Bragging Rights

November 26, 2016 - CPE agility - hosted by Rocky Creek at the K9Jym

Sophie qualified in Wildcard level 5 and Full house level 3 - both with first places!

Her full house Q gave her another title

CTL3-F (Enthusiast Level 3 Fun Games)

September 17-18, 2016, CPE agility at Y2K9s

Sophie is amazing, Chris can sum it up best

" On Friday, September 16th, Sophie had her 4 week re-check with Dr. Haney after receiving CyberKnife treatment in August. I am happy to say that Sophie is doing well.

That weekend Sophie played in CPE agility at Y2K9s in Willow Grove, PA. She was entered in 3 runs on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. Saturday she qualified in Level 3 Snooker and Level 4 Wildcard! Our other runs for the weekend were clean, but over time.

I want everyone to know how thankful I am that Sophie was able to have fun running in her first trials since being diagnosed with a glioma and having treatment. We know it isn’t a cure, but hope she will be able to spend more time with us, and she and I can continue to have fun in agility and rally. "

May 08, 2016, CPE agility at Y2K9s - Judge Jeff Boyer

Sophie was entered in all five runs, four in Level 3 (Standard, Colors, Snooker, FullHouse) and one in Level 4 (Wildcard).
Once again she amazed by going 5 for 5 and all 1st Places!
She's such a little power house, and Chris and Sophie have such fun together.
Her Colors Q earned her another title:

CTL3-H (Level 3 Handler Games)

So now she'll be moving up to Level 4 for Colors.

April 02, 2016, CPE Agility at 3D Dog Training in Barto - Judge, Kim Stumph

Sophie had a fun day!
She was in Level 3 Standard, Level 3 Colors and Level 4 Wildcard and qualified in all three with 1st Places!
In Standard she was 17 secs. under time; Colors - 12 secs. under; and Wildcard 5 secs. under.

Two more Wildcard Q's and she moves to Level 5 for those!
One more Colors Q and she moves to Level 4.

March 19, 2016, CynoSport rally at the K9Jym hosted by Oakes K9 Training - Judges, Annette Murphy-Wales and Traci Isabella.

Sophie earned a 207 in Level 1B (Annette) and a 190 in Level 2B (Traci)
She needs double Q's of 195 or higher for her ARCHX, so these will only go towards her individual championships.


For the afternoon trial, Sophie earned a 206 in Level 1B (Traci) and a 201 in Level 2B (Annette)!
That is her 4th double Q so only one more to go.

March 05-06, 2016 - CPE - Rocky Creek Agility Club at the K9Jym Judge - Mike Conroy

Sophie was entered in 3 runs each day.

Saturday
Level 3 - Fullhouse - Q and 1st Place
Level 3 - Wildcard - Q and 1st Place (her first Level 4 leg!)

On Sunday all Level 3
Jumpers - Q and 1st Place (this was her 3rd leg so she's moving to Level 4)
Colors - Q and 1st Place
Standard - Q and 1st

February 13-14, 2016 - CPE agility at Y2K9s Judge - Mike Conroy

Sophie was entered in 3 runs each day.
Saturday it was Colors (Level 2), Wildcard and Jumpers (both Level 3).
She qualified in all three with 1st Places.

That was her last Level 2 Colors Leg which earned her another title and also completed Level 2.

CTL2-H (Handler Games)

CTL2 (Level 2 completion)

On Sunday she was entered in Level 3 Jumpers, Snooker and Wildcard.
She qualified in all three with 1st Places.

Her Q in Wildcard gave her 3 legs so she's moving to Level 4 Wildcard.

This was her first Level 3 Snooker leg.

January 3rd, 2016 - CPE agility at the K9Jym hosted by Rocky Creek Agility Judge - Trish Stall

Sophie was entered in Level 2 Colors and Jumpers and Level 3 Wildcard.
She was her usual awesome self and qualified in all three with 1st Places!
Her Level 2 Jumpers leg earned her a new title:

CTL2-F (Fun)

October 31, 2015 - CPE agility hosted by 3D Dog Training in Barto. - Judge Mike Conroy

Sophie was entered in the first three classes of the day.
She qualified in Level 2 Enthusiast Full House with a 1st Place!
She also qualified with 1st Places in her two Level 2 Enthusiast Standard runs.
That gave her the Level 2 Enthusiast title: CTL2-R
She earned 70 more points towards her next plaque.

October 03, 2015, UKC Rally at the K9Jym - Judge Joan Klingler

Despite of her on-and-off enthusiasm, Sophie qualified for her third leg in Level 3 with a score of 88

Her new title: URO3

Sophie is now officially retired from UKC Rally

September 13, 2015, CynoSport Rally at the K9Jym - Judges Annette Murphy-Wales and Traci Isabella.

Sophie was entered in Trial 2 in the afternoon in both Level 1B and Level 2B.

Level 1B - Score 196 - Traci Isabella
Level 2B - Score 184 - Annette Murphy-Wales


Her Level 2 score was not high enough to count towards a double Q for her ARCHX (195 or above), but will go toward her other championships.

September 12, 2015, CPE agiilty at Y2K9s new facility - Judge Jeff Boyer from Florida (A very nice, happy judge who had some very nice courses.)

Sophie was entered in all five classes as Level 2 Enthusiast:
Jackpot
Standard
Wildcard
Snooker
Jumpers

Once again she qualified in all five runs all with 1st Place!
Her Jackpot and Snooker Q's earned her another title:

CTL2-S (Strategy Games)

Not bad for two old gals! ;o)

She is now up to 225 points towards her 2000 Plaque! As long as she's healthy and having fun is all that matters.

June 6th and 7th at the Rocky Creek CPE trials at the K9Jym,

Sophie was entered in all 10 runs (5 Sat. and 5 Sun.).
She qualified in all 10 with all 1st Places which gave her another Perfect Weekend!

On Saturday, still in Level 1, she ran Full House, Jackpot, Standard, Colors and Jumpers. She surpassed her goal of 1,000 points (1,080 total), earning her

L1T-PLT title!

L1T means Level 1 Enthusiast; PLT means Point Level Title.
She received a beautiful rosette commemorating it. She also received nice presents from Barb/Midge/Abbey and Team Beagle.

On Sunday she was moved up to moved to Level 2 and she ran Jackpot, Standard, Snooker, Wildcard 1 and Wildcard 2.

CPE Agility on May 3rd at the K9Jym hosted by Y2K9s. Judge was Mike Conroy.

Sophie was entered in Colors, Standard and Snooker (all Level 1).
Here are her stats:
     Colors - Q + 1st Place (SCT: 55 DRT 23.69)
     Standard - Q + 1st Place (SCT: 64 DRT: 37.77)
     Snooker - Q + 1st Place (SCT: 50 DRT: 37.25)

She's up to 975 points. She will achieve her 1,000 at the June Rocky Creek trials on Saturday as she's entered in all five runs.

March 28th and 29th, 2015 - CPE agility hosted by 3D Dog Training - Judge Jay Jones

Sophie was entered in the first two runs each day as they're accumulating points.

Saturday she started with Jackpot and then Standard. She qualified in both with 1st Places!

Sunday she started with Snooker and then Jumpers, again qualifying in both with 1st Places!

She is up to 910 points of the 1,000!

This brag benefits Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals

March 21st, 2015 - CynoSport Rally hosted by Oakes K9 held at the K9Jym. Judges Annette Murphy-Wales and Traci Isabella

In Chris' words

"Morning Trial:
In Level 1. Sophie was enthused for a change, loved getting treats during the course, and qualified with a score of 204! Both Annette and I were amazed that Sophie sat every time she needed to without being prompted! She hasn't done that in ages.
For Level 2 she was a bit pokey and needed some reminders about sitting (guess she felt she did enough in L1!), and she was working ok until the next to last exercise which was a moving down. Well, you think she had never done it before because I had to re-do it 3 times before she would cooperate and go down completely! Really?! She sure knows how to humble you in the ring! We lost a lot of points on it, but she still qualified with a score of 189.
Since she's going for her ARCHX she needs double Qs with scores of 195 or higher, so these two Q's will go towards her individual championships. Oh well, there was always the afternoon trial.

Afternoon Trial:
This time Level 2 was first, with Annette our Judge. Sophie's needed a few reminders about sitting, but she did every exercise as asked, even #11 (moving down). When we began #20, she almost veered off to sniff one of the bowls, but I called her and she just heeled by me through the exercise, also finishing the bonus despite a crooked front (normal for her). She qualified with a score of 202!
She performed Level 1 well, again crooked sits,and we qualified with a score of 204!
Her 3rd Double Q towards her ARCHX! Only two to go! "

This brag benefits Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals

February 14th at Kan-Do-K9s UKC Rally trials

Sophie earned the last two legs to finish her URO3 title with scores of 95 (4th Place) and 90 (2nd Place)!

This brag benefits Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals

December 27-28, 2014, Rocky Creek Dog CPE Agility at the local K9Jym - judge Lisa Lucas

Sophie was entered in all ten runs for the weekend .

We are proud to say that once again Sophie qualified in every one with a 1st Place!

To top things off -- SOPHIE EARNED HIGH IN TRIAL for the second time!

What an awesome little girl!

This brag benefits Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals

November 22 - November 23, 2014, Rocky Creek Dog CPE Agility at the local K9Jym - judge Mary Phalon

Sophie was entered in 5 runs each day.

Saturday she ran FullHouse, Standard, Jackpot, Snooker and Colors.
She qualified in all five, with no faults, and all with 1st Places!

Sunday she ran Jumpers, FullHouse, Standard, Wildcard and Colors.
Again, she qualified in all five, no faults, all with 1st Places!

A "Perfect Weekend"!
She is now up to 595 points towards her 1000 point plaque.

This brag benefits Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals

November 01 - November 02, 2014, 3D Dog Training LLC, Barto, PA

Sophie had lots of fun, she was entered in 3 runs each day.

Saturday: Level 1 Enthusiast
Fullhouse
Standard 1
Standard 2
She qualified in each all with a 1st Place!

Sunday: Level 1 Enthusiast
Jumpers
Wildcard
Colors
She qualified in each all with a 1st Place!

She is up to 385 points towards her 1000 for her plaque.

October 25, 2014 - CynoSport Rally at the K9Jym - Judges: Sue Oakes, Annette Murphy-Wales and Traci Isabella

From Chris:

We were going for several Championship titles and I had confidence in her.
These particular championships are earned once you have gotten your initial title at a level, then you need 10 Q's of scores 170 or higher, except in Veteran where you only need 5 Q's.

