Progress

What fun we have had over the last 4 weeks, Rumble has settled in really well, I have also got used to him being so small and I think even the dogs know when he is stood underneath them :)

We have started puppy class, the first week he was brilliant but last week he was a monster and did very little of what I asked, it's amazing how much we take for granted from our big dogs being so well behaved.
Trick training is coming on very nicely, not only is Rumble learning tricks Zippy is joining in the fun too, I will try and get a little video of them soon.

This Saturday we are off to Barking Mad Agility Show, I haven't done winter shows for some years but seems as ive got a little one to socialise now I best make the effort, im sure the big boys wont mind !!!!

Time for a new challenge ..... Meet Rumble

So that's it the summer season has finished for us, unfortunately Chippenham Show got cancelled so no Champ for Ronny and Zippy but hopefully we will have a good winters training and come out fighting fit for next year.

So now it's training mode, we are currently doing very little but will start training again this week, although we haven't been doing anything for the last month or so we have been very busy at home.

So time for a new challenge ......................

Meet Rumble, my new puppy a Sprocker (springer x cocker). He is currently 9.5 weeks old and has settled in very well. I decided to get a different breed as I didn't want to have the same breed all my dog life, I know many of your responses have been of shock as you all thought I was going to get another Malinois but that would have been very boring !!!!
So I had been looking for sometime to get a smaller dog, im conscious Ronny is coming to the end of his agility career and with Keisha already semi retired it will only really leave Zippy in action, It's going to take sometime before Rumble gets on the agility scene so definitely the right time for a new puppy.
So a new challenge indeed, initially im finding it quite hard not to step on him, he is so small :-) I already know ive got a steep learning curve coming my way, he is so confident. I wanted a busy and robust dog that will be able to keep up with my Mali's but something that was smaller in size, he should be perfect :-)

Back from Devon

Back from our lovely holiday in Devon, we had some fantastic weather. The boys had a great time visiting the beach everyday and going on some brilliant coastal walks, I think in total we managed to visit 5 different beaches. Rich and me also had a fantastic time, lots of eating and drinking and an odd game of crazy golf or Go Ape kept us entertained. I think a week was just about right, the boys are shattered and have slept solidly since we have been back. In Fact i'm quite tired too with all that walking :-)

So this weekend is our last summer show of the season, we are off to Chippenham for the Champ, i've got both Ronny and Zippy entered so i'm really looking forward to it, the weather this week is not looking good so i'm just hoping the ground holds up, it will be a shame if we don't get to go camping on our last weekend.
This winter we have planned to keep busy with entering one show a month, i'm also judging in December and January so lots to look forward too.
There is a possibility of a small project that will keep me busy over the winter months too ;-)

Last month or so .....

Yet again ive been rubbish at updating this blog, oops !!!! So a quick catch up with what's been happening over the last month or so ......

We went to Tag Show mid August, I had entered a class called tunnel exchange so just assumed it was a class with lots of tunnels, perfect for Ronny and Zip, its only when I walked the class along with many others that it suddenly dawned on us that infact it was a class for one dog and two handlers and to exchange the running of the dog at the tunnel, oops I must read the schedule properly in future. Anyway, Rich was put under pressure, never having run a dog or actually done any agility whatsoever I managed to convince him to run Ronny and Zippy with me, I recipe for disaster possibly but it would be very entertaining .......

We ran Ronny first, Rich ran the first part and actually got Ronny round clear (amazing) I then took over to run him home, we actually went clear and finished 3rd !!! (must be beginners luck) ;-)
Zippy ran after but unfortunately he took a pole for Rich and one for me but he was a very good boy.

Ronny has been flying over the last few weeks, many top 5 placings in Grade 7 which im chuffed about, he has even got enough points for his agility warrant Gold now !!! Not quite finished his first agility book but only a few lines to go :-)

Zippy has been zooming along quite nicely, placing lots and he is looking so confident in him self, I do love running him and both Zip and Ronny are entered into the Champ at Chippenham in October.

We are off to Devon this weekend, initially going to a show but staying on for a weeks holiday after to hopefully enjoy some Rich and Doggie time, lots of plans to visit the beach and go on nice walks, maybe even a bit of crazy golf (without the dogs though otherwise they would just keep retrieving the ball).

