Higher and Lower

So last weekend started with a trip to LKA with Lynne and Deco. 

Lynne was so excited about Deco's first Champ Show and the prospect of qualifying for Crufts but it became very apparent when we got there that it wasn't going to be easy for her.  Minor Puppy Dog had almost 20 entries and we were so surprised how old the Puppies looked.  Even Deco's litter brothers had a full adult coat and acted like adults (there's one behind Deco at the end of the Video).  Lynne wasn't surprised when Deco didn't make the cut as he was much too excited and wouldn't stand still to be examined.

Maybe Deco would be better suited to Agility?  I'm working on persuading Lynne :-)

Sunday was Kiros's first Veteran competition at Nuts and he was amazing.  Can’t believe how fast he can go, especially over the lower contacts! He was eliminated in Agility as I didn’t stand a chance keeping up with him, 10f in Speed and Power (can you believe he knocked 2 poles on Medium!) but he won the Jumping and TYOL.  Always a star!!


I was a little apprehensive about how Reno would perform at Nuts as he hadn't been to training for a while but actually had nothing to worry about as he was a really good boy.

Agility – Stopped on all of his contacts but kept releasing before I gave command so had to be put back on!!

Speed and Power (timed jumping course then 1 sec deducted from time for each successful contact and weaves) – Nice fast clear in Jumping then good See-Saw and A-Frame, missed weave entry (went to sniff Santa on wall!)and self released Dog Walk so had to be put back on! So 2 seconds off his Jumping time got him 2nd place. His second Trophy and a place higher then the last show.  I was amazed and delighted!!
Take your own line – decided he wanted to kiss the Judge (Ann) rather than weaving.

On the whole he is a lot more focused in the Ring.  He is still trying to find excuses not to weave but is much more willing to come back and give it another try which is something I can work on when the weather improves.

The next Nuts show is on the 9th of Jan and if he continues to improve I'm considering enter him at Hargate or Dog Vegas in the New Year.

I want to finish this post by wishing all the best of luck to Reno's Auntie Rusty and Dave in the KC Olympia Stakes Final tonight.  Whatever happens it is an incredible achievement to qualify an ABC for this final and we are immensely proud of you.

Good luck also to Jo and Keisha on Monday in the KC Olympia ABC Final.  I know from personal experience what an amazing day you are going to have.  Enjoy every minute of it.  We'll be cheering you on. XX

Pain in the Neck

A week ago last Tuesday Kiros woke me up at about 3am in a lot of pain.  Unable to lay down or turn around.

Initially I couldn't work out what was wrong, and started to panic, but after watching him for a while realised that the pain appeared to be in his neck.  

The Vet thinks it was either muscular, arthritis, slipped or hardened disc and gave him a dose of pain killers and a weeks worth to come home with. 

Now he's finished the dose he is completely back to normal, if not better.  So much so that he has been running around like a puppy in the Snow!!

The weather has caused a bit of disruption to my work this week but has given me time to get all of the Xmas decorations up and I think they look lovely with the Snow on the ground.

Unfortunately the Snow has also meant that Ade and my favourite event on our Christmas calender - Lincoln Christmas Market - has had to be cancelled :(

To make up for it we went to Melton today and I managed to pick up three new baubles for the Tree - Isn't it supposed to be bad luck not to get at least one a year?!!

I'm really looking forward to next weekend.  Off to LKA with Lynne on Saturday for Deco's first Champ Show and Agility Nuts on Sunday.  I'm not Judging so should have time to concentrate on running Kiros and Reno.

Veteran Kiros

Kiros is now heading towards 11 years old and is still extremely fit for a GSD cross but over the last few weeks I have noticed signs that he isn't jumping and turning as comfortably as he used to.

Last Tuesday at training both Ann and Margaret (a Vet that trains with us) noticed that he was struggling to "power" with his hind legs.  For the rest of the class I ran him on medium and he started to "power" again.

I've thought long and hard about this and have decided that the time is right to retire Kiros from full height.  It has been a very difficult decision because, as most of you know, although Kiros has slowed from how he used to run he is still a very fast Dog!!  I feel I owe it to him to help him keep running in Agility for as long as possible and am hoping that tunnels will become easier for him when he is not jumping as high.