The morning trial Sophie was in Level 1B, Level 2B and Veteran B.
The B levels are for dogs that have earned their titles and are going for championships.
Perfect score is 210 (including the bonus exercise).

We did Level 2 first (Traci) and Sophie qualified with a score of 188!

That qualifying run earned her an RL2X Championship!

Then we went right to Level 1B (Annette). Being on lead gives me a sense of somewhat more control!
She did well and qualified with a score of 204!
Leg #9, only one more leg to go!

Veterans class came next (Annette).
Sophie did very well and qualified with a score of 207!

That earned her the RLVX Championship!

For the afternoon trial she was entered in the same classes.

Level 1 was first (Traci) and Sophie qualified with a score of 205!

That gave her the RL1X2 Championship!

This is her second Level 1 Championship.
Each time you qualify it accumulates towards your next group of 10, so it's a win-win situation all around.

We went right from that ring into Level 2 (Sue).
By now Sophie was getting a bit bored by it all, but she still qualified with a score of 201!

This was her first leg towards her RL2X2 championship.

Her Q's in Level 1 and Level 2 in the afternoon trial are her second double Q towards her ARCHX (5 double Q's of scores 195 or higher).

Veterans was our last for the day (Traci) and Sophie (aka Miss No-Sit) qualified with a score of 200 and 5th Place!

This is her first leg towards her RLVX1 Championship.

This brag benefits Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals

Y2K9 CPE agility trials -judge Jeff Boyer, September 13-14, 2014

Sophie went 6 for 6 with all 1st Places!
She qualified in Colors, Jackpot, Wildcard, Snooker and two Standard runs.
She earned the following titles:

Level 1 Enthusiast Standard - CTL1-R
Level 1 Enthusiast Strategy Games - CTL1-S

She has now completed all her L1 Enthusiast titles.
She really loves this level of the courses and she's happy when she runs.
Now she'll be running to accumulate points towards her L1 Enthusiast plaque (1000 pts. needed).
She is up to 240 points! Yay Sophie!

This brag benefits Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals

September 06, 2014 - CynoSport Rally at the K9Jym

Sophie was entered in Veteran B in each of the two trials. She needs 3 legs for her Veteran Championship and Chris was hoping she could earn these two, and indeed she did.
A perfect score is 210, which includes 10 points for the bonus exercise. You need a 170 to qualify.

The morning trial judge was Annette and her course wasn't too bad. Sophie qualified with a score of 195 and 3rd Place! Losing 3 points on a repeated exercise and 2 on crooked sits.

The afternoon trial judge was Traci and her course was a bit easier. Sophie again qualified this time with a score of 205 and 2nd Place! Losing points only on crooked sits.

This brag benefits Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals

August 09-10, 2014 - CPE agility hosted by 3D Dog Training at Barto

Under Judge Mike Conroy, Sophie went 6 for 6, all 1st Places, and earned two new titles! CTL1-H CTL1-F
Saturday
Jackpot - 1st Place
FullHouse - 1st Place
Standard - 1st Place

Sunday
Colors - 1st Place
Wildcard - 1st Place
She earned her first Enthusiast title: CTL1-H (Enthusiast Level 1-Handler)
Jumpers - 1st Place (in combo with FullHouse Q)
She earned her second one: CTL1-F (Enthusiast Level 1-Fun)

This brag benefits Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals

July 13, 2014 - UKC Rally hosted by Kan-Do-K9s\

Sophie earned her URO1 title with a score of 94 and 4th Place under judge Annette Murphy-Wales! In the afternoon trial, she earned her first Level 2 leg with a score of 93!

This brag benefits Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals

June 07-08, 2014 - CPE agility hosted by Rocky Creek Agility at the K9Jym

Saturday

Sophie was only entered in Snooker Level 2.
She needed one leg to complete her Strategy title and all of Level 2.
She qualified in Snooker with a 1st Place for her CLS-S (Level 2 Strategy Games) title!
She also gets the CL2 (for completion of Level 2).

Sunday

Sophie qualified in 4 of her 5 runs, all with 1st Places!

This brag benefits Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals

May 04, 2014 - Y2K9s CPE Rally Trial - judge Lisa Lucas from New York.

Sophie ran in five Level 2 classes:

Jumpers - SCT: 39, DRT: 22.24 -- Q, 3rd Place
Standard - SCT: 63; DRT: 47.33 -- Q, 3rd Place
Wildcard - SCT: 44; DRT: 30.75 -- Q, 3rd Place
Colors - SCT: 42; DRT: 22.39 -- Q, 3rd Place
Fullhouse - SCT: 40; DRT: 30.11 -- Q, 3rd Place
Level 2 Fun Title - CL2-F

She only needs one Q in Snooker to finish all of Level 2.

This brag benefits Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals

March 30-31st, 2014 - CPE Rally at Barto hosted by 3D Dog Training with Judge Mark Brownell from Michigan.

SATURDAY

Level 2 - Wildcard - 3rd Place (26.48 rt - 47 ct) (this counted towards her Handler Games title)

Level 2 - Standard - 1st Place (54.91 run time -74 course time)
Her Standard Q gave her the required 4th leg for another title:
CL2-R (Level 2 Standard)

SUNDAY

Level 2 - Snooker - 2nd Place (37.31 rt - 50 ct)

Level 2 - Colors - 1st Place (20.23 rt - 42 ct)
Her Colors Q gave her the final leg for another title:
CL2-H (Level 2 Handler Games)

This brag benefits Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals

March 15th, 2014 - Cynosport Rally at the K9Jym hosted by Oakes K9 Training.

Judges Annette Murphy-Wales and Traci Isabella.
Sophie was entered in both trials in classes Level 1B and Level 2B and Veterans.

Trial 1
Sophie ran Level 2 first and qualified with a score of 199!
Level 1 for her was better and she qualified with a 202!
Qualifying in both classes with scores of 190 gave her enough points to earn her ARCH (Rally Championship)!

Trial 2
Sophie ran in Veterans first and qualified with a great score of 202!
In Level 1 she also did a great job once again. She qualified with a score of 204!
In Level 2 she qualified with a wonderful score of 200!
These two Q's count as her first Double Q towards her ARCHX (ARCH plus 5 double Q's with scores of 195 or higher from 1B and 2B)

This brag benefits Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals

March 01, 2014 - CPE agility at the K9Jym hosted by Rocky Creek Dog Agility, judge Doreen Lucius from Vermont.

Sophie ran in five classes: Standard, FullHouse, Jackpot, Snooker, and Wildcard (the last 4 being games) - she was awesome.
She really enjoyed herself and impressed everyone who watched her run, especially the judge.
Some folks thought she was a pup because of her size, but they were impressed at how agile she is at her age.
At the end of the day she still had energy to spare

This brag benefits Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals

Saturday, February 15, 2014, UKC Rally at the K9Jym.

Hosted by Kan-Do-K9s. There were two trials - morning and afternoon.

Sophie debuted in Level 1B for both trials. Perfect score is 100. She qualified in each with scores of 95 and 96, respectively!
One more leg to go.

Saturday, January 18th, NADAC agility at High Octane

Judge was Bernadette Doyle from outside Chicago. who kidded how it felt balmy compared to how cold it had been at home the week before!
Sophie was runs at the Elite level, her first Jumpers run was wonderful. She didn't seem to notice the extremely low jumps and ran beautifully earning another Q with a 1st Place!
The stats: Standard Course Time: 42.97 Dog Run Time: 40.53 Yards Per Second: 3.87
Tunnelers was the last class of the day and she happened to be the last dog of the day. This has always been her favorite class as it's just flat out running in and out of tunnels! Well, she couldn't contain herself to stay her start line and started before Chris was ready so she had quite a catch-up to do!
Sophiee Q'd with a 2nd Place!
The stats: Standard Course Time: 36.14 Dog Run Time: 34.37 Yards Per Second: 4.04
She already has her Elite Tunnelers title, so any additional runs go towards her Outstanding title.

This brag benefits Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals

Barn Hunt Fun

January 11, 2014 at Pawsable K9s in Millstone Township, NJ (judge Gwen McCullough)

Sophie did the tunnel and climb right from the start (even though it isn't a requirement in Instinct) and then went to the tubes. She began sniffing one and stayed there sniffing with interest (no biting or grabbing it), but it held her attention, so Chris called it. She was right! Sophie picked the correct tube and she did it in 19 secs!
Her first Barn Hunt title ---- RATI!

This brag benefits Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals

"Tea for two and two for tea"

From Chris:
Last Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 7th and 8th, we played in Teacup agility at the K9Jym under Judge Mike Conroy.
Saturday
Sophie qualified in Games 1 Tunnel Snookers with a 1st Place!
Tunnel Snookers is the same as regular snookers, just used tunnels for the red obstacles.
She earned her TG1 (Teacup Games 1) title!

She then qualified in a Superior Standard run (SCT: 64; DRT: 60.25) with a 2nd Place!

Sunday
In her second Superior Standard run Sophie qualified (the only dog in her class to do so) with a 1st Place (SCT: 57; DRT: 51.26)! I'm so proud of both Sophie and Fred and we all had a fun time!

This brag benefits Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals

November 02-03, 2013 - CPE Agility in Barto, PA - Judge Kimberly Stumph

Having completed all of Level 1, Sophie was running in Level 2.
To earn an individual standard title requires 4 legs; and for the individual Games titles it requires 2 legs for each particular game.
Sophie did brilliantly [of course]

Saturday
Standard Level 2 Course Time: 63 sec. Sophie Time: 41.40 and 1st Place!
Jumpers Level 2 Course Time: 40 sec. Sophie Time: 20.02 and 1st Place!

Sunday
Standard Level 2 Course Time: 63 sec. Sophie Time: 39.97 and 1st Place!
Jumpers Level 2 Course Time: 44 sec. Sophie Time: 24.00 and 1st Place!
Colors Level 2 Course Time: 37 sec. Sophie Time: 16.87 and 2nd Place!


This brag benefits Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals

A Rally Good Sunday

This past Sunday, October 27th, Sophie played in Cynosport rally (formerly APDT) trials hosted by our club, KanDoK9s, at our local K9Jym.

Trial 1 - Sara Jacobs

Sophie was entered in Level 1B and Level 2B since she's going for her ARCH and needs five double Q's with scores of 190 or higher in each.
She's pretty consistent with Level 1 and she did well. She qualified with a respectable 203! Not too shabby! She's definitely not a fan of the moving down, but not much choice! Both Fred and Sophie lost most of their points due to crooked sits. I'm just happy if they sit at all!
In Level 2B she qualified with a nice score of 193! Yea -- her 4th QQ! She also won Highest Scoring Club Member for the morning trial! She's the best!

This brag benefits Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals

October 19-20, 2013 - Staten Island KC CAT Tests - Colts Neck, NJ

Thanks to an accommodating judge and a certain amount of good luck, Sophie finally completed her CA title. No surprise, she is now officially retired from coursing!

This brag benefits Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals

Pre-MKC All Terrier Agility Trials - Kimberton, PA - October 1-4, 2013

Sophie ran Masters Standard and she was awesome! She qualified with a 2nd Place and 6 secs. under time.

Fantastic Teacup Weekend - August 17th and 18th, 2013

With three Standard Intermediate runs on Saturday then two games and three more Standard runs on Sunday, Sophie and Chris had a busy weekend but it paid off.

On Saturday, Sophie qualified with a seond place and a first place in two of her Standard runs under judge Bob Domfort.
On Sunday she completed her Standard Intermediate title qualifying with a second place under judge Trisha Stall. Moved up to Superiors for her last Standard run of the day, she qualified with a first place under judge Bob Domfort.
She also qualified in her two games with second place finishes in both.

This brag will benefit Francisvale Home for Small Animals

AKC Agility - Aug. 10th and 11th, 2013

Judges were Carol Mount and Clyde Closson,
Each day Sophie and Chris ran a Masters standard and jumpers course.

Saturday:
Standard - SCT: 76.00 - DRT 72.63 - Q and 4th Place (Carol)
JWW - SCT: 51.00 - DRT: 52.68 (Clyde) - one sec. over time (slow in weaves)

Sunday:
Standard - SCT: 73.00 - DRT: 73.47 - Q (Clyde)
JWW - SCT: 55.00 - DRT: 69.91 (Carol)

All her runs were clean so that's definitely something to be proud of!
So no double Q's, but these two standard runs will go towards her Masters 2 title. Now she has 4 standard and 3 jumpers each towards her Masters 2 titles. You need 10; something to work for, but not necessary for her to prove anything.

Coursing Ability Tests - Staten Island KC, Colts Neck, NJ - May 11, 2013

With two tests in one day, this was a great opportunity for Sophie to redeem herself on the coursing field. And she did just that, qualifying in the first of her runs to earn the second leg towards her CA.

In the afternoon she decided keeping her eye on "mom" was more important than keeping her eye on the lure!

AKC Agility - April 28, 2013

Sophie was definitley having an off weekend until her standard run at the end of the day on Sunday. She started slow, but after the table (4th obstacle) she picked up speed and was back to her old self! At the weaves she was going well and stopped at the very last two poles. Chris told her she only had two to go through to finish and she did. She finished the rest of the course running full out, a huge relief for Chris after what had been happening earlier in the weekend.

Despite the bobble at the weave poles, Sophie Q'd! One second under time. No double Q, but it will go towards her MXP2

CPE Wrap Up

At the 3D Dog Training Club CPE Trials on March 30-31 under judge Mary Beam (from Ohio) Sophie completed her CL1-S (Strategic Games) title with two 1st place Q's in Snooker and a 1st place in Jackpot thus wrapping up the requirements for her CL1 (for completing all Level 1 classes)

K9Jym, March 9-10, Teacup Agility Debut

Day 1-Saturday
After flying off the Teeter in her fisrt run of the day, Sophie in her second run under Judge John Poccynek with a time of 47.61 (course time was 61). Her first official Teacup leg!

Day 2-Sunday
Sophie had a great day with two Q's under judge Natalene Lamming (who we know from APDT rally -- she has JRs -- so a terrier person).
Her first run time was 41.69 (course time 64) and she got 2nd Place! I was so proud of her, especially since she handled the teeter with no concerns.
Coming up for her second run I knew she could Q, and she did! Run time 39.65 (course time 67) and 1st Place and a new title!

TBAD (Teacup Beginner Agility Dog)

Another "Elite" Performance

January 19-20, 2013 High Octane Agility NADAC trials under Judge Mark Gwillim from Rhode Island (in photo with Sophie)
Sophie qualified in 5 out of 7 Elite runs!

In Chris' words

Saturday she had one Regular run (Standard in other venues), 2 jumpers (jumps w/tunnels) and 1 weavers (tunnels and 3 sets of 12 weaves).
Her Standard run was awesome! First class of the morning, chilly and she was fired up. She finished 12 secs. under time and got 3rd place! Finally, our second leg!
Jumpers was next. These have eluded us due to time faults. She qualified for her first Elite Jumpers leg and 2nd Place with only 1 second to spare! Whew!
In her second Jumpers run, she veered off at one jump which caused us to finish .70 sec. over. I'm confident the rest will come with time (pardon the pun!).
Her last class, late in the day, was Weavers. Because she isn't super fast doing poles, we were 3 secs. over, but clean otherwise. These legs, too, will come.

Sunday she ran two Standard classes and one Tunnelers (only tunnels), which she loves.
We began fast, then she slowed mid-way in the weaves to sniff, but I got her moving again, and we just finished clean, 1 sec. under time with a 2nd Place! Hooray, she earned her title:

EAC (Elite Agility Certificate)

The pressure was off our second Standard run (course in reverse), but I didn't run sloppy. I was shocked we finished 6 secs. under with a 2nd Place! I was proud of her because the third obstacle was the a-frame, tunnel discrimination with the a-frame the correct obstacle, and she listened to my direction! She always prefers a tunnel to any other piece of equipment. The weaves were towards the end, so by then she really moved through quickly.
I put her in Tunnelers (the very last class of the day) so she would have fun just running flat out! She has her Elite title but she can still accrue points within the class towards other titles. She had a blast, ran clean and we finished 1 sec. under and 3rd Place!

A "Rally" Good Sunday

On Sunday, Oct. 28th, Sophie and her best Buddie Freddie played in APDT rally at the local K9Jym. There were two trials, one in the morning, one in the afternoon, hosted by Oakes K9 Training.
Sophie earned Two Double Q's with very respecxtable scores of 199, 193, 205 and 194
(She was entered in both Level 1B and Level 2B of each trial as she needs double Q's with scores of 190 or better.)

Drum Roll Please!

The Montgomery All Terrier Agility Trials (MATAT) were held Tues. thru Fri. (Oct. 2-5, 2012) at the Kimberton Firehouse grounds. The weather on Tuesday was rain all day with periods of downpours and periods of mist.
She started off great Tuesday morning qualifiying in her standard run under Judge Jacqueline O'Neill!to earn her final leg for her............

MASTER STANDARD PREFERRED (MXP) Title
She also got 2ND PLACE!

Wednesday was another awesome day, Sophie double Q'd and earned 5 points!
Standard - Judge Linda Wallace Kipp
Std Course Time: 70
Dog Run Time: 66.81 and 3rd Place!

JWW - Judge Jacqui O'Neill
Std Course Time: 45
Dog Run Time: 42.27 and 2nd Place!

She was only one of 2 dogs that Q'd in each class. Wow -- what a girl! She was hot!

July 14th and 15th, SOJAC (South Jersey Agility Club) AKC Agility Trials

Sophie ran both days in Ex. Standard Preferred and Ex. JWW Preferred.
Once again, she earned two Double Q's, and got a 2nd, 3rd and 4th Place!

On Sunday, her Jumpers run, under Judge Donna Gomer, was all she needed for her new title:

MASTER EXCELLENT JWW PREFERRED (MJP)

Sophie's kind of coursing

Sophie mad a succesful return to AKC agility at Kruisin' Kanines trials in Colmar, PA on April 28-29, 2012
She was entered in Excellent Std Preferred and Excellent JWW Preferred both days.

Saturday:
Under Judge Cynthia Kean, her Standard run was 7 secs. under time!
Under Judge Barbara Diaz, her JWW run was 9 secs. under time and 4th Place!

Sunday:
Under Judge Barbara Diaz, her Standard run was 5 secs. under time!
Under Judge Cynthia Kean, her JWW run was exact course time of 48 secs.! (a knuckle biter)

So she is well on her way to earning her Masters titles this year.
She needs 2 more JWW legs and 3 more Standard legs.
Congratulations to Sophie and Chris, a truly dedicated team

Coursing Countdown

Sophie was one of four JJ dogs to have fun at the Empire Saluki Club Coursing Ability Tests (CAT) in Colts Neck, New Jersey on April 14-15, 2012. She earned her first CAT Leg on Sunday. Because of her petite size, she only has to run 300 yards and just as well as she stopped coursing at exactly 300 yards. She might have qualified on Saturday as well except being the diva that she is, she allowed herself to be distracted by the clock of my camera shutter. What a princess!!!!

Great start to 2012

The weekend of March 25-25, 2012, Sophie played in NADAC agility and had a great time. All the classes Sophie qualified in were Elite level (equivalent to Excellent in AKC)
On Saturday in Tunnelers (her favorite--just tunnels) Sophie qualified 3 secs. under time and earned 2nd Place!
Sunday morning was a bit chilly which actually works in Sophie's favor as she's much faster. In her Regular (Standard) run she was 9 secs. under time and agaon earned 2nd Place! this is her first Elite Regular Leg!

At the Kan-Do-K9s APDT rally trials on Sunday (April 1) Sophie was entered in Level 2B (off lead) and earned two qualifying legs with scores of 201 and 205 with a 3rd Place, respectively (out of a possible 210).
These are Sophie's first two legs towards her Level 2X Championship (needs 8 more).

One last brag to finish out Sophie's AKC agility year

"The weekend of Sep. 24 and 25 we ran agility locally in Doylestown courtesy of the Delaware Valley German Shepherd Dog Club.
Due to heavy rains on Friday, the fields on Saturday were quite a mudfest, although the club did their best putting down mulch and sawdust in the worst areas. Since it ran tall to small, by the time we ran, not much helped the mud subside!

JWW was our first class under Judge Kandy Robinson. Challenging course, but in spite of the mud, Sophie Q'd with a 2nd Place and 10 secs. under time!
Yea, our 6th leg towards Masters! "

Chris

A Cool Agility Weekend!!

July 16-17, 2011. Despte the heat outside, Sophie and Chris had a cool time running AKC agility inside with air conditioning at the trial hosted by SOJAC (South Jersey Agility Club).

" On Saturday our Standard run was the early in the day (around 9:00) so we were both energetic. Our judge was Sherry Porter. Sophie qualified, was 8 secs. under time and earned 2nd Place!
Our judge for JWW was Scott Stock. Sophie qualified, 2 secs. under time and a 3rd Place!

