The Weekend Report: We Were Gifted on our Season Finale!

This past weekend was Jimmy's and my last show of the season and year. It was at that farm in Reva, Virginia that I love so much. A day in the country is always a good thing, although I must admit Saturday was COLD!!!  As is the case with most agility trials, you need to get an early start. I arrived at about 8:30AM and the temps were still in the high teens (-7 C!!!). This is unusually cold for this time of year. This trial is in a barn which was "warmed" with propane heat blowers. It helped if you stood near them but deeper into the ring was cold. I dressed the part with long underwear and thick sweat pants....layers, layers, layers! I really didn't mind it too much, plus it was sunny, so my car was nice and toasty inside for the dogs.

The first run of the day was Jumpers and we had an odd bobble early on. I don't know what I did wrong, and of course I didn't video again this trial. My friend was watching and couldn't really see what it was either. So we were disqualified early on so I just cheered him loudly and ran fast through the rest.

We took a break to wander the farm and take a few pictures. There was quite a while between my runs. Up in the hills, the wind was blocked and it was very pleasant.

The Standard run was a fun spiral. Not too challenging and it ran fast! Jimmy's dogwalk contact (where at least one paw must hit the yellow contact zone) was a bit iffy, so I consider it a "gift" from the judge. Jimmy earned another 32 points toward his PACH title and a nice first place blue ribbon.. Of course, no double-Q's but that's OK!

Here are the maps.....

Sunday was a way warmer day (oh, the fickle weather of Virginia), but cloudy. Again the early start, with all the appropriate clothing. And again the day started with Jumpers, and again we could not pull it off! This time Jimmy missed his weave entry. I never saw it as a tough one when I walked the course, but I guess it was. Oh, well, if we qualified every single time, what would be the challenge in that.

Another long break brought us to the Standard run. It was a bit trickier than Saturday and was a lot of fun to run. Sometimes you can't tell how a course will run from your walk-thru. This one was great! However, Jimmy hesitated just a bit getting on the table, almost enough for the judge to call a refusal, but she didn't! Thank you, judge, for another "gift" this weekend. Jimmy earned another 29 points and first place!

Maps.....

So we ended the season without anymore double Qs, but that is alright. I don't want this journey to end too quickly.

Tracking Jimmy's PACH progress:
Very 1st Double-Q: Saturday 06/21/2014
Masters JWW legs: 9
Masters STD legs: 13...MXP Title!10/24/14
Double Q's: 7
PACH Points: 518

Another accomplishment was that from Jimmy's new 8 inch jumping class (called Preferred), we completed all of the requirements to qualify for the 2015 AKC National Championship! Now we weren't really trying, not like last year where I was frantic to go, It's in Reno, NV this time, so way too far from home and I would never fly my dog in cargo! The other caveat is a technicality.  Since I didn't earn my MACH until April of this year, Jimmy ran in two jump height during the qualifying period. You can't do that and still qualify, so I really couldn't sign up to go. But we did fulfill  the requirements and we did it quite quickly!

AKC Nationals 2015:
Double-Q's: 7 (out of 4 needed)
Points: 518 (out of 500 needed)....
Masters Legs: 22 (out of 20 needed)