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 !!!