Another Double Q towards our PACH!

Sunday, Sherry was our judge for JWW.. Sophie started out pokey, but after the opening sequence, I was able to get her moving, and we finished the course clean. Sophie qualified, again 2 secs. under time, and 2nd Place!
Our Standard run was scheduled around 6:00!!. It made for a long, long, boring day, which Sophie doesn't tolerate well. Scott was our judge, and he kept his ring moving so we actually got to run around 5:30. Once again Sophie didn't stay her start-line (she hates waiting), and she almost went off-course by getting ahead of me, but I got her which threw me off my original plan. We got back on track and soared through the rest of the course!
She Q'd, was 14 secs. under time and again got 2nd Place!

A second Double Q! Wow!
This ups our total to 4 and we earned 26 more points this weekend which ups our total to 55. Considering we need 20 double Q's and 750 points for our PACH, it will be a while, if at all, but it's neat to know it's possible!
She now has 5 legs each towards her Master Standard and JWW titles (10 needed). "

Chris

Wow, no stopping this team!!

On June 26, 2011 at Oakes K9 APDT Rally Trials, Sophie was entered in the Veteran class in both trials (morning and afternoon).

" Our first judge was Sue Oakes and her course was fine, except the bonus was a leave your dog, turn and down them, then return. Everything went well up to there. I left Sophie in a sit, walked away, turned and gave her the signal plus vocal to down. Well, in typical BT fashion she looked at me as if I was speaking a foreign language! So I signaled and used the term "drop" with a little more emphasis (double commands are allowed), and slowly, but slowly Sophie finally laid down. I then returned to heel position and we were done! The stewards watching said the look on her face was precious - you could tell she was annoyed having to do such a thing and they tried not laughing too loud! But everything was good enough and Sophie earned her:
Rally Level Veteran (RLV) title -- Her score was 206 and 3rd Place
and
Veteran AOE (Award of Excellence) (first 3 Q's of 190 or higher from A class which were 204, 208, 206)
So she got moved up to the B class for the afternoon trial. Our judge was Annette Murphy-Wales. Annette's course had a few more challenges as she likes to include one or two exercises from Level 2 and Level 3, but Sophie did really well. She qualified once again with an even better score - 208 and 3rd Place - just lost points on a few crooked sits, but that's her style! So that's her first leg towards her RLVX title (RLV Title plus 5 Q's of 170 or higher from Veteran B class). "

Chris

Another Fun Agility Weekend

Our thanks to Chris for a wonderful report [edited]

"The weekend of June 4-5, 2011, Sophie and I played in NADAC agility hosted by High Octane Agility, Sophie was entered in identical runs both Sat. and Sun. -- (2) Open Standard; (1) Open Jumpers and (1) Elite Tunnelers Didn't know if I was ready to run that much, but we both did quite well, Sophie being the real athlete! On Sat. in her first standard run she Q'd, 1st Place (12 secs. under time) which gave her a new title:
OAC (Open Agility Certificate)
She also Q'd (another 1st Place and 10 secs. under time) in her second standard run. I decided not to move up for Sunday and just run in Open again. Less stress, more fun.
Jumpers was next and we ran well. After our run the Judge said there was a question with the electronic timer not working properly, so we could either take the Q without a time (which would mean no placement) or re-run it. Well, that was a no brainer! I graciously took the Q! Yea, our 2nd leg!
Tunnelers was the last class of the day and is always Sophie's favorite -- nothing to hold her back! She ran clean and Q'd with a 3rd Place by 1/10th of a second! Leg #2!
Back on Sunday,
Her two Standard runs were awesome again. Both Q's and 1st Places (first run 4 secs. under; 2nd run 15 secs. under)!
Tunnelers was later in the day, and even though I could tell she was tiring, she was very responsive, not as fast, but we Q'd (by 1 sec.) with a 2nd Place! I never thought we'd achieve an Elite title as the times in Nadac are tough, but we did!
TN-E (Tunnelers Elite)
Jumpers was the last class of the day, and honestly we were both pretty worn out. Even though my little girl started out pokey, I got her motivated and we finished clean, Q'd (again by 1 sec.) with a 1st Place -- drumroll please......
OJC (Open Jumpers Certificate)
What a super star my little girl was! I entered with the hope of getting her std and jumpers titles, but I didn't realize that tunnelers was possible too, having forgotten she already had one leg."

This brag benefits Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals

No Double-Q, but another leg!

At Kruisin' Kanines AKC trial on Saturday April 30, 2011, Sophie ran Excellent Standard Preferred qualifying with a 3rd Place and 13 secs. under time!
Only 7 legs to go for her Masters!

A Productive Spring Fling

The weekend of March 26-27, 2011 Sophie and Chris trialed in NADAC agility, despite only entering three classes each day it was a successful weekend.
On Saturday Sophie earned her first Elite Tunnelers leg and 2nd Place!
On Sunday she earned her first Open Jumpers leg and 1st Place!

The weekend of April 9th and 10th, 2011 saw the dynamic duo attending the English Springer AKC agility trials at a local sports club.
On Saturday, Sophie ran in Excellent B Jumpers w/Weaves Preferred, Carla Boudrot (TN) was the judge. Her course was challenging, yet Sophie qualified, was 3 secs. under time, and got 3rd Place!
She also ran in Excellent B Standard Preferred (judge Gene Downing from Texas) and once again, Sophie qualified, was 7 secs. under time, and another 3rd Place!
On Sunday, Sophie again qualified in Excellent B Jumpers w/Weaves Preferred, was 9 secs. under time, and earned another 3rd Place!
Excellent B Standard Preferred Sophie qualified, only 2 secs. under time, and with yet another 3rd Place!

(These brags will benefit Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals, a local non-kill shelter and Berkshire Valley BHC)

October 31, 2010 - nothing scary about these performances

The pups and I spent Halloween at APDT trials hosted by OakesK9 at our local K9Jym. There were two trials, one a.m., one p.m.
For a change I entered Sophie in Veterans (8 yrs. eligible). Only 12 exercises, no downs, one or two sits. They use a combo of Level 2 and 3 exercises so for us it was challenging since we haven't ever done Level 3.
Sophie's morning score (under Sue Oakes) was 208 and 4th Place! Sue said she worked really well and lost her 2 pts. for a crooked sit. Good enough for me!
Her afternoon score (under Annette Murphy-Wales) was 204 and 1st Place! Our bonus was a retrieve (a Level 3 exercise -- which Annette apologized for putting into a Veteran course), which Sophie has never done in public, only when we play at home with toys. You can use whatever you choose for the retrieve, so I used one of the toys they had in their expen. As you pass the finish sign and go to the next sign (about turn halt), the judge drops the object. You then send your dog for the retrieve. She went to it and touched it, looked at me and wasn't sure what to do so she came back. Annette said try it again and keep talking to her. So I sent her, she picked it up and part way back she dropped it, but came back to me and sat and finished. So we did get credit for part of it. I was very proud of her performance. Only one more for her Veterans title.

My basset friends entered Holly (one of Gwen's) in Veterans. She is recovering from cancer surgery and underging chemo, and she had the most beautiful runs in both trials! She was so happy and moving around the course faster than we've seen her do agility! We were all so happy for her Q's and how well she's doing.

Chris

(This brag will benefit Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals, a local non-kill shelter and Berkshire Valley BHC)

Friday October 08, 2010 Montgomery All Terrier Agility Trial hosted by the BTCA.

We shared our canopy with Barb, Midge and Fred and the weather couldn't have been better. We got to catch up with folks I only see there each year which was nice.
In our Excellent A Standard Preferred run, Sophie qualified with a 1st Place (9 secs. under time) for her to earn her AXP title (Agility Excellent Preferred) Finally! I guess she was saving it for this special week!
She was the only dog to qualify in her class of 5 entries, so that gave it even more of a wow factor!

We ran Jumpers w/Weaves (B class) in the afternoon and although she started out a bit pokey (such a princess), I got her motivated and we finished the course one sec. under time with a Q and 2nd Place! She was 1 of only 2 dogs to qualify in the class of 8 entries. This is her first JWW B leg; only 9 more for her Masters title.
A nice end to the agility year until Spring; my budget

(This brag will benefit Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals, a local non-kill shelter.)

Sunday October 03, 2010 Two APDT Rally trials hosted by Kan-Do-K9s indoors at K9Jym

Trial No. 1
Sophie was in first under Judge Sue Oakes. She kept pace, paid attention and did all her sits! Of course her favorite exercise is the jump! Our bonus exercise was leave the dog, turn and down them. First try she went mostly down, then sat up. Retry -- goofy me forgets and calls her name before the command so of course she comes! Duh! Retry again -- this time it finally worked!
Sophie's score: 197 and 2nd Place for her second leg! We lost points on crooked sits, which is par for her, especially on left pivots.

Trial No. 2
Judge Annette Murphy-Wales - Sophie worked beautifully throughout the entire course, again doing all her sits! I flubbed the bonus exercise (moving down, call dog front and finish) because I wasn't aware you must keep moving once dog is down to the next sign, whereas I stopped to be sure she was down, then left her. Something to practice for the future. I knew we had Q'd without it!
Sophie's score: 198 and 3rd Place and her RL2 title

(This brag will benefit Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals, a local non-kill shelter.)

Autumn Agility Antics

Octover 2, 2010 at High Octane Agility's NADAC trial unde judge Jackie Loeser, from Montana, Sophie once again showcased her talent.
She earned her second Open Standard-Veterans leg with a 1st Place finish! (The Veterans classification pertains to the handler not the dog.)
And her Open Weavers (WV-O) title with 2nd Place!

Hot Stuff!!

September 25, 2010 was unusually hot (90's), not ideal conditions for the AKC Agility trial in Doylestown, PA - especially as neither Sophie of Chris do heat well. None-the-less, Sophie was one of only two qualifiers and earned her second Excellent Standard Preferred leg under Judge Robert Jeffers!

Success in yet another Agility Venue

Sophie and I tried another agility venue this past weekend (July 10-11, 2010) called CPE (Canine Performance Events). They've been around a while and are similar to USDAA in that they have game classes in addition to standard and jumpers.
Except for Standard, the other titles require combinations of games and jumpers. They have 4 Levels of competition (1, 2, 3, 4) with three different classifications for each (Regular/Veteran, Enthusiast, Specialist). The games are called Colors, Fullhouse, Wildcard, Snooker and Jackpot.
The Title Categories are Standard (just standard legs required), Handler (Colors and Wildcard), Strategy (Snooker and Jackpot) and Fun (Fullhouse and Jumpers).

