He's a Star!

A couple weeks back, Cedar finished his first puppy class and earned his very first certificate! The official copy and medallion came in the mail today! 

Alphabet Soup!

The other day a title certificate arrived in the mail for Jimmy. It wasn't one I was expecting as I didn't recall earning a new title. However, the AKC does send out a new title for every ten legs you earn from the Masters Jumpers or Masters Standard class. I guess I hadn't really been keeping track. This one was for Master Excellent Jumper Preferred 4. So this means Jimmy has qualified at the Masters level in Jumpers 40 times! I definitely don't want to do the math on all those entry fees! LOL!

But, the thing that was really cool about this certificate is it is the first one to come along that shows both the MACH and the PACH in front of Jimmy's name. All those letters after his name, the so-called Alphabet Soup, are all agility titles except the first two. The RN is a Rally Novice title and the HT is for Herding Tested.

Now, if you've read this blog for a while, you probably know I don't like having my picture taken. But occasionally, there is a must-have picture! The trial photographer grabbed this shot of Jimmy and me doing our recent victory lap right after earning our PACH (agility championship). While it is not so very flattering of me, it captures a very happy moment in my life. Those are ones you want to remember and this photo will help! It's a photo of a photo so not very sharp. Photo credit goes to Terri Keiffer of Key4Prints.

Have a great weekend, Everyone!

Hope you find lots of reasons to smile!

The Weekend Report: A Double-Q at Long Last!

Jimmy and I attended both days of the Potomac Valley Golden Retriever Club. It was a very hot and muggy weekend so it was great to have something fun to do indoors. Luckily, the A/C at the sportsplex did a good job keeping up with the heat. Both days ran Small to Tall so we even had much of the afternoon free.

Here are Saturday's maps:

The Standard course was a bit tricky with the tunnel work and a speedy dog, and 14 to 15 was interesting, but all in all it ran much better than it felt in the walk-thru. Jimmy, being the good speedy boy that he is qualified in 1st place and brought in 27 points on this run! While we don't need any more points for his PACH title, we dearly need them to qualify for AKC Nationals next year.

This was the only run I  video'd:



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It has been quite a while since a Standard Q and a chance for a double-Q. Jumpers is a bit easier to qualify in so we are much more likely to Q there than Standard. But now that I had a double-Q on the line, I was more nervous than usual. (You would think after 10 years of playing this game, I would have my nerves under control!) On this course, a lot of dogs pulled out of the weaves too soon as their handlers turned to 14 a stride too soon, or the dog spied the back of the #1 jump with its electric eye timers attached and thought that was the end jump and rushed off to finish the course (and get that end of run treat!). I made sure to stick close to Jimmy to prevent that error and we made it out clean! Again my speedy boy brought home the blue ribbon and 25 points! So, finally we had broken our double-Q drought! It was double-Q #10 toward our PACH so we are officially half-way! It also counted as double-Q #3 toward the 5 needed to qualify for AKC Nationals. All in all a very good day! It is days like this that keep you coming back!

Here are Sundays maps:

Sunday started with Standard also. It was another course with tricky tunnel manoeuvres making the 6 thru 9 obstacles the biggest challenge. It is very hard for me to beat Jimmy to the end of a fairly straight tunnel so I really had to pour on the steam!  The rest went well and we had another 1st place Q in Standard! This one gave us 30 points! Holy Moly!

And then our final run of the weekend, Jumpers with a double-Q on the line again. Alas, thanks to poor handler decisions, I managed to disqualify us right from the very start. The #1 to #2 jump was our downfall. I lead out and Jimmy did not read my cue to turn and jump and never took the 2nd jump. I so wanted to kick myself!

But all I should do is focus on the positive which is three beautiful blue ribbons proving that Jimmmy and I can pull it off more times than not! We moved ourselves a bit closer to our goals, well, my goals anyway. Jimmy just cares about his big treat at the end of each run!

Not having to wait around for a ribbon, we hurried home with enough time for a nice swim session. Both boys were very pleased about that...until the bath afterwards of course!

Tracking Jimmy's PACH progress:
Very 1st Double-Q: Saturday 06/21/2014
Masters JWW legs: 18...MJP Title 01/25/15
Masters STD legs: 18...MXP Title!10/24/14
Double Q's: 10
PACH Points: 836

AKC Nationals 2016:
Double-Q's: 3 (out of 5 needed)
Points: 318 (out of 600 needed)....
Masters Legs: 14 (out of 20 needed)

The Weekend Report - The Dirty Dozen! - Plus a word on my recent Giveaway!

Before I launch into reporting on a great weekend of agility, I want to mention that the winner of my giveaway for Jackie's book has never contacted me. I am going to give it through today and if I still haven't heard anything, I'll select a new winner tomorrow, so check back just in case.......

