Oh Yeah, You Blend

This was the last qualifying weekend for the AKC Agility Invitational, so the Gordon Setter Club cleverly invited two judges with wonderful courses and generous wheels to their trial, and ended up with a full trial (Saturday and Sunday anyway), which is unusual these days! We were in North Olmsted, Ohio.

Judges Christie Bowers and Dan Faulkner set some lovely, flowy, fast courses for us, and the dogs had a blast.

Nina got double Q #10 on Friday, Zhora had a beautiful standard Q Saturday but then a HUGE crack of thunder and heavy, loud rain started just as we entered the ring for Jumpers, and that put the kibosh on a double Q. She ran beautifully all weekend, but couldn’t pull off another Q.

Nina Friday Standard (3rd place, 32 points (against some of the fastest 8″ dogs in the country!) and part 1 of QQ#10!):

Nina Friday Jumpers (16 points for part 2 of QQ#10!):

Zhora Saturday Standard (20 points, almost her best points to date, her best ever is 21):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (gorgeous run with a heartbreaker last bar down for an NQ!):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (not a Q but a really nice run):

This was our first time traveling to Niles, Ohio for a trial. What a lovely venue and a great bunch of people! The dogs loved running there, Zhora did some of her best yards per second to date, and Nina was 1/100th of a second out of a placement in Jumpers today (some of the fastest 8″ dogs in the country were at this trial, so no surprise!). Zhora and I took a lesson with our friend Sue Verbocy to try and figure out what happened to Zhora’s weaves last weekend, and what Sue helped us with worked! Zhora went 3 for 4 this weekend and earned double Q #6! Nina ran beautifully, only pulled out a Jumpers Q today (on a course with a really tricky weave entry), but had some gorgeous JOLT (Just One Little Thing) runs. Louise McCombs was there from Colorado with her two Vallhunds, so we had a miniature regional specialty with just the two of us! Judges Ron McClelland and Deborah Funk designed some tricky but fun courses.

Nina Saturday Jumpers (what a heartbreaker, my fault for not handling that jump after the tunnel near the end):

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (Q and 9 points):

Nina Sunday Standard (such a nice run but that off course got a lot of dogs, Nina was no exception!):

Zhora Sunday Standard (hooray for startline stays! Part 1 of double Q #6! 18 points):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (Q 1/100th of a second out of fourth place, 12 points):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (5 points, double Q #6!):

Not our best trial weekend! Zhora wasn’t feeling it, just a Time 2 Beat Q for her, Nina nearly doubled both days but didn’t, although she won Standard on Saturday and Jumpers on Sunday. We only qualified on Terry Brown’s courses, which was odd, although we really liked judge Lisa M. Selthofer, she was super nice and had lovely courses.

Nina Saturday Standard (first place and 32 points):

Zhora Saturday Time 2 Beat (8 points):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (first place and 17 points):

What a great trial weekend! Our friends Zap and Sherry stayed with us and we had a great time with them and their dogs. Sherry hurt her leg yesterday so I ended up pinch-running their Corgi Lexy. That was fun! She almost ran for me! And we couldn’t have asked for a nicer judging team! Mary Mullen and Kimberly Reeher gave us some fun, challenging courses, but flowy and motivating for the dogs. Zhora earned double Q #5 AND her Master Jumpers (MXJ) title on Friday, and NINA!!! Nina finally broke her two trial NQ streak! She was one bar away from a double Q yesterday, but qualified twice this weekend, which is a huge improvement over not qualifying at all! More importantly, I felt like we were really connected when we were running, which was a huge relief. I am trying to talk to Zhora less when I run her, I feel like I need to cheerlead her, and I think she actually runs better when I only talk if I need to. She is really coming into herself, and had a couple of moments this weekend where I really saw her understanding the game, like Friday’s jumper’s run (her MXJ), when I ended up farther away from a jump than I’d intended, but she read the line anyway and took the right jump. Love my dogs!

Zhora Friday Standard (THIRD PLACE (best placement yet)! Part one of QQ #5 and 21 points, I knew we were going to have a good run when she was barking at me in the weaves!):

Nina Friday Jumpers (broke our NQ streak! Third place and 14 points, almost a disaster at the start, since she started before I was ready):

Zhora Friday Jumpers (part two of QQ #5 AND MXJ title AND 7 points):

Nina Saturday Standard (second place and 31 points):

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (9 points):

Nina Saturday jumpers (one lousy bar away from a double Q):

Nina Sunday Standard (NQ thanks to teeter but a nice run):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (NQ but nice run and a reverse spin!):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (8 points and a reverse spin, baby!):