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:)