Mellie is working toward her Agility Dog Championship (ADCH) title. She took another step closer to this by getting her second ever Masters Gamblers Q which requires distance skills. She did a great job and even took first place in that run. She also earned her two qualifying runs in Grand Prix so she is eligible to compete in that tournament at the USDAA National Cynosport Games in Colorado. She also earned a Dog Agility Masters (DAM) team qualifer along with teammates Katie and Lhasa Apso, Josie. She can now compete in that tournament at the National event as well. She earned yet another SuperQ in Snooker. We don’t enter many runs with her in these trials since she has to jump 12″ but she sure makes the best of the ones we do. We continue to struggle making time in Steeplechase tournament but we’ll keep trying.

Katie is doing very well in USDAA and has now earned three Steeplechase Q’s. This week-end she placed first in both the first and second round of the Steeplechase tournament, earning $21.00 in payout money. With these Q’s, she can enter this tournament at the National event as well. She earned her DAM team qualifier with Mellie on their first ever try. Katie also earned her Advanced Jumpers title so gets to move up to Masters Jumpers. She is definitely enjoying the courses in USDAA.

Ace made limited appearances at the trials, but did well with his runs. He earned his Masters Jumpers title and for topping on that, he earned his second ever Super Q in Snooker, taking first place and beating out Mellie for this honor by one point. He is doing his teeters well and running very nicely for Terry.

Abby has had some significant set backs and is on a short term hiatus from all agility. Anxiety issues have worsened, so we are trying some different approaches. Hopefully, she’ll come back strong and sassy very soon. She came along for the week-end and seemed very happy to play tug, get treats and watch some of the action.

Ripley (aka Sir Not Appearing in USDAA agility) came along for moral support for the team.

Back to AKC agility in February!

Mellie earned her MACH 4 title at On The Run Canine Center on December 3, 2011 at the Border Collie Society of America agility trial under judge Karen Winter. The MACH bar and ribbon are really nice and will look good with her growing collection.

The rest of Team Alasera had some nice accomplishments as well.

Ace had some very nice runs and qualifying scores and JOLT (just one little thing) prevented three QQs. Best of all, he accomplished three nice teeter performances with the familiar teeter at OTR.

Katie was speedy as always and turned in some very nice runs. A few dogwalk leaps prevented some double Q’s and already is back in remedial training in the basement to perfect her technique.

Ripley had 6 out of 6 clean runs but only earned two QQs due to a slow Jumpers performance on the second day causing an NQ. But he is really focusing so much better and we had no problems with his teeter. He is up to 13 QQ and over 500 points.

Abby had a great Time2 Beat run, coming in second to Mellie who led the pack. Did a great teeter and put me in high spirits. After that, trial stress found her again and we struggled all week-end to even get her off the start line. Need to come up with a new approach so it is back to the drawing board with her.

This trial followed right on the heels of the Thanksgiving week-end trial at TCOTC. We had a lot of succcess there as well. Now for some down time and recharging.

Here were the highlights:
To start off the week-end, Mellie earned her MAD versatility title (Master Agility Dog) by FINALLY getting a Master’s Gambler qualifying run with a first place finish. This is no easy feat, and we have not been successful with distance challenges in the Master level in past USDAA trials. Not that many dogs got the gamble which was a send out over a jump, to the teeter, then to the distant end of a tunnel and then out to the finish jump. I was so happy when she did exactly as I asked. Quite a moment for both of us.

Mellie also earned another Master Snooker Q with a perfect score of 51, but not fast enough for a SuperQ unfortunately. She had a nice clean run in the Steeplechase tournament, but not fast enough for a qualifier run. Her granddaughter Katie saw to that as she finished in record time. Unfortunately, Mellie knocked a bar in the Grand Prix tournament the next day so no qualifier there. Those 12″ jumps are just a bit out of her comfort range.

Katie had a fabulous week-end and has convinced Terry that USDAA is the new favorite organization to trial under. All of her qualifying runs were first place finishes. Her speed and agile moves earned her her AD versatility title (Agility Dog) as well as a Steeplechase qualifier and a first place finish in the finals for a whopping payout of $12.00. She also earned her Starter’s Standard title, her Starter’s Snooker title, an Advanced Gamblers leg, an advanced jumpers leg and just missed out on a Grand Prix qualifier due to a dropped bar at the finish jump. Very, very nice runs.

Abby had a great week-end as well. All of her qualifying runs were for first place. She earned her Advanced Performance Standard title, which also then gave her her Advanced Performance Dog versatility title. She earned a Master Performance Snooker leg and just missed out on a Super Q by 0.02 seconds. Not bad. She earned two Master Performance Jumpers legs and finished her Master Performance Jumper title to boot. She got her Performance Speed Jumping tournament Q on Saturday, but had to sit out of the finals on Sunday due to the dreaded reverse sneezing problem. She did not get her Performance Grand Prix Q on Sunday due to a hesitation at the teeter. But she at least did DO the teeter, so that is progress. All in all, really good fast performances by Abby.

