Derby and Paws in the Park

This weekend was a story of two shows....weird as it may seem Roger went to Paws in the Park for a day and I went to Derby and then he joined me. This came about as Derby had been re-scheduled from the end of July and only the original competitors could attend - Roger was only entered on the Sunday at the original Derby Show as he was judging the Power and Speed and Gamblers Finals at the Agility Club Show.

Derby was Friday afternoon, all day Saturday and Sunday morning. On Friday it was really windy Cadbury was a bit mad in the wind and got an E in his agility class and got a 2nd in Medium 4-5 Jumping. Poor little Jaf got blown off the dog walk....he seems fine - perhaps in hindsight I should not have run him but I had not seen any other dogs have a problem and later heard of one other dog that got blown off (a sheltie who was also fine). Fleet got a 6th in Grade 5 Agility and a 9th in Grade 5 Jumping.

Saturday was the final of the Adams Derby (a Novice Power and Speed - well for Grade 4 & 5) - Fleet had qualified for the second year and there was one part of the course that worried me and I was right as that was where Fleet had a goony moment (span and barked at me!) he had not got very near to the next jump so did not get faulted and before and after the goony moment worked lovely and came 6th. Last year he came 10th so at least we improved!

Cadbury did a stonking run in Medium 3-5 Agility, I ran right near the start and hoped he might get a good place but there were quite a few dogs there that have beaten him before some of whom were in the DIN Final and beat him there so I wandered over near the end of the class and he had come 1st! I was really surprised and pleased and also glad that he was still running his last grade 4's so it did not win him up to grade 6...that may happen but I would like him to get a bit more experience.

Saturday evening Roger arrived from Paws in the Park - a happy chap as JaiJai had come 2nd in 1-4 Helter Skelter and 11th in 3-5 Agility and Josie came 5th in the other part of 1-4 Helter Skelter.

On Sunday I judged and was finished by lunchtime. I enjoyed my judging and found it interesting seeing the different ways that people tackled various parts of the course. Quite a few people said they enjoyed the courses which always makes it feel worthwhile.

We left quite early and when we got back to where we store our caravan someone else was in our space which was a right pain!

At Derby I saw our friends John and Kate Wykes who I have not seen all year, they have Fleets Dad Tip, big Sister Fly, Brother Jaff and little half Sister Meg so it was lovely to catch up with them and watch their dogs run and get places. They also used to own Fleets Great Grandad and below is a photo of him - Robbie or posh name "Red Robbie of Dalmain"

Bromsgrove

I always like Bromsgrove Show - its in a lovely setting and the people who run the show are all really nice.

Cads was a good little chap and got 3rd in 1-4 Agility and Jumping. He also did lovely clears in the Graded 3-4 Jumping and Agility but they only placed to 1st in the Grade 4 and he would have been 2nd in both classes.

My next job is to work a bit on Cads turns, this is not something I have worked that much on as as I wanted him to have as much go as possible as he is really quite a small Medium dog so needed lots of zippyness!

The other dogs did ok best results being that Fleet had a 5th in G5 Jumping, Josie a 9th in a very tricky 1-7 Jumping, Jaf did a nice clear in a 5-7 Jumping, Rip and Fog both had anysize places, no clears for JaiJai but he did not some bits.

Our training had been cancelled since before Dashin Dogs due to F&M in our area and we were allowed back to the venue last week - it was nice to be back and see everyone and do some training with the dogs - luckily they have allowed training to continue with the most recent F&M outbreak.

I am afriad we have no recent photos or video - below is a photo taken by our friend Lynn Sheridan of Cadbury weaving - I luv the ears!

Gillingham

It was Rogers turn for the Trophies today :)

JaiJai came 2nd in Grade 3 Jumping AND Josie came 2nd in Grade 4 Jumping - I think Roger must have liked that Judges courses.

Cads had Medium 4-7 Agility and Jumping and they were both set at the top end of this scale - the jumping we went wrong near the start but the agility I did all the tricky bits and then mucked up an easy bit.....doh!
In the Veteran Jumping Rip came 5th and sweet little Foggy came 8th.

Fleet did a nice run on an interesting Grade 5 Jumping and just had one 5R.

A photo of Josie and JaiJai (in Hamsterley Forest) as they both had trophies today!

