judge Mary Mullen’s courses and she is so lovely to show to, which is why I decided to have Zhora make her trial debut this weekend. Nina earned double Q #6 on Friday (technically a triple Q, since she also won Time 2 Beat) and qualified in Jumpers all three days (only the second time this has happened!), she also put up her best weekend to date, qualifying in 5 of 8 runs, that’s better than 50%!

2015 Nationals tally: 1/4 double Q’s, 7/20 legs, 128/500 points.

Tish did very well in her first trial back after the time off I opted to give her. She is still not weaving in trials but ran faster than she ever has and was happy and responsive the whole time, she would have qualified in almost every run if she had just weaved!

And Zhora! She was SO much better than I had expected. She is not really trial ready, but you don’t really know what you have until you try at a trial. She was wonderful! No danger of a Q, of course, but I was VERY pleasantly surprised! She went off to visit the ring crew once each time (I love having a friendly dog!) but she came right back and worked with me, we got a very respectable second half of the standard course, and six weaves in jumpers. AND she had a reliable start line stay and stopped contacts! She also didn’t seem affected by trial pressure, she just stepped up and worked and had a great time doing it. She took her teeter a bit fast in standard and startled herself (my fault, I should have checked her speed sooner), but she recovered almost immediately (several people commented on how quickly she recovered), the next obstacle was the table and she was play-snapping at my fingers and back her to sassy self.

Nina’s Standard Q Friday (QQ#6) for 29 points:

 
Nina’s Jumpers Q Friday (QQ #6) for 16 points:

 
Tish’s Jumpers run Friday:

 
Tish’s Standard run Friday:

 
Nina’s Jumpers Q Saturday for 16 points:

 
Tish’s Standard run Saturday:

 
Zhora’s Standard run Saturday (first-ever run at a trial):

 
Zhora’s Jumpers run Saturday (weaves!):

 
Nina’s Jumpers Q Sunday for 16 points (yes, 16 points each time!):

 
Tish’s Jumpers run Sunday (sorry it is teeny, it was filmed sideways by mistake):

Our first trial back after five weeks off (and my mother’s death), so great to see my agility family again. I was worried Nina would be rusty but I was our problem this weekend!

It was an eventful trial! We arrived to find a flood in the crating area, then lots of rain Saturday followed by a freeze overnight meant everywhere was a skating rink this morning. The judge slipped and fell and hit her head in the hotel parking lot (she is apparently OK, just a scalp wound and a mild concussion), then one of my agility friends, Pam, stopped to help people in a car which had gone off the road on her way in to the trial, and slipped on the ice as soon as she got out of HER car, and broke her wrist!

Nina and I had just two Q’s, in Time 2 Beat and Jumpers today. Courses were HARD!

Thanks to Linda Dickison for taping us on her iPad since I forgot my camera! Here are today’s courses:

Jumpers for a Q and 12 points:

Standard for an NQ but a nice run (even if I did let her off the table too soon!):

2015 Nationals tally: 0/4 double Q’s, 3/20 legs, 51/500 points.

Nina is the #3 AKC Agility Vallhund for 2013. Not bad considering she’s only been eligible since May!

Well, this was our last agility trial of 2013. We came away with three Q’s, Jumpers, Time 2 Beat and Standard (which was a squeaker). PLUS there was a fun match and so Zhora had her first time ever running agility somewhere other than at home and where we train. She is entered in her first-ever trial (one day in January), so this was a little test drive to see how she was doing. I was thrilled with how she did – perfect start line stays both times!

Nina Jumpers (15 points):

 

Nina Standard (24 points) – I didn’t call her to the tunnel (which she couldn’t see from where she was), and so she ran to the weaves, she called off like a champ, but did body slam them, so the judge originally called a wrong course, but then reversed it because Nina didn’t put a paw through the first two poles…what a close one, and THEN I had to get my frantic screech out for the tunnel call-off near the end…everyone was saying “nice try” and then someone said the judge was talking to the scribe, and as it turned out, we Q’d! Our last run of 2013, nice to finish with a Q, even if it was a nailbiter!:

Here is Zhora’s very first time trying agility anywhere other than home or training (we had Lickety Stix to reward with, since they make no mess):

And here is her second (WITH 12 WEAVES!):

2015 Nationals tally: 0/4 double Q’s, 2/20 legs, 39/500 points. Reno here we come!

Well, this was our last trial weekend before the close of 2014 Nationals qualifying. And we ended just 22 points away from qualifying for Nationals. We’d have had those 22 points in Standard today if we hadn’t had a SNAFU at the start line resulting in a refusal…I am SO proud of my Squeaker-Ninabear for stepping to that start line with me and giving her all every time. She is truly an incredible agility partner. We had our best weekend to date in some respects: we were 3/3 in Jumpers, and had a 50% Q rate. I have been using the suggestions here for focus and they really do seem to be helping me.

I wish we were going to Harrisburg next March, but wow, we got SO close in just 6 months of trying.

Here are our Jumpers Q’s (the first time EVER she went 3/3 in Jumpers!):

Friday:

Saturday (Nina LOVES agility, can you tell?):

Sunday:

And here is the heartbreaker, down to the wire, standard run, where we NQ before we even start (you can hear my friend (and videographer) Zap saying “no…NO!”)…all I needed to do was put my hand on her collar before I took her leash off…oh well! It is always a privilege and a joy to run with Nina, Q or NQ: