Contacts confidence

Another funny picture mum has sent through.

Agility training was on tonight, Keisha has got all her contacts, in fact even the training in the garden she has got them, so there is no excuse for the weekend, ive told her if she doesn't get them she will be walking home !!!

Ronny's class was really good, he did some difficult weave entries and once we got it together we managed to get them spot on, considering he is a big dog he can half bend his neck and body around some tight angles.

This weekend we are at Dordale followed by Vyne on the monday, we are going for the ABC qualifier in the hope Keisha will get a perfect round and be in with a chance of qualifying. I have decided to make it an extra long weekend and booked friday off work, the weather doesn't look great but then we are in England.

How right is this !!!!!

Mum sent me some pictures earlier today, of course both of them made me laugh, how true are these !!!

The first day back at work is always a hard one, thankfully we had a conference for most of the day, salmon and chicken were served for lunch (provided by work). Tomorrow looks like it is going to be a busy day, at least it will go quick.

Ive been practicing Keisha's A-Frame in the garden tonight and she hasn't missed the contact once, im really confused, hopefully training will be on in the week and maybe a different A-Frame in a different environment will highlight the issue, why are dogs so hard to work out ???

WBSDS

Good results from the weekend, Ronny had a fantastic jumping round on saturday to finish a brilliant 4th. Today his agility round was awesome, well it would have been if I hadn't stopped him to early on his dog walk, I got a bit too excited as he was nearly home clear and shouted for him to stop too early, which he did, unfortunately he looked back to wait for me to catch up and fell off the end missing that vital contact. In some ways I think it was fate, the timer hadn't started so he would have had to re-run, im not sure he would have gone clear again.

Keisha is still not at her best, well not in the agility rounds anyway, she is still missing that A-Frame contact. Her jumping is really starting to get back to her best, yesterday she did a fantastic round to finish 6th, today she was even better but just didn't sight the flat tunnel early enough and missed the entrance, she was incredibly fast and her turns are so tight so I was more than happy with her round.

This weekend Zippy, Reno and Megan all got to meet up, it was so hard to try and get a picture of them all together as they are all so wriggly, left to right is Zippy, Ronny, Megan and Reno.

Wishing for the weekend

The weekend is not coming fast enough, why cant we have five days off and two days at work instead?

Tonight is my last night of teaching obedience, if im honest I don't really want to go, agility class has started again for the summer and I much rather be going there, especially as Keisha has forgotten what A-Frame contacts are. I have decided to move to a different obedience club though so I can still take the doggies to class, Zippy is really coming on nicely and I want to get Kody's and Pudsey's silver done too.

This weekend we are back at Newbury for the Working Belgian Shepherd Dog society Show, Ronny and Keisha have four runs each on both days and as it is the Belgian Shepherd show im helping out all day on sunday, thankfully they have had lots of offers of help so im not down to help on saturday, I think it would have been far to manic. Natalie and Reno will be there this weekend and I think Conor and Kate are bringing Megan down again too, im not sure about Speedy, I will take my camera anyway.

The last of the pictures have been added further down the blog.

Extra pictures

More pictures added at the bottom of the blog, these two pictures are of Summer and Zippy playing last weekend, it wont be long before Zippy grows his big legs and makes Summer look tiny.

More pictures to follow tomorrow.

Picture update

As promised more pictures from the weekend have been added.

This picture below is probably Ronny's best part of the course, looking into that tunnel !!!

Pudsey and zippy were very happy to get put to bed last night, they really enjoyed their weekend and after all the excitement it seemed to catch up with them, both of them were flat out on their backs and Pudsey was even snoring.

At work today I spent most of my time thinking of reasons why Keisha is jumping her A-Frame contact, I still haven't worked it out but I'm going to try one last thing in the ring at the weekend and see if it works. Even if it does work I think contact training for Keisha is a must in training next week. On the plus side, I have now got a good wait with Keisha at the start of the class and her speed seems to be returning, so its all to play for this weekend.

Kody is having a well deserved weekend off which means I can really concentrate on Ronny, I think I need to be more firm with him in the ring, if he blows those contacts I must start putting him back on them. I'm quite excited by Ronny at the moment, he is really starting to listen and I feel we may have a good round very soon, lets hope we can get it together at some point in competition, if only we could run like we do in training !!!

Wallingford fun

Lots of pictures and video's to update you with from the weekend. Conor and Kate came to see us at the show on saturday and brought Megan along. This is a picture of Ronny, his daughter and son, Megan is on the left, Zippy on the right. Megan is a very pretty girl and I think she enjoyed her day out with her daddy and brother. Kate has taken some great pictures of the dogs and I promise I will post them throughout the week.

We have had a really enjoyable weekend, as you can see Pudsey was loving the attention he was getting from Emma, he is so cuddly it's unbelievable.

Agility wise, not many clears unfortunately but definitely lots of positives to bring away. Keisha is still jumping that A-Frame contact so no clears whatsoever in her agility classes, Ronny came out of his last weave and then missed the dog walk contact but apart from that it was a lovely round. Kody hasn't managed a clear yet but we nearly got one today, he just miss strided the long jump and took the last part of it down. Keisha has had some lovely clears in her jumping classes, she placed 13th yesterday and her jumping today she got a clear but didn't place, far too many fast dogs at this show !!!

Congratulations to Grace and Kiah for winning the ABC agility yesterday and a brilliant 3rd place in your agility today, what a fantastic doggie.

Thanks to Emma for recording Keisha's and Kody's run earlier today, take a look below I have added them to the post.

Keisha's jumping class


Kody's jumping class


Zippy and Summer had a great time too today, they have made great friends and I managed to catch a bit of them playing together on video.

Weekend is nearly here

It's been nice having a short week at work, tomorrow night I will be packing the caravan ready for mum and me to set off early on saturday morning to Newbury for the Wallingford agility show. Both Ronny and Keisha will be competing all weekend and Kody has been entered in the Grade 3 jumping classes too. Sunday Ronny is in a team event joined by Maisy, Dylan and Charlie, Kody is in a different team with Summer, and two boxers, I think its Gemma and Crafty. The classes are really big at the weekend so I think this will be a good opportunity to do some training in the ring with Keisha and try and get us back on form. Ronny will no doubt be all or nothing but at least I always stand on the start line knowing if we get it right we are always in with a chance of a good placing, Grace and Kiah are also very similar to us too, I think we got the two most highly driven dogs out of all Jan's Mallys.

Last night was obedience club, Zippy had quite a good night, he did the most wonderful recall and lovely heel work but unfortunately broke his second stay, more training needed on that. Pudsey did fantastic heel work and he always has brilliant stays but last night he broke his recall, must of been something in the air between my two puppies. Next week will be my last week of teaching obedience as agility training moves to a wednesday for the summer season and obviously that takes priority.

We won an easter egg !!!

I got that easter egg after all. The last class of the day and my good reliable boy ran a perfect jumping class and finished 3rd, beaten by two incredibly fast collies. I dont know if you can tell by the picture but the trophy is supposed to be of an easter egg.

So here is the update of that dreaded A-Frame ..... It was the second obstacle of the course and Keisha hit it spot on, it was only when we got most of the way through the class she decided she would miss the dog walk contact instead. Keisha has had a clear everyday and although she did a very good round on saturday to finish fourth, I still feel we haven't actually got it quite right yet.

Emma and Maisy our flyball team mate had a great few days, although she hasn't had that clear round yet she is looking fantastic and I feel it will be arriving very soon. Maisy and Ronny will be competing in the team event next weekend so that will be very exciting, hopefully they wont wind each other up too much.

Agility update

Three days of competing and unfortunately only three clear rounds, all by Keisha. The dogs have had some fantastic runs but silly mistakes such as an odd pole knocked or a missed contact has led us to not finish clear. Keisha is looking so close to that winning run but has just forgotten what an A-frame contact is, Ronny is looking really good but the wet weather has caused him to slip a few times and take a pole down before he could get his footing, I feel the luck is against us at the moment. Saying that after a long wait for our final agility class yesterday Keisha pulled a fantastic run out of the bag to finish 4th, only being beaten by the grade 5 dogs.

Tomorrow is the last day of competing before the easter weekend is finished, we have done some remedial training of the A-Frame in the garden tonight in the hope of her getting it tomorrow morning. It's quite bizarre really as she has got her contact every time, I'm praying she will remember it for the class tomorrow.

I will update you tomorrow with the outcome of that dreaded A-Frame !!!

Easter weekend agility

Yipee its the weekend again and an extended one at that. Tomorrow we are off to Shrewsbury for the TAG agility show and then for the rest of the weekend we are at Moreton Morrell. Kody will be competing tomorrow only but Ronny and Keisha will be in action for all the four days. Pudsey and Zippy will be out socialising again no doubt getting into mischief.

