The Weekend Report: Getting Back to Regular Life

So now that I have both of my "big events" behind me, I am back to just the usual run-of-the-mill agility trials. It sort of seems anticlimactic now. You invest so much time, effort, and emotion into the National shows, that going to a normal trial (and especially on a quieter Friday!) seems strange.

This weekend (as I said Friday. It was a three day trial.) was a trial given by the Shenandoah Valley Kennel Club and held in Winchester, Va. It was a cold and cloudy day so absolutely perfect for indoor agility!

It started with Jumpers on a fairly tricky course. We were going along well, and getting close to the end. Unfortunately Jimmy crashed the triple jump. Not exactly sure why, maybe the busy background behind the jump made him unsure of what he was jumping. It looked like he didn't jump quite high enough to clear it or he launched a bit too soon. But down the bars went and no Q for us.

Here are the map and video.....

The day moved along quickly and before I knew it was time for Standard. The triple was in pretty much the exact same place but this time Jimmy knew what he was doing and cleared it just fine. We had a nice run everywhere else as well and earned the blue ribbon! Yay for Jimmy! Of course, right now we are counting down the double-Qs to our PACH2 title, so this won't count toward that. But then I don't want to get there too quickly because I don't really have any more goals after that!

Here is the map and sorry, but no video.....

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: 51...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!

The Weekend Report: A New Nickname

Well, I haven't posted a weekend report in a very long time! Our last trial was back on the last weekend in July. After that, Jimmy tweaked something in his left front leg that took a very long time to heal. Fortunately the very hot months of August and September helped keep him calm and resting as it was just too hot to want to be outside! During that time, I also had tweaked my back and that took a full two weeks to stop giving me spasms. I guess we were both down for the count!

This past weekend was the trial out in the mountains near Culpeper, Virginia that I love so much! The location is just so perfect. Oddly, the leaves have barely started to turn yet, so there was very little color. The weather was absolutely gorgeous both days so fall colors or not, it was a great place to be! And I never once got my camera out! I had it with me but just never got around to using it. Bad me!

Now, not only had we not been trialing, Jimmy had not been practicing or going to lessons either. So he was very enthusiastic to be back doing agility. So enthusiastic that he couldn't be bothered with doing the dogwalk contact either day!  (The dogwalk contact is the yellow safety zone on the down slope at the bottom. Dogs must put at least one foot on the yellow or they are disqualified. This is to ensure they are safely leaving the obstacle and not launching from too high up.) Jimmy just hopped right over the yellow. Sigh. No double-Qs for us! His jumpers runs were perfect and both earned the 1st place ribbon and 30 points combined.

It was very fun to be back doing agility so Qs or no Qs I had a wonderful weekend!

Now, on to explain what my title means......

When you are at an agility trial, there is a running order list by the ring, and a gate steward calls out who is next to go in, plus the next two dogs as well. This is to keep things flowing quickly. Usually the line gets five or six deep as people queue up. Now Jimmy loves this game and he gets very impatient for his turn! As we are waiting, he starts to vocalize quite loudly. BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK....I imagine he is screaming "my turn!" over and over. Of course not everyone appreciates his big mouth and probably feel I should train that behavior out of him. But under his tough exterior, Jimmy is actually a soft boy. Yelling at him to be quiet right before a run would be sure to dampen his spirit, so I just let him be himself for those few minutes and apologize. Anyway, now that I have set the scene...the gate steward is calling out the names of the dogs who should be ready to go, and when she gets to Jimmy, she calls out Jimmy the Mouth! Is Jimmy the Mouth ready go?! She says, you know, his Italian mob name....

She got quite a few giggles for that one, and it pretty much stuck for the rest of the weekend.It's a pretty fitting nickname as Jimmy is never at a shortage for words, either at a trial or at home!


There's another trial this coming weekend at a new location just 15 minutes from my house. Gotta love that!

And since I hate to have no photos at all on a blog post, here is one from a trial earlier this year. Can you see Jimmy's enthusiasm for the sport? (Click to biggify!)

Photo credit: Terri Keiffer of Key4Prints

And here is the very last photo I'll ever have of Jimmy going through the chute. This obstacle (also known as the collapsed tunnel) has been removed by almost all of the various agility venues on safety concerns. As skill and training methods have improved, so has a dog's speed and injuries have been reported too often with this obstacle.

