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.