Happy Xmas

Catch Up

Again it's been a while, Ember won up to Senior Steeplechase at Cheltenham UKA. It's my birthday this week so am out a bit though have got a cold and feel dreadful!! I have heard a song I would quite like to do a new HTM routine to and hopefully enter Rugby in January, I haven't done much this year as was concentrating on agility with Rum but I want to get going again next year.

The Jeremy Edwards video has now been finished, am really pleased with how it looks:


Also here's a pic of Lee and I in Castletown, Isle of Man from our training weekend, was a great weekend everyone was lovely:

Don't forget the LGT Workshop DVD is still available and will make an excellent Christmas present!!

www.leegibsontraining.com

RIP Kali

I know it's not a dog related post but Kali really was one of the pack, she was just like a dog and even did some media work, if only I had thought about it earlier she could have done more as she loved going out in the car and meeting everyone on set. She was a real star and a one in a million cat, there will never be another like her. Before the dogs came I had trained her to sit, spin, jump a jump and also fetch a stick as I was desperate to have a dog I treated her like one and I think she thought she was one. She had a massive cancerous growth and had to be put down today, she was in pain and they couldn't make her comfortable.

It's been a while....

I hadn't realised it had been so long to be honest. We haven't done much since KC Festival really and work has been quite manic, personal life has been busy so I haven't stopped really!

We competed for a day at Dordale and Cas picked up a 4th in Grade 6 Jumping which I was dead chuffed with as she is almost 10 now so she's still going strong, Ember had a win in Combined 1-7 Jumping. Then the show at High Peak was cancelled and I was so looking forward to it. We did a day at Bromsgrove and Rum had a place in a blast of a Combined 1-7 Jumping course however this was the beginning of my illness and I got worse that week only to find I had gastroenteritis after a trip to the Doc on the Thursday. I was totally gutted to have to pull out of judging at Dashin on the Saturday but had to spend the day in bed, on Sunday I felt better until I got up and felt horrendous again, I lived on toast for a week which was a great way to lose weight (1/2 a stone!) but that's soon gone back on!

I was just about up to fitness for UKA Top Barn where Cas won Senior Steeplechase 1, Senior Steeplechase 2 and Novice Jumping, Ember won Novice Steeplechase 1 and Novice Steeplechase 2, Rum had a 2nd in Novice Agility and a 4th in Novice Steeplechase - they were flying that day!

I have just got back from a training weekend with Lee to the Isle of Man, take a look at his blog as he has uploaded some piccies. It was a short stop and we didn't get to see much as our flight was soooo late on Friday (thank goodness for Weatherspoons in the airport!). But it was a great weekend, fantastic company and everyone was really receptive to our ideas and I hope everyone has gone away inspired! Well done everyone and good luck for the future. And thanks to Christine for looking after us so well despite her not being well!!

This week am doing something for Burgess involving training a celeb's dog to do agility! Will post more when we are done.

Ember's win @ Dordale:

Cassie's 4th @ Dordale:

Blog

Haven't had much time to blog, went to Spain instead of DIN (had an amazing time :))) )and did my packing instead of all of KC Festival lol. Rum had a 2nd in G5 Agility at Lincoln and Ember and Cas both had places in Comb 4-7 Jumping too. On the Friday at KC Festival Rum had his first G6 classes and coped REALLY well (apart from a bit of an all over the place run in G6 Jumping) so I was really chuffed.

I want to say well done to Chris Hickman and Fiddle who is my fav black and white collie ever, she's a stunner for winning this g3 jumping class and KC Festival and since winning another at DIN:

3 Down 1 to Go

I was so pleased with Rum at Derby he went clear in pairs with Carol and Calca and they came 3rd. He had a bit of a hesitant clear in Combined 4-5 Jumping and came 3rd (0.05s of his brother lol!) and 2nd in Grade 5 Agility with a gorgeous run round a tough course and held contacts - I was dead chuffed with that run round Mavis Sherwin's course. Sunday wasn't so good he skipped a weave in Jumping, missed his entry in Chum (I rushed him) and dropped a pole in 1-7 Jumping with another lovely run.

