Wonderful courses as always from Lavonda Herring (who is one of the Invitational judges this December!). Zhora was a superstar, going 2/3 both days, just not managing to put a double Q together. We were a slip in the weaves away from a double today. So happy with how she is running.
Nina finally broke her NQ streak today with a smoking fast standard run.
Both girls ran Premier Standard today and did amazingly well, Zhora qualified, I made an error with Nina and cost her a Q.
Zhora Saturday Time 2 Beat (Q, first place for 10 points):
Zhora Saturday Standard (Q and 4th place for 19 points):
Nina Saturday Standard (table bounce but nice run):
Zhora Sunday Jumpers (Q for 12 points):
Zhora Sunday Premier Standard (Q and first place):
Nina Sunday Premier Standard (NQ but nice run):
Zhora Sunday Standard (NQ due to slipping in the weaves but nice run):
Nina Sunday Standard (Q and first place for 33 points):
Only one single Q on the whole weekend on Carla Boudrot’s fun courses, but wow…I am grinning from ear to ear anyway! Zhora seems to have found another gear, she is running just incredibly well: her confidence, speed (we used to be in the bottom couple of times, now we are pretty consistently in or near the placements) and ownership of her part of the team have all just exploded over the last couple of trial weekends. She is getting sassier and sassier, too! Nina ran well but she and I couldn’t get it together for a Q, one of us messed up every chance, but wow, I smile every time I run my Ninabean, she is so much fun and so so fast!
This was also our first try at the new Premier class (it just started at the beginning of October), it was really fun to see threadles and backsides and skipped obstacles. Zhora’s run yesterday was gorgeous, a handler error kept us from a Q but she ran really, really well.
As an added bonus, Riley, Colby and Austin were all there, so we had a mini Alkemi family reunion!
L-R Colby (Alkemi Batman LS), Riley (Alkemi Aston Martin LS), Zhora (Alkemi Blade Runner LS), Austin (Alkemi Austin Healey ST) and mum to all Nina (Vastgota Nina Ricci)
Nina Saturday Jumpers:
Zhora Saturday Jumpers (I cost us a Q! She missed a weave pole but the judge didn’t see it, so I went into training mode and tried to pitch and run at the double and it didn’t work…we would have qualified if I hadn’t!):
Nina Saturday Premier Jumpers:
Zhora Saturday Premier Jumpers (soooo close to a Q, very very few people are qualifying in this class so far so listen to the crowd when we NQ):
Nina Saturday Standard:
Zhora Saturday Standard:
Nina Sunday Jumpers (such a nice run, one stinking bar):
Zhora Sunday Jumpers (Q and 11 points, fifth place, less than a second out of the placements):
Nina Sunday Premier Standard:
Zhora Sunday Premier Standard:
Nina Sunday Standard:
Zhora Sunday Standard (I cost us the double Q by not front crossing before the teeter, asking her to stay on the teeter, WHICH SHE DID LIKE A GOOD GIRL, and then not actually capitalizing on that and getting into position properly! BAD HANDLER!):
September 27, Lobo (Alkemi Beowulf del Roble LS) earned his first (of two) pre-trial tested (PT) herding leg! This was only the fourth time he had ever been on sheep, and he passed! Pretty great! Congratulations to Lobo and his mom Jan!
Some AWESOME courses from judge Laura Kuterbach (whom we trial with regularly too). Flowy, fast, fun. Loved the courses! I hurt my knee during the previous week and I could really feel I wasn’t running like myself, but my awesome pups worked beautifully anyway! Zhora earned a Standard Q both days, I stupidly pulled up before the last jump (the triple) in Jumpers today and made her knock the bar. She ran her fastest times to date again today (she is speeding up every weekend just now!), in Jumpers running 4.88 yards per second, and in Standard today she earned a fourth place and ran 3.85 yards per second for 23 points, her highest yet! Nina laid down her fastest JWW time yet (5.26 yards per second) in a beautiful one-bar-wonder run today, and qualified in Standard for a second place and 31 points, her other runs were gorgeous JOLT (Just One Little Thing) runs. We have two weekends off now, well earned!
Zhora Saturday Jumpers:
Nina Saturday Jumpers:
Nina Saturday Standard (yes, THAT tunnel! JOLT):
Zhora Saturday Standard (22 points, 5th place, 3.67 YPS):
Nina Sunday Jumpers (JOLT, one bar wonder, SUCH a nice run, 5.26 YPS):
Zhora Sunday Jumpers (JOLT, MY FAULT! RUN PAST THE LAST OBSTACLE YOU NINNY! Another nice run, 4.88 YPS, just over two seconds slower than Nina, pretty good!):
Nina Sunday Standard (Q, second place, 31 points, 4.08 YPS):
Zhora Sunday Standard (Q, fourth place against the fast dogs, 23 points, 3.85 YPS):
Some tough, deceptively trappy courses from judge Linda Syner. I was thrilled with how my girls ran, even though the Q’s were few. Zhora earned her highest point total and fastest yards per second in standard to date, including a THIRD PLACE, which is tough to do around here since we trial with some of the fastest 12″ dogs in the country, she is running really well, she has really sped up a lot and is starting to run like she really gets the game. Nina had a 50% Q rate on the weekend, unfortunately not on the same day. As is her usual pattern, the more we trial, the better she gets, the mojo was really working for us.
