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Someone watching me watch Bossa would've thought I'm nuts! I was clapping hard at the end. LOVE Bossa's awesome speed and intensity. LOVE seeing both views and hearing John and spectators applause. Can't get enough of viewing the weaves entry. WOW!!!!! John Willmore with 2 year old FC Chirribi's Bossa Nova Baby OA OAJ NF JE CA, breeder May-Gun Bandinge of Gotland, Sweden.
Diane Webb did a great job combining the two videos!
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 Huge C@ngratulati@ns (and rosette!) to John Willmore, Diane Webb, and 10 year old Olive on Olive's Preferred Agility Champion (PACH) achievement today! Here are John, judge Ronda Bermke, and FC MACH PACH Autumn Olive von Dorndorf VCD1 TD CD RAE MXS MJB MXPB PAX NF JE Sfk Wa-T BHP-G.
I am delighted with all that Team Olive has accomplished! We dog people often focus on what we are teaching our dogs and lose perspective on what our dogs are teaching us. In some ways, I have a LOT of patience. But not like this. I guess I have always felt like I had to have something to work with. Yes, I would have been one of those people who thought "Why is she showing that dog?!" Stories like this one remind me that there can be a very rich pay off to just hanging in there and digging deeper. It is also cool to see a Berner who actually looks like a working dog. (Coulda/shoulda not put the music to the video but that's my opinion. I hit the mute button real fast!) Kudos to the team!
Watching them, I thought of Maxine Brinker and Nutmeg and their struggles early on. Nutmeg's problem, though, was that she was too willing. In her early years of competition, Nutmeg missed a lot of contacts and made up many of her own courses. But with Maxine's patience and persistence, Nutmeg learned the finer arts of agility - such as not flying off obstacles, or forging her own paths! And, like this woman, Maxine was nothing if not persistent. It paid off. Together, Maxine and Nutmeg earned MACH5. That's 100 trials of qualifying in both Excellent classes in the trial ("qualifying" meaning zero faults and within standard course time), and 3, 750 Master Agility Champion points!!! I believe they were the just the third dachshund team to do it. And the first standard longhair. I admire their accomplishments.  Olive Happy 10th birthday to the amazing "O" litter!!! Thank you, Jennifer!
 DCA President Carl Holder, John Willmore, Diane Webb, and Olive! Here is a full report from Diane! We're back from the Dachshund Club of America National Specialty --  Carl Holder, John, Diane, Bossa, and Olive! Thank you for a great report on your marvelous accomplishments and, too, the fabulous photos and videos!
I am so proud of all of you!!! ps Wow, that Bossa is fast!  Maxine Brinker, judge Laura English, and Nutmeg! Photo by Scott Persky. Maxine Brinker called: "Patt, she did it!" Nexus' sister Nutmeg, (they turned 12 in March), went into this weekend needing TWO of the 750 points required to become a Master Agility Champion for the fifth time. She ran a strong Jumpers course, first course of the day, and completed those requirements for MACH 5!!! She is just the third dachshund to achieve MACH 5! Maxine said she will run Nutmeg in Standard today, may also, depending on how good Nutmeg appears to be feeling, run her tomorrow, after which Nutmeg is Retired from agility. A lot of swimming, some earthdog and barn hunt, and, hopefully, helping Maxine discipline a new puppy, are the plans for Nutmeg's future. FANTASTIC ACCOMPLISHMENT AND C@NGRATULATI@NS TO MAXINE AND MACH 5 NUTMEG!! Watch the run which was videoed for Maxine by Pam Dural and posted on Coach's Eye. What a phenomenal early-training concept! I see in Comments that it is criticized quite a bit as being too hard on young bodies. I guess I have to ask those folks if they have seen puppies play! Post by working-dog.eu. Wow! More GOOD news this weekend. Olive's turn!  "Olive did her part towards Dorndorf Weekend by earning QQ #14, 42 points, and two First places with her best Masters Preferred Standard and JWW runs ever! C@NGRATULATI@NS to Olive, John, and Diane!!!
I am guessing from the photo that it is not raining in southern California. But I have heard that it never rains in California. At the AKC Agility Invitational in Orlando, Florida yesterday, 11.5 year old MACH4 Nutmeg v Dorndorf L CDX JE CG qualified in Time 2 Beat! Nutmeg is owned and handled by Maxine Brinker of Illinois.
