Oh Yeah, You Blend

Nina is currently the number five AKC agility Vallhund!

Ollie (Alkemi Breaking Away LS) went for his herding instinct test and passed with flying colors, even after getting into a discussion with a large ewe and getting butted! Thanks to Ollie’s mom Pat for sending this! His bark is EXACTLY like his sister Zhora’s, with the extra high-pitched shriek when he is excited. And what a lovely “that’ll do” he has, when he’s asked to turn the herding power off, he does, and comes happily back to his mom, awesome!

Lobo (Alkemi Beowulf del Roble LS CGC) won High in Trial at a Barn Hunt trial this past weekend! Barn Hunt is a newish dog sport involving the dog searching for, and alerting to, rats. Since this is one of the Swedish Vallhund’s traditional jobs, Lobo took to it like a duck to water.

Congratulations to Lobo and his mom/handler Jan!

(isn’t that a mouthful?).

After arriving on Friday morning with just two dogs to run before my walkthrough (Jenn and I went to see Adam Ant on the Thursday night, well worth it!), we ended up with just one Q (in Jumpers) for the weekend (one Q is better than no Q’s!). And this run was a nailbiter at the end, when I ended up out of position and nearly cost us the Q, thank goodness Nina knows to drive to an obstacle! We did get a stay almost every time, a stay with LOTS of sass, but a stay! She was starting to knock the first bar with the “drop and run”, so we’re back to trying for at least enough of a stay to get combobulated.

Nationals tally hasn’t changed much: 8/20 legs, 163/500 points, 0/4 double Q’s. So 12 more legs to go, 337 points, and 4 double Q’s.

Congratulations to Colby (Alkemi Batman LS) on earning his Canine Good Citizen just before his first birthday! Well done!

What an awesome bunch of owners we have been so fortunate to have for our puppies!

Nina and I trekked to Cheswick, PA this weekend for another trial. I am at the “soul searching” stage of our 2014 Nationals quest, since we went into this trial on a string of NQ’s and I am beginning to wonder if I should withdraw from some upcoming trials if we’re not qualifying and save some money.

So Nina went and qualified twice this weekend for 48 more MACH points (if we qualify, we get lots of points, since she is a fast little thing), a HUGE improvement over recent trials! Even better, she stayed at the startline when asked to every time today, and actually STOPPED on the teeter today in Standard, something she does every time in practice but has only done ONCE at a trial. I was very happy with her!

Updated Nationals tally: 7/20 legs, 147/500 points, 0/4 double Q’s. So 13 more legs to go, 353 points, and 4 double Q’s. We’ll see!

Nina’s Standard Q from Friday 7/19:

 
Nina’s Standard NQ from today 7/21 (but with a start line stay and a stop on the teeter!):

 
Nina’s Jumpers Q from today 7/21 (recording started part way through due to technical glitch):

Nina is the #10 AKC agility Vallhund. Not bad considering we’ve only been in contention since February, and they count since last June!

And here is Lobo with his weekend’s haul of ribbons!

Lobo’s First IABCA Show Ribbons

Lobo (Alkemi Beowulf del Roble LS) went to his first International All Breed Canine Association show today (two actually, since there were two shows in one day). I’d say he did pretty well, here’s what his mom Jan says:

“Our Little Man did well. Although he was the only Vallhund, he took the Group in the first show and went on to Reserve Best In Show Puppy. Lobo took a Group 3 in the second show.

A judge told me there were three things that were important with the Vallhund – temperament, structure and balance and Lobo was A+, A+ and A+. :-)”

He has two more tomorrow!

And here’s what Jan says about Sunday’s show:

“Lobo took a Group 2 in the third show this morning, but nothing in the fourth show this afternoon.  Unlike some dogs that get exhausted when competing in two day shows, Lobo was not exhausted.  In fact, my friends who were watching the group judging said that Lobo was the only dog that leaped into the air in joy as he was supposed to be gaiting around the ring.  That may have been a factor in him not placing, but he was having a great time.

Here is Cricket (Alkemi Braveheart ST) doing her level 3 obedience exam with her mom Jennifer. Aren’t they great!?