The Weekend Report: Fantastic!

I tried out a new trial location for this report. While most people I know have gone to this site many times before, it was just outside my distance range, plus, until this year, it did not have A/C in the agility ring building, just the crating room. The venue is called Bella Vista and the trial was given by the Northern Virginia Brittany Club. It took just about a full two hours to get there, located a good distance north of Gettysburg, PA. That's a lot of driving in one day but, boy, oh BOY! Was it ever worth it this time!

We had a fabulously successful weekend! I had signed us up for four runs, regular Standard and Jumpers, and the trickier Premier Standard and Jumpers. I'll have to apologize up front, there are no videos. I didn't know too many people (not the usual gang here!) and I didn't want to bug anyone for video help.
 
I have the maps of course. And also a photo of our results.... Since it has been a few days since the trial (last Thursday), I'm not even going try a blow by blow description. I just know I was pleasantly surprised as run after run, Jimmy kept qualifying! When we got down to the fourth and final run, regular Jumpers, I didn't think our luck could possibly hold. But lo and behold, it did! And Jimmy had earned double-Q #19!!!! We are now on the very cusp of finishing his big PACH2 title (Preferred Agility Champion 2). Every trial from now on could be the one! So now I must have someone video us from here on out! Don't want to miss having that on camera!

It was such a lucky day, I even won one of the workers raffles, a Starbucks card! Woohoo! I think I probably should have played the lottery that day!

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

QQ#20: 
Masters JWW legs: 63...MJP Title 01/25/15 MJPB 10/11/15 MJPS Title
Masters STD legs: 58...MXP Title!10/24/14 MXPB 04/30/17 MXPS Title
Double Q's: 19 (out of 20 needed)
PACH Points: Way more than we need! I have lost count!

The Weekend Report: The First Trial of 2017!

Jimmy and I did just one day of the Oriole Dog Training Club's agility trial held in conjunction with the big Pet Expo. The place was JAMMED with people, so we had a big audience watching us all run. We even had an announcer giving the crowd commentary on what was going on.

I found a good crating spot with a couple of friends and settled in for a fun day of agility and dog shopping! It doesn't get much better than that, well, except for a booth full of chocolate for the humans! Mmmm, chocolate covered pretzels!

First up was our Standard run on what, by the course map, looked to be a tricky course. It ran much better than it looked, plus Jimmy and I were far enough down in the running order I could watch for the traps. Jimmy was pretty amped to be playing agility but he settled in and gave me a nice run. First place and 25 points!

I forgot my real video camera so this is off my phone. Here it is:




It timed out perfectly that we went almost right over to our Jumpers run without a long wait. This was a pretty straight forward course without too much challenge. The wings on the jumps got in the way just a bit in one spot, but we stayed clean. Again Jimmy earned the first place spot and 18 more points.

Many thanks to my videographer, Darlene. Here is Jumpers:




This made Double-Q #13 toward our PACH2 title. YAY! Pretty ribbons......

And for the agility geeks out there, my course maps.....

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

QQ#20: 
Masters JWW legs: 54...MJP Title 01/25/15 MJPB 10/11/15 MJPS Title
Masters STD legs: 46...MXP Title!10/24/14 MXPB 10/11/15
Double Q's: 13(out of 20 needed)
PACH Points: 1482

The Weekend Report: A Personal Best!

This weekend was an agility trial given by the local Pembroke Welsh Corgi club. While you always find a lot of corgis at any agility trial, this one really brings them in!

Saturday started with our Standard run and Jimmy did an excellent job! It wasn't too tricky.

Here's the video:




As is often the case for my speedy boy, if he runs cleanly and qualifies, he gets first place. This course was generously measured by the judge who gave us plenty of time to get it done. This meant Jimmy earned 33 points as he was 33 seconds under than the judge's maximum time for the course.

