Last KC show of the year

And a change of venue that was definitely in our favour:-)

Bakewell Showground wasn't in a good way after the rain the week before so the Dog Vegas team managed to move the show to Southwell Racecourse.  Just a 30 min drive from home!!

Reno definitely saved his best for last with just 3 eliminations over the weekend and 3 clear rounds.

Graded 4-5 Jumping - Judge:- Lisa Pluves - This course frightened me!!  It had two sets of 6 weaves - one following the other with right angled entries.  I really shouldn't underestimate Reno as he did them lovely, only to be E'd when I miss timed a four jump Flick-Flack pushing him through a gap rather then over the jump.

Graded 4-5 Jumping - Judge:- Tom Greening - Clear and 9th place. The only way I could think of to handle this course was to race into a box for a front cross.  I managed to get there but really slowed Reno down in the process:-(

Graded 4-5 Agility - Judge:- Kevin Lampitt - Really loved this course and Reno ran it so well.  Just a 5R in the weaves as I set him up wrong after a front cross but great contacts.

Graded 4-5 Agility - Judge:-Ian Dobison - I think the biggest mistake that I have made with Reno is allowing him to run onto tunnels without making it clear that I am asking him to do them.  In a recent training session with Jo Tristram she stressed that anyone that sends their dogs to tunnels without running at them is setting themselves up for failure in the future.  How true!!  This course started jump, weaves, tunnel and because Reno could see the tunnel entrance when I set him up he made a bee-line for it missing the weaves E'd!! 

Graded 4-5 Jumping - Judge:- Stephanie Wilson-Astbury - Clear but I mucked up a pull-through waisting time.  After the training session with Jo T I don't think I'd make the same mistake again!!  Really impressed with Reno's independent weaves on this course.

Graded 4-5 Jumping - Judge:- Heather Mitchell - Clear again but out of placings.  I forgot the course and sent Reno the wrong way only to have to call him back again - Nice dog shame about the handler!!

Combined 3-5 Agility - Judge:- Sam Chapman -  Going really well until Reno came off the side of the See-Saw (I think I set him up wrong!!) so E'd when I put him back over it.

I'm sorry to say that i don't remember Kiros's runs at this show but am convinced that they were all clear.  After all, my perfect boy never does anything wrong does he?  Hehe!!

Agility Nuts KC Show

Rather unexpectedly my next KC Judging appointment came at this show being called in as a reserve Judge with just a few days notice!!

The selection of classes was great, judging Agility for all levels of large dog and a class for the small dogs as well.  The biggest challenge was having to judge large grade 7 dogs twice - Large Combined 6-7 Agility and Large Grade 7 Agility.  My solution was to make the two courses completely different so the handlers/dogs had to utilise and demonstrate different skills on both.

The courses ended up slightly different on the ground to what they are here.  We struggled to locate the A-Frame so it didn't wobble!!!

Large Graded 1-3 Agility

Small Graded 1-4 Agility

Large Graded 4-5 Agility

Large Combined 6-7 Agility

Large Grade 7 Agility





Again some great runs from all levels and really worthy winners.  Commiserations has to go to my good friend Michelle and her dog Dex who were leading the Grade 3 Agility only to be pipped by the last dog:-(

Competing the next day was a struggle for Reno and me.  I was absolutely shattered after judging the day before in the blazing heat and Reno let me know that I'd deserted him!!!

Our only clear came in the pairs with Tiber (but it's fair to say that our leg could have been better!!)

Naughty contacts in both Agility runs and bad handling by me in both jumpings.

Kiros ran all his courses lovely and even managed an 8th place in the Veteran Helter Skelter.

Congratulations to Paul and Pen for putting on one of the best KC shows of the year and to Pen for providing by far the best food.........Yum!!!!!!

Adams at Uttoxeter

When Adams Agility promised us, around the closing date of this show, that the ground at Uttoxeter was really well draining it's fair to say that I wasn't overly optimistic!! 

