LaMesa's First MXJ Leg

Yep, you read that right--LaMesa earned her first Masters Jumpers leg over the weekend at the Queen City Dog Training Club's AKC Agility trial! I was so proud of her!

It's funny because after having a not-so-stellar jumpers run on Saturday, and then a slight bobble in Standard on Saturday, I was saying I wasn't sure LaMesa liked running at the Queen City facility very well. Dally loves that place, as evident if you see where she gets most of her QQs. But really, I think I just have to change my thinking with her--she can handle anything, as long as I prepare her for it.

Here's our qualifying run from Sunday. She earned 3rd place (in a very tough 8" class) and 12 MACH points:



We were soooo close to our first QQ! Unfortunately, we were able to prove that an 8" dog can break the tire, even if it's touching the floor:



After I saw that she broke the tire, I wanted to try to do a lead-out on the table. Unfortunately she listened to the judge say "Go" and not me. I wanted to make her do the table again, but realized that we'd get blown off for "training" and I really wanted to finish the course, so we went on. It wasn't as nice as her Standard run on Saturday, where I was able to get a nice long lead-out off the table:



(Don't ask me what happened on the teeter--I have no clue.)

So no first QQ for LaMesa….yet. But it was a great weekend--she's really excelling at the difficult courses and we're becoming a team that a lot of people are cheering for and watching. The biggest positive: She has been perfect on her weaves in the past two weekends--8-for-8!! I hope we can continue this streak going into the trial this weekend!

Jump form update: We've been working on jump grid sequences following some Susan Salo exercises Merinda sent me. We've done two sets of exercises so far and seeing her really think. I'll do a post soon. 

Dally's weekend is up next!