Cas was all over the place this weekend or I was! We had poles here and there as I was pushing her too much.

Ember had a bad Saturday which resulted in me taking her out of both agility classes and knocked a pole in C6-7 Jumping which she would have won by 2secs. No matter though as she won G6 Jumping on Sunday so just an agility to go now! And also had a 2nd in Comb 1-7 Jumping. Her other agility was a bit better but she's started flying her other two contacts now and before it was just her a-frame so am getting rather fed up of her pushing me all the time!

What a Weekend!

My life is just mega busy at the moment and I am not at home one evening in the week so I wanted to have a break but I dragged myself out! So considering on Friday I didn't feel like doing either of the shows I had entered at the weekend, we actually did pretty well.

Rum and I didn't have that great a show at UKA, he picked up a 2nd Q in Novice Snooker because he went back over the start before pink and black. Then in Novice Jumping he had a pole down, I took his tuggy into the Novice Agility and worked his contacts, last run was Novice Steeplechase and he again had a pole down - it's not like him to knock poles so I was unsure whether he needed to see chiro. However he didn't knock one at Chipping Norton so must have just been having an off day. We started off with Combined 1-7 Jumping when he had a lovely clear but I came out saying he was slow but being so pleased with a super tight turn round the corner of a box, went to have a look at the results and he was 3rd, just over 0.1 of a second off the winner! I was so chuffed with that. Then Greaded 4-5 Agility and he jumped off the top of the dogwalk landing on the contact, I was so annoyed and shocked I lost track of what I was doing and pushed him too far past the A-frame, shame because the rest was nice and I managed to get a super smart finish with a blind cross at the end of the weaves. Then Graded 4-5 Jumping and I did the stupid thing of changing my plan having watched others go and we had a refusal early on then made a right mess of it!

Cas had a 1st in Novice Jumping at UKA and a 2nd in Senior Steeplechase. I think it's a shame as she is going to be stuck in Novice forever as she doesn't do agility so I am contemplating training some UKA agility classes so I can try and get her up. Then at Chipping Norton she had a pole down in Comb 1-7 Jumping and am not sure why and in Graded 6-7 Jumping she missed her last weave as I pushed her out too soon.

Ember had been so naughty in some of her classes last weekend I had ended up taking her out of the ring, but this weekend she was fab! At UKA we had a 3rd in Novice Snooker, not sure how many points but it wasn't a Q as she had a pole down on one of the early colours. Then a storming round in Novice Jumping - 1st. She almost had a flying round in Steeplechase but right at the end decided to change a flick flack into a pull through ha! Her agility round we trainined. Then at Chipping Norton she had a nice round in Combined 1-7 Jumping but flicked left round a jump and back jumped. Followed it with a storming round and won Grade 6 Jumping with a time that was 1 second quicker than the winning Grade 7. Her agility she was NAUGHTY!! Anyway for her win we got a portrait shot off the photographer there - DS Event Photography:

Rum is Grade 6!!

Just a quick post to say Rum won G5 Jumping at RVA so is now Grade 6 - KC Festival will be his first G6 I think, which was his first G5 last year! So that's nice he has spent a year in grade 5, I have been holding him there this year (contacts and not competing in jumping lol!) but thought it was about time he moved! He also had a 3rd in G5 Agility, Cas a 2nd in G6 Jumping, Emz a 2nd in G6 Jumping and 5th in Steeplechase. Videos to follow at some point.

France!

Last year I decided I would really like to experience agility abroad and I love France so I picked a French show and had the dogs – Rum and Ember (I didn’t bother with Cas as she is 9 now and only doing jumping so I thought she could stay and keep Diz company) vaccinated.
So we set off down to Poole to catch the ferry to St Malo, found a park for the dogs to have a run in at lunchtime and stumbled across a lovely little Italian restaurant by a lake. I was a little concerned as to how the dogs would be on the ferry but they were fine and they didn’t stress out at all. The ferry crossing was fairly smooth and we arrived in St Malo early evening.