My previous experience of the ground was when Reno was entered in the BSD breed show at 6 months old.  It was a lovely hot August day but Reno and Ronny (who obviously led his little son astray!!) found several enormous puddles to romp in at lunch time. This resulted in me having to try and clean a very wet and muddy puppy with the only thing I had available - my jacket - before "Best Puppy in Show" :-)

Thankfully the ground was a lot better then I remembered and I wished I'd entered more then one day.

Adams offered a great selection of classes but I wasn't brave enough to enter any 4-7 classes with Reno so went for Adams Derby, Graded 3-5 Agility and Graded 1-4 Jumping.

Naughty contacts were (once again) the reason for our elimination in the Adams and Agility but Reno ran lovely in the jumping getting his first clear in Grade 4.  He ran in a respectable time of 26.560 seconds and finished just outside the placings.  As always there were area's that could have been improved - creeping too close to first jump resulting in a slow start, me stumbling a little, etc.

Kiros was a very cheeky boy at this show, leaving the ring part way around the Veteran Jumping to visit Ann, but although clear he was a little defeated by the amount of tunnels in Anysize jumping.

Judging Again.....

This time at the last Unaffiliated Agility Nuts of the summer:-)

Ann and me jointly judged the Jumping classes on Saturday (Jumping and Tunnel Torment) and here are the courses I designed

Elementary and Veteran Tunnel Torment Jumping

Starters Plus Tunnel Torment Jumping

I'd already decided that this would be Reno's last Nuts at Elementary.  He's had several 1st places in jumping but could be win out by getting that elusive Agility win?

So here is how he did........

Saturday - E'd in Di Polkey's Agility, 5r for missed weave entry in Ann's jumping, 5th in Di's Agility Gamblers but I didn't think of a course so didn't attempt the Gamble and 1st in the Tunnel Torment Jumping.

Sunday - E'd in Pen's Power and Tunnels, E'd in Richard Ludlow's Agility, E'd in Alan Waddington's Jumping and 1st in Alan's Helter Skelter.

So we finished the weekend with a couple more jumping wins but no Agility to win us out properly:-(

One of the highlights of the weekend came on Saturday evening when both of my boys excelled themselves in the pairs - Reno winning the Large with Tiber and Kiros winning the ABL with Harley:-)

Although Kiros is beginning to slow a little he's still really enjoying his Agility.  I've just got to make sure he doesn't over do it so am having to limit his runs a little. He added both the Agility's to his pairs win and came second in the jumping on Sunday.

Kiros also ran in a class that Ann judged in memory of Misty.  The course that was used was a Novice Jumping that Misty was one of the very few clears in.  The winner was the dog that ran closest to Misty's time and it was really touching that this was Hazel and Gemma - Not a dry eye!!!

Judging Debut

After passing my KC exams in January I was really excited about starting my Judging career at Adams Agility Show on Sunday 12th August.

I'd entered Reno for runs on both Friday and Saturday as one of my judges perks was that they were free.

Both the Agility courses on Friday (judged by Clive Foden) had an A-frame/tunnel combination at the beginning and Reno was consistent in not stopping on the contact so I eliminated him by replacing him in both!!

Unfortunately going into the tunnel too early also caused us to be eliminated in the Jumping on Friday and his 4-5 Agility on Saturday.

His two best runs came in the 1-4 Jumping (judged by Katie) and Karen Miaskowski's 4-7 Agility, picking up a 5r at the weaves in the jumping when he decided to try and get Speedy's attention and just having a pole down in the Agility.

So here are my courses from the Sunday:-)

Large, Medium and Small 1-3 Agility

There were some great runs on this course, particularly in the large, and some very unfortunate "if only's"!!

Medium and Small 5-7 Agility

Again some good runs on this course but I was surprised to see so may handlers take thier dogs through the gap between 4 and 5 to go onto the See Saw at 6.  In my opinion this wasn't a good (or particularly safe) entry onto the contact and I hadn't expected anyone to do it when it was so easy to turn the dog the other side of 5.  Luckily nothing went wrong and it's a lesson for the future.

Large 6-7 Agility

This was the one I was looking forward to......The reason why I wanted to judge at KC:-)  To avoid comparisons in terms of complexity between this and the 5-7 course I decided to make it completely different.  The course was definitely the type I enjoy running - plenty of space to allow the dogs to enjoy themselves (in fact Reno had a pretty good go at it when I set it up the night before, only missing the weave entry). 