A bit later came our Jumpers run. I got lazy about getting it on video and I could so kick myself! Jimmy and I had a personal best with this run. It has never happened before and is very unlikely to happen again! Jimmy's time on this run was faster than every Pembroke that ran and was the fastest of all the 8 inch dogs. Usually a couple of the super-speedy Pems beat Jimmy by at least a couple of seconds. When you consider Cardigans are significantly heavier than Pembrokes, Jimmy really has to work quite hard at getting his bulk moving. He weighs in at 35 pounds and most Pems are only around the low 20s. That's a big difference! But this time my little freight train really got going and completed this run in just 28.50! I am always extra happy when we come in under 30 seconds so this run was amazing for us! There's no ribbon or award that goes with this accomplishment, just a very big high for me! You ROCK, Jimmy!

Sunday started again with Standard. I got a bit discombobulated doing a front cross after the teeter, nearly blocking Jimmy's entrance to the chute, but he saved me there. Unfortunately, Jimmy dropped a bar a bit further along and that ended our Q for this run. Our Jumpers run later was clean and speedy, just under 30 seconds, but not even close to Saturday's performance. The fastest Pem in this run finished in something like 25 seconds. His/her feet must have been on fire! Sorry but no video at all on Sunday.

And just as a historical little tidbit, at agility trials when you check-in, you get a sticker with your identifying number for that day. You must wear it when you run and if not, you could be disqualified! I've never heard of that happening, but those are the rules. Well, the AKC has finally done away with that requirement as of July 31st. Here's a blurry photo of what is my very last sticker. The 8 indicates the jump height and we were the 31st dog in that class.

AKC Nationals 2017: Perry, GA
Double-Q's: 11 (out of 7 needed)
Points: 646 (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: 45...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: 792 (We are starting with all the points we need, so I'm not even going to track them!)

The Weekend Report: Jimmy Was on Fire!

This weekend was another agility trial given by the Potomac Valley Golden Retrieve Club. Jimmy definitely had his game on, as we qualified in all four runs with all 1st places! That hasn't happened since last October. We had great judges who designed fun, fast courses.

I had both my Standard runs caught on camera.

This is Saturday's:




And, for Sunday, first the map. This was a very challenging course with many places to lose your dog to an off-course obstacle. It was closely spaced and was especially hard for the bigger dogs with their longer strides. The two worst spots were Jump #11 to Table #12, and the Weave Poles #14 to Jump #15 which was actually a backside.

Here's Jimmy doing a great job on a tough course:

AKC Nationals 2017: Perry, GA
Double-Q's: 9 (out of 7 needed)
Points: 524 (out of 550 needed)

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

QQ#20: 
Masters JWW legs: 42...MJP Title 01/25/15 MJPB 10/11/15
Masters STD legs: 39...MXP Title!10/24/14 MXPB 10/11/15
Double Q's: 6 (out of 20 needed)
PACH Points: 792 (We are starting with all the points we need, so I'm not even going to track them!)

The Weekend Report: Wow, What a Weekend!

Jimmy and I were back to having fun competing in agility this past weekend. It was at the beautiful farm out in Reva, Virgina and the weather could not have been any more perfect! Beautiful fall days with lots of sunshine and the trees just beginning to put on their end of year show. Just being in the country for two days with such wonderful conditions was great, but add to that a perfect agility weekend and it doesn't get any better.

It is rare for Jimmy and me to qualify in all of our runs. We just aren't that consistent. But if it is going to happen, it often happens at this location. Jimmy really seems to shine on the dirt flooring. He tends to be a bit slower, but the bars stay up better. I bet being a bit slower also helps to keep other mistakes away as well. What ever be the case, Jimmy and I went 4 for 4 runs this weekend and they were all first place finishes! Woohoo! What a great little guy Jim is!

But that wasn't the end of our accomplishments for the weekend.....

So these were a double-Q each day.....#14 and #15 toward our PACH....just 5 more to go.....