Only two shows left before the season is finished then I guess we will have a nice rest and start hitting winter training in November, might be something on the arisen to keep me busy this winter too !!!!! ;-)

Adams Agility Show

Pick of KCI Festival or Adams ??? I choose Adams, this is one of my favourite shows and very local to me too which obviously is a bonus, I have found in the past the the KCI Festival is just too big, your always miles away from the rings and it just doesn't have that nice relaxing feel to it.

Anyway I think we choose well, another good weekend for the boys well in the end anyway :-) We went friday morning just for a couple of runs before I had to dash off to work, to be honest I wish I didn't bother as we got eliminated in pretty much all of the rounds. Saturday and Sunday were much better.

Zippy won the G6 Agility and the C4-7 Jumping and Ronny came 3rd in G7 Jumping and also managed another fantastic run but just missed the placings on sunday, the boys are running well and im absolutely chuffed to bits with them, a couple of handling errors by me over the weekend to ruin some of the boys rounds but all in all I think we are working well as a team. Keisha was on rest this weekend and is not back competing until mid September now so she can have a good recovery period.

Couple of pictures off the montage I had done of Ronny and Zippy in action.

Huge huge huge congratulations to Emma and Rupert for winning Grade 5 Agility and zooming straight into G6, I knew you would do it :-)

This is crazy !!!

So this weekend we were at WBSDS and Oswestry Show, love this show, great venue, great exercise area, great atmosphere and great people, will def go again next year.

I ring managed on saturday so didn't get much opportunity to see my dogs but boy they were brilliant when I did, Ronny won the ABC qualifier, unfortunately Zippy had a pole but he ran a really lovely round. Zip then went on to win the G6 Jumping and Keisha got 3rd in C6-7 Jumping.

Sunday was a bit hectic as 3 out of the 4 classes all came up at the same time, I was shattered running 8 runs in the space of 30 mins, good fitness training :-)

Ronny won G7 Jumping and Keisha finished 2nd behind him, Zippy won the G6 Jumping in the same class, we were very greedy !!! Zippy also got 2nd in G6 Agility and 2nd in the ABC Jumping. I can honestly say we had a fantastic weekend and my boys are working really well for me at the moment, I hope it continues :-)

I love the pic above of Ronny and a young Zippy, there are like two peas in a pod.

Zippy goes Grade 7

Well not much has been happening over the last month as the weather has been so pants, alot of the shows got cancelled and we decided to give up and go early at Tuffley as the venue was so muddy and I didn't want my dogs getting injured.

So over the last few weeks we have been to two shows, the first as Adams, I love this show, quite local and set in a lovely venue and it always has a really nice atmosphere, no clears for Ronny but Zippy had 2 nice runs to finish 3rd and 5th, he had a great agility round but just got e'd by entering the wrong end of the tunnel, bummer !!!

Good news about Keisha, vet is happy for her to keep running in the jumping classes so she stays fit and healthy, sometimes she miss times her weaves but we just run past them if that happens and don't worry about it. Her jumping is going really well and she looks like she is having fun again.

So this weekend we were at Dog Vegas, another good show for us as Keisha won into G7 there last year, I always try and go to the shows where we do well as in my head the dogs must enjoy running there !!!! :-)

Well it proved to be a really great place for the dogs to run. Ronny won G7 agility by over 3 seconds and got 2nd and a 5th in jumping, he is such a clever old boy, I can not believe how much more consistent he has got this year, love him x

Keisha was brilliant, for a "broken" dog (lol) she got a 1st and 2 x 2nd places, so much enthusiasm and she was loving running again after having a while off competing, she did get her weaves wrong in one class but we just carried on and ran past them as if they weren't in the course.

But the star of the show was little Zippy, he did a brilliant jumping round to get that last win to G7 :-) after that he was flying and won two more classes and got a 3rd in agility to confirm that he is more than ready for G7.

I am so looking forward to the rest of the year, I have just entered Ronny and Zippy in the Champ Class at Chippenham in October, how very exciting !!!!

The Good the Better and the Devastating !!!

The Good: Zippy is running fantastically well, some great results last weekend at Dogs Unleased, 3 x 2nd places, not perfect runs as either Zippy or me manage to get the course wrong, either turning the wrong way or just having too many wide turns but we are getting round them which is the main thing :) not far from getting that last G6 win now so I hope we can keep up our good form.

