Lucky Clover Girl
Clover was adopted from Pintler Pets in Anaconda in October 2005 as a seven-week-old puppy. The shelter listed her as a Shepherd, Aussie, and Hound Cross. The “Clover” part of her name was chosen due to the three large black spots on her back that looked like a three leaf clover. “Girl” was added as a play off of “Cover Girl”. Lucky was added after she survived eating poisonous mushrooms in Oregon at 12-weeks of age.
Clover is a highly active dog, with a strong work ethic, great speed and capable of turning on a dime. She has been a load of fun to work with as we develop as a team. My goal is to be able to compete in Superstakes at a future NADAC Championship.
2008 Championship Results
Clover had an awesome five days. For a dog that turned 3 years old, two weeks before Championships (I believe she was the youngest dog running in this division), she ran like a pro, was not bothered by the crowds or noise in the arena. She placed 6th in Weavers Round 1 with a Q. Took 4th place and Q’d in Hoopers Round 1. She Q’d both rounds of Touch N Go, taking 2nd in Round 1, missing first place by .80 seconds and took 1st place in Round 2, winning by .08 seconds. These two rounds of Touch N Go where our best runs of the week, with my handling right on. Clover Q’d both rounds of Tunnelers with a 5th place in round one. In Skilled 16+ Regular (11 dogs in this division), Clover Q’d in three runs, taking a 2nd, 5th, 3rd, 2nd and 1st place. Her pre-elite team “Montana Dream Team” with team members Diana Griffing and Tonka, Jody Middleton and Shemaiah took a 6th and 3rd place. Clover was one of three dogs from Skilled 16+ to make it into the final round of Regular on Sunday.
Before the walk thru for the final run of Regular on Sunday afternoon, Sharon Nelson awarded the Versatility Challenge Cups to the high scoring dog in each division. There were five divisions in Proficient and three divisions in Skilled. To win this award a dog/handler team had to be entered in all 15 rounds. Each round had a maximum point value and your score was based on your course time plus faults. I was totally surprised when Clover and I were announced as the the winner of the Skilled 16+ Division Versatility Challenge Cup, especially since we had earned zero points in round one of Jumpers with a train wreck and scored low points in one round of Weavers. I felt very honored to be in the ring for the final run of regular with some very awesome dog/handler teams who have much more experience than I.
Clover placed 3rd in the finals. I sent her to the off course tunnel (yes a handler error) and decide not to fix, taking 80 course faults, since the course made an nice turn back so I could pick up the correct course. She nailed all her contacts, did two beautiful sets of 12 weaves and ran beautiful and very confident. I was very proud of my young dog.
Clover’s agility accomplishments:
• Earn first two Q’s in first trial in Jumpers and Tunnelers, March 2007 in Bozeman at 18-months-old.
• Earn our first two titles in Novice Tunnelers and Novice Touch N Go in June of 2007 in Billings
• Earn our Novice Versatility, October 27, 2007 by earning Novice Weavers Title in Helena
• Fastest time: 6.88 yards per sec in Tunnelers
Lifetime points: 540
Novice Versatility, S-TN-O, O-NAC, O-NCC, S-NJC, S-TG-N, S-WV-N, and O-HP-N
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