Once again, I had a trial weekend that I am late reporting on. I didn't get video so this will be short and sweet for my record.
This trial was the Blue Ridge Dog Training Club held in Winchester, VA. A nice indoor trial I have been to many times. I only signed up for Sunday.
Here are the maps:
We had a successful Standard run (map on left) earning second place. The little Cocker Spaniel that often beats us was running at this trial and took the blue.
In Jumpers, Jimmy knocked down the #6 jump bar. I imagine he thought he was going to the weaves and when he realized he wasn't, he dropped the bar as he turned direction toward me. I must have been late with my cue to head right. It is always the handler's fault!
So no double-Q this weekend but it was still good practice as our next trial will take place at the.....
2017 AKC NATIONAL AGILITY CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!
The big event starts on Friday the 24th of March through Sunday. It's being held in Perry, GA in the Atlanta area. It will be a exciting and fun weekend!
Tracking Jimmy's PACH 2 progress: Very 1st Double-Q: Sunday 5/1/2016
QQ#20: Masters JWW legs: 55...MJP Title 01/25/15 MJPB 10/11/15 MJPS Title Masters STD legs: 49...MXP Title!10/24/14 MXPB 10/11/15 Double Q's: 14(out of 20 needed) PACH Points: 1582
Jimmy and I had another agility trial this weekend given by the Mattaponi Kennel Club. They chose a new location for their trial. Door to door, it was just 20 minutes from my house. Plus it was Tall to Small in the running order so I didn't even need to set an alarm clock! It just doesn't get any better than this! It was a really nice indoor soccer building with lots of crating space, good climate control, great bathroom facilities (that's important!), and nice grounds for walking the dogs. There was only one caveat, the turf was slippery for the fast dogs. Sharp turns often resulted in face plants. That is something no one wants their dog to experience!
We had a pretty good weekend, Q'ing in 3 out of 4 of our runs! Saturday our Standard run had a bar down, and because of the bar down, Jimmy also missed his weave entry which was the next obstacle. The footing made an odd thunk each time he landed and I think it weirded him out just a bit. By the time Jumpers came around, he had gained a bit of confidence. He put in a speedy run, but was edged out of 1st place by less than a second. His run was speedy enough to earn 19 points.
We came back on Sunday to try again. Jimmy was much happier and raring to go! We put in a nice, clean Standard run and earned 28 points!
Here's the video:
I didn't video Jumpers but again we had a nice clean run, earning the blue ribbon and another 19 points. Plus this was double-Q # 9 toward our PACH 2 title.
If I kept my count correctly, the Jumpers legs I earned this weekend should have qualified for Jimmy's MASTER SILVER JUMPER WITH WEAVES PREFERRED title (MJPS). That's 50 succesful Jumpers legs!
We are off for the next couple of weekends and will trial again in mid-November!
AKC Nationals 2017: Perry, GA Double-Q's: 12 (out of 7 needed) Points: 742 (out of 550 needed) We qualified on 07/09/2016 !!!
Tracking Jimmy's PACH 2 progress: Very 1st Double-Q: Sunday 5/1/2016
QQ#20: Masters JWW legs: 50...MJP Title 01/25/15 MJPB 10/11/15 MJPS Title 10/23/16 Masters STD legs: 42...MXP Title!10/24/14 MXPB 10/11/15 Double Q's: 9 (out of 20 needed) PACH Points: 1308
This weekend was our last summer season agility trial. It was given by the Carrol Kennel Club in the usual indoor soccer building. The courses were particularly challenging this time and luckily we had success three out of four times.
On Saturday, it started with the jumpers run. This was probably the easiest of the courses, but it did have some subtle spots that it was very hard to get where you needed to be to set a nice line. Jimmy was a speedy guy (as he always is!) and we got it done! It netted us the blue ribbon as well. It was the only run I got on video and here it is:
The standard run came next. The #5 jump to the #6 tunnel was going to be a challenge. As they cleared the jump, they were looking straight into the wrong end of the tunnel. I clapped, I screamed Jimmy's name, but he had locked on to the wrong end and nothing was going to stop him. Sigh. As it turned out, he had also blown his dogwalk contact just before the #5 jump, so the tunnel error really didn't matter. We had already NQ'd. I thought I had seen a flying leap out of the corner of my eye, but I wasn't sure until I saw my score sheet at the end. No double Q for us!
The maps:
Sunday was just as tricky. It again started with jumpers and if you made it through #1 through #6 successfully, you had a good shot at Q'ing. I tried my friend's suggestion on how to handle 3 to 4 to 5 (Thanks, Gretchen!) and it worked beautifully! This time we got the correct end of the tunnel and the rest ran clean! We got another blue ribbon for our good efforts.
Our Sunday standard run was the one I truly wish I had video'd. I had the most amazing call-off of a wrong obstacle and then successfully got the weave pole entry from a very odd angle as a result of the call-off. If you look at the map (the one on the right down below), we were running A-frame (#7) to jump (#8), to jump (#9) and then the weaves at #10. However, Jimmy was positive the course should run #8, to #9, to#18, a jump to the right of the weaves. I screamed NO!!!! and he stopped in his tracks (almost in take-off mode to clear the jump), made a sharp left and then a hard right into the CORRECT weave pole entry. Amazing save! Eleven through 16 was a challenge for many but we made it through to the end! YAY! This was double-Q #13 toward our big PACH title. Plus we earned lots of points toward our AKC Nationals tally. For this run we did not get the blue ribbon.....we earned 2nd place this time as Jimmy was beat by a girl! A little Pemmie girl who is every bit as fast as Jimmy and does a smoking fast dogwalk!
