Adams & Derby

We competed on the Saturday & Sunday at Adams and just the Saturday at Derby.


Rum has progressed well, he's never going to be the fastest agility dog in the world but I love running him.  At Adams we had a 13th in Grade 6 Jumping where we lost a second or so as we had a bit of a wobble before the tunnel entrance where I didn't hold my position, we had a clear in combined 6-7 agility on the Sunday where I held his contacts.  At Derby we had a 14th in Grade 6 Jumping.  What I am finding with him is his first couple of runs he is quite steady and cautious, in agility this results in creepy contacts!  However after that he seems to get his confidence back and is a lot more drivey.  He worries about doing things wrong so much!  We had an awesome run in the last class at Derby, I made a right mess of it but Rum felt so confident, it felt great, much better than our clear in the jumping.


Ember at Adams was a nightmare and fought me all day Saturday, on Sunday we started off with what I thought was an amazing clear in jumping but stupid me had missed a jump out!!  She started being naughty on contacts so I was taking her out of the ring.  At Derby her first class she missed her a-frame so I put her back over then in the next class she got her a-frame, was running lovely then turned around on the see-saw?!?!  Ember always does something random!  In jumping she had a clear but was turning like the titanic, I struggle to get her turns tight, always have done and she ended up just outside the placings but was nice to finally get a clear!!!


Cas was a star and had several clears, the others she had just five faultitis.  She's not quick enough as a veteran to be in the placings though but she has a whale of a time :)


I am enjoying running them, I wish Rum could be confident all the time but he's better than he was and isn't stressing out at all so that's a big plus.  Ember can be amazing one minute and a nightmare the next - nothing changes!  And Cas as long as she's fit and healthy enough to enjoy her agility still I will continue to run her in veterans/anysize.  Some candid shots taken inbetween classes.

Dig It Dogs

I was in two minds as to whether to go to this show as we have had awful weather all week.  However they changed venue and it was the same as last time so I knew parking was on hardstanding and it wasn't far to travel so we could always come home early.  I am glad I went as we had a lovely dry day, fantastic running conditions, we even saw the sun for the afternoon.
Rum struggled a little in the jumping ring as it was quite small, he ran lovely but had a couple of poles in both Champ Jumping and Senior Steeplechase 1, in Senior Steeplechase 2 he had a fab clear and won it.  We're now 6 points away from Champ Steeplechase.  In Champ Agility he worked lovely picking up a fairly tricky (for him) weave entry, a month ago he would have not turned to take the second pole but he did and surprised me!  Unfortunately he saw his lead and ran round the last jump!!  Then Champ Snakes & Ladder and I felt I didn't plan it well, was very hesitant and he picked up on that, we sort of made a right hash!  Finished the day entering a pay on the day agility but I trained his contacts, he worked lovely.

Rum's Steeplechase Win & Agility Training Round
 

Ember was being a nightmare today and insisting on backchatting!!  Novice Jumping she missed the last 2 weaves, I think perhaps because I was moving away but no excuse.  Agility and she missed her a-frame contact grr, naughty sheltie!  Senior Steeplechase 1 she backjumped, 2 she did a similar thing taking a more awkward than easy route.  Finally Snakes & Ladders and I had missed the fact you could only do contacts one way so we messed that up.
It was a lovely show and I really feel together with Rum but Ember, we're fighting again at the minute!!
On another point it was interesting for me as there was the usual stall selling dog toys and treats etc.  They had a lifesize cuddly dog sitting upright at the edge of the stall, I wondered what Rum would do if I tried to introduce him as I remembered us taking Cas to Marie for TTouch and she did similar with Cas.  Rum would not go near it, even if I held a treat near he backed away and wouldn't look at it at, poor lad.  I just don't know what happened with him as a youngster he would be fine socialising with other dogs.

GT Agility

I had got a little disheartened at our last show - Bitz n Bobz in Daventry as I just felt I couldn't keep up with the dogs and my handling was all over the shop.  Having had a nice relaxing couple of weeks in Spain I was feeling refreshed and ready to pick my agility back up, I have been working on my fitness and Rum's fitness all week since we've been back.