I had decided to rent a cottage in South Brittany in the hope we would get some sun, well the cottage was more in Loire Atlantique in a little village called Les Moutiers ens Retz. On our way down we stopped at a service station to feed the dogs and let them off for a run and arrived at the cottage late evening.

We were up early to go to the show in Ploermel, it was quite a big show as there were two rings rather than the usual one – makes a difference from the 14 at Thames! We had to look up what our ring number was on a list then book in, at this point the competitors hand in their licences to compete which are then handed back out at the end, because I didn’t have one of these I handed in my record books. Then the running orders are listed for all your classes. I had four classes with Ember and 3 with Rum as Rum is not KC reg so he doesn’t get to run in the level class.

Ember was running first in the Open Agility which was a qualifier. In France you have to have your dog off lead while the dog in front is competing and you then walk to the start with the dog under control (you are unable to touch your dog, well you are once but sometimes this can be interpreted as more than once by the judge and you would be E’d so it’s best not to at all!) and wait for the judge to tell you to go. I was pleased that I managed to get both the dogs to the start without them bombing off over a jump lol!

So Ember, in the first agility she had the first pole down (she was in category A which is our equivalent of small but the jumps were a bit higher), she then missed her A-frame and had another jump down but I was really pleased otherwise as the weaves are spaced further apart, the tyre was tiny and she has never seen a table in the ring. This was then followed by another Open Agility (not a qualifier), this was a disaster, she knocked that many poles down I lost count!! And she slipped at the end of the weaves (the metal bar was really thick in the middle). Unfortunately I missed her level class as I thought she was in 2-eme degree but she was actually in 3-eme degree, these level classes are the only classes that count towards progression, so you could win hundreds of opens and stay in level 1 as it’s only the level one classes that count. All dogs start in level 1. Finally the jumping class, she was fab in this, had a pole down near the start so I didn’t really work the tunnel entry as well as I should have done and she went in the wrong end but otherwise she ran really nicely.

Rum had the Open Agility (non qualifier) first and did a lovely run but I just lost him in the tunnel – grrr shame as he ran really well. Then the other agility and he missed his down contact on the dogwalk but then I struggled to get him in the tunnel and when he landed after the wall he took the wrong jump I didn’t work him into his turn. In this class the judge had said you must leave the ring when E’d. Finally jumping and grrr he went into a tunnel again when he shouldn’t have – obviously something we need to work on!!

Everybody has to wait until the end where you all sit and watch the presentations, after this you then get your licence back with a copy of your results for each dog. It was a great experience, thank you to Theresa for helping me with everything. Am so pleased with the dogs considering they learnt the table at home last week and have never done it in the ring and the weaves are a lot further apart which Rum seemed more comfortable with but Ember just looked like she was running between them ha!

Well we had a lovely week, a lot of the time it was too hot to take the dogs out during the day so they were better off stopping in the house which was kept cool with the shutters closed. It was lovely to go for a run along the promenade first thing in the morning with the dogs off lead not having to worry about traffic etc. The one day it was cool enough to take the dogs to the beach late afternoon, so we all went for a swim which was fab – Rum is such a strong swimmer!! He easily pulled me back to shore.

Here are a couple of piccies:

Bad Blogger

Well I haven’t blogged for ages in terms of shows, my agility motivation has really diminished lately. I really enjoy training and judging but I just haven’t had any enthusiasm for competing the last couple of months. I have been so busy with other things lately agility shows were becoming stressful and I just couldn’t cope with that on top of everything else. So I took it upon myself to change my mindset and now shows are my getaway. :~)

