5 Years Old!

Happy Fifth Birthday, Sydney! Surely there must be a mistake in the math, because I can't believe the Josie x Jake litter is 5 years old!

Happy 5th Barkday to Bella, Bo, Breezy, Meme, Sydney, Tater, and sweet Encore, who is waiting at The Bridge... I remember getting the call from Jacque like it was yesterday, and I'm so thankful to have been able to be a part of their lives right from the start!

Sydney, NAP and 2 Open legs!

I'm so proud of Sydney. She went to an agility trial in February, one in March (finished her NJP), got one leg on her HT at a herding trial in April. Then she took Maternity Leave in the spring and summer. I took her to one session of classes, and entered her in the local Labor Day weekend trials.

Syd did really well, picking up an Open Jumpers leg the first and third day, and finishing her NAP the second day. I was proud, as usual, of her willingness to work with me even though we don't train very much.

I need to go back and retrain the teeter, since Syd really hesitated every time on the teeter. So no more Standard until we get a chance to go back to the beginning. :-)

Her puppies went to the trial for a bit to meet new friends and hang out, and her little mini-me daughter had to get in the photo of the happy agility girl!

Syd's Herding Lesson, March 13

Here's Syd's herding lesson from today. A light lesson in the pen because I don't want her to re-injure herself from last weekend's teeter mishap. She has the HT in just a few weeks, so I have lots to do to get myself ready. Syd seems to know what she's doing, I just have to get better so I don't mess her up.

New Title, and Video to Prove It!

So proud of Sydney, this morning we left the house at 3:30 am to drive over to Lake St. Louis for agility trials. Her JWW course was a basic figure 8, and I was hoping that she could eek out her title today. She didn't disappoint, and came through with a nice run. I was so worried that we (ME) would make a silly mistake and NQ. Thank goodness my dog is smarter than me. :-)

So Syd is now CH Kingsbury's It's My Alias NJP* (pending AKC confirmation)

3 for 3 Agility Trials

Syd ran in agility trials this weekend, and she did great! She hasn't gone to any trials in almost two years, and she hasn't had much opportunity for training recently, so I had no idea what she would do.

I was really proud of her. Saturday, she NQ'd in all three events, because of slight bobbles, including the weaves, but I have not done re-training so I could not fault her for that. I was pleased that she was focused, stayed with me, and she seemed to enjoy herself.

On Sunday, she ran Novice Fast and Q'd, with a send bonus of Aframe and tunnel. I was so proud, because contacts are not Syd's strong suit! Then she qualified in Jumpers, and finally in Standard. So on Sunday, Syd picked up three legs, one NFP, NJP, and NAP! This video is her Standard run. We almost had a crisis at the teeter when she let it tip back, but she persevered. A couple of refusals because of my handling, and at the end of two very long days. But Syd did it, and contacts, weaves, table all very well.

If the embeded video doesn't work, here's a link directly to YouTube

NAP run: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FM4lBcxVEw

And here's Syd's Q NJP run in Jumpers from Sunday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMzanRlAj0Q (direct link to YouTube)

And finally, her first run of the morning, the NFP leg that was my favorite run of the day:

direct link to YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmGNq0QH3JQ