Friends Reunited

Kiros, Reno and I went down to Dorset this weekend and Ronnie stayed at home to keep Ade company.

Although we were all looking forward to the weekend we were a little apprehensive of how Reno and Ollie would react to one another as they hadn't met since Easter and Reno is a lot bigger now!!

We needn't have worried as they just started where they left off last time. Re still looks at Ollie as "Boss" even though he is a lot smaller then him.

As the weather has been really hot we spent a lot of time chilling in the garden with the dogs.

Reno would like to inform everyone that he is now officially a Big Boy - He's cocked his leg!! He's only done it a couple of times and only if he really has to but he has done it.

I went back to Agility training last night (I hadn't gone for about three weeks because of my leg). Kiros worked really well, he was so excited to be back, just a couple of knocked poles but we're used to that.

Reno was a very good boy when I look him in before class started. He was really excited to see everyone and was incredibly relaxed with people fussing him. I'm hoping he is beginning to get over his "freakyness" around strangers as I've entered him in a breed show at the beginning of August and it could be really embarrassing if he barks at the Judge.

Kiros and Harley's ABC Semi Runs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBOBP7ggFMg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN98_-ZSfD8

I can see why the judge didn't know Kiros had entered the tunnel. It doesn't look like he did from the angle of the Video, does it? I'm even more gutted now!!

ABC Semi-Final and Newton Heath

What can I say? - I'm currently feeling really bad as I let my Kiros down in the ABC Semi.

Ann ran him during the day on Saturday to save my leg and, although he ran well for her, it was obvious that he'd rather have been with me. "Great" I thought, "He's really going to go for it in the Semi with me running him".

I had a really good running order, 23, and was confident when I walked the course as there was nothing in it to worry me. It suited our handling system plus I could utilise Kiros's independent contacts to get in front of him when required.

Kiros really attacked the first half of the course but it all started to go wrong when he slipped off the side of the See-Saw. Worried about what had happened I spent to long watching him come down the A-frame and was then out of position to pull him into the wrong end of the tunnel. I screamed at him but clearly saw his nose go into the tunnel before he came towards me and into the correct end. Deflated I just jogged to the end giving Kiros no direction so he went over the wrong obstacle after the tunnel - At which point I saw the Judge signal an Elimination!

Apparently from where he was standing he couldn't see the tunnel so hadn't eliminated us at that point.

I feel so stupid as I'm constantly advising my Pupils not to assume they have failed their test, no matter what they do, as the Examiner may not see things the same way that they do. Seems I'm not very good at following my own advice!

On the plus side - My leg held up well but I'm going to take a rest from Agility for a week or two now to make sure it heals properly. I don't want to end up like Ray who ran an amazing round with Bella in the Semi in absolute agony as he was running on a recurring calf strain. At least they qualified for Olympia.

I have to mention Harley run. He was a really good boy, taking the Dog Walk and the Weaves in his stride and coming away with only 5 faults for a refusal.

The outstanding run of the Semi, in my opinion, was Grace and Kiah's. But for a knocked brick on the Wall they would have qualified in 2nd place. Well done Grace. You'd better get yourselves qualified for next year!!

My plans for the rest of the year? - No more holding contacts! Lets see just how close to Grade 7 we can get - If only I could remember the courses (anyone who saw me run Norman's Crufts Agility yesterday will know what I mean!).

Anyway, less of the Agility! Here are some photo's of the boys playing in the Garden. I've managed to get the three of them posing together.

"Big" Weekend!

Our Big Weekend has arrived - We're leaving for "The Plough" at about 4pm. It will be Reno's first weekend away so I hope he settles ok.

My Calf isn’t hurting anymore but I can still “feel” it which was what it was like last weekend before it went again. Because of that I’m not running at all until the semi. I’ve had to withdraw from the DARL Final (which is a shame as I was on a high after coming 2nd in that last year) and Ann is running Kiros’s Saturday classes.

I have to say I’m feeling a bit apprehensive about the semi. What do I need to do to give myself confidence? We’re grade 6, we qualified last year and came 4th at Olympia and we’ve already qualified for next year – the opposition should be scared of us!!

Good Luck to Ann and Harley. I really hope they both enjoy the run and Harley gets round the course without getting "spooked" by the Dog Walk or Weaves.

Best Wishes to all the other competitors that I know, to numerous to mention, especially Grace and Kiah and Anne and Kafka, who are competing for the first time.

Otley Show

Otley's new venue was absolutely beautiful.

Reno had a great time playing with lots of other puppies. He has made firm Friends with Tina's Alfie and Will and between the three of them they managed to destroy his flying ring by playing three way tuggy with it!!

The exercise area was lovely and I managed to spend a fair amount of time with Ronnie on Saturday playing ball away from the other dogs. He loved his unusually twisty Anysize Jumping course and only decided to circle one jump so had 5 faults.

I let Kiros down a couple of times on Saturday causing him to have a refusal in both his Agility and Jumping runs which was a shame as we managed the difficult bits on both courses!

I ran the ABC course on Sunday with mixed feelings as I'm so worried about Kiros's age and his ability to compete with the younger dogs. I needn't have worried as he put everything into running the course and came 3rd, only half a second of the winning time and qualifying for 2010 semi final. I could not have hoped for a better confidence boost with this years semi coming up on Saturday.

Unfortunately it became apparent during the run that my leg had not fully healed so I'm resting it this week in the hope that I will probably be able to get one good run out of it. I think I will probably have to pull out of the Rescue finals on Friday to ensure that I am ok which is a great shame.

Well done to Jo for qualifying for the Adams Derby Final with Ronny and getting a 6th place in the ABC qualifier with Keisha, had it been later in the year I'm sure that would have been a qualifying place.

News from Thames is that Dave and Rusty have won their second CC with only one more to go before she is an Agility Champion - well done both of you and good luck in your next champ class.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly!

Ok, I'll explain in reverse!

Last Saturday we spent a lovely day at Hinckley show. The sun shone down on us, Reno played with Speedy, all the Doggies enjoyed wallowing in a very muddy pond and we got to watch some spectacular Agility in the Champ ring. My courses were challenging but flowing and I managed a clear in the Combined 6-7 Jumping despite forgetting where I was supposed to be going at one point.

Now onto the Ugly...........On Sunday we went to PADS. Equally sunny and equally lovely venue but this time 2 of the courses set by Judges who appeared to want to make Grade 6-7 as hard as possible. I cannot imagine how either of the courses could have been enjoyable for any of the Dogs or Handlers and I'm afraid to say that it has really put me off this show.

The Bad?............I've had to spend today at home because I pulled my calf muscle during my second Agility run yesterday and am really worried that it will not heal in time of the Rescue/ABC Finals in a couple of weeks time.

So I'll finish with the Good.............We had a lovely day at the ABC Show yesterday. Ronnie really enjoyed his All Sorts run and amused Mike (the Judge) by giving a running commentary all of the way around.

My aim with Kiros was to stop him on his contacts. I haven't been stopping him in competition recently, mainly because he was showing signs that it was hurting his back but also because I'd really like to win another Grade 6 class, but I still want to have some control over what he does. I'm pleased to say that after being put back onto the first contact that he released himself from he stopped on all of the rest.

I didn't run the jumping,which was disappointing as it was a lovely course, but ran the pairs with Paul and Brennan. Bren ran first a knocked so many poles it was a real challenge for Kiros and I to workout where we had to go!

The grass in the exercise area had grown so long it almost covered the Dogs. They had great fun running in it, especially Reno who seemed to think he could walk on top of it and was really surprised when he sank!