Agility Club

A couple of weeks down the line, another show threatened by the weather... not entirely surprising.  Unluckily for the show the week before, at a different venue, as that one DID have to be cancelled.  Thankfully this was another local one for us, and luckily for the organisers too, the sun shone almost solidly in the week leading up to the show, so apart from the rings needing to be moved a little, the ground held up pretty well, and all bar about a 20 minute rain shower (where we were luckily sheltering under a tree!) the weather stayed breezy but thankfully dry until Sunday evening!!

Both dogs were competing this weekend, so double the amount of courses to walk, and double the runs to get to without missing any... not going to happen!!  The layout was a little bit spread out due to some of the ground but couldn't be helped - I think I got to most of my courses, and Alex has got the hang of roughly intuitively knowing approximately when courses need to be walked now - but he did miss out on walking two runs on one day which never helps as one of them was really quite complex for a grade one.  Alex and Davy did really well on that one though, did his flat tunnels and send ons, it was just the weaves that he didnt get, the hard stuff he did really well.

Davy had some other really good runs, one especially where Alex either needed to do a cross in front or behind which he forgot to do, that time there were only 6 weaves and he got those too, what a shame.  In most of his runs now though, the only thing letting him down now is his weaves, so more practise required but he is getting there, and really finding the entries now so also partly confidence building too which will come with time.

Kiah had some real handler errors this weekend, I really struggled with spatial awareness (more than normal).  There was one course by Alison Grimes, which I really enjoyed running as it was a little bit different - and did the hard weave entry where everyone was getting eliminated, but then forgot to move and watched poor Kiah take the wrong jump!!  There were two fab courses that I really remember - one by Sam Lane, really spread out and different, where I was nowhere near a jump when I should have been, and another by Marie Hembrow with lots of traps but lots of send ons - where Kiah was fantastic and picked up a fab weave entry with me at the other end, for me to then watch her rather than front cross, and send her over the wrong jump, arghhhh!!  Kiah was really good though, I was so pleased with her, just totally annoyed at me - she deserved her ice cream at the end of the weekend.

A Different Kind of Mud

Alex's other hobby and entertainment is his Landrover Defender 90 which is his grown up toy and working project, I must admit it is quite good fun to drive once you get used to it, even more so now that it has its 'retina burning artificial daylight' spotlights on the front, which of course only get used responsibly... One Sunday in July, when we had no shows booked, I was convinced to join in with one of the off road events, it was a very sunny day which was nice, though the previous fortnight's (at least!) weather, had ensured there were lots of deep puddles, splashes and MUD to be found.

Most of the driving and experience was fun, if a little painful in places - and I had a short turn doing some driving, though I did of jump out of the truck in some of the very worst of the areas, partly as I'm a bit of a chicken, and also to take some photos and videos of it all.  You can see from this picture quite how muddy it is and it gets (this was fairly tame), and the amount of jetwashing it takes to get it back to white again!!  There are a few sites that Alex and the 4x4 crew go to now and again, so I might think about going along again, its a bit of a different sport to agility!!

A Rather Grey...Week Away

We had a week off work at the end of June - beginning of July to recharge our batteries down in the West Country, a nice relaxing time and we were attending a couple of shows at both ends, the first and the last weekends of our holiday which we were really looking forward to.  It would have been a slightly better week away if the sun had come out a little more, I think in total out of 9 days, we had two where it didn't rain, slightly disappointing!!  The weather has been an unfortunate feature of this year, and especially that week, but we still had a good time.

At the first show it was a nice pleasant first day, once we got there around about midday, I think we managed to set up, have a cup of tea (always welcome!), take the dogs for a nice long walk through the fields and see the beautiful views over Bath, and enjoy dinner with friends, all while the sun shone, only giving way to rain in the late evening.  Saturday wasn't too bad, though the ground had started to suffer a bit, with limited areas of walkways, and traffic not being limited which I think should have been, it was showing signs of not holding up.  Kiah was really good in the runs we did, unfortunate in a fab ABC qualifier course by slipping and just having a pole. Another was in a jumping run, we had a dog run into the ring where we were going clear - the judge kindly gave us a re-run but we had a pole in that, damn!!  By the time midday came on the Sunday though, we had already decided to not do any more runs cause of the conditions, typically the rain started to subside, and the sun made an appearance, but it was too late!!  The tractors were called in (about 5 in total we think!) to tow people off, they did a fab job and so did Alex - helping out our friends getting their camps packed away and towing eyes ready.

