Oh Yeah, You Blend

OMG I might just have a new favorite judge! Pam Johnson designed courses that Nina would have designed if Pam hadn’t done it first (and if Nina could use Clean Run Course Designer…), flowy, fast, RLH (that’s Run Like Hell), no need for pesky deceleration, just speed. They were LOVELY courses, with one single exception, the opening of yesterday’s Standard course, which gave most of us fits because of handler errors that were all too easy to make. Nina was SO CLOSE to a double, knocking the LAST POSSIBLE BAR today, which was at least partly my fault, since I didn’t decelerate where I had told myself to.

Nina was a Standard specialist last weekend, and a Jumpers specialist this weekend. She is running beautifully, faster than she ever has, got all her contacts, just JOFT (that’s Just One Little Thing, where “little” is now replaced with an f bomb….). She just needs TWO doubles to qualify for Nationals….just two….

Zhora was a rock star, earning two Time 2 Beat Q’s and double Q # 28 today plus a Jumpers from yesterday.

There were very few 8″ dogs, so I only had a few between them, so I was puffing!

I decided to post the good, the bad and the ugly this time.

Nina Saturday Jumpers (Q, first place, 21 points, 5.532 YPS):

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (Q, second place, 17 points, 4.893 YPS):

Zhora Saturday Time 2 Beat (Q, second place, 9 points):

Nina Saturday Standard (wow…I just did not handle that tunnel/aframe properly at all, needed to pull way over to show her the line):

Zhora Saturday Standard (aaaaand then I did exactly the same thing with Zhora….):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (Q, first place, 21 points again, 5.261 YPS):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (Part 1 of QQ #28, Q, second place, 17 points again, how weird is that, they both got exactly the same points yesterday and today! 4.671 YPS):

Zhora Sunday Time 2 Beat (Q, first place, 10 points):

Nina Sunday Standard (ONE FREAKING BAR!):

Zhora Sunday Standard (Part 2 of QQ #28, first place, 25 points, 3.627 YPS, I did NOT like this dogwalk entry, and I did not handle it as carefully as I could have, so she slipped and I had a bit of an EEK moment):

Getting back into the swing of things. New judge to us, John Defilippi, loved his courses, fast and challenging, and he is very nice, has a generous wheel, and is very generous with his calls (the agility gods truly do giveth and taketh away, since the judge gave Nina and I a gift on her dogwalk contact yesterday, but then she took a wrong course…). Zhora picked up double Q’s #26 and 27, plus two Time 2 Beat legs. She also had a wonderful Premier Jumpers run today but stepped on the metal weave pole base and slipped so she popped and earned an R for the NQ. I am seeing that when I am very clear about where she is going so she can see her lines well, she is running faster and faster, but when I am unclear or when a course is really twisty turny, she slows down. Both Zhora and Nina earned personal best points totals and YPS in Friday’s standard course, and in today’s standard run Nina had the fastest time of all the 8″ and 12″ dogs, and was within a couple of seconds of the really fast 20 and 24″ dogs! When it works, it really works.

Nina Friday Standard (first place, personal best 34 points, 4.241 YPS…IN STANDARD!):

Zhora Friday Standard (part 2 of QQ #26, third place, personal best 31 points, 4.028 YPS!):

Zhora Friday Time 2 Beat (first place, 10 points):

Zhora Friday Jumpers (part 2 of QQ #26, third place, 17 points):

Zhora Saturday Time 2 Beat (8 points and our only Q on Saturday):

Zhora Sunday Premier (NQ but nice run):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (part 1 of QQ #27, third place, 15 points):

Nina Sunday Standard (first place, 32 points, 4.11 YPS):

Zhora Sunday Standard (part 2 of QQ #27, 26 points):

Another wonderful trial put on by HABOC! Judge Pam Sturtz, my first time trialing under her, designed some really tricky courses, but really fun to run, she was really nice to show to. Some tough challenges and some low Q rates, but you really felt your skills were getting a workout, and you need that once in a while! Zhora put up QQ # 25, and earned her second Open FAST leg and another 10 points toward her Time to Beat 2 title. Nina had a NQ weekend, although her jumpers NQ today was one I was very glad I videoed (thanks Sue!) because I could see clearly that I caused her to knock the ONE AND ONLY BAR. Zhora was 5/6 on the weekend, just a weird and uncharacteristic R at the weaves yesterday. There were almost no 8″ dogs, so I only had four or so dogs between them, so I was TIRED.

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (NQ, weird weave R, but even Zhora can’t be perfect I guess):

Nina Saturday Jumpers (NQ, obvs, but nice run):

Zhora Saturday Standard (Q, first place, 30 points, love to see her really digging in and running):

Nina Saturday Standard (NQ but such a nice run, good job of getting ahead of her in the weaves and supporting it properly):

Zhora Open FAST (Q, 71 points):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (part 1 of QQ #25, second place, 14 points, and she saves the Q in the weaves when she keeps going after a bad entry!):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (I drop my arm and turn my shoulder as she jumps the blue non-wing and cause the bar down, but look at that front cross after the weaves!):

Zhora Sunday Time 2 Beat (Q, 10 points, first place, some experimenting, her distance work is really coming along, getting ahead of her in the weaves is not ready for prime time, although I didn’t support as I should):

Zhora Sunday Standard (part 2 of QQ #25, first place, only dog to Q in her height, 27 points):