Oh Yeah, You Blend

Ollie (Alkemi Breaking Away LS) and his sister Skye have learned to shuck corn thanks to their mom Pat:

Given the amount of life stress my family has had for the past year (showing no sign of stopping, in fact we got more bad news about my mum last week), I decided one way to take my mind off sad, worrisome things was to try and qualify Nina for the 2014 AKC Agility Nationals (they are in Harrisbug, PA, the closest they’re likely to be for a long while).

The requirements are: 500 MACH points, 20 legs (in Master JWW or Standard), and 4 double Q’s (qualifying in Master Jumpers and Master Standard on the same day – the double Q legs count towards the 20 legs). We have until November 30.

So far we have: 5 legs (4 JWW, 1 Standard), 99 points and no double Q’s. Not exactly a slam dunk, eh? Still, it’s fun and an effective diversion.

We still need: 401 MACH points, 15 legs and 4 double Q’s. Still technically possible, but not if we keep having trial weekends like the last couple. Nina is being a “one bar wonder”, with perfect courses with ONE BAR DOWN.

Here are some pictures of Lobo (Alkemi Beowulf del Roble LS) at his very first show in Puyallup, both outside the ring and inside the ring. He won Best of Winners both days, and the Best of Breed dog was the dog who won the National Specialty last year so…

(You can see he was very stressed and had trouble relaxing…):

Here is Ollie (Alkemi Breaking Away LS) at 10 months (some pictures include his sister Sky, who is a Border Collie/Corgi – you will notice that Ollie has continued the great Vallhund tradition of ear-biting). Ollie is studying hard at agility class and will hopefully join his sister in NADAC when he’s ready:

Pretty good day today. Tish earned her Novice Fast title, and WEAVED (a bit), Nina earned an MXJ leg (#4) for 16 more MACH points and was close in Standard, she did all the tricky stuff but I put her down wrong and she knocked the first bar (she knocked a bar later, too, but that was because I decided to book it and just run like hell!).
 
Nina Master Standard NQ:

 
Nina MXJ Leg #4:

 
Tish Excellent Jumpers (NQ but she did 10 weaves and ran well):

Here is Colby (Alkemi Batman LS) at 10 months. He weighs 20 pounds (his big brother Riley (Alkemi Aston Martin LS) is 26 pounds). Colby was one of the “littlebit twins”, with Cricket, but he is growing up nicely!

Colby and big (half) brother Riley

Colby

Cricket (Alkemi Braveheart ST) and Zhora (Alkemi Blade Runner LS) met again for the first time since they were babies last weekend at the Aurora Kennel Club show. They were very happy to see each other!

Here is Lobo at 10 months, he is 12″ tall and weighs 26 pounds (his sister Zhora is 23.5 pounds and the same height, little bit sister Cricket is 16 pounds). He’s been busy, participating in agility demonstrations and working on his obedience and tracking with his mom Jan.

Check this out! Zhora is currently the #6 Swedish Vallhund in Canada! Thanks to her one point! Heh.

Nina finished her AX AND got her first MX leg (with 34 MACH points!). Tish weaved twice and would have qualified in JWW once if she hadn’t had to go say hi to the ring crew…good weekend overall at Countryside!

Nina’s AX run Friday:

Nina’s first MX leg Saturday:

Tish’s almost-Q Jumpers run: