IKC AKC trial

So I forgot to blog about the AKC trial we travelled to the first weekend in May. Summit qualified in Novice Jumpers all three days and earned his NAJ title!

Sage had nice runs but no QQ's.

Here is a picture taken at the trial by Doghouse Arts. If you look closely, you can see the spittle foaming on the side of Summit's mouth. Is he having fun or what! (double-click on the photo to view the large version).

FRAC USDAA agility trial May 10-11

This trial was held outdoors at the beautiful Adam's County fairgrounds. I love this site because of the acres of grassy field and the large lake which the dogs love to swim in.

Saturday was cloudy, windy, and cold. No swimming that day. The dogs had fun though and brought home some ribbons. Sage just needs one last Steeplechase Q to finish qualifying for Nationals. She had a beautiful run but dropped the very FIRST bar! :-(((

Summit had a fast and smooth Standard run but dropped a bar on the triple. He had a great opening run in Gamblers but did not get the gamble which was a long straight line of jumps. I got too far behind him and he curled back to me, crossing the line. I did not want to send him back out without forward motion so we just took the last finish jump and celebrated.

Sage had a nice pairs run but her partner had two wrong courses so we didn't qualify. Summit and his partner qualified in Starters pairs with a second place! This is his second pairs leg.

We arrived early Sunday morning to find the tent covered with a thin sheet of ice. The sprinklers came on in the night and since it was so cold, there was ice everywhere... on the grass, tarps, and tents. It gradually warmed up and by mid-day was in the 70's.

The dogs did great. Sage had a very nice Standard run but missed her DW contact. She missed her Snooker Q by one point because I forgot the next obstacle in the closing and she took the tunnel instead. She had a beautiful jumpers run and placed third.
Summit placed first in Starters Standard with a smokin' fast run and earned his Starters Standard title. He is moved up to Advanced for this next weekend.

Summit had several milestones at this trial:
1. Good start line stays with no early releases (so he got to stay and play on every course)
2. Awesome table performance. He is collecting nicely to get on the table (even once flying out of a tunnel to the table). No sliding off and performed an immediate down (he still screams WOO WOO at me though - he SO doesn't like to stop).

A fun weekend and as usual, lot's of training ideas for the week.