Today, her 10th birthday, Night finished her MACH! She went into the weekend needing just 8 points to finish. On Saturday she had a nice jumpers run and earned 7 points. We almost made it in jumpers today, but I bobbled. Then in standard she had a fabulous run to finish her championship. She was really blasting and all her contacts were gorgeous. To add icing on the cake, she placed 3rd, less than 1/2 second behind the second place dog! Did I mention she was really blasting The judge said I looked like I was really hauling at the dog walk, and I was! Night likes to race across the dog walk. She finished with 24 QQs and 762 points.

I had been showing Night here and there over the years, but last January I discovered that she had 9 QQs and just over 200 points, so I decided to go for it and began our quest the last weekend in January 2007. My lessons with Olga have made all the difference. I don't think I would be bragging about a MACH if it wasn't for Olga. She has worked very hard with me to teach me how to handle and our course times and Night's happiness have shown that.

Also, this weekend, when I ran, even though we could finish our MACH, remaining true to Night and our training, I ran each course exactly as I would any other day. I wasn't nervous as my only thoughts were on the course and Night. Fortunately my handling plan worked and my execution was good enough!

Chris

BTW - The dog for my avitar is Night.