Rum has been suffering from stress for a while now, just before Christmas it got really bad so I had him on DAP and some xyklene, we worked through this bad stage where I could not get him to do a thing because he couldn’t think he was stressed out up to his eyeballs! Then when the outdoor season started I realised that he wasn’t fast because he enjoyed it, he was fast because he was stressed out, he wouldn’t wait because he was stressed about the dog behind him, he started missing contacts. I realised my hopes of getting to Olympia were vanishing before my eyes, but what’s more important? In my opinion it’s a dog who actually enjoys agility, people may have thought he did but if you looked closely he didn’t at all – it was adrenaline from the stress. Chris Hickman has been excellent and really helped me, after reading Control Unleashed I started working with him at Waldridge initially. From there we have been doing calm around the rings, making eye contact with me rather than watching the dog competing. Slowly we are getting there, and working him now really makes me realised how stressed he was! We started getting our waits back (though if we have a barky dog behind us they aren’t great and I don’t really want to push him in that situation as he isn’t comfortable) and contacts back again.
At Newton Heath this weekend he was amazing, a 3rd in Novice Olympia (not qualifying as was in 2 parts) and I got lost in an awesome jumping class which I really drove him round and he had a great time, followed by a beautiful run in agility where I held his contacts and ran on past. His contacts are so much faster and confident I haven’t had a creepy contact all weekend which is a first!

Cas was a little stiff this weekend and had a couple of poles in her jumping classes so am going to see how she goes. At Thames she was the only one to have 100% clear rate including a 14th in Pairs with Lisa Thompson.

Ember has been another reason I haven’t been enjoying competing, at Waldridge there were lots of start jump then weaves which she has always struggled with and didn’t get a single entry. After that she seemed to lose all confidence in finding her weaves and didn’t pick any up in the ring, I felt all that hard work had just been wasted and we were back to square one. But am pleased to report she didn’t miss a single one all weekend, in her jumping she picked up a really tricky entry and just had a pole otherwise would have won by 2 seconds! Then we are still having a-frame issues and I have decided to down her afterwards as putting her back over is rewarding her for missing and if I took her out it’s giving the obstacle a really negative association. Anyway in the next class she had a beautiful a-frame and we had a 3rd in Grade 6 Agility. Sunday she was so fab in Crufts singles but made a stupid mistake and messed up a straight line of jumps! I was so pleased as I got into position while holding her on her dogwalk and left her in her weaves while I went off into position. In her jumping she was NAUGHTY and was so headstrong she wasn’t listening.

Here are some pics I took with my new lens.

And this is Jingo, Chris Hickman's goldie, she hasn't got many photos of him so I said I would take some, weather wasn't great so didn't get any particularly amazing shots, but I just love this one - isn't he gorgeous!

Race For Life

I am really proud of myself, was just going to walk the two laps (5K) but on the second lap Anna and I ran and we didn't stop, so we ran 2.5k. Really pleased I did it, have only ever run 0.8k at the gym before so I had to push myself to keep going - it was great to feel we were making a difference.

http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/ghos

Dizzy Celebrating 10Yrs

Sometime in June 1999 Diz arrived and we took her home from rescue in December 1999.

Training

I was asked to take the competition class at Addicts yesterday afternoon, so had to quickly come up with a layout, I used part of this from one of Bud Houston's layout where it was used in an opening sequence at a Grand Prix qualifier. I wanted something with tunnel under dogwalk as I saw one dog completely freak at it a couple of weeks ago.

It was a really good layout as it was sequences night tonight rather than a whole course. So we did both the around the outside warm ups - 2 jumps, weaves, jump, dogwalk 2 jumps and the opposite, the weave entry proved a little trickier so handlers had to make sure they continued to head for the weaves rather than cut the corner!

Then onto the trickier stuff we did the 3 jumps in a line and over the jump towards the tunnel, tunnel, dogwalk and 2 jumps. This proved easier than I thought and there weren't many dogs that took the jump from the left. So we did the same but took the jump from the left away from the tunnel and this proved trickier, handlers were moving too quickly when they thought the dog had come through.

That's all I've got time to blog about at the mo, am enjoying judging and training more than I am competing at the moment.

Rum!!!