I was so proud to see the handlers attacking the course, again some great clears and "if only's".  The only disappointment was seeing Alan Gardner do an amazing run only to find that the timing hadn't worked and to be E'd on the re-run:-(

Something I haven't had to consider too much before is judging position because we don't judge up contacts at Agility Nuts.  This course has made me realise that it has to be more of a concern to me in the future as on a number of occasions I found myself and the handler trying to fit in the tiny gap between the Dog Walk and A-Frame!!  Not ideal - another lesson for the future:-)





Scunny!!!

OK...........after getting up to date with my blog I've now left it several weeks before up dating again.  You'd think I'd be a bit more organised wouldn't you????

I'll start the mammoth up date by pointing out that the major flaw I've spotted in my handling (one of many!!) is that I point at Reno rather then where I want him to go!!  The lack of direction his causing him to make his own decisions or, even worse, slow down.

So at Scunny I started trying to put things right:-)  No clears but much better handling.

July's Nuts and Empingham

July's Agility Nuts show was very special for a number of reasons...........after weeks of wet weather the Sun shone brightly, Reno and Kiros both enjoyed their Agility (and meeting new friends in Reno's case),  Ronnie had some very exciting ball games on the exercise area but most importantly we had a chance to spend a happy weekend with Misty before saying goodbye.

I love this photo because it is a real reminder of how these special dogs - Raffles, Misty, Kiros, Fern and Scully - have changed our lives. 

Sleep well Miss Telling Tales, reunited with Scully and Fern xxxx

I judged both days of the show - Snooker on Saturday and Agility on Sunday.  I can't post my courses here as I changed them from what I'd originally intended but they seemed to work well with some really good runs and plenty of clears.

Kiros is beginning to struggle with turning now.  Having said that he still runs plenty fast enough on a curve or in a straight line:-)  and got two 3rd places and a win over the weekend.

Reno's performance was mixed over the weekend.  Unfortunately his contacts went AWOL but he also did some lovely jumping runs.

Elementary Snakes and Ladders - Judge:- Pen Sensky - I opted for the difficult weave ladder as I wanted to see how Reno would handle it.  He succummed  to the tempting tunnel initially but completed the weaves on the second attempt.  Very encouraging.

Elementary Agility - Judge:- Ann Miller - Eliminated before he even got to the contacts as he spotted a tunnel in the distance that he though he should take(I can't critisize him too much though as I've discovered one of many flaws in my handling!!)

Elementary Jumping - Judge:- Howard Weston - Clear in 18.392 and 1st place!!

Elementary Jumping - Judge:- Iain Langman - Clear in 19.793 and 1st place!!  Really pleased with this one as I had to stop him going into a tunnel after a straight line approaching it.

Elementary Speed and Power - Judge:- Ann Miller - Great clear in Jumping section but naughty contacts causing an elimination in the Power.

Elementary Up and Under - Judge:- Pen Sensky - Clear in 33.889 and 1st place!!

Reno loves running in Elementary at Nuts as the courses let him stretch his legs but I'm thinking that he is now ready to move up to Starters.  We've got one more Summer Show in August so I'm hoping he'll win an Agility at that.

On to Empingham...............In memory of the Misty I have decided to video as may of our runs as possible so Reno's are above (with the exception of one jumping that we were badly E'd in)!!!

I won't go blow for blow through the runs as the video makes it self explanatory.  Basically a few naughty contacts, a couple of really shabby clears and a lot of incredibly poor handling.  Lots to work on!!

Surreal Weekend

When Dog Vegas put out a plea for Judges on the Agility Forum Ann thought why not volunteer and have a weekend away in Norfolk as we hadn't been for over a year.