Photo credit: Terri Keiffer of Key4Prints

And finally, here is Jimmy, attentively waiting for me to release him from his start line stay.

Photo credit: Yes, you guessed it....Terri Keiffer!

AKC Nationals 2017: Perry, GA
Double-Q's: 11 (out of 7 needed)
Points: 676 (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: 48...MJP Title 01/25/15 MJPB 10/11/15
Masters STD legs: 41...MXP Title!10/24/14 MXPB 10/11/15
Double Q's: 8(out of 20 needed)
PACH Points: 1242

The Weekend Report: Farewell to a Beautiful Farm

This weekend was an agility trial given by the Talbot Kennel Club. I've talked about how gorgeous this spot is before, like here, here, and here. I've gone every year since I started trialing 8 or more years ago. The farm is a small slice of heaven on Earth. Beautiful scenery made even better by being on a waterway off of the Chesapeake Bay. The day started out with light rain and luckily moved on to just cloudy and then even sunny! When I arrived at the trial, I soon learned that this was the last time the club would be holding their trial at this location. The unpredictability of the weather has made attendance drop off over the last few years. Without enough entry fees, the club just can't afford to stay. So they have chosen a new location....one with a roof. It is even further away for me, so I won't be going. But for me it is the loss of visiting this farm that really hurts. I will truly and deeply miss having the opportunity to spend a day there. I never really cared how my agility turned out so long as I could enjoy the farm. SIGH......

Our friend Chris and her cute Cardigan Quigley rode with us to the trial. We wandered around looking for photo-ops....

The Tres Amigos!

So how did the agility turn out, you might wonder? Well, we could not pull off a double-Q. Jimmy did qualify in Standard and earned 1st place and another 23 points. We had a very rare weave pole meltdown in our Jumpers run that cost us the Q. No worries, as we went off to walk the farm after that. You just can't sulk when you are surrounded by so much beauty!

Farewell, Spring Cove Farm! May you forever stay a beautiful piece of undeveloped land!

PS I hear they do Barn Hunt at the farm....I'll definitely be looking into that when Jimmy is done earning his PACH ;-)

Tracking Jimmy's PACH progress:
Very 1st Double-Q: Saturday 06/21/2014
Masters JWW legs: 27...MJP Title 01/25/15 MJPB 10/11/15
Masters STD legs: 27...MXP Title!10/24/14 MXPB 10/11/15
Double Q's: 16
PACH Points: 1231

AKC Nationals 2016:
Double-Q's: 9 (out of 5 needed)
Points: 713 (out of 600 needed)....We QUALIFIED!!! 10/11/15
Masters Legs: 32 (out of 20 needed)

The Weekend Report: Wish I'd caught it on Camera!

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)

The Weekend Report: TWO Degrees in Winchester!

Last Thursday was another huge snowstorm followed by an arctic blast of cold air. Everything pretty much shut down around my area for the day. Fortunately Friday was a sunny, albeit cold, day. This helped melt the roads ahead of the weekend agility trial. Saturday was also sunny but dawned (because, yes, I had to be up before dawn to get to the trial!) at about 8 degrees at my house. BRRRR!!!! I needed to head west over the mountains to be in Winchester by 7ish. By the time I got there, the temperature had dropped to 2 degrees! Egads that is cold, especially for March! Not the weather for a leisurely dog walk before going indoors but Jimmy needed to poop. Heaven forbid he ever did it in the ring. That disqualifies you for sure! So we wandered around the snow covered area until finally he could find one tiny square of grass to set a foot on and pooped. Hallelujah!

We've had snow on the ground and walking trails for at least the past couple of weeks. It's made for treacherous dog walks or none at all depending on the day. Jimmy and I have also had agility practice cancelled thanks to the weather as well. All of this meant Jimmy was under-exercised and a tad wilder than usual going into the trial. It really showed up in our first run of the day, which was Jumpers. It was quite a tricky course and we couldn't make it through. It was one of those runs I would love to have a "do-over" for so I could try out a different plan. Oh, well, if it was always easy, and we always Q'd, where would be the challenge in that?

Here's the map. It was numbers 4/5/6 to the #7 tunnel that took us out!

A bit later on came our Standard run. It was really quite easy and Jimmy was also calmed down by then. He did a great job and earned us a nice blue ribbon for first place, and 29 points. Good boy!

