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.
I wouldn't do it if she didn't love it!