Oh Yeah, You Blend

Fun weekend with friends and playing with the dogs! Judge Christie Bowers designed some deceptively easy-looking but secretly tricky courses. Zhora earned double Q #12 today to tie her with Nina in the MACH hunt!

Zhora Friday Jumpers (first place and 19 points):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (NQ):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (part 1 of QQ #12, second place and 19 points):

Nina Sunday Standard (NQ, I got in her way after the aframe):

Zhora Sunday Standard (part 2 of QQ #12, first place of only three qualifying dogs, and 30 points):

Friday was a great day! Not only did Zhora earn double Q #11, also got her second challenge measurement and became an 8″ regular dog! I HIGHLY recommend considering a challenge measurement if your dog is close to the cutoff, and choose the VMO’s carefully. Remember that the dog’s official agility jump height is NOT supposed to be the height of the dog when it is standing super erect on its toes, it’s supposed to be taken when the dog is relaxed, and per AKC, the correct height is the lowest legal height the VMO is able to get on the dog. Zhora had no trouble jumping 12″, she is well put together and athletic, but why on earth would I jump her higher than she had to, plus at 8″ she gets the lower a-frame. (For the non agility folks out there: an AKC agility dog gets an official measurement of its height at the withers at age 2, you are allowed to request a challenge measurement once in the dog’s lifetime, and two different official measurers must measure the dog into the lower height for the challenge to be successful). Nina knocked a bar on Friday, but didn’t knock any bars yesterday or today, an EGREGIOUS teeter bail cost her a double Q today…we will be working on that in our two weeks off…she is just amazing though, she will be 9 years old (NO!!!) in May, and has never run faster. Now 9 is not that old for a Vallhund, but… And Zhora seems to LOVE jumping 8″, she was faster and took more distance. Can’t wait to see how that develops as she gets more accustomed to it!

Zhora Friday Standard (21 points, part 1 of double Q #11, saying goodbye to 12″ in style!):

Zhora Friday Jumpers (14 points, part 2 of double Q #11):

Nina Saturday Jumpers (first place, 18 points):

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (third place, 16 points, hello 8″!):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (first place, 19 points):

Nina Sunday Standard (darned teeter apparently doesn’t go all the way down…):

Great weekend! One of our favorite judges (and dear friend!) Sherry Jefferson designed some super fun, fast and flowy courses for us. They were deceptively tricky but wow were they fun! The girls ran fast and had a great time. So close to a double Q but no joy again. Picked up some nice points though, and I was super happy with how they did when I went into training mode, Nina’s distance work is getting really solid!

Nina Friday Standard (NQ, nice run):

Zhora Friday Jumpers (NQ but she handled the backside really well):

Nina Friday Jumpers (NQ, worked weave pole distance):

Nina Saturday Jumpers (NQ at the first jump so I decided to work our weave pole distance, really happy with it!):

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (Q and 14 points, 4.65 YPS):

Nina Saturday Standard (NQ):

Zhora Saturday Standard (NQ, nice run):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (Q, first place and 22 points, 5.25 YPS):

Nina Sunday Standard (NQ for one bar but what a great run, 4 YPS):

Zhora Sunday Standard (Q, fourth place and 21 points, 3.61 YPS, we are playing tug at the start):