The map:

So none of the coveted "double-Qs" that we need, but still a good start to the season. And I am back once again to my blogging break. I just didn't want to miss getting my agility write-up out here while it was fresh!

Tracking Jimmy's PACH progress:
Very 1st Double-Q: Saturday 06/21/2014
Masters JWW legs: 10...MJP Title 01/25/15
Masters STD legs: 14...MXP Title!10/24/14
Double Q's: 7
PACH Points: 564

AKC Nationals 2016:
Double-Q's: 0 (out of 5 needed)
Points: 46 (out of 600 needed)....
Masters Legs: 2 (out of 20 needed)

The Weekend Report - An Official 75%!...And 82%!

This weekend was the very first AKC Agility trial given by a club called RACE (Reva Agility Club Enthusiasts). It was held at a horse farm near Culpeper, Va. The ring was an indoor dirt floor. The footing was wonderful and the building well lit. You never know with a horse barn what you will get. The building was on the small side so the courses were tight.

Jimmy and I had a very successful weekend. Saturday the courses were tricky but quite fun. Jimmy's breeder Anne drove up to watch and she also ran the video camera for me. She caught both runs but for some reason YouTube can't process the Jumpers run. I tried several times to no avail, so I only have one half of my Double-Q (yay!) to show you. Yes, indeed, we pulled off double-Q # 15 so now we are a full 75% of the way to our MACH! Five more double-Q's to go!






UPDATE! YouTube finally processed our Jumpers course so here it is:




Sunday was an incredibly gorgeous fall day! Clear blue skies, cool, crisp air and mountain views to die for! My new header was taken on the farm. Breathtaking, no? I have a few more photos to share later.

We came very close to a double-Q on Sunday as well. In our Jumpers run, we were nearly home free, when Jimmy lost his footing somehow, and crashed the second to last jump. He surprised even himself. The poor boy had quite a bewildered look. Standard went well, giving us 18 more points toward our AKC Nationals tally, a 3rd place finish and a new title as well, the Master Agility Bronze (MXB), which you earn when you have completed 25 Masters Standard runs successfully. No videos on Sunday though. This weekend gave us a total of 45 points. Two more weekends like this and we could have our Nat'ls' points!

AKC Nationals 2014: 
Double-Q's: 7 (out of 4 needed)
Points: 412 (out of 500 needed....88 to go! 82% of the needed points!
Masters Legs: 25 (out of 20 needed)

So, I've hooked this up to the Monday Mischief blog hop...Where does that come in? Well, I wore my LLBean muckers (shoes) to the trial since I figured between early morning dew, potential mud, horse poop, etc. I wouldn't want to wear my sneakers except for the actual runs. Unfortunately, I switched to my sneakers and forgot all about putting the muckers back in my bag/car. So my favorite dog walking shoes are sitting about 80 miles from home right now. Oops!

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) 

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 - A Table for the 4th Time in a Row!

Yesterday was another fun day of agility. This trial was an outdoor trial held at a farm over on Eastern Shore, Maryland. I was worried the place would be a muddy mess after the passing of Hurricane Sandy, but it was really quite dry. The forecast was for a chilly, but sunny day. Well, the weatherman was right about the chilly, but there was very little sun. It came out for the last run of the day.

The first run was Standard. It was a tight course (the judge runs Corgis!) but not too difficult. It was Aframe to the Table, which seems to be working for Jimmy recently. I front-crossed in between and he hopped right on! Good boy! We ran the rest cleanly and it was a Q! We weren't quite fast enough to place in the ribbons, coming in 5th.

Next, Jumpers. Again, not too tough. A big circle that eventually led to a triple in a corner. Unfortunately Jimmy took this jump out, knocking the top bar. Being an outdoor trial, the ground is not level everywhere, and this jump caused the dogs to jump slightly uphill. It was just enough that a lot of dogs didn't get over cleanly. There was lots of grumbling :-) This was our only mistake but as such no Q and no Double-Q for the day. While I was a bit disappointed, I was stilled thrilled at getting the table yet again in my first run. Success on the table is much more important in the long run!