The first setback came when Ann contacted Gill from The Limes (see 21/07/2009) and found out that she wasn't taking bookings this year.  Luckily she found this lovely little pub in Watton (www.the willowhouse.co.uk) that was more than happy to take us and the Dogs.  Better still it was less than 30 mins drive from the venue:)

Next set back - the weather forecast predicting 2 months rainfall in 24 hours really caused havoc!!  Ann and Mark left about an hour before us and took over an hour and half to get out of Nottingham due to the number of roads that were flooded and impassable.  Luckily, with that knowledge, we were able to plan a route that didn't take us so long.  Eventually they arrived at the venue with us not far behind them, we set up Ann's first course, walked the Dogs then settled in for a lovely meal at the Willow House.

Saturday was Ann's first KC Judging appointment. In total she had 9 different courses to design (some classes including the same dogs) and she did a brilliant job, her courses went down very well. 

My role was to be her scrimer all day.  A job I love to do but doesn't give me much time to think about running my dogs.  In fact I rushed walking Kiros's course and missed a whole chunk of it!!  Never mind, he enjoyed the run and thought he was clear!!

Reno's runs:-

Jumping Graded 3-5 - Judge:- Rebecca Wheetman - Reno struggled with the straight Jump-Weave start, hitting them to fast and coming out at 2nd pole.  Good run after that.

Agility Combined 3-5 - Judge:- Eileen Wischnea - For us this course was a little too hard, aimed at the top end of the grade range with obstacle discrimination and pull throughs etc.  Reno got a bit confused with everything being so close and took the wrong line on a couple of occasions.  Having said that his contacts were excellent and gave me confidence for our next Agility run (I'd already walked the course so I knew it suited us)

Jumping Graded 1-3 - Judge:- Ann Miller - Obviously a lovely course ;-)  Had a slight weave issue.  No idea why so I E'd us by taking Reno back to the jump before the weaves.  From there we ran well until near the end where the box issue raised its ugly head again!!!  Reno started to follow me around the corner of the box but then spied a tunnel entrance and whizzed off to do it!!

Agility Graded 1-3 - Judge:- Mandy Surch - I almost missed running this one!! I could see the ring from where I was sitting scrimming and suddenly realised that there were only 2 dogs left in the queue.  By the time I'd grabbed Reno and ran to the ring the 2nd dog had just finished its run. We went clear with a bit of a wide turn between 2-3 and an almost disastrous turn between 16-17 where Reno turned the wrong way - then back to work on the ring thinking we may just get a placing.  I didn't realise the presentation for this class was taking place until I heard our names read out in 1st place!!

So Reno is now Grade 4.

We'd already decided to have a day sightseeing etc on Sunday and I'm glad we didn't go to the show as it was bound to be an anticlimax after Saturday.

Instead we took the dogs for a lovely forest walk in the morning and visited the St Georges Distillery (the only English whiskey distillery) in the afternoon.

We left the Willow House after a lovely breakfast on Monday morning still not quite believing how perfect our weekend had been :-)

ABC Show

It was such a shame to miss Agility Nuts this weekend. Reports about the venue at Kelham Hall were really good and it seems that everyone had a great time :)

Having said that Winterton Showground is one of my favourite venues, especially for this show as it isn’t very busy and they leave the grass long in the exercise area so the dogs have a ball (or lose one or two!!)

Kiros ran 4 ABC Veteran classes over the weekend, enjoying every minute of it and winning all of them :)

Reno’s runs

Open Combined 1-3 Jumping – Judge:- Alan Hale – Excellent clear round from Reno with a tricky weave entry and 12 weaves. He came 2nd in a time of 21.591.

ABC Combined 1-3 Jumping – Judge:- Alan Hale – Reno was beaten by a Collie in the Open Jumping so I knew if I got him round clear he had a good chance of winning this. He was clear and he did win!!

ABC 1-7 Steeplechase - Judge:- Alan Hale – Reno ran well on this course as well but went into the wrong end of the tunnel due to lack of experience

These were the only three classes that I’d entered Reno in on Saturday. As you have to enter shows so far in advance I entered what I thought was best at the time. After the weekend before I wished I’d entered some Agility at this show as well.

Sunday didn’t go as well......

