The Important Bit in the Middle...

So onto the start of what was turning out to be an awesome week; including a lovely corner camping spot, right next to the brand new shower block, not too far from the rings, brilliantly hot weather, great people and best of all, my little Kiah to share it all with me! With two runs a day it was very relaxing and this week really was a chill out week as much as enjoying the agility, and on more than one occassion Kiah and I were caught having afternoon naps in the sun!!

Kiah had some brilliant runs over the week and I am proud of what she did even though we only ended up with one clear round, it was a jumping course and we were a little wide and had a spin coming out of the flat tunnel, so I was ever so pleased with her 12th place clever girly that she is. Generally though there were a lot of minor errors by me, and a couple of not very pleasant courses - but then on the bright side there were a few really nice courses too. I would actually say the jumping courses were nicer than the agility, with me I usually enjoy the other way around! Kiah was flying though just had a pole in one jumping course, and in another the combination of scratchy dirt-no-grass-left ground and Kiah's speed bless her she managed the weave entry but couldn't stay in them.

Mustn't forget our day off in the middle, in fact the ONLY day out of the whole week we had a tiny bit of rain, I think it was probably at the most two 5 minute rain showers, and that was it! So a good opportunity for me to take lots of pictures - lots of Kiah in mid-play with the rest of the 18 dogs that we had on our walk with us she had a great time belting around as usual!!

DINAS From Start...

We left home for Dogs in Need on the Sunday because if you get there a day early you can set up your pitch while it is nice and quiet, the dogs can have a lovely long run around the empty camping fields before the hoards arrive ;) the day after!

That is the 'payment' for the privelidge of getting there earlier (pre-arranged of course), as you help with the booking in of the main day of camping, the sun was shining, it is generally quite good fun and there was a lovely crowd on the section we were managing. Even Kiah helped with the booking in you can see her here organising her section and waiting for her campers to arrive, with her hi-viz on (safety first!) and clipboard at the ready! We even had everyone booked in by about 4ish so the day wasn't too long... and all in all a good start to the week...!

Packed and Ready to Go!!

I think that I have everything now packed, and we are more than ready to go and I can't wait, a whole week with my beautiful girl doing what we love best!!! I have checked the weather forecast and touch wood it is looking good, but I have packed for all weathers just in case it is England after all! If there is anything I have forgotten it is almost too late to remember, and as long as I have the important things - clothes, food, camera and running orders, and of course most importantly Princess Kiah - thats all that matters. Kiah is ready to go too, she is currently fast asleep in her bed dreaming of agility, however still managed to wake up and begrudgingly glare at me while i took her picture! We are away for a week now, but I will make sure I post an update as soon as I am back. So all that's left is one more sleep.... then HOLIDAY TIME!!!!!

News Update

Its been a little while since I updated as we haven't really been up to much... not agility wise anyway. I have been visiting my mum which Kiah loves as she gets spoiled (like me when I go there) and gets to play in a huge garden too. I am also going to try out for the Belgian World Championships as I know Kiah will have a great time, it is more for experience this year but it is a hope one day to maybe get there and give it our best. I have also entered Kiah into a local breed show in September just to see how she does and have a bit of fun and something different, though at this rate she won't have any coat then at ALL she is moulting so much!

I haven't had any holidays this year yet, so I am really REALLY looking forward to my week off work and the week long Dogs in Need agility show, though I am no where near ready!! This picture of my beautiful girly was taken exactly a year ago at the same show, it was a lovely day fingers crossed this year's weather will be similar! And even better news that I have been waiting for, I got my car back today all lovely and clean and fixed, so Kiah has her lovely solid safe cage back in time for the show, she hasn't been in it yet since the accident but she has been SO patient and well behaved travelling in the courtesy car, I think she will be ok. I had better get moving and get all Kiah's and my stuff sorted for the show, one more day at work then a whole 9 days off til I go back!!

