The Weekend Report: Cleveland DTC Agility Trial

I am so very far behind on my blogging. I really have lost the drive for this. Beautiful spring days, lots of errands, travel, and so much more seem to have taken over. It would be very easy just to let it go.....

But I am not going to let that happen! I still have agility trials to record and another big event! I need to get busy.

On April 29th I drove out to Huron, Ohio to the Sawmill Resort. This was the location of the 75th Cardigan Welsh Corgi Club of America's National Specialty. I arrived one day early so I could do an agility trial given by the Cleveland  Dog Training Club on Sunday the 30th. The trial was held at an indoor soccer building about a half hour from the resort. It was a warm-up for the "real" trial held as part of the Specialty also at the same building.

I signed up for 4 runs. Two regular classes, Jumpers and Standard, and also the tricker and faster Premier Standard and Premier Jumpers.

First up was Premier Standard. Here is the map:

We did it all perfectly except the #4 dogwalk u-turning to the #5 tunnel. He never even saw the tunnel and flew past. Refusal called! Oh, well....

Then came Standard, followed by Jumpers....maps:

These went very well and we qualified in both! Even earning blue ribbons! WooHoo! Qualifying in Standard was my 50th Standard leg (you would not want to do the math on entry fees X # of legs! Just sayin'! LOL!)  There was no ribbon available for this big title so they gave me a nice MXP ribbon and I wrote the S on it myself. It was also Double-Q #15 toward our PACH2 big championship title.

This club also gave the best toys for placing so we came home with quite a haul!

The day finished with Premier Jumpers. I can't find the map for this one but here too we had success! Our day ended with 3 out of 4 runs being "in the ribbons"! What a good little boy my Jimmy is!

This trial was fun because it was a new set of agility teams. I got to see lots of new people running dogs I haven't seen before. Quite a change of pace! And because it was the day before the Cardigan Specialty trial, lots of Cardigans were there. That never happens!

Be sure to check back for all the news on the Specialty. Lots to report in my next post!

Tracking Jimmy's PACH 2 progress:
Very 1st Double-Q: Sunday 5/1/2016

QQ#20: 
Masters JWW legs: 56...MJP Title 01/25/15 MJPB 10/11/15 MJPS Title
Masters STD legs: 50...MXP Title!10/24/14 MXPB 04/30/17 MXPS Title
Double Q's: 15(out of 20 needed)
PACH Points: 1582 plus many more! I have lost count!

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: Yes! You Read That Right!!!!

First, I must rant! I just spent an hour writing up this post, previewing along the way, and was almost done...so close. I fumbled fingered it somehow, and all my text was gone! Vanished! Not saved as a draft, just gone. ARRGGGHHHH!!!!!! Now I don't have the patience to rewrite it as I had it. Sigh!

Here's an abbreviated version:

This past weekend, Jimmy and I actually tried our hand (and my knee) at an agility trial. I needed to know where I was in my recovery. I truly didn't want the big AKC National Agility Championship at the end of this month to be our first try since early December.

Currently, Jimmy and I are sitting at Double-Q #19. We need twenty to complete our championship title called a MACH. We already have all the points we need so it's just getting that last double-Q. Ordinarily, my nerves would have been on overdrive, worrying about getting two successful runs. But, having no idea if I could really even run, let alone run fast enough to show Jimmy where to go, and also worried that it could potentially be very painful, I had no nerves at all about earning Double-Q #20! I just wanted to see if I could do agility at this point in my recovery. And I found out, yes, I can! Woohoo!

No doubt about it, I have a significant limp. I don't have full speed capability yet. But I learned I have enough to get through a course without frustrating Jimmy. And it really doesn't hurt, just feels odd or maybe twingey.Even after two days of agility, my leg was not sore this morning. This is really happy news. I still have another 10 days I can use to improve my stride now that I trust my leg more.

As to how the weekend went, course wise, let's just say we came very close to earning our championship. Each day, just one downed bar stood in our way. When you consider that my lurching stride was a big distraction for Jimmy, he did a great job. Saturday just one JWW bar, Sunday in Standard, the top bar of the triple. Other than that we had nice runs where I managed to get to where I needed to be.

In addition to our Jumpers and Standard runs, this trial also offered Time2Beat. In an effort to spare my knee too much work, my friend Gretchen handled Jimmy for those runs both days. Many dogs won't run for anyone but their owner. However, with just a tiny bit of angst and a brief look back at me, Jimmy flew around the courses with Gretchen like they had done it 100 times before. Gretchen runs her own Pembroke Corgis, so Jimmy's speed and style of running were pretty familiar and she did a wonderful job, Q'ing both days! She even finished our Time2Beat (T2B) title for us. Thank you, Gretchen!

Jimmy's registered name is now:

Fine Creek's Sharp Dressed Man RN HT MX3 MXJ4 MJB MXB OF T2B

How's that for alphabet soup?

The weekend leaves me feeling very hopeful that I can go to the big event feeling, if not ready, maybe secure in the knowledge I'll be able to get around the ring. The truth of the matter is, even before my knee, we were never going to the podium. The accomplishment for us was in the qualifying. And for me, the experience of competing at a big National event. So barring anymore unexpected surprises, we'll be there! It may not be our A game, but we will be there!

Here's are a few videos.....

Saturday Standard:





Sunday JWW






Sunday Standard:





Sunday Time2Beat:

OAJ

Yesterday, Jimmy completed his AKC Open Jumpers with Weaves title. Yipee! It was probably one of the most difficult courses I've seen for Jumpers, very tight and a tough weavepole entry. I felt sorry for the big dogs as the jump before the weaves was so close that they could get in just one stride before making a sharp left turn into the entry. Good little Jim nailed it on his first try. We had a less than pretty rear cross elsewhere, but, hey, the bars stayed up, so all was good. Jimmy was speedy, taking 30.64 seconds and having 41 for SCT. No other 12 incher qualified, so I *thought* we got the Blue. However, someone had a conflict with the Standard ring, and came back to run after the big dogs finished. Her little dog buzzed through a full second and a half faster than Jimmy. It was a Cavelier King Charles! Not a dog that is usually so speedy, but this one was amazing! So Jimmy finished up his title with a second place and a clean run.

Many hours later in Standard, our table issue still plagued us. But, I saw a wee bit of progress as Jimmy actually got on the table, he just wouldn't do the down. I was telling him what a good boy he was in my best, sweetest voice. I want him to know the table is a good place. Come September, his performance yesterday would have counted. The rest of his run was clean and speedy, although I forgot to check our times. The building was getting very hot and we were ready to pack up and hit the road.

So now Jimmy has his OAJ title and not even one leg in Open Standard. We are sure to be looking at some ring conflicts in the near future between Excellent and Open, but, hey, Jimmy gets to play with the "big dogs" now!