Jay McCartan judged both the Open and ABC 1-3 Jumping’s. Both courses had a bit at the end that Reno and I struggled to do but to be honest it wouldn’t have made any difference. Reno was really disinterested. Particularly with weaving :(

He did go clear in Jay’s ABC 1-7 Steeplechase but lost a bit of speed at the end. We ended up in 7th place.

Reno’s best run of the day came in the Speed and Power judged by Steve Retter. We were E’d in the jumping for going into an off course tunnel (don’t I know what we have to work on!!) but his contacts were great.

Thanks to Katie for taking loads of photo’s of Reno at the show.

Bitz'n'Bobz Saturday 9th June 2012

The weather wasn’t quite as bad at this show :)


Although it had been raining really heavily leading up to it the rings were dry with all of the boggy bits being in the parking areas. It was, however, extremely windy so none of the Agility classes had Dog Walks in them.

The show had the maximum of dogs going through each ring and coupled with a huge amount of course changes for each judge this made it a very long day. Reno did his first run at 10am and didn’t run again until about 4pm with his final run at 7pm. I have to say that I think this had an effect on our performance.

Kiros had 3 Any Size runs. He knocked a couple of poles in the Agility (which has made me decide to run him on Small now) but he was clear in both of his Jumping classes getting 8th place in one of them. I’m delighted with that placing as it was against young dogs, not just Veterans.

Reno’s runs.....

Graded 1-3 Agility – Judge:- Owen Edwards – A lovely clear round with stopped contacts and great weaves in a time of 28.067 secs (just 0.092 sec of the winning time) and 2nd place. Our first Agility clear and so close to winning into Grade 4!! I still can’t quite believe it

Combined 1-3 Jumping and Graded 1-3 Jumping - I can’t remember exactly what happened in these two runs. One of them had a really hard weave entry and 12 weaves that Reno did correctly only for me to forget the rest of the course and the other had a hard start, calling him of a tunnel. Again Reno did this well only for me to relax and lose him in another tunnel!!

Combined 1-3 Agility – Judge:- Julie Westwood – During the day I’d received news that Reno’s brother Speedy had won Grade 3 Agility at North Derbyshire show and therefore won into Grade 4. Wouldn’t it have been nice for both the brothers to win on the same day? So I decided to push Reno on this run as I knew from what had happened in the morning class that he could have won it. Unfortunately I pushed too hard and he came out of the weaves. Silly mum!!!

Huge congratulations to Jackie and Speedy. I don’t think they’ll be in Grade 4 for long. Speedy is running so well.

Hinckley - Saturday 2nd June 2012

I'm definitely going to get my blog up to date today!!!

Unfortunately for Hinckley (and all the other shows since it transpired) the Agility gods weren't as kind as they were for the weekend of our show :(

At the moment I'm limiting my entries to one day a weekend as Reno and I seem to be over faced by two days of competing. Luckily we chose the Saturday of this show which proved to be the best day weather wise. Although it drizzled for most of the day the heavy rain was minimal.

Kiros didn't have any runs at this show so found other things to do to amuse himself..............Like rolling in Sheep Poo and trying to exit Jackie's caravan awning via a side seem!!! He's getting so naughty now he's getting older :)

Reno's runs were excellent. Really showing what we are capable of

Combined 1-3 Agility - Judge:- Shirley Wells - Good wait (in fact his waits are so good now that I will only say when they are not) and excellent stop on all contacts but E'd because I didn't work a turn and Reno saw a line to a tunnel so took it!!

Combined 1-3 Jumping - Judge:- Kenny Wadell - Difficult weave entry at no 2 that I didn't help Reno with. We missed it 3 times so E'd but he ran the rest of the course really well.

Combined 3-5 Agility - Judge:- Ian Mallaber - I'm adding Ian onto my list of favourite judges. I really loved this course and Reno ran it brilliantly with just a slip in the weaves that cost us 5f.

Brilliant Bonvivants

To say that High Peak show was a good one for Bonvivant Belgian's is probably an understatement!!

Katie and Heidi had a brilliant day on the Saturday of the show winning Grade 3 Agility and taking them to Grade 4.

Then Paul and Tiber did exactly the same the next day!!

