Catching Up with the Stump Kids: LaMesa & the Hoosier

LaMesa has been making such strides lately...if only we can put it all together! It's always "just that one little thing" when it comes to getting our first QQ. We hit that a few times during the Hoosier Kennel Club trial.

Over the trial, she went 2-for-2 in Novice FAST to earn her title! The sends had tunnels to jumps, so it was easy to just send her and let her run. The way she handled the FAST classes this year (way more points earned than needed) makes me think I really should work with her distance work more and do more competing in FAST. I need to take advantage of her speed more than I do right now.

In her Masters classes, it was just a matter me directing her to the correct obstacles, such as in this Standard class:



But then we redeemed ourselves with this first place run in Jumpers:



On Sunday she won her Standard class and I kept trying to battle the thoughts of "Just go clean for our first QQ" and I think we did our best. Unfortunately she dropped one back toe on the last bar of the triple at the end, causing it to go down. :-(



LaMesa showed a lot of promise this weekend, which excites me. We're now taking a break from agility trials until August. The break should be good for me and Dally, but I don't think LaMesa really cares--she'd rather go all the time anywhere!

Catching Up with the Stump Kids: Dally & the Hoosier

It's been a busy few weeks for me as the head of the Stump Kids. We hit up a couple of agility trials at the end of May and first part of June, hoping to finish Dally's PACH2 and do one last little push for LaMesa's rankings with the Swedish Vallhunds.

Neither goal was accomplished.

But, oh well!

At the Derby City Agility Association trial May 31-June 1, we battled a rather warm facility, which didn't bode well for Dally when it comes to her speed. Dally ended up earning 2 QQs, but not very many points (32 total), but that was OK. The courses by Jim and Judy Smotrel were fun, with the Jumpers course at the end of the trial a nice, flowy course that had it's challenges. LaMesa earned a Masters Jumpers leg and 11 points on Saturday. Dally ended up earning her MXJP6 on Saturday as well!

Then the next weekend we headed up to Indianapolis for the Hoosier Kennel Club AKC Agility Trial, my dad's dog club which I help organize and put together. Going into the trial, Dally only needed 1 QQ and 60 points for her PACH2. However, I think she decided she just wanted to earn Jumpers Qs to work on her MXJP7 because that's all she qualified in...Jumpers. All three days. Not even an Open FAST Q. :-/ Ohhhhh Dally...how you like to keep me on my toes!

It was always a little something in Standard with Dally at this trial. Yet, I loved the courses designed by David Hirsch and Linda Robertson.

Because we didn't qualify in standard all three days, I used Jumpers as a way to just push for points. Dally ran really well and I think both of us had fun.

Now, with Open FAST, just a reminder we only do FAST once a year, and it's at this trial. Dally doesn't work very well at a distance from me, so I wasn't expecting much. If we didn't get the send, we'd continue on to finish the course quickly, just laughing along the way, so that way she didn't feel any stress about it. If we don't get our OFP, oh well.

Here are some of Dally's runs from the weekend:










Next up I'll share LaMesa's weekend at the Hoosier Kennel Club AKC Agility Trial.