Chippenham

We had a nice weekend, it was a nice short distance to tow the caravan after Northern Week (only 80-ish miles each way). Roger was working on Saturday so I had all the dogs to run so I had a busy day.
Very proud of the talented Mr Ripley who came 1st in Anysize Jumping, he was Novice when he retired from full height at the end of last year so for him to beat the dogs that retired at Senior and Advanced level who would have always been faster is no mean feat.
Cadbury came 2nd in Medium 4-5 Jumping - he was in a sheltie sandwich as a sheltie came 1st and 3rd!!

Fleet did for him a stunning run in Grade 5 Agility - he was leading till last and final call and I was having kittens as I say Fleet is 50% pure brilliance 50% goon so Grade 5 really is high enogh for him! Luckily Mark Douglas beat us into 2nd right at the end with his young Kelpie Puck - Puck had only been in Grade 5 for one week!

Josie and I don't always run very well as a team as I don't train her and I only run her once a month when her dad is working and also she is only doing jumping at the moment while Roger works on her contacts, she did a lovely run in the Genesis 3-5 Jumping and came 10th :)

Saturday evening saw Roger whizzing down from work and meeting a group of us at a nice pub for our Friend Don's 60th Birthday Dinner, we had a really nice night and a lovely meal.

A photo of Fleet in the Caravan

Such a busy time of year!

The View from the exercise area at Northern Week

Just catching up now as I have been sooooooo busy! We went to Northern Week in County Durham - I say its a week but its a bit more like 2 weekends as the show is Saturday/Sunday/Monday then Tuesday and Wednesday are days off and then agility again on Thursday and Friday and a half day on Saturday.

Its 300 miles to Northern Week and its always a towing journey I do not enjoy, it just seems to go on and on....I do all the towing as Roger (bless him!) just can't tow in a straight line and more often than not due to his work drives up in his work vehicle after I have left but this year we went together in our van which is nicer having company on such a long journey.

Cadburys classes did not have very high entries but there were some very good dogs there chasing the places (they never go down very far with the rosettes and always seem to round down - we do know this when we enter though as have been going for many years). A very nice lady called Jayne Spriggs has a stunning collie that when it goes clear is unbeatable at the level we were running (nearly all 1-4 classes) I know Jayne was doing her last runs at Grade 4. Also there were a few other very good medium collies and a black kelpie type dog.

Cadbury was a good boy and got round some quite tricky courses - he managed 1st places x 5 - so I was very proud of him. I was especially pleased with Cads run in the TFO where he did 26 obstacles (I was running out of breath by then!) they placed to 2nd and in 2nd place was Amanda Hampsons lovely Toller Minx and she did 28 obstacles. For all of the Medium classes there was a real team spirit with us all watching each others runs and being pleased for others when it went well and commiserating when it didn't :o)

I really like watching the Champ Class and Lisa and Chi came up for this - Chi did some stunning runs and it was such a shame that in the Final he took the start jump again on the way past. There were some excellent runs in the Final with our friend Sue having Merc and Bug in the final., Bug had a small error and Merc did a lovely clear and would have been 3rd or 4th.

JaiJai was a bit of a mad boy all week - he managed 2 clears and got a 3rd and 4th in Agility, Josie had an 11th and 12th in Jumping, Fleet had a 5th in Jumping and Rip a 2nd and 4th in Anysize. No places for Fog and Jaf but they did some nice runs.

On the first day off we went to Hamsterley Forest - a few friends had said it was a nice place to go and walk and you can follow a colour coded walk to save the worry of getting lost! http://www.forestry.gov.uk//website/recreation.nsf/LUWebDocsByKey/EnglandDurhamCountyNoForestHamsterleyHamsterleyForestVisitorCentre!OpenDocument We followed the Orange Walk and took our time letting the dogs go in and out of the streams for a paddle. Cadbury and Jaf in Hamsterley Forest.

On the second day off we went via Richmond across to Hawes - the scenery as you drive along is so stunning I have to remember to keep my eyes on the road! I said I would not buy any more Jack Wolfskins fleeces (I have a wardrobe full of them) but there was a nice one....no paw prints on it but it needed a new home!

At the show we went to the Quiz and had a alcohol and snack fuelled evening and the big group we sat with split into smaller groups - our Teams came 1st, 2nd and joint 3rd and we all gave our prize money to a dog charity :o)

We went to Trent Park - no great sucess there - Cadbury did a lovely run in his Agility and then went back over the start instead of the finish and did a clear on a very speedy jumping but was just out of the places. Fleet was on the only one getting a place - he came 7th in the Mini/Mixi pairs running with a lovely little Sheltie called Dodger.

I went back to work for a rest zzzzzzz!