The week in between was slightly better, we still had rain but were in a campsite not far from Gloucester rather than a field full of caravans, so slightly better drained - I suppose the rain was probably inevitable as Wimbledon was on!!  Normally we don't take a television on holiday, but borrowed a friend's for the week, it was nice to just zone out in the evenings so I think we will be investing in a small one for next season.  We still found plenty to do despite some of the gloomy days, walks with the dogs, a couple of rest days, having some professional pictures taken by Chris of 'Pet-ography' (definitely recommend!) indulging in yummy pub food, going to the beach, taking Kiah swimming down at Dogchester Hydrotherapy (also definitely recommend!), walking along the canal on one of the sunshiney days, doing a bit of shopping, and sightseeing a little with the camera.

At the end of the week it was a thankful decision by the organisers to go ahead with the show, the sun was shining as we pulled into the venue only a short journey away, and we set up quickly and easily, and after a quick run around for the dogs, they and us were happy to sit in the sun right into the evening, though it wasn't to last!!  Friday was ok, Kiah had a great time in her three 1-7 runs, we got eliminated in every single one but there were some fab courses, somewhat thankfully our runs came up at once as it only started raining heavily once we were finished.  The problem was it didnt really stop... at all...  Saturday's runs I can't really remember, the ground was pretty good though a number of our friends decided against travelling up due to the weather, which was completely the right decision.  Sunday when the rain had continued pretty much all night (again), we had just about had enough, the river was getting worryingly close to bursting its banks, and so we chose to pack up!!  Kiah and I did one course, very carefully, we were eliminated by jump two!! It was mainly just so that Kiah felt like we had done something before we left, but without putting her in danger.


The Tuffley show organisers were very helpful and smiling all the time, even though Alex was quite proud of himself that we actually managed to safely exit the showground without needing to be towed through the quagmire, and we were glad to get home at a sensible time on Sunday, and get out of the mud and rain.  The dogs were pleased to get home too, it was clear to see they were getting tired as well!  I think that we would do that week away again, the shows are very relaxing and quite laid back, the show locations are stunning and normally our highlights of the year - its just that this agility season has mostly been exceptionally bad weather wise and that can't be helped!!

Sunshiney Weekend!!

We had a week off from shows near the end of June, to relax and spend time at home, and to just catch up on house things.  As it was a beautiful sunny blue-sky-day from the dawn, we decided with the help of Alex's mum to get our garden in a bit of order.  It was actually quite rewarding, tidying, weeding, grass cutting and strimming, hacking back the bushes, really pleased with the end result. So no pictures of dogs this time even though they were enjoying the garden too (thankfully, say Davy and Yahoo as they hate having their pictures taken!!), just a few pictures that I took, of some beautiful flowers that we are lucky enough to have in our garden.  Just wish I could work out some better formatting for the pictures instead of having them in a big list!!

Axstane

Another weekend show, this time at a different showground - slightly nearer to home, just under an hour away - so no problem with daytripping in fact quite nice (and a shorter journey than I do to work on a daily basis so really just a mere stroll!), I don't think I need to mention the reason why we weren't camping for yet another time.  It could have been worse - that I keep forcing to remind myself, as there was a little bit of sun, along with the rain and quite a lot of gusty wind!!

It always concerns me a bit when I end up walking a course differently to others, I suppose more wonder than concern, but there must be a reason why everyone is going the same way!! So one course in question, I hadn't seen more than about nine or ten people go the way I picked, but I stuck to my original plan, and when I came to queue to run - and watch others, I realised that my way would provide a far better line for Kiah, and not pull her off course - which was exactly what it did, so I was pleased with my choice.  There can be so much or so little to agility, one of many things I enjoy about the sport, it can be as big, small, or as 'anything' as you want it to be.