For the Level 1 Standard category she needed 2 legs and she ran them in style, qualifying in both with two 2nd Places for her CL1-R
On Sunday we ran Jumpers, she qualified and got 1st Places in both! Then she had an awesome run in Fulhouse for a Q and another 1st Place! We needed 19 points in that run and I planned 20! So her title in the Fun category is CL1-F

Chris

(This brag will benefit Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals, a local non-kill shelter.)

Back to NADAC - June 6, 2010

This past Sunday Sophie and I trialed in NADAC agility hosted by High Octane Agility. We were entered in (2) Open Standard, (1) Open Tunnelers and (1) Novice Jumpers.
The Open standard classes were our first try at them, we didn't Q in our first run, but she had fun and it was a good warmup. Our second attempt was much better with her paying attention to me. We Q'd with a 1st Place!
Our next challenge was Tunnelers, Sophie's favorite. I am happy to say she stayed her start line and let me lead out! Mid-way in the course she headed to an incorrect tunnel, mainly because I didn't call her soon enough, but when I did call her she came immediately and we finished the course properly. Much to my complete surprise Sophie Q'd with a 1st Place! So that completed her title! -- Open Tunnelers (TN-O)
We were the very last dog of the day in our Jumpers run (saved the best for last?), and it was still disgustingly hot and humid, although breezy. Again she stayed her start line and although neither one of us was very peppy, we finished the course beautifully, and she had the happiest attitude when we were done, wagging her tail and a big grin on her face! Another Q with a 1st Place and another title! -- Novice Jumpers Certificate (NJC)

Chris

Advancing in AKC

Sophie completed her AJP (Excellent Agility Jumpers w/Weaves "A" Preferred) title at Kruisin' Kanines AKC trial on May 02, 2010 under judge Blair Kelly with a first place finish and 9 seconds under time!!!
Earlier in the day she qualified in Excellent A Preferred Standard under judge Sally Gerlich also with a first place finish.

This brag will benefit Francisvale Home for Small Animals

Sophie did it - APDT Rally Trial Monmouth Battlefield State Park in NJ - April 18, 2010

Sophie earned her RL1X Championship under Judge Sara Jacobs.
After "blowing Chris off" in the morning test, she did everything asked of her and had a really fun time in the ring finishing up with a score of 206 (out of 210)
Nicely done Sophie

Another year - another leg!!!

On April 10/11, 2010 at the Keystone English Springer Spaniel Club AKC Agility Trial, under Judge Dierdre Crofton, Sophie earned her second Excellent A Preferred JWW leg with a First Place finish.
Sophie earned the first leg in April 2009 - heck - no point in rushing!!!!

She's at it again - APDT Rally Trials at the K9Jym in Colmar March 13, 2010

Running in her first Level 2A class (all off-lead), Sophie earned her 1st Level 2A leg and 2nd Place with a score of 193! She also added two more legs to her quest for a Level 1 Championship. Earning her 8th leg with a score of 203 and the 9th with a perfect score of 210!

Dynamic Duo gets it done - DOCNA Trials January 16-17, 2010

Sophie was entered in 4 standard runs (2 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday) since that was the class needed to finish her Select-Specialist Standard title. Although she only needed one qualifying run, Sophie exceeded Chris' expectations (she has not trained since last spring) and came home with three qualifying runs (one was 5 seconds under time!) and three first place finishes.

Kudos to a wonderful team who combine success with having fun.

Plugging away with determination - DOCNA Trials November 7-8, 2009

Despite it being a heavy treatment week, Chris felt well enough to take Sophie to try and finish her Select-Specialist Standard title

All things being considered, this great team did well to add one more qualifying run with a 1st Place (4th leg) to their tally

Another weekend - another title - DOCNA Trials November 1, 2009

On Sunday we had 2 standard and 1 jumpers. She Q'd in Jumpers with a first place for her fifth leg which earned her the title of:
S-SJA (Select-Specialist Jumpers Award)
She also Q'd in the first of her Standard runs with a 2nd Place, being 4 secs. under time, and our second one we were 4 secs. over (yin-yang), so all-in-all a good weekend. So now we're down to needing 2 more legs in Standard (total of 5).

Chris

You can't keep a great dog (or a determined owner) down - Kudos to Chris and Sophie for their achievements at the DOCNA NATIONALS October 09-11, 2009

"Sophie had a phenomenal weekend! She was entered in Standard, Jumpers and North America Challenge over a three-day competition. The finals on Sunday were based on the cumulative scores of Fri. and Sat. of time plus faults, with the top 25% in each class with the lowest totals moving on (there is no actual qualifying). Our class for Standard and Jumpers was 8-inch Specialist-Select. Our Friday Standard course Sophie was running great, but my mishandling caused her to take a tunnel as a wrong course, costing us 10 faults, plus we were over time by 9 secs. for a total of 19 faults (the others were over time also but clean). We earned a 3rd Place, and I figured that would probably nix our chances of the finals, but no big deal, we had fun!
Our Friday Jumpers course was ugly with three pinwheels and a serpentine linking them (these courses are only jumps, nothing else) which made me plan on several front-crosses (which I don't like) in the event Sophie wasn't fast enough to do rear crosses (those who run will understand this mumbo-jumbo). Well, our turn came and she was flying! No fronts needed, all rear crosses, and we finished clean in 38 secs. which gave us 1st Place!&qout;

Saturday we had four runs total -- Standard, Jumpers, NAC and Trigility. Jumpers was first run of the day. Again it had pinwheels, serpentine in middle, etc. My little princess ran last, flew through the course, clean and in 38 secs. -- awarded 1st Place! Whoo-hoo! Guaranteed Finals on Sunday! Then the N.A. Challenge. This too is based on time and faults. The only way to be eliminated is if the dog takes a wrong course. The NAC comprises Eastern Regional placements and Western Regional placements, then they compare scores and award National placements. The course was a nice layout and Sophie ran superb and clean! SOPHIE AWARDED EASTERN REGIONAL 1ST PLACE 8-inch SELECT-SPECIALIST! We received a beautiful rosette and a gold medallion! I was on Cloud 9! Wondered if we would qualify for any national placement, but we wouldn't know until Sun. Our Standard run started well, with Sophie on the walk as obstacle 5, when the Judge and everyone was yelling you have to stop running! My first thought was "oh crap, I did something wrong!", but the timer wasn't working! Yikes I hate when that happens. So that Sophie didn't think she did anything wrong, I called her with a cheery voice and we ran happily towards the start line again and I played with her until they resolved the issue. The Judge also asked if I needed a few minutes to re-collect, but Sophie was fine because I made it fun and assured her it wasn't her fault. Our second run was good, except for a bauble at the weaves, but it was clean otherwise. Everyone was kidding that Sophie already knew what to do since we had to restart! SOPHIE AWARDED 1ST PLACE 8-inch SELECT-SPECIALIST STANDARD! Now no one was sure who would be moving to Finals on Sunday!

Our last run of the day was our fun run - Trigility. Our team "South of the Border" (often misconstrued as the "SOB's") comprised Sophie (Border-England), Holly (Basset-France) and Nicky (Bichon-France/Spain), so our shirt had Sophie's photo on top with Holly and Nicky beneath. Merlin (beagle) was our mascot and he wore a little poncho and sombrero! Totally cute! Trigility is a relay race - Holly ran jumpers (4" Veteran), Sophie ran standard (8-inch) and Nicky ran gamblers (8"). Holly was superb, Sophie superb, and Nicky had one wrong course (only 10 faults) but did the gamble. "SOUTH OF THE BORDER" AWARDED 2ND PLACE EASTERN REGION TRIGILITY TEAM! What an end to a great day! The cumulative totals were posted late afternoon, and Sophie was moving on to the Finals both in Standard and Jumpers! Unbelievable!

Sunday arrived rather chilly (40 deg.), but clear and sunny. Timed Gamblers ran first, but we weren't entered, so we got to rest before running. After Gamblers and prior to running Standard they announced the NAC National Placements. Nail-biting time! SOPHIE PLACED 2ND NATIONALLY 8-inch SELECT-SPECIALIST! Another beautiful rosette and bronze medallion! Does it get any better? We got many congrats for folks we knew and new ones who we just met! After that as I walked the Standard course, I almost didn't care what happened since we had achieved more than I had dreamed of. The course flowed well, with only one trap (tunnel next to dog walk - walk being required obstacle). Sophie up, everything great, achieved the trap to the walk, nailed the entrance to the weaves and completed them. Then to a jump after which I was planning a front cross to pull her back for a serpentine, when she ran towards a far jump (which would have been a wrong course--10 faults) when I SCREAMED "HERE!" and pulled her from it just as she was about to take it! Whew! What a save! We finished the rest of the course in grand style and clean! SOPHIE AWARDED FIRST PLACE 8-inch SELECT-SPECIALIST STANDARD FINALS!
Jumpers was our last run of the day and the course was the easiest of the three days with a beautiful flow throughout the 22 jumps. I knew it would be a good run for her considering she still had tons of energy left, and surprisingly so did I (must have been all the adrenalin from her achievements). Started the course and I could immediately tell Sophie was distracted by the aromas [with the doors open in the arena, the smells from the food vendor wafted in]. She did run the course but wasn't fast, and I really needed to motivate her by clapping and calling hard, but it was clean! Just to show how pokey she was - Fri. 38 sec., Sat. 38 sec., Sun. 52 sec! SOPHIE AWARDED FIRST PLACE 8-inch SELECT-SPECIALIST JUMPERS FINALS!
What a weekend! I went anticipating nothing, hoping I would be healthy enough to do it all, and finished with 9 Rosettes, 2 Medallions and a heck of a fun time with my little girl. Considering my situation [Chris is undergoing chemo - pd], and the fact that Sophie hasn't done any training all summer, she is one amazing companion!