Congratulations, you two!! Dog Snobs has an amusing and insightful article: The Types of People That Do Agility.
Have a humorous look! I did not attend the Dachshund Club of America National events this year, most of which were held at Purina Farms in Gray Summit, Missouri. Dorndorf was wonderfully represented in the performance arena, however, as these many bulletins testify. KUDOS and my THANKS to you all! You are the BEST! ---Love, Patt Tracking May 9 Ochre, owned and handled by Laura Knoll, ran her Variable Surface Tracking test with excellent effort! Tina Knoll wrote: "Just to recap, they started strong then over ran the first turn. They recovered, took the first turn and Ochre was pulling like crazy, almost took the next turn. They disqualified but did all the rest just perfect with the track layer just following." VST may have a passing rate of 5-8% but I see VST / CT (Champion Tracker) in their future. This is a talented team! May 10 Sisters Sage, owned by Maxine Brinker, and Seiko, owned by Tina Knoll and handled by Laura, were entered in the Tracking Dog Excellent test. Unfortunately, none of the three dachshunds passed. TDX tests have a passing rate between 15-20% annually; they are not a walk in the park! But they both gave it a very good go! Earthdog May 11 Nutmeg qualifies in Junior Earthdog for her second leg and the JE title! Congratulations to Maxine Brinker and Nutmeg! May 11 Gretel qualifies in Senior Earthdog for her third leg and the SE title! Congratulations to owner Jennifer Fry, handler Laura Knoll, and Gretel!  Laura and Gretel May 11 We all had big hopes that Nadja would earn her fourth qualification in Master Earthdog for the ME title. But this time Nadja had other ideas! As does her owner Tina Knoll, we look foward to Nadja getting that fourth leg!  Nadja had great fun being naughty. May 12 Diane Webb writes: "We did earthdog with Olive and Bossa yesterday and today. Neither passed yesterday, but today Olive passed and earned her first Junior Earthdog leg! She ran straight into the tunnel (just like yesterday) but this time didn't come back out. She got to the quarry in 17 seconds and barked and whined for over 60 seconds. Olive was the third of 30 JE dogs to run today or which 7 passed. We waited over two hours before we got her ribbon. So Olive was tired and hot and was looking into the sun, and the award photos aren't very good. But I am very proud of her!!" Congratulations to Diane and Olive!
agility May 14 Nutmeg, 11 years, qualified with a 3rd place in a class of 14 dachshunds competing in the Master Jumpers with Weaves class! Her niece Sage also qualified in the same class! Congratulations to Maxine Brinker, Nutmeg, and Sage! May 14 Diane writes: "Olive and John had an excellent day at DCA Agility, qualifying in Novice FAST Preferred (1st place), Masters Standard Preferred (2nd Place), and Masters JWW Preferred (2nd Place). Olive earned her third double Q and 26 points towards PACH [Preferred Agility Champion]. Once again, Olive just missed winning High In Trial; this time she was about a second behind the Standard Preferred HIT Winner. The venue was awesome -- artificial turf over the matted floor covering the entire facility in a large, well-lit, air-conditioned facility. I've got videos of Olive which I'll post at some point. No photographers or videographers at the trial." Congratulations to John Willmore and Olive! Obedience and rally May 15 Sage qualified in Novice B Obedience debut, placing 3rd and earning the first leg of her CD! Congratulations to Maxine Brinker and Sage! May 16 Nutmeg and Sage both qualified in the Advanced B Rally class with Nutmeg earning 2nd Place of the 10 dachshunds competing! Congratulations to Maxine and the Spice Girls! May 16 Olive qualified in Rally B Excellent for the necessary third leg in the annual DCA Triathlon! Combined with her passing/qualifying performances in earthdog and agility, Olive has qualified with a chance to win the Triathlon. Whether she does will be determined by performances of other Triathlon contenders that are still to come. Congratulations to Diane Webb and Olive! May 17 Nutmeg qualified with a 1st Place in Open A obedience for her 3rd leg and her CDX! Putting this achievement in perspective, only four dachshunds earned the CDX title in 2012. Congratulations to Maxine Brinker and Nutmeg! triathlon May 17 John and Diane end their DCA week with Olive being one of only 4 qualifiers in the DCA Triathlon, she finished 3rd!