This weekend was three days of agility held by the Shetland Sheepdog Club of Greater Baltimore. It was held in a very nice indoor soccer center in Frederick, Maryland. Not only was it relatively close to home, but Friday and Saturday, the running order was Tall to Small, so it meant I didn't even have to get up at the crack of dawn to be there. And on Sunday, when you are ready to have some time at home, it was Small to Tall and we were headed home by 2PM.

Friday, Jimmy and I pulled off a Double-Q. The courses weren't easy so I was very pleased with our success. Jimmy was even speedy enough on the Standard course to pull in a 3rd place finish, beating out about 40 other 12 inchers. There was a weird incident where one of the judges had what I will call a temper tantrum over ring conflicts. A very strange outburst indeed, and it was quite the talk of the weekend.

Saturday was a no Q day. In the Standard run, I walked out and put Jimmy in his usual Sit/Stay so I could lead out past the first jump. As I was doing it, I thought to myself I didn't like how he was sitting. He was a bit crooked and at a bit of an angle. I didn't want to manhandle him in to a better position as his mood seemed odd, so I let it go. Well, wouldn't you know he crashed the first jump! And of course he ran the rest of it beautifully! So that was totally my fault for not acting on the instinct that was screaming in my head! The Jumpers course a bit later was a tough one. We cruised through the hard stuff, but in the home stretch, Jimmy took out a triple jump. So close.

Sunday, the Standard run got off to a rocky start and I have to give Jimmy credit for saving my bad handling plan. There was a very tough sequence in the middle and we cruised through that and made it to the end cleanly. Our time was a bit long due to my messy start, but, hey, it was a Q! The Jumpers course was either a rear cross extravaganza or a  twirling front cross ballet. I opted for the ballet as it means straighter approaches over the jumps and less chance of taking out a bar. Either way, this course made you RUN! Doing so many front crosses added time to the run but with a double Q on the line, I didn't care. We made it out cleanly! Yay! Two double-Qs for the weekend, WOOHOO! We now have a full one dozen QQs!

Some weekends I just don't feel like bugging anyone with my video camera so no visuals for this trial. However, I will leave you with another very bad pun.......

After three days of agility, I can certainly say......

We were all very TIREd!!!

Tracking Jimmy's MACH progress:
Excellent B JWW legs: 29  Now he's working on his MXJ3!
Excellent B STD legs: 18. We earned our MX and are working on MX2 now.
Double Q's: 12 (out of 20 double-Q's needed for a MACH.... 60 Percent! We're more than halfway there!)
MACH Points: 733 (out of 750 speed points needed for a MACH...... 97 Percent!)

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


AKC Nationals 2014:
Double-Q's: 4 (out of 4 needed)
Points: 172 (out of 500 needed)
Masters Legs: 10 (out of 20 needed)

The Weekend Report - Oh, The Irony!

This weekend was our last agility trial of the year. It was held by the Capital City Cocker Club. They are a very fun bunch and put on a great trial. It was held at an equestrian center so the footing was great. Last year the place was a bit dark and too dusty, but the club had them water it down better this time. The place also made sure all the ceiling lights were working properly. It was quite improved this year!

On Saturday, I have to say Karma was having her fun with me. As you know from previous agility posts, Jimmy doesn't like the table. But it seems to be improving. If I can fit in a front-cross, he seems to pop right on. Well, Saturday's course really didn't need a front-cross, but I tried to throw one in any way. It was so poorly planted, I blocked Jimmy's approach to the table and nearly made him miss the table. He just about broke the back refusal plane and hesitated about getting on. A stricter judge would have called me with a refusal, but this sweet judge let it slide, and we ran the rest clean for a Q!

A bit later, it was time for Jumpers. It wasn't too difficult and of course I had my fingers crossed for another Q. I led out and released Jimmy. He made it one jump before a Doberman in the Standard ring SLAMMED the teeter so hard, it sounded like a shotgun blast. I didn't even know what the noise, it was that loud. It even echoed. Well, Jimmy is quite scared of fireworks and gunfire, and he just plain froze. He kept waiting for more of the same. He of course got called with a refusal for stopping. With much coaxing, I was able to get him moving again. We ran clean but over time......I guess Karma decided the first judge was just a bit too nice and decided to prevent a Double Q :-(

The club offered the optional Time 2 Beat, so we had signed up for that. It was in the same ring as the Jumpers had been, and I was happy to see Jimmy had let go of his fear. We ran cleanly and earned another leg and 7 more points.

Sunday started with Standard again. It was chute to the table this time and absolutely no way to fit in a front-cross. I just had to go with it. Jimmy slowed noticeably before getting on, and it looked like he was getting ready to sass me. But he did hop on, I praised him, and off we went to another Q! Yay!

