Monday, May 4, 2009

Sage qualifies for AKC Nationals!

Sage double-Q'd on Saturday and again on Sunday at the GSPC AKC trial this weekend. It was the German Shorthaired Pointer National Specialty so the placement ribbons were stunning! I normally do not take placement ribbons but I just had to have some of these:-)

Recap:
Saturday Sage placed 2nd in Standard and 2nd in Jumpers (Summit won jumpers).

Sunday Sage again placed 2nd in both classes. Not a lot to say about her runs. They were all very smooth and fast and I was happy with my handling.

On Sunday, that was her 6th double-Q required during the qualification period for AKC Nationals. So Sage is qualified for AKC Nationals and just needs one more GP qualifer for USDAA Nationals.

Mr. Summit was amazing as usual and such an honest little guy. We had some really nice runs on some pretty technical courses. He won jumpers on Saturday (by 2 full seconds). The other three runs were also very nice but with a refusal in each. All three refusals were the result of my taking off too soon and not supporting the next obstacle so he is following my motion and not committing. I not only made this mistake all weekend with him but also in class last Wednesday (I can still hear Liz lecturing me about that). So from now when I go to the startline with Summit my mantra is going to be, "support every obstacle!"

I am very happy with how Summit's training is progressing. I was able to turn away and leave him on the table for a long lead out several times this weekend. In Sunday's jumpers run I was able to send to the weaves and then move laterally to get a front cross at the exit of the tunnel (which was the next obstacle) and he stayed in the weaves. Also in Sunday's jumpers run I cued extension over the second jump of a 180 to set him up nicely to serp the next three jumps to the tunnel. As soon as he committed to the second jump in the 180, I set a line of motion to the tunnel. There was another wrong course tunnel facing the landing side of the 1st jump in the serpentine that many dogs took if you didn't set a good line. I handled this the same with both my dogs with success.

So a good weekend with lot's of Q's with Sage and good learning experiences with Summit.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! I'm sure your runs were beautiful, as usual :-).

Elayne said...

Congrats!!! Are they having AKC Nats. in Denver this year? Somebody told me they were but that was ages ago and I don't know if it was fact or rumor.

Morganne said...

Thanks! I'm very proud of my girlie.

Elayne, Nats. will be in Tulsa, OK. I have heard that they will be held in Denver (Loveland) in 2011.

Jackie said...

YAY! Congratulations. That has got to be so exciting for you. You and Sage (and you and Summit) are just amazing teams to watch and my favorites to watch.

Christine said...

That is fabulous Qs and Nationals its all very exciting. Way to go guys, terrific results :-)

Greg S said...

Wow qualified already! What a cool feeling! Now if Mr Summit can qualify....
Are you going to give Sage a break now from AKC, or march onto that MACH?

Morganne said...

Aaaah, yes if only Mr. Summit could qualify for Nats this year but probably not. We are not that consistent yet to get that double Q requirement.

Sage will continue to play in local AKC trials. She needs five more double Q's for her MACH.