Another attempt at UDX leg up in smoke
Well, the saga continues. Me and Jessie made another attempt at UDX legs with no success. But it was a good weekend and I discovered some new judges that I absolutely love and a great new trial. The trial was the Youngstown All Breed Training Club in Youngstown Ohio. They have a great place to hold trials -- beautiful footing, but so springy everyone was having to throw their dumdbells more then once, including me, both days, LOL. The competition was brutal -- the winning dog in Open B had a 200, 2nd place was a 199, third was a 198.5, and there was a four way run off for forth with 198s!!! In Utility B the lowest placing score was a 197 and that was a two way tie. Wow!

Jessie was having a bad obedience day. He Qd in Open only on Saturday, with a 193.5 which is very low for him in Open. Utility he would have had a very nice score, but he only went 9 feet on his 2nd go-out (not the required 10 feet) beyond the jumps (and sat in front of the wrong jump -- yet the stinker ran all the way across the ring on command to jump the correct jump so if I'd had one more foot it would have been a Q!!). 2nd day he started to do the same thing, so I just gave him a 2nd command, and everything else that day was actually very nice. In Open B he did ok (not his best) on Sunday, but desided to take a nap during the long sit and NQd himself. Lazy, lazy, lazy.

All in all, though, it was very fun. Watching those top dogs sure gives me something to work for. And all the top handlers were very nice and gave me many training tips. Those long stays in Open B are a great place for picking the minds of the best trainers.

Now, about the judges. They were so nice! Look for them. They all made a point of commenting on how pleased they were to be judging a kerry blue terrier. They were friendly, smiled a lot and encouraged me and complemented Jessie. They were:

Mrs. Suzanne D. Hemminger
Mrs. Nancy K. Withers
Mrs. Catherine M. Thompson

Look for them at trials! They would be nice people to have judge a terrier trial -- all so friendly and nice. Nancy Withers even said, "Oh, I haven't judged you before. I'd remember a kerry blue." I thought that was very nice to say! And she knows Evelyn and commented on how nice Pheonix is doing and such. It's nice to have a judge recognize and appreciate our breed -- sometimes I feel like some of the judge's out there have only really like BCs, goldens and labs.