MACH Rose Country's Bust A Move

In March of this year, Archie completed requirements for a coveted AKC agility title: MACH or Master Agility Champion. Once the dog reaches the Masters level of competition, he begins to accumulate MACH points and double Qs. Points are earned by clean runs under the allotted course time. A double Q means qualifying (running clean) in Standard and Jumpers With Weaves in the same day. At the Masters level, no errors are allowed. Dogs have to get 750 points and 20 double Qs to earn the MACH.

 

Archie is a reasonably speedy dog with no problems making course time. He had well over 1200 points and 19 double Qs by March. I entered the trial in Tulsa specifically because I thought we could run clean under those two judges. I'd shown to both of them many times and knew their course design styles well. 

He qualified in Standard in the morning. A few hours later, we entered the Jumpers ring. I'd been here plenty of times--one Q on the board then we fail to get that second Q. 

Tulsa isn't my home turf but there were quite a few people at the trial that I knew well or counted as agility friends. The arena was well lit, the dirt surface was firm. I wasn't talking about the MACH thing with anyone, but they were certainly talking amongst themselves. Knowing I had that Standard Q, quite the crowd was gathered at the Jumpers ring exit when it came time for us to run. They were filming me too, but wisely knew not to tell me that. I was stressed when I stepped into the ring. So many things could go wrong.

As Archie cleared that last bar following a lovely clean run, I ran over and picked him up for a big hug. We did it!

Archie is the first smooth fox terrier that I was able to put a MACH on. I've been at this with multiple dogs for 20 years. He is also only the seventeenth smooth fox terrier to get a first MACH since 2003. Yep, those are all correct numbers. This should tell you two things: there aren't many smooth fox terriers that do agility, and it's damn hard to be successful in agility with a smooth fox terrier. 

Here's a picture I took of Archie in the hotel that evening. My little athlete, taking a well earned nap.

One consequence of this achievement is that I immediately dropped Archie into Preferred. This means he no longer has to jump 16". Preferred puts him into the 12" class with the little dogs. He flies over those jumps!