Jumpers was a tricky course and all was going well until a double jump about 3/4s through the course. Jimmy nicked the top bar and down it came.....Heavy Sigh...

After such a long struggle with Qing in Standard, it is so ironic that now we are having difficulties getting a Jumpers Q! But I am very thankful that we have made such great progress on the table. This was the 6th Standard Q in a row! That means success on the table as well as success on the dogwalk contact.

Jimmy had a professional massage before going home. Anne said he definitely had some tightness in his iliopsoas muscles and spent a lot of time trying to work it out. She said it was time for Jimmy to take a break. Good thing the season is over for us! I guess Wilson will be filling in for class again for a bit! And speaking of Wilson, he got to run a Jumpers course on Saturday. He was quite happy to play and even did his weaves! Alas, he took one bar so we did not Q, but it was fun none the less!

Here's Saturday's Standard run with my messy table handling front and center:




Tracking Jimmy's MACH progress:
Excellent B JWW legs: 24  Now he's working on his MXJ3!
Excellent B STD legs: 13. 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: 561 (out of 750 speed points needed for a MACH...... 75 Percent!)

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

The Weekend Report - We're Baaaaaccck!

Well, this past weekend was Jimmy's return to agility trialing after his mild iliopsoas strain in early July. And he came back with a vengeance! Unbelievably, we double-Q'ed both days! Holy Moly! On Saturday, he was speedy enough that both runs were in the ribbons, both 3rds. Sunday, although his actual Yards per Second were a tiny bit faster, lots of other dogs were faster too, so no ribbons. But to be honest, just the green Q ribbon is plenty fine for me! And Jimmy raked in a whopping 70 speed points as well!

Here are Saturday's runs:

Jumpers w/ Weaves:



Standard



And Sunday's:

Jumpers w/ Weaves:



Standard:







And, because Wilson filled in for Jimmy at agility class over the summer, I figured he deserved some fun, too. I signed him up for just a Jumpers run. Although he had been running clean in class, his old trial stress surfaced immediately and he got rather goofy and sassed me. He definitely had some fun, too, and that's what it was all about.


Here he is:




Tracking Jimmy's MACH progress:
Excellent B JWW legs: 23 (out of 10 needed for his MXJ) Now he's working on his MXJ3!
Excellent B STD legs: 9 (out of 10 needed for his MX) Almost to our MX!
Double Q's: 7 (out of 20 double-Q's needed for a MACH.... 35 Percent!)
MACH Points: 466 (out of 750 speed points needed for a MACH...... 62 Percent!)

Time 2 Beat legs: 4 (out of 15 needed for his T2B) 32 points (out of 100 needed) 

The Weekend Report - Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Well, yesterday was the Potomac Valley Golden Retriever Club agility trial held in Westminster, MD. This trial was run small to tall so it made for a nice short day. Gotta love that! Unfortunately, that's all there was to love...well, other than Jimmy, in a general sense! We had no success in either run, so it was a big double-NQ!

Standard was first. I knew where I would find trouble on the course and sure enough, I did! It was the dogwalk, to a jump, to the far end of a tunnel. Clustered into that same area was the table, as well. I was so concerned about, a) Jimmy hauling down the dogwalk toward the off-course end of the tunnel and/or blowing his contact and b) in trying to work the end of the dogwalk, that I might actually get an off-course table, that I ended up getting a refusal at the jump he was supposed to take because my handling sucked!  Jimmy was a bit annoyed at me for all the confusion, so he did not want to get on the table. After a couple of tries, he did get on, I praised him profusely, and we ran the rest of the course cleanly.

Jumpers was not too long a wait. It was not a very difficult course. Unfortunately, Jimmy took out the top bar of the triple. I am pretty sure it was my fault as I think I told him to go to the tunnel while he was still in the air over the jump. Saying anything over a jump is a very good way to get a bar as it calls Jimmy's attention to me and his feet drop just enough....Since I am on the quest for Double-Q's, not qualifying in STD means not qualifying in JWW really isn't too upsetting other than missing out on a few speed points.

Here's the STD run.....I did not get video of JWWs.




Tracking Jimmy's MACH progress:
Excellent B JWW legs: 20 (out of 10 needed for his MXJ) Now he's working on his MXJ3!
Excellent B STD legs: 7 (out of 10 needed for his MX) Better than halfway to our MX!
Double Q's: 5 (out of 20 double-Q's needed for a MACH.... 25 Percent!)
MACH Points: 386 (out of 750 speed points needed for a MACH...... 51 Percent!)

Time 2 Beat legs: 4 (out of 15 needed for his T2B) 32 points (out of 100 needed)