The Better: Wow Ronny is running amazingly, he won another G7 jumping last week, his other rounds just a pole in each and he even held all his contacts until he was released (good for him). What a difference since we have been G7 we are so much more chilled out and having fun (well obviously Ronny always had fun and its only me that's more chilled out lol)

The Devastating: Not been the best couple of weeks with Keisha, first she pulled up at Newton Heath in the champ agility lame, not really sure why and I haven't ran her since, no sign of lameness on her normal daily walks but she was obviously not happy about something. Then greedy guts managed to swallow a bone which ended up getting stuck in her rectum, packed off to the vets to get it removed, during which she had to have x-rays to establish where the bone was laying, all back to normal now from her operation and no long lasting damage caused but unfortunately the x-rays identified that she has Spondylitis in her vertebra, basically it is a form of arthritis.
Obviously explains the pulling up in the Champ class, she hadn't been running at her best for the last year or so now which is completely understandable, I wish I had identified the problem sooner I feel ever so guilty that I have been asking her to run with a bad back. :(
So ive made the easy decision to retire her, such a shame at an early age but her welfare comes first and I certainly don't want her to be in discomfort for something that is supposed to be fun, she's been a good dog for me and we have achieved so much together, what a brilliant dog and one that has certainly kept me sane through our agility years :-) Love Ratty forever x

Bitz & Chipz and other good news !!!!

Bitz and Bobz on saturday, a lovely little venue and the weather wasn't too bad, the sun made an appearance at times but very windy, Emma and me decided to swap dogs for one class, I ran Maisy in her jumping which was really good fun, we were going really well but just had a refusal and then a knocked pole right near the end, Emma had fun running Ronny in his jumping class, a good course for handling and she was brilliant, unfortunately they got E'd but they both came off full of beans so I think they had fun.
Zippy had a good day, 2nd in G6 jumping and 5th in C4-7 jumping, a few issues at the minute with who knows best but im sure we will work through it in the end, obviously I will win :-)

Sunday was Chipping Norton, a bit of a disaster day for me and Zip, 3 big E's, I think we had timing issues and Zip was a bit keen to get going in all the classes so trying to keep control in time with him zooming past was too much for my brain, I was a bit disappointed as we had been running well earlier in the week, still that's the joy of agility, gotta take the ups with the downs.

Keisha had a good run in the C4-7 jumping to finish 5th and Ronny ran even better and won the class, clever boy !!!! We are so much more consistent now, this garde 7 lark is actually quite good fun with Ronny :-)

Some congratulations are in order, the Kronik Kidz are doing really well. Jackie and Speedy won G3 Agility at North Derbyshire, they have been knocking on the door for ages so it was only a matter of time, good boy Speedy.
Natalie and Reno also gained 2nd place in G3 Agility at Bitz and Bobz, it wont be long until he starts climbing the grades too, Ronny is a very proud daddy :-)

Hinckley and JDA Show

Some pictures below of Zippy in action at the WC.

So Hinckley our own show last weekend, shame the weather wasn't brilliant but it wasn't a complete disaster, monday turned out to be the nicest day as the sun finally made an appearance. I don't know about anyone else but I always find it hard to run well at your own show, helping on the rings all day and then just turning up getting your dog out the van to run straight away is never a good combination. Champ on saturday with Keisha, she ran soo much better than at Nottingham, had a bit more go this time and we actually had a good clear in the agility, unfortunately in the jumping round me managed 5 in the weaves as she slipped and then skipped the 3rd weave, never mind there is always Newton Heath in a few weeks to give it another go.

No clears for Ronny but he ran really well, knocked a pole in his jumping but ran a fantastic round, what makes it interesting is Zippy ran the same class and was 2 tenths faster than him getting third place.

On the monday Zip ran in Natasha Wise agility class, he was amazing but just dropped a pole, a bit gutted as he was flying and he actually finished 5th with 5F.
So onto JDA, the weather was actually good for us, we managed to dodge the rain pretty much all week we had the odd shower but nothing drastic, the ground held up really well, on the first day we were a bit slow at getting going, mainly E's all day but Zip did manage a really scrappy jumping round to finish 9th. Wednesday was much better, Ronny won G7 Jumping in 25.11 and Zippy came 2nd in G6 jumping with a time of 25.23, they are pretty much running identical times, the course was perfect for a Belgian, a fast flowing course judged by Michelle Guerin, well obviously it suited my boys !!!!