Cat (http://www.themodernlove.co.uk/) took this shot of Rum at Waldridge, I think it is absolutely amazing!!!

Waldridge - Beach!!

Here are some shots of the dogs on the beach at Markse, Redcar. I love Waldridge show and I just love the beach, we spent Saturday evening by the sea and most of Sunday morning we decided to stay on the beach rather than do agility - just listening to the sound of the waves on the sand is so relaxing. The dogs loved racing round in the sea. We were so lucky with the weather, it stayed dry and we even had sunshine on Sunday morning :)

And a couple of my little angel in the caravan

Beacon Agility

Rum's first run was the CSJ qualifier and I thought I would quick release his contacts if they were solid, and they were stunning he was so confident about getting into his position and was completely solid until his release. Unfortunately I didn't push him into a jump and we got 5R, he then proceeded to fly his see-saw as he saw his lead so I put him back on it. Then G1-5 Jumping which was more like a G5 course, tyre, jump then a choice for the dog of 2 jumps, weave or tunnel. I thought I would risk it, just tell him weave and not really baby him at all, much to my surprise he zoomed past everything else and picked them up, I should have more faith! Unfortunately we had a pole down and another 5r when I crossed behind a jump too soon pulling him off. Finally Dog Vegas qualifier and he had pole 3 down so I thought I may as well really hold his contacts and he was really good, especially pleased with the dogwalk as I carried on running past the last jump while he was on his contact then released :)

Cas had a jumping class and had a couple of poles down but worked well.

Nice early finish today!!

Beacon Agility

Just Ember at Beacon's small/medium show.
We started with the Olympia Stakes and I was really pleased with her, she did a lovely tight pull through after the dog walk, picked up a weave entry that a few seemed to be missing, flicked away nicely to the jump before the a-frame and missed her a-frame! I thought last weekend we might have cracked it, so I took her in the practice ring today but it didn't make any difference.
Then C5-7 Jumping and she had the first pole so I insisted on a proper flick away on jump 3 and carried on, really pleased with her weave entry as I was cutting a corner running along the weaves pushing her to get the entry :)
Then Crufts Singles and she did a cracking round, I was so pleased with her - pulled off the dogwalk, flicked away nicely, tricky weave entry again and flicked away at the end nicely. But the stupid handler moved too soon and she went in the wrong end of the tunnel! Grr!
Finally team, Sarah and Tikka had 5f on dogwalk, then Ember who had 5f on dogwalk and a-frame, David was clear, Aljeanna and amy had 15f. It's a cracking little team and we had fun running it :) I am a bit annoyed at Ember's contacts as they were so lovely last week!

Ember's individual runs:


Team:

Shrewsbury Agility

I was judging all day Saturday, didn’t get finished till about 6pm! Then I didn’t get much sleep on Saturday night and so Sunday I was rather shattered to say the least!! The caravan was fab (first use) even if I didn't sleep in it a single night and it was there 3!! And thank you so much to a certain person who gave her time up to teach a few of us some reversing techniques and I got it on the drive first time - Yeah!! :)

Rum ran the Derby first and his contacts were perfect, nice solid stop position and release but unfortunately he had the spread down. Then 4-5 Agility and I was so pleased he went straight into his stop on the dogwalk while I was moving to the side a jumps width away to call him back, he was so solid until I released. He had a pole down and we had a bit of a moment where I got a little confuzzled, his a-frame was perfect too. I was SO pleased with him, fingers crossed he’s confident again with his position. I have been testing my courses with him when I have judged and played tuggy while he is on his contact and it seems to be working, touch wood!

Cas was in a tricky C6-7 Jumping and really could have done with a wait but if I hadn’t moved too soon I think we could have done it, she had 2 poles anyway. Then a lovely G6-7 Jumping and she worked really nicely, just had the first pole down and I moved to soon on a flick flack.