They also earned us two new titles....Jimmy's Masters Jumpers Bronze Preferred and his Masters Standard Bronze Preferred (25 Qs to earn each one.....)

And with the points we earned from these runs, Jimmy is now fully qualified for the 2016 AKC National Agility Championship next March! It's being held in Tulsa, OK, so a very long way off. I don't know for sure that we will go, but now we have the option!

So as my post title says.....Wow, What a Weekend! (that could have been a Wordless Wednesday title!) I didn't get anyone to video us, so I'm afraid you will just have to watch an old video and pretend ;-)

Here are the maps from both days for you agility fanatics out there. Saturday's courses were quite mild and very doable. Sunday's Jumpers course (map on the left, bottom image) ate up and spit out all but four of the 20 and 24 inch dogs. The weave entry got some of them, and if the handler fell too far behind, off-course obstacles got the rest of them! It got better for the smaller dogs as their strides don't carry them so far and it's easier to catch things before a mistake is made.

Tracking Jimmy's PACH progress:
Very 1st Double-Q: Saturday 06/21/2014
Masters JWW legs: 25...MJP Title 01/25/15 MJPB 10/11/15
Masters STD legs: 25...MXP Title!10/24/14 MXPB 10/11/15
Double Q's: 15
PACH Points: 1144

AKC Nationals 2016:
Double-Q's: 8 (out of 5 needed)
Points: 626 (out of 600 needed)....We QUALIFIED!!! 10/11/15
Masters Legs: 28 (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: Pretty Darn Good!

Since I can't bear to miss writing up a Weekend Report, I guess I need to dip my toes back into the blogging pool. Don't you hate it when someone cryptically posts, either on their blog or on FaceBook, that something is wrong, but then doesn't tell you what?! I know it bugs me, and then I did the exact same thing in my last post . I think I needed a few days to adjust to a big, totally out of the blue, change that happened. This coming October, I would have been at my current job for 15 years. I was very comfortable there. There were so many positives about it. Then, without having heard so much as a rumor, I was given notice that I was being laid off! My last day was July 31st, and I am unemployed for the first time in 28 years! Now, of course I know how fortunate I am to have been gainfully employed for so many years. Truly blessed, but the feeling of having the rug pulled out from under you is not a pleasant one. Not pleasant at all. I am not the type of person who wants to go on interviews, who does, (I've done exactly two in the past 28 years!), and I had no intention of ever changing jobs before retirement. So here I am, like a fish out of water, trying to grasp this new reality. My mind has been spinning furiously for days, and I needed to let something slide, so it was the blog. I hope I can get back up to speed and the Weekend Report is a good place to start! Without further ado.....

This weekend was an agility trial given by the Hyattsville Dog Training Club at our usual indoor soccer location. I am happy to report we had a very successful trial! We started off a tad bumpy with a bar going down in our first Jumpers run. It was the second jump. I am not sure what caused Jimmy to hit the bar as he did. Maybe my foot work was jerky or I turned away without cuing the turn well enough, but down it went. With nothing further to lose, I cheered Jimmy on for the rest of his run to get him moving as fast as possible. The only video (Thanks, Sandy!) from the weekend was for this run.....




Saturday's maps:

The rest of the weekend went very well! Jimmy and I were successful in all three other runs, each time earning first place! Yay for Jimmy! When he is good, he is very good!

Sunday's maps:

And the pretty blue ribbons, what we humans get rewarded with:

So this gave Jimmy and me another double-Q which was the last one we needed toward our 2016 National Championship tally. So all we need to do is earn more points from here on out. That eases a bit of pressure! It was also double-Q#12 toward our PACH title. Only 8 more to go!

This was a fun weekend. In between runs, I sat with a friend I don't see at trials too often. She and I were chit-chatting so much we almost missed our runs! Both our dogs jump in the 8 inch class, and there we were, gabbing away, watching the 8's jump, when it suddenly occurred to us that we were 8's! Holy Moly, we hustled down to the ring and only had a few dogs to go before our turns! Whew, that was close!

