Monday, March 11, 2013

The Weekend Report - The Season Opener

Well, our first weekend of agility is behind us. As always, I go into it with high hopes, dreaming of getting more of the needed Double-Q's* for our championship. Things started out well enough with a Q (and even 5th place) in Standard Saturday morning. But, alas, it was not meant to be. We had no more Qs (qualifying runs) the rest of the weekend. Jimmy and I share the blame fairly evenly. He popped a weave pole too soon in Saturday's Jumpers run, a very unusual mistake for him. Then Sunday's Standard run had a tricky ending which I botched magnificently! I planted a late front-cross, lost my balance and sense of where I was and that was that. Jimmy didn't know what I wanted and rightly so. With Jumpers, I came out of the ring thinking we had Q'd because I hadn't seen/heard the bar Jimmy knocked down. I get out of the ring, and my friend who was running the video camera for me (Thanks Chris!) says too bad about the pole and I was like WHAT?!.....Big Sigh.

* For those of you who are not agility folks, Double-Qs (or QQs) are when you qualify (make zero mistakes) in both of your runs (Standard and Jumpers) in the same day. You need to accomplish this 20 times in order to earn your Master Agility Championship. Some people make this requirement look like a breeze. I am not one of those people! You also need to accumulate 750 speed points but fortunately they happen in any run in which you qualify, it doesn't have to be a Double-Q. We are well on our way to having enough of those because Jimmy is a speedy little guy!

So, for your entertainment, here are my runs:

Saturday's  Masters Standard run, clean and speedy, giving us 26 more speed points.....




Saturday's Masters Jumpers with the weave pole pop....(Thanks go to Sandy for videoing this one!)



Sunday's Masters Standard with the clutzy handler at the end....




And finally, Sunday's Masters Jumpers with just one bar down...The end was incredibly fun, tunnel to the chute to another tunnel, super fast!




I have a tendency to get pretty bummed out when we aren't very successful, and that is a flaw in my personality. In truth, I should be very happy (and I am!) that both days Jimmy gave me a beautiful table and both days a lovely dogwalk contact. Those have hurt us in the past and this weekend he was perfect. Also, he had a nice 30 minute professional massage when we were done on Sunday. He was found to be in pretty good shape, just a couple of sore spots that were worked out. His iliopsoas that he pulled last summer seemed to be fine. That is really the best news of the whole weekend!

Tracking Jimmy's MACH progress:
Excellent B JWW legs: 24  Now he's working on his MXJ3!
Excellent B STD legs: 14. We earned our MX and are working on MX2 now.
Double Q's: 8 (out of 20 double-Q's needed for a MACH.... 40 Percent!)
MACH Points: 587 (out of 750 speed points needed for a MACH...... 78 Percent!)

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


20 comments:

  1. In toto, the runs looked really good. You can be proud! He is a speedy guy!

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  2. Yes we say what a speedy guy as well. We think it looked like Jimmy was enjoying himself. Have a marvelous Monday.
    Best wishes Molly

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  3. Whether or not you got enough qualifiers, that was pretty amazing! You should be proud of what you and Jimmy could accomplish.

    I never thought a corgi could he so quick and agile.

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  4. Aw, I'm sorry you didn't get your double-Qs but we was rootin' for you over here while watching your videos. "Go Cardis, Go!" was our chant. Good show!
    *high paws*
    Oz

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  5. You two are a great team! Love the videos! Jimmy looks like he loves this activity. How much time do you spend practicing?

    Susan and Wrigs

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    1. Jimmy started training as a puppy and went from basic obedience straight into Agility Foundation classes (good for when the pup is too young for the rigors of jumping full height and weaving), then handling classes, then classes where you run courses. He's never stopped going to school and he's about to turn 6 in May. It's mainly just a once-a-week class for an hour. I also try to get private lessons when I can. Demand for them are high so it's a matter of getting a spot. In the warmer/dryer weather I do a bit in my backyard as well, but it is tiny and I don't own all of the equipment. There's a fine line between practicing enough to keep your edge but also not burning out and/or over-working the dog's body, esp. one shaped like a corgi!

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    2. As long as Jimmy parks himself at the garage door when you tell him it's a school night, I guess you'll know he's not burning out! :-) Wrigs has reached the stage in life where I have to watch carefully to be sure he's still enjoying our outings. Sometime we take a day off if he seems overtired or unenthused.

      Susan and Wrigs

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  6. That first video is amazing! He is one SPEEDY dog! I loved watching him take the weave poles in the second video. And nearly cried when you stopped.

    The national agility trials are here in Tulsa this weekend and I can't WAIT!!! I'll be there all day on Friday, just photographing and talking to people and their dogs. Should I go on Saturday as well?

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    1. I've never gone (haven't been able to qualify!), but the big days are Saturday and Sunday.

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  7. I'll snap as many Cardi photos as I can. :)

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  8. Absolutely incredible ...love love love watching these videos, Jimmy you are Ace :)

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  9. Yay Jimmy! I know how you feel about being bummed. I let Bettina straight race and got a little too caught up in it. Totally bummed when we were squarely in the middle of the pack. No pretty ribbon for us :-) I'm so impressed by all of you who train your dogs to do agility or obedience. It doesn't look easy!

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  10. Great videos. Looks like a lot of hard work and dedication. Keep up the good work.

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  11. You guys look great! Drat to the little things than cause NQs!

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  12. Double Q's or not, that sure looks impressive to me! And the most important thing - he looks like he's having such an awesome time! So cute!

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  13. You and Jimmy both looked great. His tables were flawless. All of the things that prevented Qs were the teeniest-tiniest things. I think it bodes well for a great season ahead.
    Janet

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  14. Look at him hit those tables! Great job Jimmy!
    You two looked really great, shame about the bar :(

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  15. He is a nice running Cardi! I know what you mean about being bummed about an NQ, I can be the same way with Dally. But then you remember, they don't know that they didn't Q or win, they just know they went out there and ran with you and had fun. I'm loving your blog!

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  16. So awesome! You guys looked great.

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