Ember ran in G6-7 Jumping and to be honest I wasn’t up to it as it was first thing in the morning and she started fighting me so I took her out. After a few hours sleep we were ready to roll in a tricky C6-7 Jumping and we did the first half fabulously well then came a cropper when I moved too quickly past a flick flack (again, this is something I am going to have to work on now I can run a bit faster!!) and pushed her out. Finally C6-7 Agility which I hadn’t walked as was queuing for another run, I didn’t call her enough off a jump as I didn’t think it was that close, so annoyed as her contacts were the best they have been in a long time and she picked up a tricky weave entry and did some lovely work.

While I am on I have to say a huge well done to Lee and the gorgeous Scott who won three grade 5 agility classes over the Bank Holiday weekend, taking them firmly into grade 6. Not forgetting the naughty merle who had a 3rd in Champ.

Lee Gibson Workshop DVD available now from http://www.leegibsontraining.com/

Bluebells!

The obligatory annual bluebell shots ;)

ASBO

Anyone who knows Ember will know her nickname is ASBO as she barks A LOT!

For agility I started with a bog standard collar and lead, then found it took me ages to find the D ring to clip her lead back on due to all her coat! We moved to a slip lead but I ended up managing to choke her half the time, or rather she did when she wanted to go somewhere suddenly! Then I got a fleece dog games harness which was great but a bit of a faff. I had noticed loads of agility shelties wearing a certain sort of harness and always wondered why they were so popular and then I saw them at Crufts and realised how easy they were to take off and on - just one big clip and slipped over their head - dead easy. I didn't want to go with the bog standard princess/diva/agility on her tag so I saw a link to a great site that does personalised tags from Bernadette's blog:

http://www.dogstoppers.co.uk/

So here she is in her harness and new personalised tag :) Thanks Bernadette (for sharing) and Michael (for making).

Agility Addicts

I was judging in the afternoon, so the dogs only had runs in the morning. Started off with rain but the afternoon was lovely, here are the dogs looking a bit windswept - Broseley is a lovely venue but quite high up so it is windy up there!

Rum started with Open Jumping and in both rounds missed his weave entry. Rum and I are struggling at the moment as he is getting stressed out of his mind when he trains in a group but when I go for a private lesson he completely switches off. So we are struggling at the moment as are only training at home and the garden isn't that big. Though he had a lovely round in Open Connector and came 2nd (to Cas).

Cas had a pole in both Open Jumpings, the first time was when I fell over!!! The second time was me rushing her. Then she had a lovely round in Open Connector and won.

Ember also missed the weave entry the first time in Open Jumping but the second time had a fab run but just pulled round the back of a jump as I was so far behind! She tested my Open Agility course and her contacts were lovely, her waits have been good today also :) Sarah Childs ran her in my Open Connector and had a lovely run but Emz knocked a pole then started running over to someone watching as she thought it might have been me even when I was standing right behind her - god her eyesight is bad! Lol. Emz runs really well for Sarah as she can run very fast :) not like short arse me ;)

Sugar Plum Fairy

Thank you Rivergate who took some fab photos of us Saturday :)

http://www.rivergate.org.uk/

Westglen HTM

Rum hasn’t done much HTM, we competed in 2007 and he had enough points to move into Novice but towards the end of the year he was frightened by some speakers that fed back really loudly and he was right underneath them! The following show I could hardly get him in the building let alone the ring, so we worked for several months on positive association with HTM let alone the ring. I did a really simple routine last September and he was brilliant so I thought I would teach him some more heel positions and enter him in another show.

Well he was brilliant, he was freaking out a little before we went in as the dog before had been barking & barking dogs are scary! I thought we might end up training and my mum was poised with a tuggy! But now he was fab, the first half of the routine he worked amazingly and the second half we had a couple of moments where he looked a round a bit to make sure everything was okay, I was disappointed with his finish as I just didn’t steady him before he came through my legs – disappointed in myself not him. Otherwise though I couldn’t have been more pleased with him as he was happy and really accurate to start, I just need to do more with him now so he gets used to the environment.