Ember, well Ember is Ember and will always do something unexpected!  In Novice Jumping she really flew, I felt so in tune with her, she just knocked a pole.  Then Senior Steeplechase and she tripped me up knocking me flying!  Followed by Novice Agility and silly me sent her off over a jump I shouldn't have done, a shame as her contacts were spot on.  I then trained Novice Gamblers as I know she misses her contacts on the second run - lo and behold she did!  I don't know why she's doing that, the last few shows it's been a case of perfect contacts in the first run but after that - no hope!  Finally Senior Steeplechase - hoorah a fab clear and she won the class :)


Rum, well for ages I have been on about always wanting consistency and today I got it!  Five runs and five clears :)  Started with Senior Steeplechase which I hadn't walked as got there a little late, it was a bit messy but still fairly quick and we won.  Then Senior Jumping, lovely run, a wide turn on the first flick flack and out of the tunnel but otherwise he worked lovely and won.  Followed by Senior Gamblers (now I hate gamblers and have never ever done well) which he worked lovely, however he got a bit worried when I put him back over the dogwalk as he was wondering if he did it wrong the first time, poor lad his little face when he crept down the down plank!  I wasn't sure whether we got the gamble as it was a bit messy, but we did and won it!  Senior agility I wanted to push his contacts as I wanted the points (getting too competitive lol!) and although the dogwalk was creepy we had a nice run and another win!  Finally senior steeplechase and I stupidly tried to overcorrect him and he had a big twizzle, otherwise lovely and finished 2nd, 0.5s off the winner.  


There was a time where I would have dwelled on that mistake but now I think well I could have lost it completely and got an E or a 5R so we did well to recover, I need to focus more on what we have done well.  We never analyse why we have done well, only when we don't do so well.  Why?  If we do well we want to try and replicate that so we need to focus on why we have done well.


So Rum had already had 12 points at Dig It and today he got the remaining points to take him up to Championship - yeah, but I need to train those contacts next time!  Lol.  I am most happy with the consistency as I hate being so inconsistent, a lot of that is to do with my fitness (I could almost keep up with them!) and also how happy Rum is.  Today we even queued and he stayed calm.  I am just so pleased with him!!

Petplan Pet Toy Test

Petplan has provided me with these toys as part of their Pet Toy Test review programme. Visit the Petplan UK Facebook page for more information and a chance to win the winning toy!

Tyre 

 This comes in a handy carry bag and easily fits together.  There are two uprights which have a spike in the ground enabling it to stand up, the spikes are a decent length so are quite sturdy.  There are four connectors which the frame sits in, these can also be used as jump cups if you didn't want to have the tyre jump in place.  The corrugated piping then just velcros onto the frame.  

It is a great piece of kit, it can't go very high as the top of the frame is only about waist high, but if you just want to have a go at agility then it is ideal or if you have a competing 'small' dog (ie under 35cm) then it is also fine.  

The frame sits into the jump cups so can't be dislodged however when using the equipment as a jump you can rest the poles on the jump cups enabling them to be easily knocked for safety.








Weaves


These come in a set of 12 (6 orange & 6 blue), they have a long spike on the bottom to enable you to put them in the ground.  The poles themselves are probably about half the width of regular competition weave poles.  They also come with a handy measuring tape which has standard KC competition widths marked on it, this is brilliant as it helps you keep the weaves straight and evenly spaced when putting them in the ground.  You then just take the measuring tape out to use.

All sounds great, however the major flaw which I find with these is the colour of them, I think they need to be white.  My dogs are experienced competition agility dogs and compete at grade 6 (out of 7 grades) and struggled with them.  I am not sure whether it could be due to them being thinner than normal or whether it is due to the colour, I personally think it's colour.  My sheltie seemed to skip the orange ones when they were at the end of the set.  So my solution was to put some white PVC piping over the poles and then then completed them fine every time.  The spikes were long enough to keep the weaves quite sturdy however there were a couple that ended up a little bent.  


I found it useful as you can change the weaves into a V formation or a channel which is great for teaching new dogs to weave and there are full instructions on how to do these on the case for them.  
Tunnel

The tunnel comes flat packed but easily folds back flat as it just collapses and is held closed with velcro.  There are 2 points either end of the rigid tunnel which allow you to peg into place.  There is then an attachment which allows you to attach a floppy chute to the main tunnel, this just attaches around the rigid part as it is elasticated and has veclro attachments.  


However there aren't any points at the end of this 'floppy' section to peg into the ground, therefore it moves around a lot, I ran my sheltie through and she almost got stuck.  I therefore didn't use it further as I felt this could be dangerous especially with a bigger, more powerful dog, I wouldn't run my collie through as he could have broken his neck.  I therefore just used as a rigid tunnel which is quite short, if the 'floppy' section had some peg points at the end it would be perfectly fine.