Ace had some good moments, but alas, stress and the teeter problem surfaced even on his home training turf and caused NQ’s in his standard runs. He had a nice Master Jumpers run for first place and a qualifying score and a really nice Master Snooker run with a perfect 51 to earn another Snooker leg. He needs some sort of intervention with that darn teeter but neither Terry nor I know what that will entail.

Mellie had a super week-end, her only mistake was actually mine during a jumpers run on Friday. Otherwise, she Q’d in 7 of her 8 runs and five of those were first place, 2 of them fourth place finishes. She earned her Ex. A FAST title (XF) on a nice send out to a jump, A-frame, jump combo. She proved it wasn’t a fluke by doing a send to a jump, teeter and far away tunnel the very next day. Along with her Q’s in JWW and STD, gave her her first QQQ! Guess my distance dog is coming along! She took first place in the 8″ class in all her Standard courses. She is the consummate agility professional.

Katie was her normal superstar self. She took first place in two of her jumpers courses. She earned her Novice FAST title and in a great Standard run, earned her Ex. A Standard title. She now competes head to head with her teammates for QQ’s and placements in all her runs.

Ripley had an ok week-end. He earned another QQ (#9!) and actually had placements. He took 4th place in a standard run and second place behind Mellie in another. Who knew?? He would have had another QQ but I did not trust him to handle a weave entry and caused a refusal. When will I learn?? His jumpers runs were slow but since they were later in the day, did not expect much. He did not go visiting and I think we are mostly done with that problem. I think. I hope.

Ace had several meltdowns, mostly concerning contact equipment with the teeter being enemy number one. The weather did not suit him at all. His saving grace was a nice FAST run for a first place finish in Open FAST. He had a nice jumpers run on the last day to throw Terry a bone and keep him entering him in trials. Indoor mat season is coming up and we foresee great runs in the future for Mr. I Don’t Do the Teeter in Trials.

Abby. Poor Abby. Between meltdowns with the teeter, the heat and a handler who didn’t do her job, was shut out of QQs, Q’s and glory. Sigh. She did do a fabulous job on the last run of the week-end on a Jumpers run where her tight turns got her a 2nd place behind Katie. She, too, is ready for the indoor mat season. Still sitting at 13 QQ’s, we hope to get a few more of those very soon.

We had a lot of fun producing this training video of the Alasera System. Enjoy!

Katie was recently in a few AKC conformation shows. On August 14th at the Kennel Club of Freeborn County she earned WB and her first point under judge Barbara Alderman. Two weeks later, on August 27th, she was entered in the St. Croix Valley Kennel Club show and she earned WB and BOS and two more points under judge Dr. John Ioia. No more conformation shows for awhile, it’s back to the agility ring.

Mellie was once again the most consistent performer. She earned three double Q’s with numerous nice placements. Steady as always with just some slow starts during some of the runs. Beautiful finishing sequences however. She is already a quarter of the way to MACH 4!

Ripley earned a rare Double Q with a stand-out performance in his Standard run on Sunday. Showing actual speed, it was a refreshing change of pace. He had two clean runs on Monday but was over time in Jumpers so missed out on that Double Q. We need to get more motivation and speed if we want to make faster progress. On a very positive note, he did NOT visit the judge or a ring crew member the whole week-end. I know he looked their way and thought about visiting, but he stuck with me. Progress!!

Abby suffered from more reverse sneezing attacks. They seem to be related to excitement and it is hard for her not to do it when coming out of her crate. We tried all sorts of things to minimize its impact and only lost out on one run due to it. However, she ended up refusing the teeter twice to NQ on her standard runs. On the bright side, she is yet another Team Alasera Jumpers Specialist-qualifying in all her Jumpers runs and earning two third place finishes and a tie for first.

Ace also nailed all the jumpers courses but the same evil teeter caused trial stress issues for him. He actually did do the teeter one day, but had other faults. Thus, no standard Q’s and no Double Q’s for Ace this week-end. He is a challenge!

Katie had five runs for the week-end and only Q’d in the last one. But it was a doozy. She nailed her Jumpers run in Ex. A class for a first place and earning her AXJ title. Her time was 5 whole seconds faster than Abby’s first place time in the Ex. B class. She now gets to compete for MACH points in her future Jumpers classes as she moves up. Katie had various other issues, including a reluctance to remain on the table, and an unfortunate dropped bar to mar some other runs. But she is doing great and shows fabulous speed that her team mates can only dream of.

She took first place! We then advanced to the Best in Show judging for Bred-by Exhibitors which did not lead to Best in Show for us. But we were still having fun showing late in the day under a warm sun. She won not only a nice pink rosette, but a logo cap and a hand towel for her efforts. Best of all, she really did a great job in the ring, moving nicely and showing off for the judges.

This was a special added feature of the Cambridge show to allow breeders who are exhibiting in the Bred-by class to show off their dogs. The regular group judging with the Best of Breed winners often has many professional handlers. It is nice to see owner handled dogs getting extra recognition from time to time.