Zippy has been digging massive holes in my garden, I just caught him doing it again !!

Last night was obedience club, we will only be going to that club for the next week or so as the agility training starts up in a few weeeks on the same night, obviously that comes first. Im going to have to stop teaching for the summer months and sort out a new club for Zippy, Pudsey and Kody so they can still attend obedience.

Anyway seems as I havent had a single easter egg (no pressure MUM) im hoping they might give some out at the agility show for the top three placings, if I spot them as prizes I am defintely going to bribe Ronny and Keisha, i usually bribe Ronny with an ice cream but by the looks of the weather for this weekend I doubt there will be an ice cream van there, I best get thinking, maybe a new toy.

I will update you throughout the weekend, have a nice easter everyone, dont eat too many eggs.

Agility addition

Congratulations to Kathryn and Jess for winning Grade 2 agility on saturday at Shuttleworth. Good luck in Grade 3 im sure you will be brilliant. Well done to Ellen and Hamish too for 10th place in their agility class.

Looking forward to meeting up again at Moreton Morrell at the weekend.

New pictures from the weekend have been added at the bottom of my page. Ronny didn't have a single pole down in that class, god knows how as he doesn't seem to leave much room. Thanks to Jan for taking some brilliant shots.

Shuttleworth update

What a weekend, not much to show for it in rosettes but I was certainly very pleased with how Ronny ran all weekend. He had a clear on saturday but just didn't sight the weaves early enough and waited for me to guide him in, that couple of seconds cost us first place and left him in 12th place. In his last run today he had an awesome round, really tight turns and really listened for directions, last few obstacles from home and I started to push him too much, I forced him to rush and miss the dog walk contact, what a shame otherwise he would have won it by two seconds.

Keisha and me have still not got it together, she didnt have many good rounds over the few days but out of nowhere pulled off a great agility round today to finish a fantastic 5th. Mum video-ed the run but I think the sun has affected the quality of it, have a look it's further down the post.

Kody had his first agility competition this weekend, not at all bad for his first attempt, just got to re-teach the tyre, for some reason he decided he no longer wanted to jump through it, more interesting running under it, bizarre !!!
Still, he was a good boy and tried very hard, I'm sure he will get the hang of it soon. His run is also further down the post

Zippy met Reno for the first time today, Reno is very much like Speedy, he is a very lovely boy with such a sweet character. It wont be long until we see Reno again as he will be going to the WBSDS show at the end of April. It will be nice to see all the puppies grow up through the summer months. In this picture Reno is on the left, Zippy on the right.


Keisha's run


Kody's run

Triathlon triumph

Last night was the club's annual triathlon, 13 teams were entered consisting of 4 people in each. The teams were made up of one person representing each discipline, agility, ring craft, beginners obedience and advanced obedience. The points are scored by how each team member finished against their respective opposition, i.e 13 agility members would be placed in their final position 1st equalling 13 points last 1 point, then the points would be added to the rest of the team and the team with the highest score would win. The teams were chosen by pulling names out of the hat and it was amazing that dad and me were drawn in the same team. Anyway to cut a long story short our team won !!!

Our agility member was first on and didn't have a great run which took the pressure off the rest of our team, dad was incredibly nervous so I think he was secretly glad that he hadn't done that well, he was next up in the beginners obedience and did an absolutely fantastic round, Kody really listened and they worked extremely well as a team. Our ringcraft member also had a great competition and finsihed 3rd. No pressure for Ronny and me then !!! I can admit it now, seems as it's all finished, but Ronny hasn't been to an obedience class for at least a year or so, we hadn't done any preparation for it so I did feel slightly nervous. Anyway in we went, Ronny did great heelwork on and off the lead, he kept his concentration on me and I don't think we lost many marks. His recall was fantastic and his retrieve was equally as good. I'm not sure where we placed overall but I was more than happy with his performance. He always seems to pull it out of the bag for me !!

Dad was chuffed to bits to win, I think that his first ever result couldn't of gone any better, I've heard all day today how good Kody and him are (he has got a big head). We got a rosette for winning which dad has put on top of the fire place and the dogs were rewarded with some goodies and toys, Kody was sharing his toy with Zippy earlier today, unfortunately they no longer exist as between all the dogs they have pulled the legs off them.

This weekend we are at the Shuttleworth agility show, hopefully the dogs will keep their good form and we will have a successful weekend. I will update you all on sunday night.