It's been sooooooo long.............

Since I updated my blog I'm having to look back at my diary to remember what we've done:-)

The weekend after the January Agility Nuts show we had the first of the three winter guest trainer sessions organised by NADTC by way of a thank you to all the members that helped out at the show, three hours with Toni Keating.  The take up rate for this session was surprisingly poor and meant that our group only consisted of 4 dogs and handlers!!!

Toni managed to set a course that cleverly worked on start-lines, handling, contacts (speed and Independence), weave entries, obstacle discrimination and course analysis!!!  She brought loads of energy to the session and 3hrs just whizzed by.

Jan 28th and 29th were the dates of the Kennel Club Judges seminars that I'd booked myself onto. 

I thought long and hard about doing this as, although I love judging, I'm not sure if I'm thick skinned enough to face the possible backlash that KC judges tend to get if things don't quite go the way you plan.  In the end I resolved not to let a few small minded people spoil what I love to do and I'm now a fully qualified KC Judge eagerly looking forward to my first appointment :-)

Then came the Snow!!

The best type, it has to be said, as it came at the weekend giving me plenty of time to play with the boys and then was starting to go by Monday so didn't interfere with work too much:-)

Kiros would like to assure everyone that you are never too old to have snow on your nose:-)

The weekend after was Agility Nuts February show and as the snow gradually disappeared over the week the temperature started to drop!!

On the Saturday before the show friends were reporting being at Dog Vegas in temperatures of -10!!  The thought of setting off to Fiskerton at 6am the next morning filled me with dread.

Can you believe the Agility God's were smiling on us again and we woke up the next morning to temperatures some 15 degrees higher? :-)

Outdoors Nuts in January?!!

I was really looking forward to Agility Nuts Show last Sunday - Kiros was back to form, after having missed the Xmas Party and struggled with stiffness as a result of playing too roughly with the youngsters whilst we were away, and I had a few things to try out in the ring with Reno.

You can imagine our surprise when we arrived at the venue at 6.30am only to find the Arena full of extremely large horse jumps!!  The venue was double booked :-(

Thankfully Trent Valley has a very large outdoor menage that we were able to use.  Paul and the venue owner had to quickly decide on how we could safely keep the Dogs and Horses apart whilst allowing enough room for each.  So parking was segregated and we started work on setting up the rings under the flood lights.  The good news was that rings were so much bigger then inside so we were able to construct the courses very easily!

As the competitors started to arrive they must have been extremely worried that they hadn't brought enough clothes or that it would rain on us (we didn't even have any tents and Sue and Hazel had to use a stable for their office!!)  but they all entered into the spirit of it and I didn't hear a single moan:-)

The Agility Gods must have been smiling on us as we had a great day.  It only drizzled fleetingly in the afternoon, we finished whilst it was still light and I think it was warmer outside then it was in.  The only, very minor, annoyances were that you couldn't watch the show whilst eating and we couldn't use the tanoy.  Apart from that I actually preferred to be outside.

It was lovely that there were friends at the show I hadn't seen in a while, Tina and Katie, but a bit of a shame that I didn't have much time to spend with them.

I really don't have to tell you how proud of my Kiros I am do I?

He loved every minute of the show.  Having not done any Agility since Decembers show he couldn't contain his excitement and I couldn't have slowed him down if I'd tried!!

He was clear in all of his 4 classes and 1st in every one:-)

Little Reno has so much to live up to but did himself proud.

Elementary Agility - Judge:- Pat Bishop -  No weaves or See-saw on this course.  Good wait and stop on Dog Walk.  Although he stopped on the A-Frame he self released which left me momentarily indecisive and resulted in the next pole coming down (I really should have put him back on) - 8th place.

Elementary Snakes and Ladders - Judge:- Pen Sensky - Least said about this one the better but Reno did a good A-Frame!!

Elementary TFO Jumping - Judge:- Ann Miller - This was the only course of the day that had weaves in and I really wanted to give them a go.  Unfortunately I was late commanding the turn before the weaves resulting in what would have been an E on a normal course so we were out - 5th place.