UKA Agility - Sun

Rum was really difficult today, he was really stressing in the queue yet yesterday and Friday he was really chilled. The only thing I can think is on the 3rd day of competition the adrenaline levels have just got too high for him to cope. We had a messy clear in Novice Jumping, ending in 5th place. I trained his agility and the steeplechase classes he just wasn’t committing to things and pulling off really easily. So I am really a bit down about him again, he has found it really hard to cope today, thankfully my mum did a lot of queuing for me.

Cas was a little star, clear in Senior Steeplechase with a messy moment and she won, I was really pleased as she did a flick round to the tunnel near the end and this is something I have never really taught her. She demolished the first pole in Novice Jumping which was my fault as I didn’t steady her. In her second steeplechase she just had a pole down as I called her too early. In the final steeplechase she had another nice clear, don’t know if she got anything as there were other nice fast clears.

Finally Ember, started with Novice Jumping and she put in an amazing round, I was sooo chuffed with her – crossed behind weaves, flick away to last jump, pull through and flick round and send ons – she has come on so much, she won the class. In her first steeplechase we made a mess of the start and tunnel entry but did some lovely send ons. I trained her agility as I expected her to push her contacts after yesterday and she did! In her second steeplechase she was fab, lovely send ons but dropped a pole. In the last steeplechase she dropped a pole and started to fight me so I took her out as I don’t want that starting again! She has been dropping more poles than usual this weekend so I think I will have to do some more jumping exercises.

I had entered tomorrow but I won’t be going as it is too much for Rum and Cas only has one or two classes and my back isn’t great so I’m going to give it a miss.

TAG Agility - Sat

Rum had team first and put in a lovely clear, it was fantastic to watch him power round a big course. Then in his first agility he flew his dogwalk so I put him back on it but the rest was lovely, in his other agility he ran his A-frame so I put him back on.

Cas had veteran jumping again and ran well with just a pole down.

Ember ran team first and was the only one to be faulted with a pole down, we would have been 4th. Then had C6-7 Agility and took a pole out early on so I reinforced her contacts. Followed by C6-7 Jumping and she ran it well as it was a difficult course she had the 4th to last jump down as just got her take off completely wrong. Lastly G6-7 Agility and we got a nice wait and I thought being the last day of KC competition I would push her contacts, it paid off as we won! 1 down 3 to go! I looked at her times for the two C6-7 Jumpings where she just had poles down and she would have been 2nd in both. She is working really well at the moment, just knocking a few poles which is down to me trying to tighten her up!

TAG Agility - Fri

Rum ran 3-5 Agility first and he broke is wait so I put him back instantly eliminating us. He then flew his see-saw so I put him back on and ensured he got his A-frame and Dogwalk - he is still not back to his old self where contacts are concerned, at least he is going into position now even if her is self releasing. Then 4-5 Agility, he was going lovely so I made sure we had an E as we were well on our way to an E, shame but I don't want to risk moving up while his contacts aren't rock solid. He did a lovely recall through the weaves and some lovely send ons but was nice and tight on his turns.

Cas just had Veteran Jumping. She has been retired from agility classes for a while and at this show she would have only had one combined 6-7 run so I thought she may as well enter veterans, would rather do that as I don't want to push her too much in her golden years :) Anyway she had a fab run and really enjoyed a blast only to win it, which I was surprised about as there were some fast dogs in the class.

Ember started with C6-7 Agility and I knew looking at the course there was NO WAY we could get the weave entry so we just went in to train contacts and she did all three lovely! Then G6-7 Agility and her contacts and weaves were fab but she turned the opposite way I expected her to which put me out of position for the next bit and she got E'd going into the tunnel grrr! Finally C6-7 Jumping and she was AMAZING, tight turns, lovely go ons, but she had a pole down, another grrr!

Dogs have worked really well especially Emz, just been little mistakes.

Wye Valley

Just Ember at Wye, it was really nice to concentrate on one dog. I took the car and couldn't be bothered to tidy out the boot so she was clipped onto the front seat in her harness. She was really happy apart from when I started singing and dancing and she thought I had gone mad - she can talk though!

