YABTC Rally and MKC AKC Agility

Hi everyone! Sorry we have been so late in telling you about our Rally & Agility weekend on April 9th and 10th but mom has been hogging the computer lately. She says she’s writing a term paper for molecular epidemiology but we think she’s been playing Farmville instead.

Anyway, Sefina went to Youngstown to play Rally in an attempt to get her advanced title on the 9th. Mom says that even though it was their best performance yet, Sefina didn’t qualify. Evidently hat judge was less lenient about Sefina’s lack of enthusiasm than previous judges. Mom was really bummed but Sefina says she decided to wait and try to get her title at the Keeshond Nationals in May. She’s hoping there will be bigger treats involved there. Besides, Sefina and the rest of us were much more excited about playing agility the next day in Morgantown, WV. Boy was that fun!

Little Miss 'can’t be wrong’, Kiwi, had a perfect day with qualifying runs in EXC B Standard and Jumpers w/ weaves, and EXC A FAST (a distance game). She also got 10 MACH points which is a lot of points for her. She likes running there, the building is usually cool and the field turf is fairly new. Kiwi only needs on more JWW Q for her MXJ and 1 more FAST Q for her AXF. Kiwi sure has a lot of letters after her name!

It was Sefina’s first time running in OPEN Jumpers. Some of her rally hesitation carried over so she had too many refusals to qualify, but she did run Novice FAST for the first time and had an easy qualifying run with a 3rd placement. And let's not forget - that day was Sefina's 2nd birthday! Happy Birthday, Sefina!

Calvin only ran in Novice Jumpers w/ weaves. He didn’t qualify but he sure did have a grand ol’ time. He was bouncing all over the place and trying to get mom to play with him. Mom said it was like running a kangaroo. Then there was me, Robin. I really LOVE to run and jump. I earned my Novice Jumpers w/ Weaves title in a very fast and clean run and took 1st place. I even finished the last half of the course on my own cause mom couldn’t keep up with me. She says that even though I wasted some time because I was being stubborn about the weaves, I was one of the fastest dogs in the entire Novice class. She says people talk about me a lot because of my speed and also because I like to jump in mom’s arms when she least expects it. Then I ran the standard course but I was running so fast that I blew off the dog walk entrance. Then I noticed the dogs running in the next ring. That was a totally new experience for me! Although mom says I have done one other two ring trial, I guess I was running so fast and barking so much, I didn’t notice before. Then I ran Novice FAST as well but I didn’t qualify. It was an easy-peasy distance challenge – 2 jumps in a row but I was running so fast and barking at mom that I didn’t even notice the 2nd jump. Oh well. Mom says she was happy that I at least hit my A-frame contacts at the trial and went down on the table. She says I’m stubborn but really, I just want to keep running.

This Sunday, Calvin gets to go to Columbus to prance around in the conformation ring. Then the following weekend, we are going to play NADAC agility. It will be the first outdoor trial for me, Sefina, and Calvin. It sure sounds like a lot of fun!