Today, whilst getting the house sorted before the Xmas decs go up :), I sorted Kiros's rosettes and trophies from the last two years and was amazed how much he had won.  I've got no idea how many rosettes are there but I know that there are over 30 trophies.

I know that I'm the luckiest person ever to have found a Dog like Kiros.  He has achieved more then I could ever have dreamt of and let me experience the thrill of being a winner so many times.

Thanks to Agility Nuts he will still be able to compete on the lower height so I'm sure his winning days aren't yet over. 

Enjoy Veterans my special boy.

My Sad, Neglected Blog:(

As the title suggests I've been a very bad Blogger of late so now it's time for a huge update!!

At the end of October the whole family spent a week at East Rose, nr Bodmin, Cornwall.  The farm was a little remote which was a bit of a culture shock for the teenagers but the Dogs all enjoyed being with each other and we were able to take them on loads of walks even though the weather was a bit variable.

Since we've been back I've really been able to focus on putting Reno's weave and contacts into small courses and I'm extremely happy with how they are progressing. 

November's Agility Nuts show was last Sunday and my plan was to have a go at his weaves in competition there. 

As it happens it didn't quite go according to plan!!  I judged the Agility in the morning and, because of there being a full quota of Dogs entered in the show, I didn't have time to run either boys in Agility. (I did attempt to run Reno around my Elementary course before it was walked but the least said about that the better - let's just say it was a bit early for both of us!!)

Here are my courses.  They all ran better then I had expected but there were only a few clears in Elementary and Starters due to the amount of Dogs that had to be faulted at the weaves.  Comforting for me to know that Reno isn't the only one with a weave problem.

Elementary Agility

Novice + Agility

Starters Agility

Veteran Agility

So both Kiros and Reno ran in the afternoon Jumping classes. 

The Elementary Jumping was quite a straight forward class with no weaves in it so I was confident Reno could run it well and he did.  Unfortunately his silly Mum didn't run to the last jump resulting in him going around it.  I really must learn that he is still a baby.  Tunnel Torment didn't go quite as well as the weaves were next to the tunnels and it didn't take a lot of imagination which Reno would prefer.  Having said that he did do the weaves after going through the tunnels a few times.

Kiros ran a lovely, tricky Tunnel Torment only having one pole down and coming 2nd in the fastest time.

This is the first winter in ages that I haven't been making regular trips up to Myerscough for Agility shows so I've been making good use of my spare time by reclaiming my back garden with the help of Reno and Ronnie.  It tends to go back to nature during the summer months.

But now the Dogs have got plenty of room to play ball and bark at the neighbours:)

Reno's first Trophy

Since Wigan show my will power has been really good and I haven't run Reno in any classes with weaves or contacts because I'm still not confident with them in Training.

This has been made easier by the fact that I didn't to go to Dog Vegas show at the end of September and have only entered Agility Nuts shows over the winter that normally have at least on jumping class with out weaves on the schedule :)

So what have we been doing instead?

Well a nice weekend in Dorset to finalise plans for our holiday to Cornwall in a couple of weeks and plenty of Training in the Paddock, at NADTC and with Jo Rhodes. 

I've really been working on Weaves and can confidently say that Reno can complete 12 weaves now.  I'd been falling into the trap of slowing down a bit to help him keep his rhythm but Jo has advised me to keep running past them with him so he develops his rhythm at speed.  This sometimes means that he comes out early or misses some in the middle but he understands when he has gone wrong and just tries harder the next time.

He's also finding it easier to adjust his pacing so he can enter them correctly after another obstacle. My aim is to be confident enough to run a jumping course with weaves at the November Nuts show and then go back to KC shows next year.

We attended a Jumping Skills workshop with Gemma Hanekom on Saturday which was very interesting.  I had seen the grids that she talked about before but had only practiced them with Kiros. Jo used to set them up once every 5 weeks which I'm hoping she will continue to do as they would be very helpful to encourage Reno to jump a bit lower.

So now onto the title of the post!!