Nina Saturday Jumpers (first place and 19 points):
Zhora Saturday Jumpers (not a Q but really happy with how she ran, that first bar down seemed to take FOREVER to fall):
Zhora Saturday Standard (third place and 23 points! Best yet!):
Nina Sunday Jumpers (not a Q but I worked distance on the weaves and was very pleased! That off-course yellow tunnel sucked in MANY MANY dogs):
So thanks to a camera glitch, none of my runs ended up being recorded. Which is a real shame, since Zhora went three for four again, ran her fastest Jumpers run to date, and Nina broke her NQ streak with a gorgeous Standard Q and first place today. Oh well…
Zhora earned double Q #8 with a 13 point Jumpers run and a 19 point Standard run on Saturday, and qualified in Jumpers on Sunday with 12 points.
Nina qualified in Standard in Sunday with 27 points and first place.
PLUS! Yesterday Colby (Alkemi Batman LS) and his mom Nichole Buryta earned their very first title with his Novice Jumpers (NAJ) title. Riley (Alkemi Aston Martin LS) and his dad Chris Buryta had beautiful runs and one lousy bar kept them from a q in an otherwise perfect jumpers run. And today Colby and Nichole earned his SECOND AKC title with his Novice Standard (NA) title AND Riley and Chris qualified in Novice Jumpers!
Zhora seems to LOVE this trial site in Niles, Ohio! She went 3 for 4 last time, and 3 for 4 this weekend, including pulling off double Q #7, and working through a reverse sneezing fit at the start of her Jumpers run today! Her work ethic really impressed me, she also worked through a stupid handling mistake I made and saved the Q (I would never have gotten away with the mistake if she’d been running at her normal speed).
Judges Sandra Moody (LOVED her!) and Howard Etzel set some tricky but fun courses with subtle traps.
Nina had three JOLT (Just One Little Thing) runs, including what would have been a Standard Q yesterday that I STOLE FROM US by screwing up a front cross placement and ending up having to jump a jump, Nina was perfect, I was….less so. Her last run today had two bars down so I took her off (an experiment I am trying).
Takeaway pluses from this weekend (other than Zhora’s QQ of course!): Nina had PERFECT contacts, Zhora got 4/4 weaves and didn’t even blink at the teeter after bailing off it at Countryside a few weeks ago, plus really getting a concrete example of her work ethic.
Nina Saturday Standard (in which I entertain the crowd and throw away an all-too-rare Q):
Zhora Saturday Jumpers (Q and 11 points):
Nina Saturday Jumpers (JOLT!):
Zhora Sunday Standard (Q and 21 points and part 1 of QQ #7):
Nina Sunday Standard (JOLT!):
Zhora Sunday Jumpers (Q and 7 points and part 2 of QQ#7, work ethic to spare, she is slow because she is reverse sneezing, bad handling error that she saves, you can see she starts running more normally once we reach the triple):
Our first trial back at Countryside in two months! Judge Abbie A. Hanson had some interesting, trappy courses, most with “country driving” and “city driving” sections. Zhora earned her Time 2 Beat title, and had some lovely runs, Nina got two standard legs.
This was the last qualifying weekend for the AKC Agility Invitational, so the Gordon Setter Club cleverly invited two judges with wonderful courses and generous wheels to their trial, and ended up with a full trial (Saturday and Sunday anyway), which is unusual these days! We were in North Olmsted, Ohio.
Judges Christie Bowers and Dan Faulkner set some lovely, flowy, fast courses for us, and the dogs had a blast.
Nina got double Q #10 on Friday, Zhora had a beautiful standard Q Saturday but then a HUGE crack of thunder and heavy, loud rain started just as we entered the ring for Jumpers, and that put the kibosh on a double Q. She ran beautifully all weekend, but couldn’t pull off another Q.
Nina Friday Standard (3rd place, 32 points (against some of the fastest 8″ dogs in the country!) and part 1 of QQ#10!):
Nina Friday Jumpers (16 points for part 2 of QQ#10!):
Zhora Saturday Standard (20 points, almost her best points to date, her best ever is 21):
Nina Sunday Jumpers (gorgeous run with a heartbreaker last bar down for an NQ!):
Zhora Sunday Jumpers (not a Q but a really nice run):
