It took nineteen tries before we qualified in Excellent Standard.
It was always something... usually a teeter bail or table refusal, but occasionally it was something completely random, like a bar down or missed contact.
Then, after that long dry spell, Marge earned her AX title in November 2011 with three straight Q's. Then began her Excellent B/Masters Standard career.
And finally, though we've been plagued with many of the same issues - she still hates that damn teeter - Marge earned her MX this Sunday in a 16-point run at my dog club's agility trial.
Her best buddy Spirit also earned her MX on the very same day. We had the two girls pose together with their pretty giant ribbons.
Not much else of note happened the rest of the weekend. Marge picked up 12 points in a Jumpers run, but all of our other runs were NQs. The courses were very hard.. a couple of them almost too hard, if you ask me. That, coupled with a few communication issues between Marge and I, put us in to a slump for the weekend.
But, we still had tons of fun. Marge hung out with her friends and got to play agility. And that's what matters most!
Our new totals: 6 QQ's, 263 MACH Points, 10 MX legs, 20 MXJ legs. For 2014 Nationals, we have 2/4 QQ's, 8/20 total Q's, and 96/500 MACH points.
We're taking a couple of weeks off (including no agility at all, not even class, this week), before gearing up for FIVE weekends straight of agility starting on Memorial Day weekend. It's the most agility we've ever done, but I think Marge can handle it. It'll be a big push to get some of what we need for Nationals before things quiet down for the warm summer months.
MargeBlog started in early 2009 as a training journal for my newly adopted, skittish Lab mix, Marge. Marge's world was small back then; her fears really limited the things I could do with her. Aside from trips to the park and attending beginner training classes, Marge was mostly a stay at home gal - not because either of us wanted her to be, just because the demons from her unsuitable upbringing continued to haunt her.
Slowly, the fear diminished, her world grew. Now, Marge is a fun-loving, squirrel-chasing, winning Agility and Rally dog who accompanies me to a wide variety of places. Here, you will frequently find detailed training updates, snippets from Marge's every day life at home, and photo-filled posts detailing our many outdoor adventures.
This is more than just a dog blog - it is an actual look in to what one shelter dog's life ultimately became when she found her first and forever home and began to blossom.
About Marge
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A rescue from Georgia bounced around from shelter to shelter and state to state with her siblings, Marge did not have the luxury of living in a home - my home - until just past her first birthday. A life behind bars had taken its toll on Marge, whose obvious fear of people, noise, and city life in general left a lot for her to learn about how to get by in New York.
Marge is a different dog now than she was back then. It took years of new, positive life experiences, but her fears, which used to consume everything we did, are now only one theme in a great big book of adventures.
These days, Marge enjoys going to training classes, taking trips to agility trials, having play dates with friends, and eating anything that's even remotely edible - not bad for a dog who spent her puppy days in cages.
My time with Marge has been a learning experience for which I am ever grateful. As my first dog, she has taught me and continues to teach me so much more than I ever imagined about dogs, training, and behavioral/fear issues. She's a fun dog with a sense of humor who loves life and learning.
