Team Alasera played to the home court advantage and brought home lots of ribbons, MACH points, and a title. At TCOTC on March 5-7th, the flying Phalenes had a great time.

Mellie: Still the queen of the course, she earned three doubleQ’s and a whopping 110 MACH points. She placed in every run-earning two 1st places, a 2nd place and three 3rd place ribbons. Nice to see some good consistency and pretty good speed getting ready for the AKC National agility championships.

Abby: Finally overcoming a teeter fear, Abby managed to qualify in 3 out of 6 runs, earning two Standard legs and a Jumpers leg and another Double Q. Handler Lisa got lost on course and NQ’d the team on a Jumpers run but Abby did great. She managed to place in all those qualifying runs, earning a first place, a 3rd place and a 4th place finish. She totalled up 64 MACH points on those three runs. Unfortunately, the last day, the teeter fear crept back, so she needs to still work on that problem. All in all, she was great.

Ace: Had only one qualifying run in Jumpers, but started getting better weave performance as the week-end wore on. He avoided the teeter too so it appears him and Abby have been discussing this obstacle. He did earn another 7 MACH points. We have high hopes for Ace…he just needs a bit more work to put it all together.

Ripley: Ripley managed to qualify in 3 out of 5 runs. He was really trying to focus despite the presence of a judge and people who sit in chairs in the ring. He had a great Ex. A Jumpers run and finally got his AXJ title with a 1st place finish. He also qualified and got his first leg in Open Standard with a first place finish. (Well, yes, there was only one 8″ dog in the class…) Best of all, he sat and let me put his leash on in all five runs at the end of the run. No more running away from me!!! He is really responding to some new training we are doing and I couldn’t be happier. He also earned his first ever MACH point the next day and took third place on a very difficult Ex. B. Jumpers run. Go Ripley!!

On Jan. 24th, the Alasera team headed back to Cannon Falls for a one-day agility hit. Mixed results once again.

Ace went 0 for 2 but really had a spectacularly fast Jumpers run with one run-out-probably handler induced. Lovely weaves. His Standard run had some interesting activities, but once again, the teeter was just too much for him. Time will get these things under control.

Ripley lost all focus in his jumpers run but did manage to finish the run with just a few errors. But he proved he is not ready for further trials at this time. I scratched him from his Standard run. We will work on getting that focus in the upcoming weeks. Not an easy task!!

Abby had a nice jumpers run and qualified with 11 MACH points. Unfortunately, she had another stress meltdown at the thought of a course with contacts. On her Standard run, I did, somehow, miraculously get her to do the teeter, but the run proved just too much for her. We’ll give her some time to settle back into competition. I’m certain great things are in store down the road. Patience, I am told, is a virtue. Who knows, maybe she doesn’t like running in dirt?

Mellie is the new star of the Alasera team. She rocked the courses, gaining another Double Q, a fourth place finish in Jumpers and a first place finish in Standard. Outstanding times, earned another 60 MACH points in just this one day. She is focused, excited, happy and fast. Took 4 1/2 years, but hey, who is counting?? Check out her runs below.

After Mellie’s great performance at the last agility trial, I decided that since she had qualified to be able to enter the National agility trial, we would go ahead and give it a whirl. Travel plans are being finalized for a road trip with fellow local competitors. To qualify for this event, the dogs had to earn 6 Double Q’s and 400 MACH points from Dec. 1, 2008-Nov. 30, 2009. Mellie had just 452 points and 13 Double Q’s. Most of the top dogs in the country will likely compete at this event. We look forward to going and hope we can have a few good clean runs to prove we could do it. The event is March 26-28th.

We took the whole Alasera team (except Katie-who had play dates scheduled!), down to Cannon Falls at Simon Arena for a three day agility trial last week-end. Mixed results for the week-end, definitely some highs and lows!

Mellie: The star of the week-end. Qualified in 5 of 6 runs earning two Double Q’s, and great placements. She took first place in two Standard runs, and tied for 2nd in the third Standard run, and had a third place in one Jumpers run. She tallied up 129 MACH points including the multiplier bonus. She looked great and obviously didn’t mind running in the dirt!

Abby: This was Abby’s first trial back since August and having her litter. Her first day was fabulous! She earned her first ever Double Q and fourth place in both Standard and Jumpers runs. Against very tough competition! The second day, she had another qualifying Jumpers run (and third place), but had some stress issues in the standard course. She earned 29 MACH points for her runs. The third day was tough. She had major stress issues-esp. with weaves. In her Standard run, she refused to even take the second jump. It may be that three days of trialing after all that time off was just too much. We’ll see how things go.

Ripley: Ripley earned another Ex. A. Jumpers leg. He actually had some very nice other runs, with just a few issues. Unfortunately, he decided that he wouldn’t let me catch him after the runs and played “keep away”. Needless to say, he didn’t listen to me at all at that point. He actually forfeited his Ex. A jumpers title, because although he had a clean run, he decided to chase after the next dog that was running the course. An embarrassing moment, but obviously, he still needs to learn more control.