All in all these are fantastic for anyone wanting to teach their dogs a bit of fun agility, there could be some amends made to the equipment which would make it a lot better.  I would also use some myself for competition practice, I just would add some piping over the weaves and wouldn't use the floppy material attachment to the tunnel.  Therefore my favourite out of the three would be the tyre.  I also reviewed on video - below.

Dizzy is 13!!

Dizzy is 13 today, well around about now, we gave her 1st June as her birthday as we rescued her in December 1999 when she was approximately 6 months old.



She is doing okay but she recently had a health check and the vet said she has fluid on her lungs, a weak heart and cataracts. She is very weak on her back legs and does fall over on them a fair bit now, but she’s not in any pain and still enjoying life.


Dizzy taught me so much, she was such an easy dog to train. She enjoyed her agility but was a bit of a plod, obedience was more her thing. Once I got her motivational heelwork training on the go she loved it, I remember a training round I did and she was howling with enjoyment! Lol. She won me out of pre-beginners and beginners but once she had her op she couldn’t do obedience either as she couldn’t sit up for long enough.


So happy birthday to my brown eyed girl, she has spent the week thoroughly spoilt with mum in Wales and a family friend. Here’s her life video:

Dogs Today

As you may know a few years ago I wrote a series of articles for Dogs Today on how to dance with your dog.  Well in the wake of Ashleigh & Pudsey winning Britain’s Got Talent they are being run again from the July edition (out in shops June 14^th). 

I had a look at some of the drafts and my gosh I have lost some weight since then, wow!!

UK's Fastest Blogger

I was invited to take part in the UK’s Fastest Blogger Competition through Buy a Gift. My husband was also lucky enough to get invited (http://thecaravanplace.blogspot.co.uk/) so we got to spend a day together too, bonus!  I was really looking forward to the day and keen to do well. As you may know I love my cars and I love speed and adrenaline!

 We arrived at 8:30am for our Silverstone Driving Day to get signed on ready, the cars were all there waiting to go, so quiet and still, later in the day they would be whining with exhaustion! The briefing explained that we were taking part in the Caterham 7 Drift Experience. We had a demonstration by the instructors round a simple course which consisted of a large sweeping corner and a doughnut round a cone. I was so excited, I have always wanted to drift properly having seen them do it on Fast and Furious.

The caterham 7 is ideal for drifting. Rear wheel drive, 1.6litre, 150bhp and weighing in at around 500kg. The tyres on the back were designed so that they don’t get hot and sticky and the front tyres the opposite making drifts quite easy as the back end gets really loose.

I started off the day really well and found the Caterham an easy drive. My doughnuts were fab and I got out of the car on each occasion buzzing with adrenaline! The instructors at Caterham were really helpful, we would have two laps at a time and the instructors would give us hints and tips after each lap. Once everyone had started to get the hang of it, the course was changed to two sweeping corners and the ‘doughnut cone’ was removed. I did struggle with the longer drifts and this gave us a really good opportunity to really practice getting the car going sideways!

 Drifting can be so tricky as it’s all about forgetting what you have always been taught – keeping the acceleration when you start to slide, normally your instinct is to brake and stop a skid not apply more acceleration! So it can be quite tricky.

After a yummy buffet lunch we were re-fuelled up and raring to go again! Caterham set up their “Uber Drift Course” which consisted of a slalom, doughnut, another slalom and a 1 ½ doughnut. I was struggling with the doughnuts, just couldn’t seem to get the car sliding all the way round, I seemed to manage about ¾ and then lose it. We had a few practice runs and then our final two runs consisted of another practice and an assessed run. My last practice run was awful so I really had to step up my game for the final run. I am a competitive person and when it comes to cars I do always want to show that women can drive too and it’s not just men that can!

They assessed our last run by giving us a score of 100 as we left the starting gates, they knocked points off for things like spinning, knocking cones etc. I drove round and didn’t think I got the car drifting overly well but I didn’t lose control at all, it was probably the best run of the afternoon for me though. Everyone else did really well and I waited with baited breath to see what my score was.

The results were announced and Mark and I were both in the top three! Wow what a team! I ended up 3rd with 90 points, 2nd place had 91 points and Mark won with 95 points, he did a flawless practice lap but on his assessed lap just didn’t continue his drift round the second doughnut so was docked 5 points.

We had an absolutely fantastic day, it was a great adrenaline buzz. The Caterham team were so patient, encouraging and helpful. I was really pleased with a podium place, think I would have been a bit gutted if I hadn’t been up there and to top it off I came away with a suntan (okay a bit of sunburn then)!