Sunday was Agility Nuts first indoor show of the winter season and I'd volunteered to Judge jumping in the afternoon so I could run Kiros in the Agility classes in the morning.  He ran really well as usual - just a pole down in the Power and Speed and clear in Agility to win the class.

The judge allowed me to only run the "Speed" with Reno which he ran clear in a respectable time  and Paul allowed me to run him in the "Up and Under" Jumping in the afternoon.  I had to fit it in with my classes so didn't have much time to gel with Reno before the run but he still ran excellently going clear and finishing in 3rd place.  I really think my little boy is showing signs of what he is going to be capable of.

I tried to take a nice photo of him with his trophy but Kiros was convinced that all "trophy" photo's should include him!!

Here are my courses from Sunday if anyone is interested?

 Elementary Jumping

 Novice+ Jumping

 Starters Jumping

 Veteran Jumping

They ran really well and I was pleased to see some lovely handling particularly in the Novice +.

Sun, Sand and Mud!!

We've just had a very eventful weekend away in Lancashire attending Wigan show!

Ade and I booked a Hotel in Bury close to Ann's parents so we could meet up easily for Dinner each night.  The weekend started well as the Bolholt Country Park Hotel was lovely.  They promised that they were Dog friendly and proved that they were even letting the Dogs run off the lead in their beautifully manicured gardens and didn't bat an eyelid when Kiros and Reno found the rear entrance to the Kitchens.

We had a lovely meal at the Hotel on Friday night and I even had time to have breakfast before I made my way to the competition the next morning. 

I was aware that it had been raining during the night but wasn't quite prepared for what the venue was like. Even at 9am the rings were full of the slipperiest mud I've ever had to run on. 

My Asics Enduro's were totally inadequate for the conditions and I did a spot of "knee surfing" whilst attempting to run Reno (Ok I know I said I wasn't going to run him again but what can I say, I must be an addict!).  It was obviously a handling move that he wasn't used to so I totally confused him.  I also struggled to keep upright whilst running Kiros resulting in me getting him eliminated.

At least the weather treated us to this spectacular horizontal rainbow.  I haven't seen anything like it before.

For my last two runs I resorted to borrowing Ann's shoes that were 3 sizes bigger then my feet but at least I managed to stay upright.  Reno was a bit distracted so I ended up taking him out of the ring but Kiros his course beautifully only picking up 5f on the second from last pole.

At the beginning of this year I was sure that I would have to be thinking of retiring Kiros before now but he is still running so well, even getting two clears in the ABC Semi Finals the weekend before although not fast enough to qualify.  Over the winter I will be limiting his runs to Agility Nuts and other easier runs that I know we will enjoy together.

We decided that evening (over a nice Italian meal that took over 2hrs to get through two courses!) that we wouldn't go back to the competition on Sunday as we didn't want to risk the Dogs.  This turned out to be a wise move as the Show Committee took the correct decision to cancel the show.  Instead Ann and I took the Dogs for a walk along the Beach at Southport whilst Ade and Mark sampled the towns Pubs:)

Well Mud was obviously the theme for this weekend!  In order to actually get to the sand we had to wade through it ankle deep.  Still the Dogs had fun and slept well for the journey home.

Ups and Downs

Shall we start with the ups?

Had a great weekend with Kiros at Agility Nuts.  He ran beautifully and managed a 2nd place in Novice + Agility and 1st in Novice + Jumping.  Here is a link to the video of his win.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=154964661184927&ref=mf

It's the first time that I've seen him run for a while and I'm quite happy to see that although he isn't as fast as he used to be he doesn't appear to be showing any sign of his age.

This was the last show of the Summer Season and the Agility Nuts of the Season were announced on Sunday.  Kiros won the Large Senior award by some margin.  I couldn't have hoped for any more from him.

Now the downs :(

At the beginning of June I resolutely told you that I wouldn't start competing with Reno until he could run a course in training.  Then after a really promising show at the end of June my resolve wained a little and I started running him at KC shows.

In my heart of hearts I knew he wasn't ready but thought that the ring experience would help him improve.

