MAD Summit

Well the dogs and I took the entire month of December off from competition. It was semester break at the University too so I had a lot of time off from work. We spent most of that time hiking and running at the South Mesa, West of Boulder.

I was a bad blogger and a bad trainer (we didn't train at all). But the long break was good for the dogs and I think having time off from agility is good for them physically as well as mentally.

I did end up doing a 1/2 day Stacy Peardot-Goudy seminar with Summit. The seminar was in a nice indoor heated facility with soccer turf. As usual, Stacy set up a wicked European-style course.

So this past weekend was our first trial of the year. Three days of USDAA with DAM team. Summit's team qualified with 6th place which is not bad considering one of our teammates E'd in Team Relay! So Summit has his DAM team Q for 2010 Nationals. He had a nice GP run but missed the wp entry and had a wrong course on a very technical Steeplechase course (only 8 out of the 50 dogs entered made it into the finals). He also Q'd in Snooker (we only got as far as #5 so no Super Q), Second place in Jumpers, second place in Standard, and then Stacy and I won Masters relay by two full seconds!

The best part of the weekend though was Summit earned his MAD!

This weekend we have a two-day AKC trial. Maybe Sage will earn that last double Q for her MACH!

Goals:

Since we are STILL not sure where USDAA Nationals will be in 2010 (maybe the East Coast), qualifying for the AKC Nationals is a priority this year. Sage is qualified for 2010 but I decided not to take her this year.

I would like Summit to earn his ADCH this year. It depends on how many USDAA trials we travel to since there are only 6 trials locally (within the state).

Sage only needs one more Super Q and a Gamble Q for her ADCH. It would be nice if she could earn her ADCH this year too. Gambles are difficult for her though.