Chris

She is HOT

On Sat. 4/25 at Kruisin' Kanines AKC Agility trial Sophie earned her third Open Standard Preferred leg and 1st Place, giving her another title:
         OAP (Open Agility Preferred)

"I was thrilled with her performance since our class started around 12:00 noon when the clouds disappeared and the sun was out in full force! She was one of only three dogs to qualify in the entire Open class of about 30 dogs!
In the late afternoon (around 3:00) we ran in jumpers, and I am very proud to say that Sophie qualified with a 1st Place to earn her first Excellent A JWW leg! Unbelievable is all I can say because it was an ugly course, having to do a u-turn from a jump to the weaves (which we have never practiced for)! It wasn't our fastest run, but enough to make time, and it was clean. Wow, two Q's in one day...what a great feeling!
On Sun. 4/26, we were back for more (and so was the heat)! Rather than move her up to Excellent Standard, we stayed in Open and once again, Sophie qualified with a clean run and 1st Place which gave her a fourth leg! Again, we were one of only five dogs to qualify in the class!
In my eyes she was a champion trooper doing everything I asked of her in extreme weather conditions."

Chris

March 7th thru April 5th, 2009 - A Very Busy Girl

On Sat. March 7th at Y2K9s Sports Club, Sophie earned her 6th Leg towards her APDT Level 1 Championship with a score of 203 (out of 210)! 4 to go!

On Sat. Mar. 28th at a 3D Dog Training DOCNA trial, Sophie earned her first Select-Specialist Trigility Leg and 1st Place! Only one more for her title! She also earned her fourth Select-Specialist Jumpers Leg and 1st Place! Only one more for that title! Yea!

Sat. Apr. 4th at the Delaware County Kennel Club AKC agility trial Sophie earned her second Open Standard leg and 2nd Place! I didn't think we made time as she was slow on the teeter, but we were 4 secs. under! Whew!

On Sun. Apr. 5th we changed venues and did an APDT Rally trial at Dog Training Club of Chester County in Exton. Sophie earned her 7th leg with a score of 202!

Chris

Sassy Sophie Superstar - January 17-18, 2009 (High Octane Agility NADAC trials)

On Saturday in Touch 'n Go Sophie Q'd with a 1st Place and earned her TG-N (Touch 'n Go Novice title)
She also ran her first Open Tunnelers (just tunnels) and Open Weavers (weaves and tunnels) and qualified in both with 2nd Places!
On Sunday her Open Weavers and Open Tunnelers runs were beautiful once again, and she qualified in both with 1st Places!

....And Another Title

The Little Rascals ran their first time at the Intern level in Trigility at the DOCNA trial on Dec. 28, 2008.
Once again Merlin (beagle) ran jumpers, Sophie ran the standard, and Jax (sheltie) ran the gamble leg.
They qualified, earned 1st Place and a new title!

S-ITA (Specialist-Intern Trigility Award)

Another fun weekend

On Saturday (December 13, 2008) we were entered in 2 Specialist standard runs, 1 Specialist jumpers run and 1 Beginners trigility run. I'll begin with trigility. Specialist is equivalent to Excellent (AKC), Elite (NADAC).

Trigility is a fun game run by teams comprised of 3 competitors. You can create your own team, or if you don't have anyone to run with the day of the trial, can match up with other competitors who are also looking for partners. It doesn't matter what jump heights you run. What does matter is that you must all be at the same level in Trigility.....beginner, open or specialist.

The course is broken into 3 scaled down courses: jumpers, standard and a gamble (distance work) Each member chooses which course they will run. The requirement for qualifying for your title is that the dog running the gamble course must complete the gamble correctly.

Our team "The Little Rascals" is comprised of Sophie, Merlin, our little beagle friend, and Jax, our sheltie friend who is very fast (Sophie loves both the boys). We even have official t-shirts that Marie (Merlin's mom) created. Next time we're together I'll have to get a photo of the team.

It's run as a relay; jumpers first, then standard, then gamble. We decided to have Jax do the gamble course since it had no teeter and he having issues with it right now. So Sophie did the standard course. Merlin ran jumpers very well (only his second time out; he's only 2 yrs. old and very silly on course); then Sophie ran the standard course beautifully; then Jax just blew through his course and got the gamble (it was a send from a jump to a tunnel)! Our team Q'd and got 3rd Place! We were so excited, mainly because Merlin actually paid attention to Marie and didn't go running around the course being cute! For a beginner's title you only need one Q. So here's another one for Sophie:

S-BTA (Select-Beginner Trigility Award)

Our next one is on Dec. 28th when we move up to Intern level. Should definitely be more fun, and the courses get a bit more difficult.

Our first standard run we were 2 secs. over time mainly because we had to redo the weaves. She seems to bail out towards the end which causes us to have to start all over again, losing precious time. Our second run was awesome, and we were 4 secs. under; no weave problems this time. So that was our first Specialist standard leg with a 1st Place!

Sunday (December 14, 2008) the jumpers runs were first in the morning which was nice for a change.
Sophie and I ran in Specialist Level, and Barb and Midge ran in Intern level.

Midge qualified in both with 1st Places! Yippee!

Sophie had absolutely beautiful runs in both earning Q's and 1st Places! She made me look so good! ;o) So 2 down, 1 to go (as long as we don't have any scary stewards again)!

Chris

November 23, 2008 - Half Way There!!!

Yesterday Sophie and I did an APDT rally trial and Sophie earned another "Q" with a score of 201 (out of 210) towards her Level 1 Championship! That's 5 down, 5 to go.
Chris

....and yes, the photo is out of context
Pam

October 12, 2008 - APDT rally trials at Fort Monmouth, NJ

Sophie did not qualify in the morning Trial but turned in a nice performance in the afternoon, in Chris' words:
We qualified with a score of 203 (out of 210)! The judge was very nice, and just loved seeing a border terrier in the ring, and complimented me on how cute she is. Of course, I agreed, even if I am biased! ;o)
So we're up to leg 4 out of 10 required for her championship.

October 3, 4 & 5, 2008 - DOCNA Championships

On Friday she Q'd in 8-inch Jumpers with a 1st Place, 8" Snakes 'n Ladders with a 1st Place, and 8" Standard with a 2nd Place!
On Sat. she Q'd again in Jumpers with a 1st Place and in Standard with a 2nd Place, which qualified her for the finals on Sunday!
For the finals on Sunday: Sophie finished 1st Place in Jumpers and 2nd Place in Standard receiving beautiful rosettes! Truly a performance to be proud of!

September 30, 2008 - Montgomery BTCOA Agility trial in PA

From Chris
Sophie had the most beautiful Open jumpers run with a 1st Place! I received a lot of compliments on our run throughout the day, and coming from other terrier owners, especially the border terrier folks, it meant a lot. I'm glad we had a relaxed run, but it's finally time to move up to Excellent!

September 27/28, 2008 - NADAC agility at Kruisin' Kanines (this was the weekend that hurricane Kyle came through)

Saturday, Sophie earned her second Novice Jumpers Leg and 1st Place! Only one to go.
She also earned her third Novice Weavers leg and 1st Place which gives her another title!
Novice Weavers (WV-N)

Sunday, in Chris' words:
Our first run of the day was Open standard and just as we got to the start line, it started drizzling. No big deal. Everything was going well, until the weaves again. Wrong entry so we had to re-do which caused us to go over time by 2 secs. Ugh! But she was happy and got lots of treats anyway.
We were scheduled for Novice jumpers and a Touch and Go run. If we Q'd in either it would be her titles. The rain stopped for a bit while elite and open ran jumpers. Just as open jumpers finished the skies opened up and it poured for at least a 1/2 hour. The trial stopped temporarily, and at that point some of the competitors packed up and left. To say the fields filled up is an understatement. We walked the rings to see their condition, and the water was over the tops of our shoes, so both the judge and club president decided it was too dangerous for dogs and handlers to run so the trial was shut down. But it was nice to get home early for a change. If it hadn't closed, I would not have run her in those conditions anyway. Her welfare is much more important than any ribbon!

September 20/21, 2008 - AKC agility in Doylestown

Saturday, Sophie finished two new titles and earned 1st Places!
Novice Agility Preferred (NAP)
and
Open Jumpers w/Weaves Preferred (OJP)
Sunday, in Chris' words:
I decided to be brave and moved her up to Open standard pref. for Sunday, but kept her in Open JWW rather than moving to excellent because I know I'm not ready for that stress.
Well, standard was run early in the day before too much hotness, and low-and-behold:
Sophie earned her first Open Standard Preferred leg and 2nd Place!
Our jumpers run was late in the day which by then was really sunny and hot (what happened to fall?), and even though we weren't super fast, Sophie qualified with an exact course time of 46 sec. So that gave her a 4th leg (only need 3), which I said makes it easier for her to walk and run! ;o)

Never a Dull Moment!

On Saturday August 16, 2008 we trialled in DOCNA and Sophie went 3 for 3 with all 1st Places!
In standard since she has her title, I wanted to have a fun, unstressed run so I kept her at Intern level instead of moving her up. It was ourfirst run of the day and she was definitely on. The big shocker -- she was 20 secs. under time (sct 64.23; Sophie's time 44.69)! I've never seen her run so well (or me keep up for that matter)! She made me look like a pro! Guess it's time to move to Specialist.
We q'd in the North American Challenge again giving us her 3rd leg. In that we were 9 secs. under time.
Her last run of the day was Jumpers, and she gave it her all after a long day. We were 5 secs. under time and that gave her the 3rd leg for another new title:

         S-IJA (Select-Intern Jumpers Award)

She has truly come into her own considering we started in this venue last August ('07) when she was doing zoomies in the ring and totally out of control!

Chris

Sophie's at it again!

Sophie has once again triumphed in the agility ring! The weekend of July 19th and 20th 2008 we played in DOCNA at Kruisin' Kanines, and again the temperatures were in the high 90's!
Sophie earned her first two Select-Intern Jumpers legs with a 3rd Place and a 1st Place!
She also earned her third Select-Intern Standard leg and 1st Place to give her another title!
S-ISA (Select-Intern Standard Award)
She earned her second leg in the Select-Intern North America Challenge with a 1st Place! This counts towards her Merit Award title which requires 5 legs.
Agility is definitely her sport, and I'm looking forward to our participation in the DOCNA Nationals in October!
_ _ _ _ _ _
This past Sunday, August 3rd, we played in APDT rally at DTC of Chester County. Thankfully it was indoors with air conditioning!
Sophie earned another Level 1 leg towards her RL1 championship with a score of 207 (out of a possible 210)! It would have been a perfect score, but at the call to front, finish left forward, I misdirected her and she started around to the right, so we just repeated the exercise and did it correctly, so that's where we lost our 3 points.
I was so proud of her performance! 3 down, 7 to go!

Chris

Definitely her venue

The weekend of June 7 and 8, at the High Octane Agility trials, in spite of the scorching heat (95 degrees +), Sophie earned two new NADAC agility titles with clean runs!