I think we were a little bit unlucky with some of our runs at this show, I was super pleased with how Kiah was working on both days, though by Sunday we did have a couple of those 'looney' moments that we do see every now and again!!  Generally a nice selection of courses, but some silly errors - one great fast jumping course with loads of tunnels, really fun - where we had a pole, there was another when we messed up the weave (but got the entry!) on a course that would have been great, and another pole in a fast fun jumping course, then the second pole in an agility course as I 'snatched' at a turn, arrgh!!  Oh well, a learning curve - onwards and upwards, Kiah didn't realise or mind that we didn't get any clears this week, this was a picture of her in one of the blasty courses, having a fantastic time!!

Thames

I haven't updated in ages again, unfortunately boring things like work have been getting in the way, anyway the next show we went to (in order!) was the weekend show Thames up at the Newbury showground - and unfortunately YET again we had decided not to camp due to the probably not surprising, but disappointing weather forecast for the weekend... Thankfully (but rarely) it was for once quite incorrect, as the weather on both days was reasonable and even a little bit of sun - but I didn't mind as its nice to get home to my own bed, and without fail, Kiah sleeps better too.

I was pleased with the way Kiah had been working in training at the time, she was still as looney as ever (and highly unlikely to ever change!) but listening to me and actually thinking about things rather than just belting around as fast as she possibly can. I find at shows too we are a better team if we just spend a few minutes before our run, playing and messing around (as well as our warm up) and stopping for a few photos in this case, smiley pretty girl.  There does seem to be quite a fine line between us working well and not so much, silly little things such as timing, and delivery of my commands really does make a difference.  As much as she is a loon she does always listen to me, but sometimes almost 'too much' which gets me in more trouble!!

Anyway there weren't many courses over the weekend that I was particularly impressed by, though in our very first run we had a fairly impressive clear round - I say impressive because it was the messiest clear in time, that I think we have ever done!!  I didn't want to push Kiah hard around it, due to a couple of what were almost dangerous angles for fast/silly dogs, so we took it easy, very easy. I waited until she was long committed to contacts before crossing behind and catching her up, I even forgot to do any kind of cross at one point, so had to do a weird spin to ensure she could get a proper take off for the long jump!  So I think it was slightly representative of the type of course, when I just by complete chance I thought I would have a look at the times - and what had won - and saw Kiah's name in a very respectable 10th place, bless her my clever girl its a good job we checked!!  So, a nice show as the sun shone a little, a lovely purple rosette for Kiah, a pretty good weekend :)))

Very Clever Dogs - 2 of 2!!

Kiah, well she was running well too, and I just don't think she wanted to be outdone by her brother on the first day!! When I walked the course I didn't really have a huge opinion on it, thought it was ok, quite challenging but also fair, as set by David Isbister, but we were unlikely to do well in it as it was a combined 6-7 class, so one set of results. Obviously I need to have a little more faith in my little princess at times, wow it felt fantastic to get a clear round, and running about three quarters of the way through the class, go into and stay in third place!!!! It wasn't the best run by me, and even though Kiah got her down contact, miss naughty-bear shouldn't have come off the side of the dogwalk, though I can't criticise really as her weaves, keeping her feet up and nice turns were really fantastic, so very pleased with her!!!!  It really does feel great when we manage to go clear, a real buzz and even more so as we don't get too many clears.  I only realised when someone told me, after the class was closed that it was a qualifier, so as well as getting a lovely trophy, Kiah and I are off to the 6-7 semi-final in September!!!! We also have a video of my girl with her run too, so proud of my Princess-Kiah-bear!!!

The second day wasn't as great with naff weather, and even though the dogs were still good, we had no clears - but with some good contacts, waits and jumping from both of them, nothing could have outdone Saturday's results!! We headed home pretty promptly, missing the worst of the weather and getting home at a reasonable time too, its nice to chill at home on a Sunday afternoon.   Of course we went home with the best ever dogs; both Kiah and Davy were brilliant, am exceptionally proud of them both - of course they got extra sweeties, and a tin of sardines each in their dinners that night as extra rewards!!