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:-)