Then yesterday was our last day, the boys did it again, another lovely fast jumping round that was ideal for me to work them at a distance, Ronny came 3rd in G7 in a time of 28.34 and Zippy won G6 jumping in a time of 28.07, he actually beat all the G7 dogs so im mega chuffed with him. So that's it we are 3/4 of the way to Grade 7.

Today we are just chilling at home, having a well deserved lazy day, we are at Bitz and Bobz Show tomorrow and Chipping Norton on Sunday, really local show so at least we don't have far to travel.

Up and running ......

Well we did our first show since coming back from the WC, we went to Adams and what a difference in the weather from what we had in Newbury, so much nicer and no rain in sight, all three dogs were back in action and boy did I know it !!!!

Ronny was running his first show as a Grade 7 dog (very exciting) he won the G7 Jumping although I could hear the odd pole or two being knocked along the way, I guess the luck was on our side in that class, he is running so much better now he has matured, his agility was still mad though, we can generally get round the courses but he still likes to fly his contacts on occasions !!!

Keisha ran some really nice rounds, 3rd in G7 Jumping on the sat and then won the C6-7 jumping on the sunday.

Zippy is really coming into form now, he won G6 Agility on the sat and got 2nd in C4-7 Jumping on the sun, really close on times in the jumping class, Zip got 33.26 and the winner just pipped him at 33.24 (frustrating that it was sooooooo close).

Nottingham last weekend, I was only competing on the saturday as I judged yesterday. What a difference a week makes, not a single clear. Ronny was running well, infact I was struggling to keep up with him he is full of beans at the minute, so nice to see and actually he came with control so that was a bonus, just some unlucky poles and crap handling by me but we are enjoying working together. Zippy ran a brilliant agility in the Crufts singles, a really handling course which we got all the way round until stupid me released him early on the DW contact right near to home, gutted but boy he was flying, the other two runs were a disaster, our timing was completely off and we were probably E'd 3/4 times over !!!

This was our first Champ Show, I had entered Keisha to try and gain some experience in the hope I will be a better handler for when Zippy gets there, well I think I ran well :-) Keisha on the other hand didn't want to know, she had no enthusiasm and just ran snail like pace, a bit embarrassing being in the champ ring but I guess they are not robots, her jumping was better but we just took the spread jump. Never mind there is always Hinckley Champ this weekend.

Some congratulations are in order, Kate and Heidi for winning G3 Agility at High Peak and a massive well done to Emma and Rupert winning G4 agility at Nottingham, it was an amazing run, im not sure who was actually running the round, Emma in the ring or me on the side line, very exciting !!!!

So much has happened

So much has happened over the last few months, apologies for the lack of updating but my first update will explain that .........

Well firstly Rich and me have moved house, it's been a nightmare to get the internet connected which is why I haven't been able to post on my blog, all fixed now though !!!!

So this is our new house

It's brilliant, it comes with two paddocks, one is pretty much ready to go the other is work in progress but it will end up being the better one for agility training :-)

Its such a spacious bungalow, the dogs love it they have so much to explore, they are always playing which is so nice to see, we have new additions to our family, a couple of chickens which we have named Tikka and Masala and a cockrell called Fonz, im trying to persuade Rich to get an Emu but he is currently saying NO :-(

Rich is happy as it has got a double garage, more than enough room to store and work on his Landrovers and do all the boy stuff of fixing things.

It is such a lovely relaxing location, we only have one neighbour who are a lovely middle aged couple, they are bird mad, chickens and ducks all over the place, I do love the sound of Fonz and the neighbouring cockrells croaking away.

So the agility season has only really just started but its been amazing, in our first show Ronny got his last agility win to take him to Grade 7, he ran in the middle of the class and I cant tell you how sick I felt waiting to the end to see if he would hold on to the win, there has been many times that we have been knocked to 2nd so the wait was horrible. Thankfully this time we did it, Ronny actually beat all the G6 and 7 dogs so he truly deserved his win. Thanks to my brilliant friends Emma and Amy Sadler for making me this special cake, it was such a lovely suprise x

So now Ronny and me have the rest of the season to enjoy our agility together, the pressure of winning has now disappeared so im sure we will probably run alot better now, it will be nice if the weather just gives us a break so we can actually go to some shows.




