Vallhund's First MACH Points!

I'm sorry this is a week late, but I'm finally writing the wrap-up from the Greater Kingsport Kennel Club AKC Agility Trial in White Pine, Tenn., the weekend of Oct. 12-13.

We'll start with LaMesa and her exciting first day. The Standard course had it's hard parts, but was doable. I just wanted LaMesa to listen to me through the whole thing, and she did! She had a beautiful running contact on the dog walk, wrapped nicely around the jump after the A-frame, and kept up with her rhythm through the weave poles. On the third to last jump I heard her hit it and was so disappointed if she knocked the bar, but luckily I looked back after we finished the run and saw it was still up. Yay! We ended up winning the 8-inch Regular and getting our first MACH points together--23 points!



Going into our Jumpers run, I was fighting back thoughts of "Could we get our first QQ today?" That type of thinking always comes back to bite me in the butt. I just have this fear it will be years before LaMesa and I can put together two consistent, clean runs in one day.

I walked this Jumpers course different ways for LaMesa, but I felt comfortable with the opening moves. I don't know why she popped out after the tenth pole--both of our paces were even. The rest of the course was nice--I was even able to get in a blind cross! Minus the knocked triple and the missed last jump (no clue why she does that every once in a while). I twisted my ankle at the last jump, which made my movements awkward, but that was after she missed the jump.



As good as our Standard run was on Saturday, it wasn't as good on Sunday. I don't have the video, but she started off so riled up and crazy! She took the first few jumps, then the table instead of the weaves. Then she popped out of the weaves again. After that, she was good--nailed a tight flip from the dog walk into the tunnel.

Jumpers I thought we could get more points here. There was so many ways I could have handled jumps 4-6 (rear crosses, multiple fronts, ketschker, blinds) but I loved the way I handled that segment with Dally, so I did the same with LaMesa. Unfortunately, she knocked #6 from being too tight I think. But she nailed her weaves and everything else, so I had to be happy with that run. I had hoped we'd be just as lucky with that jump as we were in standard on Saturday with that jump, but, nope, it was on the ground. Oh well.


I was happy with how LaMesa handled the deep dirt on Saturday. She seems to really excel in horse arenas such as this, compared to the smaller rings at Queen City. We're still melding as a team, but I'm happy we now only have 726 MACH points (and 20 QQs) to go! Hahaha

Next time, we'll wrap up Dally's weekend through the deep red dirt...

Wordless Wednesday: Government Shutdown = Sightseeing Fail

Agility Trial: Greater Kingsport Kennel Club AKC

This weekend the Stump Kids and I loaded up with Jodi, Dezi, and Maya and headed south for a weekend in the Great Smokey Mountains and some AKC agility!

Our judges were Laura English and Donna Dombourian and the trial took place in an indoor horse arena. Saturday the ground was very deep, and with the small dogs going first it was hard to get much speed. 

Here were our courses from the weekend: 

LaMesa's Little Sister

While we were in Tennessee for the agility trial a couple weeks ago, I got to finally watch LaMesa's little sister run! Flicka share the same mom and dad as LaMesa, but she's about a year younger. The two look similar, but Flicka is built more like their father and LaMesa more like their momma. She's owned by Sally, who has done awesome things with her--she finished her AKC Championship (and possibly her Grand Championship) in conformation, started in herding, and won "Most Versatile Vallhund" at the 2012 Swedish Vallhund Club of America's National Specialty in Texas in October.

The Vallhund girls! Sally with Flicka, me with LaMesa. LaMesa was trying to shy away from Flicka.

Flicka competed in Open Jumpers and Excellent Standard on Sunday, so the girls were competing against each other in standard. I enjoyed watching Flicka have a good ole time in Open Jumpers. She got sucked into the tunnel vortex, which reminded me of the time LaMesa did that at the last NADAC trial we went to.

By the time we competed in Excellent Standard, I think Flicka was a little worn out and stressed out (she had competed Thursday and Friday, but Sally gave her Saturday off). She doesn't take off confidently like LaMesa does, but she jumps about the same.

It's interesting because Flicka is very confident and loves everybody! She's not shy when it comes to other dogs or people--she'll get right up there to play. But LaMesa is shy when it comes to other dogs she doesn't know, even other Vallhunds. She was overwhelmed by Flicka when they were playing around after LaMesa's Excellent Jumpers run. And it's funny because I made sure to get LaMesa out and about from a very early age to meet new people and new dogs. But some times she just turns into a little scaredy pup.

Here's a comparison of how the two ran the Excellent Standard course. (Bear in mind, LaMesa is a year older and has more time under her collar. I think Flicka is going to be awesome once she matures, just like LaMesa is still finishing her maturing in the ring!)

LaMesa:



Flicka:



I look forward to seeing Sally and Flicka more and watching her progress. It's fun to run with your dog's siblings!