Congratulations Team Olive! Way to GO, everyone!! ♥♥♥ There is no reason to use these dangerous jumps anymore! Period. There are just too many opportunities for injury. Steve Schwarz, self-proclaimed "Agility Nerd" has a blog post regarding the danger of metal jumps. Is anyone still using them??  Owl waits for the timer and the signal to go at his (and my) very first agility trial, September 2009
From a memo posted today by the Companion Events Department of the American Kennel Club: The AKC Agility staff has finished reviewing the safety concerns posed by the Tire Jump at AKC agility trials. The AKC Board of Directors has approved the regulation allowing the use of a break-away tire for AKC agility trials. The memo goes on to state that the new tire will consist of two segments connected at the top to allow independent movement of each section, should the dog's actions break the tire open. The setting for the connection is to be 16-20 pounds of horizontal force which shall be confirmed by pulling with a calibrated scale until the segments pull apart. Breaking apart the tire jump will result in a non-qualifying score (NQ). Agility exhibitors are very happy with this regulation change. The reason is obvious with just this one example of what can happen when a dog catches so much as toes on the solid tire jump. This is my agility instructor Jennifer Crank and her dog Xtreme. There is a page on the Dog Show Scores website with a summary of statistics for 2012. Included are all-breed stats for Obedience, Rally, and Agility, broken down by Numbers Entered, Numbers Qualified, and Qualifying Rate per class. I can only imagine how much work goes into compiling and maintaining such a database!
It is interesting to see these statistics. If nothing else, it gives greater appreciation for the efforts and accomplishments of those who participate in these performance sports, especially in some of the more advanced classes. Also interesting are the numbers showing that the 8" agility dogs have higher Qualifying rates in both Standard and Jumpers than dogs of the other five height divisions. And the 8 inchers very nearly have the highest Q rate in the FAST classes, too. [Olive is MACH FC Autumn Olive von Dorndorf VCD1 TD CD RAE MXS MJB NF Wa-T BHP-G, owned by John Willmore and Diane Webb of California.] So far in 2013, Olive has run five Excellent B Standard courses - and Qualified five times! Her Q rate in Exc B Jumpers is one for three. Those are good stats. In both classes, however, John (handling) and Diane have seen Olive's points accumulation take a hit as her speed has decreased. They plan to run her in Preferred classes starting next month which will have Olive jumping four inches instead of eight. The reduced jump height has been very motivating for her in training. And how do you like this photo! It is easily one of my very favorites of Olive. Initially, I did not like the blur of John's leg in the picture. But very soon I decided that I agree with Diane - it actually adds something nice to the photo. John's leg is not only framing Olive but, to me, it is really fostering the sense of partnership. I LOVE this photo! 
Team Olive certainly surpassed their goal of 60 qualifying agility Excellent B runs for 2012! Not to mention the Master Agility Champion title that Olive earned on August 11! Way to GO, Olive! Of Double Q #31 today, John writes: Excellent B Standard, Olive ran in 67.09 (SCT 76). Not a good course for us - starting and ending with a line of offset jumps - but Olive had a good run, particularly after the weaves. In fact, so fast that she almost took a wrong course tunnel on me. 3rd place.  Olive became a Master Agility Champion in 2012 Congratulations to Olive, John, and Diane!
Bossa, 9 months, weighs 15 pounds and is 9.5 inches at the withers. She is owned by Diane Webb and John Willmore in California. Diane writes:  I took Bossa to her Fun for Fido class this week. We had a tunnel-jump-table-jump sequence, with a straight tunnel. The first time I tried running with Bossa, we got all tangled up. So I had the instructor hold her while I led-out between the jump and table. Bossa came FLYING through the tunnel and over the jump, and screeched to a stop on the table. The second time she was even faster and despite fighting to stay on the table, tumbled off the far side. The third time she held on to the landing. SCT for Excellent Standard was 70 seconds. Olive ran it in 63.47 for 6 MACH points. (See video.) SCT for Excellent Jumpers was 47 seconds which Olive made on the nose. The footing was pretty bad today. The ground was soaked in the rings. It drizzled off and on and the light spots in the ring are rice husks put down to dry up the mud. I'm proud of Olive for keeping up her effort. - John Willmore I am proud of all of you! Congratulations!