Unfortunately I was wrong and after this weekend I have decided not to compete with Reno again until he is more confident.

Our main problem is still the weaves.  Although he can do them in isolation he finds them very difficult in a course and, as they don't hold such high value to him as other obstacles, he chooses not to attempt them going off to do another obstacle or worse still going for a sniff.  In a competition ring I am struggling to control his choices so my only option is to stop competing until he actually wants to do them.

It is a real shame as I have really enjoyed running him and was very much looking forward to the remaining shows that we have entered. I'm worried about allowing the problem to escalate and am hoping that if I take action now I will be able to get him competing again very soon.  Hopefully there will be some courses without weaves in them that we can have a go at!!

On a positive note he was excellent at training last night.  Although he didn't actually do his weaves in the course he got the entry every time and came straight back to attempt them so hopefully we are getting somewhere? :)

KC International Festival

What an excellent start to the weekend with Ann and Indi achieving their first ever clear round in Grade 3 Jumping and coming away with 4th place in a class of over 100.  Well done both of you.  I'm sure there will be a lot more to follow.

Because of the standard of Judges at this show Kiros has been able to do all of his runs.  It is so nice to run Grade 6 courses that aren't overly physically demanding on the Dogs.

We have only had one clear round but Kiros as run really well and thoroughly enjoyed himself.

Every time I got to the ring to run Reno yesterday the heavens opened but at least he got used to running in the rain.  He ran well and very confidently.  I made a few mistakes with my handling!!
His best run so far came today in the Grade 3 Jumping.  He was clear until the 2nd from last obstacle, weaves, but did get his entry and completed them on the second attempt.  Unfortunately after them he spotted his toy and ran around the last jump to get it.  Oh well, at least he got rewarded.

Next weekend is Agility Nuts again and I'm judging Agility on Sunday. Good luck everyone:)

Reno's KC Debut

I've bitten the bullet and started to run Reno at KC shows.  I had planned to wait until I was certain that he could run clear in training but I'm obviously not that patient!!

Our first run was at Rugby.  I was quite optimistic about this run as he had been so good at Agility Nuts so was a bit disappointed when he lost focus going to see the pole picker and judge.

Since then I have done a couple of runs with him at Adams (were Katie took these photo's - thank you Katie).  Both nice confident runs with handling errors on my part.  One run at Empingham that was a little disappointing as he seemed very nervous.

He was also very distracted during his first run at Derby but his Mini/Mixi pairs with Indi seemed to change all that as he really enjoyed it, although he thought Ann was trying to steel the baton at the end of Indi's run and wouldn't let her have it!!

After that he has done two lovely runs the next day at Derby and four very promising runs this weekend at Scunny. 

At the moment I'm really not handling him very well and he doesn't want to do the weaves at shows so both of these things are stopping his "flow" around the courses and when this happens he allows himself to get distracted.

I'm optimistic that with a bit more practice these can be easily sorted.

Watch this space!!

Kiros continues to run so well for a 10 year old Shepherd.

I'm picking and choosing the courses that he runs now which sometimes means that he doesn't do much in a day but what he does do he thoroughly enjoys - maybe a bit too much as he has started to get a bit naughty!!

Clear runs have been a bit few and far between as he has been missing contacts, breaking waits and knocking poles.

He did do a lovely clear yesterday in the EO qualifier stopping on all of his contacts to prove he can still do it and he's just being cheeky!!

I'm looking forward to next weekend at we are off the KC International Festival.  Lots of top class Agility to watch.

I just wanted to finish this post by congratulating Pen and Brennan for not staying in Grade 2 very long!!  They won Grade 2 Agility and Jumping at Dog Vegas last weekend so at the next Dog Vegas show at the end of August Brennan and Reno will both be running Grade 3 together.  Yippee!!

Happy Birthday Kiros!

Saturday was Kiros's 10th Birthday and he celebrated by running in the SupaDarl Finals.

It was a really hot day and I was so glad that I hadn't actually entered him in the show.  Ann and I managed to keep him cool with him wearing his cooler coat and keeping in the shade until his runs.

I completely embarrassed myself in the jumping by getting him eliminated with some silly handling but did better in the Agility getting around clear.