Saturday we ran standard first in the morning, and it was already quite hot. Our first run I sent the little miss off course twice with slow commands. Our second attempt (the course in reverse) was super with a clean run, 12 secs. under time and 1st Place!
Later that afternoon (could it get any hotter?) I almost decided not to bother with the rest because I was beyond hot and worn out, yet Sophie seemed ok so we ran Weavers (tunnels and sets of weaves) and Tunnelers (just tunnels...lots of them).
Sophie was super with the tunnels aspect, but tried to avoid the 3 sets of weaves we had to do, but I got her to complete them anyway. I was happy we ran clean, but had no expectations of making time since I was moving slower than a turtle.
Our Tunnelers course was last. Sophie's favorite class, yet she wasn't her fastest, but we ran clean. Yes! Now we could really cool down with the A/C in the van, then head on home! Just for fun before we left I went to check how we did on the last two runs. I couldn't believe that WE Q'D IN BOTH (each one only 2 secs. under time)! Sophie earned her 2nd Weavers leg and 2nd Place! Her Tunnelers Q (1st Place) gave her the title!

Sunday we were back for more (I must be nuts). At least there was a stronger wind which made it a bit more tolerable, and clouds had moved in to cover the sun.
Again, our standard runs were first. Her first one was clean, 13 secs. under time, and 1st Place! Yippee, our Novice Standard title! She was moving.
Our last run of the day was a new game called Hoopers. Think of a hula hoop on edge that the dogs have to run through. There's more to it than that, but it's too involved to explain in one sentence. There were about 31 hoops on course, but some are non-test and some are set up as tests within the course.
Sophie and I gave it our first try. Even with just flat running, I could tell she was hot and really tired (only 1 sec. under time). But was a trooper she was! We Q'd and got 2nd Place and our 1st Hoopers leg!

Chris

She's at it again

Chris' wonderful write up from April 26-27, 2008

On Saturday at our home club (Kruisin' Kanines) Sophie earned her 2nd Open JWW Preferred leg and 1st Place with a perfect score of 100 and 10 secs. under time! The class had about 47 dogs, and only about 10 qualified, so she's quite the little lady!

She also earned her 2nd Novice Standard Preferred leg and 1st Place (again, perfect score)! She is just amazing me more and more at every trial.

Sunday at the APDT rally trial, we had two runs and we Q'd in both with scores of 198 and 209 (210 being perfect with the bonus; 200 being perfect). Our first course I mistakenly had a brain fart and instead of doing a right step to a halt, did a right pivot, so we lost 5 points on that. Our other pts. lost were for tight lead (she tends to forge or go wide which does pull the lead). We did complete the bonus for an extra 10 pts.

I really worked harder on our second one to not have such a tight lead and it obviously worked, plus I made sure I did the step right correctly! These legs count towards her RL1 Championship. You need 10 Q's total after achieving your initial title. So.....only 8 to go! If we don't do a lot of rally, she enjoys it more so that's my plan.

Chris

...and a nice start to 2008

On March 29-30, 2008, Sophie completed 4 titles in two days of fun per Chris' report:

Saturday

S-SBA (Select-Beginners Standard Award)
    Run 1 -- sct = 61.39 drt = 37.98 (1st Place)
    Run 2 -- sct = 61.39 drt = 39.27 (1st Place)
Run 1 gave us the title, but it's nice to get an extra one just in case!

S-INAC (Select-Intern North America Challenge)
    sct = 72.64 drt = 61.38 (2nd Place)

Select-Beginners Jumpers
    sct = 36.66 drt = 19.85 (1st Place - our second leg) I was amazed at our run time; never realized we were moving that fast!

Sunday

S-BSLA (Select-Beginners Snakes 'n Ladders)
    sct = 82.88 drt - 69.92 (1st Place) at beginner's level you only need one leg to earn a title!

Snakes 'n Ladders is a course made up of just contacts, several sets of weaves and tunnels. You plan your own course, but you MUST have a tunnel between each contact and weaves and make time; for example, weaves, tunnel, a-frame, tunnel, teeter, tunnel, weaves, etc. It's a fun game to play.

S-BJA (Select-Beginners Jumpers)
    sct = 32.00 drt = 21.88 (1st Place)
We were the next to last run of the day but she easily earned her third leg for the title!

Select-Intern Standard
    Run 1 -- sct = 67.66 drt = 52.49 (1st Place)
    Run 2 -- sct = 68.90 drt = 52.93 (1st Place)
I moved her up to Intern for Sunday, feeling confident she would do just fine. We only need one more leg to title.

Successful end to 2007

At the DOCNA trials on Saturday 29, 2007 Sophie was entered in Standard Beginners Select and Jumpers Beginners Select.
Demonstrating beautiful teamwork with Chris, she earned her first two standard legs with a 1st and 2nd Placement! She also earned her first jumpers leg and 1st Place!

Another weekend and two more titles - no time for hibernating

At the DOCNA trials this weekend (December 08-09, 2007), Sophie earned her:
C-BSA (Competition-Beginners Standard Award)
and
C-BJA (Competition-Beginners Jumpers Award)

In Chris' words [edited]:

On Saturday, she earned her final two jumpers legs (only 2 secs. under time each run--cutting it a bit close!) and earned a 3rd and 4th Place! I was thrilled!
We also had 2 standard runs on Saturday. Our first one I messed her up prior to the weaves so we ended up 4 secs. over time.
But I redeemed myself on our second run and Sophie Q'd and took 1st Place! This time we were 12 secs. under time! This was our second leg towards our title. Yea! A double Q!

On Sunday we had 2 standard runs and 1 jumpers run. Our standard runs were early in the day. Our first run we Q'd, got 1st Place and were 9 secs. under time! Yea, our title! Our second run we Q'd, got 2nd Place and again were 9 secs. under time! Always nice to have an extra leg.

This brag will benefit the Francisvale Home for Small Animals.

Keeping Positively Busy

This past Sunday, (December 2, 2007), at the Dog Training Club of Chester County, Sophie earned her APDT Rally Level 1 Title!

From Chris:

Her score was 202 (out of a possible 210)! We lost points on occasional tight lead, and one exercise we had to repeat (halt, down, walk around). She was a bit nervous and didn't want to stay down, so I chose to do it over (lost 3 pts.). But she did the bonus exercise (halt, recall, finish). We were also in a run-off for 5th place with a golden retriever (had to do the first 6 exercises), but the golden was more precise. Not bad for us, qualifying in 3 out of 4 trials!

This brag will benefit the Francisvale Home for Small Animals.

A Week to remember, and what a venue to have it happen

Montgomery All Terrier Agility Cluster (AKC) October 02-05, 2007

A wonderful report from Chris [edited]

I still can't believe my little girl earned two AKC agility titles in one week! ;o) Wow!

Tuesday:

Novice Standard - 2nd Place - Score 86 - our 1st Leg (1 wrong course and 4 secs. over time)
The course run was a bit challenging, having a complete u turn from jump 3 to the weaves. Since I didn't call her fast enough, she went to the dog walk (wrong course) which was parallel to where we needed to be. The judge (Bonnie McDonald) happened to be standing behind the walk (to better observe the entire course) so as Sophie got to the center she stopped and started wagging her tail and giving kisses to Bonnie! Well, everyone started chuckling and saying how cute and Bonnie held her on the walk so she wouldn't jump off towards her, but I said to Sophie "come on, it's not going to help you, so let's go" and she finished the dog walk, and I got her on track and we finished the course properly.
Later as I was checking the posted score sheet and happily realized we Q'd, Bonnie came by and said "is this the little one that gave me kisses?" "She is adorable and I'm not a terrier person, but I really like her!" Maybe this judge kissing works after all? I was just thrilled that we finally earned our first leg!

Wednesday: (our first double Q!)

Novice JWW - TITLE - 2nd Place - 10 secs. under time (Judge Bonnie McDonald)
Our third leg - I was beside myself with glee! We FINALLY got her title after 2 years! It's that terrier persistence that works for humans too! I had a friend take our photo with Bonnie, and she was so happy for us!
Novice Standard - 1st Place - Score 96 (4 secs. over time) - 2nd Leg Yippee!!
What can I say other than I was so, so proud of my little girl and her performance, and earning our first double Q!

Thursday: : (Another double Q!)

Novice JWW - 3rd Place - Score 98 (2 secs. over time)
So glad to earn an extra leg just in case! ;o)
Novice Standard - TITLE - 1st Place - Score 95 (1 refusal) (9 secs. under time) (Judge Bonnie McDonald)
Sophie was the ONLY 12-inch dog to qualify!!!
By this point, I'm definitely on Cloud 9 having never expected anything like this! Unbelievable!

Friday:

Novice Standard - 1st Place - Score 100 - (10 secs. under time)
AGAIN, Sophie was the ONLY 12-inch dog to qualify!!!

This was a week that I will never forget. Hoping for at least one jumpers leg to finish her title, and she gives me TWO titles with extra legs on each! For each Q she received a toy and a Q-cookie from the hosting clubs. My only complaint is that our parent club doesn't support performance events like it does conformation; key rings seem rather cheap compared to what the other breed clubs offered their qualifiers, especially since this cluster is associated with Montgomery. Considering what Sophie and I achieved last week, I think a nicer reward would have been appreciated and not just by me; the other Border folk had the same complaint.

...and her fall even more exciting

Kruisin' Kanines trial (home club) September 29-30, 2007

Saturday (29th):
Touch 'n Go (tunnels and contacts Novice Level) - was our first time trying it so I didn't know what to expect. FIRST PLACE, 1st Leg and 7 secs. under time!

Sunday (30th): (all are Novice level)
Touch 'n Go was first - 2ND PLACE, 2nd Leg and 16 secs. under time! Wow, a great way to start the day! Only one more leg for a title!
Jumpers - 2ND PLACE, 1st Leg and a mere 7/10 of a sec. under time! (couldn't cut it much closer!)
Standard run No. 2 - 2ND PLACE, 1st Leg and 12 secs. under time! Hooray!

Chris summed it up with: I do believe that next year we'll be achieving our Novice titles in several of the classes. Sophie keeps me on my toes! She's always surprising me, and I love her for it!
Little did she know......

