The Weekend Report - A Double-Q and a new Title!

This weekend, Jimmy and I had just one day of agility. It was a two day trial, but we only got our entry picked for one of the days before it filled to capacity. So luckily, the one day was a very GOOD day!

Jimmy ran cleanly in both runs which means I did my job correctly as well! As they always say, 99% of the disqualifying runs are handler error and not the dog's fault! So this time I guess we were in sync!

This gave us Double-Q #9 out of the 20 we need, and between the two runs, another 33 points toward the 750 we need, for our Master Agility Championship (MACH) title. I didn't get video this time so I'll post a photo of the course maps. For those of you who don't do agility and aren't familiar with the process....When you get to a trial and check in, you pick up a copy of the Course Map so you can see what the challenge du jour will be. The courses are different at every trial you attend and are designed by the judges. The handlers get 8 minutes (as a group, not individually) to walk the courses without their dogs, so we can devise a strategy for getting around quickly and without sending the dog to an incorrect obstacle. At the Masters level there can be no mistakes at all and you must beat the clock.

Looking at the maps, just follow the number sequences starting at one (duh!) and go from there.....

Click to enlarge the maps

I considered these to be of medium difficulty. The challenges were pretty subtle and the courses flowed nicely.

Additionally, by qualifying in Jumpers with Weaves, that gave Jimmy his 25th Masters JWW leg, which gives him his Master Bronze Jumpers With Weaves Title or MJB!

His registered name now looks like:

Fine Creek's Sharp Dressed Man MJB RN HT MX MXJ OF CGC*

Tracking Jimmy's MACH progress:
Excellent B JWW legs: 25  Now he's working on his MXJ3!
Excellent B STD legs: 15. We earned our MX and are working on MX2 now.
Double Q's: 9 (out of 20 double-Q's needed for a MACH.... 45 Percent!)
MACH Points: 620 (out of 750 speed points needed for a MACH...... 83 Percent!)

Time 2 Beat legs: 6 (out of 15 needed for his T2B) 48 points (out of 100 needed) 



I am going to add a new tracking section, this one for qualifying for next year's AKC Agility Nationals. I truly don't expect to qualify as the number of points needed is quite high and I just don't trial/qualify often enough. But it will be fun to see how close I get. I've got until Nov 30th to accumulate what's needed....

Double-Q's: 1 (out of 4 needed)
Points: 59 (out of 500 needed)
Masters Legs: 3 (out of 20 needed)


* All that alphabet soup after Jimmy's name stands for.....
RN - Rally Novice
HT - Herding Tested
MX - Master Agility
MXJ - Master Agility Jumpers
OF - Open FAST (another agility title)
CGC - Canine Good Citizen

And just for good measure....here's another photo from today's snowstorm.....

Cold nose, warm heart....Is that how the expression goes?