We ended up with 14th place in a very competitive final - I've heard the first 11 dogs were separated by less then 1 second - so given his age, the heat and the fact that I was very careful with his contacts I think he did really well.

Sunday was Agility Nuts - I was so looking forward to this show as I decided I'd run Reno (if the courses only had 6 weaves) and Jackie was coming with Speedy (unfortunately he couldn't run as he was injured!).

Reno's first run (jumping) started jump, six weaves which he did beautifully.  Unfortunately after that point I forgot I was running a baby and didn't work the next corner getting him eliminated.  Alan Boutel took some lovely photo's of him doing this run - http://www.theimagefile.com/?skin=916202&Action=_VC&id=56874450&ppwd=72204wnd  page 12- I'm thinking of buying one.  Which one to you think is best?

He took a pole down in the speed section of the Speed and Power and then decided that he fancied the Dog Walk more then the Weaves in the Power section so got eliminated.

His Agility was going really well until I miss timed a front cross and didn't work a corner (notice a trend here?!!)  and the least said about my handling in Gamblers the better.

I entered Reno in the last class - Open Pay on the Day Steeple Chase.  Reno ran excellently and went clear in a very reasonable time finishing 4th (despite a strange moment after the flat tunnel when I realised back cross wasn't going to work and had to pop in a quick front cross!)

Reno is entered in KC shows from this weekend (Rugby on Saturday) and I am so tempted to give him a go.  The only thing holding us back at the moment is 12 weaves and my handling :-)

Kiros was his normal cheeky self at Nuts.  He broke his wait in the Speed and Power so I took him back and eliminated him (typically after that his run was perfect) and was naughty in the Agility, completely ignoring my handling but excellent contacts.  His best run on the weekend was his jumping finishing 3rd.

I must end this post by congratulating Jo on her awesome resent results with her Mali Mob.  She now has 3 Dogs in Grade 6 with Keisha quarter way to Grade 7 and Zippy in Grade 4.  Such a major achievement and I don't think the wins will end there. 

All Change!!

What a couple of weeks it has been.

Starting with Agility for Britain.  It was nice to go to a small show and catch up with a few friends.  Jo and Jackie were there with Reno's brothers and Daddy. I only entered Kiros in two classes at this show as he wasn't running well when it closed however at the show he ran lovely getting 8th place in Grade 6 jumping. 

He was a very naughty boy in the Agility missing both his A-frame and Dog Walk contacts (by miles!) but "No worries" I thought, "I can correct them at Tuffley". Unfortunately he over stretched himself at training on Tuesday night so now I don't have any opportunity to correct them before the Rescue League Finals next weekend,  assuming he is going to be fit to run as he now appears to have stood on something that has stung him and won't stop licking his paw!

On Friday I took Lynne to pick up her new Puppy. 

Meet Deco. He's a really cute Rough Collie Dog from excellent show lines (his Mum is a Crufts Best of Breed winner) and full of personality.

I so hope he lives up to his potential as I know how much Lynne wants to get into Showing again.

Either way though, I know he is going to have a very happy life.  I'm taking Reno around on Thursday to meet him.  That should be fun!

This weekend Ann and I went to Tuffley show.  It was our first visit to this show and we only went one day as it was a very long way and we were just sounding it out as a potential "weekend away" show for next year.

I think it is a definite.  The venue is spectacular with a large exercise area and a lovely river running through.  Although I wasn't running the Doggies they had great fun running around and Reno enjoyed almost going into the river.

He stood on the bank wagging his tail in the mud and then wagged it all over us so Ann and I had to drive home caked it mud.  Not sure how we would have explained it away if we had been stopped!!

It was nice to catch up with a few more Mali people.  Dave, Candice, Grace and Alex were there with Rusty and Kiah.  Hope Kiah enjoyed her first Grade 6 show Grace?

Ann and Harley had a serious "If only" run in the ABC qualifier.

Since we started competing in 2001/2002 Paul and Pen Sensky have been so supportive of Ann and myself as we have won up through the Grades.