Well done to both of you :-)

Jackie and Speedy also had some great runs.  Not sure of all of the placings but there was definitely a 2nd somewhere along the line.

As for Reno?  I didn't enter any Agility classes at this show so focused on his waits and my handling.

Jumping Grade 3 - Judge: Karen Baddley - Reno started this run with a lovely wait.   So lovely that I, momentarily, forgot to handle the next part of the course and watched him disappearing into a tunnel!!

Jumping Combined 3-5 - Judge: Karen Baddley - Again a lovely wait and some good weaves from Reno.  There was part of this course that I had no idea of how to handle as it involved calling Reno off a tunnel whilst still moving towards it....E'd!!!

Chase the Ace Team Qualifier - Judge: Jackie Kenny -The Bovivant Boys (and one girl, Heidi!!) excelled themselves, only getting 10 faults and Reno was clear.  For the second year running we've come 3rd and are 1st reserves for the final:-)

Last weekend was our show.  Although I had a brilliant time just getting Reno out of the car to squeeze in quick runs really didn't work!!

I won't bore you with the details.  Such a shame because in my opinion Nottingham is a show that attracts really good quality Judges and as a result the courses were all great.  Thank you to everyone who gave up their time to judge for us and I'm sorry I didn't do your courses justice.

I've said before that the Agility God's must love us and last weekend was proof if it was needed.  Who'd have thought we could have had such great weather with the cold and rainy weekends either side of it.

Beautiful Beacon!!

Our next show after Nuts was supposed to be Lincoln.  Unfortunately we had to miss it but looking at the weather I don't think that was such a bad thing!!

Over the May Day Bank Holiday weekend I travelled down to Dorset to stay with my family. Whilst I was there we went to our 1st UKA show to try and promote the "Team England" supporters merchandise that Wanda had designed. 

The weather was sooo cold.  Not really what you want when you are trying to sell T-shirts!!

Reno didn't run very well at this show.  Not sure why?  Maybe it was something that had been building up for a while or maybe he didn't feel comfortable being there on his own without any of his Doggie friends?

Either way on the first day of competition he decided to run around every 1st jump as soon as I let go of his collar:-(  He did do a couple of good runs afterwards but, of course, had already been faulted.

The beauty of UKA shows is that you can decided to use your time in the ring as a training round so I used this option for all but one of his runs the next day.  It seemed to work well and I was brave enough to run him for competition and get a clear in his last run.

The Agility Nuts weekend in May had to be cancelled due to the venue being waterlogged.  What foresight I had to enter Beacon on the Sunday as at least we had a show to go to:-)

Beacon is always one of my favourite shows.  I think it is the lack of camping that makes it all so social.  I go knowing that the competition will be tough but there will be plenty of time to chat!!!  So here's how we got on........

Agility Combined 1-3 - Judge: Charlie Wyatt - One of my very favourite judges!!  I decided to introduce a new start line routine at this show (similar to what I used to do with Kiros) so this was my first try.  I take Reno's lead off in the queue and do a bit of heal work with him, Sit him outside the ring and give him some sausage then recall him to me in the ring, sit and leave him.  It didn't go too well this time as Reno decided to go and visit a folded flat tunnel in the corner of the ring so I had to drag him back.  After that he did a reasonable wait but self released of the Dog Walk (2nd obstacle) so was replaced.  He ran the rest of the course beautifully:-)

Jumping Graded 1-5 - Judge: Jo Hysolp - A lovely course for a fast Belgian :-) (I wonder why!!!!) just a missed weave entry and a bit of dodgy handling at the end in this one.  Reno loved it.

Agility Combined 3-5 - Judge: Mike Hallam - I think this course was a bit too difficult for us at the moment so lets just say Reno took his own line!!  Very good contacts though.

Just two more shows to Blog about until I'm up to date!!!

April Nuts

Onto the first Agility Nuts of the Summer Season.

This show was at a super new venue - Bilsthorpe Miners Welfare Sportsground.  The running surface on the rings was excellent and there was a lovely big exercise area.  The show didn't go without hitches but the team and competitors all rallied round to make the weekend really enjoyable.

So onto the Agility..............