In Excellent Standard, Olive ran the Standard Course Time of 73 seconds in 61.88 for 11 MACH points. (see video) In Excellent Jumpers, Olive ran the SCT of 45 seconds in 42.50 for 2 more MACH points toward MACH2. A cooler day, small breakfast with victory boxes after each run. Olive looked like she was having fun, both in and out of the ring. - John Willmore This was at the Keeshond Club of Southern California in Walnut, California. Congratulations to John, Diane, and Olive!
[Olive is FC MACH Autumn Olive von Dorndorf VCD1 TD CD RAE MXS MJB NF, owned by John Willmore and Diane Webb.] I don't have the specifics for today's agility trial in Glen Allen, Virginia yet. But Olive qualified in both Excellent B classes again today and earned 44 MACH points for the weekend!
Double Congratulations to John, Diane, and Olive! Not only that, but John and Diane met up with Derek and Jenn who own Taya and Tasha's brother Thor! Called Seymour, 5.5 months old, Diane described him as "a really nice little guy. 19 lbs, maybe just a tad overweight. Very stable, happy, energetic. Derek and Jenn are very nice and they adore him. Nike (the big dog) is very cool too and they get along great. I think that Seymour probably takes after Ami more than Mars, except that he has Mars' eyes. We will send photos and video to you, maybe after we get home." Thank you! I look forward to seeing and hearing more about Olive and Seymour from this weekend! [Olive is FC MACH Autumn Olive von Dorndorf VCD1 TD CD RAE MXS MJB NF, owned by John Willmore and Diane Webb.] Olive is with her owners in Virginia this weekend. They are attending business, visiting family, and participating in a couple of agility trials. They are the trials of the Central Virginia Agility Club, outdoors on grass in Glen Allen, Virginia.
John wrote that it was their first trial in 2.5 months and Olive looked great. On the Jumpers course, SCT was 52 seconds and Olive's time was 43.60 - giving her 8 MACH points and 2nd place in the 8 inch class! "A cold morning for our first run in a long while. A little slow on the dog walk, but otherwise a good solid run." Course time on the Standard course was 74 seconds. Olive's time was 56.08 for 17 MACH points and 1st place! "Olive broke her stay on the leadout and so didn't explode into the starting sequence like I wanted. But still a nice run!" Congratulations to John, Diane, and Olive! Nexus went green (qualified) and blue (1st place) again in Novice Standard today so he had a great weekend. Nexus really enjoys all the obstacles and being "on stage!" But I believe that will be it for him for agility. I feel very fortunate that he is as sound as he is and I am not going to push the envelope. What I think we'll do next is Open obedience and go for the CDX. It has been something like 25 years since I trained DC Grissel CDX TD in advanced obedience and I want to revisit that activity with Nexus. As much as he likes field trials, he also enjoys training and told me this weekend that he is NOT ready to "retire!"
Owl, on the other hand, did not qualify on any of our three Open Standard courses this weekend. Very good effort and speed for the most part but a couple if bobbles here and there killed our opportunities to qualify. Of course, Open is a different kettle of fish from Novice and the fact we haven't been to a trial since April or a class since May didn't help us. Our record in Open Jumpers of three trials and titled is certainly not holding for Standard but we'll get there! I was proud of his performances nevertheless, especially in the first two trials. And Owl, the toy-obsessed, got a toy out of the weekend anyway. Nexus won three, one for himself, one for Owl, and one for Marta. Viljo and Taya stayed home but that's another post.  Nexus, 10.5 years young, ran a joyful 19 and 20 seconds under course time and qualified with scores of 100 and 1st places in Novice Standard at the agility trials in Zanesville, Ohio yesterday and today! That gives him the Novice Agility (NA) title.
It ALSO gives him the honor of being the first male longhair, second longhair of either sex, and the 14th dachshund ever to become a "7-way" dachshund. It means that Nexus has titled in AKC Conformation, Field, Tracking, Earthdog, Obedience, Rally, and Agility. He is now ABS6 DC Nexus v Dorndorf L CD TD JE RN NA VC Wa-T BHP-G LH. C@NGRATULATI@NS Nexer!! Love you, big guy. Now you will get a great dinner and then I will go to bed and sleep for a week. Oh, what's that, there's another agility trial tomorrow?! : )  This is a picture from a get together last night at Olive's agility instructor's house. There were 28 dogs there. Evidently it was still quite hot. New MACH Olive is on the left! And that's five month old Bossa on the right. Olive and Bossa are owned by John Willmore and Diane Webb of Orange, California. |