My good friends have always gone out of their way to support Kiros and me at big events such as travelling down to London to see us at Olympia and arriving at Crufts at the crack of dawn.

I'm so happy now to be able to congratulate them on their recent successes.  Pen and Brenn won their final Grade 1 jumping at Lincoln  putting them into Grade 2 and, much to his surprise, Paul and Quincy won 3 Grade 1 jumping classes at Barrow this weekend also putting them into Grade 2.  I'm really proud of you guys.

Reno's training is continuing to improve.  He can now do 6 weaves in a straight line and is jumping and going on far more confidently.  I've started trying to put the weaves into a course but he is struggling with his rhythm if I keep moving so this is proving a bit difficult.  I'm hoping to get this sorted by next Sunday so I can do a few more runs with him.

Almost there!!

The Doggies and I have just had a lovely weekend at Agility Nuts. 

I made my mind up to use the Agility classes to reinforce Kiros's wait's and Contacts as they have got a bit naughty lately so got Eliminated in his first run because I replaced him on the Dog Walk.  Only one contact the the "Give a Dog a Bone" Agility and, as Kiros never needs much reminding, he stopped and waited to be released.  Unfortunately he had a pole down (my fault!) but still managed 6th place as it was a tricky course.

As I was Judging Yesterday it was hard to grab moments to walk and run the other courses but Kiros was on top form and came 2nd in the Jumping (which I hadn't walked!) and 4th in the TFO Jumping.

Ronnie just had fun running around jumps and barking :)

I'd made my mind up to run Reno in any of the classes that didn't have weaves as we've still not got them sorted yet :( . On Saturday he was Eliminated in Clockwork Tunnels because he ran on into the wrong tunnel, Eliminated in Jumping because I forgot the course and took my eye off him!! and just 5f for a refusal in pairs as he took too long a stride and had to go around a jump.

The courses we could run yesterday were TFO jumping and a pay on the day Steeple Chase.  At Agility Nuts you are able to run with a silent toy in the Elementary classes (which Reno can enter as he hadn't run at a KC show) so I've been using my ball.  This all went wrong in the Steeple Chase as I made a mistake with my handling and Reno got "fixed" on the ball resulting in him being faulted!  His TFO Jumping, on the other hand, was brilliant with him completing 23 obs in the 30 sec course time (Kiros completed 26) finishing 6th.  The run has been filmed by Jackie so as soon as I've got it I will post it on here. 

Here are my Agility courses from yesterday for anyone who is interested

Elementary and Starters + Tunnel Torment Agility ( I had to alter this a little to fit the ring)

Elementary Agility

Starters + Agiltiy

Veteran Agility

What happened to May?!!

Not sure where the time has gone?

I've just spent from Thurday to yesterday working on our show - Nottingham ADTC.  It has been a great weekend with the only problem being the weather on Saturday.  I've worked on some really exciting rings - Champ on Sat and KC Olympia on Sun - and seen some top class Agility.  What a bonus :)

Since my last post I have taken Kiros to the Osteopath.  She gave him a good exmination and said that there wasn't anything wrong and his spine was holding up well.  Any little aches and pains he gets are down to his age and she has advised I keep running him as long as he wants to.

I've cut down his training a bit and picking the best courses for him to run at shows so he really enjoys his runs.  He's doing fine but just a bit slower.  I, on the other hand,  seem to be totally incapable of handling him correctly now.  I even forgot where I was going on a course at the ABC show!!

Reno's brothers and sister have all started to compete and Zippy is doing really well - congrats Jo. 

I'm still struggling with Reno's training.  I think my biggest problem is that I am so inexperienced at training a young dog I just don't know what to expect and am probably being inconsistent with my training and confusing him.  Poor Lad!!

On a positive note I have got his wait back but last Tuesday he started going under jumps.  I've decided to try 2 x 2 weaves instead of channels as they are easier for me to practice at home and I was struggling to close the channels up.  Unfortunately Reno still cannot understand to go through the gaps when the poles are straight so we need to go back a step with that. 

