August 5, 2011
Our wonderful Merry got the last required Q for his title at Canine Sports and Recreation Center in Dexter, Michigan under judge Jackie Oricko on August 5, 2011..He is now "CS-ATCH Merry!" This stands for "Canine Performance Events Specialist Agility Trial Champion." This was a long time coming, but we enjoyed ourselves along the way.
CPE is an awesome organization with many more jump height possibilities than other agility venues. The Specialist category made it possible for me to continue showing Merry in agility after he had injured himself and rehabbed as a tender two-year-old. As a Specialist, Merry only has to jump 8", so 8" less than the 16" jumps that he would do for the regular C-ATCH title. Merry earned a SpCH title in 2006. The Specialist Champion, a minor title, was the only title available to Specialists at that time. But CPE revamped some of the titles and a major title was created for Specialists. Since Merry continued to have some problems with his joints, he couldn't always run in trials or run all the courses offered during a weekend. So we just took our time and mostly entered summer trials near home. By and by, we got what we needed to earn this title.
It was special to qualify in the last needed run under Jackie Oricko, who used to compete with English Springer Spaniels herself. She always cheered us on with "Go Springers!"