Tracking Jimmy's PACH progress:
Very 1st Double-Q: Saturday 06/21/2014
Masters JWW legs: 21...MJP Title 01/25/15
Masters STD legs: 22...MXP Title!10/24/14
Double Q's: 12
PACH Points: 999

AKC Nationals 2016:
Double-Q's: 5 (out of 5 needed)
Points: 481 (out of 600 needed)....
Masters Legs: 21 (out of 20 needed)

The Weekend Report: I Missed My Walk-thru!

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)

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:



.
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: Nice Weather at Last!

This past weekend was an agility trial at my favorite location, the farm in Reva, Va. Saturday dawned wet and rainy which didn't bode well for a trial in a large barn. But as I made the long drive to the southwest, the rains tapered and then pretty much ended by the time I arrived. It remained a cloudy day but with a pleasant temperature. Walking around the grounds was very doable and I didn't even need the mud shoes I had brought. Sunday was a clear blue sky day, rather windy, but just gorgeous! After the nasty February/early March weather, it was a delight to be out in the mountainous countryside. Nothing has started to green up yet, but the sunlight was so uplifting and warm!

The judge for this trial is a Cardigan Corgi person who has been very successful with her Cardi. She's been to the big Invitational event several times. This was the first time I had run at a trial she was judging and I think it made me a bit more nervous. I wanted my Cardi boy to shine for her. And I think he did! We were successful in three out of four of our runs, with a first and a second place on Saturday (so, yes, a much needed double-Q!) and then on Sunday a first place on a tricky Jumpers run. Unfortunately, Jimmy's handler (moi!) botched the last run and pushed him to an off-course jump. Totally my fault and I felt so bad for robbing Jimmy of another double-Q!

Here is the tricky course from Sunday morning. It was the only video I got so I am glad it was a good one!





Maps:

Tracking Jimmy's PACH progress:
Very 1st Double-Q: Saturday 06/21/2014
Masters JWW legs: 12...MJP Title 01/25/15
Masters STD legs: 15...MXP Title!10/24/14
Double Q's: 8
PACH Points: 639

AKC Nationals 2016:
Double-Q's: 1 (out of 5 needed)
Points: 111 (out of 600 needed)....
Masters Legs: 5 (out of 20 needed)

The Weekend Report

Jimmy kicks some serious Bunny Butt at the Pembroke Welsh Corgi Club of the Potomac Agility Trial!




Yesterday, at the agility trial held by the PWC Club of the Potomac, Jimmy was at the top of his game! His first run of the day was Excellent A - JWW. He gave me a nice speedy run, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out he earned first place! This is leg #1 toward his title. He had 41 seconds to get it done, and he did it in 30.7.



Shortly there after, we headed to the Open STD ring. Since we are having table troubles, I really wasn't expecting a Q. It was a fun, roomy course. Jimmy didn't really want to get on the table, but hopped on with a bit of sass. I asked for a down several times since he has more practice with that (it was a sit today). He wasn't going to do it, so I moved in a bit closer and low and behold, he sat! And stayed for the count! Off we went to complete the run cleanly. WooHoo! I was EXTREMELY surprised when I learned, even with losing probably 10 seconds to the table struggle, that we still got first place! Between others NQing and the faster 2nd place dog scoring a 95 to my clean 100, we got the Blue! And just to make it even sweeter, that second place dog was the super speedy Cavalier King Charles that beat us a few weekends back! So, for this run, we had 71 seconds to get it done, and even with his slow table, Jimmy did it in 56.47 seconds. Finally, we have a leg in Open STD!



I don't know how to edit my video, so here it is straight out the camera. I am just glad fellow competitiors are willing to grab up someone's camera and film!



I tried three times to upload our Standard run to no avail. Not sure what the issue is.... But here is our JWW run: