Agility For Britian

Another great weekend of sun, I love it !!! The dogs on the other hand don't seem to keen, especially Keisha, she hasn't really been on form this weekend, lots of pole knocking and a weave entry ive been waiting for in Grade 6 that she bl**dy missed !!! Still we did manage one clear this weekend to gain a 6th in jumping so it wasn't all bad.

Ronny as normal was just Ronny, infact I told him off in the ring today for constant pole knocking, he rushes all the time and I see the talent he has got which he just wastes and it drives me mad, if only he would take that time to steady himself. Saying that we did end on a good note in the agility round where he held all his contacts and surprisingly didn't knock a pole after being told off from the previous round !!!

Kody has ran well, yesterday he had two clears in the Pro Plan tournament and made the final in the evening, it was a lovely run but the judge marked his A-Frame (the jury is still out on that one). Today was another good day, a pole in his jumping but a great run in his agility to finish 2nd.

Zippy........ I love running this dog, he has had his moments this weekend, broke a few of his waits, had an odd pole, came out of his weaves to go to a tunnel .......... but he is just great. I saw some moments of Ronny speed this weekend, at one point he flew over his dog walk I didn't think he was going to stop, thankfully he did and even laid down in his contact postion waiting for me to catch up. He had a good jumping class yesterday to beat Kody's time and we had signs of those one footed weaves again.

Well done to Jackie and Leo for gaining 2nd in their agility, and my handsome Speedy is looking great.

It was nice to catch up with lots of people this weekend, Natalie and Reno were there on saturday, Reno is hopefully going to start competing in a few weeks, cant wait to see him in action ! 

Im loving the weather

I'm loving the hot weather, it's about time we had some decent weather, looks like its here to stay all weekend aswell, yippee !!!
The dogs seem to be enjoying the weather too, the swimming pool is getting plenty of use at the minute, I have to watch the dogs don't jump in when im not looking, Ronny and Keisha are good at that.
Today I had a break through with Zippy, he hasn't been too keen and all he could think about was getting out....... Well today he suddenly decided he wanted to play fetch, so now he is happy swimming to get his water float, its strange really as when we are down the lakes he loves swimming, I guess it is more confined and not very easy to get out of.

Anyway, I decided not to go training tonight, its far to hot to ask the dogs to train for an hour each and I think it will do them good to have a week's rest. Oh and of course the football was on earlier so I guess not many people would have been there anyway.

This weekend we are at Agility for Britain, its Ronny's and Keisha's first Grade 6 show so im very very excited. Ive been practicing some of the hard stuff over the winter period with Ronny and Keisha so hopefully now we will have chance to use it.

Golden Valley

Wow, what a difference in the weather, thinking it wasn't that hot on saturday I didn't bother with any sun cream and got burnt, today I plastered myself in it so hopefully I wont look too much like a lobster when I go to work tomorrow.

Another mixed weekend, some really great runs and some not so good. Ronny had a weave issue this weekend, he refuses to steady himself for the entry and subsequently kept going 1,3,4,5 ...... I did tell him pole 2 was important so he decided to get it in his jumping this morning. Still he is working well and apart from the odd pole or my lazy handling we are doing some great runs.

Keisha has forgotten what contacts are, I cant believe how many she missed this weekend, today she launched off the A-Frame so high I thought she was going into space, as you can imagine she got put back on and reminded where the ground was !!! Her jumping was really good though, a lovely run yesterday to finish 1st and another good run this morning to finish 4th.

Kody...... well lets just say apart from his jumping class yesterday to finish 4th we didn't quite get it together, he caught his dew claw earlier in the week and took the nail off, so now he thinks his leg is broken, I knew boys were always the drama queens !!!

Thank goodness I've got Zippy, he is such a good boy and is always very keen to work hard. I'm not sure why but I cant seem to click with him at the minute, I just feel like im letting him down and my stupid handling is putting seconds on to his runs, still Zippy is good and even though we haven't done any weave training this week he still managed two classes with single stride weaves so im really really chuffed.



Well done to Ellen and Hamish for winning their jumping class, a brilliant result considering it was your first Grade 2 show, not long until we see you in Grade 3. Congratulations to Amy and her two brilliant dogs, Summer and Dylan, they managed several placings so lots of rosettes this weekend, have fun on your week away with Mary Ray.

Thursday already

Another week that has flown by, I haven't had chance to do anything this week, work is mega busy and seems to be taking all my brain power, I don't seem to have relaxed much this week and the only thing I have done with the dogs, training wise, is attend club last night.

Still it was a good night, after a short battle with Zippy we seem to have our contacts and Wait's at the start back, i have a feeling he might break his wait this weekend to test me, but I can assure you he will be put back, i have so learnt my lesson with Ronny !!!

We had a slight accident last night, Zippy managed to grab my trousers aswell as his toy and ripped a big hole in them at the top of my leg, luckily I had waterproof trousers in the van so after feeling a bit hot and looking a bit silly I made it to the end of the night.

Keisha worked well, some lovely weave entries and some really tight wing wraps, she did push her luck on the contacts and self released when I threw her toy, I suppose it was a bit mean but I was going for proofing them !!!

This weekend we are at Golden Valley, it's Ronny's and Keisha's last Grade 5 show so im going to enjoy it, im expecting the G6 courses to be a lot harder so next week im sure I will be pulling my hair out.

Kody go's Grade 5

This weekend has gone very well, all the dogs have run brilliantly and we have come away with some great results. Kody had a clear in both his jumping runs today to finish 2nd and 1st which has given him that last jumping win to move him into Grade 5. His weaves were a mixed bag really, in his agility run he skipped a pole somewhere in the middle, not sure why, maybe its still a confidence thing, then in his jumping rounds they were really good.

