Timberland Valley Dog Fanciers Association AKC Trial 12/17-19

It's so strange to think it's just Friday night and yet I was off work all day. Vegas, Leo, and I hit the road this morning just before 6 am after (me) not having gone to bed until midnight. Yeah. Just a little bit tired so going to do a quick rundown on today.

Entered in Fast for the first time in a while. Had to enter each day because if I had only entered once for the Open Fast leg we needed, you know we wouldn't have Qd. So, first up was Fast followed by Standard and JWW last. Our judges were Robyn Veenema and Lisa Potts. Great courses, lots of fun, super venue, cool peeps, and gorgeous ribbons.

FAST

I haven't played Fast in a while so had kind of forgotten the rules. Like, not being able repeat obstacles for points. So my plans changed a little but the course had a nice flow once you got out there. The course I took started with the weaves and went over the #7 jump to the one above and to the right - a #5, then we proceeded with the send. Fairly easy, thankfully. We then took the single (one point) jump to the 4 and over the a-frame coming toward the front of the course. I forget what all we did but Vegas was really moving and we ended up accumulating 65 points in just over 28 seconds. We needed 55 and had 35 seconds, I believe. She got a first place and finished her Open Fast (OF) title. Did I mention the club has super nice ribbons? I'll have to try to include a photo tomorrow. We got a first place, blue rosette, a green qualifying rosette, plus a beautiful pink and mauve new title ribbon. Yes, I still get excited about ribbons.

Standard

Standard was a bit tight in places, a little tricky with the weave entrance coming out of the chute, but altogether doable. Well, except we subscribed to the 12 for the price of 22 plan. Yep, popped out at good, old, reliable pole number 10. One do-over coming right up! Since we're in Excellent we don't have any room for error so that was a no Q. However, Vegas was running fast, reliably, and having fun. So whoohoo!

JWW

This course was really nice! It had great flow, lots of room, and the most difficult part was the weave entry. The weave entry wasn't difficult, per se; it was more about what side to go on for the greatest chance of success. I ended up with Vegas on my left and chose to run with her, tell her "weave" as soon as we got started, and to use my right hand to reach across my body to point/push/lead her into the weaves. I can't say I didn't hold my breath while we were running the weaves but I can say that once we were out of the weaves I reminded myself of Mr. Robin (of www.r2agility.com). LOL. I was quite the cheerleader for the rest of the run. It paid off though! Vegas Qd again, placed 8th out of 12 dogs in our height qualifying (Usually we're last of the qualifiers or next to....), and finished her MXJ title! That is 10 legs in Excellent B JWW. So, so, SO proud of my baby girl. Plus, to top that off, she earned six more MACH points bringing us to 48!

Oh, and did I mention the ribbons...? lol. The club even has a specific ribbon for certain titles. So, we got a gorgeous, large MXJ ribbon on top of our qualifying, green ribbon. Go Vegas! It was a fantastic way to start the weekend. We had a ball. The weather was chilly but clear with blue skies. We're looking forward to another great two days.

Hoping everyone's weekend is great and you're enjoying the holiday season!