MACH Seeker!!!!!

I am woefully behind in my blogging. Poor Seeker... I didn't forget our MACH! Seeker earned his MACH at Mountaineer Kennel Club's trials on April 7, 2013. We went in to the weekend needing 3 QQs. I have never earned that many QQs with one dog in a 3-day weekend. I ended Piper's AKC career in February, so only Seeker made the trip with me. This turned out to be a very good thing.

On Friday, Seeker earned QQ #18 with placements. On Saturday, we earned QQ #19, also with placements. I did NOT want to become a member of the 19 or 19 1/2 club. I was hoping to finish his title without joining that club. On Sunday, I was nervous and didn't want to even jinx myself. I did everything the same, from what I ate for breakfast to where I parked at the trial. Yes, I can be very superstitious. This would be one of those times.

Our standard run wasn't without drama as Seeker turned wrong because I got behind, but the judge didn't call a refusal when he saved my butt and fixed the mistake. Whew! What a good boy!! When JWW came, I walked the course for the entire 8 minutes, plotting and planning. This was his kind of course! He did everything I asked him to do, hit the weaves with control and speed and there was only once that I raised my voice to him. I don't need to do that, but my nerves were showing. He sailed through the course, took the last jump and I screamed like a crazy person!! WE DID IT!!! We needed 3 QQs and we got ALL 3!!! He placed in 5 of his 6 runs!

Seeker is an awesome agility partner. He is consistent, athletic, and most of all LISTENS. He can reverse course and save my butt. He seems sometimes intuitive about a course. Most of all, he is an absolute joy to run. He has a blast every time he steps to the line.

I have many people to thank for our continued success. First, I have to thank his breeder, Terri Florentino (Shebaa Border Collies) for giving me the opportunity to have this boy in my life. Second, I have to thank Linda Husson for breeding her awesome Token to Terri's wonderful Meg and producing this gifted, talented and fabulous litter. Many thanks goes to our instructors, Donna Rohaus and Kim and Eric Wong, for helping us become a successful team. This is our third agility championship, with the other two being a USDAA ADCH and an ASCA ATCH.

While our AKC journey is over, we continue playing in USDAA and CPE. We are qualified to go to USDAA Nationals (Cynosport) and are looking forward to going to Tennessee this Fall. We continue working on Seeker's USDAA Bronze ADCH and his CPE C-ATCH. As long as he is having fun, we will keep playing the game.  The videos below are of his MACH runs... The second one is just his JWW run and has my crazy, screaming celebration! I am a goofball... but he still loves me. Thank you Seeker! I love you to the moon and back!!!