Elementary Jumping - Judge:- Richard Ludlow - Luckily our ring had finished and packed up whilst this class was still running so I had time to get Reno and warm him up with a good game of fetch and tuggy before we ran.  The course was huge (I'd already ran it with Kiros in Veterans) and I'd just watched Paul and Tiber do an amazing run putting them into the lead.  Could I get Reno around it in a good time?..........................The answer is yes!!!!!!  We had a couple of hairy moments but Reno just pipped Tiber's time finishing 1st!!!  What a good boy.

I think Reno must have liked running outdoors in Jan because this was definitely his best performance to date:-)

Once more I'm finishing the post with a well done to Paul and Tiber for not only coming 2nd in the Jumping but the TFO as well.

Whoops!!!!

Once more I've been so long up dating my blog and I've got so much to tell you that I'm going to have to make several posts over the weekend..................

I'll start with Christmas as I have tonnes of cute photo's that I took whilst we were away.

Needless to say we had an excellent Christmas with loads of presents and things to do but by far the best part of it was having time off to spend with my family and the Dogs.

The Dogs really enjoyed helping Hayden and Bowen unwrap everything on Xmas morning.  To be honest I think they were more interested in the wrapping paper!



Then it was the patient wait for Christmas Dinner............................................................................

but some were more patient then others!!!!!

Then, of course, there is always that Boxing Day feeling:-)

and Ronnie is still looking for a new toy to play with!!

Getting ready for Xmas!!

Oh dear.......how much time has passed since my last blog entry?!!

Ade and I are well and truly into our "Christmas Countdown".  The lack of Snow this year has meant that we have been able to do all of our usual Xmassy things plus a couple of new experiences to add to our list.

We really missed our visit to Lincoln Xmas Market last year but made up for it by spending most of Sunday 3rd there!!

Last Friday we spent the evening at Rufford Country Park admiring the Aura Illuminations followed by a day at Newark visiting the Christmas Tree Festival.

We'd been to something similar at Melton in previous years and, although there were nowhere near as many trees here, we found Newark to be just as nice :-)

Our trip this weekend was to the impressive Hardwick Hall.  We've spotted the Hall from the M1 several times when passing but hadn't actually visited it before.  This visit has made us realise that we needed a lot more time then we had allowed to see all it had to offer.  I think we may be planning a return visit in the Summer.

So onto Agility matters!!!

Decembers Nuts show was last Sunday and I wasn't judging so had a chance to work both my boys on all of the courses :-)

Kiros missed his weave entry in the Agility so was E'd and had a pole down in TYOL but won both his Jumping and the Speed and Power:-)

Reno

Elementary Agility - Judge:- Di Polkey - Tricky weave entry that he missed and then a mistake in the weaves and run by at the Dog Walk.  Having said that, he did great "stop" contacts and the run by was my fault for not straightening him properly.  In that situation I'd rather he bailed out then taking the up plank in an unsafe manner.

Elementary Speed and Power - Judge:- Andrew Green- I handled the Speed section really badly getting Reno eliminated for back jumping.  Again good contacts but he needed two attempts at the weaves.

Elementary Jumping - Judge:- Ann Miller - Lovely course but Reno really disappointed me on this one:-(  He started well but when I asked him to weave he turned around and bit me!! He did eventually complete them and finished the course well but I know he could have done better.

Elementary TYOL Jumping - Judge:- Nell Pegg - Reno completely miss judged a bounce stride, landing on and demolishing a jump!  This meant that he took a jump out of order so I had to quickly re-think my course.  Miraculously I managed to avoid elimination - No placing but at least points for the league.

Today we had the NADTC Xmas party.  Kiros couldn't come as his neck is giving him a bit of pain again but Reno had the time of his life!!

He loved the games and came 2nd in one the involved my carrying a present as I ran him.  The "eat a sausage" game was probably his favourite but he had a pole down so came home with 10th place.

As I was judging the last game Ann got to run him for the first time.  Reno was such a good boy for her, in fact probably a little to focused on her as he was convinced she was going to give him a sausage and kept looking at her hands rather then going into tunnels!!

Again I want to finish this post by congratulating Paul and Tiber on their amazing Nuts debut :-)  No clears but some really competitive times.  Make sure you take his collar off in future Paul!!