Oh Yeah, You Blend

Judge Barbara Bounds designed some tricky courses. Fun to run though! Nina managed a Standard Q and had some really nice runs, including an awesome Premier JWW run with one lousy bar (I am reminded of Léon: “always like this”). Zhora managed another two QQ’s (#34 and 35), which officially means she has not only lapped Nina in the MACH race, she has passed her (Nina has 14 towards her MACH, Zhora has 15 towards MACH 2), she is just awesome. I cherish every run with both of them, even if Nina’s QQ drought is getting more than a little old.

Nina Friday FAST (Q, first place, 38 points):

Zhora Friday Standard (part 1 of QQ #34, second place, 30 points):

Nina Friday Premier Standard (such a nice run but NQ):

Zhora Friday Jumpers (part 2 of QQ #34, third place, 18 points):

Nina Friday Premier Jumpers (OMG ONE LOUSY BAR!!!):

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (Part 1 of QQ #35, third place, 17 points):

Nina Saturday Standard (Q, third place, 34 points):

Zhora Saturday Standard (part 2 of QQ #35, fourth place, 31 points):

Zhora Sunday Standard (Q, fourth place, 29 points:

Some really challenging courses from judge Alexandra Davis. Zhora had a perfect weekend in the classes that count, picking up QQ’s #31, 32 and 33 towards MACH 2! Nina had a perfect NQ weekend but wow is she running well. At one point I was chatting with Alex about Nina taking the wrong end of the tunnel in Jumpers today, and she asked how old Nina was, I told her she was 9, she said “OH! I thought that was your puppy….” LOL. I love every run with her regardless. And I am trying hard not to be spoiled by Zhora, but I will tell you that it’s sure a nice change to run a consistent dog, because there were MANY weekends I’d come home with one Q or even no Q’s before Z Dog came along!

Nina Friday Standard (NQ but so close and such a nice run! Layering!):

Zhora Friday Standard (part 1 of QQ # 31, second place, 30 points):

Zhora Friday Jumpers (part 2 of QQ # 31, fourth place (the top 4 dogs were within 8 100ths of a second of each other!), 15 points):

Nina Friday Premier Jumpers (NQ):

Zhora Friday Premier Jumpers (NQ):

Nina Saturday Jumpers (NQ):

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (part 1 of QQ # 32, second place, 18 points):

Zhora Saturday Premier (NQ, nice run):

Zhora Saturday Standard (part 2 of QQ # 32, third place, 29 points):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (I SO thought we had it….but no…and someone asked me during the walkthrough if many of the big dogs had taken the wrong end of the tunnel after the weaves and I said no…so Nina decided to show me what that looked like, training mode after that):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (part 1 of QQ #33, second place, 17 points):

Nina Sunday Standard (ANOTHER soooo close, really loved this run though):

Zhora Sunday Standard (part 2 of QQ # 33, third place, 26 points):

Judge Windle Ewing (who it turns out knows Debbie Spence, my first agility teacher from back in Texas) designed some seriously tricky courses for us this weekend. He was the judge under whom we earned our first double double Q last year. It was ALMOST a repeat this year, but then an absolute heartbreaker of a standard NQ today happened. I reminded myself right after that this is just agility, we aren’t curing cancer and world peace does not depend on it.

Zhora earned QQ’s # 29 and 30, halfway to MACH2 already! Nina ran beautifully. It was fun. We are off for two weekends now and we need it.

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

Zhora Friday Standard (part 1 of QQ #29, second place, 28 points):

Zhora Friday Jumpers (part 2 of QQ # 29, third place, 12 points):

Zhora Saturday Time 2 Beat (Q, second place, 8 points):

Nina Saturday Time 2 Beat (Q, first place, 10 points):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (part 1 of QQ #30, third place, 15 points):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (Q, second place, 17 points):

Zhora Sunday Standard (part 2 of QQ #30, second place, 20 points, holy moly this course….only 2 8″ dogs qualified):

Nina Sunday Standard (HEARTBREAKER, on a double Q no less, the LAST BAR of the LAST JUMP….OMG…):