Al's Statistics At the Time He Finished his MACH
Al earned his MACH with 1141 MACH points (Championship Points in the Rules) and 20 QQ’s (Double Q's).
Al earned his first MACH points in June 2004, and it took him 20 1/2 months of competition in Excellent B to complete the requirements for MACH.
Al had exactly 100 Qualifying runs when he earned his MACH. 39 in Excellent B Standard. 61 in Excellent B Jumpers with Weaves.
Al had 35 Placements in Excellent B Jumpers with Weaves (JWW) and 10 placements in Excellent B Standard. I think I am most proud about this, because the level of competition in the 12 " class that Al competes in is very high. For Al to get 45 Placements in 100 runs is something I would never have believed he could do. And 35 out of 61 in JWW is a fantastic accomplishment.
Al's Other Accomplishments
2005
In December 2004, when Al was sick with his liver problem, I stepped back and decided to look at what might be possible for Al in his agility career. Getting to where we were hadn't been an easy journey, and at that time we had just started to get together as a team was when Al became very ill. Prior to his illness I had thought that if we were lucky and worked at it, we might eventually do OK in Excellent B, and someday maybe earn an MX too. Al had already earned his MXJ in November,2004; finishing the MXJ just at the time when he started to get really sick. I thought that if we did get both the MX and MXJ titles, based on what I knew and saw Al doing on the course, then I'd be very, very happy!! During Al's illness and recovery, the idea of earning an MX with Al seemed very distant, and a MACH wasn't even the remotest possibility. When it looked like Al was going to recover in the Spring of 2005, and that he would be able to compete, I set a goal of finishing his MX title in 2005. At that time I truly felt that it would take a long time and much, much hard work. That was all conditional on Al's health allowing him to compete at all. If Al wasn't healthy, I wasn't going to compete with him. It just wouldn't be fair to him and it could affect his longevity.
As it turned out Al bounced back and really started to show something. When we started competing again, he had lots of energy, was extremely happy to compete, and he did better and better each time he ran. 2005 turned out to be a fantastic year for Al. He and I worked hard through the year. He earned MX in March 2005. Things really started to work for us, and Al seemed to handle the competition and all the training well, so we went with it, and the results were very surprising.
The Big Change that made the difference was starting to take classes from Jef Blake, and Barb Davis. They are responsible for what has happened to us since the Spring of '05!!
By the end of 2005 Al had accumulated 1018 MACH points and 16 Double Q's. He was AKC's "Top Dog" for Italian Greyhounds in 2005; more than doubling the score of his nearest competitor. He'll be able to collect his TOP DOG award at the AKC National Agility Championships in 2007. It's a long wait, but it will be sweet to bring the Top Dog Award home and hang it on the wall!! (Follow this link to see the "Top Dog Report").
During 2005 Al also set a new record for MACH points earned by an Italian Greyhound in one year. Al earned 725 MACH points and the previous best ever by an Italian Greyhound was 387 MACH points (2004). He's doing even better in 2006.
Sometime soon I hope, Al will have accumulated more MACH points than any other Italian Greyhound in the history of the sport, and he will have done it in less than 2 years of competition. If you haven't guessed; I'm very, very proud of my "little man"!! It's very gratifying to see how he has turned on, and it's exciting to think of what might be possible for him in the future. There is so much that we can learn to improve our game!! We're both a work in progress.
Follow This Link to "Why is A MACH Important?"