Lots of Qs, Thank Goodness

SUMMARY: Three-day CPE weekend summary.

Some fun numbers from this weekend:

• Total runs: 30 (15 each dog)
• Boost Qs: 11
• Tika Qs: 13
• Boost 1st places (out of 6 to 19 dogs depending on class): 4
• Tika 1st places (out of 15 to 21 dogs): 3
• Boost 2nd places: 4 -- came in 2nd to: Tika,  Lexi, Tika, Lexi
• Tika 2nd places: 6 -- came in 2nd to: Rocket, Boost, Missile, Tyler, Tyler, Rocket
• Boost 3rd places: 2
• Tika 3rd places: 1
• Boost Qs earned towards the 16 she still needed for her C-ATCH:  7 (out of a possible 9)
• Tika Q points earned towards the 965 she still needed for her C-ATE: 280 (out of a possible 325)
• Titles earned: Tika ExFH and ExJP.
• Raffle prizes won: 2. (Bag of Ghirardelli peppermint bark (I love peppermint bark!), big box of dog biscuits.)  That's with 4 raffle tickets earned Saturday and 6 earned Sunday. Deal!
  
  

I've updated The Campaign table showing our progress towards our one-year goals.

Bragging rights numbers--among the fastest or highest-scoring of all dogs who ran a course:

• Full House Friday: Out of about 140 dogs, 10th highest points: Tika (44). 11th highest points: Boost (43). (7 of the 10 dogs with more points were small dogs with 5 more seconds.)
• Wildcard Friday: Fastest of about 100 3/4/5/C dogs: Boost (16.78 seconds). (Only 4 other dogs were between 17 and 18 seconds.) Too bad she knocked a bar.
• Standard Friday: Out of about 85 4/5/C dogs: Boost 4th fastest (37.79), Tika 5th fastest (38.59).
• Jumpers Saturday: Out of 21 dogs in her class, Tika 2nd fastest. And that's with 3 or 4 extra yards after she took a wrong jump.
• Jackpot (Gamblers) Saturday--nontraditional: Out of 167 dogs, Highest points: Boost (88). 2nd highest: Tika (85--because I didn't think about doing those extra 3 points until after I ran her).  (The next 3 highest dogs had 76, 74, and 73 pts; no one else 70 or higher.)
• Full House Saturday: Out of 140 dogs, 3rd highest points: Tika (52). (Higher points: one BC with 54 and one small dog with 5 more seconds 53. Only 6 dogs scored 50 or more.)
• Standard Saturday: Out of 107 4/5/C dogs, 5th fastest: Boost (38.65). 6th fastest: Tika (38.98). 
• Jackpot (Gamblers) Sunday: A friend and I strategized on the sidelines to come up with a high-scoring plan. Results--out of about 80 4/5/6 dogs, his dog was highest (67), Tika 2nd (66), Boost 3rd (65, tied with one other dog--dang, if she hadn't turned the wrong way after that one jump, we'd have had 3 more points).
• Wildcard Sunday: Out of 115 3/4/5/C dogs, 2nd fastest: Boost (18.16 secs). (Only 4 dogs broke 19 seconds.) 10th fastest: Tika (20.00).

I took a ton of photos and hope to get through them all tomorrow--oh, yeah, and the October CPE photos, too. Plus detailed weekend notes with fun insights into a typical agility weekend (mine, anyway).   [Hmmm, I'm sitting here looking at the Q ribbons and it suddenly occurs to me--did I take the wrong Q ribbons (orange/teal ones) for Boost's level 5 Qs? Uh-oh...]

Brag Treats!

SUMMARY: Class ritual: Brags.

At the beginning of class, we get to share our successes from competition (or training or whatever seems momentous enough). If the brag is important enough to us, we'll sometimes bring treats.

Last night, Carson's Human Mom and I shared bringing treats. Carson just got his MX (something important in AKC agility that takes a lot of work). He is such a large, darling dog, it's sometimes astonishing to see what a jet-pack of a Border Collie he is on course. So Carson's Human Mom brought a pizza sampler assortment and a bottle of wine.

(Photo by Taj MuttHall, stylizing by K. Normoyle)

I have never that I can ever remember had such a collection of braggable events in one three-week span. Yeah, sometimes a title. Sometimes a first place. Sometimes a good showing in the tournament events. But this time, I indulged myself and made a list from my database and tried to keep it brief but, jeez, I'm so thrilled with how our weekends went.

Actually, although it was three weekends, technically it was 4 trials (Haute Dawgs had Thursday/Friday, TRACS had Saturday/Sunday [or vice-versa], then SMART, then Bay Team).

So here's what I said: [this will be a rehash of my recent posts, but much more terse for those of us who like summaries]

Trial #1:

Tika Qed 5 out of 12 runs, won the Performance DAM tournament with her partner; won Snooker and Team Snooker, 2nd in Standard and Team Gamblers, 3rd in Gamblers and Team Standard.

Trial #2:

Tika Qed 10 out of 10 runs, won both rounds of Steeplechase, won Gamblers, won both Jumpers, Standard, Snooker; 2nd in Gamblers and Standard, and 3rd in Snooker and Pairs Relay. [There were more than one of most classes, hence duplication.] AND she completed her [all Performance] MAD, Tournament bronze, Jumpers Master, Relay Champion, and Snooker champion titles.

Trial #3:

Tika Qed 9 out of 11 runs, won Snooker, 2nd in Grand Prix, steeplechase, and Pairs Relay, 3rd in both Standards, and Jumpers; plus completed her [all Performance] Gamblers Champion, Championship (APD), and LAA-Silver titles.

Trial #4:

Not quite as much: Tika Qed only 3 of 10, won round 2 of Steeplechase, 2nd in Gamblers, California Cup, and Jumpers, and 3rd in Standard. AND I believe consolidated her place in the Top Ten Performance Jumpers for the year 2010. And it's only May!

BUT AFTER ALL THAT, here's what made me scream & jump up and down and cry with elation: On her 40th attempt at a Masters Jumpers Q, Boost finally got one and completed her MAD.

I shared a bunch of snacks: Olives, a cheesecake sampler, a veggie tray, a bottle of sparkling cider, and chocolate-dipped strawberries that I dipped myself. Which you may now all share vicariously.