I only had Kiros with me on the Saturday as I was judging on Sunday.  He had a great time, as always, winning Veteran Agility and Power and Speed, coming 2nd in Veteran Jumping.

Reno

Saturday

Elementary Agility - Judge: Di Polkey - E'd because he broke his wait so I corrected it.  Worked contact by using his ball but excellent weaves!!

Elementary Jumping Gamble - Judge: Pat Bishop - It's fair to say that Reno didn't do the course I intended but he still managed to amass enough points to get 5th place.

Elementary Power and Speed - Judge: Di Polkey - E'd in the contact section as he came of a contact before released and had to be corrected :-(

Elementary Jumping - Judge: Pat Bishop - Clear and 2nd place to Tiber:-)

Sunday - As I was judging in the Agility ring I only ran Reno in Pen Sensky's Elementary Jumping which I handled really badly, messing up his weave entry.

Here are my courses from the weekend

Elementary Agility

Starters Plus Agility

Veteran Agility

Elementary TFO Agility

Starters Plus TFO Agility

Veteran TFO Agility





Bretford Show

Next instalment of my Blog update!!!

Back from the Lakes and I'd entered both Reno and Kiros at Bretford Show on Easter Sunday.  It was clear that Kiros needed a bit longer to recover from his holiday so I decided to only take Reno.

I walked our first course with a bit of trepidation.  It wasn't really our thing - a couple of boxes that aren't my strongest handling point and the weaves at the end of the course.  I was so worried that I'd mess them up if we managed to do the rest clear.

Well I didn't and Reno got his first KC clear round and 7th Place.  Looking at the video I know there are a few places where I could have tightened him up but I was delighted with this run non the less.

Reno thoroughly enjoyed the show, running really well and playing with his friends Kody and Heidi and brother Speedy.  He even managed an other clear in Graded 1-3 Jumping finishing in 8th place.

I'm so proud of my little Mali:-)

Low Nest Farm

Lots and lots of Blog updating for you starting with Ade's surprise Birthday trip to Low Nest Farm near Keswick in the Lake District the week before Easter.

Ann and Mark have been here several times before and, knowing how much Ade and I would enjoy it, they decided to book a few days for us all to celebrate Ade's 50th Birthday later on this year.  Some how we managed to keep the destination a secret from Ade and he still had no idea where we were going when we set off at lunch time on the Tuesday.  In fact, due to his rather poor sense of direction, he still had no idea of where we were until we got to Penrith!!!

It started to snow towards the end of the journey and continued to do so for the rest of that evening.  The plan to walk into Keswick for our evening meal but we wimped out and went by car.  Over a lovely warming meal Ann revealed the schedule for the next day.........................

It started at 7.15am with Mark and me taking the dogs for a stroll up to Castlerigg Stone Circle.  The sun was just coming up and there was still quite a bit of snow on the ground.  The Lake District as I've nether seen it before.

These are the views from our Studio window that Ade took whist Mark and me were out walking.

8.30 was breakfast at No 10............Ann and Marks Studio!!!!!!!!!

Followed by a quick dash to the Bus Stop to ensure we caught the hourly bus.

Our day was a perfectly planned Bus Pub Crawl.  The weather steadily improved and we even managed part of the journey on the open topped bus.

Enabling Ade to get some great shots.

I had to include this shot of the most perfect place to do Agility!!!  The Doggies had been well looked after whilst we were out by Alison, the owner, but we spent the evening playing with them in the paddock and generally spending some quality time with them.

Thursday was Doggies day....................but it started with breakfast at No 10 again.

A nice long but reasonably flat walk into Keswick then along the disused railway line into Threlkeld.

Plenty of water stops for the Dogs and a lovely pub lunch with time for the Dogs to relax.

Followed by a walk back to Low Nest Farm via the stone circle.  Unfortunately Kiros (and Ade!!) really showed his age on this last bit.  The walk was about 2 miles too much for him :-(

We were due to go home the next morning but I couldn't resist another walk before breakfast.  Just Reno and me this time.

Thank you to Ann and Mark for organising this fun filled break for us and the weather couldn't have been better.

