Oh Yeah, You Blend

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.