Sophie's Summer has been a good one

a full report from Chris

The venue was DOCNA (Dogs On Course in North America - August 18-19, 2007) and it's a nice venue. Very relaxed (of course I'm not) and nice open flowing courses. The folks who run them are really nice too. It's like having a trial in your backyard. I really like it.
The trials were held inside on artificial turf in a fabric covered structure. The kind that allows them to role up the sides when the weather's nice. The weather was nice and cool on Sat. We had a Competition Beginners standard run and a jumpers run. Our standard run was first......well, let's just say Sophie was feeling the coolness and was crazed! She was a MACH dog (mach as in speed, not titles)! If I remember correctly (really need to watch my video again) the only obstacles she did in proper sequence was the first one (tunnel), when I sent her to the teeter, and the last jump! Needless to say, we got a big E for our run (possibly for Entertaining?)!
Our jumpers run was late in the day. There are no weaves in their jumpers courses, but you must run clean and make time. I wasn't that nervous and felt confident we'd do our best. Having walked her and playing with her outside during the day helped settle her down and tire her out a bit. It worked!
Sophie earned her 1st DOCNA Competition Beginners Jumpers leg and 3rd Place!
We were 4 secs. under time! What a recovery from the morning!

Sunday we were back for more. We were both a bit tired, but I could tell she was much more settled. We had 2 standard runs and 1 jumpers. The standard course is run in one direction the first run, then they reverse it for your 2nd run (same as NADAC). The first way I thought was better for us as far as having weaves after the tunnel, which I can gather her to focus. Well, that didn't work! ;o) She was ahead of me, ran past the weaves to sniff along the fencing. When I called her back my body language sent her back to the tunnel. We tried the weaves again, but she missed the entry and I know enough not to push her to try more than twice because her face tells me she's stressing, so we continued. She missed part of the serpentine jump sequence (went straight to the tunnel which was after it), but we completed the rest of the course just fine. So I'd say it was 85% good due to my handling errors.
In Run No. 2 I was concerned about the jump, weaves, tunnel sequence since she would be coming over the jump at an angle. She's had that sequence before and she usually bypasses the weaves to the tunnel (much more fun). After the jump I called the weaves, but again she ran to the fencing to sniff. My golden opportunity to call her back to focus, she did the weaves, and we got through the rest with the tire being the last obstacle. I gave her the wrong command and she ran past it (luckily DOCNA has no refusals), but I called her back around it and then sent her through so we finished 6 secs. under time!
Sophie earned her 1st DOCNA Competition Beginners Standard leg and 2nd Place!

Still rolling....

In Chris' words

On Sunday July 15, 2007 at our agility club's NADAC trial, in the absolutely awful heat (92 degrees) and humidity, Sophie earned her second Tunnelers leg and 1st Place!

We were 5 secs. under time. I was so pleased with her performance! It's so much fun when we come together as a team, especially since she absolutely LOVES this class! Fortunately I have it recorded and it's fun to watch her run flat out on the course! Only one to go for her title!

Two legs in two months - Sophie's going overboard (for Sophie)

Sophie earned her 2ND APDT RALLY LEVEL 1 leg and 1ST PLACE with a score of 204 (perfect score is 210) under judge Natalene Lamming at the Pawsable K9s Events trial in Freehold, NJ on July 1st, 2007 [celebrating her Canadian roots no doubt - pd]!

I'm very proud of her, and winning 1st Place was icing on the cake!
There were 16 entries in our class. The course had some challenging sections, but Sophie came through for me. The bonus exercise was leave your dog in a sit then call them to heel position (worth an extra 10 pts). We had never tried it before so I had no idea what to expect, but when I called her she came immediately into position, but took her time to finally sit and then she was quite crooked, but we only lost 1 pt.

There were two other LBDs in Sophie's class and they also qualified. We enjoyed saying "Borders Rule!" ;o)
Chris

On a roll...............

On Sunday, May 6, 2007 Sophie earned her first APDT Level 1 Rally leg and 2nd Place! Yea!
Her score was 201 (she earned and extra 10 pts. for the bonus exercise).

This brag will benefit Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals, a local no-kill shelter.

No point in rushing...............

On Sunday, April 29th 2007 at Kruisin' Kanines' (home club) AKC Agility trials,
Almost 2 years after earning the first leg, Sophie earned her 2nd Novice JWW leg and 2nd Place!

In Chris' words:

Right from the start line we were poetry in motion! She was totally focused on my direction, and we were a thing of beauty! The standard course time was 41 secs. and we ran it in 27! I'm still in shock! ;o)
I couldn't remember if it was our first or second leg until I check my records at home. She earned her first in May 2005 and 2nd Place. I told her we need to step it up; can't wait every two years to qualify! :o)

This brag will benefit Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals, a local no-kill shelter.

Introducing

U-CD Jansim Sassy Sophia, RN, NJP

We did it!

On Saturday , July 22, 2006 Sophie earned her UKC CD at Hilltown DTC under Judge Louann Currey!
It wasn't our best performance (173) but enough for her third leg and that was my goal! I'm so proud of us as a team completing it in 3 out of 3 shows, with minimal training, and in spite of my nerves!
She got lots of treats and kisses and hugs!
I should mention that she had 5 no sits! I think Louann was kind to us! She's a nice judge if you ever have the opportunity to show under her.
Sunday we went back for a spare leg, and let's say, thank goodness for Saturday! Not one sit during the entire on and off-lead healing or figure 8!
A fun part was Sophie made friends with an Irish Setter, Harry, who she adores and he likes her very much. When we were in the ring, his handler had to take him out of the room because he was whining so much for her! Plus we won one of the raffle prizes which was a metal dog crate, small dog size, filled with an thick orthopaedic crate pad (Spunky can use it for sure), toys, treats, grooming items, and a martingale collar and lead. It was all donated by dog.com. So Sunday wasn't a complete washout! ;o)

It's a Title!

Sophie earned her AKC Rally Novice Title

In Chris' words:

Thursday, November 17, 2005 at Penn Treaty KC, we earned her 3rd leg for her title with a score of 90 (out of 100)! That was our personal best! Besides our green ribbon we also got a New Title Rosette which is way cool!
Friday, at Greater Phila., we earned a 4th leg in Rally with a score of 93! Upped our personal best! I was very happy. Our points are always lost in healing (no surprise there). I entered Friday as a backup just in case.

Weaving her Magic........

On Saturday, July 16th, at Kruisin&146; Kanines&146; (home club) NADAC trials,
SOPHIE EARNED HER FIRST NADAC NOVICE WEAVERS LEG AND 4TH PLACE!

In Chris' words:

This was our first attempt at Weavers. It consists of just tunnels and weave poles (lots of them, sets of 12 and 6, usually used twice during the course). I was proud of how she stayed her start line, found the weave entry after a tunnel with me just sending her, she stayed with me on course, enabling us to perform all the weaves plus take the tunnels in the proper sequence, and make time!
The trials were held in an indoor sports arena which kept us out of the many thunderstorms that came through all weekend, but it wasn't air conditioned, so the heat and humidity were really intense, especially on Sunday. Although the thunder did spook some dogs from running, Sophie was fine with it. There were large fans in the building, plus we had kiddy pools outside, and I had Sophie set up in her x-pen with her crate, plenty of drinking water and a fan. I also had a dishpan that I put water in for her to lay in to cool off, only when I was there with her. Everyone was saying how she had her own little condo area complete with pool! Only the best for my little girl!

SATURDAY WAS JANSIM QUALIFYING DAY!!
Chris and Sophie (Miss Zoomies)

Rallying Round........

.........and two good ones at that!

In Chris' words:

This weekend Sophie and I entered AKC Rally for the first time on a whim, not having done much preparation in the way of training.

Saturday we qualified with a score of 87!
Today we qualified with a score of 92!

Only one leg to go!
You start out with a score of 100 and then it's up to you! Since we didn't want the judge to just stand and be bored, we gave her stuff to write about! Mostly it's our heeling part. Sophie doesn't understand that when she's on a loose lead she needs to stay closer and not forge! Even so, I'm quite proud of us. I was able to read the signs and understand them!

The trials were on June 4th and 5th, 2005.

Alert, active and AGILE!

Sophie earned her 1ST AKC Novice B JWW LEG and 2nd Place at the Lower Bucks DTC trial on May 22, 2005

Chris writes:
"The course time was 38 secs. and we ran it exactly at 38! She had one refusal when she ran past a jump, but I got her back and focused and we finished with flair!"

It's a Title (and the start of another one)

That's right.....Sophie earned the third leg of her AKC Novice JWW-Preferred Title at the Prestigious Montgomery Terrier Agility Cluster on Friday October 01, 2004. She then followed this up on Saturday with a NADAC Novice Tunnelers Leg at the Kruisin' Kanines NADAC Trial (Kruisin' Kanines is Sophie's "home" club).

This brag will benefit a local no-kill shelter

Following up in Fine Style

While some of us still feel like we are still recovering from the Specialty, Sophie is out their covering the ground - Agility ground that is. She earned her 2nd AKC JWW Preferred leg on September 19, 2004 with 3rd Place and a score of 95! - Nice going Sophie and Chris!

2004 BTCA National Specialty Brag

Sophie continued her versatile ways at the Specialty, taking First Place in Pre-novice Obedience, a Third Place in Puppy Sweeps (21-24 mths) and passing her Canine Good Citizen Test.

Not Just a Pretty Face

Sophie changed gears to earn her first AKC Jumpers with Weaves leg and 2nd Place at the Lehigh Valley Poodle Club agility trial, June 27, 2004!
In Chris' words:
We had 2 refusals and were still 3 seconds under time. The refusals were because she's so fast on the course, she just blew past the jumps before I got her back on course to do them properly. Her favorites are the tunnels (of course!). Initially I thought the course was going to be too challenging for our level of training, but she proved me wrong once again! Yeah!
On Saturday it was a different story, she had lots of fun running the course, but we incurred 4 refusals and 2 wrong courses. Seems she liked the two tunnels so much she did each of them twice! Eventually, we did complete the course, and she didn't knock any bars down. The judge was laughing too just watching how much fun she was having, especially with the tunnels. I just take it in stride and keep it upbeat and happy for Sophie so she'll always enjoy herself. Life's too short to worry about qualifying!
She's so fast off the start line (we definitely need to work on her stay) because she HATES waiting! At the end of the run I was more exhausted than she ever could be! Forgot how out of shape I've gotten. I can't wait to start running the standard courses once she conquers her fear of the teeter. It's the only obstacle holding her back.

One step at a time

December 13, 2003 - Delaware Water Gap Kennel Club under Judge Charles Edward Dalton - Winners Bitch over two other females for her second point - this judge really likes Sophie.

First step......... but oh so important!

September 13, 2003 - Lehigh Valley KC show (in the downpour) under Judge William Ferrera - Winners Bitch and Best Opposite Sex for her first point.