Times at Tenterden

I am so pleased with what Kiah has shown me she can do today, I am actually quite shocked! We had a lovely graded 4-5 agility, and though unfortunately Kiah had a pole down, it was the achievement of the quality and TIME of her run that I am so pleased with!! Kiah ran awesome and had a faster time than the winners of both the grade 4 AND the grade 5!! To find that out is such a big achievement for us in itself as I never thought we would get up past grade 3 and to show me that she can do that and be up there with the higher more senior grades really makes me proud of her! No clears though this weekend, some lovely handle-y courses which were a real challenge and I enjoyed, I know Kiah did too.

Apart from the horrendous rainy weather yesterday afternoon and evening which was a little grim, today turned out really lovely and sunny so this morning's walk was great! Kiah had so much fun playing with all her friends over the cross-country fields, having a great time!! In between running around like mad, one thing she seems to love is jumping up on things and waiting for me to release her off them, well this was the ideal opportunity for a quick picture, her posing on one of the horse jumps! She is so lovely, but then I am a bit biased!

Agility Club Weekend

Last weekend was the Agility Club show, which I really enjoyed despite having had the car accident a couple of days before... I think it helped that I was relieved that I found out that my car is going to be fixed rather than written off, grateful that I have a reasonable courtesy car not a teeny tiny one, smiling because of all the people who have asked if we are ok, appreciative of the hospitality shown to me and my dog over the weekend, happy about the weather staying pleasant with no rain, and so SO happy to be running Kiah, watching her run well with no ill effects from the accident, and seeing her cheeky face as she point blank refuses to let me win when we are playing raggy!!

So our first grade four show... well we didn't get any clear rounds this weekend, so near yet so far in a couple of the rounds with just one pole in one, and a back jump in another! I must learn to move my feet quicker ;)!!! But really pleased with the weekend overall, I wasn't overly fazed by any of the courses in Grade 4 as I thought I might be (theres still time lol!) and pleased in one agility course specifically, which had some really REALLY tight bits, Kiah worked well lots of positives from that. Even remembered to take my camera with me this weekend, so got lots of photos of various doggies which I must send on to the relevant people! This picture is of Kiah just about to woof at me, play bow, dash off to the left, in the middle of 'mad five minutes' just before we packed up to go home on Sunday afternoon!!!

Car Accident...

Yesterday on the way back from agility training, Kiah and I were in a head on car accident. The road was single lane, and there was a right hand bend so I was driving quite slowly only about 20mph as it was still fairly light but dusky. Unfortunately I think the car coming the other way wasn't driving so sensibly and by then it was too late... I had pretty much stopped in time but the other guy didn't, so I kind of had nowhere to go so the front of my car got mashed. The other person admitted to me that his brakes had locked but I guess he won't say that to the insurers, I dont know. Anyway I have reported everything correctly my end, though the insurers have advised that due to the road being single lane it will be difficult to prove liability either way, so will probably have to go as a 50:50 claim. I am now likely to have two claims 'against' me, one drunk uninsured driver (2008) and another now, neither of which are my fault!!!

Anyway cars can be repaired, the most important thing is that Kiah is ok, she didn't seem phased by the actual accident fortunately, I got her out of the car straight away just in case anything nasty happened to it. I think in some ways it was a small mercy in the scheme of things that the accident happened there as we had only left agility 5 minutes before, so Kiah's muscles etc were still warmed up from that, so I think that probably helped her from being injured. Here she is relaxing on the sofa today, no worse for wear... touch wood.

I want to say a big, BIG thank you to Leah and Jason Gardner who must have just got home from training when they got a phone call from me, and they very kindly stayed with Kiah and I all evening. It was certainly a long evening with the claim taking a 40 minute phone call, they certainly didn't need to ask all the questions they did, then a wild goose chase for them to find where we were, THEN find a vehicle recovery company and wait for them to turn up! Leah and Jason also came right out of their way to drop us home to make sure Kiah and I got home safely afterwards, probably not getting home themselves til long after midnight.

So today has been a day of rest and sleeping, but also lots of phone calls in and out to various people, insurance companies, repair centres, hire centres etc. As at my last phone call, my car hasn't yet been assessed as to whether it is repairable or a write off, so hopefully I will find that out tomorrow. I have a courtesy car which is nice enough, its a new Golf Estate, and I have that until mine is sorted, which hopefully won't be too long. Off to get some more sleep now.