Oh Yeah, You Blend

We love Laura Kuterbach. But today Nina didn’t feel like a PACH. Another 19 1/2 day. Zhora won the Standard class but I sent her off course with a mishandle in Jumpers.

ALICE was the star today, NAILING her weaves in Standard and recovering from a slip in the weaves in Jumpers (after a big slip on her first attempt) to earn her second Open Jumpers leg.

Everyone wearing face masks, some with better grace than others.

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (NQ):

Nina Saturday Jumpers (Q, first place, 23 points, 4.8 YPS):

Zhora Saturday Standard (Q, first place, 27 points, 3.7 YPS):

Nina Saturday Standard (NQ):

Alice Saturday Open Standard (NQ, she was chasing her leash dragging on the ground after the leash runner, but NICE WEAVES!):

Alice Saturday Open Jumpers (OAJ leg #2, lovely run, slipped after stepping on the base of the weaves, 4.1 YPS even WITH having to restart the weaves!):

Our first trial back in four months. I decided to dip my toes in and do a few Saturdays to see how it was. Overall I was very pleasantly surprised, everyone wore masks and social distanced and it felt pretty safe.

Nina is just one QQ away from her PACH, and I cost us that QQ with an ill-conceived rear cross that wasn’t really necessary, which put her into berzerker mode.

Zhora QQ’d, she was thrilled to be back.

Alice earned her Open FAST title and had two really nice NQ’s in her other classes. Really nice to see her finding the value in the work, I was really happy with her.

It was so great to see my agility peeps!

Judge Robert Jeffers had some nice if tricky courses, a generous wheel, a generous eye on the contacts, and the fastest table count in the West, which STILL wasn’t fast enough for sassypants Nina!

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (QQ #130, third place, 21 points, 4.9 YPS):

Nina Saturday Jumpers (Q, first place, 26 points, 4.9 YPS and would have been even faster without the near-off course):

Alice Saturday FAST (Q, Open FAST title, LOOK AT THOSE WEAVES!!!):

Zhora Saturday Standard (QQ#130, third place, 31 points, 3.9 YPS):

Nina Saturday Standard (NQ velociraptor mode):

Alice Saturday Open Standard (NQ, really nice run, I showed lateral motion as she took off for the triple and she sliced and knocked the top bar):

Alice Saturday Open JWW (I pulled her out of the weaves, nice run though):

Judge Stephanie Capkovic was new to us. Courses were ok but some really snarky traps. Nina had a PERFECT WEEKEND, and Zhora went 3/4. Alice earned an Open FAST leg and an Open JWW leg and had some really nice things to like in every run.

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (NQ):

Nina Saturday Jumpers (PACH QQ # 16, first place, 19 points):

Alice Saturday Open FAST (Q):

Zhora Saturday Standard (Q, second place, 26 points):

Nina Saturday Standard (PACH QQ # 16, first place, 33 points):

Alice Saturday Open Standard (NQ):

Alice Saturday Open JWW (Q):

Second view:

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (QQ #127, 12 points):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (PACH QQ #17, first place, 18 points):

Alice Sunday Time 2 Beat (NQ):

Zhora Sunday Standard (QQ #127, only 8″ Q, 25 points):

Nina Sunday Standard (PACH QQ #17, first place, 31 points):

Alice Sunday Open Standard (NQ):

Alice Sunday Jumpers (NQ but really nice run):

Just some noodling around, some excellent distance weave work!

Last week of agility league. I think it was well worth it, although Alice didn’t like running on mats on a hard floor and slowed down pretty considerably because of it.

This last week was CPE games. Fullhouse and Colors. Our team finished fourth overall but first in Fullhouse.

Fullhouse:

Colors:

Beautiful Cora earned her NA and OAJ titles this weekend with Jan Robles! Cora is the Zhorabert formerly known as Popcorn and is also known as Alkemi Corona del Roble LS CD NA OAJ BCAT RATS

This week at league was CPE Traditional Jackpot (like FAST in AKC only you have to wait for the first buzzer before you attempt the send), and then CPE Standard. The rules in CPE are different from AKC. Her dogwalk is NAUGHTY! I am really wishing I’d trained a stop, but I clearly need to work a LOT on the running. The weaves were in a spot of uneven floor so I wasn’t surprised she popped them. Got them in the end though. She doesn’t like dark tunnels, but they’re not allowed in AKC anymore anyway, so…. She’s so much fun.

Jackpot:

Standard:

We love judge David Hirsch! Wide open, run your butt off courses, extension, extension, extension. Zhora had a perfect weekend, Nina racked up a QQ, and Alice earned an Open FAST and Open Standard Q and otherwise just ran awesome, I am really excited about her!

Nina Saturday Jumpers (NQ):

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (QQ #124, 4.9 YPS, 19 points):

Alice Saturday Open FAST (Q):

Nina Saturday Standard (NQ):

Zhora Saturday Standard (QQ #124, 3.7 YPS, 28 points):

Alice Saturday Open Standard (NQ):

Alice Saturday Open JWW (NQ):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (QQ #15, 4.6 YPS, 24 points):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (QQ#125, 4,5 YPS, 18 points):

Alice Sunday Time 2 Beat (NQ, nice run):

Nina Sunday Standard (QQ #15, 3.5 YPS, 30 points):

Zhora Sunday Standard (QQ #125, 3.6 YPS, 27 points):

Alice Sunday Open Standard (Q):

Alice Sunday Open JWW (NQ, nice run):

A local dog training place runs what they call “agility league” every winter. This year I decided to sign Alice up since it’s a good opportunity for a green dog to get somewhere new, you can use food or toys if needed, and it’s fun. It’s also a chance for her to run on a new surface (rubber matting) and get on some new equipment with different equipment surfaces too.

These were her runs today, Standard and Time 2 Beat (it was AKC week, last week was CPE week). I am noticing that, like Nina, she tends to drop bars if we lose connection, as happened in the blind cross at the serp in Standard. That’s useful information.

She’s driving to her weaves and getting them on the first try! All that hard work is paying off!

Standard:

Time 2 Beat (lovely run!):

We love Lavonda Herring. Even when her courses don’t love us. Alice finished her Novice Standard title (round 2 of Novice remember) and had some gorgeous NQ’s. Zhora earned QQ # 124 and then went berzerk on Sunday, Nina earned QQ # 14 toward her PACH. A really fun weekend!

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (QQ #124, third place, 13 points, she hated this course):

Nina Saturday Jumpers (NQ):

Alice Saturday Open FAST (NQ):

Zhora Saturday Standard (QQ #124, first place, 29 points):

Nina Saturday Standard (Q, first place, 34 points):

Alice Saturday Standard (NA title):

Alice Saturday Jumpers (NQ but nice run):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (NQ, I didn’t handle the jump after the second tunnel):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (QQ #14, first place, 20 points):

Alice Sunday Time 2 Beat (NQ, nice run):

Zhora Sunday Standard (berzerker mode!):

Nina Sunday Standard (QQ #14, first place, 31 points):

Alice Sunday Open Standard (NQ but nice run, one lousy bar after the aframe when she just couldn’t collect enough to jump):

Alice Sunday Open Jumpers (fix n go!):