Oh Yeah, You Blend

What an AMAZING Invitational we had this year! To start things off, Zhora was invited as the #6 Vallhund after only being all the way into Masters since MARCH (the Invitational qualifying period was July 1 2014 to June 30 2015)! And THEN she qualified 4 out of 5 times running in a very overwhelming, loud, echoing environment on a portable turf surface like nothing she has ever run on before. And she knocked it out of the park. Nina ran fast and had a great time, if she could have left the bars up she would have been a serious contender for the breed medallion and maybe even the finals.

 

Zhora’s stats:

• finished second in Swedish Vallhund breed rankings
• Friday: qualified in Time 2 Beat, earning 7 points, placing her well into the top third of dogs
• Saturday: qualified in both runs, placing 60th out of 123 dogs in Jumpers and moving up to 48th out of 123 after Standard
• Sunday: a bobble at the weave poles cost us a Q in Hybrid for 95 points, dropping us down to 68th out of 123, but she pulled back to qualify on a very tricky Jumpers course (after us going out to the start line, and then having to go back off the course when there was a problem with the timer for the dog ahead of us (our friends Roger and Keebler, who placed second in the finals), pulling back up to finish 54th out of 123 12″ dogs overall, not too shabby at all
• finished 20th out of 60 in the Bred-By Exhibitor standings

Nina’s stats:

• finished 99th out of 157 8″ dogs overall, not bad at all considering she didn’t actually qualify once, that just shows you how speedy she is!
• Saturday: Jumpers finished 113th out of 139 dogs with a score of 85 (three faults, five points off for each), Standard, a score of 70 after a disastrous run in which she knocked 5 bars kept her in 113th spot
• Sunday: Hybrid with a score of 90 moved us up to 108th out of 139 dogs, and then a very fast run for a score of 90 on a tricky Jumpers course pulled us up to 99th out of 139 dogs

Jim was unable to come with me because of teaching, so my dear friend Sherry very kindly offered to come with me instead. As it turned out, I was SO glad Sherry was there, aside from being fabulous company on the long trip, fulfilling Sherpa duties, and videoing, Sherry is a physical therapist and the day before I left I had a really bad attack of plantar fasciitis and achilles tendonopathy which made even walking horribly painful, without Sherry’s knowledge and skills, I likely would not have been able to run. My awesome friend Zap, who usually videos at trials, packed us awesome care packages for the trip (for the dogs too!). Having good friends is the best thing.

So overall, it was an awesome Invitational. I was very aware every time I stepped to the line with my amazing dogs what an honor it is to run with them each and every time, whether it’s at a prestigious national event, or a local trial. The privilege of their efforts and the sheer joy of that incredible connection with another species is what makes it an addiction. A wonderful addiction through which I have learned so much about myself, met so many amazing people, and become so much more deeply connected to my wonderful dogs. We dedicated Zhora’s runs to our friend Hattie, who lost her awesome dog Vaasa (who was the #1 dog in Invitationals rankings this ear) last month, and at the trial we learned that Lisa Glick had lost her dog Scout after being entered at the Invitational. It’s a cliche to say we should cherish every run, but it’s so very true.

Zhora Friday Time 2 Beat (q and 7 points):

Nina Saturday Round 1 Jumpers:

Zhora Saturday Round 1 Jumpers (Q):

Nina Saturday Round 2 Standard:

Zhora Saturday Round 2 Standard (Q):

Zhora Sunday Round 3 Hybrid:

Nina Sunday Round 3 Hybrid:

Zhora Sunday Round 4 Jumpers (Q):

Nina Sunday Round 4 Jumpers:

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 16th, 2015 at 10:26 AM and is filed under 2012 litter, agility, awesome, breeding, Dog Training, dogs, Nina, puppies, vallhunds, Zhora. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.