Take a look ay Buyagift’s website for more experience days, perhaps with Father’s Day coming up this may be an ideal present? Or just a treat for yourself, I know Mark and I have both got that racing bug and we want to do more!! I think a track day in one of these would also be great fun, perhaps a birthday present for me, anyone?


Here's a video from the day:

Legless!!

Cas, not me!!!

Adams Agility Show

I was really looking forward to this show as I had a decent amount of runs with the dogs.

Ember started off in graded 6-7 agility and when I walked the course I thought it was lovely and really wanted to push her on round it.  She worked it lovely, I just pushed her over her contacts without any stop command and they were fab, it was only when I realised I was pushing her too fast down the finish straight and the seesaw was in that straight that I needed a steady but I was too late and 5f on her seesaw.  I was absolutely gutted, really wanted a clear in the graded class, we’re still just one win from grade 7 and I would love to get her there before she retires. Graded 6-7  Jumping was next and it was impossible without a wait so were eliminated straight off lol, she worked the rest lovely though, I pushed her into her second weave too far and had done exactly the same with rum – BAD HANDLER!  Combined 4-7 jumping followed and she was awesome, just knocked first pole, it really wasn’t her type of course, flick flacks turning into pull ins (we’ve been working hard at training on those, really teaching her in and out commands) and lots of flicks away from me so I was really chuffed with how she worked it.  Last run was combined 6-7 agility and Ember was naughty on her a-frame and I commanded her wrongly on the see-saw but otherwise worked really well.  We’re working together and not against each other again, I am playing with her lots in the queue rather than telling her to sit and be quiet, it really makes a difference to how she runs.

Rum, well I started the show off wondering whether we were going to have to stop agility again, he was so stressed out, he had a fight with ember, pulling faces in the car and his first two runs –combined 4-7 jumping and combined 6-7 agility he was just loopy!  He really wasn’t coping.  Thankfully though when it came to graded 6-7 jumping he was a lot better, unfortunately I lost him to a tunnel, it was a start jump then a through a gap and round the back of number two which we did but I didn’t notice the tunnel entry was close and he went through the gap into the tunnel!  Combined 6-7 Jumping and he worked it really nicely, just knocked a pole because I didn’t give him enough room to jump after a pull through!  Finally Graded 6-7 Agility and he was fab, he worked beautifully, I just messed up his weave entry and pulled him off a jump too early but otherwise his contacts were lovely and quick and he really worked well.  So I think I need to do a lot with him when we get to a show, just walk him round the rings, do some training with him, put him away then run him.  Hopefully I won’t see that level of stress again.  I can always tell when he’s really stressed as his nose goes bright pink!!

Finally my fabulous little crazy little white dog, we messed up in the veteran class as she thought she had finished when she hadn’t but had a clear in Anysize and came 5^th J.  I love my little white dog, she loves to come out and play, she’s so funny, I took this pic of her while she was waiting in line for anysize – just how does she bend her front legs underneath her like that?

Although we only came away with one rosette I was really pleased with how the dogs worked in the end.

Beacon

On Sunday at Beacon we got there a bit late and had missed walking the Combined 6-7 agility, which we then made a right hash off, we looked as though we had never done agility before, it was a course that needed walking!  I took him in the training ring and realised his contacts were awful, he was back on rubber and was struggling to cope, he was going so slow and stopping short, so I got his toy out and worked on some encouragement.  

We then ran Graded 6-7 agility and I ‘quick released’ his contacts, I say quick release as his contacts were quite slow but once in position he was released.  We had a lovely round and a refusal at the second to last jump – gutted!  I just didn’t hold my position long enough.  

Finally Graded 6-7 Jumping and we made a right hash of that too!  I don’t know why but he just seemed really down today and a bit ploddy in the ring, very quiet, not his usual self.  Whether he missed not having another dog with him or whether he was tired from yesterday I am not sure, will have to see how he goes this week.

One thing I do think I am losing are his waits, I can see it happening, I really need to sort it but am a bit scared of taking the mick in the ring and don’t like to mess about keeping the judge waiting.  I don’t want to remove him from the ring as it will just knock his confidence completely so am not sure how I will tackle this one.  I am also really struggling with grade 6 with him, when we won out of grade 5 I only ever did a couple of grade 6 classes before I took a break, I am sure that we had a lot of 5-7 classes but now they seem to all be 6-7 and I am noticing courses are a lot harder, I don’t struggle as much with Ember so I think it’s a lot to do with his striding and how much longer he is jumping.  I need to work on tightening turns with him as I have done too much work powering him on he is.

Here's his graded 6-7 agility, slow I know!!