BSD World Champs have come and gone, a different experience this time as we were travelling in our own vehicles as we couldn't afford the Team coach, although the travelling wasn't too bad it didn't quite have the same feel as being as part of a team, we only had one groom between the three of us which made it hard work especially as the groom was Rich who has never been before so a big weight on his shoulders but definitely a job well done, thank you so much xxx
The venue was absolutely beautiful, set in the Olympic equestrian centre right in the mountains, the weather was so kind to us.

Keisha and Zippy didn't run at their best in the individuals, both were constantly pole knocking which was very frustrating, Zippy also had a few refusals on stuff that would have been basics over here, I think they were both tired, the weather didn't help from going from the rain, wind and cold British weather that we have been having to the baking sun at 24 degrees in Italy. Not all doom and gloom though as they both were running times that would have qualified them for the final, lots to practice for next year and hopefully Zippy will be more experienced next time he goes.

So the individuals weren't great for us but Keisha did run well in the team event, she managed a good clear in the jumping and 5 faults in the agility (pole again) Zippy was running amazingly well in the jumping but I just moved too early and pulled him off a jump and sent him into the tunnel, naughty mummy, his agility was also going well until he took a pole and then we got a refusal as Zip headed towards the wrong jump, I managed to save it from a big fat E but so much time was wasted. Tony had two good clears in the team event and Mike had 5F in the jumping and a clear in the agility which meant we had won the Bronze in Team jumping, Silver in Team agility and the Gold overall. Well done to both Mike and Tony and thanks to everyone for their kind words and support.

So back to the agility world, I decided to give my dogs a rest last weekend but I judged at Beacon yesterday, I think most people enjoyed the courses, I did set part of the WC course in the G6-7 jumping which surprisingly there were alot of eliminations, I did add my own taste to it but didn't think it was that hard, I think I might set it up in the paddock and try it with my own dogs. Its a different insight into agility when you judge, watching handlers choose lines for their dogs and where the handlers feel they need to be at certain times, very interesting indeed !!!

2012 goals and dreams .............

Well where to start .......
2011 came and flew by, such a successful year for us, I blogged about it during the year so im not going to repeat anything, just like to say how proud and fortunate I feel owning such amazing dogs.

2012 ........... I am truly looking forward to this year, already so much planned and we are only in January, I have entered our first show of the season so it's a sign the season is not that long away.
Training is going really well, Ronny is looking brilliant I just hope we can convert it into competition, I have no intentions on letting this dog down this year I know he is incredibly hard work but boy he is worth it.
I haven’t done much with Keisha, I really think doing less is giving us more, she is absolutely flying when I do get her out in training and it is so nice to see her enthusiasm back.
Zippy is my little star, he really pulls at my heart strings and to be honest a dog that can’t do nothing wrong :-) we have been training lots and I am so chuffed with where we are at, it’s amazing to see the amount of progress we have made over the last 12 months, very exciting times ahead for us.

Well our goals and dreams for 2012

Ronny: Just to run consistently well rather than consistently bad, he needs one agility win to go Grade 7 and boy that would be the ultimate dream for us, he will be 8 this year so I feel time will shortly be running out to be able to keep up with the best, maybe I should have set that as the goal but for those of you who know us know how difficult a clear round is to get with Ronny.




Keisha: Our goal for this year is to keep our enthusiasm, we will hopefully be entering the Champ Classes so that will be a good experience, our goal is to try and make the final, the dream ....... well Keisha is one of the dogs im taking to Italy for the BSD WC and it would be amazing if we could get a medal in the team event, I think the team has a really good chance this year.

Zippy: Well I would love to get him to Grade 7, that’s the goal I have set and if possible I would like to do it at the start of the season to give us a chance of trying to compete in Champ, my dream is to get him to the final of the BSD WC in Italy.

Other things planned for this year ............ I have been asked to judge at a few shows so im really looking forward to that, I have agreed Beacon and Nottingham so far, unfortunately I can’t plan anything during July to September as we are not allowed any annual leave during the Olympics.

Good luck to all my friends for 2012 I hope you have a successful season xxx