Overcoming Obstacles to Earn a MACH!

On Sunday, January 17, 2010 Keegan earned his 20th Double Q, finishing his Master Agility Championship.  It was a very surreal run for us. I'm sure I will remember that course for the rest of my life.  As we ran it, I think I recalled every training issue we'd encountered along our journey.  The 3rd obstacle was the teeter.  I spent over 6 months trying to figure out why Keegan stopped doing the teeter, soon after he earned his AX title.  Come to find out, he hated me in front of him so as long as I stayed behind him or parallel to him, he never refused it again.  Then #5 was the A-frame.  Most of his Novice and Open career we ran around the A-frame and heaven forbid it was ever wet.  As we entered the weave poles at #10, I watched every bounce he made, recalling how he struggled with the bouncing as he got faster...then we hit #11...the dreaded table.  For the last year and half, Keegan had become very defiant about the table.  We tried everything (or so we thought) only to have a special trainer tell me to stop focusing on it so much. Treat it like part of the course and not a separate obstacle.  Slowly but surely, we started to work through it.  I don't think Keegan will ever like the table, but he will do it.  As he reluctantly sat on the table I realized we were so very close...now could I just remember the rest of the course.  The tire was #12 and I can't even remember how many times the little guy ran under tires on courses. We hit the dogwalk at #14 and he flew over it.  As we turned for our final stretch, we hit the chute at #18.  The chute was the obstacle that NQ'd us at the Invitational in 2008 in Round #2.  He made the final 2 jumps quite effortlessly in his typical fashion and I nearly fainted...we'd done it...with well over 1,600 points, the equivalent of an MXJ5, and 20 double Q's.  I think we flew all the way home from Minnesota and I thanked God for giving me such a special dog that taught me how to train and overcome obstacles.