Oh Yeah, You Blend

This was our third time showing under judge Alex Davis. She is a lovely person, always wants people to do well. Her courses were tough! Zhora picked up QQ’s # 37 and 38, just two more to go to MACH 2! Nina had some lovely runs, picking up an awesome JWW Q and a Premier JWW Q. This was her last weekend to qualify for nationals, she just needed two QQ’s to go, but sadly it was not to be. I am adopting a new strategy to try and fix the bar knocking – after pretty thorough video review and discussion with friends who have watched her run for years, the problem seems to be that she sometimes just doesn’t bother to add a stride when she should (it’s faster to just take the long spot and knock the bar – this is NOT Early Takeoff Syndrome), and instead opts to just plow through. So I am taking a two-pronged approach, a Vallhund owning friend (Hattie, who owned the late and sadly-missed Vaasa, who was so much like Nina) said she started just pulling her dog with the same problem when she knocked bars, and it solved the problem. So I am doing this (unless, of course, I think the bar was my fault). I am also SAYING “jump” before every jump to remind her to jump – I have always been someone who prefers to run with as few verbal cues as possible, and I do generally believe that showing the dog which jump is next is my job, but actually JUMPING the jump is the dog’s. But at this point….after so many NQ’s for bars throughout her career, I am willing to try almost anything. It did seem to be helping, I did pull her several times this weekend, and she did seem to leave bars up when I told her to jump (it’s an adjustment for me and I do forget to actually say jump sometimes).

Nina Friday Standard (NQ but SUCH a nice run, and I love the “AWWWWW” from the crowd when we NQ):

Zhora Friday Standard (Part 1 of QQ # 37, third place, 28 points):

Nina Friday Premier Standard (egregious teeter NQ but gorgeous run):

Zhora Friday Jumpers (Part 2 of QQ # 37, third place, 16 points):

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (Part 1 of QQ # 38, fourth place, 16 points):

Nina Saturday Premier Standard (going well till the bar…):

Nina Saturday Standard (tough weave pole entry got us because I can’t leave her on the table, nice run otherwise):

Zhora Saturday Standard (Part 2 of QQ # 38, second place, 30 points):

Nina Sunday Premier Jumpers (second place):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (fourth place, 21 points, Jessie Westover and her CRAZY FAST Papillons were there today, which is how you get a fourth place in Erie with a whopping 21 points in JWW!):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (16 points again! At least she’s consistent!):

Zhora Sunday Time 2 Beat (9 points):

Zhora Sunday Standard (LOL at her on the table!)

Candy Nettles designed some tough courses! Zhora broke out of her QQ slump with # 36 today. Nina had some lovely runs but only one Q. One more trial (next weekend) before a two week break and then the Invitational!

Nina Saturday Jumpers (NQ was my fault, nice run):

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (third place, 16 points, I learned my lesson after Nina’s NQ at the tunnel, I made sure to really connect after the triple):

Nina Saturday Standard (NQ, nice run):

Zhora Saturday Standard (NQ, nice run):

Nina Sunday Premier Jumpers (very happy with the first half of this run, she slipped really badly turning to the weaves in a known “slippery spot” on the turf, so then it was experiment mode):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (second place, 18 points):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (part 1 of QQ #36, third place, 15 points):

Zhora Sunday Standard (part 2 of QQ # 36, second place, 27 points):

Fave judge Mary Mullen couldn’t save us from yet another no QQ weekend! Some wonderful runs but…I blame the election results.

Nina Saturday Jumpers (nice run, NQ):

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

Zhora Saturday Standard (third place, 26 points):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (second place, personal best 24 (!!) points):

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

Zhora Sunday Standard (second place, 26 points):

New judge to us Elane Rice. She sure likes turnbacks out of the weaves and trick finishes….

Zhora’s QQ streak had to end some time! She had two JWW Q’s and one Standard Q but handler errors cost us doubles.

Nina Friday Premier Standard (NQ):

Zhora Friday Jumpers (fourth place, 18 points):

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (fourth place, 18 points):

Nina Saturday Standard (NQ but look at those independent weaves!):

Nina Sunday Premier JWW (NQ):

Zhora Sunday Standard (fourth place, 27 points):

Nina Sunday Standard (first place, 33 points):