This trial offered the optional course called Time to Beat (T2B). It was a nice flowing course (as they should be, but some judges seem to forget that) and Jimmy cruised around cleanly and quickly. Now with T2B only the fastest dog get a placement ribbon, and our butt was kicked by a very speedy King Charles Cavalier. Jimmy was the next speediest so he did get 9 points toward his title and of course another leg.

I forgot my video camera so I am afraid there's no agility clips to share. This trial was about an hour and a half ride from home. To get there, I needed to cross the huge Chesapeake Bay Bridge . Well, as it usually is with agility trials, you are driving at the crack of dawn in order to arrive in plenty of time to settle in. Fortunately the clocks going back an hour eased the pain of getting up so early.  I got to the bridge just as the sun was beginning to color the sky. I didn't catch quite the picture I wanted but it gives a hint of how pretty it was to cross the bridge so early. Another reward for arising early!

And at mid-span, I liked the abstract quality of the support structure.....

I've got more pictures from the farm, but I will save them for later. I've got to conserve my blog fodder, don't cha know :-)


Tracking Jimmy's MACH progress:
Excellent B JWW legs: 24  Now he's working on his MXJ3!
Excellent B STD legs: 11 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: 520 (out of 750 speed points needed for a MACH...... 69 Percent!)

Time 2 Beat legs: 5 (out of 15 needed for his T2B) 41 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 - Table Success!

This weekend Jimmy and I had our first agility trial since the Cardigan Nat'l Specialty back in April. It was held by the Mattaponi Kennel Club. I am pleased to report we were much more successful this time!

Of course, getting Jimmy on the table is always my biggest concern. I have been working with him on targeting the table. He's been hopping on and poking his nose at a bottle cap resting in the middle. I tell him to "Go touch" to get him looking for the bottle cap. I don't know if this is truly what helped but he did his table on Saturday without any hesitation. And as luck would have it, all the bars stayed up and his contacts were good. He was pretty speedy too, so we ended up with 4th place. Jumpers was a challenging course with some interesting turns on either end of the weaves. Again the bars stayed up and we had a clean run! We weren't in the ribbons, but still a very respectable 8th place.

Sunday, in Standard, Jimmy again gave me a beautiful table. No hesitation whatsoever, just popped right on. I was amazed, pleased, relieved, you name it. But, alas, he came flying down the dogwalk, completely ignored my command for his 2on2off at the bottom, and sailed right over the contact zone. Sigh. I couldn't get too upset though as the table was a big victory. Jumpers was a really fun, fast course and of course with no double-Q on the line, I was calmer. Jimmy flew through it cleanly and came in 6th.

I didn't realize until writing this post that Jimmy's 2 JWW legs this weekend means he completed his second MXJ requirent of 10 legs! I don't really think there is truly an MXJ2 title, but he has now earned a total of 20 Excellent B JWW legs.

Here are Saturday's runs.......






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) 

The Weekend Report - Aaarrrrgh!

I treated myself to a long weekend and signed up for just Friday of a three-day trial.

The first run of the day was JWW, and it was a nice course, not too tricky. Jimmy gave me a beautiful run, speedy and enthusiastic. Unfortunately the last jump was a triple, and he nicked the top bar just hard enough to make it drop. So close, so close, but as they say...Close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades!

The only thing I notice in the video was that my last stride was a tad wonky, so maybe that's what messed up Jimmy. Here's the run:



Next came Time 2 Beat, one of the AKC "games". The fastest dog gets the ribbon and 10 points, and everyone else gets points based on how close their time came to the winner. I am not too concerned about titling in T2B, so of course we Q'ed and with a speedy run earned 7 points. To earn a title you must total 100 points and have earned 15 legs, so we will be a while earning this one. We've got 2 legs and 15 points!

And last but not least, Excellent Standard. It was another nice course and, bless his little heart, Jimmy gave me a nice table performance! Our trouble came with a tunnel to the Aframe. Jimmy shot through so fast, I got in his way as he came out. As a result I blocked his view, and he wasn't sure if he should take the Aframe. He balked a little, enough for a refusal but the judge was kind and didn't call it. Next was 4 jumps to the finish. The jump right after the Aframe was straight  ahead. I turned to the next jump just a bit too soon and pulled Jimmy off the correct jump.  The judge gave me the Aframe and I mishandled the next jump. The Agility gods evened the score ;-)

Here's the run:



I really am starting to get a complex about being able to qualify! Ring nerves sure are taking a toll!