Ronny has run well all weekend and gained 1st in his jumping yesterday, a pole in a couple of other classes and a naughty missed dog walk contact going into the tunnel yesterday, still his contacts were solid today and most importantly we are starting to work well as a team, FINALLY !!!

Keisha has been a good girlie, 2 x 1st, 1 x 2nd, 1 x 3rd and a 9th, some really neat sequences and she is becoming very tight around the courses which is really helping with our times.

Zippy, lots and lots of positives this weekend, 3 out of the 6 classes he did single stride weaves through 12 poles, I am so chuffed as I didn't think he would be ready to do it in competition yet. Some really nice rounds but between Zippy and me we kept making silly mistakes, he has also lost his wait at the start and started pinging his contacts, I guess its my fault for not keeping on top of him, I must get back in charge and do some urgent training, NAUGHTY MUMMY.

Emma and Maisy had a good weekend, some really nice rounds and some great handling by Emma, Golden Valley is looking good !!!
Well done to Anne and Gloria for their clear round in the jumping class and well done to Jackie and Speedy for their clear round yesterday too. Sorry if ive missed anyone out.

Weaves 90%

Day 3 of weave training and we had a 90% success rate today and only missing the last few strides due to tiredness. We are currently working on the first 2/3 poles at a slight angle followed by the next 7/8 upright and still leaving the last 2 at a slight angle. I think it will take a few more training sessions until he is fully converted but in the long run it will be much better for him.

Again Kody was training for speed, I only did a few with him and finished just as he was starting to motor in order to keep the game alive for the weekend, I opted not to peg his weaves today to challenge him with any funny angles the poles fell at or even the base slightly off set, something that has occurred previously at shows, it was a complete success and the only thing Kody was thinking about was his ball at the end.

This weekend we are at North Derbyshire Show, the weather is looking good which is a bonus, if I remember correctly the show ended up getting cancelled on the second day last year due to the bad weather so hopefully that wont happen this time. Good luck to anyone competing this weekend.

Weaves at 80%

Should have gone to agility club tonight but I decided against it, I thought it would be more beneficial if I went to the field and worked on the weaves with Zippy again. I have now identified that if he doesn't get his stride right going into the weaves then he doesn't single stride, if he gets it right he will single stride all the way through.

So now my training will focus on him getting the correct stride on entry. Currently I have the first 4 v-weaves set at an angle, the following 6 are straight up and the last 2 poles back at an angle to allow him to power through to the end. Currently we are working at about 80% success rate so im really pleased, tomorrow im aiming for 90% success rate, lets hope it goes to plan.

Kody had another speed session through the weaves, he is looking much more confident again so I think re-visiting the weaves quite often will do wonders for him.

Ronny and Keisha were having a night off, well at agility anyway, instead they joined Puddy for a good game of fetch to keep their muscles fighting fit with speed, it's amazing how Puddy comes to life when there is a ball involved !!!

I have received a better quality of video with Keisha in action at the World Champs, although it is the same rounds I have added it below so it's easily accessible for when I need reminding of my WC experience, thanks to Michelle for taking the time to video and send it to me.

Weave Training

Yesterday I decided to have a day off work, we took full advantage of the good weather and went to the field to do some weave training. As Zippy has good entries I decided to just work with the v-weaves and concentrate on the single stride action.

I found that he will single stride until the weaves are fully upright so im slowly introducing slight v-weaves with a mixture of uprights placed in the middle.

Currently we are working with the centre 4 poles upright and the 4 at the beginning and end are remaining on slight angles. This appears to be working and once he has 100% success rate then I will increase the upright poles.

With Kody he seems to lack confidence sometimes with the weaves and can slow towards the end, it was all about speed yesterday and I think the session did him good, he was flying through them at the end so im hoping we will get another session in before the weekend just to give him that extra boost.

Ronny and Keisha were just working on entries, its amazing how they can loose the skill if you don't use it enough, Keisha is now back to hitting some awesome entries, Ronny was never taught the 2x2 method but yesterday he was a very clever boy and hit most of the entries anyway.

A little birdie just told me that Grace and Kiah won into Grade 6 at the weekend, well done to you both, there must be something in the air because in the last 2 weeks I make it that 5 Malinois are now Grade 6 dogs, come on the Belgians !!!

Hinckley Update

Well thats it, another year's rest before our club hosts the next show, the weather has been kind to us with plenty of sunshine on saturday and only catching the end of the show today with the rain which was promised. I must admit I am thoroughly exhausted with running 4 dogs and helping on the rings all day, still it was worth it and again the dogs had some really good runs.

The star of the weekend has to be Zippy, gaining a 4th and a 6th in his jumping classes, im sooooooo chuffed with his progress and im getting quite excited about his future, ive already decided I want to work really hard on his weaves to try and make up that second he keeps getting beaten by, watch this space .......

Well done to everyone who had a good weekend, congratulations to Andy Brown and Thor and Helen Brown and Zeus for winning into Grade 6, see you there !!!

Thanks to Candice for taking the brilliant pictures of Keisha at the World Champs, I have added some of them below.

Weekend plans

Thankfully this has been a very short and fast week, lots happening at work at the minute which is making the days fly by. I think I need more than 24 hours in a day !!!

This weekend the agility show is not far, Hinckley my club are hosting the show at Stamford Hall. The weather is looking pretty good which always makes it more enjoyable when your working on the rings all day. All the dogs have had a good rest this week and are looking ready for the weekend ahead, Zippy and Speedy are doing pairs on sunday which is going to be great fun, hopefully someone will be around to catch it on video.

Good luck to anyone competing this weekend and hopefully I will see some of you at the show.