Pulled the AKC Invitational standings just to see where we’re at, and Nina is in 4th AND! Zhora is in 9th place! Two dogs in the top ten! I am so proud of my awesome girlies! We are in a small pond, of course, it’s not like they’re Shelties or something, but still pretty cool!
Well, we came home with quite a few ribbons, but couldn’t put a double Q together for either dog. Still, we had fun on some very tricky courses with low Q rates from judge Rick Fyfe. Nina went 3 for 4 on Friday, but unfortunately not a double.
Nina Friday FAST (Q and first place):
Nina Friday Jumpers (Q and first place for just 13 points on a 28 second run…bit of a tight wheel there…):
Zhora Friday Time 2 Beat (Q and 9 points):
Nina Saturday Time 2 Beat (Q and first place for 10 points):
Zhora Saturday Time 2 Beat (Q and 8 points):
Zhora Sunday Jumpers (Q and 8 points):
Nina Sunday Time 2 Beat (Q and first place for 10 points):
Nina Sunday Standard (Q and first place for 25 points):
Zhora was a superstar again! Not only did she finish her Excellent Standard (AX) title, to get all the way into Masters yesterday, she earned her very first double Q (qualifying in Master Jumpers and Master Standard on the same day) today, the very first day she was eligible to do so! Nina was a bit off in Jumpers this morning, qualifying but not running like herself, she was much more herself in Standard, but a handler error cost us a double Q.
Nina Friday T2B (Q, first place and 10 points, a transformer blew and half the lights went out, thank goodness for big windows and lots of natural light!):
Nina Saturday Jumpers (Q, second place and 14 points):
Zhora Saturday Standard (Q and AX title):
Nina Sunday Jumpers (Q, second place and 14 points, she was a bit off):
Zhora Sunday Jumpers (Q and 8 points, part 1 of double Q #1):
Zhora Sunday Standard (first Master Standard Q, 20 points and part 2 of double Q #1):
Extremely tricky courses from judge Howard Etzel. A super nice guy in person, but his courses were rough. Very hard to find good handling lines, not intuitive for dogs, low Q rates. Nina did well, although the double Q’s are eluding us still. Zhora put up her best weekend to date, going THREE FOR THREE today! She needs one more Excellent Standard leg for her AX title, and then she can start earning double Q’s. I carried her off the course yesterday after she went to visit her friends in the spectator seats three times in the weave poles (the poles were along the fence where the people sit). I am usually very reluctant to take a dog off the course, I only ever do it with Nina if she bails off the teeter dangerously, because it’s a safety issue. I am never sure if a dog understands what is going on, and I would certainly never do it with a dog who didn’t really want to continue. However, I decided to take a chance and try to make the point to Zhora that while agility is fun, there are rules, and one of the rules is that you have to at least try to weave. Well, I don’t know that I can attribute it to taking her off, but she got every set of weaves in every run after that one, so…who knows!
Nina Friday Time 2 Beat (Q and first place for 10 points):
Nina Friday Jumpers (Q and first place, 18 points):
Nina Saturday Standard (Q and first place, 29 points):
Zhora Saturday Time 2 Beat (Q and 9 points):
Nina Saturday Time 2 Beat (Q and first place for 10 points):
Zhora Sunday Jumpers (Q and 7 points):
Zhora Sunday Time 2 Beat (Q and first place for 10 points):
Zhora Sunday Standard (Q and first place, second AX leg):
Nina Sunday Standard (Q and first place, 27 points):