Bronze, Silver and Gold

Both Reno and Kiros ran really well at the last Winter Agility Nuts show.

As I was judging I only managed to run them both in the Jumping classes but Kiros won Gold in both of his classes and ended the season as the runner up in the Veteran league.

Elementary Jumping - Judge:- Richard Ludlow - Reno loved Richard's course in January and this one was just as nice but this time had the weaves in it.  I handled a turn badly resulting in Reno back jumping but he didn't realise and continued to complete the course perfectly including the weaves:-)

Elementary Up and Under - Judge:- Andrew Green - Really imaginative course from Andrew but some how I never seem to do his courses justice.  I'm determined to do so one day!!  Needless to say I got Reno E'd for not trying hard enough!!

Last Tuesday was Awards night at NADTC.  To achieve Bronze you get two attempts to go clear on a simple Agility course. 

Reno ran absolutely perfectly and got his Bronze on his first run. What a good boy!!

We could have attempted Silver on Wednesday but I didn't want to over do it so we'll wait till October to have a go.  You only have one attempt at Silver so the pressure will be on.

Dog Vegas show last Saturday was our first KC show since September.  To say I was excited was an understatement!!

Kiros was entered in Anysize Jumping and ran a lovely excited clear.

This is Reno's first run in the team.  Once again we were the comedy element:-

The only other class I had entered him in was Graded 3-5 Jumping.  It was supposed to be judged by my friend Jackie Boyd but Doreen Sizeland had to step in as Jackie was ill :-(

It was a good open running course with a couple of tempting tunnels that Reno succumbed to but his weave were perfect.  I'm so much more confident with them now and am really looking forward to his next show at Easter.  The time has come for me to stop worrying about the equipment and start concentrating on attaching the course.

Feb Nuts and onwards

Back inside and not as successful as January's show but enjoyable non the less.

Elementary Agility - Judge:- Iain Langman - At January's show Reno got all his contacts in the Agility round but I was very careful with them (mainly because of a difficult assent onto the DW) and it's fair to say they were slow.  At this show I decided to run them like I do in training and Reno decided that he wasn't going to stop on them so E'd for putting him back on!!

Elementary Snooker - Judge:- Pen Sensky - Decided to use this course to practise our weaves but I handled the entry wrong causing a fault so end of run.

Elementary Jumping - Judge:- Di Polkey - My fault again for miss handling a jumping sequence and getting Reno eliminated by great weaves and finish :-)

Elementary Helter Skelter - Judge:- Lynne Land - More bad handling!!!  Not working one of the jumps resulting in a refusal.

Just to prove that when Reno gets to the stage that he either understands (or ignores) my strange handling Kiros got three clears taking home two 1st and a 2nd.  I love this lad so much and his joy when on the start line is clear for all to see:-)

Down to Dorset again the next weekend for a relaxing weekend.  I forgot to take my camera so no up to date photos but Ollie is looking great now.  He was put on a diet by his Vet and the results are clear to see.  The little lad has so much energy.  Him and Reno don't stop playing with each other.

Wanda arranged coffee and cake with our cousins, Jayne and Wendy, who we haven't seen to talk to for years.  It was great to chat and catch up but the most amusing thing was that, even though Wanda, Jayne and Wendy all have kids, the first thing well all did was got out our phones and showed each other photo's of our dogs!!!!  Some things just run in the family:-)

Since we've been back it's been training, training , training to prepare ourselves for the first KC show in a couple of weeks.

Reno put in a good run in Dog of the Month at NADTC.  Although he missed his weave entry all of the other dogs were faulted and he was fast enough to win the class.

I've found some time to spend with Pen working on weave exercises and we've had our second guest trainer session at NADTC with Steve Croxford.

Last Thursday I attended an excellent session run by Jo Tristram and organised by Bob Sharpe.  Although Reno wasn't perfect he did very well in an environment he wasn't used to and on exercises that were a bit harder then what we'd attempted before.  This has given me a lot more confidence and I'm really looking forward to a few shows now.

Agility Nuts is next weekend and I'm judging the Agility so I'm really hoping there will be weaves in the Jumping.