His See Saw was comming along nicely until last Tuesday (you can tell it wasn't a good session for us!) when we got out our RVA See Saw which is lighter then the Adams one.  It moved to quickly and freaked him :(

Let's see what happens at training tonight? 

Still a long way to go and I've got no idea when he will be ready to compete.  I've entered him in a few classes from July but won't run him if he can't run a course in training.  Trying to be patient!!

First "Nuts" of the Summer

The Doggies and me have just spent a lovely, sunny weekend at AgilityNuts.

I was judging all day on Saturday so didn't get much chance to run Kiros although Ann gave him a run around my Novice Agility.  He ran clear for her but wasn't very fast as he wanted to get to me all of the time. At the end of the day I ran him in the pairs (1st pole down) and the knockout jumping.  He was drawn against Indi in the Knockout and only got through the 1st round as Indi had a pole down.  She's soooooo fast!! In the 2nd round he was beaten by another Cocker Spaniel.

Here are my courses.

Veteran Agility

Elementary Agility

Novice + Agility

Starters Agility

I ended up altering my Jumping courses as I didn't get many clears in Elementary Agility so can't post them.

Reno had fun playing with Hazel's puppy Shadow and on Sunday had a really good romp around with another Mali, Barbara's Sam.  The problem I have at the moment is he is having so much fun on the excercise area he doesn't want to come back to me to have his lead put on!  Work to do I think.

Although Ann was judging yesterday and I was Ring Managing I found time to run both Kiros and Ronnie.  Ron was E'd in both his runs.  I think he is actually getting worse but he still thinks he is the best Agility dog in the world and I love running him as he has so much fun.

Kiros was a real star.  Clear in all of his 5 runs - 3rd in TFO Agility, 2nd in Jumping and 1st in Agility.  He started slowing a little in the Steeplechase and Helter-Skelter so was out of the placings but overall wasn't showing much sign of his age.

Reno will be 18 month old on Saturday and so will "legaly" be able to compete.  Unfortunately he is nowhere near ready so I'm not planning to enter him in anthing until he can do a clear round in training. The way we are going I can't see him competing this summer.

Don't get me wrong, I'm more then happy with how his training is going.  He is so full of drive and enthusiasm it is just that his drive is cannelled into tunnels and contacts with the jumps in between being totally unnecessary!  Weaves are ok as long as the channel is far enougth apart for him to whizz through, any closer and my bright boy thinks it is easier to go around them.

Good Luck to Zippy, Speedy and Megan at thier first KC shows at the weekend.

Six go mad in Norfolk........

We've just come back from a lovely holiday in Norfolk.

The Agility show was on Saturday and Sunday.  The weather was very mixed - sunshine, showers, wind and hail!!  Indi and Harley both ran well but unfortunately didn't come home with any rosettes.  Kiros didn't really understand the point of Anysize jumping and wasn't running at full speed but still managed a 4th and 5th in his two runs.  He seemed quite stiff after the show.  I'm hoping it was just the cold weather.

On Monday we took the dogs to the beach at Sea Palling for Reno's 1st experience of the Sea.  It was still quite cold and threatening rain so the only people on th beach were dog walkers.

The dogs had a great time playing and posing.

We visited Wells-next-to-the-Sea on Tuesday.  This walk wasn't quite as exciting as by now the weather had started to get quite warm and the beach was full of families so the dogs had to be on their leads most of the time.

Because of this we decided to stay closer to "home" on Wednesday and spent a few hours walking along the river bank in Coltishall.

Kiros totally refuses to swim in anything other then a heated swimming pool even if a stick is amost within reach.  I'm sure Reno wanted to swim in after it but Kiros wouldn't let him!!

Of course there were plenty of posing opportunities along the way.

Back to Nottingham again on Thursday and then Scuthorpe Agility on Saturday.  I was a little worried about Kiros running after the weekend before but he seemed ok. Infact he did a lot better then I did so we didn't get any clears!  Harley and Ann, on the other hand, worked really well with two clears and a 4th place in Grade 5 Agility.

Kiros has had an excellent training session at NADTC with Jo today.  He cope well but was flagging a bit at the end.  Reno is back to Jo's puppy class tomorrow.  I'm really looking forward to it.