Here are Sunday's maps so you can see what all those numbers mean....
Currently I keep all these pretty ribbons, but when the day comes to downsize all the junk in my house, I guess they will have to go. I'll have to settle for photographic proof of Jimmy's accomplishments.
Tracking Jimmy's PACH progress: Very 1st Double-Q: Saturday 06/21/2014 Masters JWW legs: 23...MJP Title 01/25/15 Masters STD legs: 23...MXP Title!10/24/14 Double Q's: 13 PACH Points:1055 AKC Nationals 2016: Double-Q's: 6 (out of 5 needed) Points: 537 (out of 600 needed).... Masters Legs: 24 (out of 20 needed)
This weekend was an agility trial given by the Pembroke Welsh Corgi Club of the Potomac. While every agility trial has a good representation from the breed, this trial just packs them in! All the local Pemmie people put in an extra effort to attend this one! Jimmy and I are often the only Cardigan Welsh Corgi team at trials but this weekend we had company from a couple of other Cardigan teams.
Saturday was a great day for us! The courses were fun, challenging and still doable. Jimmy stuck his table and dogwalk contact, so we very happily qualified in Standard! This was the only run we had videoed (thanks Darlene!) so I am glad it's a nice one! Jimmy gave a good speedy run and earned another 29 points and a first place blue ribbon.
Jumpers was built for speed and we ran it for the best lines we could. It went very well and we finished in a smidge over 28 seconds! That is FAST! I think we got something like 19 more points and this was double-Q #11 toward our big PACH title.
Saturday's maps:
Now on Sunday, I must not have paid good attention to the schedule. I figured it was just like Saturday. On Saturday, I got there with more than an hour to kill before my walk-thru. (For those of you who don't do agility, a walk-thru is the handler's chance to go into the ring before the run. This is when we memorize the sequence of obstacles and plan our strategy. We go in as a big group and get 8 minutes to mull it over.) So on Sunday morning, I moved a bit slower at home knowing with my crates already set up in the building, I didn't need to rush so much. Well, silly me, the schedule wasn't quite the same, as well as a few no-shows making things move faster, and Bingo!, I arrived after my allotted 8 minutes! For that matter, the eight inch dogs were already running! YIKES!!! So all I could do was go over the map and watch as many runs as possible to memorize the flow. Low and behold, we made it through successfully! Woohoo! We earned 2nd place for our efforts, missing 1st place by a mere 1/3 of a second! I'll take it! I was so happy to qualify!
The Jumpers run did not seem too bad. I felt if I made it past the opening where an off course tunnel was tempting the dogs, we might have a chance. Unfortunately, there was just one spot where I fell a bit behind the fast moving Jim, and he skipped a jump. Bummer! I was hopeful we were going to get another double-Q, but it was not to be. No maps for Sunday as I just realized I took 2 shots of the Saturday maps. D'Oh!
All in all, it was a really great weekend. Lots of success in the ring and lots of fun watching so many corgis run agility. Plus, it was a very hot weekend, so indoor fun was just the ticket!
Tracking Jimmy's PACH progress: Very 1st Double-Q: Saturday 06/21/2014 Masters JWW legs: 20...MJP Title 01/25/15 Masters STD legs: 20...MXP Title!10/24/14 Double Q's: 11 PACH Points:928 AKC Nationals 2016: Double-Q's: 4 (out of 5 needed) Points: 410 (out of 600 needed).... Masters Legs: 18 (out of 20 needed)
Well, today was a good day! Wilson, Jimmy and I went to the Mattaponi Kennel Club's All-Breed Dog Show and Obedience/Rally Trial. We were trying for our 3rd legs on the Rally Novice titles. It was a large Novice A class with 15 dogs, held in a grassy field. I find it interesting that with Rally you get a course map, and then have plenty of time to go off and practice. There wasn't too much I was worried about other than keeping noses out of the grass. There were plenty of direction changes, and I almost went the wrong way with Jimmy's 360 to the left. Wilson went first in the class, and Jim went near the end, so it was easy to keep them from worrying about each other. And as it turned out both boys scored a 95! This score was good enough to tie them for 2nd place. Jimmy was a second or two faster so he earned the 2nd place ribbon, Wilson the 3rd. Having each earned two legs at the National Specialty last month, the legs today finished off our Rally Novice titles. Yay! So, see, it was sort of a double-Q today, right?
Wilson is now Caduceus Castaway Wilson RN HT AXP AJP NF....plus his CGC.
Jimmy is now Fine Creek's Sharp Dressed Man RN HT MXJ AX OF....plus his CGC.
Here are the guys posing with all the ribbons they earned...one for placing, one for qualifying and one for our new title.
I am proud of my boys!
One of the great things about these large all-breed conformation shows is all the vendors! There are many more than you would ever see at an agility trial. Jimmy and Wilson each got a well-deserved knuckle bone.