Ace: Ace had some very nice runs with just enough errors to keep him from qualifying. He had issues with weaves, and definitely still has some trial stress with the teeter still. He went 0-6 but am sure he will rebound once he gets a few more trials under his belt. Not sure he enjoys running in the dirt, and three days may have been a bit much for him as well.

Alasera’s Back to the Future, “Marty”, met his new owners today. He joins the Winsor household, and will be Laurel Winsor’s new agility partner and companion for the whole family. He will have new canine siblings, a French Bulldog and a Standard Poodle. We wish them all a wonderful life together. We will miss him, but am glad he will be here in the Twin Cities, so we’ll see him around.

On New Year’s Day, Roisin O’Donnell braved subzero weather to become Tippi’s (previously Thelma) new mom and owner. Tippi (Alasera’s National Treasure) and Roisin flew to her new home the next day in Tucson, Arizona. She will enjoy the warmer weather!! Roisin and her husband Bill look forward to having a dog for the first time. We wish them all the best!

After much deliberation and soul-searching, we have decided to add Louise-now known as Katie-to our household and Team Alasera. Picking just one puppy out of a beautiful litter is not an easy task! She is formally named Alasera’s Catch Me if U Can and we hope she will not only excel as Terry’s new agility prospect, but Lisa hopes to have success with her in future conformation competitions. Look for updates in the upcoming months!

On Dec. 6th, Mellie (MACH Caratoots Creamy Caramelle, NF) earned WB, BOS (over a bitch special!) and 2 more points toward her conformation championship title under judge William Bergum in St. Cloud. She showed wonderfully and is in beautiful coat right now. She only needs a 3 pt. major win to finish. Needless to say, I’m very proud of her.

At the TCOTC agiity trial November 20-22, the Alasera Gang had one of their best showings and we also celebrated Mellie’s MACH title by bringing a full size sheet cake (yummy almond-flavored white cake with raspberry filling!) and having her MACH bar signed by fellow agility exhibitors.

Abby remained home with her puppies, but Ace, Ripley and Mellie took high honors showing off their skills.

Ripley finally earned both his Novice Standard and Open Jumpers with Weaves titles. He also placed first in both of those runs. He moved up to Exc. A. Jumpers and managed to qualify in that first run to boot-with another first place finish. Ripley showed remarkable composure and focus and speed after some not so noteworthy runs a few weeks ago. There is hope for him yet!!!

Ace had some great Jumpers runs, earning three more legs towards his MXJ title. All good and speedy, he even wracked up 19 MACH points and had two third place finishes and a fourth place in a competitive 8″ class. He had some stress and issues with contacts for his Standard runs, so we will need to fix those before he can advance further there. He did have some great moments in those runs, despite the contacts, and showed good enthusiasm.

Mellie had a breakout week-end. With a MACH under her belt, trial stress for her and her handler has dissipated to almost nothing. She had amazing times, and her only mistake in 6 runs over three days, was one dropped bar. Which is a rarity anyway, so we didn’t worry too much. She earned two Double Q’s, 124 MACH points (a record!), and had FOUR first place finishes and one second place finish. (Lots of multiplier points!) She looked so good, and she beat some very, very fast top dogs. With these points, she managed to qualify for the AKC National agility trial for the second year in a row. We won’t likely be headed to Tulsa, OK in March of 2010, but it is nice to know she earned the right to go. Mellie may be at MACH 2 before you know it!!

All in all it was a long, but very productive week-end. Next agility trial is in mid-January, so lots of time to rest up and fine-tune the performance.

On November 6th, Mellie, Ace and Ripley were entered in the St. Paul Dog Training Club agility trial. They all had moments of brilliance, but only Mellie turned that into qualifying runs. She earned another Double Q and 29 MACH points with definite improvement in her start line speed. The 8″ height class has become quite competitive and there are many dogs to defeat which makes getting the “multiplier” for MACH points rather dificult. She earned a fifth place finish in her Standard run and a third place finish in her Jumpers run.

Ace had two very nice runs with only minor problems with his weaves and a few other miscellaneous issues. Best of all, he ran fast, happy and enthusiastic even after spending 7 hours in a crate before his first run. We are hopeful he will start qualifying again soon. He is competing in the Excellent level of both Standard and Jumpers with Weaves, so there are definitely more challenges for him now.

Ripley, still showing in Novice Standard and Open Jumpers with Weaves, demonstrated the frustrations of working with a more “unfocused” and inexperienced individual. In the Jumpers run, he had the “zoomies”, running at top speed in circles around the equipment and ring before finally joining me to finish the course. He had a fantastic. focused and fast finish, but of course, we had lost the ability to qualify by that point. He had great weaves which is very important at this level. His Standard run was actually very accurate, with a mistake of stepping on the broad jump, but he lacked speed completely. No zoomies, no zest. So, I think he needs to learn the ropes a bit more before he will be successful.