Anyways our first one was a quite straight forward Graded 6-7 Jumping, Ember went clear and I was really pleased I managed to cross behind her weaves, followed by a flick flack and two pull throughs which weren't the tightest turns she has ever done and we had a bit of a twizzle before the last jump as I was on the wrong side, we finished 3rd. Then Combined 1-7 Circular and she had a mega wide turn so I tried to tighten her for the second turn only to pull her through, shame as the rest was fast and tight. Then Graded 6-7 Agility, she did fab wrong end of tunnel, pull through and flick round, onto dogwalk, lovely contact, really tricky weave entry she found herself! Then she had a pole down so I trained her contacts for the rest of the round. She has worked so nicely today I am really pleased with her.

Cancer

On 17th June I will be taking part in Cancer Research's Race For Life. I am taking part as part of a group from work.

Cancer has touched most of us during our lives. For me, my two grandads, one grandma and great uncle have died from cancer. My uncle has also survived cancer. It is therefore a cause very close to my heart and I feel I am going to help make a difference by running the Race For Life. I would be extremely grateful if you could spare a couple of minutes of your time to sponsor me. All monies go direct to charity, click below to take you to my sponsorship page - GHOS.

Those special people who can touch our lives,

Are like precious jewels amongst life's treasures.

They shine on us and leave a lasting impression;

An unique mark on our heart;

A gift without measures.

Many thanks :)

Time Out

Thanks to everyone who has sent support following Saturday, it means a lot and I am not going to let one person ruin agility for us. I feel a lot better having eaten lots of chocolate egg and having gone on a lovely relaxing walk over Wenlock Edge:

Agility Addicts

Rum started with Senior Agility, he flew his see-saw, a-frame and dogwalk so I put him back on. Then in round two he did the same again so went back on. I am really disheartened about the whole thing and upset because his contacts were so fab and I was so pleased I could have a dog I could trust. Then one training session he slams over the a-frame, hurts his back and is now associating the contact area with pain and I didn’t manage to get him to stop in training once. It is not like him and I just feel really down about him at the mo. Though his turns are great and we almost got round the senior jumping which was really difficult but the stupid handler messed up. In Easter Egg Skelter we were queueing and he was on his agility handle and a dog came up to him which he told to bog off, just had a snap get out of my face and didn’t make contact. I apologised and this woman swore at me and tried to kick Rum, luckily I reacted and pulled him towards me. I was in shock and it was only actually when I got home I thought about it, she tried to kick my dog! People in the queue were really supportive and I would like to thank them for standing up for me as I was just totally taken aback by the whole thing. The woman would not give her name and told members Rum lunged at her dog, which he did not do (and I have witnesses to that) as he was on a handle and was by my side, I hope I never see her again as I am so angry she tried to kick him! Needless to say we didn’t run the class very well and in hindsight I should have gone away and calmed down before running. With everything that has gone on today, him stressing about contacts then that woman I just feel like giving up - he was going so well and now we've just crashed so am kind of glad I am concentrating on Ember this week as she has Wye.

Cas was a star and had a 4th in Senior Jumping and a 2nd in Easter Egg Skelter winning me an Easter Egg.

Ember was good too and got all her contacts, though didn’t go right to the bottom of her A-frame so I put her back on both times, her dogwalk and see-saw were amazing and I held her in position. Senior Jumping she kept coming out of the last weave for some reason but otherwise was FAB! Then Easter Egg Skelter which she flew and won, so another Easter Egg! :)

Rum

Well last night at training Rum just didn't seem right so I managed to get an appointment with the chiro, she found the middle of his back was twisted and the muscle around it was in spasm. So she straightened him up - was quite a stubborn twist as took a few attempts! He is now on rest for a few days with a daily massage poor lad. So Ember, Cas and I went for a long walk by ourselves in the evening sun, here are a few piccies:

You know it's much better when it's the two of us

On squirrel watch!

We were out until sunset