The Weekend Report - Two more legs toward the MXJ!

Another weekend of agility trials is behind us, this time held by the Shetland Sheepdog Club of Greater Baltimore. These were at a nice indoor location only about 45 minutes from home. That's always a big plus!

Saturday started with Excellent Standard. Jimmy was a bit amped up. I put him in a stay, lead out, released him, and Jimmy took out the very first jump bar! We were done before we ever got started. Of course, we still run the course anyway, just with no chance of Q'ing. The good thing about it is you are free to push the limits of your handling, trying stuff you would never try if the Q was still possible. We had a couple more bobbles because my mojo was now a bit off, and finished with a nice quick time. Oh, well.....

Excellent Jumpers was late in the day. It was a fun course and Jimmy aced it! He had 44 seconds to get 'er done, and finished in 32.57, giving us 11 more MACH points. Yea!

Today started earlier because the dogs were running small to tall. Again, Excellent Standard was first. We got off to a very nice start, and made it all the way to the table, 4 obstacles from the end. And, no, the table was not our problem, Jimmy did a nice job of it. Unfortunately, the next jump was a triple and he knocked the top bar down. Crap! NQ! After that was a dogwalk/tunnel discrimination, and he chose the off-course tunnel, but who cares, cause we were already cooked! So close and yet so far......Another weekend without a Standard Q, but at least Jimmy did his table nicely both days so that part was a victory.

We finished the day with another really nice Excellent Jumpers run. Jimmy had 42 seconds to get it done and only needed 31.04, giving us another 10 MACH points. His jumpers runs were legs #7 and #8 out of the 10 he needs for his MXJ title. And a funny coincidence, for leg #7, he came in 7th place, for leg # 8, he came in 8th. Those were very respectable finishes considering all the super-fast shelties we were running against.

No more agility trials for awhile, mid-June being the next ones. I signed up for a May 21st trial but didn't get in. I am on the waiting list so there is a small chance I'll get in if someone drops out.......

Tracking Jimmy's MACH progress:
Excellent B JWW legs: 8 (out of 10 needed for his MXJ) More than halfway to his Masters Jumpers title!
Excellent B STD legs: 0 (out of 10 needed for his MX)
Double Q's: 0 (out of 20 double-Q's needed for a MACH)
MACH Points: 101 (out of 750 speed points needed for a MACH)