It is a lot of fun to show the videos of our successes and the great runs in agility or lure coursing or videos of other performance events we are competing in. In particular, there are a lot of fun videos on our site of Kanzu and Tracy earning clean runs and perfect scores in agility. But in the process of working toward titles there are also a lot of runs that are close to perfect but not quite. Sometimes the perfect qualifying score is so close it is palpable and in an instant something happens and a bar is hit or the dog takes a wrong turn. And in that instant, you can often hear the crowd gasp in shared frustration for the runner and the dog.
Click Here to see some entertaining videos of a few of Kanzu’s “Almost-But-Not-Quite” clean runs.

The Ridgeback boys did very well at the recent Orange Coast Rhodesian Ridgeback trial held at Brookside Park in Walnut, August 27-29, 2010. The trial hosted more agility ridgebacks than we usually see at local trials as it was a great opportunity to prepare for the upcoming Nationals. In the photo from left to right, High Scoring Excellent went to Kanzu with 5 Qs. High scoring Novice Ridgeback was earned by Kim Strid’s Rafa, and High Scoring Open was Betty Scattini’s Ranger. The trial was especially good for Kanzu with his handler Tracy Tennison who earned two more double Qs toward the 20 needed for his agility championship (MACH). But the girls were very close behind with Carie Krumme’s girl, Scout earning 4 qualifying legs and a whole lot of MACH points. Watch out boys, the girls are fast and smart!

For Videos of Kanu’s runs taken by Carie Krumme
8-27 JWW
8-27 STD
8-28 STD
8-29 JWW
and another taken by Videos4you
8-29 STD

Memorial Day weekend was exciting for Kanzu. He completed the 3 legs needed for his Excellent A Standard Agility title in just 4 days. He earned his first leg on Thursday at the San Gabriel Valley Kennel Club with a perfect score and first place. On Friday at the So Cal Portuguese Waterdog Club trail he received his 2nd leg also with a perfect score and a first place ribbon. This was Kanzu’s fastest run ever, running the course in 10.97 seconds under course time. After a day of rest and one failed attempt, he secured his Excellent A Standard Title with another perfect run on Monday. On Sunday, while he didn’t qualify for a leg in his Standard run he attained one of the 3 legs he needs in Jumpers with a perfect score and another first place win.

The weekend was made extra special by our friend Jim Wallace who captured several of the runs on video. Take a look at the two agility videos posted on the website.
5-27 video
5-31 video
 
 
 
 

Kanzu attained his Novice Agility Jumpers title (NAJ) in March 2010 in his first weekend of agility trials. He then progressed to competing for his Open Agility Jumpers title and earned his first leg at the San Diego Rhodesian Ridgeback trial in Escondido on March 28th. The following weekend, he attained his second leg at the Gamblers Agility Club of Greater Las Vegas where he earned a second place ribbon. At his next competition at the Portuguese Water Dog Trial in Walnut CA on April 24th he earned his third and final leg in Open Agility with a perfect score and a first place win. With this third leg completed, Kanzu secured his Open Agility Jumpers title (OAJ).

This new title was one of Kanzu’s most significant accomplishments as it completed his requirements for his Rhodesian Ridgeback Club (RRCUS) Versatility Certificate. This VC title is awarded by RRCUS to highlight the versatility of the Rhodesian Ridgeback hound.
http://www.rrcus.org/performance/honors/vc/VC_VCX_req_new.htm

To obtain the VC award, the dog must have 10 points across 5 different performance categories such as conformation, lure coursing, obedience, agility, tracking etc. The award is given once a year and honored at the National Specialty Dog Show along with an ad in The Ridgeback magazine. An application must be submitted with supporting documentation of all of the titles. We will be busy putting together Kanzu’s application and excitedly awaiting his VC award in the spring of 2011.

Kanzu competed in the San Diego Rhodesian Ridgeback Club Agility Trial in Escondido CA on March 28, 2010. With handler Tracy Tennison he earned a perfect score in Open Jumpers with Weaves for his second leg toward his Open Jumpers title. The club offered beautiful ribbons for the high scoring RR in each class and Kanzu was lucky enough to take home his largest and most beautiful ribbon ever for his score in Open Jumpers. He seemed to know it was something special and enjoyed posing with his new ribbon.

Kanzu, running with his handler Tracy Tennison, took first place 3 days in a row to earn his Novice Agility Jumpers (NAJ) title in one weekend at the Belgian Tervuren Club of Southern California Agility trial March 5-7, 2010. He also took first place and earned one of his 3 necessary qualifying runs on the standard course.

Kanzu’s breeders Lisa and Mike Patterson, started Kanzu and his littermates on “puppy” agility equipment at around 5 weeks of age. When he came to his new home at 9 weeks we continued with baby jumps and tunnels for play. When he finally started adult agility training with Tracy at Citrus Hill Canine Center it was clear he had definite motor memory from him puppy days. In fact, when he went back to the tunnels as an adult dog, he couldn’t quite understand the concept that he was “a lot bigger’ than when he was a puppy and first learned to ‘tunnel’. In his mind and body, he remembered how to go through tunnels when he was just a little guy and the tunnels were way bigger than he was. His motor-memory was clearly that of a small puppy. His charging the tunnels without ducking in those early days of training with Tracy gave us all many, many laughs but also showed us clearly that those early memories were working and gave him a great foundation and lots of confidence for his real agility training.
For videos of Kanzu’s performances:
Friday Jumpers Click Here:
Saturday Jumpers Click Here:
Sunday Jumpers Click Here:
Sunday Standard Click Here:

 
Click here for information on Tracy Tennison and Citrus Hill Canine Center
http://www.citrushillcaninecenter.com/

After receiving the Agility Excellent (AX) title in May 2010 and the Agility Excellent Jumpers (AXJ) title in June 2010, Kanzu began to accumulate legs toward his Master titles. While the first 3 agility titles require 3 qualifying legs in order to advance to the next level, the Master agility title (MX) and the Master Agility Jumpers (MXJ) both require 10 perfect runs in order to achieve the MX or the MXJ titles. With his handler Tracy Tennison, Kanzu earned his MX title on September 5, 2010 and his MXJ on November 5, 2010. These are the last agility titles he will earn on his way to his much coveted Master Agility Championship (MACH). There are few Rhodesian Ridgebacks who achieve a MACH. This title requires 20 double Qs (Perfect runs in both the Jumpers run and the Standard run on the same day) as well as 750 MACH points. (Each MACH point represents 1 second under the course time for a given run) At the time Kanzu earned his MXJ he had earned 8 QQs and 101 MACH points.